Sentient Concepts

[Krion112]

The other day, I came up with an interesting premise: I've been way behind on my drawing, and as such I've been rather down. So, to bring my spirits around, I intend to dedicate today to the creation of a set of Sentient things, including Units and Weapons. This thread will be that repository. If you want to request anything, go right ahead! Feedback appreciated, as I'm also fighting to figure out the Sentient Art-Style, so let me know if it matches! Enjoy.

Without delay, here they are:

Units

Mantis

Equipped with a gravity tether, this lumbering Sentient unit will drag victims in to be cleaved by its bladed arms, or to be destroyed by other Sentient units. Its terrifying, lanky movements struck fear in the hearts of the forces of the Orokin during the times of the Old War, as it shambled towards firing lines of Dax and Grineer soldiers. Common strategy was to employ unwitting Grineer to grab their attention, and having them prepared with blade weaponry to strike their abductor once they were within the distance to do so. The Sentient adapted the design to feature the mantis-like grips, which would pin their victims to be dissected.

• Nullification Sentient Unit
• Shambles towards targets slowly; not very agile
• Primary ability to use a Tethering Device to drag enemies in; normal enemies are ragdolled, but Tenno are not
• Secondary ability of holding down a target using its mantis arms; this allows the target to be immediately finished off by its cleaver arms
• Mantis arms can be shot off, disabling ability to finish off enemies
• Energy cleavers deal extreme damage; avoid at all costs

 

Mesmerlyst

Stories from the front-lines often depicted the horrors of soldiers being enthralled by the beautiful displays acted out by some of the Sentient's elaborate and mystic forms. This particular fragment of the Sentient's influence embodies this effect, as it can entrance any who look upon it, distracting them away from the ongoing conflict, making them vulnerable targets to other Sentient forces.

• Distraction Sentient Unit
• Levitates in a more calm and mystical manner than Conculysts or Battalysts
• Activates an ability when surrounded by enemies to entrance them; entranced enemies lose their will to fight and watch the Mesmerlyst
• Tenno afflicted by Entrance will be unable to see or hurt any enemy but the Mesmerlyst
• Shooting off its wings disables its entrancing ability for a short while; if neither of its wings are attached, it cannot entrance
• Generates particles which strike nearby enemies, similar to Nova's Null Star

 

Icarus

These Sentinels, twisted and turned for the purpose of carrying out the will of the Sentient, commonly accompany other Sentient units. They possess a point-defense ability, which can target and evaporate projectile ordinance within a small radius, including things such as arrows, rockets, grenades, and even some Warframe created projectiles. This system, however, is not perfect, and can be overwhelmed.

• Sentinel
• Spawns bonded to other Units
• Point Defense system eliminates enemy projectiles (grenades, bolts, arrows, rockets, etc) within a reasonable radius
• Can only eliminate a single projectile at a time, with a few seconds cool down
• Features a burst plasma weapon
• Cannot adapt to Damage Types

 

Occulyst

The ever vigilant eyes of the Sentient, they act as both infiltrators and watchers. Their extremely powerful array of sensors were once used to provide pin-point accurate and safe navigation through the various hazards of space; they now service the Sentient by revealing all that is veiled in secrecy. They may also manifest their senses elsewhere by the use of networked projections, but in direct combat these projections act only as momentary distractions.

• Distraction Sentient Unit
• Cooperation oriented; works in tandem with other units over itself
• Passively eliminates targeting related effects (ie, Cloak, Blindness, etc)
• Can project active decoys of itself or allies, hiding the original

 

 

Weapons

Chakram

Forged from Sentient Bone, this throwing weapon is highly adept at deflecting oncoming attacks, as it shares in the Sentient's adaptation properties. It has been known to cause a disorientating effect when struck, going so far as to disrupt electronic and organic systems, and those they are linked to. Lorists conscripted for the Old War came to fear the comrades that wielded this weapon, often getting a sickening feeling when in its presence. This fear proved justified, when the weapon was inevitably turned upon them by the Tenno.

