New Warframe: Synthesis

[Konnstruct]

So I thought of this idea while comparing the "Classes" (Warframes) of this game to other class-based games.

I noticed that there is no "Engineer" type warframe. For those of you who aren't familiar, Engineers are usually the "Building" class in games.

So, I am proposing "Synthesis" (seems more like a female name), a warframe that can use energy to build structures. His/Her abilities all involve building a particular structure, and eaach structure should have it's own health and shields so it can be destroyed. There should be a limit of one of each structure per player erected at once. So here are a few of my ideas for abilities...

(25 Energy) Bulwark: Puts up a barrier that can be crouched behind and is the perfect height to fire behind while standing. Has ALOT of health but no shields.

UPGRADE: Adds a bit of health and damages enemies that come into contact with it.

(50 Energy) Mender: This i ability erects a machine on the ground that, when an ally is standing on it and not recieving damage, will replenish Health and maybe even energy over time to whoever is on it (only fits one player at a time). It has minimal shields and health. It will be destroyed after using up a healing capacity.

UPGRADE: Has slightly increased shields and health and heals at a higher rate.

(75 Energy) Sentinel: This will probably the favorite ability of Synthesis in the fact that it erects a sentry gun. This will attack any enemies in it's 180 degree radius. It has moderate shields and low health. Will be destroyed once it has run out of ammo.

UPGRADE: Can fire limited explosives with increased shields and health.

(100 Energy) Enhance: This ability allows you to upgrade the structure you are targeting, while replenishing it's health and shields.

Other/Alternative Ideas:

(100 Energy?) Reinforce: Builds an AI Tenno with the likes of the Hostage (should have a different name and should actually use his weapon).

UPGRADE: Changes the reinforcement into an actual warframe with abilities and their signature weapon (or maybe just a braton).

(25 Energy) Charge: Places a small mine that detonates with incredible force when an enemy reaches it's vicinity. Does not explode but is destroyed if it is damaged by an enemy.

UPGRADE: Increases damage and radius, and allows the mine to be detonated 10 times before being destroyed completely.

I'm also thinking that Synthesis should look more 'industrial' than the bio-suits most other warframes have, possibly with futuristic wrenches and other tools. It might also be a good idea to incorporate a build time for the structures, making them more transparent with a bar showing build progress until the build is successful (maybe requiring the builder to actively build the structure by holding the action button, taking them out of the fight?).

So, what do you guys think?

Edited January 17, 2013 by FrydHamstr

[Psyren]

Hmmm, interesting idea I give you that, why not named it "Binary" instead of Synthesis if you're going for a female/male name.

[Konnstruct]

Hmmm, interesting idea I give you that, why not named it "Binary" instead of Synthesis if you're going for a female/male name.

Not sure I get the name, lol, but it still sounds like a female name to me, not that I really mind, but an engineer is more of a male role.

Edited January 17, 2013 by FrydHamstr

[Zejjie]

.....Kind of doesn't fit with the whole space ninja thing...

Not a bad idea but I'm not a fan of it

The Tenno are supposed to be the quick in and out and destroy everything possible type of species, this type of class just wouldn;t fit with it.... Could be a cool idea for a boss though

[Konnstruct]

The Tenno are supposed to be the quick in and out and destroy everything possible type of species

Defense missions, 'Nuff said.

Edited January 17, 2013 by FrydHamstr

[modded]

I like the idea! Especially the "mine" power. :D

[Konnstruct]

I like the idea! Especially the "mine" power. :D

U leik teh boom?

[Volt_Cruelerz]

Not a big fan of the first ability simply because it is identical to the Volt ability. Aside from that though, I like it :)

[Psyren]

I like the idea! Especially the "mine" power. :D

Hey modded :), Renpsy from BLR here, friend me and lets kick some greineer &#! later XD.

[Konnstruct]

Not a big fan of the first ability simply because it is identical to the Volt ability. Aside from that though, I like it :)

Yeah, I see where you are coming from, but Volt's is temporary, so idk, thats why I included the Charge.

Edited January 17, 2013 by FrydHamstr

[Arkfall]

Some nice ideas mate! I'd love like to see a Tenno that can set up stuff, but you have to be careful to remeber the flow of the game, personally I bearly waste more then 30 seconds in a room.

I'm going to toss out a few thoughts, I mean no harm or disresecpt, just adding my 2 credits.

Bulwark: Volt's #3 skill, just at 1/3 the price.

Mender: Nice idea, but the slight problem that we can walk though each other. Could cause problem with people fighting over it.

