#341 of missing features: Ceiling placement of alien structures.

Fappuchino

Why on earth do we not have this choice? This is one of the features I'd love next to the alien gorge tunnels. It would add so much. I know you can kind of place a cyst maybe on the seams of the map, but it's very rough and buggy looking.

The maps in NS2 -although pretty big- are lacking at times, and there's just no way to place anything as aliens because all marines have to do is spray 10 bullets before they hit something and reveal everything your shade was hiding.

It'd be great if the alien commander could let infestation grown on the ceiling and place everything barring the hive and shade (for balance). Also, why can't the skulk and lerk evolve while attached to walls? I can't see any harm in that either.

Guspaz

Such things generally aren't compatible with the commander view, which basically has to treat the game world as a flat 2D world. Same reasons NS2 can't have rooms-above-rooms despite this being technologically possible in 3D engines since the mid 90s. Hydras and clogs work fine from walls/ceilings since they're placed and managed from a first-person perspective.

For evolving attached to walls, it would produce collision issues when dealing with entities of different sizes.

Kouji_San

Someone once suggested the following

Give the alien commander an ability to possess cysts and view from their point of view (first person most likely), then use that to place structures on the walls and ceilings. The new Dynamic Infestation blobs might get in the way now though :(

NeoRussia

Both ceiling structures and multi-floored commander view is possible if UWE really wanted it to be, but I doubt they want to put in the effort after they spent a decade creating this engine. They could have easily went with a tiled placement system, a button to select floors, and a button to flip structure placement but that was not in the initial build idea. Maps are not designed around the RTS element of the game as much as they are of the FPS element.

ScardyBob

Allowing the comm to go into a free-look mode would make this possible. However, it would give added headache for mappers since they would have to work on reducing structure placement exploiting on walls and ceilings too.

Kouji_San

<!--quoteo(post=2031641:date=Nov 21 2012, 11:16 PM:name=ScardyBob)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ScardyBob @ Nov 21 2012, 11:16 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2031641"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Allowing the comm to go into a free-look mode would make this possible. However, it would give added headache for mappers since they would have to work on reducing structure placement exploiting on walls and ceilings too.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I dunno, it worked with the Gorge being floor bound. The cyst possession idea might work :)

Destroid

Did UWE ever try freelook for the comm?

Dghelneshi

Yeah having to go freelook in a battle and having to aim at your marines in first person to spam medpacks on them because there's a ######ton of structures on the ceiling blocking your view sounds like great fun. Commander is already frustrating enough as it is. And no, removing structures on the ceiling from the commander view is not a viable option.

Mouse

Cooperation between the Khammander & the gorges might make this easier.

An earlier thread of mine on the topic: <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=124502" target="_blank">More synergy/cooperation between the Khamm and Gorges</a>

Vitdom

The idea that Gorges can move alien structures is very good. It'd certainly contribute to the Gorge-role and the asymmetric design!

xxswatelitexx

If aliens build on ceilings that would force marines to waste all their ammo on destroying structures. It would be a huge disadvantage for marines. The idea of a shade is not to give permentant invisibility. Its just a temporary one to hide creatures not actually for structures.