• Thrown Melee
• Focus on Magnetic Damage
• When thrown, striking an enemy will revoke their ability to project or receive Auras (ie, Shield Ospreys, Ancients, Eximus Units, etc)
• When blocking, it will present an 'Adaptation' buff, which will slowly make certain damage types less effective

 

Ajati

A unique weapon, long ago scavenged from Sentient parts during some of the most desperate times of the Old War, this body-mounted sling-shot weapon is capable of generating and lobbing highly unstable particles over extreme distances. The original, wielded by the Dax Imperator, Jau Nedes, was said to still bear the voice of its Sentient master, often being accused for being the cause of Jau's decent into madness. Superstitious types fear that fragments of that Sentient remain, haunting the remnant of weapons constructed from its bones.

• Sling-Shot Primary; Back-Mounted, think of the big Sling-Shots you fire watermelons out of
• Focus on Impact Damage
• Charge-Trigger; Charge determines Status chance, with full charge being near-guaranteed status

 

Dazra

The venomous ether emitted from this weapon constricts its victims, slowly suffocating them while an unnatural paralysis sets in. It was known in the age of the Orokin for tormenting treacherous spies, influenced by the Sentient to divulge the Orokin's secrets, as well as being used to 'inspire' soldiers to keep fighting. It wasn't long before the Sentient reclaimed this device, eventually outfitting some of its own fragments to utilize its effects against entrenched Orokin forces, paralyzing them, and then promptly executing them without reprisal.

• Continuous Wrist-Mounted Sidearm
• Focus on Gas Damage
• Targets afflicted by its ether tendrils are paralyzed, rendered unable to move or attack
• However, it deals very little damage on its own.
• The Secondary trigger can be used to rip-line your current target to you, dealing high damage at the cost of high ammo consumption.

 

Ketu

Blade-masters across the Orokin Empire grasped this weapon against their Sentient nemesis. Revered for its relentless blades, it caused great anguish for its foes, even being known for turning them against one another. When the empire came to an end, it was believed that this weapon, wielded by a Tenno, silenced the last of the Orokin, symbolizing the method by which the Tenno and Sentient had both turned on their imperial creators. Like a fallen star, the Orokin Empire fizzled out with but a whimper.

• Tonfa Melee
• Focus on Radiation Damage
• Spin Attacks greatly improve Status chance

 

Edited October 31, 2016 by Krion112

[lightdragon64]

+1 love the idea...

terrifying thought of being dragged into a screaming sentient deathtrap...

[GinKenshin]

DE should really use this concept, at least the art. good job mate ^^

[Imaru]

Love the look of it, though I must ask why the glowing "center" of it is heart shaped.

Some stats would be nice, but the ability seems really cool. 

[Kaokasalis]

Looks pretty good and very in line with the Sentient theme to me.

Just having some trouble seeing what the function of certain body parts are, I think if you put in little nodes of text to describe their function that it would help.

Did I guess right?

 

[Krion112]

Here's the Next, the Mesmerlyst

Mesmerlyst

Stories from the frontlines often depicted the horrors of soldiers being enthralled by the beautiful displays by some of the Sentient's elaborate and mystic forms. It is unknown how, but this particular fragment of the Sentient's influence can entrance any who look upon it, distracting them away from the ongoing war.

 

1 hour ago, lightdragon64 said:

+1 love the idea...

terrifying thought of being dragged into a screaming sentient deathtrap...

Greatly Appreciated!

Yes, being dragged in and wrecked by a swarm of Sentient fragments would be something you'd encounter in a nightmare, that you'd wake up in a cold sweat over.

 

1 hour ago, GinKenshin said:

DE should really use this concept, at least the art. good job mate ^^

Thank you! I've actually studied a great deal of game-design, so I can almost guarantee the mechanics fit pretty well, the issue would just be statistics. But, I guess that depends upon if what I believe game-design is lines up with what DE does, so... either way, thanks!

 

1 hour ago, Imaru said:

Love the look of it, though I must ask why the glowing "center" of it is heart shaped.

Some stats would be nice, but the ability seems really cool. 

It just seemed to match the curvature of the Sentient designs. It wasn't intentionally heart shaped.

If you want stats, feel free to give me suggestions. Numerics are not my strong suit.

 

1 hour ago, Hieracon said:

Looks pretty good and very in line with the Sentient theme to me.

Just having some trouble seeing what the function of certain body parts are, I think if you put in little nodes of text to describe their function that it would help.

