Shadows of Crimson:
Recon Knights have recently found a gremlin production plant deep within the Clockworks, But this one doesn't appear to be for production of munitions.
Knights also discovered that the compound belongs to a recent addition to the Crimson Order, But no name was specified.
After Operation Crimson Hammer, Priority of finding the other members skyrocketed, With this being owned by another Crimson Order member, nothing good could come from this. Infiltrate the factory and destroy it!
Depth 1: Outer Walls
Ghostmane Stalkers are abundant here, along with the mix of other gremlins such as Thwackers, Menders, and Scorchers here and there.
Constructs, Especially Mecha Knights are also many in number, with Retrodes and Scuttlebots in the mix
After wandering through the Clockwork Tunnel like area for several minutes, Players head into an arena, Notably with two large cogs(akin to OCH) blocking the entrance to the compound. Hitting the party button will spawn a series of 4 waves of enemies as following:
1st wave:
6 Ghostmanes
2 Thwackers
1 Mender
2nd wave:
4 Ghostmanes
3 Scorchers
2 Menders
1 Mecha Knight
3rd wave
5 Ghostmanes
3 Mecha Knights
2 Lumbers
4th wave:
6 Ghostmanes
4 Thwackers
2 Menders
3 Scorchers
2 Mecha Knights
1 Lumber
After the 4 waves, The cogs will move out of the doorway and allow the party to gather the prize boxes at the end and proceed further.
Depth 2: Production Facility
The 2nd depth opens up with a console that knights may examing, with the following message:
"Though we just joined the Order, Somebody, no Something, gave me orders to begin producing these "special" Mecha Knights, The thing that handed me the blueprints had an otherworldly feel to him, something was seriously off with him, and i didn't like it, yet somehow Tinkinzar had the audacity to listen to him?"
After reading the message, the gate forward will open. Progressing forward would yield more Ghostmanes, Constructs, and Scorchers. As the knights went forward, bodies of Mecha Knights would be strewn across the ground of the complex. After numerous fights against the Gremlins and Constructs, Players would enter a large room with a Black Crimson Order symbol on the ground, similar to Compound 42, with a party button in the center. Pressing the button would start a cutscene. A larger Ghostmane Stalker would walk into the room, This Ghostmane would be wearing no hood, and the goggles he wore would have lenses in the "Determined" eye style. This Gremlin would only state: "Thanks to that stranger, we've been spying on you vile knights! And now is the time we send you back to the horrid place you come from!" He would the run over to a nearby console, and activate it. Upon activating it, the room would light up in a vibrant flash of light. After the flash, the Stalker would be gone, and there are alarms blaring. In the sides of the room are two mist gates that knights cannot go through, and there are somehow knights on the other side of the gates.
However, these knights have a single large exhaust pipe coming out of their backs...
Mini Bosses: Mecha Knights
The knights would charge in. The catch? These are vastly improved mecha knights, Notably using Spiral Knight gear against the party! These mecha knights are also immune to shock and cannot shock themselves!
Wave 1:
2 Striker Skolvers
Simple enough, two striker-bots would charge in with their increased movement speed, flourishes ready for stabbing.
Wave 2:
2 Azure Guardian Knights
Two Azure Guardian armor wearing bots would come in with their Leviathan Blades, Easy to dispatch with the right gear
Wave 3:
2 Skolvers
2 Guardians
2 Royal Jelly Knights
6 improved knights coming in at once, all sharing one flaw, No resistance to shadow or elemental, Dispatch these ones fast before they swarm you!
Final Wave:
Sournois the Ghostmane
4 Volcanic Plate Knights
2 Vog Cub Knights
1 Dread Skelly Knight
Sournois and his minions pack a heavy punch, with the Vogs and Plate knights wielding Combusters and the Skelly wielding a Acheron.
Sournois is a heavily beefed up Ghostmane and a Follower of his commander, who happens to be the owner of the facility.
Sournois' cloak won't be broken by mist bombs and takes 3 hits to knock him out of cloaking. He follows the same attack pattern of all ghostmanes, except: His cloak affects all knights, He shoots a spread of 5 sawblades, and He can swing his sawblade three times in quick succession.
