I would like to reference Kuanjita as the source of inspiration, though our ideas differ in over all execution and functionality the theme is still the brainchild of Kuanjita.



https://www.games2gether.com/dungeon-of-the-endless/forum/47-game-design/thread/17661-just-a-new-idea



Security Module:



This process is automated! When combat starts this major module sends out four little spider drones would act much like tiny four legged necrophages that you see as fodder on the earlier floors. They blaze an ant trail for the biggest concentration of mobs and draw aggro until they are dead. The cooldown for the production of a new set of drones starts when the original set dies. They could make a nice intermediate buffer between your turrets/modules while you rally a hero(s) to save your assets, buying you valuable seconds--but will never win a fight on their own.



*Production of drones starts during combat, and stops when combat ends.

*Having a hero operate the module would lower the cool down on the reproduction of the little suicide squad based on wit.

*Upgrading the module gives them more HP, which will be necessary for them to remain useful on higher tier floors.

*Damage dealt is pathetic

*Movement speed is relativity slow



Maintenance Module:



A major module in similar functionality to the security module, except the four drones would be a flying orbular type, with little mechnical arms that fly into rooms and repair modules and turrets during combat. The rate of repair would be similar to a hero's in-combat repair times, but a hero in rooms with mobs tend to attack mobs rather than repair---these drones however, would repair until they were killed thus serving the yet unfulfilled role of combat repairman!



*Their effectiveness would diminish against AoE attacks.

*Researching higher tiers of module would increase the repair rate, compensating for higher floors by way of doing more in a shorter amount of time/before they are killed.

*For this module operation would increase the repair speed by a small percentage based on wit. Perhaps capped at 15% increase of any hypothetical numbers!

*Balance in that their cooldown for reproduction can't be decreased like the combat drones, giving mobs the chance to retaliate and overwhelm during their downtime.



Recon Module:



The recon drone major module could send a drone to an adjacent room that doesn't power it but occupies it (When placing the module you choose the direction the module faces, which will also be the direction that it sends the drone). It will survey and explore that one adjacent room, probing the area with cameras and searchlights. The modules of the room the drone occupied would remain depowered. If that room gets powered, the drone becomes inert and returns to it's module. This drone module would be a very situational method of covering a space you previously didn't have the power to (Such covering a dead-end flank which would normally be a major hole in your defense). The cost of this utility is a major module slot that could be used for a more reliable production module. This module is likely to be a candidate for demolition once enough dust is found to power both rooms.



*Drone prevents monster spawn in the room it occupies.

*Strategic advantage at the cost of and a major module slot

*When a hero opens a door, drone has a % chance to find an inconsistent number of (Representing what the drone may or may not have found)

*Operation the module makes the number of fids found higher, but is a wasted effort if nothing is found.

*Researching higher tiers increases the % chance to find

*For people who like RNG and gambling!

I'm really impressed by this proposal!

^.^ thank you.

Rudest, I only just got a chance to check out your ideas. I like them a lot! I saw your comment on Kuanjita's thread.



My comment on that thread was based around the idea that drones would be a new type of strategy for the game. They would be inherently connected with everything else, and yet, different. I love the module system Amplitude has designed. However, right now, I seem to be encountering the same one or two major strategies. Part of designing a great tower defense game is giving players a plethora of strategies to implement in order to win (at least, that is what I think).



I love your ideas for the types of drones and how they might look. My only concern was keeping the drones connected to the module system entirely. Right now, when you build a major module that produces resources, they all produce the same amount. Adding something as significant as three more major modules might boost the industry strategies too much. Amplitude needs to find a way to build a better strategy around the Science resource. Which is why I was suggesting, that although Industry might be included in the drone system, there would also be a significant Science portion of the system. Finally, by connecting the drones to the party members, all of the resources become involved in some way (Food being implicit). So, the drones become an almost entirely new strategy for the game.

Most game winning strategies employ food and/or industry heavy strategies, with science as something of an afterthought. That said, science itself is relatively newly implemented.



An idea in regards to that might be tying Science to how we level up; Food still bulks up your HP and increases your stats but rather than gaining a static passive or active ability, you instead use science to choose from a pool that might contain common abilities (that multiple characters might have the option of having), role-specific abilities, and abilities unique to that character. Science could also be used to respec?



