Playable Wagstaff's Kit

[Dr. Safety]

EDIT: Please check out my comment below, as I changed course for what I imagine Wagstaff's kit would be. Most of the stuff mentioned here would still be included, but the comment gives the character more of a unique defined role, that being the engineer (actual engineer, not combat minion character disguised as an engineer) similar to redstone in Minecraft or the Grand Design in Terraria

I know that Wagstaff probably won't become playable in DST. I don't think he will be playable anytime soon. However, recent threads have brought up the idea of finishing the DST story, and I figured that Wagstaff (and potentially Charlie?) becoming survivors could be in the realm of possibilities when the story does finish. For this reason, I wanted to throw some ideas out there to what I might like to see from a DST Wagstaff.

Too Long, Won't Read - I tend to write a LOT so rather than flood your screen with text, I'm going to briefly go over everything here, and if you want more details you can see the spoiler with my typical paragraphs of text. I mainly see him as a late game resource farmer, and not really much of a fighter. However, since most of the cast have been getting stuff in both combat and collecting, I added an optional bit of content that is more combat focused. I don't really have any attachment to that skill

Upsides:

• Can craft gadgets and goggles (same stuff as singleplayer, details on overlapping telebrella with Winona in the spoiler.)
• New crafting station (only craft, not prototype), the Project Management Desk, creates projects that all players can help build (similar build mechanics as Celestial Portal and Pearl's House), which can make the following:
  • PROJECT: O.R. (Operator Relocator) - Hub for projecting himself to other parts of the map via the project I.O.N. below. Meant for collection purposes
  • PROJECT: I.O.N. (Interspatial Operator Node) - Beacon that can be projected to, spawning the player as a grainy transmission. Doesn't put Wagstaff in danger, but armor doesn't work while projecting and dying as the grainy transmission can be very punishing.
  • PROJECT: Lurebot MK.II - a large mecha lureplant that can gather resources in a very large area on command, condensing the items into neat stacks. Cooldown of 4 days. Great when paired with thumper. Can be activated by anyone
  • OPTIONAL PROJECT: WZ-85 - a defensive post CC robot that assists Wagstaff and can fight alongside him in a very unique way if he has a full suit a W.A.R.B.I.S armor on.

Downsides:

• Nearsighted (same as singleplayer but tweaked a bit, see the spoiler for more details)
• Weak stomach (again, same as singleplayer)
• Enemy of the shadows - Terrorbeak spawn threshold removed. If he's insane, they can spawn.

Some skill tree perk idea:

• Messy Inventor: can passively generate scrap, electrical doodads, and frazzled wires (all used in his crafts). This can be done either by inspecting rocks and trees like in singleplayer, or by making him spawn junk piles periodically when crafting. Either one of these work and aren't very intrusive.
• W.A.R.B.I.S Expert: Do not need to prototype W.A.R.B.I.S. gear, or the repair kit (this allows for post CC, pre rift W.A.R.B.I.S. armor and functional W.O.B.O.T. in the first Autumn). Also the W.A.R.B.I.S. helmet allows Wagstaff to see clearly. Higher tiers increase the bonus damage & speed from the armor, as well as reduce the time it takes to lock on to a target.
• Telebrella Engineer I, II, and III: Telebrellas crafted by you have a 50% larger range, Telebrellas crafted by you have a 100% larger range, Telebrellas crafted by you are no longer destroyed at 0% durability, and can by repaired by you, (1 scrap -> 20% durability)
• Some other stuff, I dunno. Filler probably

Lots of text:

Spoiler

Upsides:

Telebrella and Winona - Wagstaff's teleportation network and Winona's teleportation network will be entirely isolated from each other. Only Winona can teleport to her teletrasport stations, and only someone with a Wagstaff telebrella will be able to teleport to his telipads. Wagstaff's telebrella will be overall weaker than Winona's. It cannot teleport ground items and has limited range. It does not require power and instead costs durability of the Telebrella itself. Wagstaff's telebrella can be shared with other survivors though, making it better than Winona's in a team setting, but worse in a solo setting. Winona can scan Wagstaff's versions to unlock her own recipe, as if she found it in a cachebox.

Details about the projects:

