New Elite Enemy Groups

[Troo]

What if Malta hooked up with Nemesis?   Sappers with Vengeance.. going to pay attention a bit more regarding who to target first.

Paragon Protectors and ___________?

Carnival and ___________?

 

What enemy groups combos could we come up?

• What should exist?
• What should never ever no way exist?

 

Can we see snakes again at level 45-50?

Failed Experiments combined with something that did speed boost would be terrifying.. visually.. as they are defeated.

 

some credit @Haijinx

Edited February 28, 2020 by Troo

[MunkiLord]

I'm in

[Haijinx]

Hmmm ...

 

Give some Damneds Rise of the Phoenix.  

 

Give some Clockwork bosses Power Surge

 

Give some of the Warriors Shields with the Grant Cover buff. 

 

Give Burst of Speed to Tsoo Sorcerers instead of their current Lame TP. 

 

Give some of the outcast Brick bosses Granite Armor. 

[Troo]

Sounds interesting. Like some bosses get Granite Armor. Some luts providing Grant Covers or similar could add value to debuffs.

 

Edited June 4, 2020 by Troo

[Razor Cure]

9 hours ago, Troo said:

What if Malta hooked up with Nemesis?

Malta have actually hooked up with Battle Maiden, in the post DA world. They helped her in exchange for her nanite tech. I can see tehn getting beam rifles, maybe even some regen (nano bots) type heal powers

[Rylas]

I'd be all for it if there was a tertiary difficulty setting we could use to select seeing them in missions. So on top of level and team size options, have a third setting for say, I don't know, Vanilla vs Elite? Want mixed groups in your Radio/Paper missions? Go Elite! 

 

+1

[Leogunner]

I did make a proposition in another thread that gave mobs more variety of powers (as well as some randomness so you're not sure if that sapper has Vengeance or personal force field ect). 

 

I think the only thing missing is incentive. 

[Infinitum]

Its similar to a plan ive been pitching, have a difficulty option called incarnate mode.

 

It places a hardened EB in most spawns with additional bosses as support also.

 

The EB will have mechanics like battle maiden in the apex TF That drops or engages random unresistable damage so you can't just sit still and fight static and literally nobody would be safe while that EB stands because of the unresistable damage. 

 

It would also increase value of ranged, buff and debuffs in that team environment.

 

I personally find the Apex rewarding, chaotic and fun.  This would apply that to the entirety of the game without having to redesign anything really because all the elements are already there.

Edited February 28, 2020 by Infinitum

[Chris24601]

12 hours ago, Razor Cure said:

Malta have actually hooked up with Battle Maiden, in the post DA world. They helped her in exchange for her nanite tech. I can see tehn getting beam rifles, maybe even some regen (nano bots) type heal powers

I’ve actually been messing around with enemy group designs in AE based on the last lore developments from issues 23 and 24 and, in general coming up with ideas/looks for “incarnated” enemy groups that could be built using existing assets.

 

* * * *

 

The Tsoo, Circle of Thorns and Banished Pantheon have already been upgraded so they’re good to go. Devouring Earth can upgrade by having the two Hami’s merge into a pandimensional Hami.

 

* * * *

 

Per the lore the Council teamed up with Scott’s UPA group which netted them Warworks and IDF tech. In addition Arneson from Praetoria (who was working on a detox/cure for the Destroyers) is going to reverse engineer Neuron’s super-power serum (that Marauder used in the Lambda trial) to improve their super-soldiers. 

 

While the conclusion of the New Praetorians arcs suggests that the Warworks/IDF tech were all lost, they don’t HAVE to be and, frankly, I think adding more visual distance between the Council and 5th Column would do them some good.

 

Again, per the lore, at least Requiem (war wolves) and Vandal/Burkholdler (Mek-men) have gone back to the 5th Column. Add Noferatu (Parasites) to that crew and the 5th Column aesthetic becomes a solid 50’s B-movie theme (space nazis, vampires, werewolves and almost cartoonish robot designs).

 

So with that in mind I created the “Nova Cor Leonis” as the next step up from the current Council troops that take the IDF look, but oversized (per normal for Council super-soldiers) and using the Council’s color schemes.

 

Drop the parasites, war wolves and Vandal’s Mek designs entirely from the Council and replace the Mek-men with clockwork/warworks units, the hover bots with IDF orbs and the Galaxy troops for outright Nictus dwarves and novas. Then add a sleeker Ascendant design.

 

* * * *

 

For Malta, I’ve built a higher-tech uniform (starting with Director-11’s look) for the troops and replaced the slug-throwers with beam weapons for the minions (I use the bots mastermind beam rifle since its a little more restrained) and dual pistols for the gunslingers (and mention nanotech homing ammo for why the ammo arcs in flight). Leave the Titans as-is (nanotech upgrades are more internal for them). I wish I could give the sapper’s attacks to a new mob, but as is they’re left with the old frumpy look compared to their sleaker buddies.

