douchebagatronCustom member titleJoin Date: 2003-12-20Member: 24581Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
nice build! I really like the onos. it needs some polish but I think the direction is amazing.
Some feedback:
a couple times I died with the onos while still having armor. This was when I had carapace. The first time I had almost 100 armor left, not sure how that happened. the second time I only had like 15.
the view is a little jittery when running/attacking.
I'm never certain if stomp is going to fire or not. it seems hit or miss, especially when moving.
It seems like stomp can be interrupted by attacking with another attack, or maybe even stomp again, so if you keep spamming stomp you might never actually stomp. This was more of a problem when combined with the previous issue.
This game is turning out great and gorgeous, 195 is so much fun! Played for five hours today with a friend and we had a blast!
The only shame about it is the maps, feels like Summit is the only map where the sides were equally balanced. Mineshaft looks cool but it is favoring aliens all the way up to the point where marines get jetpacks. It's like the only thing that can allow a marine to traverse the map quickly enough to get to the important areas. Tram gave us grief with the ventilations with a Gorge that we couldn't even touch, I think when marines claim a Command Station would shut off those air duct entrances automatically.
Also, jetpacks are freaking boss. Nailed it when it comes to air control on the first patch it feels like.
twilitebluebug stalkerJoin Date: 2003-02-04Member: 13116Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
<!--quoteo(post=1902192:date=Feb 11 2012, 05:42 PM:name=6john)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (6john @ Feb 11 2012, 05:42 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1902192"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->a couple times I died with the onos while still having armor. This was when I had carapace. The first time I had almost 100 armor left, not sure how that happened. the second time I only had like 15.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> That is probably because of Light damage, which deals less damage to armor. A fully Carapaced Ono's armor can take a lot of punishment. Ironically, its health cannot take as much punishment.
A few questions and thoughts I ran to in today's games.
Why can't we make two hives of the same tech? Also, I don't really like the amount of tech you can have as an alien being tied to the hives.
Why does parasite mine kill award 1 point when a lerk spike mine kill gives 10? Also, parasiting dead marine ragdolls gives you a point as well, even if you parasited the marine already before. Also why is it so hard to land a parasite hit on a marine? Seems impossible sometimes, or then the parasite is blocked by the tiniest, lone piece of fence when you clearly shoot past it.
Why is shotgun tech so cheap when it's the best weapon in the game (atm)? It's so, SO much better than the rifle that the tech should cost at least 25. I'm guessing it was made cheap to counter early skulk rushes but people really should learn to use the rifle as well. And if aliens die in two rush attempts, they're out of eggs and marines win, so there's no need for the shotgun to be cheap for that reason anymore. Also, egg amounts/spawntimes still don't scale too well in 9vs9 small map. 6vs6 seems fine.
<!--quoteo(post=1901499:date=Feb 10 2012, 09:33 AM:name=Max)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Max @ Feb 10 2012, 09:33 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1901499"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->This is one of those cases where you can't please everyone (for <a href="http://"e.g.%20<a%20href="http://www.shacknews.com/article/48578/aspect-ratiogate-07-bioshock-widescreen""%20target="_blank">http://www.shacknews.com/article/48578/asp...idescreen"</a>" target="_blank">example</a>). Based on the feedback we've received during the beta period, most people prefer the game to have a fixed vertical FOV, so we made the change.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think this fact hasn't been mentioned in the discussion this far (I also just realized it recently):
<b>Whether or not the field of view (FOV) feels appropriate depends on the physical monitor size and the distance from your eyes to the monitor (explanation see below)!</b> As this will vary quite a bit between users, it is a great argument for the inclusion of a slider to adjust the FOV to some degree.
You can imagine that the straight lines from your eyes to the corners of your monitor need to continue into the virtual world. The FOV feels natural (non-distorted) if these lines do not have to bend when going from the real world (your eyes to the monitor) to the virtual world (monitor surface to Onos).
I do like the change to fix the vertical rather than the horizontal FOV though. I think it works better when you assume approximately the same physical height across monitors (not sure about this assumption). At the very least it does not break for very wide-aspect-ratio monitors and multi-monitor setups. Before the change a multi-monitor setup would reduce your vertical FOV to something unplayable.
So I think the argument might be: The physical FOV (eye to monitor surface) varies a lot more horizontally so we should make the vertical FOV of the game constant :) But in addition a slider would be good that allows to tweak the FOV a bit!
<!--quoteo(post=1901517:date=Feb 9 2012, 05:20 PM:name=Wisp)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Wisp @ Feb 9 2012, 05:20 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1901517"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->This is 2012. Why are you still running around with a 5:4 monitor?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> cause not every one can afford a 100$ monitor i have a newer monitor and i almost cried when 100$ left my pocket try to learn some empathy!
<!--quoteo(post=1902413:date=Feb 12 2012, 08:11 PM:name=Cyberwarrior00785)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Cyberwarrior00785 @ Feb 12 2012, 08:11 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1902413"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->cause not every one can afford a 100$ monitor i have a newer monitor and i almost cried when 100$ left my pocket try to learn some empathy!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> If your system can run NS2 reasonably, affording a widescreen-monitor will be a non-issue.
