Spiral Knights - New PvP class: Technician!

New PvP class: Technician!

12 replies [Last post]

Tue, 08/04/2015 - 15:07

Fangel

This idea was mostly thought of with Lockdown in mind, however it could be come its very own minigame if it appears unbalanced.

So, without further ado, behold, the Technician!

The Technician class would have a shield similar in appearance to a surge breaker shield, and they are given a large wrench and toolbox on their back. The shield connects to the back via a tube of sorts.

The purpose of this class is to be a sort of mob controller. What I mean by this is that the class would have little combat expertise, however they can mob the other team with various monsters.

First and foremost, let's go over the Technician's shield ability!
The technician's shield would spark and course with electricity, and when shielding, they would fire a short ranged electric shock attack. The attack starts at 1 tile, but extends to two tiles after a second, like the guardian shield. The shock wave only would inflict minor shock to any enemy that walks in its path (think zombie breath), however it has another ability...
Around each map (yes, maps would all get a rework, but it wouldn't be too difficult after the assets are created) there would be various "monster boxes". These monster boxes cannot be broken by normal means, however, should a technician inflict shock on the box for long enough with their shield (2-3 seconds?), the box will crack open and a mob will pop out!

Monsters
There would 3 main types of monsters that Technicians can spawn: Mecha Knights, Retroids, and Auto-Turrets. Each monster would have a specific damage type assigned to them when they are spawned. There would be 4 different damage types for both retroids and mecha knights - auto turrets are always normal damage. All monsters would have a prismatic circle at their feet (i.e., what team they're on), plus a prismatic antenna, similar to a recon's backpack.

This is how each of the monsters would work:

Mecha Knight

Piercing - Yellow primary color, prismatic secondary color. Holds a flourish-type weapon. Attacks like an almirian crusader.
Elemental - Green primary color, prismatic secondary color. Holds a brandish-type weapon. Attacks like a mecha knight. (melee only)
Shadow - Purple primary color, prismatic secondary color. Holds a purple cutter. Attacks like a phantom.
Normal - Grey primary color, prismatic secondary color. Holds a troika-like weapon. Attacks like Arkus.

All Mecha Knights are given a random status when spawned, which is placed on the top of their helmets and are themed on the weapons they carry. They are all weak to the same damage they deal, and strong against all other damage types. (25% both ways) Yes, this means normal damage will be super effective against normal mecha knights.

Retroids

Piercing - Yellow primary color, prismatic secondary color. Fires a single long yellow beam, similar in attack style to an auto-turret.
Elemental - Green primary color, prismatic secondary color. Fires a warning beam followed by 5 explosions across the beam, like one would see a retroid do in the clockworks.
Shadow - Purple primary color, prismatic secondary color. Fires a single beam of tracking fire (that is purple), like a tier 3 fire-themed gun puppy.
Normal - Grey primary color, prismatic secondary color. Fires a warning beam, then 7 deconstructor bombs (gremlin-demo themed, not our blast bomb) will fall to the ground in the general area of the beam.

All Retroids are given a random status when spawned, which is placed on the top of their helmets. They are all weak to the same damage they deal, and strong against all other damage types. (35% both ways)

All monsters (except auto turrets) summoned by a technician will attempt to follow the technician that spawned them until the technician moves 10 tiles away from them, at which point they will start a "wander" sequence until either the technician returns to being in range, or an enemy appears. Monsters prioritize fighting enemies over following their Technician.

When a monster dies, its monster box will respawn after 15 seconds. At this point, a technician on either team may claim the monster inside.

Damaging a technician's monster will NOT increase your damage score at the end of the game. They will also not contribute to capturing points faster, or preventing an enemy from capturing a point. They cannot be protected by a guardian shield, and are not highlighted by a recon's deathmark. They don't have oiler-like powers to see through cloaks, thus recons are still safe.
Monsters have no invinciframes, but cannot be stunlocked (however they can be flinched). Monsters are also affected by every family damage bonus - slime high will deal damage to the monsters more than construct medium. Damage bonuses cannot be stacked beyond +6.

