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Operation: Crimson Hammer addon (bomber shields inside!)

38 replies [Last post]
Wed, 11/14/2012 - 16:34
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer

This post will be separated into several parts. This one covers the basics of the suggested expansion.

The Crimson Order has a deadly plan, which if successful, can easily crush the Spiral Order for good. It could easily backfire on them, but they are desperate and willing to take the chance. They must be stopped at all costs!

The Gremlins have devised several new units to throw at the Spiral Knights:

  • Crimson Knockers (Knockers that deal Shadow damage)
  • Crimson Thwackers (gremlins with Stable Rocket Hammers and Crimson Guard shields on their backs)
  • Crimson Menders (Darkfang Menders with authorization to swing at any knights who get too close)
  • Crimson Incinerators (Gremlin Incinerators with all the abilities of Darkfang Scorchers)
  • Crimson Demos (Darkfang Demos with Dark Reprisals; they must charge first)
  • Crimson Mortafires (Mortafires with Darkfang Shields, no other changes)
  • Crimson Ghostmane Stalkers (Ghostmane Stalkers with Strikers, including weapon mechanics)

New gear:

  • Dark Striker recipe, 3* cutter upgrade with damage bonus vs. gremlin: vhigh. Resembles the weapon wielded by Phantoms and Void Thwackers. The only real swings propel you forward, but only the phantom swings knock the enemy back the same distance you were propelled forward. All swings of the charge attack interrupt enemies. Mission reward for T1. T2 and T3 get the 4* Shadow Striker and 5* Phantasm recipes, respectively. One must complete the mission in all three tiers in order to obtain the prerequisites for the 5*.
  • Tenderfoot Shield recipe, 3* shield with the green-colored Deconstructor crest. Very dirty-looking shield. Mission reward for T1. T2 and T3 get the 4* Ironclaw Shield (identical to current Darkfang Shield) and the 5* Darkfang Shield (very clean-looking, with purple Deconstructor Crest), respectively. See the markings on the menders to see what I mean. Stats must be extrapolated from the current Darkfang Shield. One must complete the mission in all three tiers in order to obtain the prerequisites for the 5*.
  • 2* Shrapnel Bomb, shoots 8 shards in 8 directions. 2* has a range of 2 squares, with the range going up by two squares per star for a maximum of 8 squares at 5*. Normal damage. Recipes available at Basil and at the Hall of Heroes; not a mission-related item.

Current owners of a Darkfang Shield will have theirs automatically upgraded to a 5* Crimson Guard shield, which bears the Crimson Order crest. This shield is unique, and is not obtainable except through rare random drops. Its stats are: elemental resistance equal to Owlite, normal resistance equal to elemental, maximum fire and shock resistance, and universal damage bonus low.

I recommend modifying the Darkfang Shield currently on the backs of gremlin models to have the purple Deconstructor Crest on them, in order to remain consistent.

I'm thinking that my Tenderfoot shield should be an upgrade of the 2* Plate shield.

Wed, 11/14/2012 - 19:43
#1
Oatmonster's picture
Oatmonster
Lick Number 58425

The new enemies are ok I guess but it seems like a bad idea to knock out the other 8 crimson order members in one expansion. Also, what is swam and why can't you come up with an original way of hiding messages?

Wed, 11/14/2012 - 20:41
#2
Apophis-Set's picture
Apophis-Set
Maybe +1?

I like the general idea, but as oat monster said, it probably won't be a good idea to release all the other crimson order bosses in one expansion pack. I think having two new bosses would be nice, such as schemer razwog and joker herex. I don't think they should say some left the order, because that's a lost opportunity at making some money there. Each boss could have its own unique weapon drops.
The gremlin demos in this version seem kinda OP to me. I mean, dark reprisals last for about 10 seconds, and if the demo spams that, it would be impossible to get close to it. I think it could have like 1 second of the dark reprisal's effects.
All the monsters would need to do not as much damage with the weapons as the player, or else that would be too similar to PvP with nonintelligent beings, and it would be too difficult. I think they could maybe do 1/8 of the damage with the weapon that the player would do with that weapon.

Wed, 11/14/2012 - 21:23
#3
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer
Edited.

My suggestion has been edited. Stay tuned for the other parts of the suggestion.

Thu, 11/15/2012 - 07:22
#4
Apophis-Set's picture
Apophis-Set
+1!

I like this idea very much, this is definitely a next expansion!
However, i don't think King Tinkinzar should star in this version, it should be a different boss.
King Tinkinzar is (I think) the leader of the crimson order, and so should probably be saved for the final OCH pack
Other than that, I think most of the monster ideas are good ideas. However, please consider:
For the ghostmane stackers, I think the strikers shouldn't be as fast as the actual sword made for knights, or else it would be OP on the ghostmane stalker.
Maybe there could be a status theme never seen before in boss levels, such as a stun theme. Maybe the next boss could be a demo boss that inflicts stun.
Great Idea!

Thu, 11/15/2012 - 07:31
#5
Juances's picture
Juances

I know killing the rest of the Crimson Order is the next logical step but I have a problem:

-Tinkizar is a main element of the whole story of the game. Seerus was just a pawn, and it's story wasnt completely relevant. This shouldnt be premium buy-only content. Besides you're adding a hefty amount of cool new enemies specific to it.

Thu, 11/15/2012 - 07:43
#6
Apophis-Set's picture
Apophis-Set
@juances

The monsters aren't necessary, but good point... I think 4 out of the 8 remaining crimson order members should be free, such as the king, the joker, the schemer, and the doctor... So to get the FULL effect you would need to pay, but you would get the "end of the game" effect even if your F2P. After the crimson order, there should be this cutscenes showing the crimson order was not the final bosses, but they were really manipulated by a group of undeads, of whom Vanaduke was one of the lesser members. (Like naruto shippuden, if any of u have seen that, the atkatsuki was just a pawn organization in the master plan)

I like this idea, I'm going to concentrate on keeping this idea alive

Thu, 11/15/2012 - 12:42
#7
Asukalan's picture
Asukalan
Yeah sure, ill love another

Yeah sure, ill love another expansion mission pack. Im looking forward to see it released as 'avaliable with purchase' on official site client, kongregate, and other sites where SK is and only steam players will be able to trade it with F2P players. And of course OOO with those arrogant lies "uh oh we dont know if it can be avaliable for F2P players on other sites than steam but we are looking into it, just wait another "

Fri, 11/16/2012 - 00:35
#8
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer
More OCH suggestion

Hello again, Asukalan. Nice to see you again.

