Perpetuum Blog Syndicate robots: Wave 1

As announced in the previous blog, we are developing 11 new robots belonging to the Syndicate faction. The first wave of these robots is just around the corner, so today we'll take an in-depth look at them.General traitsIn terms of offense, the most notable attribute of the hybrid Nian-Earth tech Syndicate robots is of course their specialization for firearms. These types of guns are famous for their almost negligible energy usage, their damage and versatility coming from the available ammo types, but also for their inaccuracy and short optimal range. Syndicate robots were built with this in mind, and they are also trying to compensate for the shortcomings of these weapons.Defense-wise their main strategy is basically to not get hit. Their armor is the weakest of all the factions, and armor resistances are universal but not very high. However, this is more than made up by their low hit size, either from the get-go or via bonuses, which can be further reduced by using an evasive module.Looking at their base speed, they are rather on the slower end, but their relatively high mass means that they won't lose that much of that speed when you equip them.Last but not least, their signal detection and masking values are the best in their class, making them exceptionally useful in scouting and covert operations.TL;DR Syndicate robots are hard to hit bulletstorm glass-ninjas.These are mostly true for the combat-type robots, but we'll also have 5 industrial types within the Syndicate faction. They are generally intended to fill some missing roles and industrial classes, and their traits will be a mix of the Syndicate flavor and the robots of the Nian Industrial Trust.Let's take a look at the first 3 robots in detail. Note that the parameters can still change and we'll revisit them once they've been in use for a while.VektorClass: Light robot specialized in firearms"The smallest member of our hybrid-technology fleet of robots. Its armor is weaker than the average, but its small size makes up for it, resulting in a hard to hit target. Coupled with excellent detection and masking systems, the Vektor makes not only a good scout, but a tough opponent in combat as well."SlotsHead slots: 3Leg slots: 2Chassis slots: 4 (2x light turret/misc, 2x light/medium turret/misc/industrial)Bonuses (per extension level)1% reduction to the hit dispersion of guns3% to light firearms damage1% to firearms cycle time-0.10 to surface hit size+2 to signal detectionNotable statsAccumulator: 200 AP @ 120sec rechargeCPU: 155 TFReactor: 150 RPArmor: 650 HPPassive resistances: 45 points universally (31%)Surface hit size: 3 mLocking range: 150 mSensor strength: 130 Hw³Signal detection: 125 rFSignal masking: 105 rFCargo capacity: 3.75 UMass: 7850 kgBase speed: 104.4 kphSyndicate Supplies cost20 TM tokens20 ICS tokens20 ASI tokens150,000 NICLocustClass: Assault robot specialized in firearms"The gist of our firearm-wielding force. A swarm of Locusts can quickly shred enemy groups, but their specialized framework increases their survivability in solo engagements too."SlotsHead slots: 4Leg slots: 3Chassis slots: 5 (3x light turret, 2x light/medium turret/misc/industrial)Bonuses (per extension level)1% reduction to the hit dispersion of guns3% to firearms damage1% to firearms cycle time-0.10 to surface hit size2% to firearms optimal rangeNotable statsAccumulator: 400 AP @ 180sec rechargeCPU: 230 TFReactor: 280 RPArmor: 975 HPPassive resistances: 45 points universally (31%)Surface hit size: 4 mLocking range: 200 mSensor strength: 110 Hw³Signal detection: 110 rFSignal masking: 110 rFCargo capacity: 6 UMass: 11800 kgBase speed: 106.2 kphSyndicate Supplies cost50 TM tokens50 ICS tokens50 ASI tokens500,000 NICIkarusClass: Light robot specialized in transportation"The Ikarus is a snappy answer to the Perpetuum Project's long-standing need for a fast and light transport. Its main element is a repurposed Argano-chassis, stripped of anything disposable to make room for the relatively large cargo hold. Aided by the agile undercarriage of the Laird, this is the most efficient robot to get fair-sized packages from A to B quickly. Speed comes at a price though, as the construction is very fragile."SlotsHead slots: 1Leg slots: 1Chassis slots: 1 (light/medium turret/missile/misc/industrial)Bonuses (per extension level)+2 to signal detection+2 to signal masking3% to demobilizer resistance1% to armor hit points+3 to passive armor resistancesNotable statsAccumulator: 150 AP @ 240sec rechargeCPU: 100 TFReactor: 100 RPArmor: 500 HPPassive resistances: 45 points to kinetic/seismic/thermal (31%), 30 points to chemical (23%)Surface hit size: 2.50 mLocking range: 120 mSensor strength: 90 Hw³Signal detection: 110 rFSignal masking: 100 rFCargo capacity: 20 UMass: 8950 kgBase speed: 120.6 kphSyndicate Supplies cost10 TM tokens10 ICS tokens10 ASI tokens100,000 NICBalancing and new extensionsWe're introducing two new extensions that will be required to control these robots: Syndicate combat robot control and Syndicate industrial robot control. It's not hard to guess that these are the equivalents of the Pelistal/Nuimqol/Thelodica robot control extensions (with the same complexity of 9), but since here the combat and industrial types are part of the same faction we felt the need to split it up into two extensions. The rest of the requirements are designed to be on par with the other factions and are using the same extensions, depending on the robot's class.Of course the introduction of a whole new faction can't go without some adjustments to the existing factions and robots. With each patch we'll take a look at the balance within the actual class of robots and make changes if necessary. This not only means that we'll balance regarding the newly added robots to try to fit them in, but we'll also revisit the balance between the existing old factions. Finally, during or after the last waves we'll check up on the global balance between robot classes and try to fix some long-standing issues e.g. with speeds.DeploymentThis first wave of Syndicate robots is planned to be deployed in patch 3.8, around the middle of next week, along with some fixes as usual. The exact time and date of the patch will be announced soon.The rest of the robots will be introduced in a similar way over the next few months: a detailed writeup of the actual wave of 2 or maybe 3 robots will precede their deployment, and the waves are currently planned to be 3-5 weeks apart, depending on any additional features or fixes that may come with the patch.