Balancing with new minor changes and features: devour, 'spitweb', weldable vents etc (back to NS1)
Artturi
Join Date: 2012-07-26 Member: 154364Members
Join Date: 2012-07-26 Member: 154364Members
I'm not going for anything too extreme nor innovative here, merely just getting back to basics - meaning features from natural selection 1. I think that uwe could make game more enjoyable and balanced with just minor changes. No need to go for crazy, asymmetry breaking experiments like gorge tunnels etc.
Alien:
1. Parasiting needs to be more effective and worth of risk. Currently you risk exposing yourself too easily, get damaged, and usually even fail at the parasite. After that you need to get back to hive, and meanwhile marines advance unharmed. So was it worth it? I rather use my ears than try to mark opponent, but this is not good way considering teamwork. Suggestion: make it more easy to parasite.
2. Make gorge more useful in the beginning of the game: Healing immature structures more faster.
3. Make gorge more useful in the end of the game: Altough bile bomb is very useful in the end of the game, I would like to see one more ability, which veterans of ns1 already are familiar: the web. Gorges web was like a spider web in the ns1, but I would make it as a 'spit web' for ns2. Kinda slimy glue attached and hanging from the ceiling, something like gorges snot, which marines get glued and their movement decrease. It would unlock at second or third hive (changing the place of bile accordingly). For the contrast, I would nerf bile bomb a bit and make the damage more collateral. Notice: spit web would have also counter-effect (positive) on the marine side. As the easiest way to destroy spit webs would be welder, people would start carrying more welders along.
4. Devour for onos. Now, onos is just a big massive meatbag cannon fodder, but you could make it more tactical by adding ability to devour marines. Known from natural selection 1 too. Would unlock at 3rd hive. Would give onos small heal points while devour. This ability would merely shorten the ending of the game.
5. Fade focus instead of vortex (insta kill with the claws). Like in this video (time: 1:42) :
This ability would be risky to use though and only useful for lonely marines, because you would not get able to move (takes time to perform the action and get your claws off from the poor guys neck) and therefore be easy target for marines. This ability would also make shade hive more useful in the game, which obviously too underused.
6. Shade hallucinations more cheaper and maturation faster with gorge (hallucination is really useful on coordinated attacks, but takes way too much time to tech and costs too much)
Marines:
7. Weldable vents (In some maps, some vents are really useful for aliens) You should be able to weld these strategical vents as marines and destruct them by bile bomb.
8. Welders need to be cheaper.
8. Turrets should be able to rotate 360 degrees. Make the placeable area bigger, but do not allow them to be clustered (like now).
9. Grenades (2 units) for marines to clear vents, webs etc. Techable in armory, cost (15 or 20).
10. You may need to rework with the jetpack because of the new alien abilites: Increase the jetpack fuel slightly, make it more slower to thrust (or otherway around)
11. Catalysts could fasten the building construction.
There you go. Not too extreme and balance breaking changes, but more like adding depth to the game and in the same time honoring the legacy of the great ancestor
Alien:
1. Parasiting needs to be more effective and worth of risk. Currently you risk exposing yourself too easily, get damaged, and usually even fail at the parasite. After that you need to get back to hive, and meanwhile marines advance unharmed. So was it worth it? I rather use my ears than try to mark opponent, but this is not good way considering teamwork. Suggestion: make it more easy to parasite.
2. Make gorge more useful in the beginning of the game: Healing immature structures more faster.
3. Make gorge more useful in the end of the game: Altough bile bomb is very useful in the end of the game, I would like to see one more ability, which veterans of ns1 already are familiar: the web. Gorges web was like a spider web in the ns1, but I would make it as a 'spit web' for ns2. Kinda slimy glue attached and hanging from the ceiling, something like gorges snot, which marines get glued and their movement decrease. It would unlock at second or third hive (changing the place of bile accordingly). For the contrast, I would nerf bile bomb a bit and make the damage more collateral. Notice: spit web would have also counter-effect (positive) on the marine side. As the easiest way to destroy spit webs would be welder, people would start carrying more welders along.
4. Devour for onos. Now, onos is just a big massive meatbag cannon fodder, but you could make it more tactical by adding ability to devour marines. Known from natural selection 1 too. Would unlock at 3rd hive. Would give onos small heal points while devour. This ability would merely shorten the ending of the game.
5. Fade focus instead of vortex (insta kill with the claws). Like in this video (time: 1:42) :
This ability would be risky to use though and only useful for lonely marines, because you would not get able to move (takes time to perform the action and get your claws off from the poor guys neck) and therefore be easy target for marines. This ability would also make shade hive more useful in the game, which obviously too underused.6. Shade hallucinations more cheaper and maturation faster with gorge (hallucination is really useful on coordinated attacks, but takes way too much time to tech and costs too much)
Marines:
7. Weldable vents (In some maps, some vents are really useful for aliens) You should be able to weld these strategical vents as marines and destruct them by bile bomb.
8. Welders need to be cheaper.
8. Turrets should be able to rotate 360 degrees. Make the placeable area bigger, but do not allow them to be clustered (like now).
9. Grenades (2 units) for marines to clear vents, webs etc. Techable in armory, cost (15 or 20).
10. You may need to rework with the jetpack because of the new alien abilites: Increase the jetpack fuel slightly, make it more slower to thrust (or otherway around)
11. Catalysts could fasten the building construction.
There you go. Not too extreme and balance breaking changes, but more like adding depth to the game and in the same time honoring the legacy of the great ancestor
Comments
Erm they are allready very usefull at the beginning because they can increase the growth of everything..... making it even faster would be op.
More usefull at the end of the game is comming by means of gorge tunnels and babblers in upcomming patch (probably next week).
No way. Onos is allready hard enough to deal with. An ability with whom it could eat you instantly would be way to op. Now after 1 hit you still got a chance to jetpack away and then an onos would just pwn the field. Think of it, an onos with devour and camouflage...
Instant-kill abilities are not thew way to go... It's just plain awfull because it lacks any sort of skill and you are unnable to defend against it.
True.
I think these are comming back in some sort of form. not sure tho.
No. 5 res is allready cheap.
No, would decrease tactical placement and increase turtlebase
Would love to see some form of grenades or emp grenades.
In my opinoin they should give marines a jump before jetpack. Now it takes a lot of fuel to achieve liftof.
Nutrient Mist allready does this.
I find these features not very cool, uncreative, and a bit too extreme (balancewise). I was just suggesting other options.
I dont need to think of it. It's already put into test in ns1 and worked pretty well. Ofc you need to nerf onos health and armory. The point here is not actually balance, but playability. Imo onos is very boring life form in the end, and needs more tactical traits.
Good point, but it still doesn't mean lack of using skill. Ofc you have to perform the "insta-kill" action in right place, in right time, you could do that only from behind, this would mean sneaking with fade, which always is risky, besides that the performing the action takes long, and meanwhile you get dead, especially if you miss. In ns1 there was this kinda action as a fade, though it dealt only double damage and wasnt as much difficult to perform. Another point here is to make shade hives more useful. Only negative side I see in this is that it makes solo marines not very useful anymore, though some may find this also a positive thing!
I agree, that tacticality should be the purpose of turrets, but in current situation we are still lacking this aspect. Turrets are useless. I would like to have more freedom in their placement so that it could be used also in combat situations better.
I meant this for marines. Im actually not sure if there is catalysts in classic games, but in combat there is. Im just saying that catalyst should boost construction time also. (kinda returning back nano construction)