Anyone ever suggested a South African merc before? I just saw the film Elysium again, and having also seen District 9 and Chappie, a South African styled merc (in the likeness of Sharlto Copley would be a fantastic addition to the merc roster. I have personally known a few white South Africans while growing up, and my experiences with them have helped inspire this merc. Disclaimer: There are no personally-identifiable references to my friends.
My goal was never really to fully plan a merc, but I figured I might as well put in some suggestions for what could go in these slots to fill in the missing pieces. I’ve made one set of ability for Tracker that’s more realistic for Dirty Bomb, but a “fantasy” set if SD one day find the time or money to make a new deployable…
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind if he was a medic, an assault class, or whatever - I just want a South African bounty-hunter type merc in the roster!
Stats
Class- Recon
HP- 120. Not sure if HP should be this low, but it’s in line with current mercs. I see Tracker as a bounty-hunter/rambo kind of character, who can take a hit and keep on moving (see abilities).
Speed- 400. Basically I envision Tracker to have the same build as Fletcher, not quite as fast as he’s an older individual but still fit because he’s a professional bounty hunter. Think horror movie killers that relentlessly chase their target but never seem to catch up to them - stop there, Tracker doesn’t do the “around the corner stuff”, he gets a kick out of the whole chase thing.
Lore
Name- Tracker
Background- "mercenary work is nothing new for a seasoned bounty hunter like Tracker. Since the Dirty Bomb attacks, all the contracts in southern Africa disappeared, and unemployment led Tracker to London for a piece of the action.
That, and hunting people is actually his hobby."
Expanded- wild, but not savage. A live-off-the-wilderness kind of guy. Serious about his work. “Forget the money, I will finish this job” work ethic. He would eat a live insect and smile at you as he crunched on its carapace. But no drinking blood, voodoo spirits kind of crap. I’m not sure if Tracker would be more psychologically unstable/insane on the spectrum, or more sensible like the rest of the mercs, but the craving for violence (over money) would give the merc roster an interesting flavour. If a South African or hunting merc like Tracker gets implemented, I would also love to hear “whistling”, in a bait/lure style, to be a part of his voice acting. Lots of Afrikaans, slang, especially when making exclamations. “Ja, boet!” “Lekker shot, man!” He treats his targets as if they were animals. It helps him sleep better at night.
Quote
I don’t know who you are, but I will find you. And I will kill you. Something like that, right?
A taunt (for flavour)
I have over 300 confirmed kills. Want to be number 301?
Ability 1- Track
Cooldown- 100s
Duration- 40s (intentionally excessive to encourage Tracker to really hunt his target)
Description- Tracker fires a tracker chip from a dart gun-like device at an enemy target. Goes on a 5s CD if it fails to hit. The chip feels like a bee sting when it hits so does 1 damage (i.e. make it noticeable, but basically no kill potential). The enemy target gains “detected” status, functioning like any detected target to Tracker and his allies. It wears off when the victim is killed or if Tracker fails to kill the target within 40s.
IMPORTANT: Track hitting its target automatically triggers Tracker’s 2nd ability, “Hunt”.
Ability 2- Hunt
Cooldown- 100s
Duration- 40s (intentionally excessive, again to encourage Tracker to actually hunt his target)
Description- Tracker begins to hunt his target, gaining increased movement speed. And now I actually have no idea how to make this part balanced, so please help me out here. What I wanted this ability to look like was something that didn’t suddenly make a metahuman merc, but also something that gave him an upper hand over whoever is tracked - I’m basically trying to emphasise a “guarantee kill before dying”, sort of like Nader’s self-detonate if she runs into a crowd. Nothing that makes him unstoppable, his victim should be able to kill him with decent aim, but it should offer enough incentive to be aggressive. Sadly, I also foresee this to be problematic in terms of team contribution, and Tracker might end up like the next Phantom if there isn’t a team benefit added to his ability.
Alternate Ability 1 - Deploy L.Y.K.A. / Guard Command
Tracker releases a robotic “tracker dog” (like German Shepherd sized or something - come on, Bushwacker carries that turret on his back) that will attack any enemy merc within a 200m radius. The dog is called L.Y.K.A. (pronounced LEE-kuh. I have no idea what the acronym stands for lol). Tracker can command L.Y.K.A. to “guard” a targeted position with Q (it will be activated like Arty’s airstrike with ground-targeting). In guard mode, L.Y.K.A. will attack the first enemy unit that enters its ___m radius. L.Y.K.A. will not attack turrets or healing stations.
Alternate Ability 2 - Kill Command
Cooldown- Tracker commands L.Y.K.A. to chase after a designated target. L.Y.K.A. chases after the target (at a faster speed than the fastest merc), and attacks the target with below-waist melee attacks. L.Y.K.A. will not finish a downed enemy unless ordered to do so by Tracker (Tracker will be notified on his HUD if the enemy is downed). Whether or not L.Y.K.A. has been ordered to execute her target, she will revert to Guard Command (i.e. attacking enemies in range) until a new command has been given or until she is destroyed.
Notes on Alternate Abilities
If Splash Damage becomes bigger and has more time to design new mechanics/models, I would love to see them implement a mobile deployable in the form of L.Y.K.A. Forget the dart/bloodlust stuff above if she’s implemented, or else Tracker would just be too OP.
L.Y.K.A. should have the same health and augments as Bushwacker’s turret. Loadout cards would increase L.Y.K.A.'s reaction time to targets, decrease deployment cooldown, and/or increase L.Y.K.A.'s health. L.Y.K.A. can be disabled by Phantom’s EMP armour as well as be stunned by Thunder’s flashbangs. L.Y.K.A. reacts to Redeye’s smoke the same way as Bushwacker’s turret does. Basically, it’s a deployable, and seeing as Bushwacker’s turret is in a good spot in the meta, L.Y.K.A. would reflect that. However, seeing as it’s also a mobile deployable and how Dirty Bomb is a fast-paced shooter, L.Y.K.A.'s Guard Command should be limited to the same way Kira and Arty use their fire support abilities (circle, ground-based targeting) and encourage minimal “micro” from the player. A player shouldn’t have to stop and control L.Y.K.A., although obviously less experienced players would fiddle around a bit longer before moving on. L.Y.K.A.'s Kill Command should function like Redeye’s IR goggle ability - line up a target and the canine is off to chase the target. L.Y.K.A. movement speed would have to be fast enough to give her a chance to hit a target at least once, but slow enough that it’s realistic to stop her (by shooting, explosives, fire, even melee) before she arrives at her target. Imo, seeing as current irl tech already has faster technology than humans, L.Y.K.A. should move at something faster than max speed mercs (so 470+). Alternatively, Tracker and L.Y.K.A. could have some way to follow “scent”. If a target enemy has been hit, Tracker can sense the blood (like Redeye’s IR goggles) and send L.Y.K.A. after the trail that way, but this scent concept might be too much to implement, let alone L.Y.K.A.
Track/Hunt needs to have a low enough cooldown to make it a viable way to impact a fight, but also high enough so it’s not spammable like Fletcher stickies or Proxy mines. After all, Tracker is human, and shouldn’t be able to hunt consecutive targets without recuperation. I don’t have much else to say about the track/hunt abilities; they need work.
Weapons
Primary- anhuld, remburg, an automatic assault rifle
Secondary- handguns
Melee- Kukri (default), stiletto, combat knife
Adapted from @derpypenguinz19 's Mercenary Suggestion Form
tl;dr: can we get a South African in this game?