Natural Selection 2 News Update - NS2 Build 211/212 changelog
Flayra
Game Director, Unknown Worlds EntertainmentSan Francisco Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 3Super Administrators, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
Comments
Changes are looking mighty good, only got a few games in so far but at least the marine economy felt a lot better again! Haven't had the chance to comm aliens yet, so can't comment on that. My performance noticeably improved, though I am getting these weird occasional freezes now. (I asked other people and they all confirmed this). That being said, definitely going to enjoy this build, I think this is another great step in the right direction in terms of gameplay/balance. (And even performance to some extent, for me personally)
I do not alien comm ever but I like any changes to make him more interesting in any sense of the word. Good stuff. will be playing ^^ :D
I have spotted a bug with the arc where it sometimes does attack alien structures(Including the hive). Working on repro steps
Probably to prevent the Arcs from being in range of a cyst but out of range of say a hive or chamber and the arc still being able to hit those additional structures with the splash damage (same with eggs). This is essentially a nerf to being able to kill things through walls at ridiculous ranges. I wonder if the flamer got the damage buff to cysts though, I didn't see that in the notes.
I did see the alien commander manage to place invincible cysts tho lol, put 5 clips of lmg and emptied my pistol, the thing wouldnt die!¬
Default player fov is still really offensive to me.
kill command did not help :(
Carapace should scale with each hive. IMO this is too much for early game just to make up for late game. 1pres for 80% more survivability as a skulk obtainable within a minute or two of game start? -8% speed for +80% hp against lmg marine early game.
Leap is still instant, I am disappoint.
Also noted the random freezes which continued after reset/reboot.
I like that upgrades to aliens cost pres again. Slows down time until first onos as they burn pres as skulk.
Havent seen so many games drag out now as well which is nice.
Bandaid fix. Doesn't fix the underlying problems, creates new ones, and causes more frustrations with that "trade off". As Chicken said, it's only made skulks even stronger at the beginning of the game (still falls very short late game). And it's made carapace Onos even more frustrating and ugly to play with with the added slow. 90 year old ladies can move faster than them.
Making upgrades cost pres again a huge step backwards. I'm back to no longer taking upgrades on a skulk anymore once Marines have shotguns/grenade launchers. Mission accomplished? Why are Aliens the only ones required to have to pay for their basic upgrades, why not make Marines have to purchase their basic upgrades from an armory. That way basic lmg marines can be just as "useful" (useless) as skulks late game unless they pay for their weapon/armor upgrades.
Remove carapace from the crag tech, replace it with something else. Give Aliens an arms lab equivalent.
Does this make sense? Aliens are organic lifeforms. EMPs do not influence humans at all.
NANITES!
Or perhaps move leap back to a two hive ability. The combination means the skulks are very tough to kill but dont lose their mobility due to leap.
Leap is still instant, I am disappoint.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
increase leap cost to 35
Carapace is fine with that slow on speed, but u dont notice it with instant leap ;/
actually, they do:
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_weapon" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_weapon</a>
Carapace did not boost alien toughness sufficiently. Grenades and Shotguns were killing Skulks with Carapace instantly. However, simply increasing Carapace armor further, without any downside would make aliens too powerful.
The "heavy" Carapace design caters for players who like to lead the pack, by absorbing more damage, hence creating more diversity in roles for Aliens. It is far from a "bandaid fix", but it will probably require more testing to achieve perfect balance.