The Energon Pub

Here is my ideas:

Game would be set after the defeat of unicron affter the death of optimus prime and the birth of galvatron but before the events of what would have been season 4 and before the turn of optimus prime so baically season 3. The planets Earth Charr cybertron would be explorable. Unicrons head would make some good dungeouns.

Can choose autobot or deception.. dur lol

Now the fun part characters:
First of all their will be 3 groups:
Normal, Combiner and hero

Normal= Think of ratchet, iron hide bumble bee. Come in 4 sizes, tiny medium large and huge. Also maybe a 2 player combiner one u reach level 30 or so? But dunno how they would work in battle... Maybe when u 2 combine one perso ntakes over attacks the other takes over healing or u only combine for a speical attack then seperate when its over?

Combiner= You control a group of up to 6 transformers. Invidually weaker then a normal or a hero but once u reach level 10 can combine to form a larger robot. Conditions for combining= A speical combiner bar under each robot. Once each flls up u can hit the combiner special attack and form ur massive robot. Size limits on combiners are Tiny and medium and large.

Hero= Unlocked after special conditons. THink of optimums prime and megatron.

Custimzation:
More then one form like springer or 6 shot
weapons types of vehicles animals or whatever they wanna turn into. NO city size player characters.


Throw some ideas out thier! maybe someone is listening.

Unlockable character classes in an MMO? That'll be the day...

well swg used to LOL and at least gives u something to work for lol

ajac wrote:well swg used to LOL and at least gives u something to work for lol

Star Wars Galaxies? The worst MMO ever made?

You can't be serious.

I think Horizons top SWG for the prize of least-well implemented, but that's neither here nor there.

Dark Age of Camelot has an unlockable class, as will Warcraft with the next expansion. Not really common, but certainly not outside the realm of possibility.

I think the combiner option might be better implemented by a group of five or six seperate people, though. They want that kind of power, make them work for it through dedication and practice.

SWG was great before the infamous patch came in that destroyed everything that was great about the game. Patch 10 I think it was? So many quit that game.

I'd LOVE to see a Transformers MMORPG! I'd play it if it was a great game!

Getting 6 seperate people to do stuff in an MMO is hard enough, having 6 people in charge of the same body is asking for trouble. Plus the fact that you'll almost never have all the members online at once...

The only sensible way to do it would be like Energon Optimus Prime, one main body and 4 backup drones that form Gestalt limbs. It could be an ability of a wider "Mini-bot" skill-set or class, if you don't want to be a gestalt instead you could boost your drones and be like Soundwave.

What with my recent exploration into City of Heroes I have been thinking about a TF MMORPG myself.
It would be amazing, esp the char creation side of things.

Come on games creators it's a matter of who does it first!

I think CoHaV and it's indepth character creation system would be a very good base for a game like thi. But there might be a few other issues to make it unique from other games.

They have to make transformation matter. It's the main thing that would seperate the game from some sort of Mechwarrior-style game. Even treating it like a WoW mount isn't right, there should be significant advantages to any of a TFs modes. I'd think stat changes would be one, giving evasiveness as well as speed for jets, or super-huge strength and cargo capacity boosts to stuff like pickups.

Energon should be important, not just as a currency but as something you actually burn up as you do stuff. I'd see a system where theres a sliding scale of personal regeneration, at 60% you don't regen at all but at 5% you'd get back to 10% in a minute of waiting or so. This would make resource collecting, raiding for energy, and building stuff like solar plants all important objectives. Then you unlock a bunch of different classes, like Constructicons who spend their time (and maybe gain XP by) processing raw materials into actual stuff.

A sychronised system to balance alt modes, super modes, Vanishing Trailers, pretender shells, Cassettes, Targetmasters, Minicons, Roller-esque drones, and the Gestalt Parts I mentioned earlier. Not to mention non-transformation special abilities, along with Tech-specs. This all somehow has to be balanced so playing Hound is as fun as playing Superion. I don't know how this would be done, I'd imagine Energon supply would be one way, but the Beta would likely take ages.