Depth 1: Poisoned?

The knights spawn on an elevator landing (as always). After sifting through the arsenal station and stepping on the party button, Feron walks up to them and informs them of the situation, and then shows them the way to the front lines. Naturally, there are a few random monsters in the way, but they are all perma-poisoned. Some are perma-sleeping. Feron takes the knights to the defenses, which consist of hastily set-up turrets and hedgehogs. They are being assaulted by massive waves of scuttlebots, and the NPC knights are trying to take cover behind them while occasionally popping out to take potshots at the crowds. If the players do nothing, the NPCs will eventually take enough damage that they are "knocked down" for a period of time. Player assistance is clearly needed. Feron, for once, joins you in the fight. He always shields when under attack, and only launches an attack when enemies aren't assaulting him. If the players die, Feron can revive them, but only up to half his remaining health (just like regular knights).

Once the fight is over, Feron goes around the defenses reviving stunned NPC knights, instructing the players to scout the area for gremlins. Most of the gremlins you encounter are wielding Prototype Rocket Hammers. However, if you watch carefully, you'll notice a small, unarmed gremlin at the bottom of the screen. He is trying to watch you while keeping his distance, and if you try to approach him, he'll run off. If you manage to corner him and deal him enough damage, he will stop and ask you to not kill him. Of course, you comply...right? Relieved, the gremlin gets up and shows you to a secret elevator behind a fake wall. This will take you to the next level.

Depth 2: Strange and stranger...

The next level is a complicated beast. The knights find themselves accompanied by the gremlin, who is too nervous to walk with you. He always appears at the party buttons, though. The first part of the level is a maze of indestructible blocks, patrolled by Haze Wisps (stun-inducing wisps). If you can find your way through, you will come upon a button. Pressing it has no obvious effect. However, it actually destroyed one of the indestructible blocks, providing you an exit.

The next part is essentially another maze, but instead of walls, you have 1x1 traps. You have to predict where the next batch of traps will lower; if you fail, you get hit by spikes. If you can successfully navigate through the traps, you will be faced with a greater challenge: a floor that is all but covered in damaging tiles. A small number of them form a safe, narrow (2 tile wide) path through the floor, but it is twisted, and in order to find it, you have to play hexmines: whenever you find a land mine, you know that it is bordered by at least 1 safe tile. Just don't stay put, or the land mine will damage you.

The last area is a miniboss room belonging to a laser-firing battlepod. It fires its laser into a rotatable prism, which it can direct at knights. The knights can also turn it against the pod, however, and successive laser strikes against it coerce it into using more and more mirrors to make it harder for the knights to use it against itself. Once defeated, a gate leading to the boss is unlocked.

Entering through the above gate takes you into a large, empty party-button room. Stepping on it doesn't seem to do anything at first, but after a few moments, it becomes clear that invisible enemies have spawned. After defeating them, you hear a sinister cackle, and a gremlin slowly struts into the room. It's Commissar Ghostmane himself! He notes that he is both impressed and insulted at your successful passage through his depth; impressed that you survived, and insulted that you failed to die in his well-planned traps. If you want something done well, you have to do it yourself, so he decides to take on the challenge of fighting you. He's not a fair fighter, though, and brings in special Crimson Stalkers to assist him. Ghostmane himself is equipped with all three Lockdown powerups: a Guardian Shield, Striker Boost, and Recon Cloak. That means he can heal himself and his minions.

Upon his defeat, he escapes and drops a Mysterious Crystal. It's pitch-black, and even the brightest light doesn't reflect off of it. It's just large enough for you to carry on your back. You can't leave without it, since the gate blocking the elevator won't stay open while it isn't being carried.

A void gel spawns when you pick up the shard.

More to come! Stay tuned.

Fri, 11/16/2012 - 00:36
#9
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer
Depth 3: Darkness Falls

The players spawn in a level that is a little darker than usual. As you progress through the level, you notice a strange absence of enemies. The level is littered with the dead bodies of gremlins, wolvers, and fiends, broken zombie bodies, dead slime patches, and broken robots. Further on, there are bodies of fallen knights, each with a different wound. Some are deformed, shattered, smashed, burned, and frozen; others are unrecognizable blackened shadows of their prior forms. One can only wonder what happened here.

As you pass by a patch of broken gun puppy defenses, there are a few that remain operational, but they are perma-poisoned and easily destroyed. A couple of them are Void Puppies, offering a clue as to what has happened here. You step on the party button, and suddenly swarm seed becomes visible. A dark, void-infested, barely-visible gremlin appears whom you can't identify, cries out in surprise, then vanishes, leaving a trail of Void spawn pads in his wake. The gates lock both behind you and ahead of you, and you are forced to fight the never-ending waves of the Voids. A timer appears, and you are told that the level will be bathed in fire when the timer reaches zero. There is no obvious way out. At the tenth second, however, the gates open, and you are greeted by a familiar face: that gremlin you met in the last level! He has opened the gates for you, shut off the fire trap, and got the elevator working again. You can then take the elevator to the next level.

