Some ideas
lastchaplain
Join Date: 2012-11-04 Member: 166953Members
Join Date: 2012-11-04 Member: 166953Members
<div class="IPBDescription">A little bit of everything</div>So I was thinking of a way to deal with Onos. They're currently the crux of the Alien strategy, and I feel that its both boring to play with and against. This got me to thinking about the game in general. So here are some ideas I was thinking about.
<b>Commanders</b>- I wanted to distinguish the difference between Marine and Alien commanders even further. The Onos egg drop is maddening to play against, especially when its timed with players also opting to morph into Onos. So what if we changed how the Khammander interacted with eggs? Instead of dropping specific alien form eggs, in the way the Marine commander drops equipment, the Khammander could evolve an egg to be a more powerful version of the alien form. It would require some communication between the Khammander and his aliens as he would have to select them as they morph (except for Skulks). This would allow for buffs to the ailing forms that are currently masked by the Onos and its drop, perhaps even adding new abilities to the forms. There would be a maximum number of upgraded forms at one time, based on the number of hives owned. I like this idea, because it allow the Khammander to maximize on his aliens skills. Got someone who plays an awesome Lerk or Fade? Give him a badass Lerk or Fade to control. These badass forms could allow for old abilities, or old version of an alien form, to make a return in a more controlled fashion.
To compliment this ability, the Khammander would also be able to place normal skulk (maybe even gorge) eggs for a small cost. It would help them combat egg lock, I believe.
<b>Cysts</b>- Anyone else think this should be cloaked from the start? I feel like seeing the infection spread on its own without the cysts would be more imposing. You'd still be able to shoot them to find and destroy them, but I feel like it would add to the game a bit.
The next thing is Marine equipment. I feel like, for an organization that is supposed to be combating the alien expansion, their equipment feels more like whatever they could bring along rather than bringing equipment for fighting the aliens.
<b>Shotguns</b> - The shotgun is amazing at killing everything, except maybe the Onos. Too many times as Marine I'd fail at aiming with a shotgun and still get a kill and it's equally frustrating to be on the receiving end of a pellet shower. I feel lowering its damage is an acceptable option, maybe transferring some damage to the LMG. Another option would be to decrease its clip size down by half or three-fourths, but keep its current damage. This would allow the Marines to keep the power they need, but give the Aliens the a way to combat the shotgun wielding hordes of Marines via reload windows. Yet another option would be to tighten its spread, forcing better aiming on the Marines part.
<b>Grenade launchers</b> - These are a bit trickier. Marines need them to break Alien turtles and are about the only weapon that deals appreciable damage to the Onos. However, as the Alien grenade spam is about the most annoying thing ever. It pretty much guarantees death for anything caught in the area. I think the best option may be to make them function similar to m79 in Killing Floor. They would have: a single shot before reload, would have a smaller AoE radius, but would explode on contact (and perhaps deal a bit more damage to structures). The downside would be that the grenade would have a small arm time, where it would not explode if it hit something. This arm time couldn't be too long due to the tight corridors most maps consist of, but the arm time could be a lever to adjust balance with. This new grenade launcher would hopefully reduce spam a bit, would prevent hallways from becoming death traps, make the grenade launcher feel a little bit more active in its use, as well as be more effective against the Onos (due to easy direct hits). More importantly, it increases the window of opportunity where the Aliens can make a counter push.
In my opinion, part of the issue for the grenade launcher is that there is no good indicator of the grenades proximity. Most of the time, it feels the grenades just magically appear in time to kill you. I think a a HUD indicator of a grenades proximity would help with this greatly.
<b>Flame Thrower</b> - Just a small idea, but make the flamethrower clear any infection it hits for a while. This would allow marines to clear infection and set up sneaky phase portals, allows sudden attacks from new angles and what not. It could add a really neat new dimension to marine play.
<b>Armories</b>- Currently, the armory is the cure-all for the Marine's ailments. Most of the Aliens seem to say that this is too much, it prevents effective hit-and-run strategies as the Marines can drop Armories anywhere. I'm not sure how I feel about changing it, it has been a life safer many times and yet useless under direct assault. Perhaps, taking the cure-all function from the Armories and placing it on a new building. This Aid Station, would still perform the same role as the current cure-all but it would considerably more fragile and would function off of charges. It would restore amounts based on it current charge (more charge = larger health/ammo/armo returns). The marine commander would be able to spend some resource to recharge an Aid Station. In this way, it would allow the Aliens to have a direct effect on Marine resources (by either pressuring an aid station or hitting unprotected ones) and so hit-and-run tactics would be more viable but the Marines would still be able to combat it to a point.
