Kharaa class evolution

Hawkeye · December 2008

<div class="IPBDescription">Approach to construct possible Kharaa evolvable classes in NS2</div>I propose that classes in Natural Selection 2 should take on more of an evolution aspect in that all Kharaa derive from a single alien class.

Larva - Base Kharaa Class
Summary: These slimey maggots drop undeveloped by its hive, always growing, always hungry.
Health: 65
Armor: 0
Movement speed: Very slow
Strengths: Annonymity
Weaknesses: Vulnerability
Requirement class: None
Weapons: <ul><li>Spring - Deals little to no damage, but temporarily blinds target marine for a few seconds and marine becomes parasited. Requires all adrenaline upon use and conumes all adrenaline on activation.</li></ul>Other Comments: This is the spawning class. While vulnerable, the hive also spawns two other 'larva' which don't move or moves at random intervals, so that a spawn camper wouldn't know which larva to kill. With cumulated spawns, the number of larvae will be numerous.

Drone - Kharaa scout class
Summary: These are the first line of defense against intruders as well as intelligence scouters.
Health: 75
Armor: 30
Movement speed: Fast
Strengths: Light-footed
Weaknesses: Weak
Requirement class: Larva
Weapons: <ul><li>Bite - Deals low to moderate damage at close range.</li><li>Parasite - Shoots a fast-moving projectile which parasites marine if struck. Hive 1 ability.</li><li>Leap attack - Deals little to no damage, but quickly closes distance. Marine is parasited if struck. Hive 2 ability.</li><li>Screech - All marines in close proximity turn deaf for several seconds. Other marines in the area receive varying levels of deafness which fade over the course of a few seconds. Hive 3 ability.</li></ul>Other Comments: This is the basic fighting class and has the advantage of surprise and close-quarter fighting, but tends to die easily if spotted from far away.

Lerk - Kharaa fast support class
Summary: These fast flyers can navigate the map quickly and efficiently, providing support and backup where needed.
Health: 120
Armor: 60
Movement speed: Very fast
Strengths: Flies
[i]Weaknesses: [/i]Vulnerable when stopped
Requirement class: Drone
Weapons: <ul><li>Bite - Deals low to moderate damage at close range.</li><li>Lift - Grips and holds an ally lerk, larva, or drone and drops when released allowing for fast organized assaults or quick escapes . Hive 1 ability.</li><li>Haze - Creates a cloud surrounding the lerk which causes the lerk and adjacent allies to have a 50% to not get struck by bullets. Hive 2 ability.</li><li>Primary Scream - All allies gain faster run speed, faster attack speed, and gain adrenaline at a faster rate for a limited time. Hive 3 ability.</li></ul>Other Comments: Flying causes a steady depletion of adrenaline (slightly more than lerk in natural selection) which makes them only able to sustain top speeds for short periods. When on the ground, walking speed is slow.

Renk - Kharaa ambush class
Summary: Prefers shadows and dark places, the spider-like Renk patiently awaits any trespassers with morbid interest. You'll usually spot them nesting near infested areas if you're lucky. If you're not, you won't see them at all before they strike.
Health: 100
Armor: 50
Movement speed: Fast, jittery
Strengths: Wallclimber
Weaknesses: Easily killed
Requirement class: Drone
Weapons: <ul><li>Grapple - When a surface is struck, the Renk is quickly pulled to that surface and sticks there. When a marine is struck, the Renk draws in its prey, biting with moderate damage until shot dead or until it kills its prey.</li><li>Spore Cloud - Creates a long-lasting cloud of gas hazardous to breathe. Hive 1 ability.</li><li>Web - Lays web between surfaces, rendering a marine unable to move or shoot for a limited amount of time. Webbing can be removed by welders (welders should be an upgradable weapon like the grenade in my opinion). Hive 2 ability.</li><li>Decoy - When used, you create a cocoon and after a few seconds, evolve an identical copy of yourself nearby (if stuck to wall, so will decoy). If a decoy is created while another exists, the oldest will be destroyed. Consumes all adrenaline upon use. Hive 3 ability.</li></ul>Other Comments: Renk is the nightmare for lone marines, as an entangled marine has little or no chance versus a Renk, however in numbers, the Renk can be safely destroyed.

Onos - Kharaa juggernaut class
Summary: Angers easily, the onos will charge whoever is unfortunate enough to have angered him in the first place.
Health: 500
Armor: 400
Movement speed: Slow unless charging
Strengths: Hard to kill, front carpace plate
Weaknesses: Movement, turning
Requirement class: Drone
Weapons: <ul><li>Slam - Slow melee attack which does a high rate of damage, killing most unarmored marines. </li><li>Charge - Charges towards your target with increasing velocity, dealing massive damage to those in your way. Hive 1 ability.</li><li>Shockwave - All nearby marines become paralyzed for a few seconds. Hive 2 ability.</li><li>Devour - Consumes whole an unarmored marine upon click. Upon release, rockets a gore projectile which deals high damage to struck marine or structure and moderate damage to surrounding marines or structures. Hive 3 ability.</li></ul>Other Comments: The onos has a front carpace plate which reflects all bullet damage and 40% of explosive damage, making it wise to shoot an onos from the side. An onos cannot turn on a dime, meaning an onos has to move before he can turn. Furthermore, normal walking speed is about that of a marine and no more, which makes it difficult to catch up to one without charge. While charge is activated, the onos cannot turn direction much at all and builds up acceleration. The damage inflicted to a marine upon impact is directly proportional to the velocity at impact and sends the marine flying back violently. With each hit done by the onos with charge, the velocity is decreased, but not by much, allowing for tearing down marines as if you were the bowling ball and the marines were the pins.

It's a work in progress. I'm open to suggestions.

More ideas to come.

Bacillus · December 2008

I think welders are fine as a purchaceable item. They're really powerful on NS1 armor system at least, most of the time worth way more than 5 res.

In NS1 the third hive abilities are the game finishers. Abilites like decoy aren't really useful at that. Not necessarily a bad thing, but on NS1 logic those don't work.

I'd still like to see a gorgelike creature as a support. The focuses could be positioning, adreaniline management, decisionmaking and a meat shield to some extend. That's very close to what gorge's role in fights is. Just add a little options and tricks to master and you've got a very interesting lifeform that doesn't necessarily take all that much FPS skills to learn.

Hawkeye · December 2008

Well I didn't add a gorge on purpose, because there is some sort of alien commander which manages that presumably. I don't pretend to know if there will be a gorge or not, so I didn't even list it.

I was thinking the models would look all similar. By that I mean that a drone would be similar to a skulk and that a lerk would be a modified skulk with wings, or that a renk would be a skulk with many legs, etc.

If you look at the half-life game, there are green critters with red eyes which explode on contact. If you notice, they look similar to the huge hydra-like creature. Makes you think they're somehow related in the evolutionary chain. I think the Kharaa in natural selection 2 should adopt this sort of look (perhaps not that one precisely but something like that).

ryknow69 · December 2008

Well, yes, the NS2 aliens should have evolved abit from NS1, ten years later, but not that much, evolution doesn't take seconds, it takes centurys.

spawnof2000 · December 2008

no in natural selection it takes days <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />