New Powerset Idea - War Machine

[Calamity Cain]

Yes, here we are: another new powerset idea - and guess what? It's probably not the first time it's been brought up. But it struck me while playing through the Admiral Sutter Task Force for the eleventieth time. I saw these IDF guys - and Colonel Duray - in action again and thought: “I wanna do that!”

 

So, let’s delve into my idea for what I’ve called the War Machine Powerset. This is the first time I’ve ever bothered to work up a new powerset, so by all means tear it to shreds if it doesn’t make sense. Here’s the writeup:

 

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“With an advanced missile system on your back, you are the definition of ‘shock & awe’. Your attacks are slow to start, but once a target is established, you are able to unleash considerable lethal, smashing and fire damage upon your enemies. You also have several specialized payloads for unique situations. Though powerful, your arsenal is slower to recharge and fire than other sets.”

 

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Before we get into the powers themselves, I should explain the basic idea here. War Machine would be the ranged equivalent of Titan Weapons: devastating damage at the cost of speed and recharge. It would even share a similar mechanic to Momentum, which I’ll call Salvo.

 

Think about how missiles take time to lock targets. This is the essence of Salvo. You build it up with more basic attacks, before unleashing - you guessed it - a salvo of devastating firepower. Unlike Momentum however, I think you’d need to get two stacks of Salvo before you get to cash it in. Despite slightly longer recharge, if you have all nine missile powers and the endurance, you can constantly be firing missiles upon your enemies!

 

I tried to work this up with existing assets in mind. That includes animations, textures, etc. Obviously this won’t be an easy undertaking for the devs if implemented, but it’s not from scratch either.

I developed this chiefly as a set for Blasters, though I don't see why it couldn't be - with minimal adaptations - a set for Defenders, Corruptors and Sentinels.

 

• Warning Shot - You fire a single missile at your target for minor lethal and smashing damage.
  • Damage: Light
  • Recharge: Very Fast
  • Effects: Ranged, Light DMG (Lethal/Smashing), +Salvo
• Volley - You fire three missiles at your target for moderate lethal and smashing damage and minor fire damage over time.
  • Damage: Moderate Lethal
  • Recharge: Fast
  • Effects: Ranged, Moderate DMG (Lethal/Smashing), Foe Minor DoT (Fire), +Salvo
• Concussion Missile - You fire a single missile that does no damage, but has a high chance to knock down and stun enemies in its radius.
  • Damage: None
  • Recharge: Moderate
  • Effects: Ranged, Foe Knockdown, Foe Stun, Requires 1 Salvo
• Bunker Buster - You launch a single missile at your target, dealing high lethal and smashing damage and reducing the target's resistance to damage as well as their defenses to all attacks for a short time. Has a chance to stun nearby enemies.
  • Damage: High
  • Recharge: Moderate
  • Effects: Targeted AoE Ranged, High DMG (Lethal/Smashing), Foe -Def (All), Foe -Res (All), Foe Stun, Requires 1 Salvo
• Paint the Target - You paint your target with your laser guidance system and lock on, leading to a moderate increase in to hit and damage for a short period, as well as readying more of your arsenal for immediate fire.
  • Recharge: Long
  • Effects: Self +ToHit, Self +DMG, +Salvo
• Laser Guided Missile  - You employ your laser guidance system for a precision shot, launching a single missile strike with high accuracy and extreme range.
  • Damage: Superior
  • Recharge: Slow
  • Effects: Sniper, Extreme DMG (Lethal/Smashing), Foe Minor DoT (Fire), Foe Knockdown, Requires 1 Salvo
• Phosphorous Missile - You fire a single missile that explodes with devastating phosphorous, setting your enemies ablaze and choking them with smoke for high fire damage and moderate toxic damage over time.
  • Damage: Moderate
  • Recharge: Slow
  • Effects: Ranged Targeted AoE, Minor DMG (Lethal/Smashing), Foe High DoT (Fire), Foe Moderate DoT (Toxic), Requires 1 Salvo
• Fusillade - You unleash hell on your target, shell shocking them with a barrage of missile attacks. This attack reduces the enemy's accuracy for a time and has a chance to stun and knock them down.
  • Damage: Extreme
  • Recharge: Long
  • Effects: Ranged, Extreme DMG (Lethal/Smashing), Foe Minor DoT (Fire), Foe -ToHit, Foe Stun, Foe Knockdown, Requires 2 Salvo
• Air Strike - Sometimes your missiles aren’t enough. You call in aid from on high, and a devastating barrage of firepower comes down from the skies upon your foes, dealing superior lethal damage with a chance to Fear your enemies.
  • Damage: Superior
  • Recharge: Very Long
  • Effects: Ranged Targeted AoE, Superior DMG (Lethal), Foe Fear, Requires 2 Salvo

