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Solution to Lack of Incentive in Caves (Raiders)


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Note: I realize Klei is done with content updates, in addition to having said that there wouldn't be any cave additions in RoG, but I'm curious to see what the community's perspective is on this


 


I believe I have found a solution to the caves being a greater risk than reward, in addition to the game becoming too easy in the later days. I introduce you to the raider mob type (no artwork because I'm not an artist).


 


Function


This mob would have a base spawned underground maybe once or twice a year. Once a base was spawned, a band of these Raiders (somewhat akin to the MacTusks) would periodically show up at your base attack you, demolish your structures, and loot your chests. They would grow in numbers the longer you refused to venture into the caves to destroy their base.


 


Mob Types


There would be two types of enemies to this mob, the Ring Leader and the Maraudars


 


Ring Leader: there would only be one type of enemy with each band of assailants. He would be a medium difficulty mob solely purposed to attack you.


  • 500 hp
  • 25 damage
  • 4 Running Speed

Marauders: a few of these guys would show up with the ring leader. Rather than attack you, they would rush your structures and start knocking them down or open up your chests and steal the loot inside.


  • 150 hp
  • 0 damage to player, but 3 strikes to knock down a structure or open a chest (attack period 4)
  • 5 Running Speed

Increasing Waves


After every 2-5 days of leaving the base intact underground, another band of Raiders would assault your base, but they would grow in numbers. There would always only be one Ring Leader, of course, but the destructive Marauders would gain one more member with each successive wave.


 


Finding the Base


(Fully detailed in comment below) When a band spawns off screen, a track would also spawn. Once the player defeated the band of Raiders, he or she could walk in the direction from which they came to find the first of a set of tracks, which would lead them all the way to the correct sinkhole and then to the base within.


 


Further details in comment below


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In an effort to keep the Op short(ish), I've moved the more in-depth details to this comment


 


 


In Game Generation


After X amount of days, the game would prepare a band to spawn but it wouldn't appear until you had spent X amount of time nearby at least three structures, similar to how the G/Goose spawns. When the band does spawn, it would approach your base just as the MacTusk Raiding party does you and from the direction of a sinkhole. Once the Ring Leader did some sort of animation indicator, the Marauders would head for destruction and the Ring Leader himself would begin to attack you. Upon defeating the band, you could walk in the direction from which it came to find the first track, which you'd use Koalephant/Varg-like until the tracks led you to the correct sinkhole. Once you enter the sinkhole, the game would generate a base somewhere on that level, as well as the initial track to continue the trail.


 


The Base Itself


This part could be rather simple, perhaps nothing more than a glorified tent that spawns Two Ring leaders when you attempt to destroy it. It also could spawn on one at the end of one of those useless, turfless underground branches in order to give them a purpose


 


Intelligence of Raiders


Perhaps this mob could discern tooth traps and bee mines, thus preventing the bottleneck trap approach to dealing with them. When their mapping AI finds that the only access route to a specific structure (or to you for the Ring Leader), they would prioritize destroying walls first. Also, the Ring Leader could use a slingshot that shoots rocks (makes sense since he comes from the caves) at you if you attempt to go after the marauders first. Whether or not the slingshot would be an obtainable item that the Ring Leader drops is up for discussion.


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I like the better elaboration.  I kind of like the notion of the marauders being able to defeat tooth traps and be mines.  Maybe they can 'dig' up tooth traps?  Like the player digs up bushes?  Or just spring them with a stick or something without being harmed, thereby costing the player 10% durability off each trap they spring.  Spring the bee mines without aggroing the bees.  But they could at least delay the marauders while the player rallies allies or gathers gear. 

 

Need more detail on marauders.  Do they loot drying racks and bee hives?  Do they priorititze anything (gems, gold)?  How much stuff do they grab before they take off with it?  Does all the loot then appear at their base when the player finds it?

 

The ringleader, how about he can grab any player weapon or armor that he finds laying around?  My bases are constantly littered with such things, since they don't stack, and aren't flammable.  That would be quite the turn of events if he snagged my darksword and shadow armor!    They  need to not be able to open the fireproof chest.  So it can be a 'safe' stash. 

 

The mechanic does sound plausible.  Will the player be able to see their base on the cave map?

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I like the better elaboration.  I kind of like the notion of the marauders being able to defeat tooth traps and be mines.  Maybe they can 'dig' up tooth traps?  Like the player digs up bushes?  Or just spring them with a stick or something without being harmed, thereby costing the player 10% durability off each trap they spring.  Spring the bee mines without aggroing the bees.  But they could at least delay the marauders while the player rallies allies or gathers gear. 

 

Need more detail on marauders.  Do they loot drying racks and bee hives?  Do they priorititze anything (gems, gold)?  How much stuff do they grab before they take off with it?  Does all the loot then appear at their base when the player finds it?

 

The ringleader, how about he can grab any player weapon or armor that he finds laying around?  My bases are constantly littered with such things, since they don't stack, and aren't flammable.  That would be quite the turn of events if he snagged my darksword and shadow armor!    They  need to not be able to open the fireproof chest.  So it can be a 'safe' stash. 

 

The mechanic does sound plausible.  Will the player be able to see their base on the cave map?

 

I'm trying to not to have my suggestion add many more mechanics to the game (as my description is now, everything would work with elements already in game). Thus, I think it would be better if the marauders and ring leader smashed walls when walking through traps was the only path of approach, not springing the traps to get by, although that is a great idea if someone was willing to put in the work.

 

Regarding the marauders, yes, they could loot anything (perhaps the fireproof chest would be impenetrable) that contains items (i.e. even drying racks and crock pots but maybe not bee boxes since the bees would aggro and help the player out). There could be an item prioritization (something like base materials<refined materials<basic food<tier 1 items<advanced food<tier 2 items<advanced materials) and probably a cap of 2 destroyed structures (not including walls) and five items. When they run off, they would de-spawn if they got 2-3 screens away from the player, if for instance, the player were still distracted with the ring leader. If the player made pursuit of a marauder, the enemy would not run toward the cave (not leading the enemy to the base sort of mentality) but in any direction to get away, similar to Wee MacTusk. You would receive your items back if you killed him, or possibly 50% of them would be placed in the game's memory to spawn at the base when it is discovered.

 

Sounds difficult to implement a mechanic in which a mob can pick up a player-constructed weapon, although it would definitely ramp up the challenge (just imagine the ring leader grabbing a fire staff!). The camp would not be visible on the cave map until the player had examined the final track (similar to how the Koalephant/Varg spawns). Thanks for your thoughts!

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I personally don't agree with this.

Mostly as a guy who hates the caves and disables them in everyworld.

But also the Devs have stated in the past they want the caves to be an optional, difficult but rewarding experience.

Though honestly in my opinion they failed on the rewarding part.

Honestly i would just prefer it if they buffed Krampus, and made him easier to anger (naughtiness by doing other naughty things, maybe stealing the supplies from the pigs, burning things etc)

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^ I was gonna say, this sounds like Krampus's biker gang. 

 

They're sort of a mix between the MacTusk Hunting Party and the Krampus. They are purposed to be a late(ish) game challenge that discourages turtling since being near structures increases their chance to spawn. The part about caves remaining optional is a valid point (I'm tempted to pull the "you could just disable it in settings" but that's always a lame argument), but I do still think this would be a very dynamic addition to the game.

 

Think about it: do you go after the marauders to protect your base or deal with the ring leader first to protect yourself? Can you prepare to assault their camp within a few days or will you have to endure a larger wave before you'll be ready? And finally, what sort of new defenses could you plan for since the raiders don't walk into tooth traps or bee mines?

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