Thanks, and I will definitely mark out the functioning parts in future designs (after the Mesmerlyst). I may even go back and label them too, but probably will do that later.

The gravity tether is not visible; it's the ability of this fragment's core (like how Battalysts have the death disco, Conculysts have the shield-dispersing flashes, and Occulysts have the scanning beam).

The large, shoulder sections are just for the arms, and they'd function like a Battalyst or Conculyst arm in that it can be blown off. Those arms that attach to the large shoulder sections hold you down and allow the Sentient to initialize a finisher on you if they are still active by the time the tether has drawn you all the way in, so best to disable them first.

The arms with the energy symbols are the blades; sort of energy cleavers. Once caught by the praying-mantis arms, they'll chop their victim to pieces. 

Does that help?

Edited October 24, 2016 by Krion112

[Imaru]

Interesting ideas, one issue on the second one (aside from not explaining what niche it would fill) is that it doesn't have a "Sentient" face (that of Hunhow) which kind of breaks the theme of all the other Sentient units. 

[Krion112]

3 minutes ago, Imaru said:

Interesting ideas, one issue on the second one (aside from not explaining what niche it would fill) is that it doesn't have a "Sentient" face (that of Hunhow) which kind of breaks the theme of all the other Sentient units. 

I was only going to put the function in the OP, should I also include it with the post?

Also, it does have a face, it's just I'm not doing shading or anything to it's harder to depict. It also doesn't share Hunhow's face, but if you look at the Battalyst, Conculyst, and the new Sentient concept art we got with the Sentient weapon, neither do any of the other fragments.

I'll give you this much, though, the Sentient faces are really hard to draw. I'm trying to improve, so I'll keep this in mind for future units. Thanks for the feedback!

[Imaru]

6 minutes ago, Krion112 said:

I was only going to put the function in the OP, should I also include it with the post?

Also, it does have a face, it's just I'm not doing shading or anything to it's harder to depict. It also doesn't share Hunhow's face, but if you look at the Battalyst, Conculyst, and the new Sentient concept art we got with the Sentient weapon, neither do any of the other fragments.

I'll give you this much, though, the Sentient faces are really hard to draw. I'm trying to improve, so I'll keep this in mind for future units. Thanks for the feedback!

I would recommend you include it in the post and the OP, and as for the face, from the wiki:

"One of the earlier Sentinel Cosmetics is called the "Hunhow Sentinel Mask" and not only does it share Hunhow's name, but its overall design is similar to the faces of the Battalyst and the Conculyst. It remains to be seen if this was a deliberate piece of foreshadowing however."

This isn't definitely accurate, but the "faces" of the normal Sentient Units absolutely share the look of Hunhow's face, as does the War on its handle/pommel. 

[Krion112]

I'm going to take a quick break to eat something, already have my next two things plotted: another unit and a weapon. So, if anyone has a preference to which one I should do first, let me know. If there's no preference, I'll probably default to doing the weapon, just because it'll be easier to draw. These next two things I'm also going to go more into detail with, such as shading and what not, so they may take longer, but should hopefully look better.

 

19 minutes ago, Imaru said:

This isn't definitely accurate, but the "faces" of the normal Sentient Units absolutely share the look of Hunhow's face, as does the War on its handle/pommel. 

The mask only looks similar to the faces of the present units, but I haven't really seen Hunhow up close enough to know what his face looks like, and if the present units completely match up or not. I'll try to keep them closer to Hunhow in the future anyway, though, just because I like the idea that all his fragments may share his same face.

[Tricky5hift]

This art is fantastic and the design concepts are really cool!

Since you're going off of an animal/insect design, may I suggest a crab-like sentient that behaves more like a battle tank.

The legs would fit perfectly with those spiny sentient appendages.

Edited October 24, 2016 by Tricky5hift

[Krion112]

10 minutes ago, Tricky5hift said:

This art is fantastic and the design concepts are really cool!

Since you're going off of an animal/insect design, may I suggest a crab-like sentient that behaves more like a battle tank.

The legs would fit perfectly with those spiny sentient appendages.

Certainly! Now, by crab-like, do you mean it's more flattened out, being wider than it is tall, like those Sentient dropships from the Tomb of the Sentient trailer, or just that it would feature more crab-like features?

