Smoke Grenades
SgtHydra
Join Date: 2007-11-29 Member: 63046Members
Join Date: 2007-11-29 Member: 63046Members
Smoke grenades:
- Ideal for covering a retreat, these grenades muck up the alien's visual system (save for parasited marines).
- Inhibit (but not destroy) infestation growth within their area of effect. Again, they only block the growth from advancing, all existing growth suffers no damage whatsoever.
- Always available at the armory; uses the ax's item slot.
- Turrets and ARCs cannot see past the smoke, but marine ground troops see the faint outline of whatever is moving through the smoke (but not past it) due to nano-particles that show up on the marine's little eyepiece. Turns the tables a bit, even if only temporarily (cause usually this type of visual system is used by the aliens). It isn't exactly the marine version of parasite, as it only happens in the smoke, but it lets the marines ambush anything that charges at them through it.
- The canister takes a few seconds to fully activate, giving aliens some time to either push the marines back further or use parasite to negate the effects.
- Also, smoke + no power = pretty much zero visibility for everyone. Flashlights and night vision are useless in smoke. Makes defending for aliens a bit more exciting, cause right now it's nowhere near as fun as defending as a marine.
- Spore clouds cannot pass through smoke and stop just beyond its area of effect (meaning aliens can turn the tables on the marines by having a concealed wall of toxic air just beyond the smoke).
- (BIG MAYBE) Smoke negates spore. (I dunno if this is a good idea or not. What you guys think?)
Few ideas here. It's primary function is to give marines some concealment, letting them GTFO of a bad situation without having to worry about skulks zeroing in on them. Alternately, you could fake a retreat and ambush any aliens who charge through the smoke. It also lets marines deal with Infestation defensively, rather than the offensive flamethrowers. Lastly, it'd give parasite a bit more ways to be used strategically rather than just in general.
I kinda came up with this when I realized two things:
1. Seems to me that in many (though obviously not all) situations, marines have no real option to fall back in bad situations, only charge ahead and try their luck at getting a few kills. If they do try to make a run for it, it's pretty much an instant death by a leaping skulk. So it's pretty much either run and die or rambo and die. Seems out of character for the very human marines, who should value their lives a bit more.
2. The lerk spores cloud their area of effect very nicely, providing the aliens great concealment and a temporary "frontline" for their attack. In a way, the aliens already have a smoke grenade via this spore cloud and denying this strategic option to Marines is slightly unfair. Aliens just seem to have tons of support options while all marines have is Scan out of the observatory.
I'm not too attached to this idea, but I thought I might as well put it out there.
- Ideal for covering a retreat, these grenades muck up the alien's visual system (save for parasited marines).
- Inhibit (but not destroy) infestation growth within their area of effect. Again, they only block the growth from advancing, all existing growth suffers no damage whatsoever.
- Always available at the armory; uses the ax's item slot.
- Turrets and ARCs cannot see past the smoke, but marine ground troops see the faint outline of whatever is moving through the smoke (but not past it) due to nano-particles that show up on the marine's little eyepiece. Turns the tables a bit, even if only temporarily (cause usually this type of visual system is used by the aliens). It isn't exactly the marine version of parasite, as it only happens in the smoke, but it lets the marines ambush anything that charges at them through it.
- The canister takes a few seconds to fully activate, giving aliens some time to either push the marines back further or use parasite to negate the effects.
- Also, smoke + no power = pretty much zero visibility for everyone. Flashlights and night vision are useless in smoke. Makes defending for aliens a bit more exciting, cause right now it's nowhere near as fun as defending as a marine.
- Spore clouds cannot pass through smoke and stop just beyond its area of effect (meaning aliens can turn the tables on the marines by having a concealed wall of toxic air just beyond the smoke).
- (BIG MAYBE) Smoke negates spore. (I dunno if this is a good idea or not. What you guys think?)
Few ideas here. It's primary function is to give marines some concealment, letting them GTFO of a bad situation without having to worry about skulks zeroing in on them. Alternately, you could fake a retreat and ambush any aliens who charge through the smoke. It also lets marines deal with Infestation defensively, rather than the offensive flamethrowers. Lastly, it'd give parasite a bit more ways to be used strategically rather than just in general.
I kinda came up with this when I realized two things:
1. Seems to me that in many (though obviously not all) situations, marines have no real option to fall back in bad situations, only charge ahead and try their luck at getting a few kills. If they do try to make a run for it, it's pretty much an instant death by a leaping skulk. So it's pretty much either run and die or rambo and die. Seems out of character for the very human marines, who should value their lives a bit more.
2. The lerk spores cloud their area of effect very nicely, providing the aliens great concealment and a temporary "frontline" for their attack. In a way, the aliens already have a smoke grenade via this spore cloud and denying this strategic option to Marines is slightly unfair. Aliens just seem to have tons of support options while all marines have is Scan out of the observatory.
I'm not too attached to this idea, but I thought I might as well put it out there.
Comments
They're the ranged side, fighting against a melee side which has a vision mode that can see through obstructions.
Even if you made it obscure alien vision, it's still helping the aliens massively, because the aliens can just run through the smoke to get at the marines, and it stops the marines from being able to shoot past the smoke.
Essentially you're suggesting the marines get a tool which allows them to forefeit their only advantage in the game, by deliberately reducing the range at which they can shoot.
