The rise of the MG
locallyunscene
Feeder of Trolls Join Date: 2002-12-25 Member: 11528Members, Constellation
Feeder of Trolls Join Date: 2002-12-25 Member: 11528Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">The HMG/LMG is dead! Long live the HMG/LMG!</div><!--quoteo(post=1728676:date=Sep 24 2009, 11:56 AM:name=Squeal_Like_A_Pig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squeal_Like_A_Pig @ Sep 24 2009, 11:56 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1728676"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The "LMG" in the marine renders is the in game model.
This time around there is no "LMG" and "HMG" just a more general "MG", so it's larger and more kick ass.
We are planning on doing a proper reveal of it at some point.
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This blew my mind a little. If there is no longer a distinction between "HMG" and "LMG" what does that mean for equipment and the game in general?
If the HMG is still equipment that would imply that it is an attachment to the MG. Are attachments still droppable by players and on death?
The HMG may not be equipment at all anymore, and this would suggest a commander upgrade or spell. Something akin to "for the next X secs MG bullets do +Y% dmg to lifeforms and -Z% dmg to structures".
It would be a very functional way for a comm to "SG rush" or "HMG rush" without having to explicitly drop his marines weapons. It would also be easy to allow non-comms to purchase abridged or one-life upgrades for themselves without extra custom models or code.
This time around there is no "LMG" and "HMG" just a more general "MG", so it's larger and more kick ass.
We are planning on doing a proper reveal of it at some point.
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This blew my mind a little. If there is no longer a distinction between "HMG" and "LMG" what does that mean for equipment and the game in general?
If the HMG is still equipment that would imply that it is an attachment to the MG. Are attachments still droppable by players and on death?
The HMG may not be equipment at all anymore, and this would suggest a commander upgrade or spell. Something akin to "for the next X secs MG bullets do +Y% dmg to lifeforms and -Z% dmg to structures".
It would be a very functional way for a comm to "SG rush" or "HMG rush" without having to explicitly drop his marines weapons. It would also be easy to allow non-comms to purchase abridged or one-life upgrades for themselves without extra custom models or code.
Comments
Although that would mean skulks are pretty powerless unless they have been given more damaging abilities, or simply other methods of attack, I'd love to see skulks be ambush fighters, hiding in roof alcoves and scoring kills with sneak attacks rather than running and bunnyhopping.
It would fit with the philosophy than NS2 is supposed to be playable casually, NS1 really wasn't, I can't even play it any more because I stopped for a while and now everyone kills me instantly.
I'd assume that it would lack many assault rifle features. (fire selector, womanly caliber for 12 year old boys, etc...)
Isn't that the truth :D - the M16 feels like a pea shooter...
Anyway, on topic - I would find that having the MG being just like the LMG would be fine, with some sort of HMG upgrade equipping all marines with them. It could then become a key upgrade for clan play, and we all know noobs in pubs can't hit crap with the HMG anyway, so I do not think it would kill pub play... We shall see!
That is my philosophy.
The LMG + HMG -> MG thing to me seems to indicate that mabe the MG will be highly scalable through upgrades. That is to say that damage lvl1->lvl2 ->lvl3 will ACTUALLY have a very significant impact on the performance of the gun. So instead of a discrete jump from LMG to HMG tech like in NS, the LMG continuously evolves into the HMG over the course of the map from purchased comm upgrades.
The LMG + HMG -> MG thing to me seems to indicate that mabe the MG will be highly scalable through upgrades. That is to say that damage lvl1->lvl2 ->lvl3 will ACTUALLY have a very significant impact on the performance of the gun. So instead of a discrete jump from LMG to HMG tech like in NS, the LMG continuously evolves into the HMG over the course of the map from purchased comm upgrades.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I speculate that they are making weapon 'choice' be individual. Hopefully they don't decide to make all the weapons "balanced" with each other.
Technically it is not.
As it stands now, the marine's weapon arsenal consists of the melee weapon, pistol, assault rifle, grenade launcher attachment for the assault rifle, shotgun, flamethrower, and minigun.
--Cory
I lol-ed
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm curious about the upgrades Cory. I'm assuming that there are commander associated weapon upgrades like in ns1 (weapons 1, 2, 3). We also know that individually 'upgrading' the assault rifle is possible - such as the gl attachment. maybe that's how the flamethrower will work - as an upgrade. will there be other available upgrades to the AR, like incendiary rounds, rounds effective towards structures, higher rate of fire... sh!t like that?
that would be cool if the AR would be very customizable more-so than the other weapons. making it VERY versatile. like it would be unique to every player :) . as a commander you can ask certain squads to defend outposts (lifeform piercing rounds) etc... or scouting parties can have rounds associated with destroying structures. unique to a players style of play, adds some rpg-ish elements a-la cod4, which nowadays people LOVE (as do I)... it also forces the other weapons to be extremely specialized, so people need to stay together...
[edit]
and it's just a little bit of coding and sprite additions, as opposed to modeling a whole new weapon. blue light changes w/ current ammunition... and of course this is probably impossible beta/initial releases due to time
Going by that mockup, resources will be replaced by what looks like caducei. The machine gun can be upgraded with a beating heart, exoskeletons are made of stalks of celery, and the jetpack is actually a man being crushed by a boulder. From this we can deduce that the gorge suit will be NS2's way of allowing server admins to "llama" a griefer.
