Some Thoughts About The Game.
Straylight
Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2783Members
Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2783Members
<div class="IPBDescription">This post sorta ran away from me...</div> Dunno what out of this has been posted/replied to by the devs before so I'll just talk. Feel free to tell me if it's been brought up a million times and what the official word is.
Bugs:
+Bile bomb does nothing to buildings nor does xen as far as I can tell. Aren't they supposed to do double damage?
+You don't seem to be able to use "melee weapons" in vents (at least on some maps.) It's really anoying when you wait for that marine to reload his hmg and dash up there and bite him (with his LA jetpack) 8 times with no effect.
+As a skulk I don't seem to be able to climb up some of the ladders. This isn't usually a problem but if I can climb walls why should a ladder give me any trouble?
+[Edit] In the manual the marine turrets are only supposed to be able to aim upwards more than 30 degrees. I've never been able to get at a steep enough angle for them not to aquire me and it's cerainly more then 30 degrees.
Not sure if these are intentional but I doubt it:
+As a skulk I can "leap" in mid air. If you leap straight up you can jump again just as you start to fall back down. Personally I like doing it but it defies the laws of physics.
+Stacked buildings. Given the way buildings are drawn (especially alien towers,) they look really stupid when you stack them up. I think you shouldn't be able to put them on top of eachother. That is all.
Suggestions (not really bugs though)
+Make ammo from the armory go only into your "reload" (don't let it cap off the clip you have in at the time.) With a GL you can maintain continous grenade fire this way and personally I think this is very cheep.
+Do something about vent camping after all hives gone. It's just silly, then aliens are not going to make a "comeback 99.99% of the time" and so many people leave. I suggest a countdown timer followed by some sort of damage over time.
Wishlist:
+I think the commander should have somewhere on his HUD a list of all the marines on his team. The marines names could flash one color if they make a request through the GUI and another if they say something in teamsay. A left click would select them and a right click would slelect them and move to their location on the map.
Balance (stop reading):
Basicly I think the problem is that at various points in the game one team can do absoulutely nothing to stop the other especially the aliens. The tech difference makes it "hopeless" for one side and half of one team leaves (because they are not scraching the HA/HMGs as skulks or the onos/fades as LA/LMGs)... which of course makes it only worse. This is classic RTS but not really alot of fun for either side (at least IMO.) I love the early game when it is still up in the air and I wish it at least somewhat stayed true to the end.
It's worse for the aliens because they "lose" abilities they have gained as they are pushed back. I think it would help if they could keep the ability (and resource cap) to evlove to into fades if they have taken 2 hives at ANY point in the game or onos if they have somehow lost a 3rd hive. They would of course lose blink/charge/whatever and their upgrades they had.
Even if that was changed, (and for the marines now) it becomes hopeless much too early IMO. Not until the other team has actually broken (or is about to break) your last hive/spawnpoint should you say "we lose" with certainty. I read somewhere that the devs consider this mod to have damage models "comparable to counterstrike" and while that's true in the early game and if the weapons are equal, I can still USP a terrorist with a para and kevlar if I sneak up on him or get lucky. I think the outcome should be up in the air for longer. Not quite shure what this would look like but do it! Perhaps people could just die faster in general or the "upgrades" could mean less--but that would kinda suck too.
Also I think there are way too many turrets on both sides which contributes to the "hopless games". If the maps were more "open" with teams being able to attack one place, get a node, lose it, then attack another without getting boxed in I think it would be a better game over all. Ever node shouldn't have it's own fortifications IMO nor should random rooms have turrets in them just for the hell of it. Perhaps if resource nodes cost less you could just drop them and move on... and they could change hands alot. This might make it harder to actually end a game but I think if the aliens "siege" weapons worked properly. The hives/spawn would be vulnerable enough that you could get taken out in an attack rather then being slowly boxed in and crushed into dust. It would just be more fun IMO.
Just my 2 cents
Straylight
Bugs:
+Bile bomb does nothing to buildings nor does xen as far as I can tell. Aren't they supposed to do double damage?
+You don't seem to be able to use "melee weapons" in vents (at least on some maps.) It's really anoying when you wait for that marine to reload his hmg and dash up there and bite him (with his LA jetpack) 8 times with no effect.
+As a skulk I don't seem to be able to climb up some of the ladders. This isn't usually a problem but if I can climb walls why should a ladder give me any trouble?
+[Edit] In the manual the marine turrets are only supposed to be able to aim upwards more than 30 degrees. I've never been able to get at a steep enough angle for them not to aquire me and it's cerainly more then 30 degrees.
