Survival Rework ( Actually Distracting The Enemy )

[DrBorris]

Hello peoples. We are all aware of the deplorable state Survival is currently in, adding Excavation is great but it does not solve the problem for every other survival node. My proposition involves keeping the basic play style of survival the same (kill the enemy before they kill you), but now with increased logic, decreased RNG, and more mission variety.

 

The basic premise comes from a post I saw a few weeks ago, the Tenno are creating a distraction and as long as you are making a distraction, the mission will continue. (if you made that post, pm me and I will cite you)

 

Now for the very detailed description of the basic concept.

You enter a mission and are told by the Lotus that there are valuable items aboard this vessel and that she needs to gain access to the system mainframe in order to find their location. Just like Mobile Defense, there will be the data mass for you to pick up and take to the system mainframe. After you insert the data mass (could be in the spawn room, or maybe have it be like Deception) the main part of the mission will continue.

 

 

• This is basically the same as what we currently have, the only difference is that you insert a data mass instead of triggering the alarms. The difference is only there to make the whole concept of the mission make sense.

 

 

Next, the Lotus will tell you that the (Insert Faction Here) are aware of her presence in the mainframe and she needs you to distract the enemy’s resources away from her. This is where you trigger the alarm.

 

 

• The first part of the mission is now split up into two parts mostly for logic’s sake.

 

 

Here come the real changes. A set number of enemies will then spawn, not a RNG number, there will be a predefined number (probably based on level of mission, faction, and tile set). That number of enemies WILL SPAWN, no matter how your cell is divided, that number of enemies will spawn.

 

 

• I think you can tell that this is here to remove RNG from the mix, you will see later why I insist so much on a pre-set number.

 

 

A percentage bar will then come up and be labeled “Distraction Level.”  It will start at 20% and decrease 1% every 3 seconds. Every time you kill an enemy the percentage will rise 1%. For every 3 enemies killed, 5 enemies will spawn. When the percentage hits 0%, the Lotus will tell you that the (Insert Faction Here) have kicked her from the system and that there is nothing else you can do (So you proceed to extract)

 

 

• If you did not notice, there is no RNG there, everything is a definitive reaction to your action. Spawn rooms in this example are defined as rooms that are adjacent to a room you are in (given that there are no open doors). If there is only one available spawn room, every enemy will spawn in there and create a massive horde. If there are 10 spawn rooms open, they will all be distributed evenly among them. The 5 spawns for every 3 kills is to ensure that it is possible to increase your percentage and increase the difficulty as you kill more.

 

 

In this concept, you are the Tenno operative. Every 5 minutes the lotus will find an artifact and mark it on your map. In order to obtain that artifact you must go and get it (The Louts is in the computer, how is she supposed to do that for you)

Stuff for mission variety and balancing

The enemy factions are not stupid, they understand that they need to have as many resources as necessary in order to remove the Lotus from their system. However, a bunch of Tenno aboard their ship is a more imminent threat. So, the enemy will release a mini boss enemy. These enemies are there in order to distract you. Having a high damage enemy running around is a bad idea thus it is necessary that you take care of it. On the downside, when you focus on the mini boss, less normal grunts are getting killed, causing the distraction level to fall. I imagine these mini bosses like Krill and Vor (Small (Size) bosses that take time to deal with), actually… having Krill show up would make sense as he is the war hero (Maybe just a student of Krill). This will only happen if your Distraction level hits 100%, it is the enemy’s way of counteracting you and attempting to balance the playing field.

 

 

• This is here to make survival less monotonous, scattered boss fights will add difficulty and make the mission more interesting. Also, they are a good way to counteract you from locking your Distraction level at 100%. This is a new strategic difficulty, rather than mutilating hordes of enemies mindlessly, it might makes sense to have some restraint in order to prevent a boss fight.

