188 Feedback

WilsonWilson Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 72867Members
Man, I don't understand why this build was released. It's very buggy and unenjoyable. I think it would have been better to wait until it was polished more before releasing it.


Anyway, here's some of my initial feedback:

Power nodes need to be already built when a commander first places a building. Making the marines build an RT and then a power node just takes way too long. There is also a bug, you can walk inside the power nodes.

Ambient sounds volume needs to be adjusted. It sounds like everything is underwater. I also don't hear any bite hit sounds as skulk.

Skulks feel like they are on ice skates now. You slide around and it feels very weird. It was much better in the previous build. Overall the game just feels a lot less responsive.

When spawning as a marine the hud effect is waaay overdone. It's also really annoying how it does that same effect every time you exit the com chair. You get out to shoot a skulk at the base and you're half blinded by a blue grid.

The HUD is pretty poor IMO. I guess it's work in progress but if you're going to release stuff like this then you need to know that people will criticize it. I don't think it needs to show every time a commander drops a med pack or even a building. That huge box under the minimap just gets in the way and is really annoying.
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Comments

  • A[L]CA[L]C Join Date: 2010-07-25 Member: 72801Members
    What was wrong with the numerous other feedback threads?
  • WilsonWilson Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 72867Members
    edited November 2011
    <!--quoteo(post=1886629:date=Nov 24 2011, 06:33 PM:name=A[L]C)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (A[L]C @ Nov 24 2011, 06:33 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1886629"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
    What was wrong with the numerous other feedback threads?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    I never saw any? Just the news post (and posts about specific issues) and I thought it was better to keep them separate. If a mod wants to merge it they can...
  • SteelBladeSteelBlade Join Date: 2005-01-07 Member: 33240Members, Reinforced - Gold
    <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=115482&st=40&#entry1886622" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/in...p;#entry1886622</a>
  • ObraxisObraxis Subnautica Animator & Generalist, NS2 Person Join Date: 2004-07-24 Member: 30071Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, WC 2013 - Supporter, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
    As a matter of interest, was there anything you did like Wilson?
  • peregrinusperegrinus Join Date: 2010-07-16 Member: 72445Members
    Buggy and unenjoyable?

    Sounds like you're describing a beta build of some game thats still in development :P
  • WilsonWilson Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 72867Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1886640:date=Nov 24 2011, 06:54 PM:name=Obraxis)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Obraxis @ Nov 24 2011, 06:54 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1886640"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->As a matter of interest, was there anything you did like Wilson?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Whip speed increase :D
  • Heroman117Heroman117 Join Date: 2010-07-28 Member: 73268Members
    edited November 2011
    I really don't hear much different about the sounds, the bulk of marine gun and alien attack sounds seem to sound the exact same.

    However the thing about this build that annoys me is just how slow marines draw weapons, reload the rifle, and how much slower the rifle butt is now.

    Was there an issue with these before? in build 187 i'd feel extremely accomplished if i managed to pull off a rifle butt kill, now you it seems you'll never be able to actually dish out the damage with it before you're dead, and timing it with the new delay ought to be a world of a much harder.

    Also the marine rifle feels like its reloading 50% slower, even though it seems the reload sound is still playing at the same speed as in 187, i thought we were supposed to have less punishment reloading. And the draw time for all the weapons feels so sluggish except for the pistol, it seems the exact same, but the rifle and axe seem like an eternity to draw in the heat of battle.
  • SewlekSewlek The programmer previously known as Schimmel Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16247Members, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, Subnautica Developer
    I wanted to write a longer reply, but it ended up just being "bla bla...". so all i have to say: the textures are still work in progress, and you are right that the scan in effect is too intensive. besides improving the textures we also want to add a 3d effect which will change the whole appearance. so yeah, it's not done yet
  • WilsonWilson Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 72867Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1886665:date=Nov 24 2011, 07:54 PM:name=Heroman117)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Heroman117 @ Nov 24 2011, 07:54 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1886665"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->However the thing about this build that annoys me is just how slow marines draw weapons, reload the rifle, and how much slower the rifle butt is now.

    Was there an issue with these before? in build 187 i'd feel extremely accomplished if i managed to pull off a rifle butt kill, now you it seems you'll never be able to actually dish out the damage with it before you're dead, and timing it with the new delay ought to be a world of a much harder.