The issue of Mobs: Some form of "wandering monsters" would have to be around in order to go for XP and the like. Either the old stand-by of having each side have lots of drones would have to be used, or some extra nuetralish NPC factions would have to be included. Currently, apart from the Quintesson's hordes of servants, I don't think there are too many of these, so something would have to be done on that regard.

Behold! I too have long dreamed of a Transformer game! Bask in my glorious idea...now:

For Starters, rather than a standard MMOPRG format, I think it would be better to aim for something akin to MMO's like Planetside or the games like Quake-Wars, or even Tabula Rasa - more of a MMOFPS type thing with some exploration elements thrown in. This is because we really don't see TF's doing things like crafting items, etc, so keep the focus on combat.

<b><u>SETTING</b></u>

I suggest breaking away from established continuity, as you'd never please everyone, instead I'd rather blend elements - perhaps something like:

...Optimus Prime is dead.
In the final moments of their climatic battle, the great Autobot leader chose to open the fabled Matrix of Leadership, unleashing the full power of the Allspark upon the Decepticon leader Megatron, but sacrificing himself in the process...
Now leaderless, Autobot and Decepticon alike scramble to regroup and rebuild their forces. For although the mighty have fallen, there is hope - prophecy that the Order of Primes cannot end, that it <i>will</i> continue, and so the race has begun - to reclaim the Matrix, that is may light that Darkest Hour. Before it's too late

...Before the Light becomes Darkness.

<b><u>CHARACTER CREATION</u></b>

At the character creation players choose:
<b>* Faction</b>
Autobot or Decepticon
<b>*Size Class</b>
3 available (Light/Medium/Heavy) Determines base stats and available Alt-mode options.
* <b>Light</b> This size covers the smaller characters, such as Bumblebee, Brawn, Cliffjumper etc. Small and hard to pin down, qualities they use to compensate for their lack of heavier armor / weapons.

* <b>Medium</b> The "Average" Transformer, with a fairly even blend of stats - Wheeljack, Starscream, Sideswipe, etc.

* <b>Heavy</b> The Bigboys - Ultra Magnus, Prime, Blitzwing, etc. While not as nimble as their smaller team-mates, these 'bots are able to shrug off damage that would reduce others to molten slag.

<b>*Alt Type</b>
Air/Land/Sea(??) Sea's iffy cos water based alt modes are kinda limited in their usefulness....

<b>*Alt mode</b>
Players choose the actual vehicle they want as their Alt mode. However, some Alt-mode options would have to be restricted based on Size Class.

<b>Transformation</b>
Players are given, say, 3 different options for <u>HOW</u> they transform (Head orientated/Chest orientated/Feet orientated) for example Head would see a car TF's bonnet become the torso (like Prowl), while Bumblebee would be Feet orientated. While it would be a modeler/animators nightmare, this is to add more variety to player characters.

<b>Color / Logo's / Face / etc</b>
Yet more customization....

<b>Accessories / Weapons / Special Abilites</b>
This essentially defines what role or class the player will adopt in the game ie: Heavy Infantry, Scout, Engineer, etc.

<b><u>GAMEPLAY</u></b>

<b>Overview</b>
After creating a character, Players then enter the game world of factionally controlled cities / regions in order to compete against the opposing factions for control of various resources (eg:Energon).

<b>Notes on Gameplay</b>
* While being in Robot mode enables the full use of a characters combat abilities etc, it also carries the risk of potentially triggering the defenses of the civilian populace - ie: a timed countdown before Human forces arrive to protect the city. These are initally only an annoyance, but quickly escalate to a full military response (ie: Angry civilians > Cops > Special Forces > Military). Timer duration would be based on Size Class (smaller Bots being able to hide better), with +/- modifiers depending on "population density" ie: Negative modifier for crowded cities, Positive modifers of deserted fields

* Alt modes need to be <u>useful</u> to the player in some way. Examples may include:

- Greatly increased speed, at the cost of disabling most/all combat abilites

- Enables flight (for plane/chopper based alt-modes) or other special abilites.