 

 

If the enemy has a way to adjust the balance, so should the Tenno. So, every 10 minutes OR any time you fall under 10% (with a 3 min cool down) the Lotus will give you a side objective. I will make this clear now THESE ARE NOT NECESSARY, you only do these if you want a boost in distraction or want to do something different. There are two side objectives that I can think of off the top of my head.

 

The first is for you to disable the life support (yeah, I know, ironic). If I were a (Insert Enemy Faction), I would be very distracted if someone suddenly deactivated the life support. No life support will last for 3 minutes and cause the distraction level to stop decreasing, giving you a great opportunity to increase it. However, there is no life support so you will be losing 2% shields ever second (it is not a punishment in that you are losing shield as it is for preventing shields from regenerating).

 

 

• So, here is a way for the Tenno to attempt to turn the tables on the enemy, the greater the risk, the greater the reward.

 

The other option is pretty much a defense. The Lotus tells you to hack some panel that turns off the lights in the ship (time to use that flashlight). The result is the same as turning off life support in that the Distraction level stops decreasing. This will continue until an enemy gets past you to the point you ae defending and reactivates life support or 3 minutes (Whichever comes first).

 

 

• But, having a pitch black level (Windows and flashlights still provide light) will definitely add some difficulty.

I have another thought :)

Some destructibles gives us +10 "distraction points", and a group of heavies.

 

Think about it, if we are struggling to kill quick enough because of enemy levels or bad spawns, blow something up and get breathing room.

However the payoff is you are getting a group of heavies spawn as a result (risk vs reward).

 

 

 

That is it, please comment and give suggestions/changes. IF you like this idea, please comment. The only way for an idea to survive/be seen by DE is for it to be commented on. Thank you and Smile, it is a good day. 

Edited October 8, 2014 by DrBorris

[(PSN)NearlyDedicated]

I wish I could +0.5...it's a good concept, and certainly makes more sense logically, but it seems a little too complicated for new(er) players who will not have played the original survival.

[DrBorris]

I wish I could +0.5...it's a good concept, and certainly makes more sense logically, but it seems a little too complicated for new(er) players who will not have played the original survival.

 

Imagine when playing, all you do is kill stuff. You are not thinking about the math and stuff involved, you just kill stuff. When you kill more stuff more stuff comes. It may be complicated underneath, but i don't think it is more complicated when being played. It could almost be considered simpler because there are no life support pods, all that you have to do to succeed is to kill stuff (unless you want to change things up). 

[Egg_Chen]

Can't say it was me for sure, but that has been my stance in a couple of survival topics recently.

We are a distraction, let us shoot bad guys and blow stuff up until we can no longer survive :)

If it was me, no need for a cite, I'd just love to see Survival fixed!

 

As to your idea, I like it, and like the removal of RNG.

I want scale of enemy to be the limiting factor.

 

One tweak, is I think the datamass is irrelevant really.

We could still hack the panel for the alarm, and there could still be an operative elsewhere on the ship.

I don't think the change to a datamass is needed.

 

My thoughts previously were if we were not killing enough, that we get told the operative had to extract, and we have 2 mins to reach the exit.

This of course only happened if we were not killing enough to cause a distraction.

If we don't make 5 minutes, we get told the operative was found before he looted anything, mission failed.

 

I have another thought :)

Some destructibles gives us +10 "distraction points", and a group of heavies.

 

Think about it, if we are struggling to kill quick enough because of enemy levels or bad spawns, blow something up and get breathing room.

However the payoff is you are getting a group of heavies spawn as a result (risk vs reward).

 

I would say while forced spawning is fine, they should keep them out of line of sight (I don't want teleporting enemies!)

MOAs coming out of the floor are fine though :)

[OHyeahWF]

I think develop group need to make more in game missions that relate to " distract the enemy ".

For example 
At around 4 mins (9 mins, 14 mins and so-on), Lotus will ask players to find and hack a console within 1 mins. If fail to do this, player will lost the rewards or maybe something terrible will happens.