• PROJECT: O.R. (Operator Relocation) - a central hub, capable of projecting Wagstaff to any PROJECT: I.O.N. Interacting with it will cause Wagstaff to enter the device, and open the map, with icons on all existing I.O.N.s, allowing him to choose one to project himself to.
• PROJECT: I.O.N. (Interspatial Operator Node) - spawns player as a grainy transmission when chosen by interacting with the O.R. The player's inventory will be empty with only what they had equipped (contents of the backpack are not emptied, allowing them to bring a full backpack with them). The grainy transmission player will have 75 health, and cannot be protected by armor. The grainy transmission player can interact with the world just as they would if they were physically there, and can gather resources. They can also craft, placed prototyped structures, build projects, and even attack (fighting is risky). Interacting with the I.O.N. again will return Wagstaff to the O.R. with his original inventory, and the O.R. will spit out any items that the transmission collected. This allows Wagstaff to have easy access to farms that are far away from base. There is no cooldown as long as the grainy transmission returns to the I.O.N.
  • The player may cut the transmission early without returning to the I.O.N., which will drop all items collected (not including equipped items), and the I.O.N will go on a short cooldown.
  • If the grainy transmission dies, the items will drop, including the equipped items and the I.O.N. used will be damaged, requiring Wagstaff to travel there to fix it and retrieve his equipped items (either physically or through a different I.O.N.). Wagstaff's physical person will be unharmed, but would lose sanity.
• PROJECT: Lurebot MK.II - A useful subject that can collect resources in a large radius. Requiring 2 lureplants and several mechanical/electrical parts to build, this is a structure that can be activated, and doing so will spawn several mechanical eyeplants all over the screen. They will not damage anything or eat small creatures, but they will quickly pick up items, harvest plants, etc. After several seconds, all eyeplants will all despawn and the Lurebot MK.II will spit out all items collected in stacks. This has great farming potential and can be paired with multiple thumpers for wood and marble farms (pair that with WOBOT/Winbots for cool automation). It won't stop until everything in range is collected, but it will go on a cooldown for 4 days, and needs to be fueled by any type of meat.
• Optional- PROJECT: WZ-85 - A defensive robot minion that patrols a small area and will fight hostile creatures. It can sync with Wagstaff via W.A.R.B.I.S. armor, allowing the robot to go on the offensive. Requiring electrical/mechanical parts and an enlightened shard to craft, this will create a humanoid robot + docking station that will mimic Wagstaff's actions if he has a full suit of W.A.R.B.I.S. armor. If Wagstaff chops, mines, or fights, WZ will run to the opposite side of the tree/rock/enemy, and attempt to mirror Wagstaff's actions. When fighting, WZ will also mimic Wagstaff's kiting patterns, perfectly mirroring what he does (including knockback, even if the bot did not get hit. Why? because funny). WZ will also benefit from the damage/speed bonus from Wagstaff's W.A.R.B.I.S. armor. WZ will never be directly targeted, but can die due to AOE.
  • If the bot dies while patrolling the area near the docking station, or while assisting Wagstaff in fighting, it will need to be repaired with an Auto-Mat-O-Chanic

Downsides:

Nearsighted: Now on top of the blurriness effect, objects outside of Wagstaff's vision circle will be randomized into a different item/mob. This is due to the blurriness effect inducing migraines in some people, causing them to use mods that disable it. Now, if Wagstaff doesn't use his goggles, it will be impossible to know what is actually outside of his vision. They can even add a setting to disable blur, since this reworks the downside into something more than just a mild annoyance. This is shown below:

Wagstaff with Goggles:

Wagstaff without Goggles (blurriness enabled):

Wagstaff without Goggles (blurriness disabled):

Obviously I know that it looks silly, but it could genuinely be a fun challenge to play Wagstaff without goggles, and having no idea what anything is until you get close. Also it's worth noting that this can all be avoided by just wearing goggles.

[Cheggf]

1 hour ago, Dr. Safety said:

• PROJECT: O.R. (Operator Relocator)
• PROJECT: I.O.N. (Interspatial Operator Node)

These have freaking awesome names, and sound like a very fun and unique upside. Their implementation sounds perfect, although I would personally like if the health of the transmission was an even 100 instead of 75. It can't wear armor so it's still extremely frail, but with 100 health you could place one at certain static bosses (e.g. dragonfly, moose, antlion, klaus) and be allowed 1 single hit of leniency. It would even make sense if you can't heal the projection, so it has 100 unrestorable health and you really are only allowed that 1 single hit. You could both use this to try to solo bosses without needing to walk over (as long as you don't make more than one mistake), or use it in a group where if you make a mistake you play much more passively to try to protect the projection so that you can use it to bring the loot over after the fight ends.

1 hour ago, Dr. Safety said:

Nearsighted: Now on top of the blurriness effect, objects outside of Wagstaff's vision circle will be randomized into a different item/mob. This is due to the blurriness effect inducing migraines in some people, causing them to use mods that disable it. Now, if Wagstaff doesn't use his goggles, it will be impossible to know what is actually outside of his vision. They can even add a setting to disable blur, since this reworks the downside into something more than just a mild annoyance. This is shown below

Love that you were able to make his downside actually a downside instead of just giving people headaches. 

[marshyds]

i feel like with how winona has like a solid 50% of wagstaff's selling point she will just be his replacement, meaning wagstaff wont exist. (also it would conflict with lunar lore i think?)

