Intergalactic Bounty Hunter Bine is a Tier 6 boss idea that I had that centered around the concept of having the boss come to you instead of you going to the boss. All the bosses so far are ones that you either have to seek out on your own will, or have to craft in order to fight, and while that's subject to change in the future, I figured suggesting something that fought the pattern wouldn't hurt. This concept is also meant to go against a previous boss idea I had; while big bosses are cool, it's not always the size of the boss that creates the experience of an engaging boss battle, but rather what the boss provides in terms of the experience itself. Bine's name is a reference to the binary language, which is now it's only mode of communication. While it's inspired by such things as the Terminator and the Predator, it is actually not a robot, but actually an alien organism in a high tech suit of armor. These are the details of what will entail, for those of you unwilling to read (yet another) wall of text. During your first visit to a Level 6 Planet, you will receive a small message in binary (via an appearing book). It will be translated; it is essentially a death threat from Bine, warning you that you have entered it's territory. When you beam down into Tier 6 planets, Bine will follow suit, and hunt you. Simple as that. It will keep going until you properly kill it. It is armed with 5 types of weapons: A gun, a grenade launcher, a laser drill (to escape and enter caves that it can't fit in), a missile launcher, and energy javelins when you get very close to it. It is incapable of melee combat. It can fly to boot, and use it's weapons in mid-air. It is capable of interacting with A.I.s for a short amount of time before they kill them, emulating that he is asking them where you are (and since they don't know, they end up suffering for it.) It can kneel down to form shields to attack from long distances and melee attacks, as well as to protect from bullets from you or other NPCs. It's armor set is resistant to lava damage, poison damage, and even drowning. When night settles, Bine will kneel down and it's armor will change from white to black to blend in with the surrounding; the new armor allows it to go a smidge faster, but not to the extent that it cannot be outrunned. It can kill hostile animals very easily. Bine has weaknesses to make sure that it doesn't harass players to the point where Tier 6 planets are inaccessible. It is very slow and incapable of running, so it can be outrunned at walking speed so long as you keep moving. As stated prior, it is incapable of melee combat, so fighting it up close is almost required. The shield it puts up only applies to one side, hence why melee is so effective against it. It has a given set of health when it spawns on a planet; once that health is gone, it will beam away again, allowing you to roam the planet freely. Be warned, though, if you beam up to your ship and beam down again, he will be back. Bine can only wield 2 guns at a time. The only way to properly defeat Bine is to trap him using a Trophy Pod; a trap laid on the ground that, when walked upon, traps an NPC and converts them into a trophy display. Bine can suffer recoil damage and can be knocked back; once it touches the trap, it will be incarcerated permanently as your own personal decoration, and he will drop his Bounty Hunter Armor Set, whose stats are slightly less than Tier 7 armor but boast the ability to swim through lava and poisonous liquids. You do not have to fight him to advance. These details will be elaborated below, especially the Trophy Pod and the armor set that you get when you kill it, along with how it looks like. Good luck handling all this info (lord knows I do because Jesus Christ why do I type this much). Bine's lore is simple. An extraterrestial being of unnamed origin and race decided to take into space due to the crippling economy of its broken society and be a bounty hunter to make some quick, easy cash. He established the name of Bine, short for Binary, since he would always threaten his victims with a digitized binary transmission from his ship. His skills grew along with his name, and rose into infamy as the name Bine was carved in blood across the cosmos. He eventually settled with a specific region of space to prey on after he made a name for himself (Tier 6 planets) until one fine day he had a near death encounter, nearly defeated by one of his victims. After escaping to his ship, he contemplated the state of his own mortality, and using his advanced knowledge of science and genetic engineering, created his Exo-Suit. He was not satisfied with this, though, so he took bigger measures to ensure that his existence would be permanent. He warped his ship to a hidden location, far from the jurisdiction of any intergalactic enforcement, and began capturing ships that were salvaged and remade into his own. He imprinted his DNA into the ship and imbued his consciousness with it, and then created clones of himself that he could control with his mind. These clones then went on to made more Exo-Suits, took the newly created ships, and left for the land that Bine controlled, striking everywhere, and in places people would claim to be impossible. Those who survived his encounter were not harassed anymore. Bine devolved in his corporeal form, as he was no long a person, but rather, an entity that existed to oppose others, trapped in the fantasy of what he wanted to be, that he anything but anymore. Bine was no longer a bounty hunter, but an ominous force that eventually lost any sort of explanation. After you warp to a Tier 6 Planet, you'll pick up a book which looks like random binary at first. However, you receive a translation scrolling through the pages, thanks to your ship. They can vary: "Die, trespasser." "You are not welcome." "Leave, or die." "Death is certain this way." "Bine is coming." "5 second head start." When you beam down from the ship, Bine will beam down precisely 5 seconds afterwards in the same spot, and if you're at least 30 blocks in proximity of him, he