<b>Equipment</b>- I feel there needs to be more customization in equipment selection for Marines. I know right now it's basically pick a weapon, a welder, and jetpeck or go grab an Exosuit. This isn't exactly a lot of options. I feel instead there should be three slots: weapon, defensive, utility. You would only be able to select one option for each slot. The weapon slot is pretty much as it is now. The defensive slot would be stuff to assist your survival (e.g. jet-packs). To this area we could add things like a gas mask for dealing with that pesky Lerk crop dusting. It would only be effective for so long, as the spores would corrode the filters , forcing a retreat to base for another. Another option here could be defensive plates, allowing a marine to opt for more armor over mobility. The final slot would be for utility (e.g. welders and mines). To this we could add something akin to the 9-banger flashbang, blinding anything caught in the area. Another option could be phosphorus flares, used for illuminating darkness and distorting the sight of Aliens using Alien-vision.
<b>Exosuits</b>- The Exosuits are in a weird spot right now. They are like the inverse Onos (i.e. as more Exos hit the field, they're actually less effective). They are nowhere near as effective as the Onos to boot. There is the completely worthless 50res version, that almost no one picks. It has a power-fist, but its wholly unimpressive. I feel that the 50 res suits purpose should be changed. Instead of just being a crappy version of the 75res Exo, it should be remade to be a tank for the Marines. It would lose its chain-gun, and instead would have another fist (or any melee weapon). It would be faster than its 75res counterpart, and considerably more durable. Its small jet-boost jump, would be replaced with a jet-boost charge allowing it to close the distance faster (and perhaps knock back smaller Alien forms). It's entire purpose would be for blunting the Onos charge. It shouldn't be strong enough to win the fight with the Onos without support (unless it massively outplays the Onos). However with support, it should win against the lone Onos. Likewise, an Onos with support should win easily against the lone Exo. In changing up its role, I feel that it may be prudent to switch its cost with the 75res DualExo.
<b>Sentry turrets</b>- These little ######s. The juries seems to be out still, but most seem to agree they aren't worth building most of the time. I think right now, the only thing they're really effective against is a Lerk trying to crop dust an area. I feel like the easiest way to fix them is to allow them to function when either their generator or the powernode is active. This would discourage the lone skulk from just running past them, picking that tiny blind spot and chomping on the generator until the turrets aren't worth the res dumped into them. It would increase how effective they are on defense. Another option would be giving them the ability to shoot in any direction, just lower the traverse speed outside their initial arc.
In my opinion there isn't enough feedback to the player in game. Sometime it can be hard to tell when you get hit, where a grenade is, where the commander wants you to move on the minimap/map. It can be hard to earn score sometimes, as assists don't always give you points either during construction or kills. I think the damage numbers flying aren't the actual damage being taken, they don't show mitigated numbers?
Anywho, these were just some ideas I was thinking about. Feel free to critique them and what not.
<b>Commanders</b>- I wanted to distinguish the difference between Marine and Alien commanders even further. The Onos egg drop is maddening to play against, especially when its timed with players also opting to morph into Onos. So what if we changed how the Khammander interacted with eggs? Instead of dropping specific alien form eggs, in the way the Marine commander drops equipment, the Khammander could evolve an egg to be a more powerful version of the alien form. It would require some communication between the Khammander and his aliens as he would have to select them as they morph (except for Skulks). This would allow for buffs to the ailing forms that are currently masked by the Onos and its drop, perhaps even adding new abilities to the forms. There would be a maximum number of upgraded forms at one time, based on the number of hives owned. I like this idea, because it allow the Khammander to maximize on his aliens skills. Got someone who plays an awesome Lerk or Fade? Give him a badass Lerk or Fade to control. These badass forms could allow for old abilities, or old version of an alien form, to make a return in a more controlled fashion.
To compliment this ability, the Khammander would also be able to place normal skulk (maybe even gorge) eggs for a small cost. It would help them combat egg lock, I believe.
<b>Cysts</b>- Anyone else think this should be cloaked from the start? I feel like seeing the infection spread on its own without the cysts would be more imposing. You'd still be able to shoot them to find and destroy them, but I feel like it would add to the game a bit.
The next thing is Marine equipment. I feel like, for an organization that is supposed to be combating the alien expansion, their equipment feels more like whatever they could bring along rather than bringing equipment for fighting the aliens.
<b>Shotguns</b> - The shotgun is amazing at killing everything, except maybe the Onos. Too many times as Marine I'd fail at aiming with a shotgun and still get a kill and it's equally frustrating to be on the receiving end of a pellet shower. I feel lowering its damage is an acceptable option, maybe transferring some damage to the LMG. Another option would be to decrease its clip size down by half or three-fourths, but keep its current damage. This would allow the Marines to keep the power they need, but give the Aliens the a way to combat the shotgun wielding hordes of Marines via reload windows. Yet another option would be to tighten its spread, forcing better aiming on the Marines part.