For example, say you are using Hikensha as your lead/door openner. And you later find a character you'd rather use for that along the way. Then you use your Science to rearrange her passives and gear her towards tankiness for defending a flank and put her on guard duty! I'm not sure if that is with the grain of the game's vision or not, and may be slanting things to heavily in the rpg direction not to mention requiring some redesign >.>



Such is probably the case, so maybe that could be simplified all together, and science could be used to buy higher % tiers of the innate static abilities?



Science lacking a fully fledged place in the game may also be a result of not having every floor and module implemented into the game yet. Science's boon in the 4X games is getting to more savory tech's faster while maintaining a somewhat healthy amount of Perhaps the feeling that a science-centric strategy isn't viable will diminish and resolve itself when the game is more robust. At the moment, playing as if you were an ES Sophon doesn't really feel like a good idea!

Yeah, I completely agree! I actually love your ideas about implementing Science into character ability development. You may be right, it might conflict with the developers vision for this game, but I think it's a wonderful idea.



Considering Science is the only resource still labeled as being a "work in progress", it's simple enough to surmise that they are working on making it more useful and balanced. I'm sure it will hold a much more significant place in the game's flow once the final version is out. It's just that this is game is about resource management, and when you can go through major portions of the game thinking, "well I don't really need more science" that strikes me as being a problem. So, I thought making the drones more science based could be an interesting technique.

I wanted to suggest something like this, only difference:

cooldown is when you open doors

level 1 = 1 drone

level 2 = 2 drones



etc.

Since this is an official suggestion thread, I figured I'd repost my ideas in here. I'm hopeful this idea is going to catch on. Perhaps the devs will look in here, take the best from all of our suggestions and drop them into the game. Anyway, I thought it would be good to re-post this here.



I think it would be really interesting to produce the drones through a major module. Either make the module something researched through science, or make it random like a dust factory. One way to keep drones from being OP would be to make them cost heavy on industry. Or maybe cross it between industry and science. Anyway, if it's a major module, you can build a factory on any major module panels. Or, if it is a random encounter when opening rooms, you would have to spend major industry to repair the factory to get it running.



The factory itself could be designed like an Artifact. Once the module is built, or discovered and repaired, you have a selection of so many different types of drones to build (probably 4). To build a drone, it should cost a lot of industry or perhaps one would have to use science to discover each type of drone and then use industry to build them. This would make it tough to have drones early game. However, it would make it really cool for the late game I think.



Anyway, it would also be interesting to connect every drone to a specific party member. The drones will only provide augmentation depending on what type of drone it is. They won't be able to fight, and if a party member dies, their drone also dies. By linking the drones to the party members, you could keep the game from being over complicated. Perhaps, the drones could act merely based on what you command a certain party member to do. For instance, if one type of drone was a drone that will man a major module, perhaps, when linked to a character, the drone's benefit would be to man a major module (if there is one) in a room adjacent to the major module you have your party member manning. Or perhaps one type of drone could be a teleportation drone. If you're looking to protect a weak area or a merchant, you pick a spot, set the drone in that room, and can use that drone to teleport to that spot when in need (there would be a cooldown afterward). So, in the end, the drones become more like a extra active or passive skill, rather than a separate party member altogether.



It'd be really cool to see the devs take this idea somewhere. However, I know they have a specific vision, and I'll understand if they don't want to. I just think we've got some great ideas here.

Hi,



There are a lot of very interesting suggestions about drones here

However, for production reasons, we will not be able to add this on the current roadmap. This also means we may consider this feature, or any other interesting ideas we hadn’t though about, for after the release of DotE. So, keep the suggestions coming!

Hehe, will do!

Hehe, that's just a great way of seeing drones !



When i thought about drones, i was hoping people to give their point of vue and develop the idea. The more brains the better the result ^^



The only problem is that it's already hard to get major modules, now it would be even more difficult to gather if we have to choose between drones and . Anyway, it's still a beta, and we have to try it all before knowing how it would change the game.

Mysterarts wrote:


However, for production reasons, we will not be able to add this on the current roadmap. This also means we may consider this feature, or any other interesting ideas we hadn’t though about, for after the release of DotE. So, keep the suggestions coming!

I figured if the drone idea was not already somewhere in the roadmap, it probably would not be feasible before launch. That's okay! I'm very excited to see where the game goes! I'm also excited to see if you use any of these ideas down the road as well. We'll keep up the flow of ideas. I don't think there is any lack of creativity here.