Updating Faction Units and adding NPCs

[o.0-]

There are a lot of good units available to fight against now, but as I continue playing, I see opportunities for expanding what is already there, while adding new units into the mix.

Also, not all units need to be enemy Combatants, it would be good to have future NPCs that are added to the Relays and who we need to protect under various circumstances, such as saving a Colony from an Infestation, or doing a Spy mission where there are NPCs that do not fight back (and could even give negative affinity and credits for not protecting or even killing).

Another of the aspects I've gone to wondering about is possible populations outside of the main factions and syndicates that could exist in the solar system, and what could they commonly be composed of, such as the Colonies Steel Meridian protects.

So the basic idea is to retain the current behaviors of how standard units work, improving combat AI (along the lines of Rathuum Executioners for Eximus and Syndicate agents for starters), while providing more variety to how units look, for some how they are named and what they might be armed with across the solar system.

The Corpus

The Rank and File Corpus Units could see minor tweaks to how they are labeled, and explore expanding on how Combas/Scrambus and Capture Targets can spawn with different weapons. MOAs seem to be in a great place (most Osprey are also fine), with only the spawning of Bursas being more controlled and getting around to updating the various Corpus bosses in relation to how effective Bursas are, especially when more than one has spawned at the same time.

Naming the Units and their Loadouts

Spoiler

So instead of labeling as Prod, Detron or Elite there can be prefixes and suffixes ranging from Maintenance, Engineering, Security, Nullifier, Sniper, Tech and so on, with each section having its sets of weapons. Then have Crewmen, Midshipmen and Marines as the three classes that I will expand on in the next spoiler.

For example, the Amprex and Glaxion, could be like the Serro or Quanta where they were originally used in maintenance duties charging batteries, maybe even welding, repairing huge ship oxygenators or cryogenically hardening materials. The Convectrix could also be another mining tool originally, that was weaponized. So these could be commonly carried by certain Crewmen, due to what they do on the ship when not being attacked by the Grineer, Infested or Tenno.

The main control would be how enemy level would be able to include more weapons the higher up on the scale, within the different roles, where Maintenance and Engineering would have the lowest and slowest scaling since they have the likes of the Glaxion, Quanta and Convectrix available.

Security having say Detrons, Deras, Flux Rifle, Tetra and so on, could be tougher and scale better with their damage and toughness.

Marines should be scarier and be able to be on par with Grineer Heavy Units, here we would see the likes of common Corpus weapons that are on par with the Ogris and Gorgon included, and be weapons that actually look like they were made for Combat, so Supra, Opticor and Lanka to just name three possible options to include with the options that Security units carry. I would also classify Nullifiers as a Marine unit due to the nature of the equipment, where it does not seem to have any role other than to counter Tenno and any other that may have similar abilities to the Tenno.

 

Crew of Corpus Ships and Bases

Spoiler

Sticking with Naval Terms, since we have Crewmen already, and that is often the lowest Enlisted Rank, I think it would be good to add Midshipmen and Marines.

So Crewmen would be the weakest Corpus units available, similar to Light Grineer units that include Butchers, Flame Blades and so on. These units would commonly see Maintenance, Engineering, Flight and so on as Prefixes, roles related to serving on a space ship.

Midshipmen could replace Elite Crewmen in title only, having better stats along the lines of Grineer Medium Troops, as standard Troopers or Lancers. These should still see the above Prefixes, but include a mix of Security, Arsenal and so on as Prefixes.

Marines would be the heavy hitters such as Nullifiers, Techs, Bombards, Napalms, where their stats and weapons reflect their dangerous-ness, and their toughness and AI their sort of training. These could use suffixes, such as Marine Nullifier, Marine Sniper, Marine Tech and just plain Marine too.

With the mention of Marine Techs, these should function as Field Technicians or Combat Engineers, so their model would be the current Power Carriers, since I feel that they should appear outside of Excavation missions, where only in such missions would they drop Power Cores, but be around other mission types filling unseen duties but ready to engage in combat.

The Corpus Eximus, could be included as Elite Marine units, with Comba/Scrambus representing specialized Field Officers.

And it would be neat to see Marines and Elites, at least, have a Primary Weapon option and a Side Arm, so that they would not immediately switch to melee.

 

Corpus Robotics

Spoiler

These units are in fairly good shape, so I don't have much to add at this time, this will simply be a placeholder for now.

 

The Grineer

The Grineer are in a pretty good place with most of their units, but Rathuum and the idea of providing more variety in weaponry should be considered, so that more Grineer Weaponry is available to Grineer units, as should be done with the Corpus.