- Greatly reduces the Player's energon signature, making them virtually invisible to enemy detection (both NPC and other players)

* Use of special abilites, etc requires the expenditure of a character's Energon, which regens at a speed based on the number of resource points held by your Faction. This ensures that control of available resources remains a concern to players, and also grants some downtime for Defending players, due to the slower recharge rate of any surviving attackers.

* While Energon is yummy, the primary goal of the game is the possession of the lost Matrix of Leadership, control of which will swing the tides of war in favor of your faction. (Faction-wide buffs, etc)

* While possession of the Matrix yields some nice party buffs for the whole faction, As an Additional bonus, earning enough points (xp? kills?) allows a player to unlock the Matrix, becoming a "Prime" - which is makes them awesome and is basically really bad news for the other side until the Prime falls and the Matrix is lost once again.

well, I think I'm about done for now!

Thoughts? Feedback? Am I stark-raving mad?

Sentry Prime wrote:For Starters, rather than a standard MMOPRG format, I think it would be better to aim for something akin to MMO's like Planetside or the games like Quake-Wars, or even Tabula Rasa - more of a MMOFPS type thing with some exploration elements thrown in. This is because we really don't see TF's doing things like crafting items, etc, so keep the focus on combat.

I won't deny this would work fine, I just like being all-inclusive and a lot of peoples favorite characters are scientists or builders like Wheeljack or the Constructicons. I think the RPG setup allows those types of characters as well as big bad warrior types, so I focused on this. A well done FPS or RTS setup can work too.

...Optimus Prime is dead.
In the final moments of their climatic battle, the great Autobot leader chose to open the fabled Matrix of Leadership, unleashing the full power of the Allspark upon the Decepticon leader Megatron, but sacrificing himself in the process...

<b>* Faction</b>
Autobot or Decepticon

If you're going to have Prime and Megatron absent from the setup, you can justify having seperate subfactions like they had in the Dreamwave comics. It would add to the dynamic, I think.

3 available (Light/Medium/Heavy) Determines base stats and available Alt-mode options.
<b>*Alt Type</b>
Air/Land/Sea(??) Sea's iffy cos water based alt modes are kinda limited in their usefulness....
<b>*Alt mode</b>
Players choose the actual vehicle they want as their Alt mode.
<b>Transformation</b>
Players are given, say, 3 different options for <u>HOW</u> they transform (Head orientated/Chest orientated/Feet orientated) While it would be a modeler/animators nightmare, this is to add more variety to player characters.
<b>Accessories / Weapons / Special Abilites</b>
This essentially defines what role or class the player will adopt in the game ie: Heavy Infantry, Scout, Engineer, etc.

That's a nice simple system that would make for a fair setup. I personally would like a more in-depth system that can handle more than one alt-mode and other special features, but it's not strictly nessecary.

One interesting thought is how character growth would differ between an RPG class and level system and a Battlefield type game's Unlock and Acheivement system. The unlock system would create a more balanced setup between players, i.e. instead of levels 1-50 having to co-exist and somehow battle together, you'd get everyone with a base of level X, with the people who have some unlocks having the equivalent of X+1, 2, 3, and probably not too much over that. If done right I think that system would have some merit and could give a nice action-oriented game.

<b>Notes on Gameplay</b>
* While being in Robot mode enables the full use of a characters combat abilities etc, it also carries the risk of potentially triggering the defenses of the civilian populace - ie: a timed countdown before Human forces arrive to protect the city. These are initally only an annoyance, but quickly escalate to a full military response (ie: Angry civilians > Cops > Special Forces > Military). Timer duration would be based on Size Class (smaller Bots being able to hide better), with +/- modifiers depending on "population density" ie: Negative modifier for crowded cities, Positive modifers of deserted fields

This is...a very interesting mechanic for introducing neutral enemies into the mix, but I can imagine players getting quite annoyed with it if they want to fight. It also has potential imbalance between the 2 sides (Autobots won't fire back on the human military, but Decepticons will), and it kind of limits the arena to earth or a similar planet. I'd think it'd be an ok gimmick for some areas, but not as a global thing.