<b>Grenade launchers</b> - These are a bit trickier. Marines need them to break Alien turtles and are about the only weapon that deals appreciable damage to the Onos. However, as the Alien grenade spam is about the most annoying thing ever. It pretty much guarantees death for anything caught in the area. I think the best option may be to make them function similar to m79 in Killing Floor. They would have: a single shot before reload, would have a smaller AoE radius, but would explode on contact (and perhaps deal a bit more damage to structures). The downside would be that the grenade would have a small arm time, where it would not explode if it hit something. This arm time couldn't be too long due to the tight corridors most maps consist of, but the arm time could be a lever to adjust balance with. This new grenade launcher would hopefully reduce spam a bit, would prevent hallways from becoming death traps, make the grenade launcher feel a little bit more active in its use, as well as be more effective against the Onos (due to easy direct hits). More importantly, it increases the window of opportunity where the Aliens can make a counter push.
In my opinion, part of the issue for the grenade launcher is that there is no good indicator of the grenades proximity. Most of the time, it feels the grenades just magically appear in time to kill you. I think a a HUD indicator of a grenades proximity would help with this greatly.
<b>Flame Thrower</b> - Just a small idea, but make the flamethrower clear any infection it hits for a while. This would allow marines to clear infection and set up sneaky phase portals, allows sudden attacks from new angles and what not. It could add a really neat new dimension to marine play.
<b>Armories</b>- Currently, the armory is the cure-all for the Marine's ailments. Most of the Aliens seem to say that this is too much, it prevents effective hit-and-run strategies as the Marines can drop Armories anywhere. I'm not sure how I feel about changing it, it has been a life safer many times and yet useless under direct assault. Perhaps, taking the cure-all function from the Armories and placing it on a new building. This Aid Station, would still perform the same role as the current cure-all but it would considerably more fragile and would function off of charges. It would restore amounts based on it current charge (more charge = larger health/ammo/armo returns). The marine commander would be able to spend some resource to recharge an Aid Station. In this way, it would allow the Aliens to have a direct effect on Marine resources (by either pressuring an aid station or hitting unprotected ones) and so hit-and-run tactics would be more viable but the Marines would still be able to combat it to a point.
<b>Equipment</b>- I feel there needs to be more customization in equipment selection for Marines. I know right now it's basically pick a weapon, a welder, and jetpeck or go grab an Exosuit. This isn't exactly a lot of options. I feel instead there should be three slots: weapon, defensive, utility. You would only be able to select one option for each slot. The weapon slot is pretty much as it is now. The defensive slot would be stuff to assist your survival (e.g. jet-packs). To this area we could add things like a gas mask for dealing with that pesky Lerk crop dusting. It would only be effective for so long, as the spores would corrode the filters , forcing a retreat to base for another. Another option here could be defensive plates, allowing a marine to opt for more armor over mobility. The final slot would be for utility (e.g. welders and mines). To this we could add something akin to the 9-banger flashbang, blinding anything caught in the area. Another option could be phosphorus flares, used for illuminating darkness and distorting the sight of Aliens using Alien-vision.
<b>Exosuits</b>- The Exosuits are in a weird spot right now. They are like the inverse Onos (i.e. as more Exos hit the field, they're actually less effective). They are nowhere near as effective as the Onos to boot. There is the completely worthless 50res version, that almost no one picks. It has a power-fist, but its wholly unimpressive. I feel that the 50 res suits purpose should be changed. Instead of just being a crappy version of the 75res Exo, it should be remade to be a tank for the Marines. It would lose its chain-gun, and instead would have another fist (or any melee weapon). It would be faster than its 75res counterpart, and considerably more durable. Its small jet-boost jump, would be replaced with a jet-boost charge allowing it to close the distance faster (and perhaps knock back smaller Alien forms). It's entire purpose would be for blunting the Onos charge. It shouldn't be strong enough to win the fight with the Onos without support (unless it massively outplays the Onos). However with support, it should win against the lone Onos. Likewise, an Onos with support should win easily against the lone Exo. In changing up its role, I feel that it may be prudent to switch its cost with the 75res DualExo.
<b>Sentry turrets</b>- These little ######s. The juries seems to be out still, but most seem to agree they aren't worth building most of the time. I think right now, the only thing they're really effective against is a Lerk trying to crop dust an area. I feel like the easiest way to fix them is to allow them to function when either their generator or the powernode is active. This would discourage the lone skulk from just running past them, picking that tiny blind spot and chomping on the generator until the turrets aren't worth the res dumped into them. It would increase how effective they are on defense. Another option would be giving them the ability to shoot in any direction, just lower the traverse speed outside their initial arc.
In my opinion there isn't enough feedback to the player in game. Sometime it can be hard to tell when you get hit, where a grenade is, where the commander wants you to move on the minimap/map. It can be hard to earn score sometimes, as assists don't always give you points either during construction or kills. I think the damage numbers flying aren't the actual damage being taken, they don't show mitigated numbers?
Anywho, these were just some ideas I was thinking about. Feel free to critique them and what not.