The Commander and Manics

Spoiler

One unit that stands out as odd is the Commander having Switch Teleport.

This unit should fill the role of how the Comba/Scrambus could be considered Field Officers for the Grineer, so tweak the AI so the unit does not keep retreating, trying to find cover away from the Tenno, and removing the Switch Teleport ability (which actually fits better with Manics, as they already have erratic movement, have a Telegraphed entry and have been modified by Tyl Regor).

In terms of armament, this unit should be able to carry the Hek and/or Marelok, and have an invisible aura, that would work similar to how Corpus units get near to Nullifier bubbles, and the aura improves how other Grineer units fire their weaponry, along with how they use cover and hold their ground against us.

Manics could then add Switch Teleport to their arsenal of tricks as vicious melee units.

 

Grineer Field Techs

Spoiler

With the appearance of Technician Reth, I thought there is an opportunity to include a new Grineer Unit, inspired by what Reth can represent, Field Technicians, whose role could be repairing systems such as Ramparts, and possibly Grineer traps. They can be armed with short ranged weapons and/or possibly able to use from secondary Grineer Firearms.

 

 

Grineer Weaponry

Spoiler

It seems that Lancers, Troopers and Hellions lend themselves to the ability to carry more variety in their weaponry in the same mission instance. So that the Grakata, Hind, and Karak, for example could be available for them to draw from, and not restricted to specific tilesets. And if possible like with the Corpus be tied to enemy level.

Scorpions would feel better firing their Harpoon from the Harpak so they could fight at mid range, but enjoy pulling out their Machetes.

Other Light Grineer should also carry Shields, so that their desire to advance makes more sense.

Grineer Ground Pounders from Gunners to Bombards should have a Furax on their Left Gauntlets that would be responsible for their special attack.

 

The Infested

So the base units are Chargers, Leapers, Runners, Crawlers, Ospreys, and MOAs. With the more unique units being Ancients, Brood Mothers, Boilers and the Bosses.

So what I'd like to see is a set of Grineer Infested skins for Grineer tilesets, and Corpus themed Infested skins for Corpus tilesets.

Grineer Infested

Spoiler

Chargers remain based off of Lancers, and would having the armor colors matching the tileset they are encountered on, while being able to include a few reskins of the various other Grineer units like Troopers, Gunners, Drahk and Scorch.

Leapers can be based off of Butchers, Ballista, Flameblade, Power Fist and Shield Lancers following the same idea of any unique armor colors matching their tileset

Runners could be infested Scorpions, Eviscerators and maybe even Manics  with volatile runners, possibly based off of Seekers and Hekka Masters.

Crawlers would be a mix of different Grineer units.

Ospreys would need to be replaced with possibly infested Hellions.

MOAs could be replaced by infested Heavies, Swarm type could look like Napalm units, with Tar looking like Bombards

 

Corpus Infested

Spoiler

Chargers would be modeled after the different Crewmen, using the various uniform colors.

Leapers and Runners could possibly be updated to include the new Comba and Scrambus units.

Crawlers would also expand to have Comba and Scrambus infested skins.

Infested MOAs and Ospreys could have added variety reflecting more on the machines they formerly were. And maybe no need to include Bursa skins since they seem to self-destruct, so might not leave anything to get infested.

 

Ancients, Boilers, Phorid and Juggernaut

Spoiler

The three ancient types could see some differentiation, so that there is a more variety when they spawn. Possibly different style crowns with tweaks to textures and base colors. Maybe Disruptors can have more blue in their base skin, Healers could maybe see more red and Toxic more green and yellow, while making their glowing aura effects more subtle so that it not such a swarm of colorful infested neon signs running around.

Boilers could need to have a tweak to what they spawn from their pods, which could be an opportunity to create a new unique creature, and add effects that could leave a new carpet of the infested spores that can be see on infested maps, so this unit would be responsible for changing the environment with the Brood Mother being the one that infects units.

Phorid should be more unique not just a bigger charger. So here is another opportunity for a new unique unit. What I can see for Phorid is being composed of various other units. So it would have an Ancient-esque base in terms of how the limbs could look, with the torso being pieces of other units with a unique Ancient-esque head that could have a few elements borrowed from Lephantis. And so there should be a Grineer themed skin and a Corpus themed one that would be tied to whether it spawned on a Grineer or Corpus occupied node. Here is one ugly mashup trying to visualize how it could be expanded on.