 

* * * *

 

I’ve also been toying with “Neo-Freakshow” (based on the Cybertech set mixed with some Cyborg and Resistance bits) and upgraded Sky Raiders (the folding Shrike wings started that concept).

 

The whole exercise is basically a proof of concept test for new “incarnate” threats (albeit limited by AR mechanics to level 54). We’ll see how it goes.

 

[VileTerror]

I like your take on the 5th / Council distinction there, 24601.  I hope to see that progress.

 

But it raises the question:  Would Flashbacks of Council still have the Warwolves and Vampyri?  And what would happen to The Silver Bullet, The Slayer, and Striga Island?

[Sif]

On 2/28/2020 at 2:12 PM, Chris24601 said:

I’ve actually been messing around with enemy group designs in AE based

You can't tease us with such interesting ideas, and then not include any screenshots! That's just cruel.

[Greycat]

On 2/27/2020 at 6:07 PM, Troo said:

 

Can we see snakes again at level 45-50?

 

I'm fairly sure there are some higher level Snakes already - and not just the snakewomen from DA.

[Chris24601]

3 hours ago, Sif said:

You can't tease us with such interesting ideas, and then not include any screenshots! That's just cruel.

I'll get some as soon as I'm happy with the final looks. Deal?

4 hours ago, VileTerror said:

I like your take on the 5th / Council distinction there, 24601.  I hope to see that progress.

 

But it raises the question:  Would Flashbacks of Council still have the Warwolves and Vampyri?  And what would happen to The Silver Bullet, The Slayer, and Striga Island?

My thinking is these would be things that strictly show up post-50. Earlier arcs wouldn't be touched if I were in charge of implementing them. I've always liked the original idea that progressing through the zones/levels was progressing through time as well, so Atlas was issue 1, Kings Row is issue 2, etc.

 

I honestly think how they set up the SSA's and then pulled States and Sister Psyche from the game was the wrong way to go. Setting several of the arcs that were clearly post-Praetoria in levels as low as 35 also just plays havoc with the clear timeline the game once had. Phasing tech could have kept the events out of sight in Bricks before the arc occurs, but it really needed to be AFTER the i-Trials.

 

It's too late to fix what the original devs put wrong (given the mandate to cash grab you see in a lot of the late content; some of those story arcs are practically commercials for the newer power sets and costumes you could only get with Paragon Points; I suspect got in the way of the usual protocols; you can sell SSA's available at level 20 a lot easier than if they're only available if you have a level 50), but that doesn't mean we have to compound the error.

 

So yeah, I'm thinking exclusively post-50 and also with an eye to their native stomping ground being Kallisti Wharf; so definitely leaning on the later costume pieces and the like to match the general quality you see in that zone.

Edited March 1, 2020 by Chris24601

[Leogunner]

I think the only thing I don't like about the Elite versions of groups idea is limiting it to Incarnate content.  I'd rather not have to wait 45+ levels to encounter advanced content nor do I not enjoy the prospect of being bogged down by every team toting various incarnate powers to trivialize the fun.

[VileTerror]

eehhh, 24601  . . . I've been around since Issue 0 and stuff like the Rularuu Invasion and the original Calvin Scott Task Force.  A "clear timeline" has never been a thing in this game at any point.  I'm also a pretty big proponent for the promotion of content which is available regardless of player level.  My personal approach would be to slap ISO standardized dates on all the missions and Story Arcs, so players could see where they fit in temporally.

[Lines]

I'm all for this. A little extra oomph would go a long way.

 

I'd like to see more enemy variety rolled out across the levels, though, and not just endgame. At the same time, more enemy threat for incarnate characfers would be welcome. So maybe both?

Edited March 1, 2020 by Lines

[Flashtoo]

9 hours ago, Greycat said:

I'm fairly sure there are some higher level Snakes already - and not just the snakewomen from DA.

Correct - there are fancy high-level Snakes in at least one Grandville arc. 

[Chris24601]

11 hours ago, VileTerror said:

I'm also a pretty big proponent for the promotion of content which is available regardless of player level.  My personal approach would be to slap ISO standardized dates on all the missions and Story Arcs, so players could see where they fit in temporally.

I’d be more inclined to agree with that if the non-Oroboros contact system wasn’t a complete hash dropping out of order contacts on you with only the initial pop-up giving you any clue as to when they’re supposed to occur.

 

There’s also no clear on-ramp for the non-promoted content unless you’re actually familiar with the system and the find contact button (which isn’t even highlighted on the contacts tab) is littered with out of sequence contacts (particularly the ones in First/Night Ward) based solely on your level.

