Severus Smith
Caldari State
520
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Posted - 2014.05.08 17:46:00 -
[1] - Quote
Yes, I am talking about the minions a la Titanfall - though I thought about it before Titanfall
Why, because they work well. And would work even better in Legion. I mentioned this in a thread a year or so ago (before anyone knew about the Titanfall minions) and it was shot down because the PS3 couldn't handle any more objects due to resource constraints. But now we're off the PS3 and onto 8 - 16 GB RAM housing gaming rigs. NPC Minions are possible once again!
1. They. Are. Fun.
I love Titanfall. It is like FPS delivered crack. And I know many other people who share my opinion. I love running around one shoting minions as I search for enemy pilots. I love running them over, or watching them attempt to take a position. All of this is fun. And Legion NEEDS to be fun. If you build the perfect game but it isn't fun, then it will lose to an imperfect game that is. That's how it works. Valkyrie is generating a lot of hype because everyone who plays it says it is so fun it's addicting. Legion needs to be addicting too, and minions can help add that.
2. They make the battlefield feel much larger
Right now in DUST the 16 vs 16 Skirmish matches feel pretty small. There are times where I can go for significant stretches and never see another player. This is immersion shattering. We're supposed to be at war, yet both sides only sent 16 people? Minions add gravitas and scale. You can have a lot of them, and suddenly it feels like the battlefield is crowded.
3. They add easy targets for new players
New players love the minions in Titanfall - because they provide them with something to kill between getting roflstomped by veteran players. This is fun, and Legion needs fun. Besides, we're supposed to be awesome (sans godlike) immortal mercenaries. So it helps illustrate that lore when you can walk through the battlefield mowing down minions like they were nothing.
4. They can add more objectives
Want to call in more / better minions? Capture that landing pad near objective B or take out the AA gun near objective D. Taking these side-objectives will allow more of your infantry dropships to come in. This could help a losing team regain control through additional minion support.
5. No more boring guard duty
Hey Heavies, don't you hate it when you're told to stay and defend the objective (because you're "Point Defense") and then you sit there for the next 5 minutes doing nothing. With minions, they give you something to fight against while you wait for enemy players to show up.
6. No more unguarded objectives
If an enemy leaves their objective unguarded to come reinforce another area then your minions could run in and begin hacking it themselves (if they are able to get there alive). Or, if some guy Dukes of Hazards past your front line in a LAV to hack the objective 100m behind you (then dies) you can leave the counterhack to your minions and focus on the enemy in front of you.
7. ISK = Hire better faction minions
Want better minions? Instead of getting the usual marines you could go hire the Kameiras, the Amarr Empires most elite infantry. Or how about the 37th Octopus Squadron from the Caldari? They have better weapons, more HP and better aim. Won't that suck for your enemies when they run at the minion squad guns blazing only to realize moments too late that something is different? This includes the lore from New Eden (which is important) and can help makes games different.
8. Lore
Why would the empires only send in us to secure their objectives? First, we're mercenaries. And second, we're known to be unstable mercenaries. They would probably deploy us with a support force, so that we can focus on kicking ass and being awesome (hence why we get the big bucks) and the grunts can focus on holding objectives, etc..
8. Unreal Engine
The UE3 engine comes with support for AI NPC characters. I don't know how much CCP has modified the code but it shouldn't be hard to add AI support? I am a software developer but this assumption could be entirely wrong. But, if it is as easy as I think it is (since UE3 comes with it built in) then it shouldn't be too hard to add dumb intelligence NPC minions for us to slaughter. Maybe.
What are your thoughts? NPC infantry would add a sense of scale to our battles, lore to the game, and other areas that would make a match feel far more dynamic. |