This is an idea I’ve had for a while, and it’s basically “What if Generation Zero was as realistic as possible without sacrificing what makes it unique?”, And after about a year of brainstorming, here is my idea.
So, first of all, damage. Damage would have a complete overhaul. Damage would be the same across all difficulties, difficulty increases machine spawns, ammo rarity, rival spawns, and rival aggressiveness (I’ll get into that in a bit). So, damage. Players are now extremely fragile. Submachine gun shots and chain gun shots will quickly bring a player to near death, close range shotgun shots and high caliber weapons will reliably one shot players, and explosives have heavy damage falloff but can be extremely lethal. However, machines have a full rebalance for their damage too. Components are now extremely vulnerable, and deal heavy damage to the machine, however, shooting somewhere that has no components will deal little to no damage at all. Meaning, good accuracy and critical shots are extremely important. Also, components are now more vital, destroying a fuel tank will almost instantly kill a machine (Leaving it dead from the explosion or fuel starved to the point of shutting down), taking out it’s visual sensors will leave it blind, taking out it’s audio sensors too will make it unresponsive to everything but damage. Also, machines will have more vital parts that all do different things. Larger machines might have exposed generators that if shot off will cause EMPs to be fatal or eventually cause the machine to power down due to lack of electricity.
To compensate for this rebalance, ammo will be rarer, especially on higher difficulties. You would be lucky to have over 200 rounds of 7.62 in your inventory at one time in the lategame, earlygame is going to be a dangerous game of ammo conservation.
Now lets go into the machines, there are a few changes to how machines work. Ticks can now be found in any building, and walking or sprinting inside of that building will alert most ticks in a somewhat large radius, so ticks will be a lot harder to sneak up on without crouching. Seekers can now go 'dormant" and lie in waiting for something to pass by. In this state they are landed on the ground and do not have any lights or sounds, making them a lot harder to detect, but when they activate they have a good 5-10 seconds before they can call in bots, giving players time to run away before they do. Runners will now track players who leave a combat encounter involving them unless they got on a vehicle, meaning eliminating runners is crucial for a retreat. Hunters now actually hunt, having heightened situational awareness, and being slowly attracted to distant sounds. Harvesters are a bit slower, but will draw in and call in more machines, they can also walk backwards now, and will do so to keep their distance from the main combat, preferring to stay back and launch rockets. Tanks have far worse situational awareness, but are extremely dangerous due to their weaponry. It will almost ALWAYS be better to sneak around a tank unless you need the loot.
I haven’t thought about the soviet machines yet, feel free to give suggestions!
Now for Rivals. Rivals work almost exactly the same, except for one detail, they no longer just wander around. They’re rivals, they are specifically designated to kill you. Any combat encounters you take part in will draw them in. So players doing a lot of combat will likely be tracked down and engaged by the Rival before they are prepared. Tyrants also work this way, and have an extremely rare chance once a player is above Level 25 to spawn naturally, on top of the geolocator method. Also, rivals and tyrants will prioritize you over any other opposing units in the area so, for example, a Firebird rival will immediately focus entirely on you even if there are Swedish machines nearby.
These gameplay changes are meant to encourage a more tactical and careful approach to combat. Combat is way WAY riskier now, and in most cases it may be better to avoid it, but if you decide to engage, you better have it planned out and be ready to hit the weak points hard and then move. Mobility is key. This whole rebalance is focusing on one thing, guerilla warfare, the thing that I think makes GZ what it is, waging guerilla warfare on robots.
Feel free to suggest any changes or additions of your own