 

Similar to Momentum, this set relies on building Salvo stacks to chain your attacks and maximize damage. Some attacks only eat up 1 stack of Salvo while the T8 and T9 required 2 stacks of Salvo. The maximum Salvo you can hold at once is 3. There's a rhythm to War Machine and its build up.

This is also considered a weapon set, akin to Assault Rifle or Dual Pistols, so it comes with the aforementioned missile backpack asset, which behaves similarly to the Crab Spider backpack - in that it remains on your character even when not in combat. I think there should be an option to forgo the backpack and make it invisible for those who want a more traditional "power armor" approach. Even more fun would be the possibility of using more traditional Blaster animations for the missiles, if it was possible to combine the two into one set.

So what do you guys think?

 

[justicebeliever]

I love new powerset ideas, and I like this one...however, with all that tech, the only offensive weapon is missiles?  Seems almost too singularity focused around the concept.  Surely that guy has a couple of other tricks up his armor plated sleeves?

[ArchVileTerror]

I'd also like to bring up:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/11311-concept-battle-armour-survivaldefense-set/

This concept would use the same backpack costume element.

[Alchemystic]

Got you fam.

[Calamity Cain]

12 hours ago, justicebeliever said:

I love new powerset ideas, and I like this one...however, with all that tech, the only offensive weapon is missiles?  Seems almost too singularity focused around the concept.  Surely that guy has a couple of other tricks up his armor plated sleeves?

I agree, it might rely too much on the whole missile thing, but like I said, this is built off existing assets. That backpack does not have a minigun or flamethrower. It's a missile pack, as stated in the Heavy Trooper's info in-game. They fire mini-missiles and nothing else. As such the devs would only need to rely on that to begin porting this to a playable set.

My head-canon here is that after the Praetorian invasion, with Praetorian tech flooding the markets, this technology becomes more widespread for both heroes and villains, albeit with some improvements. I also tried to alleviate the missile-only problem by adding different kinds of missiles and the Air Strike power at the end.

 

 

12 hours ago, ArchVileTerror said:

I'd also like to bring up:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/11311-concept-battle-armour-survivaldefense-set/

This concept would use the same backpack costume element.

Oh this is interesting. I'll have to think on that more, but at first blush I just love the idea of really doing a Power Armor-style set.

 

10 hours ago, Tyrannical said:

Got you fam.

Nice! A lot of neat ideas!

I didn't even think of using the Assault Bot and PPD Shell assets, that's a good idea. Though I deliberately left out a Flamethrower option in favor of my Phosphorous Missile because you get a Flamethrower-style power in the Assault Rifle and Fire Blast sets already. I think the AoE Fire+Toxic damage is a neat alteration.

Speaking of recycling, that Annihilation power, while cool, seems like it would require more legwork than the rest of those. I could be wrong, maybe just mashing three animations/sounds into one isn't that hard. That, and I think being able to copy Duray's Air Strike power would be way more visually interesting, but maybe that's just taste. Of course you run into the goofy situation of using that indoors or in a cave. haha But maybe the "Who Cares That's Awesome" rule applies?

 

Also I just think the Salvo mechanic is an interesting deviation. Maybe that's just be me, and fair enough. I know not everyone is a fan of those build-up or combo based sets. I also really enjoy Titan Weapons and this was an attempt to have a ranged version of that set. Something big and heavy and devastating.
 

[Outrider_01]

Naw, some of those massive mech suits would be better.  Nothing says awesome more than just looking awesome.

[Calamity Cain]

7 hours ago, Outrider_01 said:

Naw, some of those massive mech suits would be better.  Nothing says awesome more than just looking awesome.

Uh what massive mech suits exactly?

[Noyjitat]

I made a warmachine like power armor on the titan icon program and tested effects there long ago before the game came back. Got missiles, and blasters etc that can work with the pack and then you can use various blasts on from robots and others for gauntlet attacks. If I get some time i'll throw together a video of what I got to work as something else to add onto your idea. Its something I wanted for along time and all of the assets are already there.