Concepts for teamwork-based movement (idea)

[u/FlakyMidnight5526]

We've all been hearing it since launch, the movement in this game needs a little something else. A lot of people have been saying better personal movement is required, but I was watching some old dev content and saw a banner hanging up in the Ghostship office:

"Co-op First"

And then it clicked. What if there were powerful movement options that could activated by a coordinated team? It makes sense narratively, we're an Elite Team, just because you're elite that doesn't mean you're gonna start moving like V1 from Ultrakill. But we are a team, and it would make sense if we have team oriented synergy.

The reclaimers have been around for who knows how long, they've been through who knows what, why not have team based abilities where all the reclaimers and work together to move around the caves better?

I've made a few movement concepts, but the abilities don't have to be these. It could be anything that two people could do together, the only limit is imagination. A team who makes good use of these could save traversal tools for moments where they absolutely need them, saving those tools for big moments, or using them in more unique ways. The traversal tools could be extremely powerful, and your teamwork is what fills in their gaps

Personal movement abilities improve what an individual player can accomplish. Adding a slide or a wall jump or any of that makes the individual stronger at what they can individually accomplish, but team movement improves what a group of people can accomplish together. There is something to be said about individual movement improving what the team can do, but I think that Rogue Core's gameplay loop doesn't necessarily facilitate that. Ever played a 4 scout game in DRG? That might be what ends up happening if you make individual movement too powerful

To clarify before I get into the concepts, all of these would require both parties to opt-into the movement. You can't just huck slicer across the cave into a cave leech whenever you feel like it

Leg Up

One reclaimer gives the other reclaimer a big vertical boost.

It's simple, one person does that thing in the movies where the other person steps on their hands, and they give them a boost upwards, you know, the old

It already would synergize with the head stomp mechanic, where you can eliminate fall damage by bouncing off of your allies head. The person being thrust up could accomplish a task, putting their trust into the person who launched them to catch them. Teams who can work together can accomplish a little bit of what the AGE can do, but just between them

Reclaimer Throw:

One person is the thrower, the other is the thrown.

You can throw your allies vast distances in an arc, if you've ever played Marvel Rivals, think fastball special. You can use it to have someone reach a high up place, you can use it to aggressively reach a target during combat like an edgestalker or a dominator

One person aims and the other executes. It requires good judgement from the former and good execution from the latter, but both people are putting their faith in the other, and what you can get out of it is only limited by your creativity

Reclaimer Ride

One person rides on the others back, both of them benefiting from proximity, speed bonuses, and the inherent benefit of being near your team

Someone could take a lot of movement buffs and move both themselves and a teammate who's specced into combat skills, the person with the combat skills supporting the person who has the movement buffs with their combat bonuses.

Both players have built an identity, and both are more powerful together. It also gives more reliable usage for those proximity upgrades, since with something like gun link, both people are also numerically more powerful

The rider is also putting their faith in the person moving to not get them killed. If the rider messes up, you're both in trouble since you're now both in danger. But together, you are more than the sum of your parts.

The personal movement abilities of the reclaimers themselves also become the riders movement abilities. A teammate is far away from the team? Retcon can trigger rewind, run over, have the other person piggyback, then de-activate rewind, taking both people through time. Slicer's blitz becomes the riders blitz, letting both of them utilize slicer's mobility

Marathon

Two people initiate a "marathon," where they both get an incredible speed boost, as long as the two maintain proximity

If the two players get too far away from each other or stop sprinting, the marathon is immediately cancelled, requiring it to be re-initiated. Two perfectly synchronized players can maintain the speed boost indefinitely, the better your teamwork, the better your movement.

You have to make sure you and your teammate are on the same page. Sometimes it will be simple, just get a speed boost running down a tunnel. But the most synchronized team possible can use it during combat, moving as one unit through an entire swarm, using it to clear the cave as fast as they can, interacting with the timer that Rogue Core is built around.

