[Merc] Otaku

[Nerezza]

Otaku - Frontline Recon, self-proclaimed otaku, self-proclaimed superhero

Short description - A frontline recon merc utilizing a worn augmented reality system to scout out the enemy frontlines and disrupt their equipment for short periods, all while kicking ass and trying to convince his team they need to come up with a group pose.

Reason to exist - To fill in the gap between Redeye and Phantom for recon roles. Unlike Phantom, Otaku would retain the ability to spot enemies for his team mates. Unlike Redeye, Otaku would be unable to spot enemies beyond a certain range.

Background -

Having a daddy that heads a big Japanese corporation has its perks: his own butler, his favourite meals prepared by professional chefs, and a steady allowance for his hobbies. As a self-proclaimed Otaku, his hobbies of course center around anime, manga, and the like.

However, having a first-born brother has its downsides, in particular Otaku’s brother was in line to inherit control of the corporation instead of him.

After nearly three decades of living off his father’s money, Otaku’s father finally cut his allowance off and instructed him to find a job. Utilizing his leftover money (and selling off some of his less-precious collection) he acquires a few false identities, certifications, and degrees. Then, utilizing stolen prototype equipment from his father’s military R&D labs, Otaku set off to begin his dream, to become a(n anime) hero.

Thankfully, the years of martial arts training forced upon him by his father have finally begun paying off, as he finds himself able to keep up with the rest of the mercs on the frontline.

Skills -

Otaku has an Augmented Reality system that he wears, which upon activation highlights deployables and spots enemies a short distance in front of him, even through walls, for a short period. The display should be normal for team mates, just simple diamonds, but for him he’d have smileys show up on screen and each merc would have their own custom smiley to permit identification (think Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex’s Laughing Man overlay on video feeds.)

His secondary ability rides upon this, by letting him hack the deployables highlighted by his first ability and disable them temporarily similar to Thunder’s concussion grenades, yet only one at a time.

Equipment -

As a close range merc untrained in handling battle or assault rifles, he’d utilize the easier to handle SMGs and PDWs as primaries, and pistols as secondaries, giving him a similar loadout to someone like Phoenix. His melee would be more of the usual, but he could possibly utilize a collapsing baton as a middle ground between the katana and the standard knives to compliment his martial arts knowledge, since the Recon units get special melee weapons.

Stats -

He’s no Bruce Lee, but he’s not a stereotypical NEET either. He’s been forced to train in martial arts to keep his body fit by his father, and his Asian descent has him a bit smaller than the average Western population. This makes him of an agile type, and his health would be that of a non-assault frontliner (maybe he’s wearing a little armor?) So maybe 110/420 or 100/430 health/speed.

Looks -

Pure Japanese descent, fit body if rather lightweigt and skinny (similar to Kira), wears a full-head helmet containing the head-mounted display, connected to a satchel-carried computer and wrist controls. His outfit would be anime inspired, commissioned by him from an expert in creating cosplay clothing, yet still designed to be functional and carry his magazines, pistols, and other equipment.

Personality -

He’s a hero, in his own mind, and he’s also nigh-invincible (in his own mind too). He’s highly intelligent but he’s disconnected from reality. He still uses his paycheck to fuel his otaku lifestyle during his off time, when he’s not fighting in the streets of London or tweaking his gear for combat.

Voice Acting -

He’d be similar to Kira in that he mixes his English and Japanese, but he’d be less charismatic, disconnected from reality, and his English would be broken and accented. Have fun making stereotypical, cliche and classic lines and take plenty of inspiration from anime! Five kill streak example: “I have kill five you, I am invincibru!!” Knife kill example: “BANZAAAAI!!”

[sgtCrookyGrin]

Wow, this is actually a really nice concept, don’t forget to have a Sparks Waifu sticker attached on his helmet, all at the cost of $59.99 XD

[Lord_Coctus]

Imagine how the looks(of dissapointment) of more serious mercs like Sparks, Pheonix and Arty would be.

[KattiValk]

I wonder what his opinion on Kira would be.

Still…there can only be one true hero(ine) of justice!

[Nerezza]

Now that you mention it, I imagine he’d secretly see Kira as his anime heroine counterpart. Until she shoots him down (both literally and not, probably.)

He’s an Otaku, 3D women aren’t his strong point and he’s probably not Kira’s type

Anyway, I’d be totally for stickers on his helmet. Hell, maybe special skins could stick kawaii renditions of female merc faces on his visor

[Naonna]

The issue of ‘hacking deployables’ has come up multiple times. The problem is twofold in terms of balance.

First, A hacker merc is ONLY nerfing mercs with deployables - meaning engies and Aura primarily.

The second issue is that spotting most deployables through walls is EXTREMELY powerful information. A single merc being able to ruin the effectiveness of proxy mines, sticky bombs, ammo stations, health stations, and turrets seems a wee bit extreme: not to mention that knowing the location of ANY of these allows him to make extremely informed decisions in regards of how to deal with enemies and their location. - If there’s a health station, there’s probably a person standing there. If you see an ammo station suddenly pop into existence 1 wall over, then there’s definitely a fire support merc in said spot.

