Spiral Knights - Mystery Gate

Mystery Gate

7 replies [Last post]

Wed, 01/07/2015 - 16:53

Fangel

Have you ever wanted to do an arcade run, but none of the gates looked appealing, or you simply just wanted to jump into action?

That's what this mystery gate is for.

The gate is stationed in Haven, and has the good old white question mark on it. Every depth is pulled from a random area, so themed strata do not exist. How the gate works is that there is one level per depth all the way down. That means depth 3 will always be a deconstruction zone if it currently is one. The catch is the entire gate is rotated every 1-4 hours. If you do a full arcade run, the gate will be completely different your next run through.

The gate will always start you at depth 0, but there is also a "randomize me" start option which will throw you into a random depth depending on your rank(i.e., defender elite would be randomized up until the tier 3 clockwork terminal, whereas a vanguard would be randomized up until the core). You will always be put into the same depth with the randomize option for that gate rotation, so you can't just keep randomizing your depth until you end up at depth 26.

One possibility would be arsenal stations are disabled as well, but that might be too much, especially with the random depth thing thrown into the mess. If there are no arsenal stations, normal weapons would be incredibly viable again.
All clockwork terminals and subtowns are in the same depths, so you can still switch out gear and get supplies there.

Thoughts? Concerns?

Wed, 01/07/2015 - 18:16

Holy-Nightmare

some thoughts

IDK about the 'Randomize me' feature. This could put newby knights in way over their heads or throw a fistful of radiants at others.

If arsenal stations were disabled there would have to be some balancing factor for this higher difficulty (more Red boxes maybe?)

Thu, 01/08/2015 - 16:15

Fangel

Not really.

IDK about the 'Randomize me' feature. This could put newby knights in way over their heads or throw a fistful of radiants at others.
I mention in the thread opener that it would depend on your rank. No squire is going to be randomized to tier 3, but a vanguard can be randomized to depth 2. The randomized depth is set so you can't abuse it and keep randomizing to radiant depth unless the gate randomized you there first. Even then, you would get maybe a few runs in before the entire gate shifts again.

Without arsenal stations players are playing the game just like the old times where you would bring a certain weapon or armor to a stratum, and normal weapons would super viable. This system makes them more viable.
However this also makes heating less viable - without stations, you cannot use the heat area. This might encourage the regular arcade, or discourage the mystery gate, I don't know, I'd have to see the gate in action. Having the arsenal stations seems more viable anyways, it was just a thought I had along this train of thought.

Thu, 01/08/2015 - 21:35

Holy-Nightmare

So it would only randomize depths of each tier. That way a knight with only access to T1 would get just randomized T1 depths. While for a T3 knight they would get randomized T1 depths in T1, randomized T2 depths in T2, and so on.

Thu, 01/08/2015 - 23:23

Dimpl

Sounds good

I would suggest starting at the usual depths (0/8/18). Otherwise, sounds good!

Thu, 01/08/2015 - 23:53

Klipik-Forum

+1^

No one wants to play through T1 just to get to T2 or T3.

Fri, 01/09/2015 - 01:33

Fehzor

Generally I don't like it, mostly because we already have it in the form of arcade gates. Speeding up the arcade gates and adding in more ability to generate random areas quickly takes the luster out of a randomly generated world. I even made a case for the opposite, at one point.

The payout of such a gate would also be questionable- with the "randomize me" feature, it would become one of the only areas that gives radiant fire crystals reliably for veteran players (making all other content feel awful in comparison) and without it the payout would always be lackluster as the average value of all levels is going to be less than the best levels.

Fri, 01/09/2015 - 10:43

Fangel

Trying to set this apart from the arcade

With the arcade, you're able to start from where-ever and and choose your tier. For this mystery gate, you can start reliably from depth 0 and continue onwards. The randomize function of placement can either be a godsend or unhelpful in its entirety - it could place a veteran at a d28 arena, but they'd only be able to "farm" that arena for about an hour until the gate shifts, in which case they might be randomized to depth 7. Calling it the "only area that gives radiant fire crystals reliably" isn't entirely true, as veterans might be constantly randomized to a depth 11 compound, and the gate could have only deconstruction zones and wolver dens at the very end. Any arcade gate with a treasure vault or arena in radiant territory would be immediately more reliable for veterans, and Firestorm Citadel will always be the quickest and most reliable way to get to radiant depths.

Payout in the randomized gate will be about the same as the arcade as it randomizes in a similar fashion, however it just means you can get a single level of a dark city followed by a scarlet fortress.

The idea is that this gate is the "instant action" gate that you go to if you don't know what to do because it changes so frequently, whereas the current "arcade" is the reliable and fully mapped out for you beforehand. Arcade gates move slowly, and often I've found myself not wanting to run some of the arcade gates because "nothing is good on there". With a "mystery" gate, not only would I be running in the clockworks, I wouldn't be waiting on elevator changes(not fun).
This gate brings the game back into play instead of the payout. If you want your crowns, go to boss strata. If you want reliable radiants, either run firestorm citadel or create/join an arcade party at the right depth. If you don't know what to do because all the other things seem not as fun, but you want to smash some faces, do the mystery gate. Hey, if you're lacking some radiants, go ahead and randomize yourself on the mystery gate every hour or so, maybe you'll get lucky!

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Mystery Gate