Alright, I'm going to put why I came up with this idea in this first paragraph, so skip down onwards if you just want the suggestion. For those of you who are reading this, thank you. I've been playing for Spiral Knights for at least a few years now, saw the end of mist and free elevators and the battle sprites. There is a knight in the bazzar of Haven named Bosco who works on a Mecha Knight to serve as a protector in his Clockworks expeditions. I thought that it would be cool to have some sort of companion to travel down into the Clockworks with, so I loved the battle sprites. However, I realized I could have an idea for Spiral Knights, and after running it through a few of my friends who said I should post it here, I did.

First off, this acts as a replacement to battle sprites as a means of less expensive, more time consuming ally which you really have to work for. It works in a chain-like fashion, find a Mecha Knight Construction Kit within the Clockworks (or a de-powered Mecha Knight, in which case it could turn into an item) and carry it with you till the end of the level and reach back to Haven without using the kit. At the point of reaching Haven, you receive an item called an "Broken Mecha Knight" which has the description of "A poor, broken Mecha Knight left to perish in the Clockworks. If it was built by gremlins, then perhaps gremlins could fix it, take it to Vise and Punch's shop!" to which you would. There, at the workshop, Vise offers to unbind the Mecha Knight from it's restraining bolts, the items that prevent it from leaving a level you entered, and binding it's leash to you, letting it teleport to you, for the price of 50 crowns. If you agree you get a new battle sprite called "Mecha Knight" to which of course you can rename. The battle sprite however is very different from normal ones because it is a permanent Mecha Knight aid. From there, the fun (agony) begins.

Brief interlude: For this suggestion Mecha Knight aids for all intents and purposes act like Spiral Knights, with one emergency revive per floor and increase the number of grimalkins in Candlestick Keep. Also, these mecha knight aids increase monster health by a half of another player joining the dungeon, for balancing reasons. Also for balance all mecha knight aids deal normal damage and still receive shock from themselves. Players can choose between the Mecha Knight aids and the battle sprites.

The Mecha Knight aid has four differing components, sword, power core, shield, and status augment. The sword handles damage and charge attack damage, the more powerful the sword the more damage each swing does and charge attack does. The power core regulates the Mecha Knight's defense and health. The more powerful the power core, the more health and normal defense the Mecha Knight has. The shield acts as a regular knight's shield, with health and defense, the more powerful the shield the more health and defense it has. The status augment is the component that regulates the type, chance, and strength of the status effect the Mecha Knight inflicts while also protecting it from that status (this doesn't let them become immune to their own shock). The components come in varying strengths, ranging from Low (Star 0); Medium (Star 1); High (Star 2); Very (Star 3); Ultra (Star 4); Maximum (Star 5). Mecha knight aids start out with a low sword, power core, and shield, no status augment.

In order to get these components, you can either rip them out (have them dropped by Mecha Knights when defeated) in a strata determined by star level + 1. Or, you can buy them from the auction house or from Kozma (had to put in someway for OOO to make money off this). There is a catch in that you need to defeat particular types of Mecha Knights in order to get the status augment. For example, kill Firoknight on depth 7, chance of receiving a Medium Fire Status Augment. I am not certain what's a good drop rate for the differing components, and I don't want to throw out a random number and hope it's balanced.

This one is much more far sketched then the other ideas above, and thus will most likely receive the most criticism, these are ideas alone, I did not say they would work. After reaching Emberlight, a Spiral Knight can upgrade his Mecha Knight for 100 crowns (easy money to get in tier 1) to have a special, fifth component called a "Special Augment" slot added to his Mecha Knight from an Emberlight gremlim. The "Special Augments" can be bought from the same gremlin which the slot upgrade was bought from. Feel free to suggest more special augments in posts of this thread. The following is just going to be a list of "Special Augments", in which what their called, how they work, backlash.

Super Shield Drive: The Mecha Knight's shield defensive capabilities are increased, making shield health more, shield defense more, shield size (so a knight can fit inside it) is increased, and shield's regenerative abilities are increased. This cost of power increase cause the shock of the Mecha Knight to reapply itself more often, and attacks become weaker. Cost: 200 Crowns

Super Attack Drive: The exact opposite of the Super Shield Drive, the attack speed and damage of a Mecha Knight's combo is increased, the charge time is decreased and the damage of the charge attack is increased. This causes the shield to lose health, defense, and a slowed down regeneration factor. It has the same backlash as the power causes the shock to reapply itself more often. Cost: 200 Crowns

Torrent Blast: The Mecha Knight can use 98% of it's power to unleash a huge blast of energy, dealing large amount of damage and knock back while having a chance to deal whatever status it has. The attack's primary function is too knock away enemies while dealing damage to them. Due to the power surge the Mecha Knight is deactivated for 2 seconds, recharging, and has shock status for the next ten seconds. If the Mecha Knight receives so much as a single hit during the recharging period, it loses all health. Torrent Blast can only be used every 30 seconds. Activated by the 1 key. No backlash due to it being an ability. Cost: 250 crowns.

Power Surge: The Mecha Knight temporarily disengages their power restrainers, letting them use a combo of the Super Shield Drive and the Super Attack Drive for 3 seconds without the backlash ending with a Torrent Blast, but the recharging period is 10 seconds long and the shock lasts for 30 seconds. Can only be used every 3 minutes. Activated by the 1 key. No backlash due to it being an ability. Cost: 700 Crowns.

Shock-proofing: Mecha Knights are now shock immune to their own shock. Still liable to enemy shock so not sure how that's going to be coded. No backlash. Cost: 50 crowns.

If anyone has played Star Wars the Old Republic MMO, yes I did base the Super Attack Drive and the Super Shield Drive off the space-ship abilities of increased shield regeneration for weaker attack / stronger attacks weaker shield regeneration. I have one final suggestion, giving the Mecha Knight the ability to toggle Super Shield / Super Attack / Normal by the 1 key, Torrent Blast by the 2 key, and Power Surge by the 3 key, removing Shock-proofing.

I would like to thank everyone who read this for your time, and also everyone who posts below constructive comments below. Thank you, once again, for your time.