[Hijack Replacment] New Semi-Endless Mission Type

[Dimcreaper]

I've recently been taking a look at different game types, taking a break from the usual survival or void run and taking a look around at the variety of levels Warframe actually offers.

After playing a Hijack mission, it dawned on me that there was really not much going for this poor game mode, while interesting visually the mechanics were not particularly interesting. it wasn't endless so there was no "end game" play ability and there where no unique rewards. It was just another piece of the Star-Chart.

As I was playing however an interesting idea came to mind. but first...let me direct you to the last level of the first Gears of War. In this mission you fight your way up a speeding train through cargo cars and small fortress-like structures. Along the way you have to complete certain objectives and eventually it all comes to a swell end as you kill the last boss. It was a really fun experience and still remains one of my favorite levels in the shooter genre. (Look it up if your interested, couldn't find any videos without talking)

• How do we apply this sort of thing to Warframe? Well with the introduction of the War Within and the Kuva Fortress DE showed some interest with multi staged missions types in the Assault game mode. The general idea behind the Hijack rework is that the Tenno are hijacking a supply train, super-tram thing. The mission would begin and the Tenno would have to fight a short way to the tram itself, then get it moving (probably just a flick of a switch) From that point on the Tenno would fight enemies off of the tram (either spawning on or jumping onto it from the waysides, depending how fast its moving) Certain sections may even include archwing enemies assaulting from above, like the Kuva Fortress bridge tile. Every 5min or by some other mile marker scheme the tram would come to a stop at a supply depot and take on cargo, changing up the environment as crates are loaded on. During this time players must then defend the cargo cranes until the process is completed.
• After the cargo is loaded at each stop the players are rewarded a large sum of [Insert rare resource here] and then given the option the proceed or extract. This would be the primary payout of this mission type, giving an alternative avenue to acquire resources like Cryotic, Oxium, Neurodes, Tellirium, and other resources. The material payout would be higher then the average mission type, giving people a larger insensitive to play. Hijack would be the equivalent of the Index for Credits or Survival/Deference for Affinity. 
• This mission, while being a form of endurance game play would not be completely endless. After all the train only has so much cargo space. The time of which a player can stay could be indicative of the node level (lvl 1-5: 10-15min, lvl 10-20: 20-35min, ect...) Or it could just be really high for all missions! Should the Tenno stay until the train is full they would complete the mission automatically and take the rewards of their hard work.

I hope to hear feedback on this idea, I would love to spitball with people and see what can be done with this idea.

Additional ideas from feedback and brainstorming:
 

• As you assault the train there are objective that need to be completed while the train is in transit from one depot to the next. For example you must move toward the fortress cars of the train and destroy the anti aircraft defense cannons, to allow your landing craft to come in during extraction. Or perhaps a large corpus proxy (Jackal proxy that's being transported, similar to the one in Grineer spy missions that activates if you fail hacking the data terminal) is activated during the journey and threatens your team, or the integrity of the train itself. Maybe the train is carrying a shipment of Tubemen (manic bombards, Manics) and they are woken up to defend the train. Or on your way to the next destination another train pulls up along side yours attempting to destroy the control car, it deploys large waves of elite enemies onto your train while you defend, but you also have to destroy their ramparts guns. Perhaps aerial support for the enemy come in and you have to fight off a heavily armored ship as it attempts to blow you and derail the train. All of these and more could be possibilities for mid transit objectives or mini boss fights. Each are put into a pool of possibilities and are encountered randomly during the course of the mission to keep things interesting between runs. I.E. Multiple shipments of Tubmen that activate at different times or having to fight off a couple enemy trains through the duration of the mission.

Endless and non endless nodes:

• The average node would be dotted across the entire star chart, featuring an escalating but not endless game type and giving good rewards of resources for high risk.
• There would only be 2-3 endless nodes, one on Ceres for the Grineer and one on Europa for the Corpus, with perhaps an Orokin variant in the Void or an infested version in Eris. These missions would feature the same steep escalation and good rewards however after reaching the max cargo limit for the train your landing craft decent extracting the cargo and the team boards a new train starting again and continuing the enemy escalation.

PS: Read the comments below there are some really good ideas put forward by other users!
 

Edited April 17, 2017 by Dimcreaper

[artemisfortune]

We don't really need another endless mission. We have 4 already.

