NS 179 Feedback

Sewlek

<div class="IPBDescription">more general</div>hey, just played NS2 179 for first time. i was playing on a 300 ping server, and still no big issues (just ping related but still playable!)
so big congrats here, but i also discovered some stuff that should be improved.

first of all, i know its beta. nothing here is really polished. but i want to mention a few things, which people are forgetting
who are playing countless hours and already got used to it.

1.) the commander ui doesnt show any response to selected structures (hives). you see the health bar, but structures which are under
construction will look like they are unselected (health bar is low, not shown). please show yellow circles for alien comm mode, blue circles for marine comm mode.

2.) if you fix 1 , maybe you want to think about a selection priority, double clicking selection etc., but its not as important as selection responsiveness of point 1

3.) i have no real overview as a comm, when i just jumped in the hive/cc during a game in progress. please indicate player units,<u><b> infestation</b></u>,
structures <!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->under attack<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> more clearly <b><u>on the minimap</u></b>. you only have to adjust colors, but that would improve it alot!

4.) again, thanks for this build ;)

cheers

Quovatis

Yeah, the little red circle alerts seem to be broken in the last few patches. All the alerts are centered off screen (I can see the circles converging, but they don't meet on the minimap). It worked fine in earlier builds, so something broke recently.

Sewlek

i would anyway prefer simply blinking red on the minimap. i remember the old effect, but didnt like it (disturbing somehow, red blinking would be enough)

luns

minimap should also be larger as it was in ns1, so you can clearly see the whole map.
When I sometimes view it, it looks like much of it blends together when you have too much in one area.
sounds also need to be added "hive under attack" type of things, and when you view the minimap you should actually know which one.
Same goes with RTs, minimap needs to start blinking to help players narrow down where to actually go.

Sewlek

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->minimap should also be larger as it was in ns1, so you can clearly see the whole map.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

that also would be nice.

and im wondering if people here arent missing a display for resources when in first person
(display which commander has, t.res, p.res, amount RTs)
i know uwe wants to keep the user interface clear, but some few critical informations should be displayed, at least when
toggling the map. i know, resource count is written in the scoreboard, but there i everytime have to search for my own
name, not very user friendly

kingmob

<!--quoteo(post=1853988:date=Jun 17 2011, 02:45 PM:name=Schimmel)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Schimmel @ Jun 17 2011, 02:45 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1853988"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->and im wondering if people here arent missing a display for resources when in first person
(display which commander has, t.res, p.res, amount RTs)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

This.

Something indicating PRes in the HUD.

I thought of the same thing when saving for a flamer to clear infestation.
I found going to the ammo depot was easier than checking the scoreboard.

If res (money) is such an important part of gameplay...let it be part of the HUD.
'Someone go Lerk'
'Not me I am saving for fade'

'Someone get a grenade launcher, to clear that hive'
'I just bought one, where are you'

ScardyBob

The commander interface definitely needs some attention, but its usable (if frustrating) now. In particular, it needs standard RTS functions such as ctrl-groups and double-click multi-selecting in addition to fixing numerous bugs related to structure/DI placement, MAC/Drifter/ARC pathing, and rebinding of the grid key system. I'd also like to see the ability to rotate, tilt, and zoom the comm view.

Sewlek

few more things i noticed:

scan should <u><b>lighten up</b></u> the room and reveal units (+cloaked units later on) for the comm and marines

i still have concerns about the resource system in general. im not sure what your thoughts are there, or which goal you want to
reach. but anyway i post my thoughts here again how I would like to see it implemented (its just my personal opinion):

- commanders (alien and marine) should not be able to use their personal res once commanding and will not have any p.res
income during that time
- therefor, everything a comm does, will cost team resources (more constitent, easier to balance), both res income types
need to get adjusted

- all ground units will have a lower income of personal res, making rfk and number of RTs important. (p.res will be then just
something that should scale with team size)
- therefor, marine and alien comms both have an option to supply their grounds units with team res
(marine comm can give out weapons, alien comms can use some new system, variations described later)

<u>alien comm life form systems:</u>

a) create a stockpile, which can get filled by the alien comm manually. The team res in this stockpile can be used by ground players
to evolve to another life-forms. some limitations like, only 20 t.res maximum per gestation, and per some time frame per players is
allowed

b) alien comm can "pre pay" life-forms. therefor some indications to ground players should be made that pre-paid lifeforms are avaible

whats the goal of all these changes?

1.) it makes it easier for commanders. they dont have to distinct between personal res and team res.
2.) this system surpresses the need to cycle commanders because of personal res! (having multiple comms
is still a good thing, because you can support / build in different locations at once)
3.) team res will become more important and the main resource of a TEAM. personal res will be only a minor
tool to individualize gameplay a little bit, and will scale with team size
4.) it will be easier to balance team res and personal res independent from each other.
5.) the comms can make more tactical decisions (shotgun rush, lerk rush), if the p.res income is set low enough -> people
cannot affort everything all the time, depending occasionally on the comms decisions instead of buying equipment, lifeforms
on a undirected basis. the comm can also keep an eye of current team composition and buy the items that are needed
(players will gladly take the "free" stuff)