Do you think arcs are a problem in the current build?

Rise

I was on a server where the marines kept winning by arc rushing the alien hive, seeming to take advantage of the fact that aliens are slower to expand now, more crunched for resources early on, and the fact that arcs are cheaper (or so someone said).

I couldn't figure out if this was just a result of a string of bad alien teams or representative of a real potential imbalance. But the marines said they had been destroying the alien side for seven hours strait on that server by arc rushing.

Champlo0

Arcs are countered by bile bomb at the moment pretty well. If you check <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=117945" target="_blank">my thread</a> you will see some alterations to bile bomb that would arguably counter ARC trains more. ARC trains take alot of resources that could otherwise be used to make other constructs. Aliens can expand faster if you have intelligent gorges also, you need to more rely on them than in previous builds. Unlike previous builds, however, you can still be solid with one hive.

I haven't experienced any situations so far where aliens had an advantage and were beat by an ARC train.

Laosh'Ra

can't judge this for early game, but onos stomp is actually very effective against ARC trains now now. if you time them right instead of spamming stomp, you can keep the entire train stunned indefinately, also attacking a bit inbetween. the major advantage of this is that it gives your team plenty of time to kill the escorting marines as well as the ARCs themselves, before the ARCs can even fire a single shot. if there are too many marines you might have to kill a few of them by yourself first though.

RisingSun

I have encountered a string of different scenarios also, but i dont think it is related to balance. It takes time for everyone to adjust and come up with good strats to counter or adapt to changes. Let things settle and i think we will see better play (not to mention the influx of new players from Pax.)