SlaughterfestSam's Suggestions

I'm going to drop any suggestions I have in here as well as the official threads, so that I can get some feedback on my ideas! Here are the two items I have so far, the Challenger's Bullhorn and the Eldritch Lexicon.
Shipping Details
-Estimated Delivery: 1/17/2056
-Sent to: 8505, Civil Rights Museum, Earth
-Order: Challenger's Bullhorn

-Order Description: Increase the timer by 1 minute times the current difficulty modifier (i.e, 1 on Very Easy, 2 on Easy, 3 on Medium, etc) and summon a random boss from the level's pool at your location. (90 second cooldown)
-Shipping Method: Volatile
-Order Details: This thing's design might be archaic, but don't let that fool you. It's seen thousands of protests, demonstrations, hell, even a fair share of riots. If you want your voice heard, it will make it loud and clear. This thing has a history of bringing down some pretty nasty opposition, so be careful when and where you decide to use it, if you're going to use it at all. I mean, the best thing to do from a logical standpoint is to keep it on display, but. . . why put it to waste being ogled at by those who don't have the stones to change anything?
(Pickup Text: Call down the Thunder; Reap the Whirlwind)
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Shipping Details
-Estimated Delivery: 4/4/2056
-Sent to: Restricted Section, Galactic Library
-Order: Eldritch Lexicon

-Order Description: Instantly gain a level on pickup, and increase experience from all sources by 100% 50%.
-Shipping Method: Volatile/Fragile
-Order Details: The man who wrote this thing apparently had visions of [REDACTED], some sort of cosmic horror that lurks beyond the edge of the known universe. We'll never know for sure, because no omniglot or translator has managed to make sense of the gibberish inside. I think it's all bull, personally.
(Stacking: Another level, and an additional 50% 25% experience gain, additive.)
(Pickup text: Knowledge is Power)

 

I like the items, but it might not be necessary to increase the difficulty timer with the bullhorn, since the captain's brooch basically does the same thing but without the hassle of summoning a boss or increasing the timer. Maybe instead of giving you an instant level, the lexicon could have a more powerful effect, since picking it up with a nearly full exp bar would waste the free level up and let's face it, even double exp will soon feel kinda lackluster.

 

Eldritch lexicon item is OP, also why would you even want a Challenger's Bullhorn

 

I can understand the desire to summon a boss, since they drop items and can drop boss exclusive items. Rather than simply get another chest, you have to face a challenge for your free item, justifying the lower cooldown. Also, of course the lexicon item is really good, it's a red item and those are usually really good. I mean, there are already plenty of items in the game that are 'too good', so an item being too good is not really justification for denying their existence. Also, I can think of several items I'd rather have over the lexicon. Old Box, Perma Frost, infusion, Prison Shackles, and depending on character, barbed wire, gasoline, boxing gloves, there are plenty of insanely good items in this game.

 

The Lexicon would basically bypass your current experience to level you up and keep the XP bar relatively near where it was before you found it. Say you had 900/1000, and the next level would be 1500. Grabbing the Lexicon would shoot you to 900/1500 towards the next level after the one you get from picking it up.

Well, I guess I did kind of overdo its effect. While the Brooch is, technically, superior to the Bullhorn, the Challenger's Bullhorn is precisely what the name indicates: An item for those who are looking for a challenge! It does have an advantage over its chest-slamming cousin; in that you can use it to more easily procure boss items. You could argue that you wouldn't need it late game with bosses spawning all over the place, but the same can be said for the Brooch, because you have items dropping everywhere.
Edit: Ninja'd!

Revised: The Lexicon's XP gain effect has been toned down a bit.

 

Bumping with new content!
Shipping Details
-Estimated Delivery: 8/26/2056
-Sent to: Remote Hazardous Materials Research Station, Charon
-Order: Irregular Crystal

