Natural Selection 2 News Update - NS2 Build 209
Flayra
Game Director, Unknown Worlds EntertainmentSan Francisco Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 3Super Administrators, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
Game Director, Unknown Worlds EntertainmentSan Francisco Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 3Super Administrators, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
Comments
But PT's should really voice up and say something :(
Shift upgrades are bit out of control.
Trying to think of a reason why removing onos stun on ARCs is an improvement.
Unless they limit ARCs, ARC trains are going to get out of hand again.
Time to play my terrifying pterodactyl skills
Oh and thanks for letting us now bind kill to save time when we are about to be set upon by stomping onii.
If a single bullet hits you, all that speed is lost.
Having played a couple of games with celerity 1st it seemed to be a reasonable trade off against cara.
I think the lerk bit could be bit OP'd with the bite, it seemed to take me out really quickly but I could also just be really ###### as didn't find the same level of success when I tried it as alien.
I think perhaps that the bite should be upgrade an spike default (as oppossed to 2 melee options by default).
I saw in other thread that umbra will be ranged in next patch, always thought it made more sense for umbra to be bombed and spores ranged.
As a lerk there is not a lot of point in sitting back an using umbra as you cant offer any other help (not going to see a lot of lerk spike research) it makes more sense to try to get in close and bite the IP's, RT's etc so having umbra bomb as your trying to flee makes sense, as a fleeing lerk I want something to come out as rear defence not forward defence (unless I can somehow fly backwards really fast).
Already noticed fewer GL's which is a good thing, its a harder choice to justify and requires team work to stay alive.
As others have said...Thanks for fixing the server browser I no longer spend 80 seconds waiting for the list to update.
Edit - One thing that would be good with the echo upgrade is if it acted like the old movement chambers and allowed aliens to quickly move between hives.
The marines already have JP's and phases, allowing aliens to move quickly between hives needs to be addressed, celerity is not the sole answer.
Perhaps make the transport have a high energy or maybe even low P-res cost to use each time.
Do like the hive sight on infestation upgrade option with the shade hive
But PT's should really voice up and say something :(<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Just so people are clear, the PTs give opinions via about 5 different methods of communication. Just because something makes it into a patch, or is not the way some members of the community want it, does not mean the PTs have not said something about it. Chances are we've already debated it for days/weeks at a time. We are only helping to devs shape the game into what they want, it is after all, UWE's game.
Hope people are enjoying 209!
Unless they limit ARCs, ARC trains are going to get out of hand again.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I see you havent tried gorge bile lately didnt you? It just devastates arcs now... full energy bar for arc, splash radius so train down in a jiffy
I have actually. It's a mixed bag for me, but ARC spam still needs to be addressed. Have Marines defend the ARCs with jps + gls and gorges won't make short work of them.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Nice patch. Shift upgrade seems a bit overpowered, and marines seem a bit helpless until they get arc trains though. Aliens seem to be structure spamming more than usual.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm not going to be surprised if Celerity's speed is reduced, but Hyper-Mutation is a gimmick/cheeses the game (not exactly overpowered by any means). Which structures? Cysts? Already quite spammy, haven't really noticed any other increase in other structure usage.
unchained abilities
early clogs
lerk bite
celerity
separate grenade launchers
LOVE all of these changes
Cons:
mostly just things i have complained about in other builds that are still there, and the placeholder effects are making my eyes bleed, but I'll endure.
Other than that:
hypermutation - weird, out of place with other upgrades, not as useful as other upgrades
it's too much of a meta-ability. every other evolution augments your lifeform, but hyperevolution augments the player's ability to switch between life-forms. Also each of the other upgrades solve a simple, identifiable problem that a player might be having during gameplay:
I die too easily
I retreat to heal too much
They see me coming
They hear me coming
I arrive too late
what does hyperevolution solve?
I..... am the wrong lifeform too often?
I guess I've felt that way occasionally, but no where near as often as the other 5.
I haven't used it all that much yet, so I may be wrong, but I'm pretty skeptical of it for now.
