So I Matt ward Now? All hail I, the Supreme Grand Master of Your Spiritual Leigitude, and bow before my ultrasmurf knights!
Alright! I can now type everything I wanted. For now I'll keep this on a single post, but later there will be separated topics, and they will be more extensive. Take this as a draft. DINASTIES AND AESTHETICS It might seem strange to start with this instead of with game mechanics. The reason for this is the strong community feeling that Necrons are as uniform and boring as they were on their 3rd edition codex, and because of that, people tend to see them better as a PVE enemy. It is necessary to first make them see that is no longer the case, and make them want to have a Necron character. NeWcrons have personality. They are varied. They are proud. They are GLORIOUS. They are the ones with the über, non-psychic technology that endured for dozens of millions of years. And thanks to the factions/Rogue Trader options of Eternal Crusade, this can be do justice to. Each Phaeron and individual Lord have their own likings, which influence the aesthetics of their armies. Even the humble Warriors have enough of themselves left to be playable, and Inmortals even keep their names and memories (they simply don't usually talk). Crypteks have such mastery of physics to be able to keep the awesome properties of their tech while respecting the aestethics of their Phaerons: the color and texture of their armors, the color of their gauss energies... This opens a lot of possibilities for playable dinasties and aesthetic unlockables. The following examples come straight from the codex (-> canon): - Armor: dull metallic, shiny golden/silver plating, plastic-like materials, even glass. - Energies: classic emerald, cobalt blue, fiery orange, red... - Glyphs: different ones for each dinasty and unit. Some of these traits are the default ones for certain dinasties; others can be applied as custom Rogue Trader unlockables. RACIAL MECHANICS Basing ourselves on the codex, when compared to other races, Necrons as a whole should be: - Slower and less agile. Their "sprinting" should be no more than a stomping trotting. This makes them vulnerable to lightning strikes and makes it more difficult for them to withdraw. - As much health and armor as Space Marines. Warriors may have less armor, but higher units do have better plating. - As hard hitting as Space Marines in close combat, while being slow. You might be able to kite them, but don't get caught. - Devastating shooting, but most of their weapons are shorter-ranged than their equivalents. When compared to the Tau, they are out-ranged, but their firepower is slightly better once in proper range (those two would be in a tight draw when only taking shooting in comparison). - Some sort of mechanic that represents their self-repairing. About the self-repairing, before we discuss the possibilities we should make sure how does Eternal Crusade treat wounds. - The self-repairing mechanic should not rely on RNG (random) mechanics, as it could be extremely frustrating for all parties. - If all infantry units regen health passively, Necrons would regen it faster. - If health does not regen by itself, Necrons would be the only ones who do. In any case, this should apply to all their vehicles. - I've seen a Space Marine can be "Wounded" (that is, left agonizing but not dead). This mechanic allows medic classes to perform their jobs and enemies to perform epic executions. If a SM cannot exit Wounded state without external aid, then Necrons should be the able to get on their feet by themselves after a relatively short time. If Executed, the Necron is dead for real like everyone else. For me, this option seems the better one. - As in the codex, only Necrons themselves and their vehicles can self-repair: Canoptek units do not benefit of this, making them particularly suitable for deployable NPC's. CLASSES My concept of class division is the following: - Troops: Warriors, Inmortals, Flayed Ones, Deathmarks - Elites: Destroyers, Lychguards, Praetorians, Crypteks - HQ: Lords (which can be specialized on foot lords, Destroyer lords, even Flayed lords (yes, those are canon too!)) - Bikes: Tomb Blades - Vehicles: Ghost Arks, Annihilation Barges, Doomsday Arks, Monoliths (eventually), aircraft (eventually) - NPC summonables (by HQ players): Canoptek Scarabs, Wraiths and Spiders Some thoughts on individual classes: - Deathmarks: most of you seem to prefer them to be Elites, but since Necrons don't have jump infantry aside from Praetorians (which are not Troops), they could have an sniper class instead in the Troops category. Their "hiding on a higher dimension" ability could have a toned-down version on this game. For example: they can enter "Intangible" mode, which makes them invulnerable (projectiles and melee pass through them). If other races' snipers can cloak, the Deathmarks could also become less visible (ghostly) when on Intangible mode. This mode lasts for some time and has to reload, just like Infiltrators on Planetside 2. This mode has to be deactivated in order to be able to attack, and cannot be reactivated inmediatly, again, just like Planetside 2. Those sniper shots would be deadly though. - Flayed Ones: they could move a bit faster than other Necron troops (I picture thir sprint as the quadrupedal one of apes). - Crypteks and Lords could be highly customizable in their wargear and abilities, to specialize in certain roles. - Destroyers can choose/unlock between the normal Gauss Cannon and the Heavy One. Both would require around 1 second of charging up before shooting. The former would be fully auto; the later would be a single histcan discharge, like a Laser Cannon shot. WEAPONS Since most Necron weapons are either Gauss or Tesla (others work exactly like their counterparts of other factions), we could make them all have a set of properties depending on their type (in the same way SM have Bolter, Plasma, Melta...). All Necron weapons have infinite ammo: instead of reloading, they have to let their batteries recharge (akin to overheating). Some of them might require pre-charging. - Gauss: hitscan, highest armor ignore of all equivalent weapons, can damage vehicles regardless of size (can be low damage if small weapon though). Lower range compared to equivalent weapons. - Tesla: like the Arc Projector on Mass Effect 2. Press and hold LMB to charge; once charged, it automatically shoots a single arc on the crosshair (hitscan). Limited range. Target suffers a chunk of damage and might be briefly stunned. Arcs jump to all nearby enemies; all suffer the same damage. Zero armor piercing. Alternative: flamethrower-like (no afterburn). Some thoughts on individual weapons: - Gauss Flayer: after discussing it with a friend, we decided it would work better as a semiauto weapon, in contrast to boltguns, shootas and shuriken catapults, which are fully auto. Press LMB and a hitscan ray is shot. It deals high damage per shot, but does not shoot as fast as its counterparts. The most similar example I've found is the Shockrifle from the Unreal Tournament games (without the enegy ball though and the throw back on impact). - Gauss Blasters and Cannons could be fully automatic, more powerful versions of the Gauss Flayer. The Cannon should shoot really fast. They would have greater range too. Well, I think this is mostly all. What do you think?