Terminating Sournois will end the fight immediately, as he's the one controlling the machinery around the area. Clear the fight and claim a Gremlin Com-link file. Inside it details the meeting between the mysterious stranger and King Tinkinzar, However it's text only and heavily corrupted.
One question remains. Who is the mysterious stranger, and how did he find the Great Colony?
But seriously...
Overall, I like the idea. Great concept; gremlins build mecha versions of us to fight us. Kind of like TF2's MvM. I wouldn't pay so much attention to the exact spawns of each room and location, since those will either be tweaked by OOO or just randomized. For the first level, I think it would be cool to make it the first split-type level - half CW tunnels, half Compounds. Basically you would come down on an elevator outside of the main facility landmass, and have to cross some CW tunnels-style walkways to get to the solid ground. Once there, you would be in a compounds-type level, with a mix of glop drops and dust bunnies as the minis and constructs and gremlins as the "intelligent" portion.
One little thing I noticed, that I like: Not sure if you did it on purpose, but the constructs get more and more advanced as you push towards the center of the facility. It starts with the facility outskirts, where there are low-level constructs (scuttlebots and lumbers, and some retrodes). Then you proceed to the arena at the end of the first stage, and BOOM! suddenly ghostmanes, menders, thwackers (soldiers), and mecha knights. Definitely not a coincidence. At the beginning of the second level, you read a message that confirms 1) you are dealing with an organized operation and 2) there is something important inside and you have to go deal with it. You push further and further inside, and the constructs continue to get more and more advanced - like they were working towards a goal and pushing previous experiments outside. Then finally you get to the room before the final battle, and there are mecha knight bodies strewn all over the floor - like training dummies. Finally, you get to see the reason for all this - the replica Knights. Great storytelling, not sure if it was intentional. ;)
Some things I would suggest:
-Add some Knockers in their somewhere. Maybe even just as working outside of the level on something. Scientists are important for facilities.
I would also make the waves for the final fight differently.
Wave 1:
-3 knights, but in the three original styles of proto gear, to make them seem like the prototypes. the T2 and T3 versions could have the 1* and 3* versions of the breaker armors, respectively.
Wave 2: Knights would have armor one star level below the level of the mission, i.e. a vanguard mission would have 4* knights.
-2 Jellies with Flourish
-2 Magics with brandsihes
1 gunslinger with a blaster (In T2 and T1 the gunslinger will wear 3* armor, not that the models are any different :P)
Wave 3: Also be one star level below
-1 Jelly with Flourish
-1 Skelly with Nightblade
-2 Wolvers with Cutters or Spurs and SSB
Wave 4: final lower-gear level
-2 Magics with brandishes
-2 Skellies with nightblades
-1 Demo with Haze Bomb
Wave 5: Equal star level gear the level of the mission.
-5 Wolvers with a rigadoon, flamberge, spur, hunting blade, and vile striker. They also all have Striker Packs. (if the alchemy path is not split at the level of the mission, the base weapon will be used instead.) (each of these guys has one weapon, they just each have a different one. Not they each have all five.) (in 5* missions they will all be Skolvers.)
-4 Gunslingers. Not going to go into specifics because there are too many possible combinations, but something mixing up all damage types, armor types, and gun mechanics.
-2 Demos, because any more would be absolute chaos. I think one with haze bombs and one with blast bombs would be nice.
Wave 6: These robots are built to replicate the Spiral Order’s elite.
-2 Ironmight plate knights with Sudas. They tank damage for...
-4 knights in full Rose Regalia, with Final Flourishes regardless of tier. They are neutral to all damage types.
-2 Azure Guardian knights, with 5* Honor sets regardless of tier. They are also neutral to all damage types.
Wave 7: Final wave. Sournois enters, flanked by two massive Guardian Knight robots wielding Levis. The Guardian Knights’ shields function like Guardian Shields in LD, while Sournois has the new Recon Cloak (on the test server right now) and uses the attack pattern you described. When he takes enough damage, one Guardian knight will heal him with his shield while the other attacks and holds your party off. His attack patterns are the same as Arkus.
So, um... token rewards? And is this a danger mission, a rank mission, an expansion mission... what?
P.S: If these knights have mecha knight A.I, this will be the most disappointing fight in all of SK. Please design new AI if you consider something like this, OOO.