<!--quoteo(post=1902423:date=Feb 12 2012, 01:01 PM:name=player)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (player @ Feb 12 2012, 01:01 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1902423"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->If your system can run NS2 reasonably, affording a widescreen-monitor will be a non-issue.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> im not even going to get into it with you about how hard it was to save up money for this comp most of it was a present from friends and family sheesh try to think a bit harder
Dude go on ebay there are loads of widescreens for cheap.
NS2 is looking awesome atm - really love the onos, although as someone said it is a bit jittery when running.
One minor annoyance still is the inconsistency in menu escape keys. Armoury you can hit ESC to close it, but another building will only accept X, while another will accept neither (must press the button, I believe its the advanced tech lab).
I've found in Mineshaft when the marines have the base with the glass panel behind the comm chair, a skulk can go up there from behind and evolve into a gorge and bile bomb it when sliding down the glass panel, it kills anything near the comm chair. Can be used as an exploit :(
I'm just gonna report this here because I trust devs and playtesters read this thread frequently.
<i>Bug of the year 2012: Hatching from an IP as a skulk.</i> <img src="http://i.imgur.com/IANvj.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Steps to reproduce (works sometimes only, don't know why): Join marine team. Be on spawn queue (not spawning). Type 'rr' in console and then 'j2' to join aliens. When you hatch, your camera is taken to the marine IP instead of an egg and you spawn from there as a skulk, then can kill everything in their base. I'm not sure if this worked because the aliens were out of eggs. Sometimes it just doesn't work.
<!--quoteo(post=1902585:date=Feb 13 2012, 09:42 AM:name=Skie)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Skie @ Feb 13 2012, 09:42 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1902585"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I'm just gonna report this here because I trust devs and playtesters read this thread frequently.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Good catch but maybe email would have been better. I would hate griefers to get a hold of this one.
Kouji_SanSr. Hινε UÏкεεÏεг - EUPT DeputyThe NetherlandsJoin Date: 2003-05-13Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
edited February 2012
<!--quoteo(post=1902585:date=Feb 13 2012, 10:42 AM:name=Skie)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Skie @ Feb 13 2012, 10:42 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1902585"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><i>Bug of the year 2012: Hatching from an IP as a skulk.</i><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Interesting stuff, I'll have a look at repro-ing it with some of the PT's. Not only interesting, but a scary thought the Kharaa have perhaps hacked the TSA technology... Again :P
<!--quoteo(post=1902480:date=Feb 12 2012, 07:27 PM:name=Cyberwarrior00785)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Cyberwarrior00785 @ Feb 12 2012, 07:27 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1902480"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->im not even going to get into it with you about how hard it was to save up money for this comp most of it was a present from friends and family sheesh try to think a bit harder<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Eh, what? It was difficult to get the money since most of it was through your friends and family? :V So you do have a widescreen 16:9/10 monitor now, yea? If your old one was a flat-screen (Or the old CRT) you can pair them up, quite useful for certain things. That's what I did, made me feel a little better when I paid for my new monitor and had the old one still usable.
and also another bug on mineshaft map, the location where the big drill is hanging from the ceiling (sorry forgot it's name, took screenshots but they came out all black), and there is a hanger in the floor which is slighty open for skulks to crawl up from. The onos can fall down this tiny hole :/
<!--quoteo(post=1902780:date=Feb 13 2012, 07:33 PM:name=RockyMarc)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RockyMarc @ Feb 13 2012, 07:33 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1902780"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->and also another bug on mineshaft map, the location where the big drill is hanging from the ceiling (sorry forgot it's name, took screenshots but they came out all black), and there is a hanger in the floor which is slighty open for skulks to crawl up from. The onos can fall down this tiny hole :/<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Drill Repair.
Also pertaining to that, Onos get stuck under the drill bit that is hanging from the ceiling (presumably the drill bit that is being repaired). This isn't a bug per say, but it is very annoying when the Onos is constantly forced to crouch if he wants to walk anywhere but the edges of the room. For all I know though the mapper did this intentionally, but I thought that feedback might be helpful. On the marine sides it feels very unrewarding to kill an Onos only because the level geometry was unforgiving.
Comments
Some feedback:
a couple times I died with the onos while still having armor. This was when I had carapace. The first time I had almost 100 armor left, not sure how that happened. the second time I only had like 15.
the view is a little jittery when running/attacking.
I'm never certain if stomp is going to fire or not. it seems hit or miss, especially when moving.
It seems like stomp can be interrupted by attacking with another attack, or maybe even stomp again, so if you keep spamming stomp you might never actually stomp. This was more of a problem when combined with the previous issue.
The only shame about it is the maps, feels like Summit is the only map where the sides were equally balanced. Mineshaft looks cool but it is favoring aliens all the way up to the point where marines get jetpacks. It's like the only thing that can allow a marine to traverse the map quickly enough to get to the important areas. Tram gave us grief with the ventilations with a Gorge that we couldn't even touch, I think when marines claim a Command Station would shut off those air duct entrances automatically.