Not sure if these are intentional but I doubt it:
+As a skulk I can "leap" in mid air. If you leap straight up you can jump again just as you start to fall back down. Personally I like doing it but it defies the laws of physics.
+Stacked buildings. Given the way buildings are drawn (especially alien towers,) they look really stupid when you stack them up. I think you shouldn't be able to put them on top of eachother. That is all.
Suggestions (not really bugs though)
+Make ammo from the armory go only into your "reload" (don't let it cap off the clip you have in at the time.) With a GL you can maintain continous grenade fire this way and personally I think this is very cheep.
+Do something about vent camping after all hives gone. It's just silly, then aliens are not going to make a "comeback 99.99% of the time" and so many people leave. I suggest a countdown timer followed by some sort of damage over time.
Wishlist:
+I think the commander should have somewhere on his HUD a list of all the marines on his team. The marines names could flash one color if they make a request through the GUI and another if they say something in teamsay. A left click would select them and a right click would slelect them and move to their location on the map.
Balance (stop reading):
Basicly I think the problem is that at various points in the game one team can do absoulutely nothing to stop the other especially the aliens. The tech difference makes it "hopeless" for one side and half of one team leaves (because they are not scraching the HA/HMGs as skulks or the onos/fades as LA/LMGs)... which of course makes it only worse. This is classic RTS but not really alot of fun for either side (at least IMO.) I love the early game when it is still up in the air and I wish it at least somewhat stayed true to the end.
It's worse for the aliens because they "lose" abilities they have gained as they are pushed back. I think it would help if they could keep the ability (and resource cap) to evlove to into fades if they have taken 2 hives at ANY point in the game or onos if they have somehow lost a 3rd hive. They would of course lose blink/charge/whatever and their upgrades they had.
Even if that was changed, (and for the marines now) it becomes hopeless much too early IMO. Not until the other team has actually broken (or is about to break) your last hive/spawnpoint should you say "we lose" with certainty. I read somewhere that the devs consider this mod to have damage models "comparable to counterstrike" and while that's true in the early game and if the weapons are equal, I can still USP a terrorist with a para and kevlar if I sneak up on him or get lucky. I think the outcome should be up in the air for longer. Not quite shure what this would look like but do it! Perhaps people could just die faster in general or the "upgrades" could mean less--but that would kinda suck too.
Also I think there are way too many turrets on both sides which contributes to the "hopless games". If the maps were more "open" with teams being able to attack one place, get a node, lose it, then attack another without getting boxed in I think it would be a better game over all. Ever node shouldn't have it's own fortifications IMO nor should random rooms have turrets in them just for the hell of it. Perhaps if resource nodes cost less you could just drop them and move on... and they could change hands alot. This might make it harder to actually end a game but I think if the aliens "siege" weapons worked properly. The hives/spawn would be vulnerable enough that you could get taken out in an attack rather then being slowly boxed in and crushed into dust. It would just be more fun IMO.
Just my 2 cents
Straylight
Comments
Crouching marines anywhere, especially in vents, are very difficult to hit, known bug.
Skulks can't climb ladders, this was causing problems so you just have to climb walls instead, known bug.
Skulks can leap in mid air and even change direction in mid air. This was a bug that became a feature.
Stacked building probably weren't intended, but there's nothing in the game to stop aliens from doing it.
That's true, but you should also probably have it reload in 'whole' slips, not half clips also.
Vent camping is annoying but it never lastes long and the end of the game.
A list of marines has already been mentioned and I think they are planning on adding it in one of the client patches.
And finally, the overall conclusion of the un-balancing was that it seems to be happening because so many players are in-experienced it makes it seem as if both teams are losing/doing worse than the other. Wierd how that works, just give it time.
^--- Clicky <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
Also I've seen vent camping after hives are dead on a few maps with large vent systems last a very long time. The maps are very detailed with lots of skulk hiding places and this is good but it also takes a while to check them all. I think they should be allowed to hide for a little bit then try to put up another hive while the marines are searching elsewhere but not hide usually because they are upset with something the marines did or just mad because they lost.
As for the balance thing, I really started to just say like one thing and it ran away from me. Basicly I think the "balance" problem is that it's "game over man, game over" long before the game actually ends. Usually when the 2nd hive dies or the aliens get 3 hives half of one team team leaves because the game is hopeless at this point. I think this part of the game is no fun even as the winning team.