* Use of special abilites, etc requires the expenditure of a character's Energon, which regens at a speed based on the number of resource points held by your Faction. This ensures that control of available resources remains a concern to players, and also grants some downtime for Defending players, due to the slower recharge rate of any surviving attackers.

While it makes logical sense, this mechanic would make it very difficult for a side that loses several resources points to regain them, because they'll lose access to the power to let them mount a counterattack. Conventional capture-point games are balanced because if a side has less points, they can defend their remaining points better and can gather together for a mass attack easier. This power mechanic would distrupt that balance. I'd suggest that freindly resource points simply add to a mechs existing regen capacity, and being in the area of multiple points would give stacking benefits.

* While Energon is yummy, the primary goal of the game is the possession of the lost Matrix of Leadership, control of which will swing the tides of war in favor of your faction. (Faction-wide buffs, etc)

This is a bad plan because it intrinsically imbalances one half of the players against the other, even if it's only a minor bonus. And how exactly are the other side supposed to recapture the Matrix, when it's most likely locked in a safe inside Metroplex or the like? I have no objection to the odd capture-the-flag McGuffin that works on a small scale, like one area, but globally altering the state of affairs between the 2 sides is a bad plan.

* While possession of the Matrix yields some nice party buffs for the whole faction, As an Additional bonus, earning enough points (xp? kills?) allows a player to unlock the Matrix, becoming a "Prime" - which is makes them awesome and is basically really bad news for the other side until the Prime falls and the Matrix is lost once again.

You do know what an MMO is, right? There would be literally thousands of people clamoring to be Prime, even if each server is its own entity in this regard. Unless this is actually meant to be an online FPS, with one matrix per game, you'd still have players shooting each other in the back to be the next Prime. I'd go for a max-level reward or achivement giving you commander status, adding Ultra, Maximus or Prime to your name as you see fit, but a single unique thing in any MMO setup won't work.

<b>Quote:</b>
<i>I won't deny this would work fine, I just like being all-inclusive and a lot of peoples favorite characters are scientists or builders like Wheeljack or the Constructicons. I think the RPG setup allows those types of characters as well as big bad warrior types, so I focused on this. A well done FPS or RTS setup can work too.</i>

True. In my head I'd equated those types of player characters with classes such as engineers, etc from games such as Team Fortress, Savage, Tabula Rasa - operatives able to deploy equipment out in the field, rather than crafter / merchants. But as you said, both models can certainly work if done right.

<b>Quote:</b>
<i>If you're going to have Prime and Megatron absent from the setup, you can justify having seperate subfactions like they had in the Dreamwave comics. It would add to the dynamic, I think.</i>

Agreed. I'd pictured the various subfactions as basically being the equivilant of Player guilds / clans - Unified name, insignia, etc


<b>Quote:</b>
<i>That's a nice simple system that would make for a fair setup. I personally would like a more in-depth system that can handle more than one alt-mode and other special features, but it's not strictly nessecary.</i>

I'm all for tons of customisation options, those listed are what I considered to be the core, defining attributes - as far as game mechanics are concerned. Certainly one would have a variety of faces, hands, eyes, kibble, logos, colors, et.al to choose from, but such things are mostly cosmetic, with little impact or purpose during gameplay, other than allowing players to distinguish themselves from other player characters. Plus the setting itself has "repeated" characters (Bumblebee/Cliffjumper, the Seekers, G1 Ironhide/Ratchet, etc)

