Some Ideas for New EXO

[muttala]

Just throw in some wild ideas here, they are just my quick ideas don't meant to be perfect in any sense.



Epic Defender - specialized in shield / protection and regeneration - good as tank

Epic Commander - specialized in sentry, capable to spawn few secondary bots / aura bonus to them like leaderbot etc

[Necro_Man_Ser]

Assault Exo practically is a tank with +30% to all shield related stats.

[Elcs]

As mentioned, the Defender role is pretty much covered by the Assault, the tank of the exos.

As far as the Commander goes, the Science and Ninja can cover the whole Sentry/Mines/Traps thing but I rather do like the idea of bringing in other small exos to supplement an exo type, much like the evil bots get Leaders, Masterminds, Ammo Bots etc...

Whilst typing this out I was thinking of some sort of decoy lobbing device. Something possibly only able to be used in Stealth Mode, fires some sort of Decoy (Exo-shaped Balloon, fales radar signature or something along those lines) that distracts the enemy bots for X turns or until it's destroyed (low'ish HP, meant to buy you a turn or two at best). Not sure on it but it sounded great in my head.

[Necro_Man_Ser]

I like that decoy idea. Anything to successfully avoid alerting bots too strong for you sou you can outmaneuver them. Obvious trade-off already included: less cash.

[FrostyThePyro]

Entirely new types are possible, but there is a good variety with what the current ones cover.  I think the best way to handle that without stepping on other exos toes is to add them in as variations the current exos, maybe only showing up once you upgrade with the bahumet device.  So current exos would have the designation "prime" such as Assault Prime, and then new ones could be designated "Omega" or some such.


Examples

Brawler: forgoes even medium ranged weaponry, disentigrator replaced with flamethrower (splash damage in a line from target square to the exo), pistol replaced by PUNCH (range 1, range cannot be increased, very high base damage and enough ammo to be practically unlimited).  every third (or maybe even every second) movement does not use an action, with a counter on the action bar keeping track.

Assault: likely just different weapon selection, Heavy Machine Gun instead of laser rifle + light machine gun (like chaingun but instead of a free shot every even shot it has a free shot whenever it kills a bot), micro grenades instead of grenade launcher (smaller splash/damage more range/ammo), that kind of thing.

Sniper: smaller sight bonus but can see/sensor through cover like its not there (maybe even doors/false walls?), alternate gamma laser that can fire through cover like its not there but only gets a free shot when ammo is divisible by 3.  Shadow torpedo's instead of plasma rifle (or maybe instead of rail gun).

Ninja: losses ability to attack without breaking stealth, but gets a large damage bonus when attacking while stealthed.

Science:  half the built in bonus to computer related skills, starts with virus points instead of hacking points, can hack/virus from range (lets say range 3).  we can roll ops commander thoughts into this and let it virus friendlies (turrets/virused bots) to add some bonus stats.

Siege:  likely just Different weapons, like a rocket launcher that spawns a rocket that has a limited range per turn, but persists turn to turn (wont alert bots, and already alert bots have a high chance (like 95%+) to ignore it.  essentially giving it an unlimited range, and able to target around corners, but takes time to reach the target.  Almost Like shadow torpedoes with splash, a time delay, and unable to go through walls/doors.


You stuff like that.

[Histidine]

Assault: Shield-focused
Ninja: Propulsion-focused
Science: Computer-focused
There's no exo with an attack power bonus, but Brawler, Sniper and Siege are all variations on the offense-oriented theme.

The only exo system that doesn't have an exo with a bonus to it is the reactor.
Thus, my idea is a Lightning Exo: 25% bonus to power output, possibly has a built-in General Overcharger; uses a set of energy weapons that includes uniques such as a taser/electrolaser and an EMP bomb.

[Elcs]

The only exo system that doesn't have an exo with a bonus to it is the reactor.
Thus, my idea is a Lightning Exo: 25% bonus to power output, possibly has a built-in General Overcharger; uses a set of energy weapons that includes uniques such as a taser/electrolaser and an EMP bomb.

I quite like the idea, although I think one of those EMP weapons (like the Taser, only ever melee range) should go to the Ninja too. Maybe if a bot is stunned, it costs less to infect with Virus?

