'science': adding depth to the tech tree and giving the gorge a job

slayer.faith

So I was thinking (always a mistake), what if the gorge needed to collect 'science' points to allow alien upgrades.

The commander still does the growing and actual research but now there is a requirement for 'science' points for each upgrade, besides res. (Its 'science' not research because otherwise it would also shorten to res).

The gorge needs to 'healspray' dead marines (for meat points, *1.5 if marine is alive) and buildings (for metal points) to collect science points.

Points are collected buy the gorge but must be fed into the hive network, which means the gorge must do the 'scan' and then return somewhere to vomit the science points into the hive (or maybe res tower). This means you need to scan and *survive* to gain the points.

Bilebomb would require 'metal points' and lerk spore would need 'meat points' to research. You could tie it to damage/armor upgrades too. And add more richness to upgrades...metal points gives more building damage... metal+meat could give you armor piercing-1... meat points gives damage-1. etc

Marines could do the same with macs (ie, they need to scan dead aliens/structures for bug or plant points). Arcs need plants. damage needs bug. (You could even go crazy deep and make 'air filter' upgrades need lerk specific points.)


The net effect of this is that:

*) the gorge/mac becomes more important (like old ns1 days, <3 the gorge). Gives a requirement for an underrated lifeform.

*) the gorge needs to be near the 'front' and to be protected by the team, if they want upgrades. Gives reward to teamplay.

*) running off by yourself becomes dangerous (skulk/gorge combo can take marine down and science from the body). Gives reward for teamwork.

*) a team that is 'stuck in spawn' has more chance to sneak out and research building science and thus maybe get a head up, where as the team that is holding them in spawn will find research harder (no change to research a dead body/building without being attacked again quickly). Gives better balance as losing team gets more benefit, rather than res (which is massively positive feedback for the winning team)

*) opens up the tech tree. Gives the ability to put more complexity, dependency and actual research results into the tech tree and allows specialisation (eg, lots of power in building destruction vrs enemy damage). Gives depth to research. Gives the commander some choice rather than being faced with armor-1 or weapons-1 (imagine damage-building-1, damage-marine-1, peirce-marine-1, etc).


Gorge's need love too :-) although I realise its a little late to be suggesting this. :-(

Angelusz

Thanks for the suggestion, but I find it unlikely that a system like this will ever be introduced to NS2. Being alien comm, having to wait for resources to be delivered would be extremely tedious - moreso when the gorge dies. At the gorge's side, he'd just be turned into a 'harvester', basically farming these points all day. That doesn't fit into a fast-paced action-packed combat game like NS2. It's more an RPG/MMO kind of thing.

Align

I fear it's much too close to release to even consider introducing such a game-changing mechanic. It would require an awful lot of balancing, and a lot of testing to see if it's even fun and adds to the game.

twiliteblue

Never fear! Modding in NS2 will be quite easy, so you can use your ideas to create a fun mod instead.