<b>Quote:</b>
<i>One interesting thought is how character growth would differ between an RPG class and level system and a Battlefield type game's Unlock and Acheivement system. The unlock system would create a more balanced setup between players, i.e. instead of levels 1-50 having to co-exist and somehow battle together, you'd get everyone with a base of level X, with the people who have some unlocks having the equivalent of X+1, 2, 3, and probably not too much over that. If done right I think that system would have some merit and could give a nice action-oriented game.</i>

In the immortal words of C-3P0: "I heartily agree with you Sir." (:D

<b>Quote:</b>
<i>This is...a very interesting mechanic for introducing neutral enemies into the mix, but I can imagine players getting quite annoyed with it if they want to fight. It also has potential imbalance between the 2 sides (Autobots won't fire back on the human military, but Decepticons will), and it kind of limits the arena to earth or a similar planet. I'd think it'd be an ok gimmick for some areas, but not as a global thing.</i>

Likewise, I'd the Transformers probably would find our weapons pretty annoying!
The intention was to try and prevent players from simply fore-going the use of their Alt-mode and just rampaging MechaGodzilla style around the city. Also, I agree it shouldn't be globally implimented, but certainly around important "human" areas like cities / factories / power-stations.

Personally, I would limit the game to Earth, with maybe one or two additions (Cybertron ,Junkion?), as I feel a large portion of the TF's appeal is they become things we recognise. Plus while a Terristial vehicle might be something of a curiousity on a world ruled by sentient machines, an advanced alien Starfighter would certainly be out of place here on Earth, and thus cause for alarm! (meaning the player couldn't hide while on the "Earth Maps")

Granted, I hadn't considered the balance issues associated ("Autobots won't fire back..."), perhaps NPC response is influenced by a Faction's reputation with the city (ie:troops wont fire on Autobots in a friendly city)? or maybe impliment be some way to incapacitate the offending NPC's, thus removing them from combat, with additional bonus/penalties associated for going that extra step and killing the natives??

<b>Quote:</b>
<i>While it makes logical sense, this mechanic would make it very difficult for a side that loses several resources points to regain them, because they'll lose access to the power to let them mount a counterattack. Conventional capture-point games are balanced because if a side has less points, they can defend their remaining points better and can gather together for a mass attack easier. This power mechanic would distrupt that balance. I'd suggest that freindly resource points simply add to a mechs existing regen capacity, and being in the area of multiple points would give stacking benefits.</i>

Point conceded. I must've banged my head a few times before writing that...

<b>Quote:</b>
<i>This is a bad plan because it intrinsically imbalances one half of the players against the other, even if it's only a minor bonus. And how exactly are the other side supposed to recapture the Matrix, when it's most likely locked in a safe inside Metroplex or the like? I have no objection to the odd capture-the-flag McGuffin that works on a small scale, like one area, but globally altering the state of affairs between the 2 sides is a bad plan.</i>

That's exaclty the point, to keep the balance of the war see-sawing from one faction to the other and back again. As for recapturing the Matrix, it would be carried on the player that found it (after all, Rodimus never kept it in a box under his bed - atleast to my knowledge). I'd concede that it doesn't necessarily have to be own a global scale, but I think the advantage it bestows needs to be something that the Faction as a whole cares about, not just individual players looking for an ego trip.

<b>Quote:</b>
<i>You do know what an MMO is, right? There would be literally thousands of people clamoring to be Prime, even if each server is its own entity in this regard. Unless this is actually meant to be an online FPS, with one matrix per game, you'd still have players shooting each other in the back to be the next Prime. I'd go for a max-level reward or achivement giving you commander status, adding Ultra, Maximus or Prime to your name as you see fit, but a single unique thing in any MMO setup won't work.</i>

Um... yeah, while I currently play WoW (and really, who doesn't?), In the past I have played:

EVE (awesome, but space is always awesome)
CoH (cool game, but in need of a major upgrade)
GW (great while playing, "meh" when ya not)
DDO (14-day trial only, but seemed to have some nice features)
SWG - both Pre and Post NGE ( omg. /wrist)
MxO (Stale, and other brilliant waste of a potentially great IP by Sony)

I was also a beta-tester for Saga of Ryzom, and recently for Tabula Rasa - so "Nerrr!"

