A dabble at making IM Heroes

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A dabble at making IM Heroes

by tmn loveblue » Tue Jul 31, 2018 3:57 am

I have always like making fanfiction for Ironhide games, specifically the KR franchise. These games have such great mechanics and wide open world, ripe for exploring. I have not tried IM, hence in the past I have avoided making fiction about this game, but recently, watching videos and others' work, and noticing IM's simplicity compare to KR, I thought, why not try, there are potentials for such great concepts. And concepts is all it needed. So, here goes it:

Ichor

BACKGROUND

[+] SPOILER
Incident Report A-X2847:

[DOCUMENT CLASSIFIED, PLEASE INSERT CREDENTIALS]

ANewDawn_ANewLight_2847N

[CREDENTIALS ACCEPTED]

[RETRIEVING REPORT A-X2847]

[REPORT RETRIEVED, OPEN Y/N]

Y

...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[INTERVIEW A-X2847-13]

Now, I have read this report. Let's just say, casualties was immense. We were taken by surprised, those freakin' aliens got all us.

They got all of us. I want to say we put up a fight, but we didn't. The frontline was broken almost immediately, the backline followed. The most crushing defeat in the Iron Marines' history. But then we have him. Trooper 5123, or Paul Wallace as we called him, before the incident anyway. He was the one who did not fall. The one who cut down the enemy assault with three heavy machine guns, a tank and a whole lot of explosives. How did he survived the initial chaos and then muster a retaliation is beyond my comprehension. Not to mention he did it all on his own.

The thing is, he has never been trained with heavy machine guns. Nor tanks. Nor was he familiar with explosives in anyway. Darn it, Paul was a sniper only. He had always been a sniper all his life! How did he operated weaponry outside of his field of expertise!

And then there were those reports of missing bodies when the cleanup team arrived at the scene. No remains, no sign of them being devoured by the aliens, simply missing. Two machine gunners, a team of tankers and some grenade launcher troopers. Some alien remnants were missing too, like, there were big bloodstains but no alien corpses there.

Paul went missing after the incident, too. The camera caught the whole scene was cut shortly after the dust settled, the last image of Paul was him looking out to a field of dead allies and enemies. We know there was a good chance he was alive. But he was gone.

And now we have him again, General, our war hero. The one thing I can say to you about him is, Paul does not seem to be the man he used to be.

I wonder if [DATA REDACTED]

[END OF INTERVIEW]


STATISTICS AND ABILITIES

[+] SPOILER
Ichor is a regular foot soldier with two weapons: a long-ranged sniper rifle and a short-ranged sub machine gun. He wears helmet and a permanent grim expression. Plus a very cool beard.

HP: Average
Heal rate: Fast

Armor: Average

Movement: Fast

Sniper Rifle:

Attack Damage: High
Fire rate: Very Slow

Range: Very Large

Sub Machine Gun:

Attack Damage: Low
Fire rate: Fast

Range: Average

Respawn: 24 seconds

INNATE

Bio Fusion:

Ichor's biology combined with a foreign lifeform's on a cellular level, granting him a strange ability. Upon death, Ichor immediately transform to his Alien Form, gaining new stats, and abilities. Only after this form's death does his respawn ticks.

Being idle for some time in any form automatically shift Ichor to his other form. It takes Ichor 2.5 seconds to change forms.

ALIEN FORM

A deformed Marine-Fell abomination, fight in melee with two crushing arthropod appendages and various blade-like limbs protruding from different spots. It is as if the entire form shifts slowly, never stay rooted to any design.

HP: Very High
Heal rate: Slow

Armor: Medium

Movement: Very Fast

Attack Damage: Medium
Attack rate: Fast

ABILITIES

1. BOMB DEPOSIT/PLASMA TORCH

Human Form: Bomb Deposit: Grows a bio-cannon on his right shoulder to lob a Etherium grenade that deals medium damage and slows enemies.

CD: Fast

Silver Upgrade: More Grenades: Increase the number of grenades to three, blanketing over a wider area.

Gold Upgrade: Etherblob Explosion: Release bio content on blast, sticking to enemies and rooting them for the duration.