Shield abilities
As mentioned before, the Technician shield itself is a short ranged shock-dealing weapon. The weapon itself would deal no damage, however it can inflict shock upon enemies - however the enemy must stay within the shock beam for 1.5 seconds for shock to be inflicted. Outside of simply spawning monsters, it can do a little more.

The Technician shield can be used to buff monsters in combat. It acts as a small healing beam to any friendly monsters nearby(whether or not they spawned them). It also can be used to hack enemy technician's monsters! To "hack" an enemy technician's monster, you must keep your shock beam on them continuously for 10 seconds. This is a long time, and if you are attacked while trying to hack them or lose your beam on them, you've got to start the hack from the start again. Your beam will inflict a MSD: High on the monster you are hacking. Useful for if an enemy got lucky with a curse/normal mecha knight and you were able to isolate the mecha knight. Status and damage type are retained, the teams are simply swapped.
(NOTE: You cannot use this hack beam on enemy monsters on the other side of an enemy's mist wall. If auto-turrets are added inside of locker rooms, you cannot hack them to spawn camp enemy players even more)

When using the shock beam on a monster cage, to heal a monster, or to hack a monster, the shield health is drained. When using it to shock other knights or just to wander around with your shield out, the shield health is not drained. The shield will only recharge energy when it is not in use, and unless completely drained, will recover slower than a guardian shield.

8/4 EDIT: Healing a monster to full HP will start applying a defense, damage, movement speed, and attack speed buffs to that monster. The buffs will last twice as long as the time the technician was healing the monster, and grant a 25% boost to each category.

As with other classes, there are bonuses and debuffs applied to this shield. The stats are as follows:

Health Bonus: +5HP
Movement Speed Increase: Medium
Charge Time Increase: Medium
Sword Damage Penalty: Medium
Attack Speed Decrease: Low

Remember, the Technician gains their attack ability by manipulating the field and commanding monsters. If you believe these stats could be improved I'd love to change up what their stats are.

Why the Technician?
Having another playstyle to master would be beneficial to keeping lockdown interesting. We could also place auto-turret and other monster spawners inside the physical locker room/spawn area to make it harder to spawn camp, and give technicians a small boost from the get-go. Technicians don't need fancy gear or specialized damage to be effective, so it's a good class to play if you don't know what else to play or you're feeling bummed out at Punch. It also is lag friendly to both teams, as more predictable enemies = easier to attack, and it also means if you've got a small army of monsters following you they will attack on the server's side.

TL;DR - New lockdown class that relies on spawning monsters from new monster boxes placed around all maps.

Tue, 08/04/2015 - 15:12

Fangel

Grabbing this spot.

I had an idea that the Technician class would also have a weak battle sprite assistant to aid in their roles (and it would look like a class E sprite), and if you all are interested in that, I'll edit this post to say what it would be like. If the technician is seemingly balanced enough, then, well, no need for anything extra!

Tue, 08/04/2015 - 15:56

Holy-Nightmare

Suggestion Notes: The new

Suggestion Notes:

The new monsters spawned would have to have AI to work in PVP

Recons would cause the monsters to attack randomly

The Monsters would have certain priorities

#1: Guard points
#2: Follow allies (with the Tech that spawned them as the higher priority if a choice is given)
#3: Attack enemies (this is third because I want the monsters to actually avoid the area near enemy spawn and would rather them wait and defend the nearby cap point.

In different tiers the monsters would have to have certain abilities similar to their clockworks equivalents

Mecha knights would have to drop bombs (make it for all types of damage rather than only the normal variants) and have those bombs deal their status.

Retrodes are rather slow in the game so they need something special.... How about curving beams like the Red Rover that snake across the floor. On death they can drop a small potent Haze bomb. This way they are a challenge to gunners and a punishment for greedy strikers.

