Upgrades to allow Marine 'Inventory'
AmbiguousMonk
Join Date: 2013-01-12 Member: 179197Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2013-01-12 Member: 179197Members, Reinforced - Shadow
<div class="IPBDescription">Increasing Marine sustainability and reducing Commander Dependance</div>I haven't really fleshed out this idea completely as far as what subtle changes or problems it would make, so I'm posting this as both a suggestion to devs and an inquiry to community posters about what they think it would accomplish.
I was thinking about how awfully annoying it gets when a Marine run low on of ammo or health in the middle of the field and needs to stop and wait (which is incredibly wasteful and un-fun on it's own) for the Marine Commander to find time to drop them a medpack/ammo pack or simply run back to base to find an armory (which is also wasteful and un-fun).
I also spent some time thinking about how much more stress there is as a Marine Commander over an Alien Commander simply because the Marines need to consistently badger the Marine Commander for packs while the Alien Commander doesn't nearly receive as much of that. (On the flip side, Alien Commanders has more stress in other ways, but this situation is one of the mostly one-sided phenomenon that exist in the game)
Wouldn't it be nice to try and mitigate these factors? Especially when the Aliens don't necessarily need very much of this Commander support when they have replenishing energy pools rather than finite ammo and personal healing mechanics like Regeneration? I started wondering how the game would change if Marines were able to carry around their own medpacks and ammo packs as one time self uses. Would it actually help accomplishing mitigating those un-fun factors? Would it overpower Marines so that Aliens couldn't fight back? Etc. Etc. Those are the kind of questions I'm hoping the community can help me answer.
Anyway, my idea in it's entirety would be that the Arms Lab would have two extra researches (three if catpacks ever come back. Greatly underestimated tools IMO) that would give Marines the capability to carry an ammo pack (first research) and a medpack (second) around with them to use at will. These packs would be just as potent as the Commander drop versions and would not be able to be given to or used on other players. Additionally, the Marines would not start with them, but would have to buy them from an Armory for PRES equal to the amount of TRES the Commander would have to spend to drop them. This would also allow for those extra little bits of PRES to become more useful after buying more high cost equipment. The Marine Commander would still be able to drop packs normally to those Marines who didn't buy or already expended their packs. The packs dropped by the Commander would function exactly the same and would not be able to be picked up by Marines for later use. I haven't really thought too much about whether Marines would be able to use these packs instantly, like Commander packs, or if they would have some form of animation or usage duration before the pack would take effect.
This seems to me like it would chiefly increase the sustainability of Marines, allowing them to travel the map for longer before dying to having to retreat. This increased sustainability would work more to offset the Aliens obviously superior ability to travel the map faster. I also feel like it would force Aliens to play more hit-and-run tactics, rather that simply bullrushing Marines with enough force to wipe them out. I also feel like it would relieve some of the stress of being a Marine Commander in that you don't have to babysit your Marines quite as much, putting you on a more even level with the responsibilities of the Alien Commander. I think this slightly increases the value of carrying welders for repairing Marine armor too. Sure you can repair the armor of a wounded Marine, but if he doesn't have the health to protect, how much good will the restored armor do?
I'm quite sure there are many, many other hidden effects a change like this would cause and it's those effects that I'm looking for insight into. Can you spot any way this would seriously break the game as it is? Can you help gauge how more difficult it makes it to play as an Alien and if this added difficulty is warranted? Etc. I can think of many ways to even out the benefit that the Marines get from this, such as making the upgrades cost more, making the packs themselves cost more, adding in that usage duration, not letting Marines buy them without an Advanced Armory, or not letting Marines have them unless they have two tech points. Help me flesh this idea out and see if it is actually useful and can go somewhere.
I was thinking about how awfully annoying it gets when a Marine run low on of ammo or health in the middle of the field and needs to stop and wait (which is incredibly wasteful and un-fun on it's own) for the Marine Commander to find time to drop them a medpack/ammo pack or simply run back to base to find an armory (which is also wasteful and un-fun).
I also spent some time thinking about how much more stress there is as a Marine Commander over an Alien Commander simply because the Marines need to consistently badger the Marine Commander for packs while the Alien Commander doesn't nearly receive as much of that. (On the flip side, Alien Commanders has more stress in other ways, but this situation is one of the mostly one-sided phenomenon that exist in the game)
Wouldn't it be nice to try and mitigate these factors? Especially when the Aliens don't necessarily need very much of this Commander support when they have replenishing energy pools rather than finite ammo and personal healing mechanics like Regeneration? I started wondering how the game would change if Marines were able to carry around their own medpacks and ammo packs as one time self uses. Would it actually help accomplishing mitigating those un-fun factors? Would it overpower Marines so that Aliens couldn't fight back? Etc. Etc. Those are the kind of questions I'm hoping the community can help me answer.
Anyway, my idea in it's entirety would be that the Arms Lab would have two extra researches (three if catpacks ever come back. Greatly underestimated tools IMO) that would give Marines the capability to carry an ammo pack (first research) and a medpack (second) around with them to use at will. These packs would be just as potent as the Commander drop versions and would not be able to be given to or used on other players. Additionally, the Marines would not start with them, but would have to buy them from an Armory for PRES equal to the amount of TRES the Commander would have to spend to drop them. This would also allow for those extra little bits of PRES to become more useful after buying more high cost equipment. The Marine Commander would still be able to drop packs normally to those Marines who didn't buy or already expended their packs. The packs dropped by the Commander would function exactly the same and would not be able to be picked up by Marines for later use. I haven't really thought too much about whether Marines would be able to use these packs instantly, like Commander packs, or if they would have some form of animation or usage duration before the pack would take effect.
This seems to me like it would chiefly increase the sustainability of Marines, allowing them to travel the map for longer before dying to having to retreat. This increased sustainability would work more to offset the Aliens obviously superior ability to travel the map faster. I also feel like it would force Aliens to play more hit-and-run tactics, rather that simply bullrushing Marines with enough force to wipe them out. I also feel like it would relieve some of the stress of being a Marine Commander in that you don't have to babysit your Marines quite as much, putting you on a more even level with the responsibilities of the Alien Commander. I think this slightly increases the value of carrying welders for repairing Marine armor too. Sure you can repair the armor of a wounded Marine, but if he doesn't have the health to protect, how much good will the restored armor do?
I'm quite sure there are many, many other hidden effects a change like this would cause and it's those effects that I'm looking for insight into. Can you spot any way this would seriously break the game as it is? Can you help gauge how more difficult it makes it to play as an Alien and if this added difficulty is warranted? Etc. I can think of many ways to even out the benefit that the Marines get from this, such as making the upgrades cost more, making the packs themselves cost more, adding in that usage duration, not letting Marines buy them without an Advanced Armory, or not letting Marines have them unless they have two tech points. Help me flesh this idea out and see if it is actually useful and can go somewhere.
Comments
I'm thinking buyable at any advanced armory, costing 3-5 res, probably limited to carrying only one at a time (either one of each or one total).