Spiral Knights - Re-jiggering the Mini-Monsters: Making them less(?) of an annoyance.

Re-jiggering the Mini-Monsters: Making them less(?) of an annoyance.

10 replies [Last post]

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 17:11

Ghret

By now you've been to one of those Compound levels and been swarmed by one of those Minis like a X over Y at N and you've wondered to yourself as to why those things are such bloody nuisances. They take more than a single hit to kill - in most circumstances - and they can gather in enough numbers so that you are forced to go in another direction or get nibbled to death. What I'm going to do is turn these annoyances into the swarmers they are supposed to be.

=Global
-All Swarmers take 1 hit to kill. Yes, even thrown vials can kill them.
-None of them drop any materials or crowns or rarities. They still drop Hearts though.
-Wind-up time decreased.
-Resting period increased.

=Dust Bunny
-Takes 3 bites instead of one.
-First bite moves it 2 tiles, subsequent bites moves it ahead 1 tile.
-Second bites onwards are homing.
-Stops biting after it has bitten.

=Scarabs
-Will keep travelling until it has gone 15 tiles or hit something.
-After hitting something it will then push itself back 3 tiles. Effect doesn't happen if it travels the full 15 tiles without hitting something.
-Push-back affect also doesn't occur if they come into contact with each other or a monster.
-Slightly homing. Won't miss if you step 1 tile to the side.

=Glop Drops
-Constantly travelling.
-Switches from ball form to attack form when attacking.
-Attack form lasts 5 seconds.
-Ball form stop players from walking over them, attack form doesn't.

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 19:32

Klipik-Forum

Can we give scarabs the ability to bite too, please? I always found it weird that they had to back away from you to attack.

That said... bombs?

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 20:09

Zeddy

"-All Swarmers take 1 hit to kill. Yes, even thrown vials can kill them."

Oh cool, let me just get my damage haze and win compounds forever. (Not that this wasn't already the case.)

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 21:16

Ghret

Bugger. Knew I was missing something.

The reason I was going for a 1-hit KO was because of the fact that these things look like the sort of mobs that should act like mobs. Coming at you in a stampede of 10+ and being able to take out some, but not all of them quickly. Being stronger together, but being ridiculously easy alone.

The other option in stead of 1-hit KO's are:
-Mini-Mon health is decreased.
-Mini-Mon defense to all damage (except its weakness) is increased by 10% for each Mini-Mon in a 3-tile radius up to 100%
-Mini-Mon defense to its weakness is increased by 5% for each Mini-Mon in a 3-tile radius up to 50%

Maybe a damage increase for each Mini-Mon within its radius at the time of winding up. It may need it.

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 22:29

Kathrine-Dragon

I agree that minis should be the ideal glass cannon mob. The dust bunny mechanism shouldn't change the biting; I like it as is. Homing is debatable. Scarabs don't need to bump backwards but I think they do need something. Maybe a quick biting defense with huge cooldown that can be used if a knight comes near when it's resting.

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 23:40

Hexzyle

When you're this swag this world just bows at your knees

Oh hey look, I'm invincible with my Dark Retribution up.

Good way to make these levels pay to win.

Sun, 11/17/2013 - 00:51

Masterreeve

I make you black, bluue and red all over

I don't really have TOO much of a problem with the rework of the mini mechanics, although the 1-hit K.O is a no-no. Like everyone else said, it would make them way too easy. Also, I may be wrong but a lot (20-30%) of the payout on some compound levels come from the drops from minis, so making them drop nothing besides hearts would make the floors earn even less then they already do while and no one would want to do them since they can be a nuisance. Although if you increased the amount of other normal monsters in the floor to balance that out it would be ok (would this make the floor unnecessarily filled with monsters?)

Sun, 11/17/2013 - 01:14

Arelic

On a global scale I am going

On a global scale
I am going to assume that materials, crowns, heat, hearts, or rarities (didn't know monsters dropped them) are randomly generated from many a monster drops. And while I would not exactly agree on dropping more hearts, I'd say to allow the heart attack to have an effect on monsters universally as I have not seen the enchantment markers on the mini royal jellies. In regards to that, decrease the chance or amount of heart drops by a slight.

About dust bunnies
And after it has bitten, would that suggests that it has fed, providing that it has not encountered a shield's defenses?

What of scarabs
When hitting something and then being repelled back for three tiles, does that apply to the objects in the environment or one of those invisible walls that stops them from flying off of the edges of the maps? And if so, how about there be some distinction in the recovery/wind up time dependent upon whether it hit a knight and their barrier, or something within the environment. Bumping them into some environmental obstruction or a knight's attack will leave them to almost restart their attack sequence a few seconds after, giving some haste about their pursuit. But after encountering a knight, let their rest period stall their moves some.

Sun, 11/17/2013 - 03:30

Ghret

Rejigger a jigger to make less of a jigger. Or is it more?

=Global
-Mini-Mon health is decreased.
-Mini-Mon defense to all damage (except its weakness) is increased by 10% for each Mini-Mon in a 3-tile radius up to 100%
-Mini-Mon defense to its weakness is increased by 5% for each Mini-Mon in a 3-tile radius up to 50%
-More Mini-Mons per spawn!

=Dust Bunny
-Reduced wind-up time.
-Tracks during wind-up.

=Scarabs
-Shorter wind-up period.
-Hitting a Knight increases their resting period by 2 seconds. Shields are included.
-Slightly homing.
-Considerably more ambulatory. Will focus on running away from Knights. Since their ramming range is very long this shouldn't pose a problem.

=Glop Drops
-Two Forms: Attack & Travel.
-Travel form has moves at Knight walking speed.
-Attack form decreases speed to just below Knight walking speed.
-Attacking a Glop Drop in Attack form will cause it to gain a speed increase for 2 seconds.
-The less health a Glop Drop has the less time it will spend in Travel form.

Sun, 11/17/2013 - 10:51

Bamzalot

Dat health!

I like the idea presented for minis, it's all a decent idea. But the 1 hit killing is a little much even in massive groups.

Here is a list of weapons that would make all compounds a cake walk if this were the case:

Dark Retribution
Blitz Needle
Plague Needle
Nitronome
Alchemers
Pulsars
Catalyzers
Barbarous Thorn Blade (Charge Attack)
Ash of Agni (Fire)
Voltaic Tempest (Shock)
Hexing Haze
Firstorm

And I'm sure there are others that would prove useful. Being able to 1 hit kill minis would make them too easy, no matter how large the swarm is. If they included all the changes you have shown here AND had perhaps a little more health than they do now, minis would be more of an actually enemy and not just something there to block your way.

Sun, 11/17/2013 - 11:01

#10

Bitsbee

"Here is a list of weapons that would make all compounds a cake walk if this were the case:"

Nitronome

Thats all you need.

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Re-jiggering the Mini-Monsters: Making them less(?) of an annoyance.