[0.12] Top-tier Combat robots should be permanent and personal
Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2015 6:04 pm
[Edit: This is the wrong place for posting suggestions... my bad. I don't see any way to delete the post, so I'll just put it in a spoiler for now.]
I love the aesthetic of the personal roboport. A fleet of drones popping out of the player's power armor looks great. In the current game version, the construction bots come out to fix my tank and turrets during combat. This is a great mechanic that I haven't seen in other games. I'd like robots to play a more significant role in combat, especially the Destroyer robots. Unfortunately, due to the high cost and consumable nature of the combat robots, I only use the Distractor capsules during regular play.
Suggestion: change Destroyer Capsule (consumable) to Destroyer Drones (permanent)
# recipe: one Destroyer Drone = 1x Flying Robot Frame, 1x Distractor Capsule, 1x Speed Module
# uses (and requires) Personal Roboport
# can be repaired by construction bots mid-combat
# Destroyer behavior remains the same - it follows the player and attacks hostiles
# Destroyer drones additionally limited by the number of personal roboports (10 drones per port)
# Destroyer drones deployment can't exceed the follower robot limit
Those last 2 items are essential towards balancing permanent combat robots. As it is now, construction robots use enormous amounts of power from the personal roboport. It would be logical and balanced for Destroyer drones to consume power in a similar manner. A player will need to balance this huge demand for power against their personal defenses and maximum number of deployed robots.
For example, an end-game setup might look something like this: mk2 power armor with 3 fusion reactors, 10 mk2 batteries, 4 personal roboports, and 4 mk2 shields. The player keeps a stockpile of construction and destroyer drones in the inventory, but only a maximum of 40 can deploy at a time. A skirmish that lasts for more than a minute would deplete the batteries, leaving the player without defenses. A player with this configuration could march through a smaller base with ease - as you should be able to do so late in the game. Against larger bases, the player could use this configuration to keep the tank safe from monsters, while shooting worms and nests with the cannon from a safe distance.
To my way of thinking, this would make combat far more enjoyable. The currently preferred late-game combat method involves placing a turret wall blueprint and watching everything die. Adventurous players like myself use Distractor capsules to speed up the turret walk, and to make things more interesting. However, it still gets boring fast.
Suggestion: change Destroyer Capsule (consumable) to Destroyer Drones (permanent)
# recipe: one Destroyer Drone = 1x Flying Robot Frame, 1x Distractor Capsule, 1x Speed Module
# uses (and requires) Personal Roboport
# can be repaired by construction bots mid-combat
# Destroyer behavior remains the same - it follows the player and attacks hostiles
# Destroyer drones additionally limited by the number of personal roboports (10 drones per port)
# Destroyer drones deployment can't exceed the follower robot limit
Those last 2 items are essential towards balancing permanent combat robots. As it is now, construction robots use enormous amounts of power from the personal roboport. It would be logical and balanced for Destroyer drones to consume power in a similar manner. A player will need to balance this huge demand for power against their personal defenses and maximum number of deployed robots.
For example, an end-game setup might look something like this: mk2 power armor with 3 fusion reactors, 10 mk2 batteries, 4 personal roboports, and 4 mk2 shields. The player keeps a stockpile of construction and destroyer drones in the inventory, but only a maximum of 40 can deploy at a time. A skirmish that lasts for more than a minute would deplete the batteries, leaving the player without defenses. A player with this configuration could march through a smaller base with ease - as you should be able to do so late in the game. Against larger bases, the player could use this configuration to keep the tank safe from monsters, while shooting worms and nests with the cannon from a safe distance.
To my way of thinking, this would make combat far more enjoyable. The currently preferred late-game combat method involves placing a turret wall blueprint and watching everything die. Adventurous players like myself use Distractor capsules to speed up the turret walk, and to make things more interesting. However, it still gets boring fast.