    Also the marine rifle feels like its reloading 50% slower, even though it seems the reload sound is still playing at the same speed as in 187, i thought we were supposed to have less punishment reloading. And the draw time for all the weapons feels so sluggish except for the pistol, it seems the exact same, but the rifle and axe seem like an eternity to draw in the heat of battle.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


    Yeah, I agree Heroman. I always felt like the weapon switch time was too slow to begin with. NS2 is pretty fast paced and it just feels like it takes way too long to take the pistol out (and now the other weapons as well).

    I also think the melee of the rifle is too slow. It feels really sluggish as if the weapon is really heavy. I think it'd be better if the rifle butt did quite a low amount of damage but could be used during reloading to knock skulks back. That way the speed could be increased again without it being too powerful.
  • FlayraFlayra Game Director, Unknown Worlds Entertainment San Francisco Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 3Super Administrators, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
    <!--quoteo(post=1886668:date=Nov 24 2011, 01:12 PM:name=Wilson)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Wilson @ Nov 24 2011, 01:12 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1886668"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yeah, I agree Heroman. I always felt like the weapon switch time was too slow to begin with. NS2 is pretty fast paced and it just feels like it takes way too long to take the pistol out (and now the other weapons as well).

    I also think the melee of the rifle is too slow. It feels really sluggish as if the weapon is really heavy. I think it'd be better if the rifle butt did quite a low amount of damage but could be used during reloading to knock skulks back. That way the speed could be increased again without it being too powerful.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    We did end up redoing the entire animation system so every animation in the game was affected. For the most part we wanted to exactly duplicate the old animation speeds, but I'm sure we missed some. The important thing for us was to get this build into your hands for early feedback instead of waiting even longer. We especially wanted feedback on all the other map changes, new HUD elements, random start points, etc.
  • WispWisp Join Date: 2007-12-18 Member: 63211Members, Reinforced - Diamond
    I think the weapon undraw and reload speed are fine. If they are made faster, you will feel like some sort of super human. No person can reload a rifle that quickly. I like my character to feel believable.
  • swalkswalk Say hello to my little friend. Join Date: 2011-01-20 Member: 78384Members, Squad Five Blue
    edited November 2011
    <!--quoteo(post=1886677:date=Nov 24 2011, 09:40 PM:name=Flayra)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Flayra @ Nov 24 2011, 09:40 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1886677"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->We did end up redoing the entire animation system so every animation in the game was affected. For the most part we wanted to exactly duplicate the old animation speeds, but I'm sure we missed some. The important thing for us was to get this build into your hands for early feedback instead of waiting even longer. We especially wanted feedback on all the other map changes, new HUD elements, random start points, etc.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I think you did some good things with the skulk animations at least, they are not instantly switching depending on the surface. Good job there.
    I think the new HUD for marines obstruct the view too much, the left side is filled up with too much, and blocks your view.
    You don't need to know everything the commander does, stuff like displaying the medpacks drops are really redundant clutter on the screen.
    I also think that you should make the minimap more transparent, as it also clutters the view a bit.
    I like the new health display for marines, I just have to get used to looking at the right instead of the left :P
    I like most of the map changes to summit, but data core is still very alien friendly, and the new entrance doesn't really change it that much. I think it would help a bit if you made higher cielings in pipe junction and data core.
    The thing about random spawns for both teams, sometimes you end up getting starting locations right next to each other, and some parts of the map become totally deserted.
    For a map like summit, I don't think random spawn locations are ever going to be very good. Simply because of the map layout.
    Unless you make spawn locations opposite of each other, which would eliminate the random feeling of where the enemy team spawns anyway.
    For summit I think it would be best to keep static spawn locations, because of the map layout.
    For a map layout like ns2_veil, random alien spawns could work out pretty well.
    I don't think random marine spawns will ever work that well, unless you design the map specificly for that feature, which would require alot more work from the mappers. They would have alot more balancing issues.
    Also, the powernodes really needs to be fixed, marines takes forever to get the first extractors up, because now you have to build TWO things instead of one, and that is a massive change that really needs to go. I agree with Wilson; let powerpoints be finished as soon as you drop the first structure in a room. In mid-late game it would not be as harsh repairing and building powernodes, as you would have welders(in the future) and maybe some MACs to help get it up a bit faster.
    MAC repair rates is also still too overpowered. With two MACs, and some good micro management, you are able to keep the MACs alive forever and kill a skulk unless he retreats.
    They should be a small support in building/repairing, not these current rambo/superrepair MACs.
    About the Nano shield, I feel that it should cost personal res for the comm, instead of CC energy, it's the same problem as the distress beacon, just that you need more bases for more Nano shield. But with just one CC you can use it pretty often. I think it should be an upgrade/ability that you use resources on. Not a free "make-marine-invincible" ability.
    I also agree on the slow weapon changing, it's been a problem for a long time with the pistol, and now all the other weapons as well?..
    Some thoughts after playing this new build for a while, I really hope for a hotfix for most of these listed problems.
  • ArgathorArgathor Join Date: 2011-07-18 Member: 110942Members, Squad Five Blue
    Duplex and Pub.eu just finished a scrim and although it was a bit off due to loads of mercs etc the gameplay was very dissapointing.

