Post by gingerbear on Aug 28, 2013 10:26:54 GMT -5
A quick glance at the roadmap reveals that modules for tanks are being developed actively. I'm creating this thread to sum up what do I think of unique modules, what would I'd like to see in some form or another.
First, let's see what makes the current tanks unique:
- Triggers
- Shield(s)
- Hull
- Main Gun(s)
- Secondary Gun(s)
Making a module that affects any of these would be already a good and easy choice for something to implement.
Nevertheless, there are two kinds of modules that would lend uniqueness to the tank, while they would be still available to any / each of them. Namely:
Color modules. Tired of Avenger being yellow? Thinking that Specter would be hot in red? Ever wanted to make a rainbow fury? Color modules would be an easy solution. From the list above, we can say that every aspect of a tank has a defining visual component too: a hull, a set of shields, main gun(s) and secondary gun(s). (Even the triggers have their own visual effects, but for simplicity we can exclude these). Which means that at first glance, you could add 4 new items to the game, which recolor these things respectively. E.g. you could have a generic item named "Hull Recolor - Red", which applied to any of the tanks would change the specific part accordingly. The question is of course what would happen when there are more parts to color? Shields for example could get different shades of one base color, or each section colored differently, same goes for the main hull, and of course the guns. This could be achieved with class-unique color items, a nice addition to the all-purpose coloring. Naturally, the beams shot by the guns could be recolored too.
Weapon / Projectile Aesthetics. As long as there is no behavioral difference among the weapons, it would be a nice costumization option if we could change the aesthetics. For example when I play avenger, I can't help but think I'm playing some future version of this tank, and having 3 little laser guns instead of a massive missile pod is always a bit disappointing. Or what if I could change the Fury's four mini guns to spray guns just for the lulz? I am aware that the basic uniqueness partly comes from the weapon aesthetics (You want lighting? Use hurricane!), which means it would kind of kill new tank creation if it gets costumizable, but the idea is entertaining, nevertheless. Maybe adding some custom weapon sets for some of the tanks?
Then there are the individual tanks. Rob has mentioned that maybe adding a 5th, unique trigger to each tank could be a possibility, I'm counting on this. Here are some modules, feel free to add your own ideas! And comment on these, of course.
Corsair
5th trigger modules:
- Shield Swapper: For X seconds, swaps the head and rear shields (180° rotate). The invincibility trigger would affect the new, "bigger" shield.
- Laser Focuser: Turns off the secondary guns, but increases the damage output of the main gun, to a higher dps than it would be with the original setup. This could be useful while going deep on enemy convoys with the front shield holding.
Enhancer modules:
- Plasma Igniter: Beside the basic damage, Shear recieves a small DoT effect
- Lightweight Hull: Increases the rotation speed of the hull, making the front shield easier to aim while fighting towers and their minions
Trailblazer
5th trigger modules:
- Trail Ablaze: For X seconds, the trailblazer leaves a path of highly concentrated burning material behind itself, which is slowly dissolving while moving sideways, damaging minions mostly. (I had this idea way before the TB got a gun, this could be even a custom replacement for that trigger.)
- Spacetime Warp: the tb teleports a short distance forwards. (I know this was an original trigger, but I liked it.)
Enhancer modules:
- Advanced Cloaking: cloak lasts a second longer
- Refined Scanning System: increases the tb's vision/exploration radius by 5 tiles.
- Mobile Comlink Supply: increases the distance the tb could explore before being comlink-ported back to origin. (Base speed could be decreased with this module on as we can assume this is a heavy thing.)
Avenger
5th trigger modules:
- Shield Recalibrator: Out of the 6 shield segments, turns 3 instantly off and recharges the other 3 to max. Turned off shields won't recharge, while the others would have an increased recovery speed. This trigger could have an "on / off" state, having a permanent effect while turned on. Cooldown time of the trigger is relatively short, and happens after a state switch.
- Missile barrage: The tank becomes inmovable, but fires a good amount of highly explosive missiles straight ahead. (I know the main gun has mini lasers and no rockets... but... yeah, see the picture above.
)
Enhancer modules:
- Exact Revenge: The damage output of the main gun is proportionally increased to the hull damage it is sustaining, starting with a 1.0 multiplier (no increase) at full health, health replenishment is slowed down. (This might look "unrealistic", though. I blame modified nanobots.)
Phantom
5th trigger modules:
- Phantom Image: For X seconds, the tank creates a phantom image of itself, running parallel for about 4 "tiles" away, with having higher target priority for enemies that could shoot at both of them. The phantom image wouldn't be able to increase the exploration range, of course.
