[Suggestion] The Stealth Update!

[TheGambler_BR]

As we all know, there is little to no reward for being stealthy, despite it being more difficult and most - if not all - rewards being based on amount of enemies slain.

 

As such, I propose a couple changes to stealth mechanics, how they interact with enemies, and the associated rewards.

Those will be divided in topics, and hopefully this will ease reading comprehension.

 

The map and stealth

• You can now hack control panels, effectively deactivating them and disabling the alarm. Enemies that try to trigger an alarm on a disabled control panel will run off to the other nearest panel.
• Darker places on the map offer better chances to stay hidden
• Creation of alternative paths (such as vents) that allow another way to the objective. Less enemies, less risk of being spotted. Suggested by Seraphim_ZA

Why? Pretty self-explanatory. Would allow stealth-ish play with non-silent weapons. In addition, would be a pretty failsafe option if you get detected.

 

Enemies and stealth

• When nearby enemies perish, enemies are now in a more visible alert state. They will react, and actively search for you, but will NOT immediately trigger an alarm.

Why? Well, because I find it weird that the average reaction to an arrow to your companion's face is "meh".

This change would make stealth play more interesting, while also making it slightly harder.

 

Damage and stealth

• Enemies unaware of your presence receive an extra x(I suggest 50)% damage for your attacks.

Why? Maintaining stealth is important - or would be should you be looking for this style of play. At higher levels, stealth is nigh impossible to be kept due to the sheer health pool of enemies - they're capable of tanking stealth melee takedowns. 

This damage increase would hardly change regular gameplay, but will make stealth play far more viable. 

While under the effects of Loki/Ash's invisibility, you do not receive extra damage if the ship's been alerted.

 

Items and stealth

 

A new list of mods would enable and enhance stealth play:

• "Muffle" - Pistols and Rifles - Adds noise reduction to weapon, and reduces base damage by a percentage. Increasing mod rank shortens weapon noise detection range and reduces damage penalty. It would feature a rather prohibitive cost, something like 12 base mod cost, but at max rank would deduce almost no damage at all (thinking 10% base damage reduction).
• "Unseen" - Warframe - Reduces visual detection range. Increasing mod rank further reduces visual detection range
• "Patience" - Shotgun, RIfle, Pistol, Melee - Increases damage when undetected (at the same rate as critical damage mods). Increasing rank further increases damage bonus.
• "Penetration" - Weapons - ignores part of an enemy's shield when undetected. On melee weapons, goes as high up as 100% ignore, on ranged, less than 50% max. Suggested by https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/user/95299-noveltyhero/'>noveltyhero

Furthermore, a new set of silent weapons could be added, from snipers that offer hitscan bullets at a SEVERE rate of fire disadvantage, to pistols. There is a lack of hitscan silent weaponry.

 

Why? Keeping the gameplay interesting, while allowing one to enter a stealth playstyle without letting go of their preferred weapon. Hitscan silent weaponry come with their set of disadvantages (paris, dread, kunai and despair have travel times and bullet drop), so they wouldn't be superior.

 

Mechanics and stealth

 

And here is the main reason that would encourage stealth play

• Enemies killed - storage containers looted while undetected have a higher drop rate and higher chance of rare drops.

Why? The game currently offers no rewards AT ALL for being stealthy. Increasing affinity rewards is pointless when by the time you have a silent weapon, you're already in a position to farm for materials at relative ease - and farming for mats also give a great deal of affinity (I get around 7k warframe affinity per run, for example).

By adding an increased drop rate, you alleviate the lack of sheer number of mobs slain. And, by increasing rare drop rate, you make those drops more valuable - you make them count.

 

Personal worries

• Current silent weapons would become OP with stealth mods
• Far too much work on DE's part for implementation

• Lack of cooperative play resulting from someone wanting to be stealthy

 

Creator's notes and highlighted replies:

 

BOY is it hard to use the "list" BBcode properly. I swear everything was just fine in the preview.

Edited June 10, 2013 by TheGambler_BR

[noveltyhero]

Makes sense.

But I think damage on stealth attacks should depend on their health rather than fixed multiplier. So if they have crazy high health you deal more damage (multiplier wise) than on lower health targets (not decreasing damage though). Of course this excluding bosses.

And maybe a mod to allow stealth attacks to go through shields. like 40% shield ignore with full rank and 14 (exaggeration) mod points of usage.

[TheGambler_BR]

Makes sense.

But I think damage on stealth attacks should depend on their health rather than fixed multiplier. So if they have crazy high health you deal more damage (multiplier wise) than on lower health targets (not decreasing damage though). Of course this excluding bosses.

And maybe a mod to allow stealth attacks to go through shields. like 40% shield ignore with full rank and 14 (exaggeration) mod points of usage.

 

A shield ignore mod could be a good idea when playing stealthily. On melee weapons, I think it should go as high up as 100%, though.

[noveltyhero]

A shield ignore mod could be a good idea when playing stealthily. On melee weapons, I think it should go as high up as 100%, though.

Stealth should not be 100% kill everything in one hit. They have to reinforce the fact that some enemies should be avoided (I.e Grineer Heavy Gunners) instead of trying to kill them. 100% Would be too much.

[TheGambler_BR]

Stealth should not be 100% kill everything in one hit. They have to reinforce the fact that some enemies should be avoided (I.e Grineer Heavy Gunners) instead of trying to kill them. 100% Would be too much.

 

Oh no, not a 100% damage (equal instakill). a 100% shield ignore! hahaha

[Fire_Ashes]

Would like to see higher rewards for going through a full stealth mission... Also I would like mods to drop more often during stealth

[KenseiSeraph]

With the potential addition of multiple paths to reach the objective it might be interesting to add small vents that can only be traversed by crouching.

 

You could circumvent most of the enemies and head straight to the objective with a reduced chance of being detected but you would not be able to travel as fast.

[TheGambler_BR]

With the potential addition of multiple paths to reach the objective it might be interesting to add small vents that can only be traversed by crouching.

 

You could circumvent most of the enemies and head straight to the objective with a reduced chance of being detected but you would not be able to travel as fast.

 

That would be indeed awesome! :D

 

Small, enclosed spaces. So stealthy. hahahah

[pandadomokun]

In response to the uncooperativeness of other team members, perhaps they could make it so that enemies will only attack players that have been detected. This would allow various tactical plays like making a distraction while other members sneak by.

 

Also, the stealth routes should possess certain risks like having security cameras that would automatically trigger alarms if detected for a certain period of time, or have the route be riddled with hidden traps that you would have to detect and deactivate.

Edited June 11, 2013 by pandadomokun

[Omeganx]

I agree with everything I've heard, i just got my Paris and am building my banshee and i was trying to find the rewards for a stealth build but to no avail. While your ideas do seem adventurous, I assumed when we were playing a game about space ninjas, this would be something at the forefront. with stealth mods introduced you could possibly with enough modding instakill anything that allows it but at the price at not being advantageous in alert situations. Such lines make building even more diverse,

 

I'll even go further and think it would be cool if each warframe had their unique ways of stealth killing, 

(Eg. Rhino snaps a neck/ ember puts his weapon inside the victim and burns away his body/ MAg levitates its weapon to kill the enemy/ etc.)