Topic: Environmental Damage
A little more chaos on Nia would be a lovely thing. Keeps things interesting and exciting, dynamic and challenging. I propose that the planet itself become an active participant in Perpetuum. And to that end, environmental damage/effects!
Possible forms: gas clouds, dangerous weather, unstable terrain, lava/acid pools, meteor showers
Possible effects: damage (over time, instantaneous, type-specific or universal, etc.), reduced stats (slower movement, reduced accuracy, lower resistances), electronic (EW-like effects, temporary bot shutdown, loss of bot control).
Events could be local, permanent features (gas clouds, acid pools) or temporary (weather, meteor shower). Effects would be guessable based on the event: lightning is instant damage plus EWar effects, gas cloud is constant low-mid dps chemical damage, lava pools are constant high-dps thermal plus demob (perhaps low-dps with no demob if just nearby).
Perhaps cover could be sought from some events. Maybe being near a tree/building keeps you safe from lightning. Being under cover saves from corrosive rain. Shields help against some, but not others.
Benefits include:
More interesting and engaging world in general. More features with which to differentiate islands: maybe some tend to have acid pools, others bad weather. More variety for PvE players: artifacts might be in gas clouds, meteor strikes create patches of valuable minerals. More tactical options: a shortcut is faster but leaves you damaged, try to push/lead enemies into dangerous spots. PvP shakeups: "we were totally winning, but then a tornado hit and took out some of the light bots!"
I'm not proposing any balance guidelines. I just hold it obvious that the end result must be fun, interesting, and not to anyone's overall advantage.
Thanks for reading!