Thu, 11/15/2012 - 23:58
#10
Apophis-Set's picture
Apophis-Set
Impressive, if I may just tack on some suggestions

I think for depth one, the general idea is very good. However, the secret elevator idea is too... I dunno... Too cliche, I guess... Maybe the gremlin could trigger an electric current that opens a locked door, thereby leading to the elevator. Other than that, depth 1 is very good.
For depth 2, I think the beginning is very nice, fits into the ghoststalker theme nicely. However, you must take into consideration that there may be people in the game who are not very coordinated (I know a few myself, not pointing out any names) and so even if they can do FSC like a boss, they don't have the precision timing to walk between traps... 1x1 is a bit small, usually they're 3x3. Maybe 2x2 for depth 2 would be ok. The last room of the floor could be like a puzzle, where you can't touch the lasers, and you have to use the mirrors to navigate your way across.
Which leads me to my next point. Keeping the roarmulus twins in mind, the levels before the boss show extensive uses of switches, and then during the boss you have to use the switches to kill the twins. For the ghostmane stalker, it could be he's completely invisible and invulnerable until u stun him with the stun lasers and the mirrors. It would be like a mix between snarbolax and roarmulus twins. The floor layout can be very simple. A couple mirrors placed in strategic positions, and commissar ghostmane could move in a predictable circle, swinging now and then at knights who get too close. The knights can set up a stun laser so that when the boss is about to walk somewhere, the laser is already there, and so he gets stunned, and the knights move in to do damage. There could be 3 special crimson stalkers, all with different special abilities, such as healing and invisibility, sealed sword equivalent for monsters (which they stole while invisible) and invisibility, and Antigua equivalent for monster and invisibility. They could each come from a spawner.
The timer with the fire is a bad idea. There is never a level in spiral knights where if you don't do something, you can't complete the level. I'm not talking about the 10th second gremlin savior, I'm talking about right after that, where you have to leave in 10 seconds and go on the elevator... That part is not a good idea, other than that, the rest is fine. Maybe there could be a quick communication between the knights and HQ of the spiral knights. For the never ending waves of void spawns, it should be like the unknown passage, where you kill as many as you can and if you kill them enough times the gates will open

Keep in mind that this is only 3 floors, and there probably should be 5 floors, so the 5th floor should contain another boss.
The drops could be a special gun and shield from the two bosses this time, and they would complement the WRH and the DR

This is definetely a great idea, we should work on this a lot more, PM me sometime in game, Apophis-Set

Fri, 11/16/2012 - 00:37
#11
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer
Good idea!

Let me try to fit the laser ideas into the theme better.

In depth 2, there is a room with a battlepod. It's only weapon is a stun laser, and it fires the weapon into a prism which it can redirect at the knights. However, the knights can redirect it too, and it turns out that the pod's shield is only vulnerable to its own laser. So upon breaking the shield, a more complicated set of prisms is introduced, so it is harder each time to fire the laser at the pod. Defeating the pod allows the knights to access the boss, Ghostmane.

Edited so there is no fire after ten seconds on depth 3. The gremlin shut it off. ;)

More details on the boss battle. First off, it's not the only time you fight him. Think Mario & Bowser.

The boss begins by cloaking and deathmarking the knights. Once they are deathmarked, he uncloaks and attacks, boosting and shield-canceling his strikes. If his cloak is broken, he will pull his shield up. Sometimes, when he's marked the players, he'll just let his stalkers attack.

He can be tracked by watching his footprints. When he stops making them, you know he is about to strike. He moves in a predictable zig-zag pattern that he only deviates from when he enters a new phase. There are 3 phases. In phase 1, he just cloaks and lets the stalkers do his work. When they're finished off, phase 2 begins, and he begins launching attacks himself, in addition to those made by newly-spawned stalkers. Defeating the stalkers again or dealing the boss enough damage puts him into phase 3, where he does all the fighting himself. He will dodge and weave around attacks while cloaked, and tries to attack players from behind. If you can still defeat him, he will cloak and vanish, leaving behind the crystal.

Fri, 11/16/2012 - 11:24
#12
Apophis-Set's picture
Apophis-Set
Nice improvement

Great idea, and there could be a quick cutscene at the end, where he says something along the lines of "I'll be back" and leaves. Maybe you could make it so that afterwards, the stalkers run crazy, and there could be a quick skirmish where they try to run and you kill as many as you can for crowns, although it would only last for around 30 seconds. At the end, there could be a scene where he runs for it, and tries to steal your elevator, but the little gremlin you met before runs out and accidentally trips him, and so he gets pissed and sets off fire, which the little gremlin extinguishes for you after boss leaves (funny idea, he could need to take a piss or something)

Sorry, no detailed post, I'm kinda busy

Sun, 11/18/2012 - 18:10
#13
Apophis-Set's picture
Apophis-Set
Bump

This idea is too good to let it die... Any other major posters want to give a shot at it?

Mon, 11/19/2012 - 00:57
#14
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer
Still here

I'm still watching the thread. ;)

I'm trying to devise a way to further integrate lore and innovative gameplay to the missions. I'm toying with a sort of "campaign mode" that more than 4 players can engage in, but planning it to the satisfaction of our potential readers is difficult.

The second battle with Ghostmane should be more impressive, and the prior levels need to be scary. I'm working off of Shadow Lair experiences, wherein I was truly afraid for the first time in Spiral Knights. The factors that contributed to the scariness were, in order of importance: 1) lack of a minimap, 2) complexity of the level, 3) revival difficulty, and 4) low visibility. If those elements can be successfully reproduced, maybe this mission string will succeed in scaring the players.

Tentatively, the next level should attempt to make sense of recent events while still offering action. Ghostmane has just fled, and the players have collected a strange crystal. The new level contains a new kind of crafting machine, where in-level objects are created. No crowns or energy are spent in the crafting, and some of the materials used are level-specific and limited in quantity. This one produces more Shadow Crystals like the one the players were carrying. To make one, the following ingredients must be obtained from the level's enemies: 3 Dark Shards, 1 Void Essence (new), and...1 Wrench Wand??

Dark Shards are surprisingly hard to find in this level. You could bring your own, but there are enemies here that will always provide the required 3. To get a Wrench Wand, it needs to drop from one of the level's menders. One always will in this level. The Void Essence is only obtained from one of the Void enemies. Sadly, this enemy must be a boss of some kind. This one looks vaguely like the Royal Jelly, but it's a whole lot smaller and loaded with spikes. He still has a crown, but it's black with purple gems. Why is Royal Jelly still alive, and in such a state? ;) Defeating him grants you the Void Essence. Upon crafting the crystal, you must approach the exit gate, which will "respond to the crystal's energies" and open for you. The level plays out much like a Decon Zone, but with more varied enemies.

