A Fully Worked Locust Mechanics System

[Darkrain491]

My Mechanics for the Locust should it return. This is a copy of the topic I made on Waypoint, and wanted opinions from here as well. But I feel it needs its own thread as I now have planned full Mechanics for it, as well as the levels of damage displays to players.

 

General Weapon Mechanics

 

It's weapons should be the Long Distance Beam, Which should have the DPS of the Warthog Turret, and have dual Plasma Cannons (Ghost DPS). also, each trigger activates a weapon, but they can't be fired simultaneously. Pressing Y switches the Beam to Overcharge mode like it has in Halo Wars, Which drains it's shields. In the same sense as holding the trigger in slightly gives the Ghost a slower boost, but it lasts longer, Holding the trigger in further increases the multiplier, Maxing at 1.6x (I will post shield drain rate/seconds below), but decreases your shields faster, and vice versa. Once your shields are depleted, you revert to the normal beam, and can't use the overcharge until you have full shields again. there is an overheat for both weapons, while one is cooling, the other can still be used. to prevent a constant switch spam, the time it takes to cool-down should take longer than the overheat, so there is a skill gap with this vehicle. It has a potential Longer Range, when used correctly.

 

 

The 3 Overcharge states

 

Regular Beam: Blue, 1x Multiplier, No Shield Drain

 

Overcharges, Y to switch to:

 

Trigger Held about 1/3s in: 1.2x Multiplier, 2/12s of your shields per second (6 seconds of continuous fire), Blue, thicker than normal beam.

 

 

Trigger Held about 2/3s in: 1.4x Multiplier, 3/12s of your shields per second (4 seconds of continuous fire), Purple, thicker than normal beam

 

 

Trigger Held fully in: 1.6 Multiplier, 6/12s of your shields per second (2 seconds of continuous fire), Red, Thicker than normal beam.

 

Shield and Health Mechanics

 

The shields would follow traditional Halo standards involving Covenant/Storm shields vs. human shields. The Locust would have shields approximately 1.3x better than the Mantis, and as such has 70% less overall health. Both vehicles have the same traits as players, where Plasma beats their shields, while ballistic weaponry is far better on vehicle health. Here are some damage ratios based on Halo weaponry we can assume will return and are often used on vehicles, apart from the Beam Rifle, which I included for the sake of adding all Sniper Rifle variants.

 

Rocket Launcher: the first removes 90% of the shields, the second would destroy it. If the Locust shields are less than 90%, the rocket deals corresponding damage to health.

 

Spartan Laser: One beam removes all shields, so 100%. then a second to destroy, same residual damage mechanics as the Rocket Launcher.

 

Fuel Rod Cannon: 4 Fuel Rods destroy the locust, each shot deals 50% damage to shields, and the 3rd shot leaves the Locust with 40% Health, the last destroys it.

 

Incineration Cannon: 1 shot leaves it with 25% Health.

 

Sniper Rifle: The Sniper Rifle would require a full magazine to break shields. Then, the Sniper Rifle takes two shots to finish it.

 

Beam Rifle: The Beam Rifle can deplete its shields in two shots, but can do no damage to health.

 

Binary Rifle: This can destroy it in four shots, with the same damage ratios as the Fuel Rod Cannon.

 

Damage Level 1, 5-20% damage: Slight panel displacement, uncovered wiring

 

Damage Level 2, 21-40% damage: Complete panel removal, sparks at wiring

 

Damage level 3, 41-60% damage: Sparks at joints, front panel damage, crooked areas

 

Damage Level 4, 61-80% damage: small fires, sparks from from panel and weapon areas,

 

Damage Level 5, 81-99% damage: large fires at joints and cockpit areas, front panel crooked, player visible in areas, warning lights. 

 

Movement Mechanics

 

I took some long thoughts here. These are both mechs, and act as counterparts to one another, but they do need to have diversity among this. so I looked into the traditional aspects of Halo vehicles for these mechanics (not including the Mantis, as it is not a traditional UNSC ground Vehicle).

 

Traditionally, Human ground vehicles have had more health, faster top speed (Not including boost), no driver controlled weapons apart from the scorpions, but that's a tank, and cannot strafe. As opposed to their Covenant/Storm counterparts. The Mantis screwed with that, by having no counterpart in Halo 4, being able to strafe, have shields and so on. 