To keep the Juggernaut Behemoth unique in look and origin, I think that the Juggernaut could see a tweak to how it looks. Following in how Phorid can be tweaked, having the Juggernaut look like it was grown from combining different units, so it could have a theme for Grineer and Corpus nodes, and be a lore related way as to how it appears on a tile or not, since it is a fresher infestation than what the Behemoth seems to represent.

 

The Corrupted

Orokin Neural Sentries should have a new unique Drone that could take the place of a field Commander and/or be a field Boss that is responsible for physically converting unlucky invaders into drones. So that it would be the unit that would be the eyes and ears of the Neural Sentries.

Neural Sentry Drone

Spoiler

My thought would be to have a composite unit that would use the Legs of a Fusion MOA Guardian and have the upper torso of an enlarged Drone Guardian with Robotic Arms and a thick torso. Behavior-wise, I can see it jump around like a Hellion and utilize beam attacks from its arms, with a CC and a Dispelling power.

 

 

Corrupted Units

Spoiler

For the corrupted units, there should be three class categories where each would carry a unique set of orokin firepower. So there can be a mix of corrupted units that would fall into those categories, so it could be possible to see a former Flameblade or Guardian rockin' a Latron Prime themed Rifle, or a former Corpus Tech carrying a Scindo Prime themed Melee. So any available Grineer or Corpus unit could fall under one of three weapon categories.

Close-Range, there would be sets of Grinner, Corpus and mixed that would carry Orokin styled melee or shotguns.

Mid-Range, again different sets of Grinner, Corpus and mixed units that would carry Orokin styled Rifles.

Heavies and Specialists, would carry Orokin themed LMGs, Launchers and Sniper Rifles to name a few.

This way the Void sees more variety compared to Void Fissures, where enemies of a faction are initially being corrupted.

 

The Eximus

These units should be more Elite Specialists with actual gear (growths and masses for Infested) that they carry into battle, such as unique camo patterns and colors, specialized armor, faction specific armor attachments, specialized weaponry and other auxiliary gear. MOAs that spawn as Eximus should have a different gun model mounted on the unit and have cosmetic ornaments also.

Their AI should also reflect their Elite status, build from what Rathuum showed can be possible, and likely adjust their spawn rate.

And at least replace the glowing effects from Head to Toe with effects that are more along the lines of how Warframes channel Energy, so that the gear they carry would be the items that should be generating any glowing effects.

 

Expressing their Elite Status among the Factions

Spoiler

One example of an armor attachment is a Corpus styled Shoulder Pauldron, that would then have a cosmetic skin that can be used to display info such as a unit patch. Below are two crude mock ups of a blank pauldron that would reflect the Eximus type within a Lore Context (Since Grineer have them already, it would be a matter of overlaying the cosmetic attachment over the selected areas, such as using a variation of the Harkonar shapes and colors). This way Eximus Units can be identified without having to have the whole unit glow a certain color, where instead select gear and sections glow as Warframes do when Channeling for example.

The Rathuum Executioners demonstrate that such unique profiles can be extended to Elite Eximus units along with their AI possibilities.

 

 

Details for the Various Eximus Types

Spoiler

Blitz - Could have weapons from the Marine selection and a pouch from where they can throw grenades that cause their Seismic Shockwave.

Energy Leech - Could carry a blunt weapon that for Grineer would be a modded Amphis, and I guess Corpus could keep the Prova.

Arson - These units would carry the Napalm's signature weapon and a special backpack that would be the source of their Fire Blast.

Guardian - Could have a special backpack and gauntlet that is used to recharge their allies.

Arctic - These units should be far more unique and should therefore have a special Grineer Skin and a Corpus Skin, where they look to have a specially designed and insulated suit that projects gas like Frost's arm attachments and has a specialized backpack. I'd consider giving these units the Glaxion with a Grineer skin variant, could use the Napalm Ogris for example.

Leech -  I'd consider these units to carry a Drakgoon, since they are only found with Grineer, and have a Gauntlet that could account for it's Life Leech, similar to Dok Thul.

Shock - These should carry the Amprex or Lanka and a Tesla Coil looking device that is the source of their aura damage.

Parasitic, Caustic, Sanguine and Venomous these would simply incorporate more of their aura colors into their new grows and masses as the sources of their energy and have less neon, disco-esque energy colors from Head to Toe. Then their aura effects could be more as flames emanating from their growths and masses instead of how they currently have the colored energy lines going across their bodies. Icing on the cake would be to adjust their auras as well, but reduced spawn rate and improved enemy behavior could be enough.