 

Frankly, the entire contact system needs to be cleaned up. I’ve got some thoughts, but I’ll save it for another thread once I’ve cleaned them up a bit.

 

As it stands though the only way to ensure sequential arcs is via level range. The Council upgrades happen during and post New Praetorians, so for sequence sake, shouldn’t appear before level 35. Malta doesn’t recruit Battle Maiden until Dark Astoria (incarnate content) so their upgrades need to happen in that range too.

 

In general, my upgrade concepts are intended to be “incarnate upgrades” that result from the incarnate arms race.

 

My other line of thinking is that Kallisti Wharf is way too gorgeous a zone to just be devoid of content except for one TF and tip missions. Making it the home base for these upgraded groups and stories related to them would give it some much needed content. As such, the updated groups  should be in that zones level range of 40-50 (though I suspect it was originally intended to be another 50 only zone like Dark Astoria).

 

On a related note; Dark Astoria already did a pretty good job incarnating the magic threats; Tsoo and Banished Pantheon both got specific 50+ mobs; and the Circle of Thorns already had 50+ mobs and had a recent (relative to shutdown) visual upgrade as well.

 

So with that in mind, my primary focus for upgrading would be on the “tech” factions, many of whom look quite dated and, well, frumpy.

 

Malta is supposed to be THE black-ops anti-meta force in the world; but they’re decked out in ordinary looking fatigues and mostly armed with slug-throwers. Crey’s power armor also looks extremely dated relative to newer models.

 

The Freakshow are meant to have an anachronistic 80s-90s punk theme, but there have to have been more modern offshoots (which is the idea behind my Neo-Freakshow concept).

 

So the idea behind my upgrades is that Kallisti Wharf would be to Tech what Dark Astoria was to magic. The Neo-Freakshow are making a statement as the future of man/machine fusion. Crey’s offices there are showing off the latest iterations of their power armor suits. The Council and Malta are testing their latest upgrades against the heroes there; etc.

[VileTerror]

I'd like to avoid seeing any content get in to Kallisti until that place is cleaned up!  It's worse than First/Night Ward for melting my system.  I don't know where, exactly, the resources are getting hogged . . . but I can run on max detail on any legacy zone with next to zero impact to my computer's performance, but taking one step in to Kallisti and it's a coin flip on whether my game crashes to desktop or not.

[Chris24601]

2 hours ago, VileTerror said:

I'd like to avoid seeing any content get in to Kallisti until that place is cleaned up!  It's worse than First/Night Ward for melting my system.  I don't know where, exactly, the resources are getting hogged . . . but I can run on max detail on any legacy zone with next to zero impact to my computer's performance, but taking one step in to Kallisti and it's a coin flip on whether my game crashes to desktop or not.

Huh, I didn’t realize it was a problem. I figured if my old Win 7 machine ran it smooth as butter on the default Ultra settings, then anyone could.

[VileTerror]

The specific issue seems to be some kind of memory leak.  Monitoring my system resources when I enter the zone, they jump up about 70%, and then never recover, even when I zone back out.  I basically have to invoke a RAM wipe.  And then when I multibox, shit really hits the fan, since the resources just get double-queued, rather than the files being shared between the multiple instances of the client program.

[ScarySai]

Funny you mention it, the lore AmAs referenced the idea of an elite variation of Malta where they all had a ton of nanite empowered sapper tech.

[Chris24601]

On 3/1/2020 at 3:36 PM, VileTerror said:

The specific issue seems to be some kind of memory leak.  Monitoring my system resources when I enter the zone, they jump up about 70%, and then never recover, even when I zone back out.  I basically have to invoke a RAM wipe.  And then when I multibox, shit really hits the fan, since the resources just get double-queued, rather than the files being shared between the multiple instances of the client program.

Well, I dunno if it’ll help, but I’ve never encountered the memory leak you mentioned. Perhaps something in the difference between the two systems might reveal a starting point for fixing it?

 

I’m not the most tech savvy guy out there (I basically just follow provided instructions when I encounter a problem) so I dunno what the HC team would need from me (or if it’s even a problem on HCs end or if it’s just some weird hardware/software interaction), but I’m game to take some time to help a fellow player get a problem like that fixed if I can be given instructions on how to do so.

[VileTerror]

The new crash reporting tool, I think, is a great start.  So if you can overstress your Wharf and get the game to crash to desktop after zoning in and out of the Wharf again and again, that might send the information to the Homecoming Team automatically.  Try zoning between Kallisti, Night Ward, First Ward, and any number of public custom bases on your Shard, and see if you can overstress your RAM to that point too?

[Silver Lancer]

If every minion is a boss, every lieutenant is elite boss, and every boss is an AV... then, we have a challenging group for incarnate teams.