Mon, 11/19/2012 - 15:29
#15
Apophis-Set's picture
Apophis-Set
Mmm... I'm not liking the new weapons in this floor...

Well, for starters, this adds a TON of new stuff to the game, and a lot of new materials... And there has never been a level where you NEED to have certain mats to proceed... I mean, what happens if the wrench wand was left behind? Or something happened and it wasn't able to be picked up? I think that the mini royal jelly is fine... Actually, I think getting all the bosses into void form would be nice! Like somehow, that mysterious organization controlling the crimson order could have attempted a duplication of all the T1 and T2 bosses, and now they all have a void form? Maybe a royal jelly isn't a good choice here... Maybe it should be a void snarbolax, and it could drop behind a hint that something big is about to happen, and the void bosses are only a beginning... The void snarbolax could be just like the normal snarbolax, except you don't need a bell to stun and do damage, you can just do direct damage to him... Some time at the end, all the bosses in void form should collect in one room (all of them weakened considerably) and you would have to take on all of them. This part, there should be an option to join up with another party, and the max number of people could be 8. However, I'm getting ahead of myself. This would be a good idea, maybe in the 4th or 5th OCH pack, not the second. In this version, I think only a void snarbolax should appear. Next one could feature a void JK, next 2 void RT's shaped like giant gun puppies (you can just do direct damage to them), and a void vanaduke who only has 3 stages (no need for water or fireballs). For this one, I think a void snarbolax is enough, although it would have to spawn with a pack of other monsters, and it could be in the final wave of the final room of floor 4. Good idea in making it scary, I think for floor 4 and 5 there should be no minimap, and there could be the patches of black stuff on the screen like in the unknown passage, and the knights could make a connection between this and the swarm. Ghostmane could then come out and be like "you shall never ruin the master plan!" Or something like that, and then the final fight begins, playing out with the original reflecting mirrors and stun idea. Like in naruto shippuden, the OCH are just pawns, and the final leader of the organization above OCH could have been attempting to clone all the bosses to try and destroy the spiral knights order, but his attempt failed and only 1 of each boss was useable, although a lot weaker. The void bosses were then given to certain members of the OCH, and ghostmane could be like "how dare you destroy my precious pet!" (Think gollum)

We need to post into this thread until it catches a GM's eye... Could take a while, but would be worth it.

Mon, 11/19/2012 - 17:31
#16
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer
That's the beauty of it...

The point of some of these levels is to introduce new gameplay that's never been tried before. No other level has ever required mats to proceed! It introduces a unique puzzle element not seen anywhere else. If glitches happen, that's what we've got GMs for. As far as I know, nobody stopped playing FSC because there's sometimes a glitch where the shadow fire doesn't despawn before the boss fight.

I'm going to borrow a monster suggestion that I proposed in another thread: Snarbolax Cubs. They are basically curse-themed wolvers. They have an invisible shield guarding their fronts, but not their backs. This should make them considerably harder to kill, and here's why: the best way to keep wolvers down is to attack them nonstop, right? They are knocked flat every third swing or less. Get them into a corner, and they will die. But in all of these cases, only their fronts are facing you. So when you knock them into a corner, they will still be facing you when you try to knock them flat. The only occasions they ever turn their backs to you is when they're running away. If their fronts are invulnerable, the tactic of repeatedly knocking them down will fail almost completely, requiring a totally different strategy to kill them. Their periodic bursts of barking will be the break you need to hit them. Lore-wise, the Snarbolax and its kin always have some degree of invincibility.

The next mission is an information level. By now, the players must be wondering why the Void keeps making cameos in the levels. They will soon find out why. In this mission, the knights find themselves in an even more empty room. There are no hostiles in this room, at all. There are dead gremlin menders all over the place, unarmed mecha knights, and patches of blackness dotting the walls and corners. The ground quakes periodically, the level is dim, and it is large and complex. There are walled-in areas that are completely filled with spikes that haven't popped up yet, but watch out: if you walk onto them, a gate behind you will close and the spikes will pop up. To open the gate, you must quickly make your way over to a pot on a spawn pad, hit the switch, and get out before the gate closes again in a few seconds. It's not impossible to get out without dying, but it's hard. Then there are areas with partially-hidden flame throwers that activate when you come near; keep an eye out for them. There are areas with purple haze that curse you if you walk in it; since there are no enemies, it need not do you harm, but it's unnerving.

Why are the knights wandering around in such a level? You don't really know yet. There are computer panels to read, but they contain broken messages that are difficult to read. You can examine some of the dead gremlins, but you won't find much besides dark shards or crowns upon performing an action on them. What you find in the level is: a mewkat. It will follow you once you find it, and if you lead it to the exit, the gate will open and allow you to board the elevator, but killing it will have the same effect. Also, the computer panel behind the gate will become active, allowing you to read it:

light and void at peace
a helpless mewkat can live
may someday find piece

Beast and slime, droid, undead;
The clock still ticks, so think ahead.
You have the key, just put it in,
And enter me, that light may win.

Tue, 11/20/2012 - 05:17
#17
Xxpapaya's picture
Xxpapaya
The papaya (sadly) disagrees

As Oatmonster said at the first post, its a bad idea to have an expansion that includes ALL of the nine (all members of the crimson order)
Lets add some logic into the game, if you know, the echo stone from the shadow lair ironclaw munitions factory says
" In his madness, the architect betrayed the pact. Twisting his creation into a game of death, it now devours all who enter its iron embrace."
As you probably know, "the architect" mentioned in the echo stone is probably King Tinkinzar. Since the core is (in a way) the heart of the planet, I highly doubt King Tinkinzar will want it to be removed. BUT, remember that there are some knight positioned around the core, investigating it further. If they use their usual tactic (boom, smashy, EXPLOSIONS) its very likely they will damage the core in the process. Even if they use gremlins like Ghostmane Stalkers, the knights may still use explosives as a form of self defense.

