The concept that I liked about Thumpers

[Result]

Thumping was one of the most interesting things to do in Firefall !
The Squad thumpers were really cool and doing them was fun as well. The thing that I really liked about them was the general idea of calling a mining unit that drops from the sky and smashes itself into the earth to begin mining minerals. And then, after It's finished it uses its engines to fly back to the "Thump Dump". Personally I think it would have been way cooler to send it back into an orbital refinery in space, but I liked it anyway.

I don't think the THMPR in EM-8ER is bad or anything, I just think that it's kinda weird to call a Mech drop and then Run to a refinery, instead of using some sort of Engine to fly off with the ore. It's not giving me that feel of "Mining", or "Grinding" as the original Thumpers did. Its more like a PvE escort mission.

I would like to see other people's thoughts on the matter

Do you think the Thumpers in Firefall were better designed, or do you prefer the new Mechs ?

 

[Pandagnome]

Personally I think it would have been way cooler to send it back into an orbital refinery in space, but I liked it anyway.

That would of been very cool too and it can collect small space asteroids for extra's. Then there is the idea of keeping the orbital refinery in space maintained say there is a maintain/defense bot you can check to see how it is you wouldn't need to send it all the time though but it helps to keep it running optimal. Otherwise if the refinery wasn't maintained it would run slower or halt its process.

What could slow it down or halt it
- Astroids that have impacted the orbital refinery or shields too much
- Shockwaves from unknown sources
- Alien shooting it or attempting to capture it
- wear and tear

Do you think the Thumpers in Firefall were better designed, or do you prefer the new Mechs ?

I like them both they are both unique, since we are talking em8er i'd go for the mech it looks like it could at least handle some trouble than the thumper of firefal and its like a support companion as well which can dance and show its personality i think.

Yes mek thumper gets my vote!

 

[Result]

In my opinion the Mech doesnt look like it's meant to carry resources, while the Thumper had Ore cell's that were ment to store ore and Crystite.

The Mech looks more like a battle companior, rather than an ore colleting robot.

 

[Terib.Shadow]

In my opinion the Mech doesnt look like it's meant to carry resources, while the Thumper had Ore cell's that were ment to store ore and Crystite.

The Mech looks more like a battle companior, rather than an ore colleting robot.

There's many things to consider as to why us gatestriders picked a large mining mech rather than something along the lines of a firefall Thumper, one of the most obvious being that it's going to be hard to keep all the enemies from getting to the THMPR, especially larger kaijus. Thanks to it's size, the THMPR will be able to wrestle the biggest kaiju and not get ripped in half instantly, it'll of course require our help when it comes to that, it's still just a strong mining mech, not a fighter.

I haven't looked or asked further into that, but i'm fairly certain another reason for the THMPR to be that big is the storages are inside him, under all the protection, which makes him able to carry plenty of mineral, and in the end, you'd need a lot of rockets and boosters to make a THMPR fly back up, so might as well use the in-game element of base building to your advantage and have outposts nearby you can easily retreat to!

As much as I'd have loved seeing our good ol' thumpers again personally, I also came to the conclusion it'd be far too risky, since their only protection is armor, which the larger Kaijus will have a tendency to eat through rather quickly.

Anyways, welcome to the forums since you seem fairly new, don't be afraid to post, always good to see new faces!

 

[Pandagnome]

I guess from how it looks but from the sheer size of the mech i would of assumed it had storage for the resource somewhere

Then you made me think what if the mek wanted more storage it could carry the original thumper on its back like a backpack hmm but this would slow it down more and a much much higher risk of getting attacked too!

On the plus side it could send off the thumper on its back away and continue perhaps?

just thoughts hmm

 

[Result]

Thank you so much for your kind words ! I was a closed beta tester for Firefall and I have been monitoring Em-8er for quite some time now, but I joined the forums just now !

There are many possibilities regarding the Mech/Thumper combo
I think it would be cool if later in the game, and if we have a higher tier Mech it would be big enough to carrie an Old thumper on its back, that - when fully loaded with ore, can launch itself from the Mech and go either to an orbital station, or the refinery, that we can also retreat to !

The Mech can then be escorted to the nearest refinery, but without the fear of it being destroyed and losing all of the resourses, gathered in the process of mining.

 

[SomeUnregPunk]

The only problem with that the design of firefall thumper isn't owned by Mark Kern.
It might be possible if they used a design that is similar but not too close to it.