Why would you drop smoke when you could just aim your gun down the corridor and ambush any attacking aliens from a greater distance and have them be easier to aim at, as well as giving you more time to kill them before they get close.
but i like the idea to throw something. but not some smoke nade :/
They're the ranged side, fighting against a melee side which has a vision mode that can see through obstructions.
Even if you made it obscure alien vision, it's still helping the aliens massively, because the aliens can just run through the smoke to get at the marines, and it stops the marines from being able to shoot past the smoke.
Essentially you're suggesting the marines get a tool which allows them to forefeit their only advantage in the game, by deliberately reducing the range at which they can shoot.
Why would you drop smoke when you could just aim your gun down the corridor and ambush any attacking aliens from a greater distance and have them be easier to aim at, as well as giving you more time to kill them before they get close.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well the point of this is to be used in cases where you either want to run away without a skulk immediately nomming your butt or ambush whatever is dumb enough to try.
Yes, it does have its disadvantages and those very disadvantages discourage spam and encourage strategic use.
It's a support item.
You could say the same thing about a gorge. Why give up the skulk's mobility, speed, and attack power just to vomit up slimy barnacles?
Yes, it does have its disadvantages and those very disadvantages discourage spam and encourage strategic use.
It's a support item.
You could say the same thing about a gorge. Why give up the skulk's mobility, speed, and attack power just to vomit up slimy barnacles?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Because hydras are useful, they allow you to add more firepower to an area over and above the number of players you have. Gorges also provide the best mobile healing allowing them to defend against quite a few marines for quite a while if they place hydras in a good position, as well as massively amplifying later lifeform's survivability. Finally, gorges are getting bile bombs, allowing them to be a very useful early game siege weapon.
As opposed to smoke grenades which don't really do anything helpful. How is a smoke bomb going to stop a skulk from chasing you? It doesn't stop the skulk from moving, it can just run right through the smoke. How are you going to switch to it and throw it if you need to get away that quickly? Why can't you just use that time to kill the skulk or start running sooner, you could cover quite a lot of ground in that time so you could probably get away much better.
It simply doesn't have any advantages, it doesn't encourage strategic use because any time you use it, it damages your team. It's kind of like saying you're introducing a strategic shoot-yourself-in-the-head button. There isn't any situation where that would be helpful.
lol
Yes. Exactly. Except I consider the flashbang option and decided it didn't last long enough.
That and it prevents (but does not destroy) infestation growth.
The general idea is, once again, to give the marines the ability to retreat (or ambush) and discourages aliens from charging in blind.
Somehow nobody read the OP at all.
If you are going to 'ambush' a chasing skulk you would do it far better without stupid smoke in your way. If you have the time to throw smoke you would be better off running away faster. There is simply no value to the marine team in something that obscures vision, unless it magically blinds aliens but marines can see through it fine, in which case that's incredibly cheap and stupid.
The only thing that would possibly discourage pursuit is giving marines an equivalent to spore gas, which is a pretty lame weapon on the alien side, giving it to the marines as well would lead to ever so lovely gas spamming matches, woop de doo.
I'd say that if marines can afford the Pres (which this should cost) to try get some buffs, let them; it's not like it will kill the Kharaa to wait until the smoke clears to rip their throats out. My only concern is that this could be spammed in hive attacks to screw over alien reinforcements.
I'd say that if marines can afford the Pres (which this should cost) to try get some buffs, let them.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
But it isn't a buff, in any sense of the word, that's the problem.
Improves marine ability to identify alien targets, deteriorates alien ability to identify marine targets, creates a visually imposing area of effect in which Kharaa suffer notable combat disadvantages, temporarily stops the KharCom from fest-creeping an entire contested corridor...
Sounds pretty buffy to me. If nothing else, it's support.
Sounds pretty buffy to me. If nothing else, it's support.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It blocks line of sight, aliens are not hard to see, so even if it outlines stuff inside it, it still basically turns a long corridor into a short corridor.
It stops aliens from seeing through the cloud. Ok, why is that helpful? It just means that again, a long hallway is basically a short hallway now, because the aliens will just run through the cloud and see marines waiting a few metres away, a distance they can more easily close than if they ran round the corner at the far end of the hall, and saw marines waiitng a long way away.
Actually inside the cloud, it helps aliens because aliens don't need to see properly to hit marines, at the very best it makes the mutually unable to see each other, which just makes it take longer for either one to die, doesn't help marines any.
So you delay infestation progression for about 10-20 seconds. Woop de doo. That's 10-20 seconds more energy regeneration and I can just infest even further once the smoke goes away, and you spent money on that grenade for nothing.
Again support implies it's something helpful, if it is not in any way helpful, it is not support.
And macs will have EMP and would be something like you ask for!
They cost a couple of plasma to buy one or possibly you spawn with one like the NS1 grenade, and you can only carry one, and it sets a small area on fire for 5 seconds, anything caught in it gets set on fire like a flamethrower, and anything standing in it takes damage as from a flamethrower.
The damage would discourage small aliens from running straight through it, and it works as an attack for clearing structures or infestation in the early game even if you aren't otherwise set up for it.
In many serious cases you could even kill two one with hit.
I wouldn't mind if they added mines into the game again, those were actually fun.
make the mines re-searchable by the commander, and sold by the armory it sells everything already.
another useful thing would be Grenade launchers firing nerve gas or other toxic gas, and a Flamethrower being able to ignite it