Also, jetpacks are freaking boss. Nailed it when it comes to air control on the first patch it feels like.
That is probably because of Light damage, which deals less damage to armor. A fully Carapaced Ono's armor can take a lot of punishment. Ironically, its health cannot take as much punishment.
For anyone interested,
Effective HP = MIN[ (Health/0.3) , (Health + Armour*k) ]
where
k(Heavy) = 1
k(Normal) = 2
k(Light) = 4
So it appears that in the situation described above, (Health/0.3) was less than (Health + Armour*4).
Made a graph:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/8YPMR.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Why can't we make two hives of the same tech? Also, I don't really like the amount of tech you can have as an alien being tied to the hives.
Why does parasite mine kill award 1 point when a lerk spike mine kill gives 10? Also, parasiting dead marine ragdolls gives you a point as well, even if you parasited the marine already before. Also why is it so hard to land a parasite hit on a marine? Seems impossible sometimes, or then the parasite is blocked by the tiniest, lone piece of fence when you clearly shoot past it.
Why is shotgun tech so cheap when it's the best weapon in the game (atm)? It's so, SO much better than the rifle that the tech should cost at least 25. I'm guessing it was made cheap to counter early skulk rushes but people really should learn to use the rifle as well. And if aliens die in two rush attempts, they're out of eggs and marines win, so there's no need for the shotgun to be cheap for that reason anymore. Also, egg amounts/spawntimes still don't scale too well in 9vs9 small map. 6vs6 seems fine.
I think this fact hasn't been mentioned in the discussion this far (I also just realized it recently):
<b>Whether or not the field of view (FOV) feels appropriate depends on the physical monitor size and the distance from your eyes to the monitor (explanation see below)!</b> As this will vary quite a bit between users, it is a great argument for the inclusion of a slider to adjust the FOV to some degree.
You can imagine that the straight lines from your eyes to the corners of your monitor need to continue into the virtual world. The FOV feels natural (non-distorted) if these lines do not have to bend when going from the real world (your eyes to the monitor) to the virtual world (monitor surface to Onos).
I do like the change to fix the vertical rather than the horizontal FOV though. I think it works better when you assume approximately the same physical height across monitors (not sure about this assumption). At the very least it does not break for very wide-aspect-ratio monitors and multi-monitor setups. Before the change a multi-monitor setup would reduce your vertical FOV to something unplayable.
So I think the argument might be: The physical FOV (eye to monitor surface) varies a lot more horizontally so we should make the vertical FOV of the game constant :) But in addition a slider would be good that allows to tweak the FOV a bit!
cause not every one can afford a 100$ monitor i have a newer monitor and i almost cried when 100$ left my pocket try to learn some empathy!
If your system can run NS2 reasonably, affording a widescreen-monitor will be a non-issue.
im not even going to get into it with you about how hard it was to save up money for this comp most of it was a present from friends and family sheesh try to think a bit harder
NS2 is looking awesome atm - really love the onos, although as someone said it is a bit jittery when running.
One minor annoyance still is the inconsistency in menu escape keys. Armoury you can hit ESC to close it, but another building will only accept X, while another will accept neither (must press the button, I believe its the advanced tech lab).
Can be used as an exploit :(
<i>Bug of the year 2012: Hatching from an IP as a skulk.</i>
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/IANvj.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Steps to reproduce (works sometimes only, don't know why):
Join marine team. Be on spawn queue (not spawning).
Type 'rr' in console and then 'j2' to join aliens.
When you hatch, your camera is taken to the marine IP instead of an egg and you spawn from there as a skulk, then can kill everything in their base. I'm not sure if this worked because the aliens were out of eggs. Sometimes it just doesn't work.
Good catch but maybe email would have been better. I would hate griefers to get a hold of this one.
Also, you don't have to play with griffons. Gathers are usually pretty griffon free because you can get banned from them.
im suprized the skulk ip spawn bug is back
before you did it by joining random team when there where not enough eggs and if the teams where balanced.
Interesting stuff, I'll have a look at repro-ing it with some of the PT's. Not only interesting, but a scary thought the Kharaa have perhaps hacked the TSA technology... Again :P
Eh, what?
It was difficult to get the money since most of it was through your friends and family? :V
So you do have a widescreen 16:9/10 monitor now, yea? If your old one was a flat-screen (Or the old CRT) you can pair them up, quite useful for certain things. That's what I did, made me feel a little better when I paid for my new monitor and had the old one still usable.
Drill Repair.
Also pertaining to that, Onos get stuck under the drill bit that is hanging from the ceiling (presumably the drill bit that is being repaired). This isn't a bug per say, but it is very annoying when the Onos is constantly forced to crouch if he wants to walk anywhere but the edges of the room. For all I know though the mapper did this intentionally, but I thought that feedback might be helpful. On the marine sides it feels very unrewarding to kill an Onos only because the level geometry was unforgiving.