[Suggestion] Mini-Boss And Elite Enemy Encounters

[smithf]

Rather than just new enemies, I think it will be better if the experience is tweaked.

 

E.g. integrate it into "normal" mission. After all, after being abused for so many times, the Grineer would have learnt something.

 

 

Scenario 1:

It started out as a normal raid misison.. Should have been a cake walk like the 100 times your did before... But this time, when you reach your objective and pressed the consoel that SHOULD raise the platform with the objective artifact, you DON'T get to see what you were looking for. Then all alarms came on (lock you into the room forcing you to spend some time to hack) while Lotus voice came in : "It's a trap!". And while you were hacking the doors, the Grineer Anti-Tenno Squads will start to gather outside the entrances to the room (so that no matter which way the team goes, they will have to fight their way out).

 

Scenario 2:

It was a rescue mission. Your team plowed they way through enemies until they reach the holding cells. After getting rid of the guards and disabling the cameras/turrets, you started to hack the green doors. When you finally found the non-empty one, suddenly, instead of the hostage you expected, MOAs started to rush out and attack you. It was then all the RED doors opened, and more MOAS entered the scene. At the same time, the alarm goes on that will lockdown the doors and even MORE Corpus troops will gather outside both entrances of the holding cell area, waiting to rush in when you finally dispatched of the MOAs and hacked the doors.

 

Scenario 3:

It was an assasination mission and your team worked their way to the boss, killed it and reached the extraction point, but suddenly, extraction did not occur, as the escape pods are disabled. It is then with laughter that the boss you thought you killed suddenly reach the extraction point with troops. You then realised that you had killed but a fine imposter. After you survived the second boss encounter, THEN you can hack and unlock the pods to escape...

[LordofHaven]

Oh oops my bad wrong ability I meant Well of life not Link. I think well of life would be a nice add on to the grineer support squad granting them the ability to heal and focus fire. Link is probably an ability that should only be granted to bosses if its ever implemented.

[GTG3000]

Well, they are supposed to have a healer/support in their team, so why not? Bosses are using the bullet atractor already,so there's code for such targeted ability...

[WinterBlood]

Seems like a not so bad idea. Or even make them a there own Boss. 

[DSMK2]

The use of Trinity's abilities would make the fight so much more interesting; the Tenno squad will have to focus on taking out the support while staying alive from the other three. Funny if they will also steal energy and health pick ups before you can get to it.

 

They're sounding more and more like a random chance encounter boss!

Edited April 16, 2013 by DSMK2

[LordofHaven]

Imagine hearing Enemy Elites approaching via the Lotus Comm that would bring some goosebumps xD

[GTG3000]

I think the OP should be edited to be more about minibosses in general.

Would be unfair to say that only grineer learned something.

[DSMK2]

I think the OP should be edited to be more about minibosses in general.

Would be unfair to say that only grineer learned something.

 

I would if I could edit the thread title to be more generalized. Gonna have to make a new thread.

[GTG3000]

I would if I could edit the thread title to be more generalized. Gonna have to make a new thread.

 

You can. Use full editor, it allows for title change (I checked before posting that).

[DSMK2]

Ah perfect, updating the thread title.

 

[EDIT:]

Might need to delve into each idea we have now, as well as different mechanics for miniboss encounters. Do the doors lock? Do normal mooks still come? Etc.

Edited April 16, 2013 by DSMK2

[GTG3000]

Ah perfect, updating the thread title.

 

[EDIT:]

Might need to delve into each idea we have now, as well as different mechanics for miniboss encounters. Do the doors lock? Do normal mooks still come? Etc.

Yeah, I guess we should do that.

Maybe the doors should lock if enough tenno come into the room? Sort of like a trap, that is set to stop the whole tenno squad from passing through, but not alerting single tenno too much, and leaving a possiblility to run for the single (or suddely single) players? it's a tough question about locked doors, because one way is not to do it at all and just tempt the players with some sort of guaranteed loot (either making some people get annoyed with farming, or creating situations where half the squad just rushes through the room, and other half gets plummeled), and other ways can result in either part of the group, being trapped and cut off for too long, or the bosses becoming inescapable for the players who aren't prepared for them, or are just outnumbered.

[DSMK2]

That is why I keep on saying one way-locked doors, Tenno (and mooks) can go in but it's tough to get out. Either you have to defeat the miniboss or find the time to unlock the doors without dying. In some ways I think the stealth element can be used here.

 

Aside from locked doors...

 

I think mini-bosses should be able to persist throughout the level until they are defeated. Going to that Large Armed Osprey idea, if a squad doesn't kill it, it'll 'follow' the squad to the next legal tile for it to spawn.

[GTG3000]

Well, maybe then they call on a one-way lockdown, that can be lifted (if you have enough support OR are fast enough, it's important to leave the chance for a single trapped player to escape, say, because they spawn across the room or something) and then follow you. That could work, but I guess then every one of them would have to be limited to 'legal' tiles to spawn in, or, as in case with the heavy osprey, follow the player into. 