Alien Form: Plasma Torch: Sears enemies with Etherflame for 6 seconds, lowering attack value and armor while dealing heavy damage.

CD: Average

Silver Upgrade: Ether Fuel: Increase range and arc of Plasma Torch.

Gold Upgrade: Organic Disintegration: Deal triple damage to unarmored enemies.

2. LAST MAN STAND/SLICING STORM

Human Form: Last Man Stand:
Modify both arms to Bio Ether Cannons, shooting AoE energy blasts within average range at the cost of 10% current HP per second.

CD: Toggle

* Only cost HP when actively firing.

Silver Upgrade: Cellular Energy: Improves generation of energy, increases attack rate of Last Man Stand by 20% and lowers HP cost to 8% current HP per second.

Gold Upgrade: Excessive Energy: While Last Man Stand is active, convert a portion of damage dealt to an energy shield that lasts 8 seconds, refreshing when dealing or taking damage.

Alien Form: Slicing Storm: Release two Slicers made of sharp appendages to slice and dice through enemies for up to 7 seconds. They are automated and untargetable.

CD: Slow.

Damage: High.

Silver Upgrade: Cutting Edge Tech: Add one more Slicers and arm their appendages with Etherium edges, dealing more damage and moving faster.

Gold Upgrade: Lightsabers: Slicers deflect enemy shots going through them.

3. Passive: DAUNTLESS/ABSORPTION

Human Form: Dauntless: The kind of value often seen in men who single-handledly fended off huge alien assaults in an impossible way.

Increase damage based on missing HP, up to 90% at 10% HP.

Silver Upgrade: Extraction: Grant additional Etherwatts for enemies dying near Ichor.

Gold Upgrade: Survivor: At 1 HP, allow Ichor to last for 5 seconds more before changing form. Double tap Hero Portrait to change form immediately.

Alien Form: Absorption: Periodically devour a unit or Slicer, healing itself by an amount.

CD: 20 seconds.

Allied unit: Can be absorbed at any time, heal by 10% max HP. CD is reduced by half.

Enemy unit: Absorbed when they are very low on HP, heal by 10% max HP.

Slicer: Absorbed when Ichor is low on HP, heal by 30% max HP.

Silver Upgrade: Evolution: Absorbing a unit generates Etherwatts and grant attack damage for the CD's duration.

Gold Upgrade: Rampage: Grant invulnerability for a few seconds after Absorbtion.


REVIEW

[+] SPOILER
Ichor is highly dependent on his abilities. In his human form, he serves as a frontline unit better than a backline sniper, alternating between two roles couple with the usage of Last Man Stand to help dishing out damage. With one toggle skill and one with fast CD, Ichor-Human can easily adapt to different battle situations and tactics.

Ichor as an Alien is a frontline bruiser, boasting lots of HP and high damage. Ichor-Alien can easily wade into enemies, slicing and burning its way out with two powerful abilities. However, with a slow heal rate and longer CD, playing the Alien requires better thinking ahead of time as to when and where to use each skill, and where to put Ichor-Alien. Absorbtion is weak passive, but smart usage of it coupled with spawning Slicers can turn the table on a strong foe.
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Re: A dabble at making IM Heroes

by Big Bad Bug » Thu Aug 02, 2018 6:28 pm

What a great first Iron Marines hero! :hero:

His ability to switch between 2 forms has been seen with Dr. Graaff, and to a lesser extent, Trabuco, but never before was it doable by slaying the hero. With average armor and health in his first form, he’s as durable as a standard hero, which makes it all the more awesome to see him with a second life, which now has very high HP, making him incredibly tanky - a trait befitting of his biofusion theme, even if it’s quite OP. ;)

Bomb Deposit is very familiar to my own hero Agony’s Scatter Bombs skill, especially with the upgrade tomthrow 3 explosives in a spread, and even combines the feature of Demolitionist, Agony’s other skill, which roots enemies in place. I’m flattered to be an inspiration. :mrgreen: Though, you may want to avoid such overlap - there’s plenty of other options with shooting explosives. Perhaps his cannon, similar to his second skill, lasts for a period of time, but launching stun grenades that have their own features, like each grenade that hits an enemy already stunned causes it to deal less and less damage afterwards? :twisted: I’ll let you make up your own ideas. ;)

Last Man Stand is a very interesting skill. It sacrifices the hero’s life to deal damage, which can be purely helpful if the player wants to force Ichor to low health and switch modes. At first I found the upgrade to give himself a shield contradictory, as you force him to low health but are unable to let him die and actually switch modes. However, I realized that he can simply change on his own after 2.5 seconds idle, even if there aren’t enough enemies around for him to shoot enough times to lower his hp to 0% or below, so it ultimately isn’t necessary at all to use this skill to switch modes. Rather, it’s an element of his playstyle that doesn’t intrude on his other features while also still contribuing to them. Very smart. :ugeek:

Dauntless is another reason that the sheild feature is really clever: By staying alive at low hp, Ichor can accumulate massive damage. On top of that, he gains 5 seconds of invulnerability, a powerful boost to his durability and allows him to dish out way more damage for that time before switching over. It’s incredibly powerful and would be so awesome in the game, seeing him in the midst of ferocious battle and survive for ao long.

As for his alien form, I think Plasma Torch has an awesome name and looks so cool in my head, just imagining a stream of Etherium-green plasma flailing out, burning enemies. It seems so satisfying! Additionally, the bonus damage to unarmored enemies shows how useful this is for taking out swarming, weaker enemies, in comparison to Bomb Deposit, which roots enemies and thus has a better use against those who will survive the initial AOE. Again, it’s very clever and powerful. ;)

Slicing Storm is really cool too. The fact that he releases slicers from his body makes me wonder why it doesn’t also lower his HP, especially for how powerful it is and how it would line up wih the human equivalent of the skill. It seems like a good defensive and offensive skill, spawning unthinking units whose lives are exchangeable and thus can tank damage by deflecting projectiles, as well as dealing their own damage. It’s a far less direct way to make him tankier while also able to fend off units, so it’s probably my favorite skill so far, even with the praise I’ve already given.

Finally, Absorption using a passive to create a Kingdom-Rush style ability with a cooldown is very interesting. Unless it has its own button, rather than being used as soon as available like in KR, which I guess I can believe is possible since the UI is currently quite spacious for Iron Marines anyways, so it has room for more skill buttons. It would be necessary to have control over the skill anyways, since otherwise he could absorb troops constantly! The upgrades are all good, too. They also gain Etherwatts so it doesn’t sacrifice the economy boost that Ichor’s human form offers, while also granting him his own version of invulnerability.

All in all, the hero is very well designed, and with such high durability AND such high damage, he is an all-around ideal hero. Because of this, as cool as he is, I guarantee that his hero is ludicrously OP. In fact, the low-HP damage boost, while it’s a skill I’d like to see someday in one of these games, seems out of place, along with the other damage boosts he gets. I can very much imagine this hero being focused more on tanking, as it seems like he has a lot of creative features that do that, and already less skills that focus on dealing damage in comparison. I say this because he needs some focus, so that he isn’t out of control with all these powers that make him so strong. It’s just... a lot. Right now, at least. I still like what you’ve come up with very much, so I hope you don’t take it the wrong way. Ichor is still a beast, literally and figuratively. :hero:
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Re: A dabble at making IM Heroes

by tmn loveblue » Fri Aug 03, 2018 2:12 pm

Big Bad Bug wrote:What a great first Iron Marines hero! :hero:

His ability to switch between 2 forms has been seen with Dr. Graaff, and to a lesser extent, Trabuco, but never before was it doable by slaying the hero. With average armor and health in his first form, he’s as durable as a standard hero, which makes it all the more awesome to see him with a second life, which now has very high HP, making him incredibly tanky - a trait befitting of his biofusion theme, even if it’s quite OP. ;)


Thank you :hero:

