CoH: Proliferating Minions

[dvandom]

Just some thoughts I had today about a way to get minions in the hands of heroic players. Not bothering to post to any CoH board or community because I'm sure something like it has come up a bazillion times, I mainly want to get it down for myself and to neep at y'all.

Yes, Going Rogue will let Masterminds turn heroic, but that's not what I mean. I'd like to be able to run a heroic-from-the-start minion-master, controlling a squad of cops, Longbow, reformed Outcasts or Trolls, that sort of thing. But I recognize that adding an entire archetype that effectively duplicates a villain one would be impractical, especially since Masterminds already fill much of the Defender niche. So why not make some minion types into Defender secondaries?

Take two concepts, such as PPD and Longbow, and let Defenders take a Secondary-ized version of the Mastermind sets. Basic minions at L1, L12 and L24, one superior minion (a beatstick, but not as good as the Mastermind beatstick) at L18 or thereabouts. Two or maybe three attack powers (L2, L10 and maybe L22?), one minion-enhancer power (rather than the two that MMs get) and a minion heal. Granted, the full MM control suite would have to come along for the ride, making it a bit more complex coding-wise than a normal secondary, but with only two sets you could easily construct them purely out of existing models.

Here's how the minion sets could work, trying to keep them tactically different and not just the same thing in different skins.

PPD starts with a Police Drone equipped with a simple blaster, Equip would get it a detention field of some sort. The beatstick would be a PPD hardsuit, Equip would give it a support power. PPD's L2 power would be a service revolver, using the existing temporary power code (but maybe tintable), the second attack power would be the Beanbag (based on the Confiscated Beanbag temp power). If a third attack, probably teargas grenades. PPD minions concentrate on being close up and some controller-style powers.

Longbow starts with generic Longbow agents with rifles (melee rifle butt, slow ranged shot), Equip gives them a concussive grenade launcher (and the third one gets something special). They all get Eagle jetpacks when necessary. The beatstick would be a Longbow Warden of the Spines type, Equip makes him a Sonic type. L2 attack power is a rifle (longer range, slower recharge than the PPD pistol) using the standard Longbow rifle look, the second attack power would be an underslung flamethrower. If a third attack, maybe a web grenade. Longbow minions specialize at longer range effectiveness and AoE.

Comments

[jarodrussell.livejournal.com]

I just wish they'd let us have sidekicks. Maybe at, say, level 10, we could go on a quest to rescue some teen (one mission for a boy, another for a girl), and after that they become our sidekick. Make them controllable like minions. That's not exactly close to what you're after, but it sure would make playing as a Blaster or Defender a lot more fun for people, like me, who solo 90% of the time.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

The Longbow Defender would basically be like leading a squad of SHIELD agents, something that is within the power of the code and would help cover more idea-space of comics.