Angry rant about Defenders

[Jhonny G]

/rant on
It was disappointing to see they didn't receive any changes in the latest update, because they kinda suck all the fun out of most missions..

Their shield range is ridiculous large and the fact they project it through walls is just plain nonsense. Especially on large sovereign ships where one defender can often shield up to 20+ units while hiding behind 4 locked doors due to the special layout and clustering of guard posts. Not to mention it's visual impossible to see whether a shielded unit got a shield underneth, which can lead to some very frustrating scenarios.

Oh, and why give the defender itself a shield? Tactical planning is one thing, but having to wait around for 5min before it finally decides to go on a patrol in the right direction ain't nothing but tedious.. Bottom line; Defenders need a fix, one way or another. I would prefer their super shield effect being reduced to the sector they're stationed in and maybe get rid of their personal shield as well.

I dunno if the devs even visit the steam forums, but at least I got to vent ^^
/rant off

[[Ч]The Dixie Flatline]

Without agreeing/disagreeing with the above points, I would like to add that I'd really appreciate some sort of visible radius for the defender's effect. Maybe I'll get it to where I can eyeball it eventually but in the meantime my only real complaint with defenders is that someone walking into or out of a Defender's radius can be a pivotal tactical moment and right now it can be quite difficult to judge when that's going to happen.

BTW of course the devs visit the forums, plenty of the recent updates that were first committed to the beta branch directly addressed complaints/concerns/bugs voiced and discovered here on the forums, such as the change to the implementation of vows of pacifism in relation to liberation missions.

[Lemurian1972]

Wait, you think they're too hard? Weird.

[Le Spiff]

I think they're one of the most fun challenges of the game. Pure panic ensues when you teleport into 6 dudes, shooting a crashed defender with a shotgun, then hearing the 'plonk' sound of a defended minion who was just in the way taking the punch. I love it :)

The idea of a visible radius is a good one though!

[Jhonny G]

It's not that I find them 'too hard', they can just be really tedious to deal with and tend to ruin the pace of the game. Especially in the first half where your options and gear is limited. The other contractors move relatively fast and keeps the flow going, but a couple of defenders often turn a mission into a dull waiting game. The concept behind the defender unit is pretty cool, they're just poorly implemented as far as I'm concerned.

As mentioned earlier my biggest grief with them is that they project shields through walls in a fairly large radius. Maybe [Ч]The Dixie Flatwoods Monster's idea of adding a visual indicator to their shield radius might make them less tedious to deal with as it would be easier to determine at which range something like swappers would work. Still, limiting their ability to one sector would be preferable imo.

[ZooC0d3]

Here come the nerf-herders again.

[dr_panties]

They're fine, though I also agree that a visual AOE indicator would be nice, albeit not an absolute necessity. You don't have to wait around. Even early game characters still have access to the tools that work against them. There are so many options to dismantle any situation really, which is an excellent feature of this game. I'm very pleased with the current state of Heat Signature.

If anything, I reckon another two contractor types- making six in total- would hit the sweet spot for the game.

[Jhonny G]

So I'm about to ambush a Tracker on a large Glitcher ship. It walks over a trap, comes around the corner, and then in that exact same moment a Defender in another sector (and out of sight) moves just close enough to shield it. Can't hide before it fires or even dodge the bullet, so gets instantly killed..

Yeah, that's not a cheesy way to lose your best glory character at all.. Extreme range invisible super shields are the best.. So fun..

[Terin]

Did you have a wrench/concussion hammer? I've been in bad situations where I'm about to be spotted, and the best way out is to throw that weapon at a wall, and knock yourself out. They'll just run over and grab your body, no alarms or threat or anything. It can also kind of work with a concussive gun, although you need to get lucky in how it spins. Just something to keep in mind.

[Jhonny G]

The mission had an inventory lock, so all I was carrying was a concussive gun and a crash trap..

Didn't know it was possible to knock yourself out by bouncing a gun of the wall since it seems to have no effect on guards. But thanks for the tip, guess I better go practice knocking myself out in case it happens again ^^

[Jhonny G]

Off topic, but related to gameplay hints; I just figured out that the Swapper works with dead bodies as well.. That is wicked awesome as you can actually create your own teleporter points around the ship that way.

Not to mention it makes rescue missions a walk in the park with an extreme range swapper. Place body near maximum range, swap with target, then back again with dead body, succes.

Can't believe I just figured this out =P

[Le Spiff]

Yeah that's a fabulous trick. Also useful for preventing dead bodies being discovered. I love extracting my rescue target with it as well. The options are endless :)

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by Dogmatius:

Off topic, but related to gameplay hints; I just figured out that the Swapper works with dead bodies as well.. That is wicked awesome as you can actually create your own teleporter points around the ship that way.

Not to mention it makes rescue missions a walk in the park with an extreme range swapper. Place body near maximum range, swap with target, then back again with dead body, succes.

Can't believe I just figured this out =P

The collectible cards for this game come with stories in them, and one of them relates to this: fighting someone while carrying a body, the player throws the body at them so that they can swap with it and take them out.

[dr_panties]

Originally posted by Dogmatius:

So I'm about to ambush a Tracker on a large Glitcher ship. It walks over a trap, comes around the corner, and then in that exact same moment a Defender in another sector (and out of sight) moves just close enough to shield it. Can't hide before it fires or even dodge the bullet, so gets instantly killed..

Yeah, that's not a cheesy way to lose your best glory character at all.. Extreme range invisible super shields are the best.. So fun..

The zoom function makes everything visible, including neighbouring sectors. This incident is the direct result of your own carelessness, not an indication that defenders are a flawed aspect of the game.

[Jack Ketch]

My Defender complaints:

There is no upper limit on how many guards can be shielded. I've had a vindictive grenade go off and everyone runs over to see my body! Grr.

Eliminating the Defender is a two-stage process. FIRST you have to Crash his shield, THEN you have to eliminate him.

So yes, Defenders are tedious and slow down the pace of the game. But it's hardly broken.

[LifeWeaver]

The defender's power doesn't make much sense, every other special unit's power can be crashed or subverted, however the defender's can't. It breaks it's own rules. It's just a tactic to slow players down, and increase the difficulty.