    The balance has been broken for a while and playing matches on the last few patches were incredibly frustrating as marine. The need to play a near perfect game just to have a chance at winning gets old. So I was looking forward to the changes this patch brought and to actually enjoy the marine rounds....

    So I was very shocked to find it is even worse this patch. I realise playtesters identify bugs and help you fix them etc, but surely they could actually, you know, play the game properly and check it actually works like that too? It feels sloppy at the moment.

    Its now impossible to build the RT/PN before skulks arrive (through any one of 2-3 entrances, which is impossible to cover with 1 marine). We lost the crevice RT/Node, and it took 5 attempts and over 2mins of welding to get the node back to 80%. While I had to solo cover 3 entrances (not possible). Why on earth would you think it is ok to make marines stand around not doing anything for several minutes? This puts marines in a vulnerable position for extended periods of time.

    Part of what contributes towards this is map layout (the switch to random starts has brought with it a lot of issues for map balance). The largest part though is down to game balance, its fine when you completely out skill the other team, but if it is even remotely close it is intensely frustrating. I don't think I need to spell it out, a game is meant to be fun/rewarding, not simply frustrating.

    That said public play is mostly more fun. There isnt any form of organised effort by aliens, or so many fast rushes. However, I think as people realise what a weak point PNodes are this will quick devolve. The patch has made it much much easier to shoot aliens as a marine, between the increase in fps and reduced stuttering. This does 'feel' a lot better.

    On to the completely positive. I just made a wall of Whips either side of old Marine start. It was great fun to see all the marines arrive with GLs, only to die to their own grenades and waste them, as they were all beaten away by the Whips. That is a genuinely great move, forcing marines to move forward with Arcs and an array of weapons. It gives aliens a way to 'protect' rts/crags/hydras from mindless and cheap grenade spam, which is a fantasic thing!
  • elodeaelodea Editlodea Join Date: 2009-06-20 Member: 67877Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    What arga said. Simply cannot see Alien start as being a tenable position for marines due to the high ammount of vents and sneaky skulk ways. Summit isn't suited to this random start thing very well..
  • WilsonWilson Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 72867Members
    edited November 2011
    <!--quoteo(post=1886677:date=Nov 24 2011, 08:40 PM:name=Flayra)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Flayra @ Nov 24 2011, 08:40 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1886677"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->We did end up redoing the entire animation system so every animation in the game was affected. For the most part we wanted to exactly duplicate the old animation speeds, but I'm sure we missed some. The important thing for us was to get this build into your hands for early feedback instead of waiting even longer. We especially wanted feedback on all the other map changes, new HUD elements, random start points, etc.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    I think it would have been better to wait until the rest of the stuff was a bit more polished. I think most people don't mind waiting an extra few weeks if the patch is worth it. If you release a build with lots of bugs then the majority of the feedback is going to be talking about that.

    I agree with swalk on the random starts. I just don't think it works very well, at least on summit. Most of the games I've played have gave the aliens an easy place to expand away from the marines. With the default start locations you always had to expand towards the other team which makes defending it a bit harder. It also causes parts of the map to be deserted and not used, whereas with the default start locations fighting took place on both sides.

    I like some of the changes to summit, the new heliport/flight control looks good. I will need to play more before giving any specific map feedback.

    I preferred the old health bars on the bottom left. I guess you wanted them to be closer to the ammo, but I think it's easier to read if they are separate. I don't like that they look like chunky blocks rather than meters - they look too squished in to me (perhaps it's my resolution). There's also a lot of clutter on the hud as swalk mentioned. I think the fonts could be changed to give a more futuristic feel.
  • KoruyoKoruyo AUT Join Date: 2009-06-06 Member: 67724Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited November 2011
    Reload-speed is fine, pretty 1:1 to the old animation system... and not as fast in games like CoD. (one in the chamber + perk)

    The only thing that felt strange at first was the very fast weapon draw after sprint - but after playing a bit, i love it... also i have no problem playing as aliens against it.