In T3 LD autoturrets could gain the Howlitzer's final attack ability.

___________________________________________________

On a side note I think it would be helpful to remove the two stat penalties on the shield since this class starts rounds quite open to attack. The fact that it cannot run, hide, or tank means that it is super reliant on AI monsters to soak up damage for it and from what we have seen so far AI monsters tend to be derpy....

Tue, 08/04/2015 - 16:41

Fangel

Good ideas.

The new monsters spawned would have to have AI to work in PVP
Keeping them familiar is good. Mecha knights are already difficult enough, as they can shield projectiles and can get all up in your face. Retroids could simply attack faster in general, or even have a shield on their back like a carnavon. Potentially the monsters could lower your shield health if they hit you... Which doesn't affect a guardian all that much because that's how their shield works.

Recons would cause the monsters to attack randomly
Not digging this too much. I like the idea of a recon being able to hide from the monsters, and the lack of deathmark might make you not even know a recon got onto your point when it's protected by 5 mecha knights and an auto-turret. However all monsters could potentially keep tracking a recon 3 seconds after they have activated their cloak to prevent abusing the AI by switchshooting and remaining invisible to them.

The Monsters would have certain priorities
I would rather the monsters prioritize following their Technician if they are in range as their primary instinct, however when a Technician moves out of range they could attempt to pathfind to the closest point near them. However, attacking enemies should be the primary focus, as they are the way a Technician attacks.

In different tiers the monsters would have to have certain abilities similar to their clockworks equivalents
I was thinking different abilities per tiers as well honestly, but I didn't want to inflate my post any more than it already was. I also want each class to be specified, as we have the melee monster (mecha knights), ranged monster (retroid), and the defensive monster (auto-turret). I do agree that retroids could move faster, thus they could move at the same speed as a mecha knight.
Retroids are still a challenge to anyone as they come in several variants. The shadow one does do the curving/tracking beam attack, and the piercing one fires a large laser that instantly will hit anything within range that isn't constantly moving.

I do like the idea of auto turrets gaining a homing explosive at the last second. Not really overpowered, but can throw unaware enemies off.

On a side note I think it would be helpful to remove the two stat penalties on the shield
I put them there for a reason. Players who want to maximize power would likely pair technician up with black kat to get MSI: VH, damage max, a shocking shield, and an army of robots. Making the player attack slower and not as hard makes them more reliant on their robots, and the MSI allows knights the ability to shock an enemy with their shield and then high-tail it out of there... Or into a potential robot trap.
Since Technician has the second lowest health, players would likely be using health trinkets while playing it. Lowering damage, CTR, all that makes players have to give up a health trinket for one of the boosts (can't roll sword damage up) if they want max damage, or roll UVs to fill in gaps that weren't in the other classes.

We could give technician a damage bonus vs constructs: very high however. This would make them an effective fighter of an enemy's monsters. We could even the other classes various amounts of damage bonuses vs constructs, such as guardians get +2 vs them, recons get -1, and strikers get -2. Makes the striker damage boost moot against technician's robots, but luckily you can roll any med enemy UV and get back up there.

If you think the Technician should have more combat oomph, I can do that writeup of the battle sprite. My ideas behind it were to have a panic button (MSI like backfire barrier), a robot AoE healer (heart attack but it does direct healing to robots), and a 3-5 second damage/defense/speed up on the player to make them temporarily better in combat. Each ability is locked to a tier, so in tier 3 you'd have all three, tier 2 you'd have the first two, and in tier 1 you'd only have the panic button.

I also added in the ability to "buff" monsters at full health by healing them with the Technician shield. 25% in each area is as if they are granted temporary max UVs in each area, so I assume it'll be a fair boost.

Wed, 08/05/2015 - 12:35

Awsome-Incarnate

I'm diggin this (edit)

Really like the idea, especially how it's quite reliant on teammates (AI or otherwise). I have a question, though.