I think this is great! My only issue is that you constantly misspelled dynasties XD. I especially appreciate you working with the tesla and gauss special rules. On the matter of regen, y? Is it to replicate Ressurection protocols? Anyways, how would you suggest implementing a flayed lord? I know all about the bone kingdom, but there isn't exactly a whole lot of crunch or fluff on the lord. Also, gauss cannons DO NOT shoot fast. If they did, destroyers would be OP as fuck. But yeah, as necrons, dying is good because unlike the other factions we do not die when we are killed. We can discuss our deaths and learn from them in a way no other faction can, which is great for this game.
Glad you like it! Yep, I did not know how to spell dynasties on english (I'm spanish) xD - Regen: yes, I added health regen to represent how quickly they repair damage while still being fully operational. I took that from the novels, etc. I intended it to work along with the self-standing up from Wounded state (I expect heavy dakka to instantly kill infantry regardless of race, instead of bringing them to Wounded state). About the Wounded state, I saw on recent streamings you are left vulnerable on the ground, waiting for a medic, an executing enemy, or bleeding out. Necrons would not bleed out, but it would take some time for them to stand up again (10 seconds?). - Flayed Lord: also from the novels. Flayed Lords are pure close combat combatants, and very powerful in that regard. They are the most insane of all the Lords, being tainted with the Flayed virus. They are faster than your average Lord (in a similar way to how Flayed Ones would be slightly faster than Warriors). They could be lethal in melee, but they would not benefit from as many command options as other Lords. - Gauss Cannon: you're right, they don't shoot that fast. Maybe work like an Autocannon, but with Gauss rules?
What do you guys think of the cryptek powers. For example, time control can't occur practically I mean within the whole game. Just been thinking about this
Alright everything checks out. It's just that there's one thing i think we could incorporate giving necron basic infantry just a little more versatility. Namely that is making it so immortals and deathmarks are one in the same unit, albeit customizable and interchangeable, and making crypteks support. I've said it before and i'll say it again. Crypteks are not so far off from Chaos sorcerors, they all have branches and support powers and are highly customizable with the different harbinger ranks. That being said the necrons lack any and all sort of support other than said crypteks. I recon we swap Deathmarks to be incorporated into the immortal class, (Kinda like how you can use a regular bolter than a stalker bolter) This will prompt a tiny character model switch and will allow necron characters to fit more types in before larger updates (Such as monoliths) This will allow Necrons to have an official "Support" class allowing increased regen and combat effects. I'm not ranting on your post I think it's great! (More detail than the one I made earlier) But im just an incredibly staunch supporter of Cryptek Support
As for the time powers a prime example is the chronometron. It allows necrons to advance normally whilst their enemies are slowed greatly. This is incredibly easy to do as you can just have it be an AOE slow in a massive radius. Other necron cryptek powers such as the harbinger of the storm is easy, Channeled area DOT lightning blast Harbinger of destruction: Flamethrower Harbinger of despair: Fear mechanic The only hard one is the harbinger of Transmogrification. I guess anti vehicle or very op single target damage. Something like that
No problem! In fact I see your point on Crypteks. Makes sense to have them on support, as that's pretty much what they do. I also like your idea on Deathmarks; after all, they were very simialr soldiers before becoming Necrons. I talked again with my friend and now I have a more polished version of self-repairing. - Necrons have passive health regen, or a higher one than other factions if everyone has it. Complete with some cool animations of broken armor and bullet holes closing. - Necrons (not Canoptek units) can be Wounded like other factions, but cannot bleed out. If left alone, they get back on their feet at full health again after some time, roughly 10 seconds for example. On the other hand, they can be executed, and cannot be helped by random teammates (they don't need external help, but cannot get it either), as happens with other factions. If there are weapons capable of bypassing Wounded state (insta-kill), then Necrons can't self-repair from Wounded if shot by those: only Resurrection Orbs and Canoptek Spiders can help them in those cases. This reinforces the importance of having and NPC Spider nearby, which cannot self-repair. Edit: let me post these two custom color schemes. I so freakin' love them. I require them as either base dynasties or Rogue Trader apparel. http://www.warseer.com/gallery/data/534/medium/Dominatorbarke1.jpg http://www.coolminiornot.com/pics/pics15/img4f028f7e4d05a.jpg