It would be very annoying to have them in, say, that slim corridor of the grineer mining base. 

I guess, except for infeststion ones (unless we come up with other ideas than take tenno, copy it), they should be limited to appearing in rooms roomy enough for them not to clog completely all by themselves.

 

Also, greatly limit their chance on the defence maps, if any at all. Of course they are difficult to fight, but they would concentrate on the players instead of the objective, and everyone loves guaranteed rewards. I mean more like boss-like "at least he dropped a common module".

[LordofHaven]

I'm not sure if the miniboss encounters would be suitable for defence mission types unless they just came in higher waves strictly as enemies without the encounter effect like locking doors etc.. However I do believe the one way lock down procedure to be the most practical idea. The door locked should be where the waypoint is located at or where you'd need to go to continue the mission either or.

[GTG3000]

Well, they wouldn't unleash their barrage onto the objective, so why not? I don't know, how the waves are done now, but maybe there could be some way to make them replace part of the attack force (and a big part, at least for the pre-30 waves), so that it would shift the gameplay from 'run around, killing as fast as you can' to 'hey, cryopod can double as cover!'.

 

Also, on the subject of regular mooks... Maybe only make them summon the regular enemies, if a considerable amount of their group health was taken?

 

It's all different for corpus ones, though, since the heavy osprey would probably require, no less, that the corpus crewmen/proxies put some supressive fire onto the players. so that it could fly around without showing it's weakspot too much, so it would be much more possible on the corpus defence. (albeit the AI would be a bit of a mess, eh...)

 

For the infestation, it's probably a simple question, since they all are basically 'nom you if not startled', and would be a simple matter of players, spotting them before any big damage is done (just like the rest of them).

[LordofHaven]

Indeed we would require input on how enemies spawn in the first place and how adding these new types of encounters which shift the games current spawn mechanics. Waves are all fine and dandy but if an elite unit calls for backup the response should rather be immediate. The Grineer and Corpus grunts will provide fire support and suppression while the elite units / mini bosses head up the attack. Not a 100% sure how to implement this with Infested but so far the enemy types others have posted may provide interesting depth to gameplay.

[DSMK2]

Instead of jamming mini-bosses/elites into a wave, why not have them spawn as part of a bonus round? With the logic of them going in to kill the Tenno, such that the cryopod/defense objective will be easily secured by their regular forces; it'll be 1/4th defense oriented and 3/4ths survival to fight the next wave. During that point, I guess regular mooks will only be a trickle, mainly to ensure that ammo, health, and energy drops are there when needed.

[GTG3000]

That would work, indeed.

[DSMK2]

Thinking of other missions: How to handle mini-bosses/elites in rescue missions? During raid, extermination, assassination, and sabotage missions their appearance is pretty straightforward. But with rescue missions, the rescue target will be at greater risk; my thinking is that they happen always before the jail room, or as someone said in an earlier post, they're actually waiting in the jail room for an ambush.

 

[EDIT:]

On another note, I favor them appearing via cutscene. But then there is the stalker route, them dropping in during a mission. Building off of the Grineer AT squad idea, imagine yourself walking into a room, "Doors are all locked!" and vent covers fall around you along with the usual thudding sound...

Edited April 17, 2013 by DSMK2

[LordofHaven]

I think the stalker route is more appropriate since cutscenes only seem to slow down gameplay and most players skip them anyway. The stalker approach minus the screen flashes with a text box appearance and a message from the Lotus such as "Incoming enemy elites prepare yourself" etc would work best. However cutscenes could be implemented in certain missions like rescue and sabotage.

[GTG3000]

Well, I guess they could be introduced via cutscene once, but I'm not sure the game supports that yet (seeing how many times I've seen captain vor intro)...

 

I mean, it would be complete awesomeness to see such enemy come in the first time... But as it stands now, the repetition would make it pretty annoying, so... Stalker "what the hell just killed me" intro it is.

Edited April 17, 2013 by GTG3000

[DSMK2]

Yeah, no cutscenes then, it'll interrupt gameplay and will become boring fast :S

 

Might as well leave it to Lotus saying something about their arrival.

[GTG3000]

"Are you alive still, tenno?"

[LordofHaven]

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/30942-grineer-suggestions-for-new-units-squad-combos-better-ai-tweak-old-units/ Good thread has some interesting ideas for the grineer. I think the juggernaut (hammer wielding) Grineer fits the role of an elite quite well.

[DSMK2]

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/30942-grineer-suggestions-for-new-units-squad-combos-better-ai-tweak-old-units/ Good thread has some interesting ideas for the grineer. I think the juggernaut (hammer wielding) Grineer fits the role of an elite quite well.

I like that thread enough that I have nothing to say about it! Enemy variety is always a great edition, especially if they're well defined role wise.