As announced in the previous blog, we are developing 11 new robots belonging to the Syndicate faction. The first wave of these robots is just around the corner, so today we’ll take an in-depth look at them.
General traits
In terms of offense, the most notable attribute of the hybrid Nian-Earth tech Syndicate robots is of course their specialization for firearms. These types of guns are famous for their almost negligible energy usage, their damage and versatility coming from the available ammo types, but also for their inaccuracy and short optimal range. Syndicate robots were built with this in mind, and they are also trying to compensate for the shortcomings of these weapons.
Defense-wise their main strategy is basically to not get hit. Their armor is the weakest of all the factions, resistances are universal but not very high. However, this is more than made up by their low hit size, either from the get-go or via bonuses, which can be further reduced by using an evasive module.
Looking at their base speed, they are rather on the slower end, but their relatively high mass means that they won’t lose that much of that speed when you equip them.
Last but not least, their signal detection and masking values are the best in their class, making them exceptionally useful in scouting and covert operations.
TL;DR Syndicate robots are hard to hit bulletstorm glass-ninjas.
These are mostly true for the combat-type robots, but we’ll also have 5 industrial types within the Syndicate faction. They are generally intended to fill some missing roles and industrial classes, and their traits will be a mix of the Syndicate flavor and the robots of the Nian Industrial Trust.
Let’s take a look at the first 3 robots in detail. Note that the parameters can still change and we’ll revisit them once they’ve been in use for a while.
Vektor
Class: Light robot specialized in firearms
The smallest member of our hybrid-technology fleet of robots. Its armor is weaker than the average, but its small size makes up for it, resulting in a hard to hit target. Coupled with excellent detection and masking systems, the Vektor makes not only a good scout, but a tough opponent in combat as well.
Slots
- Head slots: 3
- Leg slots: 2
- Chassis slots: 4 (2x light turret/misc, 2x light/medium turret/misc/industrial)
Bonuses
- 1% reduction to the hit dispersion of guns
- 3% to light firearms damage
- 1% to firearms cycle time
- -0.10 to surface hit size
- +2 to signal detection
Notable stats
- Accumulator: 200 AP @ 120sec recharge
- CPU: 155 TF
- Reactor: 150 RP
- Armor: 650 HP
- Passive resistances: 45 points universally (31%)
- Surface hit size: 3 m
- Locking range: 150 m
- Sensor strength: 130 Hw³
- Signal detection: 125 rF
- Signal masking: 105 rF
- Cargo capacity: 3.75 U
- Mass: 7850 kg
- Base speed: 104.4 kph
Syndicate Supplies cost
- 20 TM tokens
- 20 ICS tokens
- 20 ASI tokens
- 150,000 NIC
Locust
Class: Assault robot specialized in firearms
The gist of our firearm-wielding force. A swarm of Locusts can quickly shred enemy groups, but their specialized framework increases their survivability in solo engagements too.
‘’’Slots’’’
Head slots: 4
Leg slots: 3
Chassis slots: 5 (3x light turret, 2x light/medium turret/misc/industrial)
‘’’Bonuses’’’
- 1% reduction to the hit dispersion of guns
- 3% to firearms damage
- 1% to firearms cycle time
- -0.10 to surface hit size
- 2% to firearms optimal range
‘’’Notable stats’’’
Accumulator: 400 AP @ 180sec recharge
CPU: 230 TF
Reactor: 280 RP
Armor: 975 HP
Passive resistances: 45 points universally (31%)
Surface hit size: 4 m
Locking range: 200 m
Sensor strength: 110 Hw³
Signal detection: 110 rF
Signal masking: 110 rF
Cargo capacity: 6 U
Mass: 11800 kg
Base speed: 106.2 kph
‘’’Syndicate Supplies cost’’’
50 TM tokens
50 ICS tokens
50 ASI tokens
500,000 NIC
Ikarus
Class: Light robot specialized in transportation
The Ikarus is a snappy answer to the Perpetuum Project's long-standing need for a fast and light transport. Its main element is a repurposed Argano-chassis, stripped of anything disposable to make room for the relatively large cargo hold. Aided by the agile undercarriage of the Laird, this is the most efficient robot to get fair-sized packages from A to B quickly. Speed comes at a price though, as the construction is very fragile.
‘’’Slots’’’
Head slots: 1
Leg slots: 1
Chassis slots: 1 (light/medium turret/missile/misc/industrial)
‘’’Bonuses’’’
- +2 to signal detection
- +2 to signal masking
- 3% to demobilizer resistance
- 1% to armor hit points
- +3 to passive armor resistances
‘’’Notable stats’’’
Accumulator: 150 AP @ 240sec recharge
CPU: 100 TF
Reactor: 100 RP
Armor: 500 HP
Passive resistances: 45 points to kinetic/seismic/thermal (31%), 30 points to chemical (23%)
Surface hit size: 2.50 m
Locking range: 120 m
Sensor strength: 90 Hw³
Signal detection: 110 rF
Signal masking: 100 rF
Cargo capacity: 20 U
Mass: 8950 kg
Base speed: 120.6 kph
‘’’Syndicate Supplies cost’’’
10 TM tokens
10 ICS tokens
10 ASI tokens
100,000 NIC
Balancing and new extensions
We’re introducing two new extensions that will be required to control these robots: Syndicate combat robot control and Syndicate industrial robot control. It’s not hard to guess that these are the equivalents of the Pelistal/Nuimqol/Thelodica robot control extensions (with the same complexity of 9), but since here the combat and industrial types are part of the same faction we felt the need to split it up into two extensions. The rest of the requirements are designed to be on par with the other factions and are using the same extensions, depending on the robot’s class.
Of course the introduction of a whole new faction can’t go without some adjustments to the existing factions and robots. With each patch we’ll take a look at the balance within the actual class of robots and make changes if necessary. This not only means that we’ll balance regarding the newly added robots to try to fit them in, but we’ll also revisit the balance between the existing old factions. Finally, during or after the last waves we’ll check up on the global balance between robot classes and try to fix some long-standing issues e.g. with speeds.
Deployment
This first wave of Syndicate robots is planned to be deployed in patch 3.8, around the middle of next week, along with some fixes as usual. The exact time and date of the patch will be announced soon.
The rest of the robots will be introduced in a similar way over the next few months: a detailed writeup of the actual wave of 2 or maybe 3 robots will precede their deployment, and the waves are currently planned to be 3-5 weeks apart, depending on any additional features or fixes that may come with the patch.