Remember how at the end of Operation Crimson Hammer, Seerus burned down pretty much the entire place, including the Grand Arsenal which included the Rocket Hammer line and Dark Retribution line. (His last line was "I'd rather let it all burn then give it up to someone like you" [or something like that]). I don't see how those rocket hammers and dark retributions could've survived the explosions, even with Spiral Logic...........

Maybe its just me, but it seems a bit useless adding all of these new items when not everyone has access to it. Since this is a HUGE chunk of the storyline it just isn't really fair on the players who can't pay............

Tue, 11/20/2012 - 05:23
#18
Hawxindanite's picture
Hawxindanite
Great idea!

But I'm tight on money matters (to be excact my family i'm still in high school) and I won't be able to buy it :'(

Wed, 11/21/2012 - 16:23
#19
Apophis-Set-Two's picture
Apophis-Set-Two
Hey, Imona be posting as my 2nd for a bit

@ Xxpapaya read the later posts, we changed the idea to just one boss... And ur right on one part, we shouldn't make ppl pay for a major part of the story... I think ghostmane should be a minor part of the story, just like seerus. Thre should be4 minor stories and 5 majors...
@ Hawxindanite only 6$, and u don't need to get it, cuz it's a side story like seerus...
@ Thinslayer I see your point... I like the snarby cubs idea, and I especially like the curse mist idea, (mist should move slowly) and it would be nice to see another curse-themed place besides dark fire vana. Ghostmane could be curse themed, hmm...
The snarby cubs could be very common, just like alpha wolvers in rabid snarby.
About the mats, I don't think dark shards should be necessary. Maybe ONE wrench wand would be necessary for an entire party, then maybe...
About the boss fight, I came up with several ideas:
Ghostmane will have 4 stages:
Stage 1: he wanders around invisible, and death marks his opponents, but he does not attack; the spawns attack any death marked people, otherwise they just stand around. Ghostmane's death mark has no warning, it just appears suddenly. In stage 1, he will leave a trail of footprints which you must follow in order to hit him. Like your idea, when the footsteps stop, it means he will death mark someone. It doesn't have to be someone near him, it could be anyone, just a random person. The only time he appears is when he is death marking someone, and that's the time he is vulnerable, for about 5 seconds as he completes his death marking. Once sufficient damage is done, stage 1 will be complete.
Stage 2: spawns disappear, and three new spawns are summoned by ghostmane, who no longer can use his cloak. Ghostmane will begin lobbing "curseballs? (Think fireballs, but purple and misty-looking)" which are capable of causing curse. In this phase, Ghostmane is invincible. The three new spawns are minions of ghostmane, and they each have something different. One has a gran Faust, one has a sentenza (capable of cursing) and one has a dark retribution (capable of cursing). Once these three are dead, stage 2 will be complete.
Stage 3: ghostmane's cloak has regenerated, and now he can freely cloak and uncloak. He walks around with a shadow-curse version of the final flourish, and he attacks all the knights. He can not death mark, and his footprints never disappear, even when he is cloaked or uncloaked. In this stage, Ghostmane is invincible unless cursed. Several spawns, one of each kind of gremlin, appears. In this stage, several mirrors will appear, and a hit will cause the mirror to rotate clockwise by 45 degrees. There's a stun laser, and u need to use mirrors to aim the laser at a button at the end of the wall, which will send a signal (needs cool animation) to ghostmane's (something electric) and knock him down and curse him. The curse will last for between 5 and 15 seconds, and he will remain knocked down for 5 seconds. You will be able to damage him any time he is cursed, but he is easier to hit when he's lying down, and he can attack back when he is not knocked down. The button on the wall will shift position every time, so it will be necessary to change the array of mirrors to hit the button. The laser is activated by hitting the switch, which will send a pulse out to begin bouncing off the mirrors to reach the button. After 20 seconds, the laser will dissipate, so if the knights accidentally set an infinite loop it will disappear eventually. The laser pulse does massive normal damage, about as much as the void turrets in the unknown passage. The laser will not travel too quickly, maybe slightly below the speed of a Polaris bullet, and it reflects off the mirrors as if gravity does not affect it. After doing sufficient damage to ghostmane, stage 3 is complete.
Stage 4: ghostmane is really angry, and his anger starts pulling patches of the swarm towards him, which forms a swarm seed in the middle of the room. In this stage, the mirrors have disappeared, and you attack him as you would Jelly King, totally focused on damage. He uses his shadow-curse final flourish to its full extent, attacking the person who has done most damage to him, just like vanaduke. In this phase, just do enough damage to him to finish stage 4 and defeat him. He no longer has his cloak, but he does have a shield, and he can use shield canceling techniques so it is much more difficult to kill him. However, his shield only guards about 2/3 of him, and there is a small opening in the back which the knights must hit to do damage, in this level, cursed shadow fire appears wherever he walks every 10 seconds or so, and knights must do damage to the fire to make it go out, (purple shadow fire which can do curse but no fire). After defeating him, there's a quick cutscene and the knights go to the next floor, pick up the special mat used to craft "ghostmane's cloak (armor with 1*, 3*, and 5* variants)” and receive their prize boxes.
The loot from this quest could be a much more nerfed version of ghostmane's cursed-shadow final flourish. It's about as fast as FF, and can do curse about as much as gran Faust, but the curse is much weaker and only lasts for 10 seconds or so, and the damage done by the sword itself is very low, almost like a wild hunting blade. The other loot could be a gun, which does shadow damage and is as slow and powerful as the Callahan, although not able to do stun or curse.

Let me know what you think.

Wed, 11/21/2012 - 19:48
#20
Grittle's picture
Grittle
+1

I hate people who only read the 1st 3 posts :(

I like how you add the darkang and give all the owners of this rare shield upgraded to another rare shield

But the reward is a 4*???? Give it 5* and make Crimson a separate one

Nice revival of the shard bomb(shrapnel bomb)

so all in all, GREAT

Thu, 11/22/2012 - 02:15
#21
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer
@Grittle

The Blackened Crest is a 4* boss reward.