Enhancer modules:
- Anti-Gravity Propulsion System: The phantom could move in any direction without having to rotate towards or away from said coordinate. Since it is a round, symmetric tank anyway, I think it could be a feature that would come "naturally" for it. Of course, manual rotation with the A,D buttons would still work to help positioning the shields.
Predator
5th trigger modules:
- Prey Stalking: selects the biggest / deadliest target within an area, marking it with a crosshair for X seconds. During this interval, all guns of the predator are focusing on (firing at) this target regardless if there are distractions or obstacles in between.
- Consuming Field: while the trigger is active, each destroyed enemy replenishes the Predator's hull proportionally to their max hp.
Hercules
5th trigger:
- Minesweeping Deadlock: For X seconds, the Hercules is able to pick up mines / bombs that are on the ground, by driving over. Can hold a maximum of 3 mines, which are disposed (deleted) after 2 seconds, helping in the recharge of the Hercules' related triggers (1st, 4th). I think this trigger would make the herc a great fun tank at GCTs and Zetas, since you could save others by "eating" the bombs thrown, at the same time being under a higher risk since you have to run over them before they detonate, so it's kind of an all-or-nothing situation at zeta's focused bomb fields...
Enhancement modules:
- Short Fusion: halves the detonation time on the mines/bombs that are laid down by the tank.
Hornet
5th trigger modules:
- Beam of Utter Devastation: The Hornet fires one wide beam to the full length of its gun's range, damaging and incending everything that happens to be in the way.
- Shielding Sweep: The two layers of shields start to slowly rotate around the hornet, one layer to the left, the other layer to the right. While rotating, the shield isn't recharging.
Hurricane
5th trigger modules:
- EM Tornado: all enemy vehicles within X range are forced to move clockwise to N degrees (centered from the Hurricane), while also spinning around their own center. Vehicles that have been displaced to at least N/2 degrees also become disarmed for 2 seconds. Other players, turrets, convoy members are not movable, and they stop all minions that happen to crash into them. These minions stop spinning and rotating instantly (disarm rule still applies).
Enhancer modules:
- Recoiling Beams: when the lighting gun hits a target, the beam recoils to a second and third target (if any), dealing 50% and 25% damage respectively.
Spectre
Enhancer modules:
- Twin Guns: the Spectre now fires backwards too if the gun shoots forwards. (Kinda like a dual-lightsaber.) Aiming logic still only accounts for the target in front, so it can happen that the rear shot won't hit anything.
First, let's see what makes the current tanks unique:
- Triggers
- Shield(s)
- Hull
- Main Gun(s)
- Secondary Gun(s)
Making a module that affects any of these would be already a good and easy choice for something to implement.
Nevertheless, there are two kinds of modules that would lend uniqueness to the tank, while they would be still available to any / each of them. Namely:
Color modules. Tired of Avenger being yellow? Thinking that Specter would be hot in red? Ever wanted to make a rainbow fury? Color modules would be an easy solution. From the list above, we can say that every aspect of a tank has a defining visual component too: a hull, a set of shields, main gun(s) and secondary gun(s). (Even the triggers have their own visual effects, but for simplicity we can exclude these). Which means that at first glance, you could add 4 new items to the game, which recolor these things respectively. E.g. you could have a generic item named "Hull Recolor - Red", which applied to any of the tanks would change the specific part accordingly. The question is of course what would happen when there are more parts to color? Shields for example could get different shades of one base color, or each section colored differently, same goes for the main hull, and of course the guns. This could be achieved with class-unique color items, a nice addition to the all-purpose coloring. Naturally, the beams shot by the guns could be recolored too.
Weapon / Projectile Aesthetics. As long as there is no behavioral difference among the weapons, it would be a nice costumization option if we could change the aesthetics. For example when I play avenger, I can't help but think I'm playing some future version of this tank, and having 3 little laser guns instead of a massive missile pod is always a bit disappointing. Or what if I could change the Fury's four mini guns to spray guns just for the lulz? I am aware that the basic uniqueness partly comes from the weapon aesthetics (You want lighting? Use hurricane!), which means it would kind of kill new tank creation if it gets costumizable, but the idea is entertaining, nevertheless. Maybe adding some custom weapon sets for some of the tanks?
Then there are the individual tanks. Rob has mentioned that maybe adding a 5th, unique trigger to each tank could be a possibility, I'm counting on this. Here are some modules, feel free to add your own ideas! And comment on these, of course.
Corsair
5th trigger modules:
- Shield Swapper: For X seconds, swaps the head and rear shields (180° rotate). The invincibility trigger would affect the new, "bigger" shield.