[Dr. Safety]

7 hours ago, Cheggf said:

These have freaking awesome names, and sound like a very fun and unique upside. Their implementation sounds perfect, although I would personally like if the health of the transmission was an even 100 instead of 75. It can't wear armor so it's still extremely frail, but with 100 health you could place one at certain static bosses (e.g. dragonfly, moose, antlion, klaus) and be allowed 1 single hit of leniency. It would even make sense if you can't heal the projection, so it has 100 unrestorable health and you really are only allowed that 1 single hit. You could both use this to try to solo bosses without needing to walk over (as long as you don't make more than one mistake), or use it in a group where if you make a mistake you play much more passively to try to protect the projection so that you can use it to bring the loot over after the fight ends.

Thank you! The hardest part of this whole kit was coming up with names that fit the acronyms lol. For the health, I initially had 150 but I figured that it can act as an extra life so I wanted to gut the survivability as much as possible. 100 health is definitely still fair.

6 hours ago, marshyds said:

i feel like with how winona has like a solid 50% of wagstaff's selling point she will just be his replacement, meaning wagstaff wont exist. (also it would conflict with lunar lore i think?)

I agreed back before he appeared as an NPC, but the more we saw Wagstaff, the more potential there was for a unique refreshed kit. Winona is more combat focused, and only has decent gathering/utility if she sides with Wagstaff, so it makes sense that he would be an expansion on that, while having only minor combat capabilities (if any).

It also plays into his style of big projects for his personal use, with the ability to give small gadgets to others if they help him. Anyone can help build his projects, and he is able to give them a telebrella.

[Dr. Safety]

Sorry for the bump over a week later, I had a visitor over. I had some time to think though, and simply having good temporary mobility and gathering might not be enough to have a whole character. It got me thinking of another niche that hasn't been filled and is absolutely in character for Wagstaff to fill. If implemented I would completely scrap the optional WZ-89. Introducing PROJECT: Wagbotics Station. In basic terms, it is the ability to create custom programmable W.O.B.O.T.s, for many jobs, rather than just putting stuff in chests.

The purpose of this, and the niche that hasn't been filled, is a proper engineer, not a combat minion character disguised as an engineer. Think redstone in Minecraft or the Grand Design in Terraria. The Wagbotics Station lets Wagstaff craft 4 types of things, input devices (push buttons, pressure plates, sensors, etc.), Wagbotics repair kits, Wagbot PDA, and finally Wagbots.

Armed and Unarmed (the body is "stored" in the head, so the arming animation is the head being held up):

The premise is fairly simple, you can interact with a Wagbot to program it to do a single action, and can link it to an input device to signal the Wagbot to perform that action. The Wagbot slowly loses durability as it performs actions or gets wet (much like W.O.B.O.T.), and will require a Wagbot repair kit to fix (more specialized Wagstall exclusive version of the Auto-Mat-O-Chanic). The PDA can send signals to the Wagbots manually (functions with AOE like Winona's remote), and monitor the durability of all Wagbots created by that player around the map.

Some ideas off the top of my head that use these tools:

• Boat crew: a Wagbot programmed to raise/lower the anchor, and a Wagbot programmed to raise/lower the sails. User puts a button next to the steering wheel that signals them to perform this action (maybe even allow the bots to be buffed with the pirate hats similar to players). This allows the boat to start and stop at the push of a button.
• Lazy Deserter Network: A Wagbot programmed to interact with a Lazy Deserter, activated by a distant pushbutton next to a different Lazy Deserter. Making Wagbots on both sides allows players to switch between them freely, at the cost of sanity and Wagbot durability.
• Nurse for the base: Give a Wagbot a stack of healing salves or honey poultices, and pair it with a sensor (sensors could be more complicated, and can see player stats and send a signal if they aren't full, in this case, it would monitor health), detect injured players and then heal them
• Arming Catapults: Synergy with Winona, allowing multiple bots to be programmed to arm catapults to remove the need for Winona to be present to arm them all at once. Any player could arm them all at the push of a button

These are just a few uses for these but ultimately the Wagbots are just tools. The limit is the player's creativity. It goes without saying that the setup, programming, and maintenance is Wagstaff exclusive, but any player can operate the input devices. Wagbots can be carried by Wagstaff, and hammered by players.

Wagbot PDA:

When activated, shows a virtual minimap with icons for all Wagbots crafted by you, and colors to indicate their durability

• Green: 100%-66%
• Yellow: 65%-34%
• Red: 33%-1%
• Black: 0%

Map and corresponding PDA:

Wagstaff's lunar alignment (he has no shadow alignment perks) will allow him to craft The Ultimate Wagbot Pocket Console, costing 1 Wagbot PDA, 10 Wagbot Repair Kits, 1 Wagbot, and 1 enlightened shard. This infinite durability tool combines all of the tools into one, allowing him to send input signals, monitor the Wagbot durability, repair Wagbots for free, program them, and globally repair all Wagbots when it is a full moon.

[flamboyant wolf]

Love the projections and wagbots, would be pretty cool.

[NPCMaxwell]

Now that Wagstaff was fleshed out by DST lore it would really be awsome to have him be a playable character there too. I adore your ideas here! And it does sound fitting to the rest of the DST gameplay so far.

My favourite part is the randomized object from nearsightness x3