[RICK_BO]

This sounds really interesting honestly. and being a sort of semi-endless is a cool idea. Enemies would scale, definitely, but there would also be a pre-determined cap. And having a pre-determined cap to a mission in which enemy levels rise would also prompt for a climax in a crescendoing battle. Fighting the corpus and stealing their ill gotten goods? Nab some resources using their own transport system, and after hitting a few depots you have the location of a particularly tasty cache; however as you've been drawing attention all this time they're sending the big guns. Squads of scrambus' and Bursas surely await you if you decide to keep this train rolling and go for the big payday.

The biggest reason I like this one if there's definite pros and cons even in the lore behind the mission. Sneak in, activate the tram and keep the enemy from disabling it while gathering supplies and resources. If the tram controls have taken too many hits you'd extract when it becomes available. Of the other four, only Excavation makes complete sense. Intercept comes second, but if we've captured some messages, but fail to capture the next one have we lost all the messages captured so far? And defense; What's the point of defending a target longer than needed? if extraction is available and the coming enemies are going to be tougher why should we stick around and stay in our compromised position? Survival; We go in to raise a ruckus Expecting them to shut down life support but aren't prepared for it? (even with our magical space wings that include a self-sustaining life support system?)

But this is good. All the pieces are there. Hijack was a different game mode that simply isn't touched at all anymore. As is you start the transport and sit on it until you get to extraction. Most of the time you're fine not killing the enemies around but for lack of anything else to do.

[Gravitus123]

Endless mission are pointless in warframe there is no reward if you stay for longer periods of time.We dont need more endless mission

[LSG501]

I like hijack.... yes ideally it needs a little more to do while it's going on but it's not a bad design.   Personally I'd like to see a few more.

[SnipSnipSnipered]

Honestly, this sounds like a really great idea. The current Hijack, especially the Corpus one, is basically 'Sit on the Rover as Trinity and play the waiting game'. It's visually appealing, but the fact you don't really do anything and there not being any good rewards is a big downside. The concept you've sketched up is very interesting; and as "RICK_BO" stated above, the idea of a wave of Bursas and Scrambuses (Scrambi?) trying to keep you from stealing those 10 Neural Sensors or 500 Oxium or 1000 Cryotic, or even 20.000 credits, is very nice. You could even throw in a cache with random rare mods, who knows? I'd play it. Maybe even put Corpus-equivalent Ramparts on the moving train, gotta defend it somehow right?

 

P.S.

Do send a PM if you wanna discuss this in further detail, I've got some neat ideas.

Edited April 15, 2017 by SnipSnipSnipered
Added PM thingy.

[Dimcreaper]

10 hours ago, SnipSnipSnipered said:

Honestly, this sounds like a really great idea. The current Hijack, especially the Corpus one, is basically 'Sit on the Rover as Trinity and play the waiting game'. It's visually appealing, but the fact you don't really do anything and there not being any good rewards is a big downside. The concept you've sketched up is very interesting; and as "RICK_BO" stated above, the idea of a wave of Bursas and Scrambuses (Scrambi?) trying to keep you from stealing those 10 Neural Sensors or 500 Oxium or 1000 Cryotic, or even 20.000 credits, is very nice. You could even throw in a cache with random rare mods, who knows? I'd play it. Maybe even put Corpus-equivalent Ramparts on the moving train, gotta defend it somehow right?

 

P.S.

Do send a PM if you wanna discuss this in further detail, I've got some neat ideas.

I certainly love that a few people support this idea. there is some clear divide however which is a little surprising to see on this particular subject. Both you and RICK_BO raise an interesting idea with the Scrambi / Bursa squads. It would be pretty cool to see a larger quantity of these enemies attack you the longer you stay, instead of the occasional Scrambi ever 10 min in a survival something more like a small group of 4-5 as a semi regular occurrence toward the end would be really cool, and add a steeper escalation to the difficulty then most game modes have.

"Corpus-equivalent Ramparts on the moving train" This is also something I would LOVE to see. If DE where to introduce this game mode, either as a replacement or stand alone I would like to see it added as corpus first, seeing as they get so little love right now. But seeing it introduced for both factions would be wonderful. When I made this post I was envisioning something like a supply tram on Ceres zooming through the huge shipyards with the big Grineer architecture and incomplete building all around. 

[Dimcreaper]

10 hours ago, LSG501 said:

I like hijack.... yes ideally it needs a little more to do while it's going on but it's not a bad design.   Personally I'd like to see a few more.

I definitely agree, its not at all a bad star chart mission, it just needs some tweaks. the longer I think on this idea I feel my proposed game mode may stand better as a new one rather then a replacement. Even thought we don't really need more game modes, we already has so much to play.