[Tricky5hift]

1 hour ago, Krion112 said:

Certainly! Now, by crab-like, do you mean it's more flattened out, being wider than it is tall, like those Sentient dropships from the Tomb of the Sentient trailer, or just that it would feature more crab-like features?

Maybe more wider that it is tall.

The appendages can come out the sides and the bottom and the claws can come out the sides.

Have one claw be a cannon and the other be some energy claw.

[Krion112]

Just now, Tricky5hift said:

Maybe more wider that it is tall.

The appendages can come out the sides and the bottom and the claws can come out the sides.

Have one claw be a cannon and the other be some energy claw.

Alright, I'll get to that right after the weapon I'm almost finished with and the next unit.

[Tricky5hift]

Ok can't wait to see what you got next in store for us!

[Rhekemi]

These are pretty impressive.

I don't have much more to say that hasn't already been noted. Just looking forward to the new weapons and units. (I'm wondering if you'll take cues from that Sentient weapon Steve teased recently, as well.)

Oh, size comparisons with the existing units would be very cool, btw. I imagine these two units as field commanders, or officers of higher rank and priority (especially since you've pretty much outlined that), and therefore larger, more imposing.

Edited October 24, 2016 by Rhekemi

[Krion112]

48 minutes ago, Tricky5hift said:

Ok can't wait to see what you got next in store for us!

 

2 minutes ago, Rhekemi said:

These are pretty impressive.

I don't have much more to say that hasn't already been noted. Just looking forward to the new weapons and units. (I'm wondering if you'll take cues from that Sentient weapon Steve teased recently, as well.)

Unfortunately, Imgur is being difficult at the moment, so I'm just going to complete the next unit an Tricky's crab and upload them all together.

In the mean time, I can talk about the weapon: It's a Sentient Chakram. I don't have a name for it, but I need help determining what it will do. Thrown Melee, like Glaives, are multifaceted weapons, so it will be able to do two things, but I haven't settled on those two things.

Some Options:

• Inflicts Radiation damage, with guaranteed Confusion procs when thrown.
• Targets impacted get mind-controlled.
• Blocking will do the Sentient elemental damage resistance, but this resistance only works while blocking and shifts between damage times (so, taking a lot of Corrosive will make it resist Corrosive, but then blocking Fire will make it resist Corrosive less, and focus on resisting Fire).
• Striking enemies will temporarily disable any of their auras (ie, Shield Ospreys, Ancients, Eximus Units, etc).

It can do two, and if you have any ideas outside of those let me know. In the mean time, I'll get to designing the next two units.

[Krion112]

Got Imgur to work, here's the Chakram:

[Kaokasalis]

4 hours ago, Krion112 said:

Thanks, and I will definitely mark out the functioning parts in future designs (after the Mesmerlyst). I may even go back and label them too, but probably will do that later.

The gravity tether is not visible; it's the ability of this fragment's core (like how Battalysts have the death disco, Conculysts have the shield-dispersing flashes, and Occulysts have the scanning beam).

The large, shoulder sections are just for the arms, and they'd function like a Battalyst or Conculyst arm in that it can be blown off. Those arms that attach to the large shoulder sections hold you down and allow the Sentient to initialize a finisher on you if they are still active by the time the tether has drawn you all the way in, so best to disable them first.

The arms with the energy symbols are the blades; sort of energy cleavers. Once caught by the praying-mantis arms, they'll chop their victim to pieces. 

Does that help?

Indeed. Looking forward to your next work.

[Krion112]

Here's probably the last for today, my hand is getting exhausted. There's a lot of finesse movement required for the Sentient art style. Might continue it later, but more likely I'll just put doing more off till tomorrow.

Still going to do that crab one; making a really bug-like Sentient will be fun!

Icarus

These Sentinels, twisted and turned for the purpose of carrying out the will of the Sentient, commonly accompany other Sentient units. They possess a point-defense ability, which can target and evaporate projectile ordinance within a small radius, including things such as arrows from bow weaponry, rockets, grenades, and even some Warframe created projectiles. This system is not perfect, and can be overwhelmed. As well, they do not inherit the Sentient elemental resistance ability.

 

25 minutes ago, Hieracon said:

Indeed. Looking forward to your next work.