will use his longest range weapon (Rocket Launcher or Grenades) to kill you. Bine is a primarily ranged combatant; the only thing he has suitable for close attacks is the energy javelins, and those are slow to toss. Bine does not suffer fall damage, lava damage, or poison damage. Bine is capable of summoning a shield, as follows: Bine has 5 weapons to chose from, which are as follows: - Rocket Launcher, for very long distance attacks. The ammo used can be recycled from the current rocket launcher bullets in the game, but Bine's bullets are capable of curving downward instead of straight up. With a proper aiming ability, this allows it to aim very far, and is only used if the target (you) is in proximity from a distance. Alternatively, if sloped targeting for this boss cannot be done, the missiles could be homing missiles as an alternative. - Grenade Launcher, meant for targets around 15 blocks away. These are mostly to be shot in groups of 3 or 4 to a far distance, for maximum effectiveness. They explode upon contact of another NPC or wall, and can be used to clear animals. - Gun. This is one of the primary weapons used to kill the protagonist, along with animals and NPCs. - Laser Turret. This thing specifically exists to destroy blocks, though they can be used to clear animals at times, but are not used against you, since Bine is a steadfast believer of using certain weapons for certain jobs. The laser turret can clear most blocks in seconds, opening up caves and breaking through them in order to find you underground, or to break through gaps or doors it cannot fit in. It is not used against NPCs. (To note, these guns can only be used two at a time, and change with purpose. They are usually mounted on Bine's shoulder; when not in use, they are hidden away.) - Energy Javelin: The only thing close to a melee weapon that it has, it will use it against you if you are very close to it. It is capable of using javelins while it is using two guns, but are thrown slowly. It cannot throw them when it is kneeling with it's shield up. Bine is capable of flying for short periods of time (10 seconds maximum) when he encounters obstacles that he cannot climb or jump over, with a recharge rate of 5 seconds after flying before it can do so again, if it needs to. Bine is still capable of using its weapons during flight, and is considerably faster when flying. However, it only flies if there is something it cannot jump over (i.e. a hill or a mountain), so it's not much of a worry. When night falls, Bine will kneel down, and it's armor will change from white to black to blend in with the darkness. It is 5% quicker at night, meaning that while you can still outrun him, a quicker pace is recommended. The weapons he uses during the night will have faint, dim colored lights to tell apart which weapons he's using. The Rocket Launcher has a white glow, the grenade launcher a yellow glow, the gun is aqua, and the laser is red. Javelins that are thrown will have a dim blue glow to them. When day occurs again, he will kneel once more, his armor turning ivory white. Bine is awful at melee, and is very slow moving. Mountainous regions will slow him down even more, as well as luring him to NPC villages, to which he will interrogate (and kill) every single villager until there are none left, as long as you are not in his proximity. Going underground is not a viable option, because he will follow you there and kill you in the cramped area. Bine is not noteworthy for his health, but rather, his persistence. If you defeat him, he will leave the planet, and only return if you beam down onto the same planet again. He is also only available in Tier 6 planets, which allows space for preparation. Bine always puts up his shield when bullets are shooting at him. The most effective strategy is to shoot him and trigger the shield, which prevents him from throwing javelins up close. Since he can only face the direction in which he was shot when he puts down the shield, this gives you an open area to hit him with a melee weapon, to which he puts down the shield. Rinse and repeat until he retreats. To permanently defeat him, you need to lay down a trap. An object addition that goes along with this boss is the Trophy Trap, which should be available to build at Tier 5. This allows you to capture people and animals, carry them around, and set them in other places, or keep them in display permanently. It would look something like this: It's crafted using 30 durasteel, 50 glass, 5 circuit-boards, 5 laser diodes, and 1,000 pixels. Bine can be pushed back a bit with melee weapons. The trick is to lay the trap down someplace flat, and then lure Bine to it, or shove him there. Once triggered, the trap will encase him, and a capsule with him inside will form, dropping his loot. He will end up looking like this: His loot consists of: - 5,000 pixels on his person - The Cyber Bounty Hunter Helmet, which lets you breathe underwater. - The Cyber Bounty Hunter Chestpiece, which has similar stats as the Tier 7 armor plus the ability to survive lava. - The Cyber Bounty Hunter Boots, which allow you to survive in poisonous liquids. - The Capture Pod with his body, which is purely for decoration. Bine (or if you read the lore, that extension of Bine), is still fully alive. It's imprisoned forever in that pod, for all eternity. Great attraction for the kids! Note: Stealth Variance is a simple color invert, to those curious. Laziness is a very powerful force of creativity. Parts (Stealth will be included later): Weapon Parts and Stealth Variants: - Rocket Launcher: - Grenade Launcher - Gun - Laser These parts are located behind the shoulder, at the given peg indicated on the weapons underneath. Other: - Laser Appearance: - Trophy Pod (Laid & Captured, not applied for other mobs yet) - Shield: Hope you guys like it! I also put up a poll to see if you guys want to hear more boss ideas from me in the future, since I seem to be doing more lately. Enjoy, and please, if you're going to use the art for anything whatsoever, you have my permission so long as you give credit!