Sentinel: How long would this thing last? How much ammo would it have? How would you mange to set it up in the direction you want to face it?

In all likly hood, you'd have to set it up to be 360, about 250 shield and health, and on a timer. There is also the Issue of firing rate, accuricy, and distance it detects and fires at targets.

Flow of combat is also another isses, and at 75 energy, I don't think the little turret has much of a chance to be useful.

Enhance: Uhh... I'm personally not feeling this one, never liked it in other games, and I really don't feel it would belong here.

While I do like the idea you presented, I have a few suggestions that might make more sense given the setting on the game:

Firstly the name... Synthesis is.. well.. to alchemic for these types of powers..

I would go along with something like "Kit" or "Mech" short for Toolkit or Mechanic, fits more the style.

Each skill in the game has ranks, which typically effect the power/range of the skill, but, we are dreaming, so lets dream!

Skill One: Bits.

For each rank you have you spawn one Bit. Each bit, indapendently selects a target in range and fires a bolt of energy (READ: Corpus Walker like) at a target in range. They remain with the Tenno til destroyed or mission completion. They are safe with the Tenno as long as the Tenno has their shield up, but as soon as it comes down, All it takes is one hit to kill them.

They would look like the ball that zap's luke in the &#! in Starwars as he is learning to use a lightsabre and floast around the Tenno's body closely (to stay inside the Tenno's Shield)

I leave how much damage they do up to the Devs.. of corse, moving the skill up to 50 or even 75 would incudle a increase in damage by the little guys.

Skill Two: Land mine: Read above. Nothing beats a good bomb.

Skill Three: Shield Repair: Does the same thing the Trinity Frame's Heal does, but for Shields!

Skill Four: Lowjack: I love nothing more thenan Engineer that can lowjack a car, tank, battle armor, starship.. you name it, I love. SO for 100 energy, "Kit" can Lowjack Every mechincal unit in range and make them fight for the Tenno for a time, before exploding into a pile of debrie.

"But Bob!" You say.. "That skill woudl be amazing on Corpus fights! Not really anywhere else though!" Well.. you'd be right, and it might not be too good for other factions, btu that is what your Gun is for... and your other gun.. and your Melee Weapon.. your Bits.. and Mastercard. ...

Maybe not so much the card.. but you get the jist.

[Ced23Ric]

Try to keep in mind that a frame like this would go at a very, very slow pace with stationary abilities. I suggest, you pick different elements instead. Nesting and camping don't fit the gamepace.

[Konnstruct]

I don't think you realized that I offered alternatives for abilities.

Skill Four: Lowjack: I love nothing more thenan Engineer that can lowjack a car, tank, battle armor, starship.. you name it, I love. SO for 100

(100 Energy?) Reinforce: Builds an AI Tenno with the likes of the Hostage (should have a different name and should actually use his weapon).

UPGRADE: Changes the reinforcement into an actual warframe with abilities and their signature weapon (or maybe just a braton).

Slightly different, but Reinforce is more engineer-oriented in my opinion, and most DEFINITELY (as you pointed out) more useful. Why would you limit a warframe to one faction? That's just unfair.

Skill Two: Land mine: Read above. Nothing beats a good bomb.

(25 Energy) Charge: Places a small mine that detonates with incredible force when an enemy reaches it's vicinity. Does not explode but is destroyed if it is damaged by an enemy.

UPGRADE: Increases damage and radius, and allows the mine to be detonated 10 times before being destroyed completely.

Skill Three: Shield Repair: Does the same thing the Trinity Frame's Heal does, but for Shields!

Trinity's Energy Vampire T_T

Why would this fit in with an engineer in the first place?

Skill One: Bits.

For each rank you have you spawn one Bit. Each bit, indapendently selects a target in range and fires a bolt of energy (READ: Corpus Walker like) at a target in range. They remain with the Tenno til destroyed or mission completion. They are safe with the Tenno as long as the Tenno has their shield up, but as soon as it comes down, All it takes is one hit to kill them.

They would look like the ball that zap's luke in the &#! in Starwars as he is learning to use a lightsabre and floast around the Tenno's body closely (to stay inside the Tenno's Shield)

I leave how much damage they do up to the Devs.. of corse, moving the skill up to 50 or even 75 would incudle a increase in damage by the little guys.

Again, how would this fit in with an engineer? It seems like you're describing, with these abilities, a TF2 Spy sort of frame, not an engineer.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a cool idea.

