<twiddle thumbs> ILSpy takes a while to update the indentation on 31K lines... <sigh> Don't make me have to break out the 1M line raw MSIL to do this, I just want to insert the Knockback flag and laugh at the resulting pew-pew chaos...
Time to amuse myself on the forum while I wait.
Multiples should also increase the ship cap for their ships. Like Ancient Shadows Nebula Faction Starbase Foldouts.
A possibility, though it may necessitate revamping their stats as they weren't balanced for higher caps. It would also have a knock-on effect on the MF Resistance spawns.
Does their cap already scale with intensity? If so, maybe make it proportional to intensity^2 or something ?
I forget, my vague memory is either no, or not that much. Intensity mostly affects the spawning frequency for virtually all the minor factions. Cap often is static, intensity just indirectly affects how fast you hit the cap and how stubbornly the population will stay at/near cap no matter how hard you try to cull them.
Have them...
- Build "aggro modules" on resource extraction points?
- Feed on orbiting scrap?
I like. Having them build structures might be an issue, how the Hybrid construction stuff kind of disappeared hints at trouble there. But... It's probably feasible to have them look for resource nodes and then park themselves on top of them to guard them from you and keep Rebuilders from replacing the Harvesters. That'd produce a similar effect ultimately.
Although there's still construction logic in the game for the Warp Relay plot. Hm. Something to look at. I'm picturing the Wardens building "Neinzul Terraformers" which are basically reversed Harvesters, each one drains metal as long as it's there.
Having them clean up
litter orbiting scrap would also give them a slight positive side effect too if they pass through an enemy planet while you're fighting, assuming the AI doesn't insta-collect scrap. Haven't looked at that part yet. That would be fun, it seems like most MFs try to have some combination of positive and negative, the pure negative stuff is mostly left to Plots and some of the AI Options.
I would do this:
- Broken Golems (Normal): As Broken Golems (Easy). Intensity affects how many there are.
- Broken Golems (Rotting): Brings back golem self-attrition. Intensity affects how many there are. May be combined with the above, in which case there will be even more broken golems, but some of them will be rotting.
- Exo-Wave (Broken Golems): Split this into a separate setting. Intensity affects exo-wave strength/frequency/whatever as normal. Might also want to only trigger when you actually have golems (broken or otherwise)
And then the Botnet has (Normal) and (Rotting) options, and uses the same ExoWave (Broken Golems) thing, but has a rule that you can't combine normal and rotting.
Wasn't the self-attrition thing for the Golems almost universally disliked? That was before my time, just going off of what I've run across in old threads.
"Rotting" makes me think of different forms of being broken and what it could mean. What if on Medium, Golems couldn't be repaired after the initial activation, like the Spirecraft Medium setting? The humans manage to patch them up and jump-start them once, but they're so far gone that they won't survive more attempts to duct-tape them back together. Energy and metal cost would be normal, no Exo, and either no or a very small AIP bump on activation (seems like the AI should still get a little irritated, especially if actions like opening ZReserves, Distribution Nodes, etc. bugs it, but I think I like +AIP more than most players so I may not be the best judge on that point).
I've seen a lot of requests in old threads for Exos to only happen when you activate them, like the Exodian Blade and Fallen Spire stuff. I think that makes sense and should be harmonized -- after all, if the mere presence of the uncaptured Exodian Blade on the map doesn't cause the AI to go apoplectic, then nothing should.
Scaling Exo frequency would probably be a good change, it seems like a lot of people think the Exos happen too often, and adjusting intensity would give them the ability to tune that.
Thanks Radiant Phoenix. :)
Preservation Warden Idea passing by.
If the point is to mess with player's metal, just targeting harvesters is not enough. The idea would be for the wardens to build a sort of low-firepower, short-range guard post on the cleaned metal deposit that blocks harvester's rebuilding (regular GPosts already do that) and has a bit more health and armor than an average GPost. The player have to militarily claim back the metal deposits, and a lone distant planet harassed by wardens can become cluttered by Neinzul Preservation Wards, unable to collect metal without military assistance. Radar dampening and sniper immunity would be required for the wards.
Sorry, I'm tired.
Or have small FFs dropped on them to block your Engis/Rebuilders. "Rocks are under glass, can't touch them!" The mental picture that gives is pretty funny, little FF bubbles scattered around a planet with frustrated Engineers circling them.
