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IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0007843Valley 1Gameplay IdeaSep 5, 2012 7:20 pm
Reporterlavacamorada Assigned To 
Severityminor 
Status consideringResolutionopen 
Product Version1.018 
Summary0007843: Make ice pirates more interesting
DescriptionMost of the time, ice pirates are just a minor nuisance. I rarely stay in an outdoor region long enough to take more than a few hits from them, and they don't do that much damage. Recently, I attempted a JtP (Outdoors) mission in a region patrolled by ice pirates. JtP (Outdoors) is already likely the most frustrating type of mission in the game, and this made it even worse. Normally I would have simply ignored such a mission, but I wanted the reward from this one. I finally completed it through a combination of patience and dumb luck, but it took me a lot of attempts.

I actually enjoyed the gameplay of having to run for cover to avoid pirate salvos. What I didn't enjoy was:
1) having to watch carefully to see when the pirates were about to fire (while simultaneously watching for bats or ice espers),
2) having to clear out trees just to see the pirate ship in the first place,
3) waiting in cover while the pirates fired around~10 consecutive salvos.

What I propose is to make pirate salvos more dangerous, more obvious, and less frequent. That is, when they fire, the game plays a sound and displays an obvious visual notification. When you see the notification, you had better run for some kind of cover, or the pirates are going to take a significant chunk out of your health. They should also fire enough shots that they aren't likely to randomly miss. The salvos should still be random (so you could, for example, get two in rapid succession), but occur, on average, less often than they do now - perhaps every 30 seconds?

These changes would make ice pirates more relevant to normal gameplay while making them less ridiculous in JtP missions. Battleground missions might have to be modified slightly to add cover of some kind (perhaps destroying an enemy tower leaves behind a "ruined tower" background object that blocks pirate shots).
TagsNo tags attached.
Internal WeightFeature Suggestion

Relationships

related to 0008738 considering Ice Pirates and City-Building 

Activities

BenMiff

May 15, 2012 5:46 am

reporter   ~0024249

Being able to dodge the incoming salvos via movement should also be possible, not just via cover. I'd suggest that the falling ice shots should cast shadows, so you know where they are going to land (also providing the visual notification), and then add 2 frost shots that travel along the ground from the impact site (one in each direction) a short distance. That way, cover still helps, espescially a bigger chunk where the frost shots can't travel far enough under, but you still have a chance if you're in open ground.

quinton

May 15, 2012 10:48 am

reporter   ~0024262

perhaps also add a mission, similar to the lieutenants towers where you invade the ice pirate ship and take it down! also givesa a chance for new enemies bosses places to beat them all up etc...

Chthonic One

May 15, 2012 1:07 pm

reporter   ~0024269

Why are the ice pirates contented to fire from afar? Why don't they come for plunder?

I could imagine them sending crew over every few minutes on hover bikes, some speeding by dropping attacks below as they go, while they drop others off on foot.

TechSY730

May 15, 2012 4:01 pm

reporter   ~0024273

I really wouldn't want space pirates to become more difficult until the mission that can remove and/or weaken them is implemented.

IMO, space pirates should be removed until that mission is implemented, but it seems like people can deal with them fine as is, so its not a huge deal.

Chthonic One

May 15, 2012 8:39 pm

reporter   ~0024286

I didn't say more difficult personally. I just think it'd be cool if you had added enemy types dropped in every now and again like a monster next does.

BenMiff

May 16, 2012 12:30 pm

reporter   ~0024321

I would prefer Ice Pirate raids to work as a chunk infestation (like Possessed Lion Statues or Slimes) rather than the odd sporadic enemy. They should really be raiding together, not the odd one wandering around the landscape, since they're going to want the (unfair) advantage in numbers. Maybe they would be hostile to the other enemies as well, turning the chunk into a three-way-battle?

Chthonic One

May 16, 2012 4:46 pm

reporter   ~0024348

Well, I think that just because they come in periodically shouldn't mean they don't come in in waves. Perhaps yes, they come in guns blazing, and firing on whatever they see. They also don't have to target the player's portion of the chunk, or even come in on screen.

Pyrrhic

Jul 5, 2012 9:43 pm

reporter   ~0026357

Last edited: Jul 5, 2012 10:48 pm

I agree with lavacamorada. (Not so sure about ice pirate speeders zooming in from nowhere, although I do feel like ice pirates are currently a bit...distant, aloof. Almost frigid xD. Just lobbing ice every now and then? It doesn't have very much personality.)

There really should be some kind of a visual indicator of where the ice shots are going to fall. The simplest way to do this would be arrows, like the ones in Underground Freefall missions (though I'd suggest they be blue or white, to reflect how ice and not boulders are falling). Shadows would be more immersive, but preferably they wouldn't be any harder to see than arrows.
Knowing where the salvos will fall, leads to trying to dodge them - and if you're going to be dodging the salvos, I think they shouldn't be as frequent: I shouldn't feel like I can only move for 5 seconds at a time, before I have to bring my attention back to where the shots are going to land, and taking cover.

Making the shots more dangerous should compensate for both the decrease in firing speed, and the salvo prescience.

As mentioned, these changes would also make outdoor JtP missions, while still harder than pirate-free JtP missions, less impossible.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
May 15, 2012 5:35 am lavacamorada New Issue
May 15, 2012 5:46 am BenMiff Note Added: 0024249
May 15, 2012 8:59 am tigersfan Internal Weight => Feature Suggestion
May 15, 2012 8:59 am tigersfan Status new => considering
May 15, 2012 10:48 am quinton Note Added: 0024262
May 15, 2012 1:07 pm Chthonic One Note Added: 0024269
May 15, 2012 4:01 pm TechSY730 Note Added: 0024273
May 15, 2012 8:39 pm Chthonic One Note Added: 0024286
May 16, 2012 12:30 pm BenMiff Note Added: 0024321
May 16, 2012 4:46 pm Chthonic One Note Added: 0024348
Jul 5, 2012 9:43 pm Pyrrhic Note Added: 0026357
Jul 5, 2012 10:47 pm Pyrrhic Note Edited: 0026357
Jul 5, 2012 10:48 pm Pyrrhic Note Edited: 0026357
Jul 6, 2012 10:43 am Pyrrhic Relationship added related to 0008738
Sep 5, 2012 7:18 pm Pyrrhic Description Updated
Sep 5, 2012 7:20 pm Pyrrhic Description Updated
Apr 14, 2014 9:30 am Chris_McElligottPark Category Suggestion - Gameplay => Gameplay Idea