"Defend From the Cannibal Throng"


Initial Pitch:

Not all soldiers and heroes ended up returning to the faction war. Some decided they would rather face the unknown than to return to the fruitless cycle. It was there in the outer wastelands where resources were still a rare luxury that the throng formed. Vicious, feral beasts of what once were men of all walks; feeding off whatever presents itself readily available, namely enemies. Years of deserters & captives have made this band evolve into the horde that today reaches from the horizon, all the way to our gates. Leading this band is former General [insert awesomesuace name here]. With sheer brutality, a strategic mind & a stoic demeanor, he will see your lands burn and his people feast. ...aka the zombie level...


Setup:

  • Activated Event, ongoing for (dependent on devs) 1-6 weeks.
  • Strictly Player Vs. AI event (no living enemies)
  • 8 vs horde, comprising of all factions
  • Game length last a maximum of 26 minutes; victory condition triggered when overwhelmed or completion.
  • Rectangular map (more beaker-shaped), with Castle, 1 side tunnel, 1 one-way ledge passage & length of terrain consisting of oncoming units.
  • Castle also includes breakable Gate, 2 Ballista & 1 Fire Pot Ramp.
  • Survive



Cannibals:

  • The Cannibals consist of soldiers and heroes from all three factions. They will spawn in increasing frequency from multiple spots on the opposite side of the map; back and back-sides.
  • Their main difference from other AI is their fearless, aggressive behavior & universal move, the grab-bite. If they go for a guard break, they will bite you dealing minor to moderate damage before throwing you.
  • They will spawn in smaller frequency to start & scale as time goes on. In the first 5 minutes there are soldier waves accompanied by a few heroes.
  • They will bring ladders (breakable, usable), a lot of them. Breakable with Ballista, oil, or 6 heavy attacks. [the conceptual development mechanics, aka devmecs, would have 4 soldiers carrying the ladder, 2 on each end, running it up & setting it up in one of 10 positions.]
  • You can take out ladders before they're setup; a little hard to hit with a Ballista though when surrounded by units.
  • At 5 minutes, the waves just turn into a wall of units that take up the battle floor with heroes dotting the soldier landscape.
  • By 10 minutes you have about twice the number of heroes spawning.
  • At 15 a battering ram rolls in escorted by archers with eyes for your Fire Pot Ramp; archers will now continually spawn amidst the throng. Also you have a small amount of wall climbers (soldiers & some heroes) flanking your defense (think game of thrones). [devmecs behind it would be invisible ladders on the ledges only the AI can slowly climb.]
  • At 20, 2 more rams come in simultaneously. At this point enemy hero spawn ratio should be x2.75 from the start, this includes the number of heroes with wall climbers increasing (x1 - x2). Also some wall Climber soldiers will be archers attempting to damage your Fire Pot Ramp.


Castle & Gate:

  • Castle is in a nook with a long, tall wall, arced slightly concave, with cliff sides surrounding the sides and back; the end of a box canyon.
  • There isn't much interior to the castle, mainly a courtyard that serves as your last stand (or lack thereof), the high ledge perimeter wall & the parallel lower ledge.
  • The high wall will be long enough to hold 10 ladders at one given time if they are not handled in a timely fashion.
  • The locked Gate is the only thing holding out the bulk of the ocean of units. After 20 ram hits it is destroyed and you will have units coming in force from the ground level up on top of those coming in from the ladders, ledges and/or tunnel.


Tunnel:

  • To the left from a doorway on the lower ledge is a tunnel passage. Going right & upstairs from the doorway (high wall) is a lever & at the end of the tunnel is a retractable bridge; small but deep crevasse outside in front of the tunnel. Lever is about 10-15 feet behind the left Ballista.
  • The lever is used to lower and raise the bridge (~15 feet in length, 2.5 second animation.)
  • Any unit on the bridge when retracted will be locked in the end of the tunnel. If on the high end of bridge, at 45 degrees units slide down with possible fall damage.
  • If the tunnel remains unlocked, a good deal of units will pour from it.
  • Your teammates are not the only ones who can operate the lever.
  • If bridge is too tricky, cut the crevasse & make it a gate.


Ledges:

  • On the right side of the top wall leads a ramp going slightly up, out and to the right (further into the side of the cliffs) to the top of a series of ledges; they scale down to the ground floor somewhat in the shape of a question mark or a wide spiraling staircase.
  • The ledges are a one way trip to the right side of the ground floor just at the base of the wall.
  • This is where wall climbers will be coming in from. They like to kick people off ledges with their spiked shoes.
  • You can choose to fight units on the ledges but if you need to get back to the castle, you will need to get to the ground below and either go through the left tunnel, up an enemy ladder or through the front gate.


Ballistas & Buffs:

  • The Ballista & 2 fire arrow pick-up feats are positioned symmetrical atop the wall, with the Ballistas on the corner of the walls, pick-ups adjacent and above to the gate.
  • There are also other pick ups (non aoe, buffing/healing) on the lower ledge. They refresh at 10, 20 & 25 minutes.
  • The Ballista are able to chip rams while taking out units and ladders.
  • The left Ballista can reach the right & target any units on the ledges with the right Ballista having the same angles of movement.


The Fire Pots & Ramp:

  • Ramp is located directly center on the high wall above the gate. Pots are located directly behind the ramp (20-30 feet), down a ramp of stairs on the lower ledge.
  • The Fire Pot Ramp trajectory can be slightly controlled. Vertical movement limited to 90 degrees, with the topmost point being 20 degrees above zero slope; horizontal movement limited to 80 degrees bilateral.
  • From picking up and placing a pot on the ramp, if you don't draw it back and angle it sharply down, the barrel will roll off at a steeper slope than angling it somewhat down.
  • If you draw it back (like a small barbaric slingshot) it will let you angle it straight out or slightly up to send the pot at varying length out (not too far). Will also hold the barrel in place for 15 degrees below zero slope; any lower and it rolls.
  • Pots do not explode. Instead they cover an area with oil, painting an area and the units.
  • Area and units will stay oiled for 30 seconds even if units move off of area. Re-oiling a unit or area will reset the timer.
  • You need to ignite the oil manually. This allows for domino reactions that can engulf entire rams in flames, cut a swathe to clear the ground in front of the tunnel/ledges, or take out multiple ladders or at least the units around them (due to limited angle.)
  • Kills from flames spread renown across all players evenly.
  • Now, you could have one person lift a pot, have them load it with 'O' (PS4), Circle again to man the ramp and let it loose. You could also have 1 man the ramp and one carry pots. You could also have a small window of breathing room where 1 mans the ramp and all 7 grab a pot; the first to load theirs guards the others while running/fighting back to their stations. All in all, oil expires in 30 seconds & can be chained together for one big boom, slowly consuming like a caterpillar of fire, or sent as single fire shots.


Endgame:

When you hit 26 minutes, the calvary arrives, flanking the cannibals, to which the enemy begins retreating. Not everyone will have this happy ending. The game ends earlier when everyone is dead. Rewards scale for how long you manage to survive: none if less than 5, very little for less than 10, moderate for less than 15 & so on. You will have to juggle roles to accomplish your goal. More importantly you will have to communicate. As the game progresses, it becomes more easy for things to spiral out of control. Work with your team and find a way to defend yourselves and your 3 defensive armaments.