Thanks!

Edited October 24, 2016 by Krion112

[Rhekemi]

Sentient sentinels and the chakram are very nice. Both in function and aesthetic. I'm wondering which unit would've traditionally thrown the chakram, now.

For function options, I like the last two more. Mind-control (without some buff) isn't very helpful, so maybe if it mind-controls and buffs the target, I'd like that one more, too.

Edited October 25, 2016 by Rhekemi
Missing words.

[Krion112]

Alright, just to return to the project, I quickly did some analysis of Sentient style, and found I'm not as accurate as I'd hoped. To rectify that, I quickly sketched a unique model for the Occulyst, as the present is merely a pacifistic Battalyst featuring a strange filter.

Here's that sketch:

Occulyst

The ever vigilant eyes of the Sentient, they act as both infiltrators and watchers. Their extremely powerful array of sensors were once used to provide pin-point accurate and safe navigation through the various hazards of space; they now service the Sentient by revealing all that is veiled in secrecy. They may also manifest their senses elsewhere by the use of networked projections, but in direct combat these projections act only as momentary distractions.

 

Next, I'll do the crab as requested. Probably going to take longer, as I'm going to draw it at an angle instead of facing at the 'camera'.

 

15 hours ago, Rhekemi said:

Sentient sentinels and the chakram are very nice. Both in function and aesthetic. I'm wondering which unit would've traditionally thrown the chakram, now.

For function options, I like the last two more. Mind-control (without some buff) isn't very helpful, so maybe if it mind-controls and buffs the target, I'd like that one more, too.

It was my understanding that any weapons we would use from the Sentient wouldn't really be Sentient used, it's more like we're repurposing their parts into weapons. If you want, though, I could make a unit that uses the Chakram.

So, the Sentient Resistance while blocking and Aura Disruption when thrown? Alright, I'll come up with some flavor text then.

[Rhekemi]

The new unit design does look more Sentient than the others, but honestly with the liberties creators can take as artists, the units that look less Sentient are just fine, too.

I like that I can tell it's a Sentient unit, but also your creation/style.

Chakram: Ah, fair point. In that case, I wouldn't spend extra time designing a unit to wield it.

On functions, yeah, I liked those. Mind control would be good if there were a way to ensure the target served usefully.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Rhekemi

[Eldnacpeek]

I want all of them in game. Amazing concepts.

[Krion112]

The crab is underway, but it's far more complex than the rest. I might move it to 'Boss' status. I'm going to switch over and draw a couple more weapons to fill in the gap of content that may occur, as weapons are much much simpler to do. But I'm not going to be doing anything else after that until the Crab is done.

Also, I updated the OP with flavor text for the Chakram, and rearranged it so it features Units first and Weapons second.

 

On 10/24/2016 at 3:32 PM, Rhekemi said:

Oh, size comparisons with the existing units would be very cool, btw. I imagine these two units as field commanders, or officers of higher rank and priority (especially since you've pretty much outlined that), and therefore larger, more imposing.

Sure, I'll make a comparison chart, say when I get about 6 units done. Then I'll just expand it as I go along.

Indeed, the Mantis and Mesmerlyst would be fewer and further between than any, more expendable Sentient units.

On the note of higher-rank types, one of the first things I wanted to do was a Sentient character I've been kind of designing behind the scenes. Don't have a physical design down yet, but it's essentially a fragment of Hunhow designed with the express task of retrieving the Lotus.

 

1 hour ago, Rhekemi said:

The new unit design does look more Sentient than the others, but honestly with the liberties creators can take as artists, the units that look less Sentient are just fine, too.

True, but I feel more successful in accurately recreating the style. Granted, I'm not very inclined to art, but I still like being accurate.

Either way, I'm not writing-off the original units, I'm only moving forward. The whole objective was to ascertain the Sentient art style so I could aim to be more unique with my additional factions concept. Plus, I needed an excuse to draw, and sort of return to doing Warframe stuff, as you should probably know.

 

1 hour ago, Rhekemi said:

I like that I can tell it's a Sentient unit, but also your creation/style.

Thanks!

 

1 hour ago, LazerSkink said:

I want all of them in game. Amazing concepts.

Greatly appreciated!

Edited October 26, 2016 by Krion112