    MY BIGGEST Problems:

    SOUND!!!
    Ambient sound is too loud, and sounds kinda too muffled? or so...
    You cant hear footsteps or bite hits anymore etc. its kinda like playing ns2 without ingame sound while listening to music... you have 0 orientation anymore where stuff happens.

    Ambient sound and music have their own sliders in the options menu - i hope they are going to work soonish. (we dont need to be able to turn it off - but at least a good amount quieter)
    187 without ambient sounds was pretty good(footsteps etc-wise)... guess you would need to slighly increase volume on important stuff like footsteps, lerk flapping, blink, bite hit sounds etc, and lower ambient sounds

    POWERNODES!!!
    We need welders asap, repair rate is soooooooooooooo slow. (at least i guess that change was done with welder in mind, it kinda also feels like multiple marines dont speed up the repairs :X)

    TRAM
    Dunno if its still an AO issue , or some other stuff like the atmosph. or particles but at some places you get extreme fps drops(especially in the center area of the map - also overall i get way worse fps in tram than on summit still ~40fps tram ~70fps on summit (+-10 or so)

    SERVER CLIENT
    I dunno why but something drags down my tickrates (dedicated server) the longer a match takes, not so much in competative games (since you dont spam hydras and sentry too much usually) but in public matches - where i was around 27-30 tickrate the last patches (or at least i cant remember that i ever had tickrates below 25, other than loading 12bots and lots of hydras and sentrys), its now getting as slow as 14-17.

    I love most other stuff - especially the random start locations - its great!
  • fanaticfanatic This post has been edited. Join Date: 2003-07-23 Member: 18377Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
    <!--quoteo(post=1886689:date=Nov 24 2011, 10:16 PM:name=Argathor)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Argathor @ Nov 24 2011, 10:16 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1886689"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Its now impossible to build the RT/PN before skulks arrive (through any one of 2-3 entrances, which is impossible to cover with 1 marine). We lost the crevice RT/Node, and it took 5 attempts and over 2mins of welding to get the node back to 80%. While I had to solo cover 3 entrances (not possible). Why on earth would you think it is ok to make marines stand around not doing anything for several minutes? This puts marines in a vulnerable position for extended periods of time.

    Part of what contributes towards this is map layout (the switch to random starts has brought with it a lot of issues for map balance). The largest part though is down to game balance, its fine when you completely out skill the other team, but if it is even remotely close it is intensely frustrating. I don't think I need to spell it out, a game is meant to be fun/rewarding, not simply frustrating.

    That said public play is mostly more fun. There isnt any form of organised effort by aliens, or so many fast rushes. However, I think as people realise what a weak point PNodes are this will quick devolve. The patch has made it much much easier to shoot aliens as a marine, between the increase in fps and reduced stuttering. This does 'feel' a lot better.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I've said it before and I'll keep repeating it; powernodes are a dead end in gameplay direction. It's just another boring gameplay task (look at <x> and press e until you get to 100%) you "have to" do before you're allowed to do the fun things. When it was just structures, it was tolerable and actually added to gameplay, but powernodes pushes it over the edge. The sooner powernodes are axed the sooner we'll be on the way to a game that's actually fun to play for extended periods of time.
  • MuYeahMuYeah Join Date: 2006-12-26 Member: 59261Members
    The only way power nodes won't be terrible is if instead of requiring to be built, marine structures powered up over 5-10 seconds with no outside influence.

    If you think about it, it doesn't really make sense for there to be two different systems governing whether a building is operational or not. Built/unbuilt and powered/unpowered. One of them definitely seems redundant.
  • Squeal_Like_A_PigSqueal_Like_A_Pig Janitor Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 66Members, Super Administrators, NS1 Playtester, NS2 Developer, Reinforced - Supporter, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Developer
    edited November 2011
    <!--quoteo(post=1886691:date=Nov 24 2011, 09:31 PM:name=Wilson)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Wilson @ Nov 24 2011, 09:31 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1886691"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I think it would have been better to wait until the rest of the stuff was a bit more polished. I think most people don't mind waiting an extra few weeks if the patch is worth it. If you release a build with lots of bugs then the majority of the feedback is going to be talking about that.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    The point of this early game access is for the community to get a look into a game's development, and help contribute towards its evolution to a finished product. If every patch has to be polished and perfectly playable, then we may as well close the Beta, and let everyone wait until the game is released, so they can play a stable, optimized, balanced and bug free game.