Thu, 11/22/2012 - 18:24
#22
Grittle's picture
Grittle
Yes, but the blackened

Yes, but the blackened breasts are upgradable, but the darkfang isn't since the crimson shield thing if only thru rare drops

Thu, 11/22/2012 - 19:06
#23
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer
Colonial Guard

I already made the Darkfang upgradable. I named it the Colonial Guard.

Fri, 11/23/2012 - 02:01
#24
Apophis-Set's picture
Apophis-Set
Colonial Guard

The Colonial Guard (nice name) shouldn't be an upgrade to the Darkfang Shield, if it is a prize to be received at the end of the OCH #2, because a prize from the mission should be given regardless of if u have Darkfang shield or not. I think the "Colonial Guard" would serve better as a 5* with no alchemy path, but with a 3* and a 1* just like the stuff from OCH #1

I liked your poem btw

Fri, 11/23/2012 - 19:36
#25
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer
Token Reward

I was imagining the Darkfang Shield to be a token reward, with the Colonial Guard recipe appearing randomly at T3 Basil, kinda like the Blackened Crest & Crest of Almire.

Fri, 11/23/2012 - 21:26
#26
Apophis-Set's picture
Apophis-Set
Flaw

But then what prize do u immediately get after beating the mission? Or do u only get tokens to buy stuff? I mean, if this were F2P content, sure, but since this is side-story, and it's P2P, it shudnt be a boss which u constantly farm for tokens

Sat, 11/24/2012 - 10:31
#27
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer
Agreed

There are a couple of options:
1) It could be a random Clockworks boss instead of an expansion.
2) It could be tacked onto the OCH expansion, i.e., come with the $5.95 purchase.
3) It could be a separate expansion. Not recommended.

The first one lends itself better to token farming.

Sat, 11/24/2012 - 19:50
#28
Apophis-Set's picture
Apophis-Set
True

3rd option... Not a good idea

2nd one... Makes sense, cuz u wud still need to pay, and it would be like an extra addition to the OCH pack...

1st one... Basically, another boss, although I think this one would serve better as either tier 1 or tier 3, as we already have 2 tier 2 bosses...

My idea was that for a limited time, anyone who purchases the OCH pack will receive this OCH2 pack for free, and the people currently with OCH will receive OCH2 for free. Then, anyone who didn't buy the OCH pack at all will have to pay 12$ to get both OCH and OCH2

I think you should redo ur first post, like copy paste all our ideas into the first post and get rid of the king Tinkinzar part, cuz most people just glance quickly at the first post and not bother with any of the subsequent posts

Sun, 11/25/2012 - 13:18
#29
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer
Done!

Although the OP doesn't mention King Tinkinzar as being a boss, I have nonetheless removed the reference to him. He still makes a cameo in one of the levels, but you don't get to fight him.

Mon, 11/26/2012 - 00:47
#30
Apophis-Set's picture
Apophis-Set
Fair enough

So, now we post back and forth any extra ideas (please always update the top post) and wait for (hopefully) an admin to see us...
And also, r we going with the (ghostmane's a random dude like seerus) or the (ghostmane's part of a higher purpose, where the crimson order are just pawns of some really powerful group, of which vanaduke could be a lesser member, and this group could have attempted using the swarm to clone the bosses, resulting in miniature swarm versions of the bosses which are weaker, have 1 stage only, only has the main attack of the original boss, and can always be attacked directly, although it is surrounded by swarm spawns)?

I personally like the second idea better, as it suggests more features to come in the game

Tue, 11/27/2012 - 14:11
#31
Apophis-Set's picture
Apophis-Set
.

:3 poof long post no more :3

Tue, 11/27/2012 - 13:21
#32
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer
Let me clean this place up.

I think I have too many details and too little plot.

The first level is one where the players are introduced to the mission string. I'm thinking it'll start with a bang: a large, strategic battle between the knights and monsters of the Clockworks. The second level should hint at the secrets in the mission somehow; cameos like a random Void enemy or a brief sighting of a character would be appropriate here. The knights are supposed to figure out that there is more going on underneath the surface than they are currently aware of. The third level exposes it with surprise or fear (or both!). The fourth level should be another epic battle influenced by the secrets uncovered in the third level. The fifth level is the boss level.

The first level is the massive battle between knights and gremlins as previously described in post #8, leaving out the part describing depth 2. The second level should be the one described in post #9, the third level post #16, the fourth level the second half of #8 and #11 minus the boss fight with Ghostmane, and the fifth level is the boss fight with Commissar Ghostmane described in #19 minus stage 2 and the loot.

Tue, 11/27/2012 - 14:27
#33
Apophis-Set's picture
Apophis-Set
I'll copy paste the stuff here

Depth 1:
The knights spawn on an elevator landing (as always). After sifting through the arsenal station and stepping on the party button, Feron walks up to them and informs them of the situation, and then shows them the way to the front lines. Naturally, there are a few random monsters in the way, but they are all perma-poisoned. Some are perma-sleeping. Feron takes the knights to the defenses, which consist of hastily set-up turrets and hedgehogs. They are being assaulted by massive waves of scuttlebots, and the NPC knights are trying to take cover behind them while occasionally popping out to take potshots at the crowds. If the players do nothing, the NPCs will eventually take enough damage that they are "knocked down" for a period of time. Player assistance is clearly needed. Feron, for once, joins you in the fight. He always shields when under attack, and only launches an attack when enemies aren't assaulting him. If the players die, Feron can revive them, but only up to half his remaining health (just like regular knights). Once the fight is over, Feron goes around the defenses reviving stunned NPC knights, instructing the players to scout the area for gremlins. Most of the gremlins you encounter are wielding Prototype Rocket Hammers. However, if you watch carefully, you'll notice a small, unarmed gremlin at the bottom of the screen. He is trying to watch you while keeping his distance, and if you try to approach him, he'll run off. If you manage to corner him and deal him enough damage, he will stop and ask you to not kill him. Of course, you comply...right? Relieved, the gremlin gets up and shows you to a secret elevator behind a fake wall. This will take you to the next level.

