Basically, in my idea, there will be 2 strange machines at the back of the base that will both do the same thing: use ATOMs to make normal or specialized drones that will attack the base in a path of your choice. Although these machines are impervious to bullets, once core shields are down, both machines will instantly explode, becoming unusable. Basically, when you reach these machines, you can press g to use them. You can use them no matter where you are on the battlefield. When doing this, you first get a list of all the drones you can use with their corresponding atom costs, then you get to choose which path through the base they take. The possible paths are shown here: http://imgur.com/qk8pw0X
When you do this, the ATOMs are taken out of your cargo and the ships you have asked for spawn at the machine and proceed to follow their instructed path. They engage buildings and structures on sight, but they will only engage an enemy or drone that is outside the enemy base after being significantly damaged by said enemy or drone. This way, the drones can actually get to their specific destinations without deciding to veer off and kill that one little enemy that just went past. EXP/ATOM gained from these drones picking up ATOMs/kiling things are shared with the team, no matter who made said drones.
Here is a list of all the drones I’ve came up with. What do you think? Are any of them OP?
1) 10 fighter drones: 400 ATOMs. It’s unlikely that even this many fighter drones will actually manage to kill something, but this many fighter drones will still create a vaguely effective diversion, so that’s why it’s not cheaper. These give only 2/5s of the EXP of a normal fighter drone.
2) 3 assault drones: 600 ATOMs. These could easily hold up a turret or annoy a player, though these lack firepower. These are still pretty pricey due to their ‘meat shield’ qualities, but they aren’t that costly. They give half the exp of regular assault drones.
And now for the drones I made up. If people like this idea, I’ll draw demos of the drones:
4) 5 poison drones: 950 ATOMs. These guys fire shots at a rate of about 2 a second. Their attacks do 7 damage with a 55 damage corrosive effect over 5 secs. This can stack 5 times. These ships have about 75% of the life of an assault drone, and move as fast as a ss venture using afterburners, so while these guys are just an annoyance in the end-game, a commander who saves up a lot of ATOMs in the start could easily create a diversion by unleashing these. They give a decent, but not overwhelming amount of experience on death.
5) 3 saw drones: 850 ATOMs. These drones have the life of an assault drone, and move as fast as a shinobi without afterburners. They are basically giant flying jabber-esque saw blades, and will throw themselves at whatever they choose to target. Their saw-bodies will do the damage of a lvl2 sharp edges. Although these guys will suck at structures, and not present much threat to a skilled pilot on their own, though if a close-range dps char flies with them, they will act as deadly wingmen that will take considerable chunks out of the enemies around them as the battle rages. On death, these give the same EXP as the poison drones.
6) 25 swarm drones: 750 ATOMs. These drones move about as fast as an un-boosting ant. These guys will half only 45% of the life of a fighter drone, and will attack with a version of the fighter drone’s phase beam which has the same range but slightly less damage and a much faster RoF. The point of these enemies is simply to confuse: Sure, they have the potential to kill something, but these things are pathetically weak: With a quick burst of firepower, these things will be quickly scattered and exploded. These enemies are simply the ultimate diversion: Upon seeing these, an unskilled player would get distracted, or at least overwhelmed if a commander attacks with the drones, allowing something else to happen somewhere else. On death, these give very, very little exp.
7) 2 support drones: 1000 ATOMs. These drones work as mini, in-effective ss ventures. They come equipped with a re-vorpanate which has half the power of the real re-vorpanate. They move speed of an assault drone, and then drop to half the speed of an assault drone when they leave their base, They have the life of 4 assault drones. They are just useful, tank-ish things to help frontal or final assaults. Their lack of speed as well as lack of stopping to attack as they have no weapons means that these ships are not great for side assaults. These things explode on death, dealing the damage of a lvl1 fiery death and giving an assault drone’s worth of exp.
8) 4 flak drones: 700 ATOMs. These drones move as fast as assault drones. They have a third of the life of assault drones. These drones basically come equipped with an AA-12. They stay back at longer ranges, showering everything with their rapid-fire shotguns when all the bullets are well-spread out. It has 10 projectiles that it shoots at a speed of 3 a second. Each projectile does 7 damage, and it’s shooting radius covers a slightly larger radius than a clank. When these ships lose half their life, they malfunction and stop shooting for 5 seconds. The purpose of these ships is to simply hit everything, and weaken things all round: When directly charged, they will die relatively easily, so they’re opportune use is behind something else, giving cover fire.
9) 3 rocket drones: 1200 ATOMs. These drones move at the speed of assault drones, and have twice the life of assault drones. Their main weapon is a rocket similar to the lvl1 BFG, just with the range of Quantum Pincer bullets, and slightly less damage. When the rocket drones target an enemy or sturcture, they stop moving and fire on it out of range. They turn slowly, and therefore are easy to kill if you run circles around them. The power behind these drones is that they fire out of range of things, and are therefore really good at taking out turrets and structures. They stay still so that they won’t die charging into battle, so as long as you keep them alive, they can severely cripple an enemy base.
10) 5 slow drones: 1300 ATOMs. These enemies move as fast as poison drones, and have twice the life of an assault drone. After leaving allied territory, these ships will still follow their path, though these ships will prioritize other commandos. Once these ships find a commando, they will stay nearby it, while using a neutron-overload like attack to slow down the commando as well as decreasing rotation speed, leaving the ship more vunerable to attacks. These drones are great for heavy offensives. While the drones de-buff the enemy, the commandos can take them out.
What d’you guys think?