Also, there's a lack of melee exos/bots. I wonder if a melee exo could be an interesting addition to the game if it could be appropriately balanced and implemented. Perhaps it could have a special ability/weapon that would also open up locked doors as an alternative to hacking.

[PokerChen]

Does anyone think that the Brawler Exo might be relatively under-powered compared to the Assault Exo - after the plaama Rifle was added to the latter?  A range 14/3K damage/10-shot/5radius beast of a weapon will outperform pretty much anything the Brawler has to offer, on top of the shield bonus.

[licker]

Pardon me if this has been mentioned before...

But why do we need to balance the exos in the first place?

Most roguelikes have an ideal build choices, but that doesn't detract from using the others in whatever nod to difficulty or fluff or whatever else you want to call it.

[FrostyThePyro]

Does anyone think that the Brawler Exo might be relatively under-powered compared to the Assault Exo - after the plaama Rifle was added to the latter?  A range 14/3K damage/10-shot/5radius beast of a weapon will outperform pretty much anything the Brawler has to offer, on top of the shield bonus.

eh maybe, but the dissolver is arguably one of the best guns in the game.  it has a high damage and a lot of ammo.  giving it the highest base ammo*damage value in the game (600*30=18000).  Less splash obviously but still enouph splash to be usable through walls/around corners. 

On the other hand the brawler is stuck with the pistol, whos only purpose is to hold slots for exo wide bonuses and to save ammo of other guns when shooting cover/doors. 

[muttala]

I like the decoy and lightning exo idea - very useful

Same to Frosty's brawler idea on "punch" replacing the less useful pistol -making it a bit distinctive as melee master but tI'm concern that the game has too many range bot attackers and exposition here and there to get close.

perhaps, move the shield / defense or even regeneration bonus from assault to brawler
Then we have assault focus on overall attacking bonus, brawler on defense and close range attack (useful for mission with many doors)


If we can  makes the exo wear fewer hats

i.e:

Assault - overall attack / generalist
Brawler - Defense / short range attack
Sniper - long range attack
siege -  area attack
Science - computer hacking (converting bots) and non moving sentry etc
Ninja - stealth

Then we add 2 more exo (let says decoy / lightning) in expansion then it is just nice for a multiple of 4 in game selection.

This promote better strategy / harder choice to select exo.


Just an idea anyway.

[FrostyThePyro]

Same to Frosty's brawler idea on "punch" replacing the less useful pistol -making it a bit distinctive as melee master but tI'm concern that the game has too many range bot attackers and exposition here and there to get close.

which was part of why that varient didn't use an action for every third (or maybe second) movement, esentialy making it able to be faster than the bots.  It would still take more hits than other exos (unless you are burning stealth) but would not take as many hits as a different exo if it tried.

[khadgar]

I like your ideas, but I agree with a previous post that suggested having two (or more?) variations of an exo. Perhaps you could be given a choice upon completing the Bahamut facility, or just have a separate facility for a separate upgrade path. I like choices, and I like "classing up" as it were. So, when I class up my assault, I can spec into a more offensive variant, the Elite Assault, or the more defensive variant, the Guardian. The brawler could get increased mobility/range on one variant, and heavier weapons on another variant.

In fact, perhaps all the epic exos could have a combat variant with increase combat capabilities & weapons as now, but also have a second variant that goes a different path. The combat science gets the chaingun, the research science gets 2x effectiveness from computer modules... The super siege gets the plasma cannon, the smart siege is immune to it's own splash damage (finally!)... or whatever.

This is an interesting idea to me, as it allows for more exo combinations without REALLY making more exo combinations.

[Elcs]

In fact, perhaps all the epic exos could have a combat variant with increase combat capabilities & weapons as now, but also have a second variant that goes a different path. The combat science gets the chaingun, the research science gets 2x effectiveness from computer modules... The super siege gets the plasma cannon, the smart siege is immune to it's own splash damage (finally!)... or whatever.

This is an interesting idea to me, as it allows for more exo combinations without REALLY making more exo combinations.

I quite like the principle and think it would work in practice as long as the boosts are balanced and force the player into making choices or sacrifices. Can't quite think of anything useful at this moment in time.