The Dead Zone: Eris Open World

[BusinessShark]

Before you start reading, I haven't completely finished this post, and it is VERY MUCH still a WIP. Feedback and suggestions would be appreciated.

So, I was scrolling through the comments on an extended version of the "We All Lift Together"  song on youtube, when I noticed this particular comment:

The idea of a giant infested landscape excited me greatly, so I began brainstorming ideas for what an infested wonderland could possibly hold. This is what I came up with:
 

The Landscape

Spoiler

The landscape of Eris, is, of course, covered in infested spores. Eris is considered to have a hard rocky surface, like that of Pluto, so it could be very possible that the Tenno walk around on the surface of this infested world. You would see old Corpus settlements that were created before the awakening of the Tenno. These will, of course, be overrun with spores and partially destroyed as well. It would always be dark due to the extreme amount of airborne spores blocking out the Sun's rays at all times of the day. The infestation here will be specially adapted to sound, attacking anything that makes unfamiliar noises nearby. However, with great hearing, comes a heavy sensitivity to sound. The caves found throughout this open world area, (known as Dark Zones due to the absence of any natural light,)  would have large amounts of extremely rare, ancient infestation that are not found anywhere else. These are in fixated spots and can be ocassionally repopulated. In the center, there is a huge basin where a large creature will be housed. Throughout the world, there will be small, still intact structures known as safe zones, will be manned by the Mycona, who are uncovered in the Glast Gambit quest. The biggest of these structures will be known as the Sunken Sanctuary, acting as a central hub of operations. All of the infested landscape outside of this area will be known as the "Dead Zone" due to the fact that pretty much anything that isn't a warframe would probably die instantly outside the safe zones. New infestation will be present due to the completely unculled growth of Eris, becoming so twisted and uncontrollable that even the Tenno have considered it a lost cause. Archwings will not function here due to the sheer volume of spores. The concentration is so intense that it has the potential to clog up archwing components, making them extremely dangerous to use. This area is NOT for beginners, containing a minimum of level 50 enemies throughout. This world will be saturated in the infestation, especially nearby abandoned structures and in Dark Zones, as these provide suitable infested breeding grounds.
 

 

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The Populace

Spoiler

Besides the large amount of infestation currently occupying Eris, the Myconians will also be present, inhabiting various structures that will be referred to as Safezones. There will be a large central hub of operations known as the Sunken Sanctuary. This will consist of a very well defended fort, with a large central vaporizer repelling most of the infestation from entering the walled encampment. This will be the primary faction/syndicate you interact with. They will reward you for completing various excursions similar to that of the Ostrons. All of these incursions will be infested themed, involving taking out rapidly mutating infestation, or going into aforementioned dark zones to kill powerful infested variants or other creatures known as hive mothers. Completing these will earn you standing which can be used for various things that will be discussed later.

1

The Mechanics/Enemies of the landscape

Spoiler

The Environment
 

Spoiler

Due to the horrendous amount of pollution in the air, warframe armor integrity will slowly fall, similar to in an infested salvage mission. To replenish this, players must either head back to the Sunken Sanctuary or find one of the Myconian-manned safe zones littered throughout the landscape. When armor integrity falls, players will regenerate shields more slowly and have their maximum health reduced. On top of this, when armor integrity fails, specialized infested ospreys may temporarily latch onto warframes, and force them to attack allies Alad V style. They will eventually detach, allowing players to easily shoot them off.

2

Transportation
 

Spoiler

Players will traverse the large infested landscape using 4-man trucks. These will consist of a driver's seat, a heavy 360-degree turret mount on the roof, and a truck bed that has room for two, which allows players to shoot at nearby infested. This truck can be upgraded using standing acquired from incursions.

1

Enemies
 

Spoiler

As already mentioned, there will be a large host of new enemies. These are present due to the unculled growth of the infestation found on planet Eris.

Some examples would include:

Charger Behemoths
 These enhanced infested Chargers., having a large amount of time to fester and grow, are much larger and faster than regular chargers. They are capable of running at high speeds and performing a charge attack that can knock over players and steer player-driven trucks of course. 