I have read the review of Dr Graaff and Trabuco, they are indeed solid form-changing heroes. With form-changing I expect the unit to perform different purposes in different forms, but never before seen one unit to have two distinct set of skills, one for each form 8-) My original intention is to let his Human Form takes a more supportive role, being able to attack from afar, root enemies and all. Although, with the addition of overbearing damage from Dauntless and Last Man Stand, that purpose might have been diluted :(

No worry, I have a couple of changes in mind to address this issue and direct Ichor back on track. However, first I shall reply to each of your points. First of all, I would change his stats to emphasize the tankiness of the Alien Form, while lowering that of the Human Form. The Human Form should have situational defensive powers that allow him to make plays against overwhelming enemy forces, especially when low on HP. Or his Human Form should have little defense, instead opt to support from afar with ranged attacks and skills? Which one is to your preference? All in all, I would like to make at least one form to be really tanky and hard-to-chew, befitting the Biofusion identity, as you have noted.

Bomb Deposit is very familiar to my own hero Agony’s Scatter Bombs skill, especially with the upgrade tomthrow 3 explosives in a spread, and even combines the feature of Demolitionist, Agony’s other skill, which roots enemies in place. I’m flattered to be an inspiration. :mrgreen: Though, you may want to avoid such overlap - there’s plenty of other options with shooting explosives. Perhaps his cannon, similar to his second skill, lasts for a period of time, but launching stun grenades that have their own features, like each grenade that hits an enemy already stunned causes it to deal less and less damage afterwards? :twisted: I’ll let you make up your own ideas. ;)


:oops: I was aiming for a simple support AoE ability, first thing came to mind was bombs and root. I notice that IH tends to keep skills simple and easy to learn, thus it was what I aimed towards. However, if I am to spice things up, there would be plenty of good ideas to choose from :!:

- A bouncing grenade shot that deals damage a couple of times as it bounces.

- A supportive bomb that debuffs enemies in a way.

- A super duper high arc goo shot that leave a sticky splash, slowing enemies.

...

I'd like to share some right here, but it has to deal with the overall theme of the hero's Human Form, which I intend to change. In order to avoid messing it up, I would post a single new version of the hero's stats and abilities at the bottom of my comment.

Last Man Stand is a very interesting skill. It sacrifices the hero’s life to deal damage, which can be purely helpful if the player wants to force Ichor to low health and switch modes. At first I found the upgrade to give himself a shield contradictory, as you force him to low health but are unable to let him die and actually switch modes. However, I realized that he can simply change on his own after 2.5 seconds idle, even if there aren’t enough enemies around for him to shoot enough times to lower his hp to 0% or below, so it ultimately isn’t necessary at all to use this skill to switch modes. Rather, it’s an element of his playstyle that doesn’t intrude on his other features while also still contribuing to them. Very smart. :ugeek:


Aye, indeed :ugeek: I made the skill current HP percentage so as to continuous shooting cost less and less HP, ultimately leaving him with 1 HP while still being able to shoot. The shield might have been overboard though. It was supposed to be something to keep him alive in case his targets decide to retaliate and he used up too much HP. Should be very very situational.

Dauntless is another reason that the sheild feature is really clever: By staying alive at low hp, Ichor can accumulate massive damage. On top of that, he gains 5 seconds of invulnerability, a powerful boost to his durability and allows him to dish out way more damage for that time before switching over. It’s incredibly powerful and would be so awesome in the game, seeing him in the midst of ferocious battle and survive for ao long.


This is probably the most OP aspect of all. Bonus 90% damage on top of Last Man Stand and a massive shield is definitely too much. I am glad that it fits thematically and conveys his identity well. I will still change it tho, keeping the good bits and forsake the OP parts.

As for his alien form, I think Plasma Torch has an awesome name and looks so cool in my head, just imagining a stream of Etherium-green plasma flailing out, burning enemies. It seems so satisfying! Additionally, the bonus damage to unarmored enemies shows how useful this is for taking out swarming, weaker enemies, in comparison to Bomb Deposit, which roots enemies and thus has a better use against those who will survive the initial AOE. Again, it’s very clever and powerful. ;)

Slicing Storm is really cool too. The fact that he releases slicers from his body makes me wonder why it doesn’t also lower his HP, especially for how powerful it is and how it would line up wih the human equivalent of the skill. It seems like a good defensive and offensive skill, spawning unthinking units whose lives are exchangeable and thus can tank damage by deflecting projectiles, as well as dealing their own damage. It’s a far less direct way to make him tankier while also able to fend off units, so it’s probably my favorite skill so far, even with the praise I’ve already given.