-Shipping Method: Volatile/Fragile
-Order Description: Regenerates 3 health per second. Additionally, you can continue to heal past maximum health from all sources at 25% efficiency, which creates a shield that caps at 20% of your maximum life. Additionally, you gain a shield that charges from all healing sources at 50% efficiency, which caps out at 20% of your maximum life.
-Order Details: This anomalous red thing is. . . well. Odd, to say the least. My boys found it in a cave after retreating from [Redacted], and strangely enough, their injuries mended and they were fresh and battle-ready! It completely turned the tide of the battle, and kept us alive even vastly outgunned and outnumbered. It was only, well...after....that. . . we found out what this clump of minerals really does. It promotes rapid tissue growth in any living animal nearby, which just happens to start with injured sections of the body, and... the men under my command were turned into grotesque, twitching blobs that soon collapsed under their own weight and died. I managed to use a remote retrieval unit to stick it in a dampening capsule, which brings its effects in line to a more manageable state. I can't look at it after what it did to my troops, though, so you guys can tinker with it and see what makes it tick.
(Stacking: +3 more regeneration, 12.5% more overheal efficiency, and 10% greater shield capacity.)
(Pickup Text: High on Life!)

 

That seems really good, but the second ability seems a bit odd. The 3 HP a second is fine ( albeit late game, which is probably when you'd get it bc its a red item, that isn't much at all), but the ability to heal past full health, making it essentially a guardians heart that regenerates over time instead of instantly, seems a bit useless. why would I want that over a guardians heart?

 

Because you might not always get a guardian heart (excluding command artifact) You also get the benefits from a single item rather than hp regen and a GH (two items)

 

Well, once you get an infusion or two rolling, the shield from this item would become absurd. Without infusion, I agree, 2 Guardian's Hearts and why would you even want a Crystal? But at, say, 2,000 max HP, that's 400. That's around six and a half Guardian's Hearts. Once you get to 9999, you'd have a buffer of almost 2,000 HP . . . IF you could charge it. But considering how absolutely ridiculous, powerful, and easy to get a stack of Bustling Fungus is, late game, you'd probably have no trouble charging up the Crystal's shield. Then again, without that...it WOULD be painfully slow to charge up. Maybe I should adjust that or remove the penalty altogether, letting the shield charge at the same rate you'd heal anyways. . . or. . . perhaps I'll make the shield independent of whether or not you're at max HP.

...of course, by THAT point, nothing short of the skull attack from Providence's Shadow is going to be any threat to you, rendering the shield you get from this thing pointless anyways. But it's just a thought.

 

Content Bump!
Shipping Details
-Estimated Delivery: 12/25/2056
-Sent to: 3223, Science Facility, Remote Colony 06
-Order: Drone Upgrade Kit

-Shipping Method: High-Priority/Volatile
-Order Description: Changes your drones based on your class. Some effects are passive, while others are activated when you use a certain skill.
-Order Details: Item confiscated from terminated employee on 3/15/2056, along with logbook for evidence, sent to research station for analysis. Final entry of logbook: "I've done it. All the toying with the cargo under the Captain's nose, and I've finally figured out how to combine anything with a simple dash of [Redacted]. Why? When you're cooped up in a big metal box hurtling through space for months, you stop asking "Why". My first few experiments ended in failure, but now I've managed to find a way to interface with and upgrade machinery in a way that can usher in a new age. The only limit to what you can do is your imagination. . . and your resources. Even what you can do with this is scarce, unfortunately. Anyone trying to USE this would have to cut a LOT of corners. I'm going to have to find a way to mass-produce this once I figure out how to move away from drones."

Commando: Activating Tactical Dive will grant your drones shields that absorb two attacks each rather than a set amount of damage.
Enforcer: Your drones will slow any enemy hit.
Bandit: Killing an enemy with Headshot will grant your laser and missile drones a free attack, and a free burst of healing to your healing and medical drones. If the drones are already healing or attacking, the free strike or heal is queued to occur once it ends.
Huntress: Your drones deal increased damage to targets below 20% life.
Hand-E: Your drones share Overclock's attack speed increasing effect during the duration, but with a reduced stun chance.
Engineer: Your drones will regenerate 2 health per attack for every turret that's out on the field.
Miner: Your normal and attack drones now gain a piercing effect on every fourth attack.
Sniper: Your drones surround, focus-fire and critically strike the target marked by Spotter: SCAN/Spotter: ISOLATE. This effect only persists if the enemy remains on screen, otherwise, they will simply return to your side and function as normal.
Acrid: Your drones cause enemies to bleed, dealing additional damage over time.
Mercenary: When hit by an attack, a percentage of the damage is instead dealt evenly across your drones. This effect absorbs less damage at high levels of health and becomes stronger the closer you are to death. Health shrine damage cannot be mitigated by your drones.