How is the automatically armed wrench relevant to combat? Is it there for show, or can they use it to fight? If so, what are its stats?

Forgive me if I missed this somewhere along the original post.

EDIT: I didn't notice the "on the back" bit, I assumed the wrench was in hand. My bad.

That said, I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. I still like the general idea, but thought of potentially being in a Mecha Knight punch circle while being shot at an Alchemer dual-wielder doesn't sound too appealing. I just feel the robo fodder should be the technician's main weapon, followed by their shield and a super nerfed melee weapon (ei a whack wrench). That would take away the ability of customization, but also remove the possibility being shot at through a wall of turrets and Retroids and then hounded down if I'm not a striker(or have run out of boost) by someone I have no hope of out running.

Wed, 08/05/2015 - 05:26

Holy-Nightmare

@ Fangel

Seems like your reason for making it combat weak is more dependent on the currently broken armor sets of the game.

For a moment lets just say that Chaos and BK don't exist anymore (or got nerfed to balanced levels); would you still be against removing the penalties?

On a side note I think that it would only be fair to limit the number of monsters. That way Techs can't build up massive armies behind the front line that wall out enemy pushes. 5-6 would be fair, +1 for every teammates that leaves the match.

@ Awesome-Inc

I believe the wrench is merely cosmetic much like the other non-shield gear with each class.

Wed, 08/05/2015 - 10:22

Fangel

Yup, cosmetic

The wrench on the back is for identifying reasons only. Guardians have the banner, recons have an antenna, strikers have that triangle thing on their back. Technician's would have the wrench and toolbox on their back purely so players can recognize what class they are on the field.

As for making the combat weak, the thing is that -8% sword damage and -4% attack speed isn't going to be the end of the world. The way I viewed the class, it can use guns from the back or the middle of their horde of monsters, or faster swords it halt an attacker. The shock that the shield can grant them will open up more options for the class, such as a cutter.

I thought about the class a fair amount to be honest, and we have two sword classes, two bomb classes, and one gun class (striker can be used as a gun class but swords are objectively better). This adds another gun class by nerfing other weapon types, but not making them unusable.
Besides, the class having a natural MSI: medium is a pretty powerful stat. This makes them faster than both recons and guardians by default, and even faster than a striker if they've run out of boost.
Technicians aren't supposed to be better than strikers, recons, or guardians. They are supposed to be the weakest class in combat, however bring in a massive utility to the team. A technician vs a striker or two shouldn't hold their own. A technician and 6+ robots, however, would prove a challenge to strikers, especially if they're damage farmers as they have to fight past the robots to get to the technician for those few points.

My thoughts on monster limits is that each map is limited in how many monsters can be there at a time. Smaller maps may have less monster boxes, larger maps may have more. I would say regardless that there should be at least 4 monster boxes inside the locker room area, and two auto-turret monster boxes in the health room. Technicians may get in hack-wars with other technicians to control the monsters on the battlefield, but that would be super fun.

Wed, 08/05/2015 - 13:14

Fangel

Please just make new posts.

If you're going to say something new like that try to make a new post about it. Easier to respond to and I don't have to look crazy.

This is directed at "Awsome-Incarnate". Had two edits in the post so I'm replying to the part after it's labeled "Edit".

Technicians are weak in combat by other means. If you confront them without their monsters, they're supposed to fall as they don't have the health to tank, the boost to run away with, or the cloak to hide with. They live and die alongside their monsters.
Lockdown is all about using your own gear in combat, so the technician wouldn't be any different in there. Technicians also are not supposed to be a class you attack as a lone striker when they have their monsters created unless you really feel powerful.

If you run headfirst into a group of mechaknights, it's not the mecha knights that are the problem, it's the bad decision you made. Running into a "mecha knight punch circle" is essentially the same thing as running onto a point being captured by 4 enemy strikers and a mist bombing guardian. Go in alone, and you're going to die.