The thing is, that it opens up Em8er to a potential lawsuit and I really don't want to see money going to a bunch of lawyers to protect Crixia Labs when that money could have been used for development of this game. I watched a few indie development teams disappear when they were forced to go that route cause they weren't careful enough.

but otherwise, neat idea. Though firing the thumper off to a refinery should have a cost like ... reduced mined resources as versus walking the THMPR back with your team fighting over kaju the whole way.

Cause that fear of losing your resources helps keeps things exciting.

 

[Pandagnome]

The only problem with that the design of firefall thumper isn't owned by Mark Kern.
It might be possible if they used a design that is similar but not too close to it.

Ah darn yes that does sound worrying was thinking of something different

1) A rocket shaped thumper with various skins even a xmas tree or whatever on special occasion!

or

2) Sphere shaped thumper

How would it mine?
1) a criss cross beam matrix that vaccums the resource into the thumper

or

2) some kind of pulsed liquid/sound wave that break stuff and absorbs after the first initial pulse and repeats

 

[PIghead Elderberry]

Now that you guys have pointed it out, I have to agree that the Em8er Thumper is:

a) Not thumping anything except maybe Kaiji heads

b) Does not seem to have a big rucksack for ore

c) Will be an escort mission with more to it...

So in answer to A, B, C.

A) Driller Thumper (mobile vs. fixed)

If we pick a spot with the Driller Thumper for it to drill, it can stroll around a bit while drilling in a semi-automated way to harvest the best ore. That makes sense then to have the modest sized drill on it AND have it be very mobile and a walker/driller vs. a one-time Thumper like in Firefall.

Firefall - call down Thumper, and smash it sticks in the one spot and thumps away as we defend it.

Em8er - call down Driller Thumper and it drills a bit, strides a bit, drills a bit more, as we defend it
- how far can it wander from the first touchdown?
- how long does it drill in one spot?

B) Rucksack or lack thereof

It could be that ore such as Navelium Ore appear close to the surface and we don't need to drill far down to get it, and it is naturally concentrated but sparsely distributed. Therefore, the Driller Thumper meanders about an area and drills multiple times (as in (A) above) and collects multiple small deposits of concentrated ore with can discretely be placed in small out of the way containers which still allow it a sleek mech look without an orecart behind it.

C) As I understand it the plan is that the Thumper can be allowed to thump long and hard with more risk to get better goodies, or short and soft with low risk to get less goodies. If we combine this with having to walk it back to a collection point, then we could imagine that we might have thumped just once long and hard and then walk it back or we might have thumped 5 times short and soft to get a greater quantity of lesser quality goodies. That mike make the walk back to the collection point equally importat as the total value of what the two thumps gained were equal.

I can see, if there becomes too much 'escorting' and not enough thumping, that one could implement remote collection AI bots that are effectively mobile or at least movable drop points for thumper content. That way we would not have to walk all the way to base. These remote points when full, would then have a mechanic to return to a base (fly back, be escorted back by a group).

These collection points would be spots that might have their own mini-games around them in creation and/or protection.

 

[Pandagnome]

have it be very mobile and a walker/driller vs. a one-time Thumper like in Firefall.

I actually love this idea it doesn't tie the thumper down too long and be great to support another thumper or be more offensive.

collects multiple small deposits of concentrated ore with can discretely be placed in small out of the way containers which still allow it a sleek mech look without an orecart behind it

Was thinking how fun it was to see the thumpers of firefall woosh up into the skies. So what if the containers were like
single/multiple sleek cylinder like shapes as you mentioned, that could be fired up into space to get refined the firing system could be like this

Option 1: smaller cyclinders more of them for rapid refinery lower gains and quicker return
option 2 bigger cyclinders less of them for longer refinery but better gains and longer return

or

Have a craft of some kind to pick up the cylinders when they are ready to be taken.
During the pick up stage the craft and the cylinders need to be defended otherwise if the kaiju hit it too much could contaminate the collection reducing the quality or even destroying the cylinder or craft.

However once safely collected it would blast off into space!

If we combine this with having to walk it back to a collection point, then we could imagine that we might have thumped just once long and hard

I like the walking you are baby sitting a thumper its helping you and your helping the thumper the more successful you get at that it becomes efficient perhaps it will be smart enough to give you route points if done many times like a gps map as it learns to choose between route a, b, c,

example A = Fastest route to collection point but higher altitude with warning of storm approaching
example B = Long route but hardly any enemies detected
example C = random route not known could be easier or could be a challenge perhaps.. could even find something special?