[Dimcreaper]

On 4/14/2017 at 11:46 AM, Gravitus123 said:

Endless mission are pointless in warframe there is no reward if you stay for longer periods of time.We dont need more endless mission

In a game built around farming and the daily grind, I beg to differ, especially after playing for four solid years. While there isn't much of a "better reward" from wave to wave in an endless mission, you do get more of the reward without the stop-and-go loading screen/menu hopping required to farm a non endless type mission (Capture farming) Not to mention the level of personal goal setting or challenge to push your self longer into the mission. In my opinion Warframe gets more fun the harder it is to kill enemies.

Besides, my proposition isnt really endless, just extended.

[LSG501]

6 minutes ago, Dimcreaper said:

I definitely agree, its not at all a bad star chart mission, it just needs some tweaks. the longer I think on this idea I feel my proposed game mode may stand better as a new one rather then a replacement. Even thought we don't really need more game modes, we already has so much to play.

Your idea is kind of 'similar' to the ideas being talked about by steve on his sunday stream and the 'clan ship'.  Basically he's talked about ideas where there's missions going on alongside the main battleship where you break into the enemy ship and 'disable something' for example. 

[Dimcreaper]

1 minute ago, LSG501 said:

Your idea is kind of 'similar' to the ideas being talked about by steve on his sunday stream and the 'clan ship'.  Basically he's talked about ideas where there's missions going on alongside the main battleship where you break into the enemy ship and 'disable something' for example. 

I haven't yet watched his streams so I'm a little out of the loop on that but it sound interesting. Does he mean like a kind of game mode that would be the other side of the survival mission type? like your the operative breaking in and stealing things? while other Tenno distract the enemy.

[LSG501]

Just now, Dimcreaper said:

I haven't yet watched his streams so I'm a little out of the loop on that but it sound interesting. Does he mean like a kind of game mode that would be the other side of the survival mission type? like your the operative breaking in and stealing things? while other Tenno distract the enemy.

It's still in the very early stages but he's basically talked about a 'mothership space battle' with multiple warframe working together (the prototype cad model of the ship has like 4/5 locations) and also the potential of side missions into enemy ships, archwing/landing craft battles etc all going on as well, by the sounds of it anyways, at the same time.  Whether they actually manage what Steve has been proposing/talking about is another matter, and tbh I'd hate to see how bad the gamemode would be if stuck with toasters as it sounds pretty pc intensive, but it seems like it's the 'big picture' he's aiming for at least. 

[Dimcreaper]

5 minutes ago, LSG501 said:

It's still in the very early stages but he's basically talked about a 'mothership space battle' with multiple warframe working together (the prototype cad model of the ship has like 4/5 locations) and also the potential of side missions into enemy ships, archwing/landing craft battles etc all going on as well, by the sounds of it anyways, at the same time.  Whether they actually manage what Steve has been proposing/talking about is another matter, and tbh I'd hate to see how bad the gamemode would be if stuck with toasters as it sounds pretty pc intensive, but it seems like it's the 'big picture' he's aiming for at least. 

That is way cool! I can certainly see toasters being killed should it come out but still, thus is the price of advancement, however I have faith that DE can optimize to help those people out, after all Warframe has some amazing graphics and runs wonderfully even on the older models, much more so then some other games that boast toaster compatibility. 

[Gravitus123]

18 minutes ago, Dimcreaper said:

In a game built around farming and the daily grind, I beg to differ, especially after playing for four solid years. While there isn't much of a "better reward" from wave to wave in an endless mission, you do get more of the reward without the stop-and-go loading screen/menu hopping required to farm a non endless type mission (Capture farming) Not to mention the level of personal goal setting or challenge to push your self longer into the mission. In my opinion Warframe gets more fun the harder it is to kill enemies.

Besides, my proposition isnt really endless, just extended.

So what you can get the same rewards if you just restart the mission.Its not like you can use just 1 relic like the old tower keys.I guess the little boosters are something but we already have ways to get fast xp and loot

[Dimcreaper]

1 minute ago, Gravitus123 said:

So what you can get the same rewards if you just restart the mission.Its not like you can use just 1 relic like the old tower keys.I guess the little boosters are something but we already have ways to get fast xp and loot

I suppose this is a prime example of one of the best things about Warframe, everyone can achieve the same end through different means. I personally do a lot of back and forth between mission types (especially for relic runs when its forced). For my proposed mission type It would be pretty easy to end and restart, and still reap pretty good rewards, certainly in a lower level node where the escalation cuts off earlier. Like in an interception or defense, you always have the option of leaving and are not forced to stay longer then you want past the first reward milestone.