The technicians themselves are fast but not hard hitting. If a technician engages you at low health, you'll likely be done for, but if they come at you and you're at medium or high health they're going down fast.

Turrets would likely be placed in corners as control-point guardians. You will never have a "wall of turrets" in your way. Only retroids and mecha knights would create walls, and if you've let a technician grab every monster on the map then I hope one of your teammates is willing to go technician and hack some of them to your side.
Technicians would create a semblance of balance in that too many will hurt your team, but none will also hurt your team. No other class is like that, as they do not rely on limited resources on the map to be effective.

Wed, 08/05/2015 - 14:28

Awsome-Incarnate

Not Exactly What I Meant

First off, sorry about the editing thing. I guess I just didn't feel that it was worth making a new post about.

I never really meant running into the situation, I was just thinking about a scenario that would go like this:

A red team striker is battling a cyan team technician w/ a mecha knight. Another cyan technician comes in to help out their pal, along with 2 other mecha knights(they were probably hacked or something). The red striker has run out of boost and can't exactly run away. The mecha knights proceed to attack the red striker while he is shot to death.

Highly unlikely? Sure. But I can see people complaining about it none the less.

Beside the given penalties, I just can't see why a skilled gunner would have trouble in combat. Users would likely have health trinkets to make up for having the second lowest health and UVs for the attack speed.

I also have a few more questions

-Is turret placement limited to control points?

-Are the monsters (and stats)random? Or can they be chosen?

Sorry if I'm coming off as annoying, this idea is really cool and I want the details.

Wed, 08/05/2015 - 15:11

Fangel

No it's fine

Good to work out all the kinks in case someone else asks the same or similar questions.

Honestly the situation you give is a good scenario of why technician would be good. A lone striker being jumped by technicians isn't really anything different than being jumped by a recon, except technicians are more spongey and can't hide from a fight. Strikers also recover their boost in like, what, 3 seconds? A typical striker will run away after their boost has broken, or dodge out of it.
If people complain about the class that relies on hordes of enemies killing them with hordes of enemies... Well... I'm not sure what I could say to them to them that would really get through to them.

A skilled gunner would not always have trouble in combat, however a skilled striker will not have a problem with a skilled gunner either. There are bomber strikers, gunner guardians, and swordie recons, so it's not like technicians will never have a sword or bomb player either.

As for the extra bits:
-Is turret placement limited to control points?
Somewhat. All monster boxes have an icon on them that designates what kind of monster lies inside. Wherever the auto-turret boxes are placed are where they are limited to. I suggest having at least one at each control point, and potentially a few at choke points.

-Are the monsters (and stats)random? Or can they be chosen?
Any retroid or mecha knight spawned will spawn in with a random damage type and status. You do not choose what types they get.
This is partially to allow balance to occur, but also make it so technicians can't settle in to one specific meta and crush enemies with it. Heck if you get killed by the poison pierce mecha knight a lot maybe you'll try to hack all poison pierce mecha knights you see in your technician career.

Wed, 08/05/2015 - 16:04

#10

Holy-Nightmare

@ Fangel

Perhaps limit the number of monsters like this:

# of capture points on the map + 1 + # of players more the other team has = monster limit

This means you start the map with a limit one greater than the number of cap points. If someone on your team leaves the game then you gain the ability to summon one more monster.

Wed, 08/05/2015 - 17:03

#11

Fangel

Eh, it's based on the map

Creating monsters isn't something that should be influenced by your team. If you wanted to make monsters spawn randomly at your control points if a player leaves then sure, go for it. Those would not be part of the technician class however, and would simply defend points. Depending on how many players leave would make different amounts of monsters spawn in different frequencies.

I know you're trying to make a solution to leavers here, but right now let's try to focus more on the actual class rather than a lockdown problem.

Wed, 08/05/2015 - 18:11

#12

Abelisk

+1.

This could be a refreshing way to play! Seeing to it.

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New PvP class: Technician!