- Laser Focuser: Turns off the secondary guns, but increases the damage output of the main gun, to a higher dps than it would be with the original setup. This could be useful while going deep on enemy convoys with the front shield holding.
Enhancer modules:
- Plasma Igniter: Beside the basic damage, Shear recieves a small DoT effect
- Lightweight Hull: Increases the rotation speed of the hull, making the front shield easier to aim while fighting towers and their minions
Trailblazer
5th trigger modules:
- Trail Ablaze: For X seconds, the trailblazer leaves a path of highly concentrated burning material behind itself, which is slowly dissolving while moving sideways, damaging minions mostly. (I had this idea way before the TB got a gun, this could be even a custom replacement for that trigger.)
- Spacetime Warp: the tb teleports a short distance forwards. (I know this was an original trigger, but I liked it.)
Enhancer modules:
- Advanced Cloaking: cloak lasts a second longer
- Refined Scanning System: increases the tb's vision/exploration radius by 5 tiles.
- Mobile Comlink Supply: increases the distance the tb could explore before being comlink-ported back to origin. (Base speed could be decreased with this module on as we can assume this is a heavy thing.)
Avenger
5th trigger modules:
- Shield Recalibrator: Out of the 6 shield segments, turns 3 instantly off and recharges the other 3 to max. Turned off shields won't recharge, while the others would have an increased recovery speed. This trigger could have an "on / off" state, having a permanent effect while turned on. Cooldown time of the trigger is relatively short, and happens after a state switch.
- Missile barrage: The tank becomes inmovable, but fires a good amount of highly explosive missiles straight ahead. (I know the main gun has mini lasers and no rockets... but... yeah, see the picture above.
)Enhancer modules:
- Exact Revenge: The damage output of the main gun is proportionally increased to the hull damage it is sustaining, starting with a 1.0 multiplier (no increase) at full health, health replenishment is slowed down. (This might look "unrealistic", though. I blame modified nanobots.)
Phantom
5th trigger modules:
- Phantom Image: For X seconds, the tank creates a phantom image of itself, running parallel for about 4 "tiles" away, with having higher target priority for enemies that could shoot at both of them. The phantom image wouldn't be able to increase the exploration range, of course.
Enhancer modules:
- Anti-Gravity Propulsion System: The phantom could move in any direction without having to rotate towards or away from said coordinate. Since it is a round, symmetric tank anyway, I think it could be a feature that would come "naturally" for it. Of course, manual rotation with the A,D buttons would still work to help positioning the shields.
Predator
5th trigger modules:
- Prey Stalking: selects the biggest / deadliest target within an area, marking it with a crosshair for X seconds. During this interval, all guns of the predator are focusing on (firing at) this target regardless if there are distractions or obstacles in between.
- Consuming Field: while the trigger is active, each destroyed enemy replenishes the Predator's hull proportionally to their max hp.
Hercules
5th trigger:
- Minesweeping Deadlock: For X seconds, the Hercules is able to pick up mines / bombs that are on the ground, by driving over. Can hold a maximum of 3 mines, which are disposed (deleted) after 2 seconds, helping in the recharge of the Hercules' related triggers (1st, 4th). I think this trigger would make the herc a great fun tank at GCTs and Zetas, since you could save others by "eating" the bombs thrown, at the same time being under a higher risk since you have to run over them before they detonate, so it's kind of an all-or-nothing situation at zeta's focused bomb fields...
Enhancement modules:
- Short Fusion: halves the detonation time on the mines/bombs that are laid down by the tank.
Hornet
5th trigger modules:
- Beam of Utter Devastation: The Hornet fires one wide beam to the full length of its gun's range, damaging and incending everything that happens to be in the way.
- Shielding Sweep: The two layers of shields start to slowly rotate around the hornet, one layer to the left, the other layer to the right. While rotating, the shield isn't recharging.
Hurricane
5th trigger modules:
- EM Tornado: all enemy vehicles within X range are forced to move clockwise to N degrees (centered from the Hurricane), while also spinning around their own center. Vehicles that have been displaced to at least N/2 degrees also become disarmed for 2 seconds. Other players, turrets, convoy members are not movable, and they stop all minions that happen to crash into them. These minions stop spinning and rotating instantly (disarm rule still applies).
Enhancer modules:
- Recoiling Beams: when the lighting gun hits a target, the beam recoils to a second and third target (if any), dealing 50% and 25% damage respectively.
Spectre
Enhancer modules:
- Twin Guns: the Spectre now fires backwards too if the gun shoots forwards. (Kinda like a dual-lightsaber.) Aiming logic still only accounts for the target in front, so it can happen that the rear shot won't hit anything.