Post by pendell on Jan 19, 2016 23:18:36 GMT -5
Mention is made in the Lore of the effects alien artifacts on the human psyche. If you have lots of time and are bored and want to implement something new, why not include that as a mechanic?
My thoughts:
1) A new attribute for the templar, something like "Mental strength" or fortitude. This is used for both mental attacks (which may be performed with the assistance of a device) and mental defense.
2) Enemies capable of mental attack should be extremely rare. However, we might stick it as an auto-counter AOE attack on some towers or tactical points, again, to model the effect such artifacts have on the human mind.
3) Whenever a mental attack is made, role dice + plus mental strength for both combatants as in standard combat.
4) A success can be of two forms: Standard success and critical success.
We cannot expect that a Templar, with thousands of years of lineage, will succumb to mind control as ordinary humans do. The following things, however, might occur:
4.1) Berserk status. The player loses control of the Templar for the next turn. The Templar will, on that turn, spend all movement points moving toward the closest enemy (or last known enemy position), regardless of hazard, and expend all action points attacking it with the highest-rated talent that is not usage restricted. Effect lasts one turn. Tactical effect could either be minimal (if you were going to do this anyway, say with a berserk) or catastrophic (if a Templar runs into the middle of a pack of enemies, and through fire besides).
4.2) Panic status. This is equivalent to a heat shutdown. The Templar loses all AP and MP for multiple turns, until the time expires.
4.3) Length of panic, and overall susceptibility to mental attacks, can be modified both with items and by upgrading attributes and skills. The addition of new attributes and skills can be compensated for by increasing the award of such points across all difficulty levels.
5) Defeating a particular enemy, or completing a particular secondary mission goal, or completing a new primary mission, would result in a new branch of the requisition tree being unlocked which will allow psionic defense improvements AND permit psionic attacks by the Templars on enemies. The effects would be identical; an enemy would be either Berserked or panicked, completely robbed of both AP and MP for multiple turns. If this is an AOE attack, it could render whole screens full of enemies helpless at once.
This powerful attack can be compensated for in the following ways: 1) Make the availability of such attacks subject to limited use. For instance, a one-time artifact that cannot be researched, only found . 2) Make these options unavailable during normal play; the research option only becomes available if specific secondary objectives are accomplished which require going above and beyond the call of duty, even for a Templar. 3) The truly dastardly option; make the availability of such weapons and techniques to the player a game add on, cost $5.
6) This could result in a number of interesting flavor options for additional missions. For instance, cultists have uncovered an artifact which drives men mad; that is why the Templars in their battlesuits are attacked by unending waves of barely trained civilians without remorse or thought of safety. Saving the planet requires retrieving or destroying this artifact, which of course has psionic defenses as well as the usual wave of unending enemies.
What do you think? Most likely near-impossible to implement in the near term, especially on the legendary Trese zero budget, but as a concept, is it cool?
Respectfully,
Brian P.
My thoughts:
1) A new attribute for the templar, something like "Mental strength" or fortitude. This is used for both mental attacks (which may be performed with the assistance of a device) and mental defense.
2) Enemies capable of mental attack should be extremely rare. However, we might stick it as an auto-counter AOE attack on some towers or tactical points, again, to model the effect such artifacts have on the human mind.
3) Whenever a mental attack is made, role dice + plus mental strength for both combatants as in standard combat.
4) A success can be of two forms: Standard success and critical success.
We cannot expect that a Templar, with thousands of years of lineage, will succumb to mind control as ordinary humans do. The following things, however, might occur:
4.1) Berserk status. The player loses control of the Templar for the next turn. The Templar will, on that turn, spend all movement points moving toward the closest enemy (or last known enemy position), regardless of hazard, and expend all action points attacking it with the highest-rated talent that is not usage restricted. Effect lasts one turn. Tactical effect could either be minimal (if you were going to do this anyway, say with a berserk) or catastrophic (if a Templar runs into the middle of a pack of enemies, and through fire besides).
4.2) Panic status. This is equivalent to a heat shutdown. The Templar loses all AP and MP for multiple turns, until the time expires.
4.3) Length of panic, and overall susceptibility to mental attacks, can be modified both with items and by upgrading attributes and skills. The addition of new attributes and skills can be compensated for by increasing the award of such points across all difficulty levels.
5) Defeating a particular enemy, or completing a particular secondary mission goal, or completing a new primary mission, would result in a new branch of the requisition tree being unlocked which will allow psionic defense improvements AND permit psionic attacks by the Templars on enemies. The effects would be identical; an enemy would be either Berserked or panicked, completely robbed of both AP and MP for multiple turns. If this is an AOE attack, it could render whole screens full of enemies helpless at once.
This powerful attack can be compensated for in the following ways: 1) Make the availability of such attacks subject to limited use. For instance, a one-time artifact that cannot be researched, only found . 2) Make these options unavailable during normal play; the research option only becomes available if specific secondary objectives are accomplished which require going above and beyond the call of duty, even for a Templar. 3) The truly dastardly option; make the availability of such weapons and techniques to the player a game add on, cost $5.
6) This could result in a number of interesting flavor options for additional missions. For instance, cultists have uncovered an artifact which drives men mad; that is why the Templars in their battlesuits are attacked by unending waves of barely trained civilians without remorse or thought of safety. Saving the planet requires retrieving or destroying this artifact, which of course has psionic defenses as well as the usual wave of unending enemies.
What do you think? Most likely near-impossible to implement in the near term, especially on the legendary Trese zero budget, but as a concept, is it cool?
Respectfully,
Brian P.