Yeah, I realise you weren't being serious - I just felt like over-reacting...

...I <b>do</b> see this as more of a MMO-FPS, with a single Matrix per server, Peronally - to stop a chain-killing of players to be the Prime, On top of making them tough-as-nails to kill - I'd have the Matrix respawn at a random location each time a Prime falls in combat (maybe they die in a big shaft of light or something), to be sort out and found again. Plus possesion of the Matrix wouldn't be enough to be a Prime, the player would need to meet the prerequisites to open it (kinda like what happened to Ultra Magnus in the '86 movie)

I like that Achivement/Rank idea though

Post lost, response later.

Ya it should be more of a pvp game. and there should be a clan system in which if all players of the team are online and within the same area as each other they can combine in a cool system that determines the look of all the players combined!ther should be npcs of your oppisote faction your on so you can kill them.

Starscreams heir wrote:Ya it should be more of a pvp game. and there should be a clan system in which if all players of the team are online and within the same area as each other they can combine in a cool system that determines the look of all the players combined!ther should be npcs of your oppisote faction your on so you can kill them.

Interesting, but I'd imagine there'd have to be limits on the number of players involved - otherwise you'd see calls going out to get massive numbers...which reminds me too much of Vehicle Voltron

Combiners are a nice idea but difficult to execute in a multiplayer game. The idea of something resembling the Titans in BF2142, in a Metroplex/Trypticon sort of way, is interesting though.

NPCs enemies to kill aren't really nessecary in an Online FPS, unless you want really, really huge maps. But they're all but essential in an RPG setup.

And now, the old response I forgot to make last time:

I think w're mostly talking aloung the same lines, the only real points of contention are the Grand-Theft-Auto system you suggested, and the idea of Matrix/Prime. The first one Kinda has to work differently for Autobots and Decepticons. It would be interesting if one had the ability to either destroy human works and get cruelty points while drawing a military response, or to go out of your way to save humans from fires and the like, and get points that way to make up for "sup-optimal" FPS play.

As for the Matrix, my main issue is that the side that has it would it as the far end of the map behind a wall of turrets and basically make it impossible for that side to lose the bonus. If such a thing needed to be, I'd have it as something that only really worked in the thick of battle, giving bonuses to the surronding forces rather than a global stat boost to everyone. Then it's ok to make it a powerful effect, because that side is gambling it by using it.

FuzzymusPrime wrote:As for the Matrix, my main issue is that the side that has it would it as the far end of the map behind a wall of turrets and basically make it impossible for that side to lose the bonus. If such a thing needed to be, I'd have it as something that only really worked in the thick of battle, giving bonuses to the surronding forces rather than a global stat boost to everyone. Then it's ok to make it a powerful effect, because that side is gambling it by using it.

Agreed, the global buff idea was aimed more at hopefully stopping glory-hogging players from climbing over each others corpses for the Matrix (though that sounds like reasonable behaviour for the 'cons...). I think its important that players try and protect the matrix-bearer, rather than waiting for him to die, so they can have their turn.

..perhaps a small bonus for the faction, and a larger, more combat orientated buff for the bearer - in order to encourage them to "lead from the front" ??

If this were what you wnated, I'd either disable shooting team-members altogether, or make it so you can't use the matrix if you teamkill your matrixbearer.

Here is another idea on the combiners for a MMORPG, when your teammates reach a certain level, you have to go on a quest or instance to obtain the spark that alows you to merge with others in your team to form a much larger bot.

On controls, I say the bot who was the first to call for the merge, should have control of the gesalt. The other 4 people can control certain things, such as weapon selecton and power distribution and shielding.
It would have to be a totally team effort.

Icicle wrote:It would have to be a totally team effort.

That's the main problem. While I totally agree that team play in a game like this is possibly the best part, not everyone makes a good team player, and many prefer solo play (which makes me wonder why they don't play one of the many good single-player RPGs that are available). I don't think I'm terribly wrong in saying practically everyone will want to be the middle section of the combiner.

