Valve just updated http://www.teamfortress.com discussing a failed add on called a repair node. I really have to wonder what Valve was thinking as all the "why it didn't work" reasons they gave should be obvious to most players imo. Although thinking about that got me wondering about a fake update someone made of "regular" guard dogs for TF2 a while back. However I'm thinking what about a "robot" guard dog for the Engineer? The Engineer is a static defense class and needs more mobility or offensive capabilities to make it less boring. I mean Valve seems to be following MMORPG class patterns for the game to some extent which would make the engineer the "pet" class with his SG being the "pet". For guard dogs you could implement...
1. You would need basic send to attack, follow me (this would cancel attacking as well) and return to my dispenser commands.
2. Replace the sg with it.
3. It would have a slow continually depleting hp. It could either be manually repaired by you or self repair (or eat) via your dispenser. The up shot of this is although it could wander from a dispenser for a time either it or you would need to return to it for metal. It should make it less durable the farther away from a metal source you. This is needed because without this tether some Engineers would not return to their base (dispenser, teleporter) at all and players would play them purely offensive never building or protecting dispensers or teleporters.
4. Static emplacements go down because you cannot move your stuff. This helps with that problem as you could retreat with your dog if you got uber rushed.
5. SG spam is one of the problems with TF2 IMO. If you have 6 Engineers with sgs in crossfires it's difficult to get through when they are helping each other build/repair. If you uber and take down one or two multiple Engineers can be build a SG to level 3 before you even get back. Guard dogs would be melee only and multiples could be drawn to one enemy without guidance making it conceivable to sneak by them.
6. Have it auto attack near by enemies with the exception of spies. Speaking of spies I unequivocally state spies do not need to be detected by them as they would already be tougher to sap than sgs. This would be due to the Engineer being moving around much more, having his weapons at the ready to support of his dog, and that an Engineer without a dispenser is going to be visiting and consuming metal spawn points you need for your cloak more often. In fact sapping the dog should be an effective counter to them as you could disguise as a different enemy class to lure the dog to attack you and then sap it. If this proves to effective you could make it a one hit sapper remove rather than two.
7. Instead of hitting the dog with the wrench for repairs (sappers would still be hit off) the animation could feed the dog a wrench (as wrenches look bone shapped)
. The voice clip possiblities involving a robotic dog are numerous too.
Anyway their Hp, offense, and run speed would need to be balanced in such a way that they would be less effective if the Engineer was not there to provide support fire and repair them yet not completely ineffectual. Valve would also have to finish it's bot system to a degree. Although the guard dog would not require that much intelligence as most of it's actions should be dictated by it's owner by design.
1. You would need basic send to attack, follow me (this would cancel attacking as well) and return to my dispenser commands.
2. Replace the sg with it.
3. It would have a slow continually depleting hp. It could either be manually repaired by you or self repair (or eat) via your dispenser. The up shot of this is although it could wander from a dispenser for a time either it or you would need to return to it for metal. It should make it less durable the farther away from a metal source you. This is needed because without this tether some Engineers would not return to their base (dispenser, teleporter) at all and players would play them purely offensive never building or protecting dispensers or teleporters.
4. Static emplacements go down because you cannot move your stuff. This helps with that problem as you could retreat with your dog if you got uber rushed.
5. SG spam is one of the problems with TF2 IMO. If you have 6 Engineers with sgs in crossfires it's difficult to get through when they are helping each other build/repair. If you uber and take down one or two multiple Engineers can be build a SG to level 3 before you even get back. Guard dogs would be melee only and multiples could be drawn to one enemy without guidance making it conceivable to sneak by them.
6. Have it auto attack near by enemies with the exception of spies. Speaking of spies I unequivocally state spies do not need to be detected by them as they would already be tougher to sap than sgs. This would be due to the Engineer being moving around much more, having his weapons at the ready to support of his dog, and that an Engineer without a dispenser is going to be visiting and consuming metal spawn points you need for your cloak more often. In fact sapping the dog should be an effective counter to them as you could disguise as a different enemy class to lure the dog to attack you and then sap it. If this proves to effective you could make it a one hit sapper remove rather than two.
7. Instead of hitting the dog with the wrench for repairs (sappers would still be hit off) the animation could feed the dog a wrench (as wrenches look bone shapped)
. The voice clip possiblities involving a robotic dog are numerous too.Anyway their Hp, offense, and run speed would need to be balanced in such a way that they would be less effective if the Engineer was not there to provide support fire and repair them yet not completely ineffectual. Valve would also have to finish it's bot system to a degree. Although the guard dog would not require that much intelligence as most of it's actions should be dictated by it's owner by design.
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