Hmm, compliments received :veznan:

The Alien Form gets a lot of polish, more so than Human Form. Glad it looks clever :mrgreen:

Plasma Torch is his bread and butter skill, while Slicing Storm is meant to be more situational and helps deflect projectiles a bit in case things get tough. Slicing Storm costing HP sounds good, it shall be implemented. Again, praises are joy to the creator :yey:

Finally, Absorption using a passive to create a Kingdom-Rush style ability with a cooldown is very interesting. Unless it has its own button, rather than being used as soon as available like in KR, which I guess I can believe is possible since the UI is currently quite spacious for Iron Marines anyways, so it has room for more skill buttons. It would be necessary to have control over the skill anyways, since otherwise he could absorb troops constantly! The upgrades are all good, too. They also gain Etherwatts so it doesn’t sacrifice the economy boost that Ichor’s human form offers, while also granting him his own version of invulnerability.

All in all, the hero is very well designed, and with such high durability AND such high damage, he is an all-around ideal hero. Because of this, as cool as he is, I guarantee that his hero is ludicrously OP. In fact, the low-HP damage boost, while it’s a skill I’d like to see someday in one of these games, seems out of place, along with the other damage boosts he gets. I can very much imagine this hero being focused more on tanking, as it seems like he has a lot of creative features that do that, and already less skills that focus on dealing damage in comparison. I say this because he needs some focus, so that he isn’t out of control with all these powers that make him so strong. It’s just... a lot. Right now, at least. I still like what you’ve come up with very much, so I hope you don’t take it the wrong way. Ichor is still a beast, literally and figuratively. :hero:


Absorption should have a tooltip that notes: Target the closest unit to Ichor. Having another button is good, too, for better timing and control. The mirror functions between the two passives is intended :star:

:hero: Getting replies is awesome, I shall never be offended :yey: :yey: :yey:

Changes coming right up:

STATISTICS AND ABILITIES

[+] SPOILER
Ichor-Paul Wallace is a bearded infantry armed with an Etherium-powered assault rifle, which can snipe at range or shoot rapidly at close targets. He is well armored, a bit bulky and has helmet with protective glass that cover his eyes.

HP: Low, only slightly higher than a Sniper (down from Average)
Heal rate: Average

Armor: High, just above 50% (up from Average)

Movement: Slow, stride calmly with rifle in hands (down from Fast)

When Sniping:

Attack Damage: Very High
Fire rate: Very Slow (down from Slow)

Range: Sufficiently Large (not too large tho)

Point Blank Range:

Attack Damage: Average (up from Low, to reward those risky plays)
Fire rate: Rapid

Range: Small

Respawn: Long

Overall, changes to Human Form are aimed to make him squishy but can be strong at times by utilizing his ranged potentials and abilities. More armor to avoid sudden deaths, which can be irritating.

INNATE

Bio Fusion:

Ichor's biology combined with a foreign lifeform's on a cellular level, granting him a strange ability. Upon death, Ichor immediately transform to his Alien Form, gaining new stats, and abilities. Only after this form's death does his respawn ticks.

Being idle for some time in any form automatically shift Ichor to his other form. It takes Ichor 2.5 seconds to change forms.

ALIEN FORM

A deformed Marine-Fell abomination, fight in melee with two crushing arthropod appendages and various blade-like limbs protruding from different spots. It is as if the entire form shifts slowly, never stay rooted to any design.

HP: Very High
Heal rate: Very Slow (down from Slow)

Armor: Medium

Movement: Very Fast

Attack Damage: Medium
Attack rate: Fast

Lowering the heal rate of Alien Form to counter the OPness of its other stats, which prompts towards a super tank, super bruiser. Negligible heal rate means that it has to utilize Absorption more often and smartly to recover HP loss from constant fighting, in order to prolong constant fighting. Its abilities are unchanged, aimed towards thematic purpose and to help during tough times.