Springers
There will also be extremely large infested leapers. Known as Springers, and they are capable of jumping on top of very high terrain to chase players more quickly, or leaping forwards a large distance. They will have a recharge period of a couple seconds before they are able to do this again.

Leechers
Another mob concept I came up with is the Leecher. These will be similar to Nidus' larva in that they are a large, stationary, infested mass that will use tentacles to grab prey (such as unsuspecting warframes,) and pull them into their grasp, allowing other infestation to easily incapacitate warframes. They can pull players out of vehicles and forced them into a bound state. In this state, players are unable to use guns and are forced to use abilities and swords to exit the Leecher's grasp. Leechers can also grasp onto player-controlled trucks and cause them to veer into nearby buildings, attracting nearby infested.

Screechers
These will be slightly bigger than a standard infested leaper in terms of height. These mobs will not have a face and be covered in large, glowing holes. When alerted via sound or damage, they will begin screaming and using a short-range attack similar to that of Banshee's sonic boom. The screaming will attract a large amount of infested to its current location. The scream can be counteracted by Banshee's silence. Alternatively, they can be shot from afar to avoid the screams, since if they die quickly, they will have no time to scream. 

Sappers
Sappers are specialized ospreys that can shoot a slow, corrosive projectile that speeds up armor degradation. When a player's armor integrity reaches 0%, these little monsters can temporarily take control of a warframe (Mutalist Alad-V style,) and turn it against their former allies. This effect is extremely short, (maybe 5 seconds,) and then they detach. While detached, they move slowly and can be shot down easily. These infested will be rarer than most others.

Lesser Hive Mothers
These are primarily found inside the Dark Zones, where stronger versions of the infested hide. Hive Mothers can create hives, as well as other specialized infected. To clear a Dark Zone, and make the surrounding area safe, Hive Mothers must be exterminated, along with all of the planted Hives in the area. Killing a Hive Mother will scare off most generic infected. These will have to be periodically cleared out in longer adventures through the Dead Zone, as new Hive Mothers will occasionally infest uninhabited Dark Zones. They can create a limited number of Vamorric to defend them from any Tenno sieges. Upon entering the lair of a Lesser Hive Mother, all infested inhabitants are immediately alerted to your presense.

Vamorric
These are the first infested a Hive Mother creates. They serve as protectors for the Hive Mothers, protecting them from any threats that may come their way. They never stray far from their Hive Mothers, and are extremely strong and agile. They are quadrupeds, walking on four extremely long legs, with a long blade-like right arm that they use to defend their Hive Mother. If a Tenno comes too close, they use their long blades to quickly slash at nearby Tenno, with such force that they are thrown backward. Their left arm is capable of manifesting large toxic blasts that explode into huge amounts of poisonous spores, causing viral and toxin procs. Upon death, the Vamorric explode into a large blast of toxic ooze, dealing heavy damage and nurturing the nearby common infested, making them stronger. Due to the nature of this blast, it is strongly suggested to keep a distance when fighting these fierce foes. Due to the large amount of energy it takes to produce a Vamorric, Hive Mothers will only be able to produce up to five at a time.

Centurions
This mass of infestation is even more ancient than the ancients. It is an extremely powerful entity, capable of occasional spouts of rapid movement, grappling players from quite a distance, temporarily expending energy to harden it's already tough fossilized skin. It is also capable of regenerating by eating the corpses of nearby freshly fallen infested, making it a truly dangerous foe. It is nearly double the height of the average warframe.
 

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Sound
 

Spoiler

Sound will be a huge mechanic in the Dead Zone. Player-manned trucks and gunshots especially will create noise that attracts negative attention. Because of this, certain warframe will become essential to navigating the Dead Zone swiftly and easily.

Banshee
 

Spoiler

Due to her silence aura, she can easily silence the sounds of gunfire and trucks in a large area, she will become instrumental in easily navigating the wastelands of the Dead Zone. On top of this, her sound Quake will be extremely powerful, capable of temporarily dazing and confusing nearby infestation, due to the sensitivity of their hearing. Her sonic boom will share the same effect.