Firstly the name... Synthesis is.. well.. to alchemic for these types of powers..

I would go along with something like "Kit" or "Mech" short for Toolkit or Mechanic, fits more the style.

If either of those names were thrown in there it would be REALLY generic and uncreative compared with the other warframes.

Synthesis generally means "to make", and it sounds pretty cool, so I went with it.

Bulwark: Volt's #3 skill, just at 1/3 the price.

Mender: Nice idea, but the slight problem that we can walk though each other. Could cause problem with people fighting over it.

Sentinel: How long would this thing last? How much ammo would it have? How would you mange to set it up in the direction you want to face it?

All of these problems can be solved if you just think about it.

@ Bulwark, Volt's shield is temporary and is just simply a wall, the Bulwark is (relatively) permanent and allows you to shield structures and teammates behind it. It is more reliable and effective (albiet slower and harder to deploy). I also threw out the mine idea to replace this.

@ Mender, Just make the first player who enters it the one affected, as well as making them a solid object or have the Mender enclose the player with a shield/wall.

@Sentinel, I could say the same thing for your "Bits".

Long comeback over, but I hope this explains some of the problems you might see.

I do like your ideas though, Arkfall, maybe a new TF2 Spy warframe?

Try to keep in mind that a frame like this would go at a very, very slow pace with stationary abilities. I suggest, you pick different elements instead. Nesting and camping don't fit the gamepace.

Look at some of my alternative abilities, if you switch them around, the only camping/nesting ability is the sentry gun, which should have the ability to be moved.

Edited January 17, 2013 by FrydHamstr

[Arkfall]

I did see your alternate suggestings FrydHamstr, and I had no problem with them. Remeber we are not on the Dev team, and thus, trying to "set up" anything for the Dev team wont do anyone any good, as there is weeks, if not months worth of work to put a frame togather for public use.

Never played TF2, So I don't entirely understand the references.

and mind you, I had all of.. maybe 15 mins give or take... to think of all those powers, as I was typing it all out XD

The point behind Lowjacking being limited is that is adds flavor, Loki Radial Disarm doesn't work on Corpus Mechines, Volt Overchange doesn't work in the same area twice.. Flavor is not always about adding more. Sometime (most of the time) its about adding limitations.

There is also a distinct pattern to the player charaters. It is very Eastern (Power comes from withen, to affect the world Without). Following those lines and the flow of the action based shooter game play, placing a turrent seems so counter intuitive.

Trinity's Energy Vampire has nothing to do with Trinity's AoE Health Heal, Likewise, Repairing Shields is a very Techy thing to do, and healing some people by not be as strong as repairing their shields.

The importnet thing to remeber is that I'm not shooting down any of your ideas, just adding mine to the pot, to give the Devs something to work with.

Hopefully they come up with their own variations on what we talk about with to add to their game and enrich our hobby.

[guymanbrodude]

Maybe something like this?

25 Energy: Landmine

Place a landmine at the location you are currently standing on. When an enemy comes into contact with it, it explodes and deals damage.

Upgrades would include a wider explosion radius and damage.

50 Energy: Bombs Away!

Throw a grenade, detonating after bouncing off the ground three times. The grenade explodes and damages everything in its blast radius.

Upgrades would include fire damage over time (maybe?).

75 Energy: Watcher

A floating robot appears that has access to the Frame's gun. Only one can be deployed at the same time, and it has no health/shields. It stays until has fired one (unmodified) magazine of the gun.

Upgrades would increase the amount of magazines that can be fired.

(NOTE: It shares its ammunotion with the Frame, so be careful)

100 Energy: Big Bang

The frame throws out several mines and grenades at once. The mines function like usual mines, and the grenades detonate upon impact.

Upgrades would allow for more mines/grenades to be thrown out.

The mines and grenades would only damage enemies (blame it on super-technology or whatever), and while there's no turret, you still get a little bit of added firepower. I'd say that feels like an Engineer-type of Frame that would fit in with the rest of the game.

[Konnstruct]

Maybe something like this?

25 Energy: Landmine

Place a landmine at the location you are currently standing on. When an enemy comes into contact with it, it explodes and deals damage.

Upgrades would include a wider explosion radius and damage.

50 Energy: Bombs Away!

Throw a grenade, detonating after bouncing off the ground three times. The grenade explodes and damages everything in its blast radius.

Upgrades would include fire damage over time (maybe?).

75 Energy: Watcher

A floating robot appears that has access to the Frame's gun. Only one can be deployed at the same time, and it has no health/shields. It stays until has fired one (unmodified) magazine of the gun.