The main thing is to move away from the whole unit glowing, where the effects should be more along the lines of how Channeling and some abilities make parts of the unit glow, or even produce an aura effect around the unit.

 

Syndicates

These factions should have unique Operatives and Spectres available, that would carry their signature Syndicate weapons when appropriate and do not proc their special Syndicate Affects. A way to achieve this, is to utilize the existing Attachments system to add armor details to the Operatives, and at the same time allow such items to be available to players. Some QoL improvements for how they engage the enemy would also be welcome for the two operatives that join us on missions to the Specters that also fight by our side.

Spoiler

Steel Meridian

Steel Meridian being Deserters, for their operatives that join you on missions, would be reskinned Commanders and Gunners/Ballista in their whited and grey colors, armed with Veykor Heks and Mareloks (again they should not proc their effects). Since they are supposed to be a small splinter group from the Grineer, they could keep the Eximus Roller over using Humanoids while adding Roller Sentries and modified Regulators (that drop Latchers and try to stay at range) to their Hit Squad. Also, instead of Leeching, it could be an Arson Roller Sentry Specter awarded.

Arbiters of Hexis

Arbiters could lean towards a Knight or Paladin theme for their agents, in-terms of armor accents and redoing their helms that work with the aesthetic of their weapons. So, the Helms should at least look more functional and not like a baseball mask and they could possibly have a flowing Tunic that would carry their symbol.

Also, Arbiters seem better to use of one of their operatives as a Shock Specter, than a Corrupted Grineer unit, how would they get their hands on Corrupted stuff anyway with what is known of the Void and Neural Sentries? Isn't Baro unique in Void related items or could there even be some deeper connection / association between them?

Cephalon Suda

As a Cephalon that seeks knowledge, would it have any humanoid followers? So here, we could see a Cephalon skinned MOA that would equip the Gammacor, since it is unknown to me if the AI could manage the Simulor or if it could if that would even be a good idea. And so the specters could then be the Cephalon MOA and could keep the Guardian type, with a weapon available too. They would just need to keep the AI of the humanoid units.

The Perrin Sequence

This syndicate strikes me as also wanting to avoid direct violence and should then also prefer sending out MOAs with unique skins and maybe unique weapon geometry to standard Corpus MOAs, over risking their people. Perrin specters could make use of the Blitz Fusion MOA type.

Red Veil

Unique accents that follow the flow of the Rakta Cernos should be used and the Rakta weapons would remain. This faction should also be willing to send their agents out into the field and could utilize the Health Leech type, over the current Chargers.

New Loka

Loka could be a Paladin or Cleric themed one for accents. So ideas could range from flowing ribbons along the lines of Nekros' Mortos Binds from the shoulders, chest and back to nature themed armor accents.

If they are purity of Humanity why do they have Ancients? Are those pure? So, it might make more sense for them to send their units with Energy Leech or just Leech, than Ancients.

Clem

Lastly, going through the Syndicate specters, I'm reminded of how squishy Clem is against higher level enemies, and would like to see his Armor changed from Ferrite to Alloy and be given a small boost to Health and Armor. A small +50 each might do, so the new base is 350 each, but I wouldn't mind a +100 each either!

 

Non-Combatants

Colonials

There are a small number of NPCs available that have a different body type compared to the big factions, and they are all currently slender body suits with different Helmets. So it would be nice to see civilians and some variety that could borrow from a few of the warframes and the Corpus with different accents for armor parts.

With the current tilesets in mind, these are the the first types I'd focus towards.

Spoiler

Miners- These NPCs can heavily share from Corpus Crewmen, where instead of having rectangular helmets, they could make use of the current face of one of the Arbiters of Hexis helms, with the Dome style of some of the Arid Grineer Helms. There gear can show great wear and tear with patches to keep gear functioning. Here's a Crude example:

Engineers- These NPCs would have similar styling to Miners with nicer equipment. They would have standard roles ranging from repair to maintenance related to their tileset.

Administrative Staff- These NPCs, would likely have many dress in the style of the Perrin Leader, Comba and Scrambus (minus their helms and skates of course), and the tight jumpsuit style can be intermixed as well.

Flight Crew- these would only be found on ships and would have a type of jump suit that could follow the patterning of New Loka, with corpus styled Life Support like chest attachment and Helmet.

 

I look forward to feedback, and I can try to come up with better visuals in the future, but all I have now is MS Paint. Thanks for reading.