Octavia
 

Spoiler

Her mallet will be rather powerful in the Dead Zone. It creates a large amount of sound, the likes of which can cause nearby infested to become confused, causing almost all attention to be directed towards the mallet. Her resonator will also serve as a mobile distraction, able to draw enemy attention away from squads of Tenno, as well as their player-driven trucks. 

 

 

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Rewards!
 

Spoiler

This is obviously one of the most important parts of any concept that adds new content to warframe. Venturing through the Dead Zone can be very difficult, after all.

New Resources
Due to the nature of the Dead Zone, (the epitome of infestation when unculled by the Tenno,) it is much more advanced than your standard infestation. Killing specialized infested will yield "High-Quality Infested Nerve Systems." Completing excursions and killing the infested denizens of the Dead Zone will also have a chance to reward you with other rare materials that can be used in crafting. You can also earn standing by completing excursions into the Dead Zone.

Syndicate Swag!
The Myconian people will have a bustling city in the form of the Sunken Sanctuary. Here, you will be able to increase your rank/reputation with them to unlock more goods and services, such as the creation of all new Living Weapons. Various other things will be purchasable here as well, such as new pets, possessing some of the abilities the new Specialized infestation exhibit. Truck upgrades could also be purchasable here, such as a quieter engine, so you don't have to bring a banshee with you wherever you go, or an automatic 360-degree heavy turret for people who enjoy running solo. Maybe a battering ram on the front that increases damage to infested you ram into. Things of this nature.

Living Weapons
Using all of the new infested bits you find on your ventures into the Dead Zone, you can make brand new Living Weapons. These bad boys will have a wonderful infested appearance to them, and will occasionally be seen moving about. These infested weapons will not be customizable like Zaws, but each one will have its own special mechanic. For example, there could be a sword called the Soul Stabber. On status proc, it gains a charge. These charges each give a 5% chance to increase the "bypass chance." This will max at 30-40%~ and allow a portion of the weapon's damage to ignore armor and shield entirely. The closer it gets to the max charge count, the more it begins to glow. Or maybe, there's a new infested rapier, where, upon killing 4 enemies in a short burst, it grows longer, revealing some sort of hidden compartment that has fluids flowing. In this mode, it has incredibly high crit chance and damage, as well as increase attack speed. This buff will last 10 seconds and be refreshable. All the Living Weapons will be unique in terms of stats and special properties and will be very interesting to use.
 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2018 by BusinessShark
Clarifying this is unfinished

[Cloudyvisage]

Fun Idea, I'd enjoy it more if Helminth had a role in this as an infested intelligence that is basically under our control, if we were infesting areas with Helminth to take them over and increase the safe zone.

It would also be amusing to have Helminth occasionally show it is an inhuman monstrosity that doesn't have our common sense, either in conversation or attacking us for whatever weird justification it thought of at the time.

[The_Royal_Derp]

An infested open world seems very interesting to me especially the special enemies and general world itself. Would be very fun to play around in. I would simply love to run over base infested in my armoured truck.

[(PSN)chris1pat8twins]

Imagine needing Nidus to explore certain parts. At least without issues. Kind of like how you must be your Tenno to talk to the quills. 

I’m even picturing half-mutants like Alad V being more common. Some could even be allies. It would definitely be crazy. 

[(PSN)stormfalcon2018]

This is a good idea.

[(XBOX)RIFT BERSERKER7]

Imagine having unique dialogue with NPCs and Nidus about how the infested

Built a shrine to him.

There you can make and uprade the living weapons.

[(PSN)chris1pat8twins]

Honestly I’ve been thinking about something like Ancient infested weapons. Instead of the usual orange/red/blue infested weapons there could be an Ancient Mutagen Mass, all grayish green, that can be used with the current infested weapons to create a more powerful version. Like an Ancient Mutalist Cernos that requires a Mutalist Cernos and Ancient Mutagen Mass. 

That is the more basic idea of an upgraded version. Nidus could be called derelict or ancient Nidus instead of prime since orokin are immune to the infestation last I checked. If there was a prime nidus, he wouldn’t be biological anymore. That’s why Ancient or Derelict would be a more appropriate name for him. 