Depth 2:
The players spawn in a level that is a little darker than usual. As you progress through the level, you notice a strange absence of enemies. The level is littered with the dead bodies of gremlins, wolvers, and fiends, broken zombie bodies, dead slime patches, and broken robots. Further on, there are bodies of fallen knights, each with a different wound. Some are deformed, shattered, smashed, burned, and frozen; others are unrecognizable blackened shadows of their prior forms. One can only wonder what happened here. As you pass by a patch of broken gun puppy defenses, there are a few that remain operational, but they are perma-poisoned and easily destroyed. A couple of them are Void Puppies, offering a clue as to what has happened here. You step on the party button, and suddenly swarm seed becomes visible. A dark, void-infested, barely-visible gremlin appears whom you can't identify, cries out in surprise, then vanishes, leaving a trail of Void spawn pads in his wake. The gates lock both behind you and ahead of you, and you are forced to fight the never-ending waves of the Voids. A timer appears, and you are told that the level will be bathed in fire when the timer reaches zero. There is no obvious way out. At the tenth second, however, the gates open, and you are greeted by a familiar face: that gremlin you met in the last level! He has opened the gates for you, shut off the fire trap, and got the elevator working again. You can then take the elevator to the next level.

Depth 3:
By now, the players must be wondering why the Void keeps making cameos in the levels. They will soon find out why. In this mission, the knights find themselves in an even more empty room. There are no hostiles in this room, at all. There are dead gremlin menders all over the place, unarmed mecha knights, and patches of blackness dotting the walls and corners. The ground quakes periodically, the level is dim, and it is large and complex. There are walled-in areas that are completely filled with spikes that haven't popped up yet, but watch out: if you walk onto them, a gate behind you will close and the spikes will pop up. To open the gate, you must quickly make your way over to a pot on a spawn pad, hit the switch, and get out before the gate closes again in a few seconds. It's not impossible to get out without dying, but it's hard. Then there are areas with partially-hidden flame throwers that activate when you come near; keep an eye out for them. There are areas with purple haze that curse you if you walk in it; since there are no enemies, it need not do you harm, but it's unnerving. Why are the knights wandering around in such a level? You don't really know yet. There are computer panels to read, but they contain broken messages that are difficult to read. You can examine some of the dead gremlins, but you won't find much besides dark shards or crowns upon performing an action on them. What you find in the level is: a mewkat. It will follow you once you find it, and if you lead it to the exit, the gate will open and allow you to board the elevator, but killing it will have the same effect. Also, the computer panel behind the gate will become active, allowing you to read it:

light and void at peace
a helpless mewkat can live
may someday find piece

Beast and slime, droid, undead;
The clock still ticks, so think ahead.
You have the key, just put it in,
And enter me, that light may win.

Depth 4:

The next level is a complicated beast. The knights find themselves accompanied by the gremlin, who is too nervous to walk with you. He always appears at the party buttons, though. The first part of the level is a maze of indestructible blocks, patrolled by Haze Wisps (stun-inducing wisps). If you can find your way through, you will come upon a button. Pressing it has no obvious effect. However, it actually destroyed one of the indestructible blocks, providing you an exit.

The next part is essentially another maze, but instead of walls, you have 1x1 traps. You have to predict where the next batch of traps will lower; if you fail, you get hit by spikes. If you can successfully navigate through the traps, you will be faced with a greater challenge: a floor that is all but covered in damaging tiles. A small number of them form a safe, narrow (2 tile wide) path through the floor, but it is twisted, and in order to find it, you have to play hexmines: whenever you find a land mine, you know that it is bordered by at least 1 safe tile. Just don't stay put, or the land mine will damage you.

The last area is a miniboss room belonging to a laser-firing battlepod. It fires its laser into a rotatable prism, which it can direct at knights. The knights can also turn it against the pod, however, and successive laser strikes against it coerce it into using more and more mirrors to make it harder for the knights to use it against itself. Once defeated, a gate leading to the boss is unlocked.

Entering through the above gate takes you into a large, empty party-button room. Stepping on it doesn't seem to do anything at first, but after a few moments, it becomes clear that invisible enemies have spawned. After defeating them, you hear a sinister cackle, and a gremlin slowly struts into the room. It's Commissar Ghostmane himself! He notes that he is both impressed and insulted at your successful passage through his depth; impressed that you survived, and insulted that you failed to die in his well-planned traps. If you want something done well, you have to do it yourself, so he decides to take on the challenge of fighting you. He's not a fair fighter, though, and brings in special Crimson Stalkers to assist him. Ghostmane himself is equipped with all three Lockdown powerups: a Guardian Shield, Striker Boost, and Recon Cloak. That means he can heal himself and his minions.There is a room with a battlepod. It's only weapon is a stun laser, and it fires the weapon into a prism which it can redirect at the knights. However, the knights can redirect it too, and it turns out that the pod's shield is only vulnerable to its own laser. So upon breaking the shield, a more complicated set of prisms is introduced, so it is harder each time to fire the laser at the pod. Defeating the pod allows the knights to access the boss, Ghostmane. The boss begins by cloaking and deathmarking the knights. Once they are deathmarked, he uncloaks and attacks, boosting and shield-canceling his strikes. If his cloak is broken, he will pull his shield up. Sometimes, when he's marked the players, he'll just let his stalkers attack. He can be tracked by watching his footprints. When he stops making them, you know he is about to strike. He moves in a predictable zig-zag pattern that he only deviates from when he enters a new phase. There are 3 phases. In phase 1, he just cloaks and lets the stalkers do his work. When they're finished off, phase 2 begins, and he begins launching attacks himself, in addition to those made by newly-spawned stalkers. Defeating the stalkers again or dealing the boss enough damage puts him into phase 3, where he does all the fighting himself. He will dodge and weave around attacks while cloaked, and tries to attack players from behind. If you can still defeat him, he will cloak and vanish. Upon his defeat, he drops a Mysterious Crystal. It's pitch-black, and even the brightest light doesn't reflect off of it. It's just large enough for you to carry on your back. You can't leave without it, since the gate blocking the elevator won't stay open while it isn't being carried. A void gel spawns when you pick up the shard.