[Gravitus123]

53 minutes ago, Dimcreaper said:

I suppose this is a prime example of one of the best things about Warframe, everyone can achieve the same end through different means. I personally do a lot of back and forth between mission types (especially for relic runs when its forced). For my proposed mission type It would be pretty easy to end and restart, and still reap pretty good rewards, certainly in a lower level node where the escalation cuts off earlier. Like in an interception or defense, you always have the option of leaving and are not forced to stay longer then you want past the first reward milestone.

True and i admire people who do longer runs alot because i just dont feel any incentive to stay for longer periods of time.Though i would love for them to add more stuff for people who do longer runs which would actually give me some motivation.The last time i stayed in a mission for longer then 20 minutes was in the last event because i was farming mutagens and helping my clan get more points

[SnipSnipSnipered]

11 hours ago, Dimcreaper said:

I certainly love that a few people support this idea. there is some clear divide however which is a little surprising to see on this particular subject. Both you and RICK_BO raise an interesting idea with the Scrambi / Bursa squads. It would be pretty cool to see a larger quantity of these enemies attack you the longer you stay, instead of the occasional Scrambi ever 10 min in a survival something more like a small group of 4-5 as a semi regular occurrence toward the end would be really cool, and add a steeper escalation to the difficulty then most game modes have.

"Corpus-equivalent Ramparts on the moving train" This is also something I would LOVE to see. If DE where to introduce this game mode, either as a replacement or stand alone I would like to see it added as corpus first, seeing as they get so little love right now. But seeing it introduced for both factions would be wonderful. When I made this post I was envisioning something like a supply tram on Ceres zooming through the huge shipyards with the big Grineer architecture and incomplete building all around. 

Guess I'll spitball my ideas here real quick so everyone can see them.

I envisioned the Corpus trainyard on something like the Corpus Outpost Sabotage tile; you know, the one with the reactor and a whole lot of open space outside. There would be one tramline on low-level missions, two on medium, and 3 on hard. I'll explain why in a bit.

Station one

As you have fought your way through the usual Corpus defense, you arrive at the Trainyard. As you arrive, the unmanned Corpus Cargo Train pulls up on the tramline as well. The Trainyard consists out of rows of stacked, closed or opened, cargo crates. In the middle of the yard, there is a cargo crane, with a control panel attached. To load the cargo, you nust hack the panel and guard it from Corpus units who will try to shut the crane down by accessing the panel. Once it's loaded, everyone hops on the train. A console in the front needs to be hacked in order to get the train to move. While on the move to Station 2, not much resistance is offered as the word of their train getting hijacked hasn't reached very far yet.

Station 2

The train stops at the next station where a welcome committee of several medium Corpus units such as Sniper Crewmen and Elite Crewmen are awaiting your arrival. Here, another cargo crate can be loaded on, or you flick a switch in the yard to change to the other rail and extract. You move on to Station 3. Meanwhile, enemies will attempt to shoot you from both sides as you pass through more 'populated' areas on the train.

Station 3

For the low level version; this is the final stop. You pick up a final cargo crate, defend the crane and hold of a wave of several Corpus Techs and Scavenger Drones. After loading, you hop onto the train and extract.

Station 4 (Medium Difficulty)

Instead of extracting at station 4, you get the option to go one last station in the Corpus outpost. While on the move towards Station 4, a second train emerges on the track next to you and opens fire. Luckily for you, the cargo train came equipped with several Corpus-equivalents to Ramparts (I figure they'll be Supra-type weapons mounted on a stand with a cooldown mechanic.) Maybe add a way to block/derail the other train carrying the Corpus enemies. Upon arrival, you'll have to face a duo of Bursas and a duo of Techs; be careful as the Techs can repair the Bursas after taking them out. Normal enemies will still swarm you when you load the final payload. After loading, extract.

Station 5 (Hard only)

Lotus informs you of a final, hidden station in the side of a mountain. After stopping the train and hacking a special panel, the way to the station opens and you are let inside; the enemy was prepared though. Swarms of Bursas and Scrambi storm at you while the Techs desperately try to defend that one special crate in the middle of the yard. After securing the crate, you'll wipe out the remaining enemies so they won't be able to follow you as you extract.

 

Those are just my two cents, do with them whatever you like. If you decide to use it, please do accredit me. Thanks for reading, it's quite the wall of text.

Edited April 16, 2017 by SnipSnipSnipered

[Dimcreaper]

19 hours ago, SnipSnipSnipered said:

Guess I'll spitball my ideas here real quick so everyone can see them.