And prime stuff require orokin cells to build so an Ancient Mutagen Mass would pretty much be the replacement. 

But that is up to DE to decide. 

[BusinessShark]

19 hours ago, (PS4)chris1pat8twins said:

Honestly I’ve been thinking about something like Ancient infested weapons. Instead of the usual orange/red/blue infested weapons there could be an Ancient Mutagen Mass, all grayish green, that can be used with the current infested weapons to create a more powerful version. Like an Ancient Mutalist Cernos that requires a Mutalist Cernos and Ancient Mutagen Mass. 

That is the more basic idea of an upgraded version. Nidus could be called derelict or ancient Nidus instead of prime since orokin are immune to the infestation last I checked. If there was a prime nidus, he wouldn’t be biological anymore. That’s why Ancient or Derelict would be a more appropriate name for him. 

And prime stuff require orokin cells to build so an Ancient Mutagen Mass would pretty much be the replacement. 

But that is up to DE to decide. 

I feel like DE could make a "Nidus Prime," but all of his abilities would have to be retextured. He would look a lot less infested, and a lot more gold, spreading gold everywhere he touches rather than a plague. However, I think making a variation of Nidus (like how we have excal umbra) would be a much cooler idea in my opinion.

[(PSN)stormfalcon2018]

This is a good idea.

[Showerwalker]

Really like the idea of an Infested open world, here's some ideas I'd like to share

Eris wiki lore:

Spoiler

 

There are no longer any active military or research campaigns in the Eris region – it is overrun. Long evacuated Corpus and Grineer vessels drift aimlessly in orbit, slowly being devoured by the techno-organic parasite known as the “Infestation”. What remains is a twisted graveyard of partially-digested ships that are disfigured versions of their original forms... Abandoned, but not unoccupied.

— Eris Fragment

(PS the mycona were apparently famous for harvesting the infested for materials)

 

It seems Eris were previously occupied by Grinner and Corpus (specifically Corpus in the early version of warframe, perhaps thats why the Mycona are there)...

If Eris-tuna is to be a vast, gloomy and rocky infested land, other than Mycona structures, it would be pretty interesting, and horrifying to discover some hidden Grineer cloning facilities and Corpus Mech factories (along with other Corpus/Grineer structure) festering over time, where outside, infested variations of cetus/fortuna enemies or even infested augmenting body parts and mech parts would wander.

 

I'm not really into the idea of a 4 man truck in warframe tho, not even a ship can withstand the infestation, perhaps instead of brute force tanking, a passive approach might make more sense.. (edit: damn that was long, read bold text for tl;dr, it should offer a more freedom gameplay and imo better atmosphere too)

...Since the Mycona is related to Perin Sequence, Corpus themed drones made by them roams the land gathering what they can and often unique to Eris for the Mycona to trade with outsiders, while some were used in search for the Myconas who were taken by the infestation. Many Mycona structures (other than abandoned colonies) found throughout the land will be the maintenance station for the drones, often eroded to near critical state, apparently the Mycona attend to them at a minimum rate to reduce casualties. To show their gratitude for what happened in Glast Gambit, the Mycona offered the tenno to use whatever non-infested materials the drones gathered to reinforce their armour, thus, In an almost everlasting sandstorm like environment where the air is heavily polluted with spores, like a light house, the slow roaming drones, emitting nothing but a weak glow, replenishing the tenno's armour as they come close, before depletion and wandering off to gather again, despite almost undetectable by the infested they are still vulnerable to them, should the tenno decide to attract any along. (aside from the lore, they should be pretty common and easy to find, so you can still have a somewhat direct/straight pathway to where you actually want to go)

 

first time writing something like this, sorry for the wall of texts!

Edited September 14, 2018 by Showerwalker

[Air-mage]

it would have a lot of trouble with buffering as infested are in large numbers and infested landscape would need a lot of texture

in the other hand infested fortress sounds badass

[Talonflight]

This sounds awesome. Perhaps there are some high-rise mountain areas where you can peek above the low-hanging cloud of spores and grab an Archwing flight up to floating, aerial Derelicts that surround the planet? Make an above-the-ground "cave system" out of floating derelict grineer and corpus ships!