 

Now that we have these Mantis movement mechanics, changing them to fit UNSC tradition doesn't really make sense going from 4 to 5, as you essentially remove its best/unique features. Toning down the weapons is a must. But, back to the Locust. 

 

The Locust must now be Built around these mechanics, and I feel I have done this. The Locust Has faster Forward and Backwards speed than the Mantis, but it's strafing is slower, However, as traditionally, most if not all covey vehicles have a boost of sort, the Locust is no exception. But its is handled differently. to compensate for it's inability to stomp players nearby, and slow strafing, the Locust gets pond skater-esque "evade" that allows it to quickly dart to the side by about 12 meters. This can be used once per cooldown, and takes 15 seconds to be used again. It can use this to splatter flanking players or quickly dart in or out of cover. I feel this gives it the unique abilities in movement to seperate it from the Mantis.

 

Over All Features

   

There should be three versions for forge. the one I stated above, which is purple, and a blue one, that has a the regular beam , the overcharge is a instant drop of all shields, but fires a spartan laser strength beam (blue beam), and takes a full cool-down to use the beam again, and the last one is concussion rifle colored, it fires concussion rifle shots instead of plasma cannons (12 before reload) and the same beam traits as the purple locust, it is better at close range covering itself, but not very good for long range cover when beam is unavailable.

 

[Buns]

I really think you should not include damage mechanics in your post. 
Let the game engine handle that there is a whole lot that goes on when the game applies damage to a vehicle/player. I mean a LOT. It will make these post easier to read and save you some time. Just include an overall health stat.

As for the locust that thing is huge!!!
The Mantis has a width of 19 Feet while the locust has a width of 39 Feet. That is big. The Halo Wiki doesn't even include a height stat. I think we should include a new Covie Mech. You have to remember we are facing the storm covenant. Not the covenant so obviously it would make more sense for them to include a new mech of their own that fits gameplay better rather than bringing back the Locust and breaking canon to balance it.  

[Darkrain491]

The storm utilize mostly outdated and older covenant technology. such as the old beam rifle model and their armour. using the Locust actually makes sense. And ther is no reason the locust could not be made smaller. The locust is a very popular want for Halo 5 already, I am just making some full mechanic lists. This is a direct copy of my waypoint list, sko I inlcude damage mechanics, because it is a list of Locust mechanics. I include weapon and damage mechanics because I made this full system, and including them was important to my reasons as to how and why it should be implemented.

and

again, what stops them from making it smaller for multiplayer? They did it for Halo 2 and 3 elites.

[Buns]

The storm utilize mostly outdated and older covenant technology. such as the old beam rifle model and their armour. using the Locust actually makes sense. And ther is no reason the locust could not be made smaller. The locust is a very popular want for Halo 5 already, I am just making some full mechanic lists. This is a direct copy of my waypoint list, sko I inlcude damage mechanics, because it is a list of Locust mechanics. I include weapon and damage mechanics because I made this full system, and including them was important to my reasons as to how and why it should be implemented.

and

again, what stops them from making it smaller for multiplayer? They did it for Halo 2 and 3 elites.

"No reason the locust can't be made smaller"

Because it would break canon and would just be pointless. Why not go the more interesting route and include a new storm covie mech?(I understand we have broken canon before just for multiplayer and the sake of making the game fun)

Also Elites are a species they're /alive/ they have genes that determine height. A vehicle does not. Not all Elites are 7 - 8 feet ya know? What proof do you have to show me that we weren't playing midget elites that are actually 6 feet?(Im joking) 

 

My point still stands it would be more interesting to impliment a new storm covie mech rather then bringing back a Locust. Maybe for singleplayer its fine but shouldn't we be encouraging 343i's creativity and not asking them to bring back old vehicles? (I actually want both and would love a Locust in multiplayer but I'd rather see them come up with something new first and that actually makes more sense then shrinking a locust that just seems lazy)

[Darkrain491]

I think that as the Locust is already a fan favorite, and as you said, breaking canon for multiplayer is hardly new, it makes only sense to include. Since it's appearance in Halo Wars, fans have been asking for it to be used in a FPS Halo title. Now that we have a UNSC Mech to give a counterpart too, I think it is time the many fans and supporters of the  Locust in FPS Halo got their wish. As you can see from my mechanics,  It can be made very unique and quite a good counterpart to the Mantis without becoming a re-skin of it.