Hello, Riftbreakers!
Last week, we presented the various plant species of the Swamp biome that will require you to stay sharp while exploring the area. By this point, you know that the new biome is not that welcoming despite its lively and colorful looks. However, it’s not all doom and gloom! You will find plenty of interesting and valuable things during your excursions into the fungal forest. One such addition coming to The Riftbreaker in World Expansion III is Power Wells - incredible artifacts that let you harness game-breakingly powerful skills for a short period. Let’s talk about them now.
GOTTA GO FAST
Power Wells are our take on a classic action RPG game mechanic. They are mysterious objects scattered across the entire map. Once activated, they grant you short-lasting but very powerful bonuses that have the potential to change the way you play the game for the time they are active. In today’s article, we will take a look at what kind of Power Wells you will be able to encounter in the game, starting with World Expansion III. Please remember that this feature is still being actively developed. The visual representation of the Wells and the duration and exact bonus values are all subject to change. That’s how we do things - prototype, iterate, and see what comes out of all this!
The Wells are large, alien-looking structures that radiate energy all around them. Mr. Riggs can walk up to any of those and interact with them to channel the energy into his systems to reap the rewards. Power Wells are for one-time use only and work for a short time. Activating one of these artifacts drains their power completely, so sometimes it is better to save them for later use - especially since the bonuses they grant are really diverse and helpful for various situations. Let’s look at the broad categories of Power Wells you can find.
OFFENSIVE
The arsenal of weapons available in The Riftbreaker makes Mr. Riggs a force to be reckoned with. Sometimes, it is not enough, though, and you need a bit of extra firepower. Finding one of these power wells will help you boost your power level when you really need it.
High Fire Rate Power Well affects all weapons, melee included. It can lead to unexpected results at times!
Higher Fire Rate:
Sometimes, you don’t need to shoot more projectiles - you simply want to shoot more often. Using this buff, you can achieve ridiculous results, such as firing your Mini-Nuke Launchers almost at a machine-gun pace. We’re sure that the Schmetterling Engine can handle such firepower. We’re also sure that your enemies won’t.
fire rate + unlimited ammo = yes
Unlimited Ammo:
It's the most straightforward upgrade you could think of. Thanks to activating this Power Well, your weapons will not consume any ammunition while firing. Pack your most powerful, ammo-consuming mods into your favorite miniguns and go nuts! This round is on the house.
Quad Damage:
People sometimes say that a good offense is the best defense. This Power Well will quadruple your damage output from all weapons. With power like that, you don’t really need any survivability because no creature will ever manage to get close to you. Just be careful once it runs out - you don’t want to be caught in the middle of a horde without this buff.
DEFENSIVE
Mr. Riggs is a very powerful machine when in the hands of a skilled pilot. Still, he is not indestructible. The most powerful foes among the Galatean creatures can easily overpower him, especially if Mr. Riggs is backed into a corner. These Power Wells will help you overcome your Mech’s weaknesses.
The regen speed matches the health increase, making you really difficult to beat.
Mega Health:
Activating this bonus grants your Mech a major HP boost (300% at the moment), making it able to withstand a lot more hits before having to reconstruct at the HQ. You also start regenerating health rapidly, helping you replenish your lost health. Hint: your repair kits work with percentages, not flat HP amounts - use them while the bonus is active to get the most out of them.
With this buff you can basically 'walk it off' when you take damage.
Mega Forcefield:
Similarly to Mega Health, this Power Well boosts your Mech’s forcefield beyond what is possible while using regular upgrade modules. Apart from increasing the number of hitpoints, the forcefield also gains the ability to replenish very quickly, allowing you to make use of your bonus hitpoints multiple times throughout the fight.
Reflect Damage:
It is a perfect power for those Riftbreakers who love to jump head-first into battle. Whenever you take damage from an enemy, a portion of that damage will be returned to the sender. It’s an incredibly powerful ability, especially against the large, heavy-hitting creatures like Krocoons, who attack once every couple of seconds. Don’t get too brave, though - you’re not indestructible!
Resist All:
A much more indirect form of help with survivability. This Power Well gives you a 50% resistance to all forms of incoming damage. While it won’t make you impervious, it will give you the ability to stay in the fight for a longer time. It will also help during accidental dives into pools of acidic sludge or molten lava.
Apart from a Well that grants you resistance to all types of damage, you may also find those that grant you a more powerful buff against only one type of damage. Those variants will be found in appropriate biomes.
UTILITY
Sometimes, you do not need extra firepower or survivability - you just want to do things more efficiently or cheaper. This group of Power Wells will grant you bonuses that can be useful outside of combat, too.
Reduced Cooldowns:
After activating this Power Well, you can use all the items in your consumable slots without much delay. It might seem like a typical offensive ability, letting you bombard your foes from the orbit, shoot flame waves at them, as well as disintegrate them with antigravity balls. However, many items can benefit from shorter cooldowns outside of combat, too, such as various landmines. Activate the boost before the wave, set up a minefield, and watch the world burn from the comfort of your base.
Increased Radar Range:
This buff does exactly what it says on the tin. For a short time, the range of Mr. Riggs’ radar becomes much greater than usual, allowing you to quickly discover everything that the surrounding area has to offer. You will know where to look for resources and where the creature nests lie.
You'd better get some storage ready for all these treasures you're about to collect.
Increased Loot Chance:
This is a perfect find if you lack the resources to craft that sweet, extreme-quality weapon you couldn’t afford earlier. After activating this Power Well, all creatures, plants, and anything else you can destroy will reward you with a fountain of resources and weapon mods (and possibly more; read about our loot system rework here). You can maximize this boost by activating it just before an attack wave arrives at your base. Remember the 5-second rule and collect everything quickly - we don’t want anything to go to waste.
Beautiful automated chaos.
Drone Swarm:
After you activate this Power Well, Mr. Riggs will gain control of a couple of additional drones - a mixture of all available types. They will repair your structures, attack the enemies, and intercept projectiles. Moreover, this buff can be activated even if you already have the maximum number of drones in your build. Become the swarm.
Building Speed Power Well, aka instant base upgrade
Building Speed and Cost Reduction:
Imagine you just completed research for Defensive Buildings - Level 3 but have little to no carbonium left to upgrade your walls. This Power Well will fix that problem for you. It greatly reduces prices for all buildings and slashes building times to a fraction of the original. There are two ways to maximize this power: upgrade many smaller elements around your base or build something massive, like a Fusion Power Plant, at a great discount. This might be the most potent Power Well of the bunch. Note: if you build something at a reduced price, you will also sell and repair it for that cost. No infinite money glitches - at least not because of this.
We are likely to add even more types of Power Wells you will be able to find in the wilderness of Galatea 37 - not only in the Swamp biome. As we said before, the gameplay details are yet to be determined. We don’t know how often you’ll find these, how long they will last, or what precise numbers you can expect from their boosts. However, we will make sure that they are both fun and impactful and that they are always an exciting find. We will likely beta-test this feature with our Discord community - join us at www.discord.gg/exorstudios. Our experimental branch updates are free for everyone to join. We can use all the feedback we get once we’re ready to test!
Also, remember to join our streams on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3 PM CET on www.twitch.tv/exorstudios. We have recently completed full co-op playthroughs of three different Survival Maps. Last Tuesday, we even ran a session when one of us connected outside our local network, and nothing exploded! It’s wild, but it seems we’re getting closer and closer… Sign up for the multiplayer beta here: https://bit.ly/rb-multi-beta.
See you next time!
EXOR Studios