<b>that would be cool if the AR would be very customizable more-so than the other weapons. making it VERY versatile. like it would be unique to every player :) . as a commander you can ask certain squads to defend outposts (lifeform piercing rounds) etc... or scouting parties can have rounds associated with destroying structures. unique to a players style of play, adds some rpg-ish elements a-la cod4, which nowadays people LOVE (as do I)... it also forces the other weapons to be extremely specialized, so people need to stay together...</b>
[edit]
and it's just a little bit of coding and sprite additions, as opposed to modeling a whole new weapon. blue light changes w/ current ammunition... and of course this is probably impossible beta/initial releases due to time<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Wouldn't want it to be like COD... but ideas like that are great. Maybe different upgrades... like the addition of a scope, which gives you a little zoom (for what ever reason..), we already have a GL, maybe a bayonet: So marines can have a quick melee attack and be able to shoot aswell, or even a foldable stock: which makes the person run a bit faster but the accuracy is reduced a bit.
But why only the AR? Why not all the weapons having some customization capabilities... I can think of one for the pistol: Longer clip.
Anyways.. Anything new to the game will be nice. The game IS called NS2..but nobody wants the same <b>exact</b> game with JUST better graphics.
Considering what just been told for available weapons and there is no LMG/HMG and the mockup has it... personally strongly advise against using the mockup as belief of what's in the game...
so instead of a HMG we get.... A <b>MINIGUN!!!!!</b>
But seriously I'm pretty sure this is the first time the actual weapon list has been spoken about from a dev. Unless I've forgot something...?
As it stands now, the marine's weapon arsenal consists of the melee weapon, pistol, assault rifle, grenade launcher attachment for the assault rifle, shotgun, flamethrower, and minigun.
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
No mines or anything? :(
With NS2's smaller maps and smaller variety of weapons, I can't imagine it being MORE competitive than the original. I really hope I'm wrong. I am so desperate for a new competitive game to be consumed by, but everything I hear about NS2 just points to less and less strategy. Someone tell me why I'm wrong. :(
<!--quoteo(post=1728726:date=Sep 24 2009, 11:50 PM:name=Squeal_Like_A_Pig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squeal_Like_A_Pig @ Sep 24 2009, 11:50 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1728726"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I thought we covered this somewhere else, but maybe not.
As it stands now, the marine's weapon arsenal consists of the melee weapon, pistol, assault rifle, grenade launcher attachment for the assault rifle, shotgun, flamethrower, and minigun.
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Wow! I didn't know flamethrower was officially announced. It'll be the hotest thing since Megan Fox. Also, I really like the idea of having just a MG and upgrades for it. My guess about the minigun is that it's only for the heavy suit (or what ever they'll call it). I think it'd be stupid if normal soldiers and jetpackers could have those.
You really ought to count those weapons again. How many did NS have? Knife, pistol, LMG, shotgun, HMG, GL. How many does NS2 have? Knife, pistol, LMG, shotgun, flamethrower, minigun, GL (attachment). You have to get pretty creative for 7 to be less than 6.
When you say "more competitive" I'm assuming you mean more variety. Here's the thing though, NS(one), as far as variety goes, has very little. Yet it's still insanely fun. The reason is because you have an oversimplified game of Starcraft playing on top of a team FPS with fun fighting mechanics. In the middle of a 1 on 1 fight, it's not super important what the map looks like or how your tech is doing (you just want to kill that dude), but those things impact the battle in important ways, just like the outcome of each fight impacts the over all strategy. If you're a bomb fade but your team is getting pressed, you're going to start having a rough time of it too. On the other hand, you could hold off the enemy long enough for your team to pick it up again. Those little impacts give the game enough variety, and lend a morality and importance to each 1 on 1 fight. That's what gets the adrenaline going and why it is important that NS only has 8 units (v. like 40 for Starcraft) or 15ish upgrades (v. a billion? for Starcraft). If it was too complex, it would start to fall apart under its own weight.
so um, that's why you're wrong.
When you say "more competitive" I'm assuming you mean more variety. Here's the thing though, NS(one), as far as variety goes, has very little. Yet it's still insanely fun. The reason is because you have an oversimplified game of Starcraft playing on top of a team FPS with fun fighting mechanics. In the middle of a 1 on 1 fight, it's not super important what the map looks like or how your tech is doing (you just want to kill that dude), but those things impact the battle in important ways, just like the outcome of each fight impacts the over all strategy. If you're a bomb fade but your team is getting pressed, you're going to start having a rough time of it too. On the other hand, you could hold off the enemy long enough for your team to pick it up again. Those little impacts give the game enough variety, and lend a morality and importance to each 1 on 1 fight. That's what gets the adrenaline going and why it is important that NS only has 8 units (v. like 40 for Starcraft) or 15ish upgrades (v. a billion? for Starcraft). If it was too complex, it would start to fall apart under its own weight.
so um, that's why you're wrong.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Doesn't NS1 have grenades and mines too? But yeah I don't know why I'm worrying, I guess I just want so badly for NS2 to succeed that I get scared when anything I knew to be fun gets changed.
I guess those count as "equipment" and not "weapons" and therefor not mentioned. oculd be wrong assumption of course
Megan Fox == Not that hot.
I think it would be cool that the more upgrades you put on your gun, and/or the higher the class of gun you carry, the slower you move. So when you pick up a minigun you move really slow and can't move and fire. Unless you have a HA, which would negate the movement penalties as well as boosted armor. Also can move and fire with a minigun.
Of course it fits into the game, a minigun is basically an HMG - an inaccurate fully automatic gun with a large clip and long reload time. (actually real miniguns don't have clips, but meh - close enough). It also probably has some warmup time, which could add some interesting combat dynamics