#Proximity-Based Alien Respawn and Reinforcement Adjustment

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grim dawn
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In Silica, the alien faction is designed to be a swarm-based force, characterized by numerous, disposable units that are intended to die quickly but return in overwhelming numbers. The human faction, in contrast, benefits from advanced mobility, incredibly high range and reliable damage, with options such as instant teleportation, which allows them to rapidly traverse the battlefield, avoiding long travel times. This difference in mobility and unit quality has created a significant imbalance, where alien players are required to cover large distances to re-engage in combat, leading to a lack of meaningful interaction between players and prolonged periods of inactivity. Consequently, alien players experience frustration due to extended downtime, while human players can maintain a consistent presence on the battlefield, taking full advantage of their high mobility transportation & teleportation mechanics.

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Proposed Solution: Immediate Player Transition Upon Death

To address these issues, the proposed solution involves removing the traditional respawn system and introducing a dynamic transfer of player control to a nearby alien unit upon death. This would allow the player to immediately re-enter combat without the need to traverse the battlefield on foot, thus significantly reducing the time spent away from the action. By focusing on proximity-based respawn mechanics, the alien faction’s ability to maintain pressure on the human faction can be enhanced, keeping players engaged in the combat cycle and preventing the long-distance runs that disrupt the flow of gameplay.

Detailed Explanation of the System

Upon the death of an alien unit, the player’s control is automatically transferred to the nearest surviving alien unit. This unit would be selected based on the proximity to the player’s current location, ensuring a seamless transition into the battle. The goal of this system is twofold:

Increased Combat Engagement: By eliminating the long travel times, players will be able to quickly return to combat, maintaining the momentum of the swarm and preventing periods of inactivity. This creates a more fluid and dynamic battlefield experience, as players will always have an active role to play in the ongoing combat.

Balance Against Human Teleportation Mechanics: The human faction’s instant teleportation allows for rapid relocation across the map, potentially outpacing the alien players who would otherwise need to run large distances. The proposed system ensures that the alien faction is not disadvantaged by these teleportation mechanics, as they can now quickly rejoin the fight without unnecessary delays.

If no alien units are within the set range nearby the player if they were to die, the regular respawn function would then activate normally, which would help keep the match balanced during the early to mid game as well. This change I believe would also help keep alien faction players running with the swarm that the commander is guiding, aiding in better teamwork and should help solve some of the more solo player issues that some commanders are frustrated about.

Conclusion

The proposed modification to the alien faction’s respawn system aims to address the imbalance caused by the human faction’s superior mobility, range & consistent damage while also promoting continuous combat engagement. By removing the need for alien faction players to travel long distances upon death and automatically transitioning control to a nearby alien unit, the alien faction’s swarm tactics can be more effectively executed, leading to a more fluid and enjoyable gameplay experience for all players involved. This change ensures that alien players remain immersed in the combat cycle, reducing downtime and offering a more competitive and engaging match.

ember star
copper spire
grim dawn
copper spire
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Just to add to this post:

ghost crab
Apon death you would turn into a ghost crab, and be able to run around and transfer to a nearby unit

last stand
Apon death there would be a chance dependent on several factors that would give you a few seconds where you where injured, giving you enough time to transfer to a nearby unit

proximity respawn
Apon death, you will be automatically transferred to a nearby unit

proximity swarm respawn
Similar to proximity respawn but the transfer only works if:

  • there is at least one of same type of unit in your squad (squad mechanics will be added at later date)
  • the unit is a lesser, smaller than a scorpion/hunter
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I disagree strongly with the first two, maybe a final stand mechanic would be cool if it didn’t also provide the ability to transfer mind.

The reason we would need the additional mechanics from proximity swarm respawn
Is to ensure that players cant endlessly jump from large unit to large unit

After a Sertain point the units are big and tough enough to where if you kill them, the player controlling them should logically die too, the same does not go for something like a wasp wich gets blown out of the air by a soft breeze.

Pairing this with the upcoming squad mechanics allows players controlling swarms of lesser units to play as the swarm instead of one random unit in that swarm, while still keeping larger units as they are now

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This logic also shouldn’t be too time consuming or difficult to add to the game at all, and could most likely be done whenever the squad mechanics are implemented.

ember star
ember star
# copper spire This logic also shouldn’t be too time consuming or difficult to add to the game ...

disagree, advantage of ghost crab is that it wouldn't be all that difficult to add just allow the player to look around and transfer to a new unit. i think Automatic Transfer makes more sense as the name for your suggestion, it could easily be disorienting for the player to suddenly pop into a different unit not to mention the number of times you end up pointed in another direction it will take an adjustment for the player and they cant turn it off so they are stuck in the swarm even if they don't want to be. Swarm Automatic Transfer just adds a bunch of if/then statements to Automatic transfer. vojitiman or dram would need to code in an algorithm to make automatic transfer happen and again it just removes so much autonomy from the player.

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Limiting transfer targets just means you have to stick a crab in a safe spot so you can mind transfer into a more important unit, more than likely can be kept safe just by burrowing the crab and leaving it there potentially for hours if its never detected and dealt with.

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in fact ghost crab is already pretty much a thing as when your mind transfering with cheats you can mind transfer into a dead unit, so its simply allowing the player to "control" the dead unit and mind transfer from there, very simple

copper spire
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To me it feels more like an unnecessary middle step but that’s just preference, not really valid argument against it

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Mostly I was agreeing with the idea but stating there needed to be limitations put on it, wich would be a few if thens, mostly to balance it out

Drams said he doesn’t want the player to feel immortal, and he doesn’t want them to be able to hop from greater unit to greater unit, which makes perfect sense, hence why it could be limited to squad, lesser units, etc

ember star
ember star
# copper spire Mostly I was agreeing with the idea but stating there needed to be limitations p...

eh but either way this idea lets players hop from greater unit to greater unit, the difference is the steps inbetween whether thats forcing the player to inhabit a crab for a second, or allowing the player to transfer straight into the greater unit, undoubtably you'd have players complaining that they require an extra step to transfer into a greater unit, i dont think youd have that with ghost crab

copper spire
# ember star would be fine if your a crab in a swarm of crabs, otherwise i think the automati...

Mainly I was focused on wether or not you died in a greater or lesser spawn

If you die in a greater spawn you’d be send straight back to the spawner, leaving your squad behind

If you died in a lesser you’d be switched over to another lesser, so basically the exact spot you’d be before, with the same option you had before to switch into a greater, it might be annoying to run out of lessers to switch to and leave your greater alive and alone though

ember star
# copper spire Mainly I was focused on wether or not you died in a greater or lesser spawn If ...

If your respawning and leaving the squad now there needs to be extra shenanigans to tell the squad what to do, which tbf can still be an issue with Ghost crab. Does the squad keep moving, stay put and wait for you to catch up, retreat, does it stay the player's squad or does com get control. Also the goal is simply for the crabs to die first not last, they are meant to be a meat shield not be shielded by other Aliens

copper spire
# ember star If your respawning and leaving the squad now there needs to be extra shenanigans...

I would assume once the squads commander dies the squad disperses. It mostly depends on how the squad mechanics work.

Also kind of base just on preference for drama, or whoever codes that to function whether or not they decide to retreat back to where they started from, be taken over by the general alien AI, and I would assume that Tom would have complete control of them after the commander said squad died. I feel like this would be an issue, regardless of the mechanics for the aliens.