    There is only so much we can playtest internally with a few servers and a small group of playtesters. When we put out a patch, we get a lot of feedback from the public, and even if the majority of it is bugs that people are talking about, then that helps us find those bugs and fix them.
    <!--quoteo(post=1886693:date=Nov 24 2011, 09:35 PM:name=Koruyo)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Koruyo @ Nov 24 2011, 09:35 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1886693"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->POWERNODES!!!
    We need welders asap, repair rate is soooooooooooooo slow. (at least i guess that change was done with welder in mind, it kinda also feels like multiple marines dont speed up the repairs :X)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    This is a bug, and will be back to the normal repair rate in the next patch.

    The marine HUD is a work in progress, and will continue to improve, though we are happy with the direction it is going in.

    Random starts are just being tried out, and we knew it was going to break the balance to some degree on some of the existing maps. However, the additional depth and game variety it adds so far seems to be worth keeping it in, and we can continue to tweak the maps and the random starts to work better. For example, removing some techpoints from the start list, setting more restrictions like a minimal distance between starting rooms, possibly having only aliens start randomly and not marines, etc.

    --Cory
  • Deagle2Deagle2 Join Date: 2010-11-30 Member: 75360Members
    So yeah, as said by Max on another thread, I tried disabling GUI to see if it improved performance with r_gui false. And I'm pretty sure it does, but it's not the only thing because even without GUI I still have better FPS when respawning on an infantry portal than while in game.
    Also another thing that causes fps drop is when there are too much stuff built or too much infestation, but I don't know if it's a matter of optimisation or if it was the server I played on that was too weak.

    But I have to say this build brings lots of good optimisations, and I like all the new features as well (And I tried the Onos command with cheats and I've seen shaking lights omg can't wait :D )
    We're getting closer and closer to being able to play this at 60fps all the time !
    Good Job UWE, keep on doing what you do the way you do it.
  • Soylent_greenSoylent_green Join Date: 2002-12-20 Member: 11220Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    <!--quoteo(post=1886712:date=Nov 24 2011, 06:00 PM:name=Squeal_Like_A_Pig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squeal_Like_A_Pig @ Nov 24 2011, 06:00 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1886712"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->For example, removing some techpoints from the start list, setting more restrictions like a minimal distance between starting rooms, possibly having only aliens start randomly and not marines, etc.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Could be implemented very easily and flexibly by just giving the mapper an ability to list all valid pairs of marine and alien spawn points
  • SmaugSmaug Join Date: 2011-05-23 Member: 100283Members
    edited November 2011
    Haven't been able to join a server yet, as for some reason it hangs me after doing all the connection messages at the top left, screen remains black and ultimately I time out, so will attempt this again tomorrow.

    I did however manage to load up Tram on my own, and without turning anything off (bloom, atmospherics etc) I was getting 30 fps average, so I do wonder how badly I will be affected when I'm on an actual server with others on!

    I have to admit, I dislike the HUD, from the squashed nature of the minimap and the health bar at the bottom right, to the HUD load-up animation. I feel that the minimap should be more transparent, and less like a letterbox (it should be more square imo) as it feels as though I'm getting more vision along the horizontal than I am the vertical, and it makes me feel uneasy. As was mentioned above, the health bars should be bars, because most of the time I don't care for reading numbers, especially in the middle of the fight. The longer the bars are, the easier it is to gauge at a glance (but obviously not insanely long as that would clutter the screen! (enter school of thought "Less is More" :P)).

    The other thing with the HUD is the loadup animation thing. I believe Wilson mentioned above that logging out of the comm station to defend, the blue hue clouds your vision - it really is those first few seconds of logging out of the comm station that's the most difficult when defending a "counter-skulk", as your vision is completely blocked by the comm station itself and you wanna get eyes on the skulk asap. What I had imagined would be a nice HUD loadup (because it's small things like these that really says to people "This game is polished") would be is when the marine is lifting his gun, you would hear a tiny unobtrusive click on the side of your helmet before moving his hand to hold the gun, then the individual parts of the HUD (minimap, Comm/Res status, healthbars) would pop up randomly (but in their designated places) with a kind of 1 second-computerised-fuzzy effect with another unobtrusive sound effect (kinda like a "Wommm!" sound) for each part of the HUD quickly loading up within that 1 - 2 seconds that the marine is positioning his gun.