Only thing I didn't like: That seems a little harsh; what if I went to that planet specifically to look for a village full of vendors? Now there aren't any vendors left To work around that, maybe he only knocks them back a fair distance instead of aiming to kill them. Or make the first level 6 planet you encounter be specifically a planet dedicated to this encounter (so that at least I know the NPC's will die beforehand and not feel like I've wasted my effort in finding the town).
Sounds interesting, I quite like the idea! What´s the point of making challenges in the game if everyone´s going to whine about it? You should just make the game a point and click the shape adventure if there´s not going to be any hard times in the game.
There is always Tier 5 and Tier 7 planets to work with, and every single tier prior to it for finding villages. Originally, I had intended for the boss to kill NPCs as a motivation for the player to stop him, as to add more conflict and pressure to defeat him. To note as well, if you beam yourself back up to your ship, he doesn't remain on the planet, which further cements that you are his prime directive. If you spot him making it to an NPC village or the like, you can simply just beam up to your ship again to keep the villagers from being killed, since he'll go as well, and come back again in the same spot you beamed down 5 seconds after you do if you beam down again on a Tier 6 planet. This helps develop a more offensive stance, or at least give the player a motivation to fight back; you've got this guy, and he's killing indiscriminately to get to you. To those with a more murderous predisposition (i.e. killing villages off themselves), it would be another challenge. To the absolutely heartless, villages are also a useful distraction to keep him busy while the protagonist prepares a counter-attack measure against him on the planet they're getting resources on. If this is too intense, he could be tweaked to only kill guards that attack him instead of everyone else, though there would still be collateral from the other weapons he uses (i.e. grenades, gun).
Not everybody plays the game to beat things up. Starbound is supposed to be a sandbox game, in which players can take play in the direction that they want, at their own pace. Current mechanics suggests that progression is unlocked after you fight the boss, which I can seek out anytime I want. While, yes, reversing the mechanic does make things more interesting, it seems a little much to punish players for saying, 'No, I didn't feel like fighting just yet' by saying 'That's cool, I'll just lay waste to everything you find', especially if exploring is supposed to be a perfectly valid gameplay route. That's not so bad if he'll follow you if you go then. That makes more sense than "Can't find player, KILL ALL THE THINGS!", even from a story standpoint. It doesn't make sense to go after the entire village if there is even the slightest chance someone else might have information, not to mention a waste of time and energy; but it does makes sense for him to defend himself.
Except the one thing you seem to miss is that it's not required to face this boss at all. Current progression is set so that you can explore Tiers 5 - 10 at Sector X after you face all the bosses, which is slated to change completely. However, this suggestion involves absolutely nothing with progressing and is a purely optional thing to deal with if you ultimately don't want to fight it. You can literally just find 60 Ferozium ore on the planet, make the tech upgrade, and move on to Tier 7, something that a good majority of people ultimately do anyway, and then advance on to whatever they desire. This is why the drops for this boss don't have anything that you can't do yourself already in terms of progress; you can fight him on any terms you desire. You want to fight him now, as you are, because you got a grudge on him? Be my guest. Don't want to face him now, and just want to move on with exploring places? Gladly. Want to kill him when you feel you're ready? Certainly. Once you progress beyond Tier 6, the planets are useless anyway, along with their vendors. This is specifically why he's bound at Tier 6 planets. You could say that still make him dangerous in terms of experiencing him, but so does every boss monster, normal monster, and bird around. I've seen boss monsters kill towns and vendors, along with birds and normal monsters. Unfortunately, the only reason this suggestion is based upon the current system of progression at all is because it's the only thing that exists right now, since neither you and I have no idea what the future holds. Basically, if you truly felt like you don't want to fight him yet, you literally can do so, move on to other tiers, and come back to him later, which maintains the open sandbox nature of the game.
this would be really cool, maybe he could have a probe or some sort of small satellite as a weapon as well or that could be a separate boss?
I think some variation of this, along with all sorts of random encounter special bosses would be cool. Maybe if you dont want to deal with him theres a disguise you can buy, or a cloaking/pirate jammer for you or your ship