Other than that, great works guys, this build seems to be a big improvement so far.
unchained abilities
early clogs
lerk bite
celerity
separate grenade launchers
LOVE all of these changes
Cons:
mostly just things i have complained about in other builds that are still there, and the placeholder effects are making my eyes bleed, but I'll endure.
Other than that:
hypermutation - weird, out of place with other upgrades, not as useful as other upgrades
it's too much of a meta-ability. every other evolution augments your lifeform, but hyperevolution augments the player's ability to switch between life-forms. Also each of the other upgrades solve a simple, identifiable problem that a player might be having during gameplay:
I die too easily
I retreat to heal too much
They see me coming
They hear me coming
I arrive too late
what does hyperevolution solve?
I..... am the wrong lifeform too often?
I guess I've felt that way occasionally, but no where near as often as the other 5.
I haven't used it all that much yet, so I may be wrong, but I'm pretty skeptical of it for now.
Other than that, great works guys, this build seems to be a big improvement so far.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->It would seem to me that Hypermutation is designed to allow Aliens to quickly adapt to any situation they have to deal with.
IE If you're a fade and there's an infantry rush on your hive you can quickly eliminate the marines, then quickly swap to gorge and repair all the damage they just did. Then go right back into fade extremely quickly and with no res lost. While i could see it being a bit gimmicky, I personally dare say it borders the line of being overpowered.
Then again I don't believe it'll be any problem in Pub games, but I predict it will shine in competitive games.
It will allow one alien to literally do everything within a 5-10 second window. You'll no longer be forced to carefully choose your lifeform based on the specific needs. You can be that lifeform and when it has outlived it's usefulness, you can simply become something else with no penalty.
Instead of having to save up res for an onos, you can go fade, kill marines while you wait for 25 more res then go onos.
-Reduced skulk air control (THANK YOU!)
-lerk bite
-Individual alien tier upgrades (this helps a bit with tech explosions as the fades/onos might not have blink/stomp right away)
-Gorge bile bomb (again, THANK YOU)
-the new GL
Critique:
-Still a full 25 starting p-res :( way too much
-Celerity seems a bit much like others have said, but I like the idea of it. Just too fast atm.
- Aliens seem to have lost their slow, expanding, "ever evolving" feel imo. No second hive needed to advance in the tech tree, and now there's no augmentation and the hive matures so fast it's not even noticeable. I dunno, the aliens just feel like a "research this" type thing now instead of a fluent, evolving entity. Not a big deal as the changes were a good step for balance though.
Need to play more, might add stuff later. Definitely a beefy patch though.
That Dev Chat.....pink beards and memes, was not expecting. I almost died laughing, +1 to whoever was photoshoping those.
OMG, the Lerk is now officially female? How cute! /)^3^(\ Rule 34 plskthx
Oh God why...
I also think that the GL is standalone now is a good thing. It used to be a straight up upgrade from the normal rifle and now it's actually a decent trade-off weapon.
The lerk bite is nice, though I was confused because, when I use spores the mouth disappears. It made me think that I had to re-equip the lerk bite. It also feels like that the bite comes back too late after using my spores. But, overall there are some nice new changes in this build! ^^
As a lerk there is not a lot of point in sitting back an using umbra as you cant offer any other help (not going to see a lot of lerk spike research) it makes more sense to try to get in close and bite the IP's, RT's etc so having umbra bomb as your trying to flee makes sense, as a fleeing lerk I want something to come out as rear defence not forward defence (unless I can somehow fly backwards really fast).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I was thinking this as well, but forward umbra will provide some cover for making a spore run into & through a populated/fortified area - esp. if supported with add'l ground units during the strafing run. worth a test.
Plus, if it works like the craig umbra, you have to fly through the cloud to get the benefit. It does nothing if the bullets simply pass through. So you can projectile the umbra right in front of you while fleeing and get the benefit immediately.
We do, but sometimes it goes through, and this is where public feedback is very important.
Cheers, UWE chaps!
I'm a bit disappointed Hugh's table concept hasn't made it in game yet.