 

[EvilKitten]

Just to point out but the Thumpers in FF were not dropped from space, they were sent in from a dropship (unless that was changed after I abandoned the game). Getting into space costs a tremendous amount of resources. If you think about how much fuel/energy a shuttle requires just to get a small payload up there, it would be horribly inefficient to send up raw ore to be refined in space.

With that said, I can totally see mass shipping being done via space elevator, it is the equivalent of a rail system in today's world. Not the fastest, only able to go up and down. But cheap by comparison and capable of moving significantly more mass. Orbital tethers would make for excellent starting points for any new area, with reapers expanding out from the teather to explore, mine, and terraform the area. The tether would also be the final end point for any ore being collected (hence the escort run).

Orbital tethers also provide additional advantages because at the other end of a teather you need a counterweight, also known as a space station. The stations could act as a "safe zone" for players needing or wishing to avoid contact. It can also be a good place for guild headquarters to be located as well as a way to travel to other locations via shuttles between hubs. Traveling up and down the tether or a shuttle ride would double as a loading screen for each zone.

Remember this from firefall? How about a holographic version in a shuttle dock for moving between zones, only with tethers sticking out of a frozen world instead of the Melding.

 

[Rocket]

I guess from how it looks but from the sheer size of the mech i would of assumed it had storage for the resource somewhere

It's right there in the original design orthographics.

http://crixa.io/2016/07/t-h-m-p-r-orthographics-done/

That basket thing in the lower right corner. Importantly, it included the idea that a T.H.M.P.R (thumper) could become full.

 

[Pandagnome]

It's right there in the original design orthographics.

http://crixa.io/2016/07/t-h-m-p-r-orthographics-done/

That basket thing in the lower right corner. Importantly, it included the idea that a T.H.M.P.R (thumper) could become full.

Ahh thanks i thought it was the shell the thumper comes out from the ball form when it has landed

 

[Pandagnome]

Just to point out but the Thumpers in FF were not dropped from space, they were sent in from a dropship (unless that was changed after I abandoned the game). Getting into space costs a tremendous amount of resources. If you think about how much fuel/energy a shuttle requires just to get a small payload up there, it would be horribly inefficient to send up raw ore to be refined in space.

With that said, I can totally see mass shipping being done via space elevator, it is the equivalent of a rail system in today's world. Not the fastest, only able to go up and down. But cheap by comparison and capable of moving significantly more mass. Orbital tethers would make for excellent starting points for any new area, with reapers expanding out from the teather to explore, mine, and terraform the area. The tether would also be the final end point for any ore being collected (hence the escort run).

Orbital tethers also provide additional advantages because at the other end of a teather you need a counterweight, also known as a space station. The stations could act as a "safe zone" for players needing or wishing to avoid contact. It can also be a good place for guild headquarters to be located as well as a way to travel to other locations via shuttles between hubs. Traveling up and down the tether or a shuttle ride would double as a loading screen for each zone.

Remember this from firefall? How about a holographic version in a shuttle dock for moving between zones, only with tethers sticking out of a frozen world instead of the Melding.

I really like this idea

 

[ineadmoney#5056]

I prefered the old thumper concept introduced in firefall. It looked more immersive, industrial and suited for its purpose.
For me it felt like an egg you have to protect, the anthropomorphised version rather reminds me on an irrational behaving cpu-buddy in some shooter. I would welcome some revision there.

 

[Sy]

I prefered the old thumper concept introduced in firefall. It looked more immersive, industrial and suited for its purpose.
For me it felt like an egg you have to protect, the anthropomorphised version rather reminds me on an irrational behaving cpu-buddy in some shooter. I would welcome some revision there.

I also dislike the "buddy thumper" nonsense. I don't want something that's mobile and distracting, and I don't want a big pet; I don't think it's endearing at all.

 

[Pandagnome]

I don't want something that's mobile and distracting

I do at least they wont go after me right away

 

[Wyntyr]

Can only do so much before getting into copyright areas...

 

[Omnires]

What if your pilot could ride on top of the thumper and control it directly? Something like this...

Lol, sorry. I had too.

 

[Pandagnome]

What if your pilot could ride on top of the thumper and control it directly? Something like this...

Lol, sorry. I had too.

Dont be sorry i was thinking about this too glad i am not the only one