Depth 5:

True fight with Commissar Ghostmane! Enter through a passageway like snarbolax, and stand on party button to begin.
Stage 1: he wanders around invisible, and death marks his opponents, but he does not attack; the spawns attack any death marked people, otherwise they just stand around. Ghostmane's death mark has no warning, it just appears suddenly. In stage 1, he will leave a trail of footprints which you must follow in order to hit him. When the footsteps stop, it means he will death mark someone. It doesn't have to be someone near him, it could be anyone, just a random person. The only time he appears is when he is death marking someone, and that's the time he is vulnerable, for about 5 seconds as he completes his death marking. Once sufficient damage is done, stage 1 will be complete.
Stage 2: spawns disappear, and three new spawns are summoned by ghostmane, who no longer can use his cloak. Ghostmane will begin lobbing "curseballs? (Think fireballs, but purple and misty-looking)" which are capable of causing curse. In this phase, Ghostmane is invincible. The three new spawns are minions of ghostmane, and they each have something different. One has a gran Faust, one has a sentenza (capable of cursing) and one has a dark retribution (capable of cursing). Once these three are dead, stage 2 will be complete.
Stage 3: ghostmane's cloak has regenerated, and now he can freely cloak and uncloak. He walks around with a shadow-curse version of the final flourish, and he attacks all the knights. He can not death mark, and his footprints never disappear, even when he is cloaked or uncloaked. In this stage, Ghostmane is invincible unless cursed. Several spawns, one of each kind of gremlin, appears. In this stage, several mirrors will appear, and a hit will cause the mirror to rotate clockwise by 45 degrees. There's a stun laser, and u need to use mirrors to aim the laser at a button at the end of the wall, which will send a signal (needs cool animation) to ghostmane's (something electric) and knock him down and curse him. The curse will last for between 5 and 15 seconds, and he will remain knocked down for 5 seconds. You will be able to damage him any time he is cursed, but he is easier to hit when he's lying down, and he can attack back when he is not knocked down. The button on the wall will shift position every time, so it will be necessary to change the array of mirrors to hit the button. The laser is activated by hitting the switch, which will send a pulse out to begin bouncing off the mirrors to reach the button. After 20 seconds, the laser will dissipate, so if the knights accidentally set an infinite loop it will disappear eventually. The laser pulse does massive normal damage, about as much as the void turrets in the unknown passage. The laser will not travel too quickly, maybe slightly below the speed of a Polaris bullet, and it reflects off the mirrors as if gravity does not affect it. After doing sufficient damage to ghostmane, stage 3 is complete.
Stage 4: ghostmane is really angry, and his anger starts pulling patches of the swarm towards him, which forms a swarm seed in the middle of the room. In this stage, the mirrors have disappeared, and you attack him as you would Jelly King, totally focused on damage. He uses his shadow-curse final flourish to its full extent, attacking the person who has done most damage to him, just like vanaduke. In this phase, just do enough damage to him to finish stage 4 and defeat him. He no longer has his cloak, but he does have a shield, and he can use shield canceling techniques so it is much more difficult to kill him. However, his shield only guards about 2/3 of him, and there is a small opening in the back which the knights must hit to do damage, in this level, cursed shadow fire appears wherever he walks every 10 seconds or so, and knights must do damage to the fire to make it go out, (purple shadow fire which can do curse but no fire). After defeating him, there's a quick cutscene and the knights go to the next floor, pick up the special mat used to craft "ghostmane's cloak (armor with 1*, 3*, and 5* variants)” and receive their prize boxes.

(Note: Ghostmane's cloak is used to compliment mask of Seerus, both currently for gunners)

Immediate prizes for finishing mission:
The loot from this quest could be a much more nerfed version of ghostmane's cursed-shadow final flourish. It's about as fast as FF, and can do curse about as much as gran Faust, but the curse is much weaker and only lasts for 10 seconds or so, and the damage done by the sword itself is very low, almost like a wild hunting blade. The other loot could be a gun, which does shadow damage and is as slow and powerful as the Callahan, although not able to do stun or curse. Both have 1*,3*, and 5* versions.

Wed, 11/28/2012 - 05:27
#34
Infernoburner's picture
Infernoburner
My opinions on this

First off, don't touch the Darkfang Shield. It's rare, and it IS meant to be rare. And the shield itself is 4 star, and has same stats as Grey Owlite. Adding a 5 star would be like making a 6-star Owlite. Why not? Too op.
Secondly, NTO, but don't make custom supporting/mayor characters (Custom seerus'es, Tinkinzars, etc etc). How about using Herex for this instead? ;)

The one demo you suggest, I think Dark Reprisal is too strong. Especially mentioning the "Catch!" attack, if the demo does it, the level would be hard to beat without gunners. How about something like a sleep-vaporizer bomb (obviously no healing), except EVEN smaller than the 2-star vaporizer range, and 2 being put at a time? This would give the other gremlins the oppurtinity to attack, and would make this demo's role similar to the one of people with Shivermist Buster at the Vanaduke battle.

Wed, 11/28/2012 - 11:20
#35
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer
Corrections

The Darkfang Shield does not have the same stats as the Grey Owlite, or even the Wise Owlite. Look it up on the wiki.
I also gave current owners a new, equally rare shield. Did you miss that part?
You also failed to read the part about Crimson Demos having to charge their bombs first. They can't throw volleys of them at you if they have that limitation.
I don't understand your warning against the use of customized major and supporting characters; the only ones used are Ghostmane (who is entirely new and original with me) and a shadowy cameo of Tinkinzar. What exactly is your problem with that?

Please read the suggestion more carefully.

Sat, 12/01/2012 - 01:21
#36
Apophis-Set's picture
Apophis-Set
Bloop

Bumpeditity :3

Mon, 12/03/2012 - 22:44
#37
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer
Bump

Hey folks! Please read, but read carefully. ;)

Tue, 12/04/2012 - 00:14
#38
Apophis-Set's picture
Apophis-Set
Thinslayer

Make a new thread, send this one to graveyard

New thread:
Title: Operation Crimson Hammer Part 2
Body: #33

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