    I love the random spawn locations, especially for Tram, as I believe it is more suited to it due to the nature of the map, but I would protest to others about removing random starts for Summit, even though, admittedly, I have not managed to play any games yet. Random Start locations simply adds so much more to a map (with the exception of randomly starting at Crossroads in ns2_summit, that was a wise decision imo) and provides the competitive side much more to go with, and gives spectators more intrigue. Ns2_summit is still in development, and more to the point, the game itself is still in development, and even more to the point, people's understanding of the game is still in development. To come back, not even after the first day, and say that Summit should have static spawn positions is a little brash, and without meaning to sound elitist, we should be letting teams play scrims/matches with random spawn locations on Summit to really see what can be done with it - as has been proven in SC2, a lot of trends seen on ladder derive from seeing the professionals doing said trends, and the same will happen in NS2 if the competitive scene becomes successful, and so public play will become a lot more enjoyable through imitation and understanding.

    Again, I apologize for being so forward about this without having played any games yet myself, but I doubt that many people can be so sure with only a few hours of gameplay time clocked with the random spawn implementation.

    Can't wait to properly try out the defecating macs in an actual game, thank you for giving the comm something more to do - I believe that the Comm (alien as well as marines) should be as involved in a skirmish/battle as the players themselves, more than just hovering the mouse over the marines with health packs!

    Thank you for the new flamethrower effect, it looks great, and doesn't cover the screen half as much as it used to, which is fantastic.

    Marines weapon switching and rifle-butt (especially rifle-butt) feels incredibly sluggish, but you guys have mentioned that already.

    As for the Power Nodes, I do in part have to agree with Fana, they should go (as someone else mentioned, marine buildings have 2 inactive states, which is quite awkward, and now that a massive visual indicator of one of the inactive states doesn't imply that the buildings are necessarily unpowered, the light/dark rooms defining on/off, makes it even more awkward), but at the same time, I really want to see the power nodes work well. The thing is, and I hate to sound so condescending about it, but holding E for ages is not fun - but the idea of marines holding a room down whilst the builder does something productive has quite a high immersion factor, but the difficulty is in making it fun, but I'm afraid I have no suggestions on how to achieve that fun factor, sorry!

    Also, having to build Power Nodes from the get-go also sucks I'm afraid. I very much appreciate Wilson's idea of dropping a room for the first time gives a free already-built power node, but if we take that further it's a little non-intuitive for new players (which it simply has to be intuitive). For example, if aliens wipe a room out, power node included, the next time the commander drops something in the room, he isn't getting that free power node. You can't rely on him having read tutorials, you can't rely on people telling him what to do, the most likely scenario is that he will get frustrated, and his teammates will get frustrated - you have to rely on visual indicators. You also have to remember that the commander can only tell if a room is being contested, not like it was in 187, so he might come to conclusions that when the room is lit again, when he drops he gets a new power node again, and so forth, and so on.

    I suppose a method would be to bring back 187's ready-built power nodes, but with an extra material covering power nodes, although in my eyes that feels very tacky. Dropping a building in the room would blow the cover off the power node, and from then on 188's power node system would work, but my problem with that is it sort of destroys what UWE were aiming for, in a sense, that you would have to prep the room before building - I mean, from what I've read so far, the real problem is in getting the first 2 RT's either side of your expo, but maybe that's because gameplay thus far has not permitted the game going beyond marines fighting for their first RT's. I guess another thought is to give free Power Nodes in RT rooms, but Comm rooms they are unbuilt? Still, that feels awkward.

    Which brings me to another point regarding intuitiveness, especially for newbies - Power Nodes, in 188's system, has been given more importance. They _need_ to show up on the minimap, especially for the commander. It's fine to say that the comm should learn the map, but that doesn't mean one should neglect helpers as simple as this. I also feel it should be the same for doors, because searching around the map to learn where doors and power nodes are is boring - no one wants to have to do that - and you run the risk of the comm missing where the doors and nodes are because they blend in so well with the map, whereas just looking at the minimap and seeing the icons is so much more intuitive and easier to register. I also feel that areas on the minimap (both comm and players) should be colour coded so that you can see at a glance where exactly the extremities of a power node's power is. I understand from a mapping POV that's a bit tough, as areas are basically defined by a brush-entity, so effectively you encase the area in a box, whereas to colour code and not make it look crap on the minimap, you'd probably have to shape the brush-entity.

    Lastly, I found a bug whilst playing on my own - if you run with the pistol out and let go of the run button, you enter a "slowing down" animation, I believe. If you try and switch your pistol's mode with secondary during the slowing down, your pistol won't fire. You'll hear the click as if you had pressed the mode switch, but the animation won't show. Switching weapon doesn't fix it, but pressing the pistol-mode-switch button again fixes it.

    Thanks for letting us check out the new build. I hope I didn't come across as harsh or ignorant of certain aspects due to my not having actually played in a server yet. I do believe however that a patch-fix (probably after the weekend) will have to be released, and frankly I am confident UWE will. This game is awesome, and I always find myself yearning for the next patch. Was quite dissapointed we didn't get the Onos this patch either, but nevermind, hopefully soon! :P

    Edit: Just got into a server for a round, and realized I misunderstood how a room's lights come back, that is, they don't come back on their own after a period of time (which I do believe is a better way, if they are going to leave the lights on at the start without any power packs in place. The idea was that the lights stay on longer so you could take in the visuals better, but all this system does is make the lights stay on at the start indefinatly, which they generally do anyway, imo something along the lines of having the lights come back on 60s after a power node has been taken down, by which point any "contest" within that room will be over with, and of course, the lights would come back on sooner if the marines get the Power Node back on), making what I said above as an example of "potential confusion" invalid. Sorry!
  • Squeal_Like_A_PigSqueal_Like_A_Pig Janitor Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 66Members, Super Administrators, NS1 Playtester, NS2 Developer, Reinforced - Supporter, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Developer
    <!--quoteo(post=1886715:date=Nov 24 2011, 11:11 PM:name=Soylent_green)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Soylent_green @ Nov 24 2011, 11:11 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1886715"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Could be implemented very easily and flexibly by just giving the mapper an ability to list all valid pairs of marine and alien spawn points<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    That already is implemented. The mappers can flag a techpoint in the editor as either an alien spawn, marine spawn, or neither.

    --Cory
  • LazerLazer Join Date: 2003-03-11 Member: 14406Members, Contributor, Constellation, NS2 Playtester
    edited November 2011
    Great job with the patch guys really liking the improvements! Some thoughts about the random start locations:

    I really like the concept and is quite nostalgic of NS1. Having marines start random as well helps keep things even more interesting. This said, the current system is a little broken allowing either team to start anywhere (such as a central TP giving unfair map control). What we need is a variable for mappers to set on each tech point entity which dictates what team(s) can start there; either team, alien only, marine only, neither (but can be built mid round of course).

    This will allow mappers many possible map setups such as:
    -Pre-188 static starting positions (only 1 alien start, 1 marine start, rest set as neither)
    -NS1 styles maps with 3 potential alien starts and a static marine one
    -Purely random (188 style)
    -Anything in between.

    EDIT:Ah Cory explained this right before I posted >_< The flag is there but it's not working right now. Pure randomness for a patch or two is fun though :)
  • Raza.Raza. Join Date: 2004-01-24 Member: 25663Members, Constellation
    <!--quoteo(post=1886695:date=Nov 24 2011, 10:42 PM:name=fanatic)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (fanatic @ Nov 24 2011, 10:42 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1886695"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I've said it before and I'll keep repeating it; powernodes are a dead end in gameplay direction. It's just another boring gameplay task (look at <x> and press e until you get to 100%) you "have to" do before you're allowed to do the fun things. When it was just structures, it was tolerable and actually added to gameplay, but powernodes pushes it over the edge. The sooner powernodes are axed the sooner we'll be on the way to a game that's actually fun to play for extended periods of time.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    <!--quoteo(post=1886697:date=Nov 24 2011, 10:52 PM:name=MuYeah)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MuYeah @ Nov 24 2011, 10:52 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1886697"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The only way power nodes won't be terrible is if instead of requiring to be built, marine structures powered up over 5-10 seconds with no outside influence.

    If you think about it, it doesn't really make sense for there to be two different systems governing whether a building is operational or not. Built/unbuilt and powered/unpowered. One of them definitely seems redundant.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    I agree. The two major things that power nodes add to NS2 are visuals and downtime (destroying/repairing), but do they improve the gameplay in any way? Originally, power nodes were meant to add supply lines to the game (see 2009 blog post). Not sure if that would have worked out - I can certainly think of negative effects - but at least the nodes had a clear purpose. Currently the nodes seem like the last remainders of a once larger gameplay concept.
  • KalabalanaKalabalana Join Date: 2003-11-14 Member: 22859Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1886712:date=Nov 24 2011, 06:00 PM:name=Squeal_Like_A_Pig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squeal_Like_A_Pig @ Nov 24 2011, 06:00 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1886712"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The point of this early game access is for the community to get a look into a game's development, and help contribute towards its evolution to a finished product.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I've been in quite a number of conversations with both the top, and most experienced players in NS2, and of all the amazing things I've heard, nothing has been received by UWE.