ABILITIES

1. BOMB DEPOSIT/PLASMA TORCH

Human Form: Bomb Deposit: Modify his rifle to hurl a bouncing grenade over long distance, dealing damage three times, once per bounce.

CD: Fast

Damage: Moderate

Silver Upgrade: Fragmentation: Killing an enemy increases the damage of the next bounce. Last bounce always deals 100% extra damage.

Gold Upgrade: Heightened Velocity: Grenades lobbed over long distance gain extra damage, while those launched point blank stun their targets briefly. (Stun duration lowers with each bounce)

This skill changed from a support skill to a tactical, damage-oriented one. By aiming the grenade to kill frontline enemies, he can easily wreck their backline via Fragmentation's damage. Heightened Velocity allows some variability in using the skill, either to deal lots of damage upfront or to halt enemies' progress. The skill's great range and short CD allows much liberal use and fun!

Alien Form: Plasma Torch: Sears enemies with Etherflame for 6 seconds, lowering attack value and armor while dealing heavy damage.

CD: Average

Silver Upgrade: Ether Fuel: Increase range and arc of Plasma Torch.

Gold Upgrade: Organic Disintegration: Deal triple damage to unarmored enemies.

2. POWER SURGE/SLICING STORM

Human Form: Power Surge:
Generating bionic energy, overcharges his Rifle to deal double True Damage per shot. Slowly drains HP while active. (Toggle)

CD: Average (when turn off), None (can deactivate immediately)

* Cost HP even when not firing. Can be used for free at 1 HP.

Silver Upgrade: Mana Shield: Convert damage dealt to an energy shield that lasts up to 3 seconds, refreshing when dealing or receiving damage. (Can't have a shield too long when not fighting much, no?)

Gold Upgrade: Excessive Energy: Increase damage-per-shot by 5% for every second the skill remains toggled on, and deal half damage as AoE damage.

This new ability, in place of Last Man Stand, serves much the same purpose, with the exception of range: Power Surge let him power snipe shots just as well as close range gun brawls. This let one choose a playstyle suited for the situation at hand.

Alien Form: Slicing Storm: Release two Slicers made of sharp appendages to slice and dice through enemies for up to 7 seconds. Slicers are automated and untargetable. Cost 20% current HP.

CD: Slow.

Damage: High.

Silver Upgrade: Cutting Edge Tech: Add one more Slicers and arm their appendages with Etherium edges, dealing more damage and moving faster.

Gold Upgrade: Lightsabers: Slicers deflect enemy shots going through them.

3. Passive: DAUNTLESS/ABSORPTION

Human Form: Dauntless: The kind of value often seen in men who single-handledly fended off huge alien assaults in an impossible way.

Gain additional attack damage for each second remains in combat, up to 20%.

Silver Upgrade: Extraction: Grant additional Etherwatts for enemies dying in his vicinity or recently attacked by him.

Gold Upgrade: Survivor: Upon death, allow Ichor to last for 5 seconds more before changing form. Double tap Hero Portrait to change form immediately. (Power Surge automatically switched on)

Nerfed this skill. With his other damaging abilities, just 20% more attack damage is sufficient. Giving him too much damage right away robs the purpose of Power Surge, whose extensive use should be the only skill to amplify his damage significantly. Dauntless may simply be a cue for player not to let him go unattended and have a target at all time.

Alien Form: Absorption: What Aliens do.

When at 10% HP, instantly devour the unit closest to itself, healing by a portion of its HP. (CD: 15 seconds)

Silver Upgrade: Evolution: Absorbing a unit generates Etherwatts and grant attack damage for a duration (12s).

Gold Upgrade: Rampage: Grant invulnerability for a few seconds after Absorbtion.

Option to devour Slicers removed. This new version of Absorption requires the player to pay attention to the Alien's HP, so as not to waste a potent instant kill on a weak unit, or even worse, an ally.

This version do not offer as much regeneration as the old one, hence it may be best to let the Alien shifts to the Human and back once in a while to refund its HP.
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