Hydra limit detracting from the look / fun of the game

kabab

Does anyone else feel since we have this very low limit on hydra's and the fact they die with the gorge the game;

Looks a lot blander instead of walking into rooms filled with a garden of hydra's and infestation everything is just green with infestation....

I personally don't find it as fun either, building behind the lines defences and choke points was great as a gorge and a real core aspect of Natural selection since the very first releases, it was a some what of a testament to the epicness of a round how many OC's filled the map and how marines had to fight their way inch by inch room by room for come backs..

I'd love to see a move back to having permanent hydra's without a unit cap...

GORGEous

That would have to be balanced by having them cost significant pres again.

DJPenguin

i strongly feel the need for a hydra change especially after this build, but what i believe the problem is is the lack of effectiveness late game. i wouldn't mind the cap of 3 if i felt even remotely safe with the hydras around me but after the first 10 minutes of the match they may as well not be there half the time. my course of action would be to make a single commander upgrade to cover both gorge structures which adds health and/or damage.

Locke504

I have mixed feelings about hydras right now.

Gorges at the start of game can be incredible OP with wall and 3 hydra's available at the start. A single gorge can hold off 1-3 rines with at a good choke point. This makes entire sections of the map unavailable until gl's or arcs are available.

Now with how much res is generated, all a comm has to do is drop a whip or two in front of the gorge wall, and that choke point becomes blocked until late game arcs.

At the point that arcs are on the field, no amount of hydras is effective in a group, but an increased number of hydras dropped sporadically could slow down an arc train or cause good damage to one moving through an area.

The problem with increasing the hydra limit with current implementation though, is the time before arcs hit the field. Three hydras used properly with whip support already holds rines at bay until arcs. With more hydras in play, rines will just run themselves into a meat grinder.

In a way, it wouldn't even really matter because rines are already forced to use arcs to clear whip spam, but I feel that increasing the hydra limit would just give gorges the same functionality they have now, but with less thought about placement.

I'd like to see them significantly increase flamer damage towards structures, simultaneously making the flamer useful, and giving rines a real alternative to arcs for dealing with alien defensive structures.