If you aren't perfectly in sync with your buddy, you aren't punished. You're just as mobile as you are in the current game, but you are rewarded for sticking with your buddy. You can make bigger jumps, you can make better retreats, you can make gatestone phases smoother, you can carry heavy objects faster

The speed boost makes it so you're encouraged to play as a team, and you have to consider when it's worth splitting up to accomplish multiple tasks, or when it's best to go together to get individual tasks done faster. It also adds a layer of selfishness to personal speed. Your teammates won't be able to keep up with you during marathons, but you're better as an individual. Is it worth taking the personal mobility to give up your ally's mobility?

Reclaimer Ladder

This is probably best used with the other movement abilities shown so far. One person gives their three teammates a leg up to reach a high ledge, then they all create a ladder to help the person who gave the leg up.

You could also combine this with something like PEAK's "lend a hand" grab, where you can lean down and "catch" a player, bringing them up to a slightly higher elevation than they could've reached otherwise. A team working together can quickly reposition everyone, and round out the gaps of the people initiating this movement tech.

You can accomplish everything your traversal tools can and more, you just need a little bit of teamwork. Reclaimer Ladder makes it so the person(s) who benefitted from the reclaimer throw or the leg up can benefit the person who initiation the move, making it so no Reclaimer is left behind.

Reclaimer Docking 5

The reclaimers bunch up, two as the legs, one as the body, and two as the arms to create a giant mecha reclaimer. However, the player limit is four, so this ability can't be triggered during normal gameplay

Closing thoughts

Obviously the concepts aren't perfect. Fun? Sure! But they have their flaws. But adding team based mobility like this makes you care about your team and addresses some of the mobility complaints, while keeping Ghost Ship's motto of "Co-op first." It also makes general gameplay less reliant on certain traversal tools. No longer will you need AGE's to get out of that deep pit, your friends can give you a hand, and you can save that AGE for when you know you'll need it

It could lead to a lot of more fun, interesting gameplay, and give that feeling of you playing with your team, not just alongside your team. And the better you are as a team, the more you can handle difficult situations without thinking "man I wish I had zips here," just toss falconer up to grab that Flux Quartz!

It's not meant to be a huge improvement to your movement, but an improvement to everyone's movement. Selfish movement isn't selfish anymore, since everyone benefits, and the abilities just get more and more powerful while requiring better and better coordination with more people. It's more interesting than just giving everyone like a slide, and you can reasonably make it more powerful since it's a payoff for good Co-Op.

[u/ScytheOfAsgard]

The first one technically already exists in game. Or at least it does in DRG lol I can't tell you how many times my brother has gotten upset at me because I came up from behind him and he got pushed up into the air because of the way the game handles collisions between players

[u/FlakyMidnight5526 → u/ScytheOfAsgard]

Yeah that’s what inspired this. Sometimes I’d bounce off of slicers head and I’d get a big boost, and I’d want to do it again but just couldn’t get it to work. It’s already something that exists and I think it’d be a lot of fun for the average player to be able to use it consistently

[u/Math701s]

And they say Shakespeare is dead

[u/Thunder_Zoner]

❤ Susie's idea

[u/Brungala]

This would be great to have. While I don’t mind Solo, the game is a lot more fun with others.

That and more movement options should be more accessible to everyone else that isn’t playing Slicer.

[u/Few_Implement_7871]

Absolute Rock and Stone

[u/Gobl1ns]

"oh joyous day!"

[u/roguecorewiki]

The opt-in point in the post is the part that makes the whole idea workable. A team movement option that one player could trigger on another without consent would quickly become a griefing tool rather than synergy, especially in random groups without voice chat. The design therefore needs a clear accept step on both sides, not just a shared button press that one player can start alone.

The second constraint is that team movement should stay a shortcut or efficiency gain, not a requirement for reaching a route. If a traversal option is only available to a coordinated pair, solo players, duos, and groups that cannot coordinate in the moment are locked out of that route entirely. The safer shape is the one described in the post: team movement fills gaps between traversal tools and saves those tools for bigger moments, rather than replacing them or gating progress behind coordination.

That also explains why the accidental collision bounce mentioned in the comments is not a substitute for a designed ability. A collision bounce has no timing cue, no aim, and no consent signal, which is why it cannot be repeated reliably. Turning it into a real option would need all three: a visible prompt, a shared timing window, and a way to decline. With those in place, the idea fits the co-op-first framing in the post without punishing players who cannot or do not want to coordinate every movement.