…Also, why would you want to use red-eye with him around? line-of-sight spotting pales in comparison to knowing what’s happening through walls.

[Nerezza]

Firstly, Thunder already has the ability to disable all deployables within a decent radius. The hacker merc would only be capable of disabling one.

Secondly, we already have the ability Bomb Squad that highlights every deployable nearby, this would be a not-always-on version of it. On top of that, why would he need to deduce what enemies are where by the placing of deployables when he can already see what enemies are where?

Thirdly, Redeye has battle rifles, smoke grenades, long distance spotting, and IR vision. It’s an apples and oranges comparison, some people prefer apples and some people prefer oranges.

On top of all this, being able to detect enemies through walls is nothing new, Vassili has his heartbeat sensors that already do this. Otaku would just have a shorter ranged and not as long lasting version of this. He’d also have to be physically closer to the enemy than Vassili to spot them.

[Lord_Coctus]

Until he gets stabbed

[Nerezza]

Exactly!

Let me reiterate that this merc is meant to fill in the Recon gap between Redeye and Phantom. I’m not trying to reinvent the Recon wheel here I’m just making a new size. Every merc in the Fire Support group has their artillery. When Arty came out, it was argued that Skyhammer was a better Fire Support and that Arty was unnecessary, yet he’s still gained a niche and can be found in every map.

Phoenix has self-revives, Nader has martyrdom, Phantom has his invisibility. When played right, every merc has an ability that’ll seem ‘OP’, so yes this ability does seem OP, hence the limit of 1 per use and what’d probably be a 1 minute cooldown, but a powerful secondary ability on frontline mercs is nothing new.

Yes, being able to selectively disable deployables for a short time means Aura, Proxy, and Bushwacker are going to get hit the hardest, but then the other team can switch to Sawbonez, Sparks, Phoenix or Fletcher, or their Proxys can get used to dropping two (or more) mines on every objective instead of one.

Lastly I want to point out that Splash Damage has people paid to determine balance. They can take an idea like this and determine the loadouts, HP/SPD, ability cooldowns, and whether LOS would be required for Primary or Secondary abilities using their usual methods. I personally don’t feel qualified to come up with all that myself, as those people have already done that for 18 mercs now.

[Only_Use_Me_Lazer]

It think you got a little too defensive there. Since you never mentioned a cool down you should be able to understand why that seems OP, since similar abilities have relatively short cool downs.

[quote=“Naonna;148461”]…Also, why would you want to use red-eye with him around? line-of-sight spotting pales in comparison to knowing what’s happening through walls.
[/quote]
Redeye has a cooldown which feels almost insignificant most of the time, since a half decent player can switch on and off so that there is no real off time when it matters. With a 1 min cooldown this would be a powerful ability as you said, but could only be used sparingly. Imagine in a game of execution, sure this would be powerful, but you are only going to use it once, maybe twice.

As for hacking ability, how would it be any different from shooting them? However ,if you are going to hack someone’s equipment, don’t break it, make it your own. With a mid cooldown that would be good but not op.

I think it would be awesome if some of his comments specifically referred to Kira, similarly to how Frager mocks Thunderer, but instead of mock you make it some sort of flirt or something.

[Nerezza]

Didn’t mean to come off defensive, what I was really trying to say is that I’ve not put any thought into the cooldowns for abilities like this, or if the first ability will be like Redeye’s IR vision in that it can toggle mid-refresh or like Phantom’s invisibility in that it needs a complete recharge to reactivate. I want to leave all that to an authority on that stuff.

Anyway, I think you’ve got the right mindset thinking about ability usage in execution. I imagine the first ability being utilized just before a rush on the enemy team grouped up inside a building, which I feel is how Splash Damage intended the Recon members to do from the beginning.

As for your question about the second ability, the the difference from shooting deployables is instant guaranteed disabling through obstructions. Imagine this scenario: Terminal, attacking the containment wall, Otaku and his team goes through the decontaminated tunnel, out into the little plaza, and stacks up against the wall adjacent to the long hallway by the objective. He activates his first ability to mark enemies in the hallway for he and his team, then uses his second ability to disable Aura’s healing station just before everyone rushes in to take them down.

If that sounds too powerful, then think of this alternate scenario: that Otaku could just be a Nader and their team could nade spam that hallway as they rush in rather than performing a surgical hit.

[KnightDemon]

So basically you want this guy?

[Nerezza]

If I wanted him then I’d have called this merc ‘Marty Stu’. Yeah, I went there!

[Naonna]

hacking vs destroying: destroying bushwacker’s turret doesn’t get his entire team shot in the back.

[Only_Use_Me_Lazer]

hacking vs destroying: destroying bushwacker’s turret doesn’t get his entire team shot in the back.

Ehh, you’re right. Still, it would be cool, if there is a fair way to implement it.