Infested Sector Land Rush

[Tritanya]

Basically the reverse of an Infested invasion: a Tenno exploration of the Infested sector.

 

The main idea is that your clan as a whole is planting a beacon somewhere in the Infested sector, which allows you to find that location and use it as a sort of forward operating base/jump-off point, so that you can launch missions from it.  It will require upkeep in the form of mission completion and possibly resource provision (for repairs).

 

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LOTUS PERSPECTIVE

 

This is a task that must fall to individual clans.  The Tenno as a whole cannot be fully diverted towards a full-scale invasion of the Infested sector; we must continue to maintain the balance of power between the Corpus and Grineer.  Individual Tenno possess neither the resources nor the firepower to protect the newly developed beacon technology from the initial Infested assault that will surely fall upon it once it is activated.

 

Tenno, once your clan has constructed the beacon, you must place and protect it.  If you are able to defend it against the initial assault, you may have a chance to fortify the location and launch further incursions into even more deeply Infested territory.  If you fail, you may choose to build another beacon, if you have the resources.

 

This is a dangerous undertaking, with risks even I cannot fully grasp.  But the rewards may be as great, or perhaps even greater.  The more clans that stake their claim in the Infested sector, the more diffuse the Infested response must be - and the less chance there is of failure.

 

Choose wisely, Tenno.

 

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PROGRESSION

 

Step 1: Build the beacon.

 

Obviously this would be expensive, and tailored to clan size (but reasonably, given the current issues with being unable to downgrade).  Given that it's supporting a Tenno invasion of the Infested sector, I would expect to use a lot of Nav Coordinates in its recipe.  (Might as well get rid of the darn things...)

 

Step 2: Place and protect the beacon.

 

This part plays out as a Limited Defense mission insofar as it's a specific number of waves (like Void Defense).  Difficulty-wise, I imagine somewhere in the level 30-50 range over 10-15 waves or so.  The idea is that turning the beacon on sends a very obvious signal and the Infested want to crush it fast and hard, so this mission will be a lot of very strong mobs from the get-go.  Ideally, not something soloable, and something that will require actual coordination.  Initially I was thinking Orokin Derelict tileset, but it'd be nice to have something new or different, something a little more organic.  It depends on where the Infested are really based, ultimately.

 

Step 3a: Distract the Infested.

 

This comes immediately after the beacon is set up.  Once the initial assault has been eliminated, you and your clanmates - and, potentially, anyone else you invite (so long as someone in the clan is hosting, presumably with some sort of 'Beacon Key' unique to your clan, much like the Clan Key) - start drawing Infested attention away from your beacon, which translates into two mission types at first glance: Sabotage (Infested structures that you destroy to get a response/disable certain functions) and Exterminate (just kill everything that's threatening you).  While you're doing that, your other clanmates might be doing the following step.

 

Step 3b: Fortify the area.

 

This part I see as kind of a mini-dojo sort of experience, where you have the beacon that needs to be protected so you can continue to launch missions from the area.  You could do a lot of things in this area, like setting up traps or sentry weapons or things like that, or adding armor plating (I know you have plenty of Alloy Plate squirreled away) to important structures.  You might even be able to use greedy milk Nano Spores or special Infested materials to disguise your location or the beacon itself, making it less likely to be attacked - or that could be a research option or special drop/recipe/whatever from one of the higher-level areas.

 

Step 4: Invade even further.

 

The less attention the Infested are giving your base, the further out (read: higher level) you can venture into Infested territory.  Ideally, I'd like to give Tenno the option to choose their mission types at this point, to be able to say 'we want to focus on research' or 'we want to get our hands on cool loot' or 'we want to find big nasty megamonsters to kill' or 'we just want to grind the crap out of all the mobs we can't find anywhere else to fill up our Codexes'.

 

Step 5: Maintain.  Or... don't.

 

Now, obviously, the Infested will push back, so this is not a passive process.  The 'heat' on your clan's base will increase over time, and there's a very good chance that if left alone, your base - and your beacon - could be destroyed completely!  So you'll need to continue distracting Infested (Sabotage and Extermination at higher levels will still do this).  Also, as mentioned in the Lotus Perspective, you could have the 'heat' increase more slowly the more active clan bases there were.

 

If your base is completely destroyed, and your beacon with it, you'll have to start over from Step 1.  Ultimately this means there's a lot of materials invested in a clan base in the Infested sector, so it's not something that everyone will have, particularly if they're not an active clan.

 

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I figure clans need something to actively do once they're full up on research; this seemed like an interesting idea to me.  Your comments are appreciated, as always.

[nullCassielle]

Idea enjoyed. I can't help but think of Shattered Galaxy, here... A big map of regions in the unlivable space, with periodic wipeouts -- possibly a new infested boss that works like an operation, and will eat territory away until "killed off" a sufficient number of times, with special focus paid to the one with the most land.

 

Unfortunately, the Infested come from the Derelicts. That's it. That's where they're from.

 

I think this would be better for if/when they introduce the Sentients.

[QGuy]

Interesting...

[Tritanya]

Unfortunately, the Infested come from the Derelicts. That's it. That's where they're from.

Then I'd wonder how big the Derelicts themselves are, or if there's an aggregation of them that would provide more 'real estate' to work with.

 

The beacon idea is at its core a permanent OD key that has to be 'refreshed' with materiel and such.  I could stretch things to make it work out, but I'd have to understand the precise parameters of the Infested sector as a whole before I came up with an actual proposal for DE, which is why this is in Fan Concepts and not as a suggestion in Gameplay.

 

Thanks for the heads-up though.  :)

 

I think this would be better for if/when they introduce the Sentients.

I'm not holding my breath that long.  But then again, if it gets the idea used...