 

 

Edited September 9, 2016 by SPARTAN-187.Thanatos
Updates

[Kelevera]

Sounds like a lot of work but I really like the idea of more faction specific infested units and Eximus units being equipped somewhat differently although they still need to be quickly identifiable in a crowd which the glow definitely achieves.

Edited April 2, 2016 by Kelevera

[Killsheet]

Gotta agree on this one. I do like variety between units though.

[o.0-]

Stuck with MS Paint for the foreseeable future, but I tried some crude mashups and added more details to the OP.

[o.0-]

Inspired by Rathuum Executioners and a thread wondering about allow the Corpus units to carry the Opticor, I have added ideas for the Corpus and Grineer, while applying spoiler tabs for the different sections.

[o.0-]

Updated Eximus section with a visual example.

[o.0-]

Updated Eximus section again, with more details.

[Soketsu]

there are so much work done here

it's this kindof thread who should be popular, not some sterile incomplete thread

[TheVeiledScion]

Seeing this for the first time. Definitely in favor of this idea.

On the subject of Syndicates, I think Cephalon Suda could have specters, of all types. I think that'd make more sense than Corpus tech. 

[Dante130666]

Im all for it.

[Hayabusa97]

This sounds badass. I'm for it

[(PSN)LeBlingKing]

For your Corpus Robotics thing, I have a few suggestions.

MOAS and Ospreys shouldn't just be recolored versions of each other, and should actually have different characteristics as to what type it is.

Examples:

Spoiler

Shockwave MOAs should have bigger, thicker "legs", one which lights up as it prepares to stomp.

Railgun MOAS should have a Detron or Opticor-looking weapon on their head to get a real feeling of a railgun.

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Leech and Sapping Ospreys should have their "sappers" and "leeches" lined up on their back as a "spine", and should be seen getting launched from them.

Shield Ospreys should have a mini-shield around themselves. Not only does it protect the Osprey and lives up to its name, it can also get weaker and weaker the more shield is applies to the allies around it (ie. the beams of shield should be coming from the personal Shield that the Osprey has)

Oxium Ospreys should have crystals of oxium composed on their wings, heads, and backs, and they light up red as the Osprey starts to kamikaze (ie. the Oxium on the Osprey is orange neutrally, then starts turning red. when the crystals are fully red, the Osprey will do their little pre-suicide dance thing. if they miss, the oxium will turn back to orange)

(please don't judge, i made this in 5 minutes in paint.net)

Scavanger Drones should have a mini-Vacuum somewhere on their body.

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Fusion and Anti MOAs are fine as is, I can't really find anything wrong with them

 

[o.0-]

5 minutes ago, (PS4)LeBlingKing69 said:

For your Corpus Robotics thing, I have a few suggestions.

MOAS and Ospreys shouldn't just be recolored versions of each other, and should actually have different characteristics as to what type it is.

Examples:

  Hide contents

Shockwave MOAs should have bigger, thicker "legs", one which lights up as it prepares to stomp.

Railgun MOAS should have a Detron or Opticor-looking weapon on their head to get a real feeling of a railgun.

 

---

Leech and Sapping Ospreys should have their "sappers" and "leeches" lined up on their back as a "spine", and should be seen getting launched from them.

Shield Ospreys should have a mini-shield around themselves. Not only does it protect the Osprey and lives up to its name, it can also get weaker and weaker the more shield is applies to the allies around it (ie. the beams of shield should be coming from the personal Shield that the Osprey has)

Oxium Ospreys should have crystals of oxium composed on their wings, heads, and backs, and they light up red as the Osprey starts to kamikaze (ie. the Oxium on the Osprey is orange neutrally, then starts turning red. when the crystals are fully red, the Osprey will do their little pre-suicide dance thing. if they miss, the oxium will turn back to orange)

(please don't judge, i made this in 5 minutes in paint.net)

Scavanger Drones should have a mini-Vacuum somewhere on their body.

 

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Fusion and Anti MOAs are fine as is, I can't really find anything wrong with them

 

I like those ideas, but for the Oxium, maybe better for turbo jets connected to the hanging torso to account for its suicidal charge attack?

The way I think of it, the Oxium makes ithe Osprey so light that the Corpus are able to add on heavier jet engines on the unit compared to other Ospreys.

[AntoninDvorak]

This is awesome!! I got hyped reading this... but then came back to reality :( . DE should be doing something like this, instead of keep adding crappy weapons/frames. We have enough frames and weapons. It's time for them to work on the enemy.
 I wish they could allow to make and put mods to this game. Some crazy indie game designer could bring your ideas to life. Or you! if you know how to do it