Revamp the Aerial Drones:

At the moment, the Turret Drones serve a very simple and obvious purpose: Keep firing at a player to ensure that the player keeps moving, preferably resulting in the shots going behind them to emphasize the feeling of going fast. If the player stands still or slows down, they get wrecked. They have a decent size hitbox and low enough HP that players can clear them through with a few shots, but the point isn't fighting them.

Then...there's the Aerial Drones. And they're basically the same as the Turret Drones BUT IN THE AIRRRRRRRR. Functionally, they don't...work. They're obviously way too slow to chase the player, and their aerial ability is mainly for an annoying dodge, which makes them even more of an irritation to fight. Problem being, fighting the Turret Drones wasn't the point of their design.

Here's the short of the matter: Trying to make a second enemy that repeats the Turret Drones' function is going to just be extra baggage. Given that the Aerial Drone has implicit dodging and movement capabilities, having an enemy for actual combat would provide a different function and would make for a more interesting enemy--especially tied into the speed. Lunge forward, blow off an enemy without even slowing down, keep going. Badass. Everything goes into the first design goal, appealing to the primal urge of speed and violence. The problem is that with how Aerial Drones work now, they're a tiny target that move very fast and fight from a far far far distance, which basically ensures the player has to slow down or come to a complete stop to fight them.

So, what does this all come down to? Six things.

1: Slow the Aerial Drone way the fuck down. 2: Enlarge the hitbox and the design dramatically. Make it an enemy that's easy to hit even with potshots. 3: Lower the HP enough that aforementioned popshots always take one hit to down. Maybe two, at long range with the shotgun. 4: Move positioning so that it's directly in the way of the players. Save the Turret Drones for far off pillars where their shots will harass players, the Aerial Drones will be in the thick of the fray. 5: Slow down their attacks and/or reduce power. The current drone shots are absolutely lethal when they can hit the player dead on. For Aerial Drones to be in the mix of things, the current drone power would molest players without mercy. 6: Make for a way to be able to weaponize the speed, somehow. Perhaps the Cyber Dash/Cyber Jump turns the player into a literal missile, and whatever they come into contact with gets wrecked?

TerminusEst13 / cyberrunner

Revamp the Aerial Drones: #22