Upgrades would increase the amount of magazines that can be fired.

(NOTE: It shares its ammunotion with the Frame, so be careful)

100 Energy: Big Bang

The frame throws out several mines and grenades at once. The mines function like usual mines, and the grenades detonate upon impact.

Upgrades would allow for more mines/grenades to be thrown out.

The mines and grenades would only damage enemies (blame it on super-technology or whatever), and while there's no turret, you still get a little bit of added firepower. I'd say that feels like an Engineer-type of Frame that would fit in with the rest of the game.

Doesn't fit an engineer, seems more like a bombard/explosive-type warframe.

Engineers build things, they aren't pyromaniacs that make everything die in a fiery explosion. That's why we have ember ;)

I like those ideas though, they would just be used, with some modification, with a different warframe.

[Psyclosarin]

Honestly given the fast paced nature of the game I'd suggest that for 25 you spawn a mini turret that can be mounted on any surface and lasts say, 45 seconds and be a fast firing laser gun.

That way you could keep moving with your squad popping turrets almost constantly with a max of 2-3 up at any one time. (too many and you spend too much time with the setup instead of DPSing yourself)

Instead of the Bulwark which is the same as the Volt's skill basically, how about an AoE bubble shield with say a 10m radius that would reduce ranged damage by an amount or even passively regen shields and energy at a cost of 75.

[johncage]

to go from energy to matter would be cheap and stupid. if you want a build class, just have an engineer.

[MyHappyFace]

Even thought

(100 Energy) Enhance: This ability allows you to upgrade the structure you are targeting, while replenishing it's health and shields.

You have a good idea, but really isn't that useful since it costs less to just craft another structure than it does to fully replenish it. The 4th Ability should be something that space-ninja-ey but also fits an engineer. Like I don't know, maybe the Warframe could build a Corpus MOA and attack your enemies until it dies? Maybe half of a regular MOA's health and shields, but 1/3 stronger.

[neKroMancer]

Sounds good. Engineer is tech summoner/castor hybrid imo. Does systhesis comes in green?

Booster. Temporary increase frame's weapon firerate and slowly replenish ammo. Energy cost 25.

Jamming. Hack enemy robotic unit or sabotage weapon (obviously, infest are immune to this power). Temporary turn robotic unit to fight against their master or overheat the enemy's weapon and cause it to jam when the target try to shoot (similar to ME sabotage, I know). Upgrade increase AOE and longer jamming duration. Energy cost 50.

Shield nanite. Deploy nanites into vincinity which increase shield recharge rate for self nearby friendly unit for a short duration. Upgrade increase shield recharge rate and radius. Energy cost 75.

Minidrone. Low durability flying drone that surround the engineer, capable of firing an unlimited amout of ammunition. Upgrade would increase number of active drones and add lightning effect to their ammo. Think of miniosprey fighting for you. Energy cost 100 should be enough.

my 2 cent

Edited January 24, 2013 by neKroMancer

[V1RTU5]

Sentinel: This will probably the favorite ability of Synthesis in the fact that it erects a sentry gun. This will attack any enemies in it's 180 degree radius. It has moderate shields and low health. Will be destroyed once it has run out of ammo.

UPGRADE: Can fire limited explosives with increased shields and health.

-----

what if it was a lil droid like the corpose drones. that would fallow you around and shoot at the guys

[Dexter96]

Warframe is supposed to be fast paced.

Building stuff would take too much time.

Remember Tenno, Space Ninjas!

[cypherhalo]

Hmm, an interesting idea. I'm not sure. If the Bulwark covered you 360, that would be cool. Because sometimes enemies spawn behind you and you can't find cover. So if you could build a 360 degree cover, that would be nice for those situations, like a bunker for the Tenno :-)

As for a mender . . . eh, this game seems to move too fast for something like that to be useful. Everyone is always rushing to the end. Maybe instead have a unit like, oh, I don't know the name, but the little Corpus robot that gives the other Corpus shields. Have it so you could build one of those to constantly replenish your shields. It should obviously be able to be destroyed and failing that, run out of energy eventually.

A turret I like the sound of, the only question for me is that some of the rooms are pretty wide open and have lots of cover. So would a turret really help enough? I mean, it would be great on defense missions, but everything else, I'm not so sure. Maybe if it was a mobile turret, so you could order it to move around?

You need something better for an ult though I think. That AI tenno sounds like a better option. IMO.

Edited January 24, 2013 by cypherhalo