I envisioned the Corpus trainyard on something like the Corpus Outpost Sabotage tile; you know, the one with the reactor and a whole lot of open space outside. There would be one tramline on low-level missions, two on medium, and 3 on hard. I'll explain why in a bit.

Station one

As you have fought your way through the usual Corpus defense, you arrive at the Trainyard. As you arrive, the unmanned Corpus Cargo Train pulls up on the tramline as well. The Trainyard consists out of rows of stacked, closed or opened, cargo crates. In the middle of the yard, there is a cargo crane, with a control panel attached. To load the cargo, you nust hack the panel and guard it from Corpus units who will try to shut the crane down by accessing the panel. Once it's loaded, everyone hops on the train. A console in the front needs to be hacked in order to get the train to move. While on the move to Station 2, not much resistance is offered as the word of their train getting hijacked hasn't reached very far yet.

Station 2

The train stops at the next station where a welcome committee of several medium Corpus units such as Sniper Crewmen and Elite Crewmen are awaiting your arrival. Here, another cargo crate can be loaded on, or you flick a switch in the yard to change to the other rail and extract. You move on to Station 3. Meanwhile, enemies will attempt to shoot you from both sides as you pass through more 'populated' areas on the train.

Station 3

For the low level version; this is the final stop. You pick up a final cargo crate, defend the crane and hold of a wave of several Corpus Techs and Scavenger Drones. After loading, you hop onto the train and extract.

Station 4 (Medium Difficulty)

Instead of extracting at station 4, you get the option to go one last station in the Corpus outpost. While on the move towards Station 4, a second train emerges on the track next to you and opens fire. Luckily for you, the cargo train came equipped with several Corpus-equivalents to Ramparts (I figure they'll be Supra-type weapons mounted on a stand with a cooldown mechanic.) Maybe add a way to block/derail the other train carrying the Corpus enemies. Upon arrival, you'll have to face a duo of Bursas and a duo of Techs; be careful as the Techs can repair the Bursas after taking them out. Normal enemies will still swarm you when you load the final payload. After loading, extract.

Station 5 (Hard only)

Lotus informs you of a final, hidden station in the side of a mountain. After stopping the train and hacking a special panel, the way to the station opens and you are let inside; the enemy was prepared though. Swarms of Bursas and Scrambi storm at you while the Techs desperately try to defend that one special crate in the middle of the yard. After securing the crate, you'll wipe out the remaining enemies so they won't be able to follow you as you extract.

 

Those are just my two cents, do with them whatever you like. If you decide to use it, please do accredit me. Thanks for reading, it's quite the wall of text.

I like what you've got here, I definitely like the idea of corpus technicians reactivating Bursa to keep them in the fight. I think my vision of this mission type would have an extremely steep escalation, both in level and quantity of troops. While it isn't endless I want it to be an uphill struggle that is genuinely hard to get to the end cap of the top tier missions 

[SnipSnipSnipered]

2 hours ago, Dimcreaper said:

I like what you've got here, I definitely like the idea of corpus technicians reactivating Bursa to keep them in the fight. I think my vision of this mission type would have an extremely steep escalation, both in level and quantity of troops. While it isn't endless I want it to be an uphill struggle that is genuinely hard to get to the end cap of the top tier missions 

Well, it is quite difficult to implement a genuinely hard uphill struggle without either making it cheesable, such as just a horde of one-shottable units, but not making it too annoying, like 10 nullifiers protecting 10 bursas with 10 techs behind them, know what I mean?

[Mattoropael]

On 4/15/2017 at 8:51 PM, SnipSnipSnipered said:

The current Hijack, especially the Corpus one, is basically 'Sit on the Rover as Trinity and play the waiting game'.

Trinity? Really?

What you really do is bringing Nidus or Inaros (the latter with a Medi-Ray sentinel), and literally sit on the rover or tram while Nidus' health regen or Inaros' Medi-Ray sentinel out-heals the health drain.

 

OT: While I like how it is now for how hilariously easy it is, I do agree that it could use some change.

 

Edited April 17, 2017 by Mattoropael

[SnipSnipSnipered]

2 minutes ago, Mattoropael said:

Trinity? Really?

What you really do is bringing Nidus or Inaros (the latter with a Medi-Ray sentinel), and literally sit on the rover or tram while Nidus' health regen or Inaros' Medi-Ray sentinel out-heals the health drain.

 

OT: While I like how it is now for how hilariously easy it is, I do agree that it could use some change.

 

Generally people just use Trinity, not everyone has Inaros or Nidus.