One could imagine some sort of rotating control system perhaps, with each player getting 15 seconds of control or something, but that could still be pretty messy.

Ultimately the main issue is that a lot of the time, not all of the team of 4-6 players will be online, meaning that either the rest of the team can drag the AFK player's characters along with them as they want, or there's no team. It really is just too much to ask of the normal MMO crowd.

I agree with Fuzzymus on that one - the advantage is lost unless your whole team is logged in, that on top of all the control / player interface issues...plus would combiners be limited by team numbers? what if you had something like 50+ members in your team / guild?

While I personally aren't too crash hot on the idea of including combiners, they are an intergral part of the source material and thus can't really be overlooked. However from my distant childhood memories, I seem to recall that Combiner teams were something of a rarity, and that the appearance of a Gestalt on the baattlefield was a definate "Oh Shi-!" moment...with that in mind, I'd suggest that perhaps they should be a summonable weapon, appearing to wreak havok on the opposing faction for a set amount of time or until destroyed (perhaps when the Gestalt is taken out, it's component bots separate and continue to fight to a period of time??)

Sentry Prime wrote: I'd suggest that perhaps they should be a summonable weapon, appearing to wreak havok on the opposing faction for a set amount of time or until destroyed (perhaps when the Gestalt is taken out, it's component bots separate and continue to fight to a period of time??)

This idea gives me the impression in my head of the Constructicons paradoxically building Devestator. I suppose it would be an interesting ability of the engineering classes if they can build drones.

The other thought that occurs to me is to model them somewhat like the vehicles in a normal FPS: They appear as a kind of empty framework, and players can move up to it and hit Transform to fill one of the slots in it. One guy could form the legs to move it, 2 on the arms for 2 different weapons, and one in the central body (possible another as the head?) using the special functions, whether they be extra weapons or something else.

Saberspark model H. wrote:Could be like Scrapmetals from cybertron.

That's a good example of a "wandering monster" in the Tf universe, having watched more of season 3 G1 I think there are other possibilities. And I do beleive Human units were suggested.

Also for customization stuff you could make it where you pick from a generic face design and then scan in accessories I.E. face masks ear things (like wheeljack) scars. Or you could just scratch that and scan in a whole face body etc.

I think City of Heroes is a good example of how to make this kind of customisation system. Hopefully you wouldn't have to unlock all the really cool options.

Also think about being able to buy space cruisers and cruise around looking for more energon.

While I think having multiple environments for the game is a good idea, including space, I'm not so sure on adding vehicles to the mix. I envisaged something like a Space Bridge network between different zones, like different planets (with sub-areas inside). I suppose however, as an extension of the idea of combiners as vehicles, and my thought of having the TF bases as starting areas, one could have the Transporter TFs like Sky Lynx and Astrotrain available in some controllable form, where a team could hire them out to travel to distant planets and asteroids on missions (Or just to capture an isolated capture point in the FPS model).

Or for the combiner thing make it like a rank thing once you have reached a certain level you automaticly have a team of bots travel with you and then you can link up any time. But you have a limited time 1hr 30 min stuff like that. Or if you ever played the armada video game it depletes your energon when you combine.

This is what I think is the best way, you start off as something like a powermaster or headmaster, and gradually your army of mini-drones grows, until you can either become something like Soundwave commanding a lot of useful units, or you turn into a combiner. Of course, combining to full-power mode would start to deplete your energon supply, which I see as being very important to all transformers in such a game, from warriors to scouts, in some fashion or other.

One Idea that I came up with on the idea of a combiner team, is make it like in the same vein as the Master Mind in City of Heroes, Meaning they are like drones as you mentioned and you play the central combiner (Sliver Bolt etc.) and they attach to you so you control the combiner.
I also agree that you should loose energon the longer you stay in this mode.
I think this would be the perfect idea to this problem.