    I am not trying to be accusatory or insulting, this is simply the truth, and here we are.
  • pSyk0mAnpSyk0mAn Nerdish by Nature Germany Join Date: 2003-08-07 Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
    edited November 2011
    <!--quoteo(post=1886716:date=Nov 25 2011, 01:13 AM:name=Smaug)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Smaug @ Nov 25 2011, 01:13 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1886716"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I love the random spawn locations, especially for Tram, as I believe it is more suited to it due to the nature of the map, but I would protest to others about removing random starts for Summit, even though, admittedly, I have not managed to play any games yet. Random Start locations simply adds so much more to a map (with the exception of randomly starting at Crossroads in ns2_summit, that was a wise decision imo) and provides the competitive side much more to go with, and gives spectators more intrigue. Ns2_summit is still in development, and more to the point, the game itself is still in development, and even more to the point, people's understanding of the game is still in development. To come back, not even after the first day, and say that Summit should have static spawn positions is a little brash, and without meaning to sound elitist, we should be letting teams play scrims/matches with random spawn locations on Summit to really see what can be done with it - as has been proven in SC2, a lot of trends seen on ladder derive from seeing the professionals doing said trends, and the same will happen in NS2 if the competitive scene becomes successful, and so public play will become a lot more enjoyable through imitation and understanding.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    +1

    There aren't many changes in Summit to improve random starts gameplay yet, and there are a few issues with doors and vents regarding random starts in general that UWE is aware of.
    This just needs to be tested for a long time by a lot of players under all kind of conditions,
    and considering how much this feature adds to game it's worth to make changes and try out as many random start locations as possible.
  • ZekZek Join Date: 2002-11-10 Member: 7962Members, NS1 Playtester, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    I definitely think all the standard maps should have random spawns. This forces the mapmaker to balance all the routes properly, which is important since all those CC/Hive room combinations can happen anyway if marines have to relocate. The only exception might be something like a central tech point, but I question the wisdom of having a place like that in any map. NS1 had important central areas in the form of double resource nodes, and that was a good balance - a very advantageous area that's actually challenging to defend rather than trivial.
  • WilsonWilson Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 72867Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1886695:date=Nov 24 2011, 09:42 PM:name=fanatic)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (fanatic @ Nov 24 2011, 09:42 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1886695"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I've said it before and I'll keep repeating it; powernodes are a dead end in gameplay direction. It's just another boring gameplay task (look at <x> and press e until you get to 100%) you "have to" do before you're allowed to do the fun things. When it was just structures, it was tolerable and actually added to gameplay, but powernodes pushes it over the edge. The sooner powernodes are axed the sooner we'll be on the way to a game that's actually fun to play for extended periods of time.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    I agree, I think the main gameplay element they added was a weak point at the marine base to help break stalemates, although it wasn't really effective as any marine could weld it. In all the other rooms it just becomes a hassle to repair them all the time.

    I think a better implementation of this would be to just make the RTs power all structures within a room. You need to build the RT before building anything else (which is normally the case anyway). If the RT gets taken down then all the structures in that room go offline. As long as the maps are designed to leave the RTs somewhat exposed then you always have that weak point within a room without any unnecessary building.

    To be honest though I don't really like the idea of having a weak point anyway, because it implies that without it the base would be very difficult to take down. My thinking is that if you need to have a weak point to take the base out then other parts of the game are broken and allowing the other team to turtle up endlessly.


    As far as random spawns go, I think it's pretty hard to say if they will work or not considering many parts of the game are missing. It definitely doesn't work in the current build on summit, but once the marines need to expand as well and other things get added then it may play a lot differently.
  • JaweeseJaweese Join Date: 2006-11-04 Member: 58356Members
    Here's some quick feedback on this change:

    <!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Increased marine jump height to allow them to move over railings more easily<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    While increasing the marine jump height seems nice, it's really only treating the symptom of the real problem, which is that the <i>gravity is too high.</i>

    Assuming that marine walking speed has remained constant from NS1 to NS2, you get a unit conversion rate of 40:1 between the two games (200 units/second in NS1, and 5 units/second in NS2). Since NS1's gravity was 800, NS2 should have gravity set at 20 instead of 24.
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