I think it would open up another layer of creativity and expansion possibilities for aliens to be able to attach cysts to gorge tunnels if their paired counterpart has cyst in close range.
Now that would be amazing. I think it's been hovering around that gorge tunnels should spread infestation if one end is on infestation. But I like the cyst idea too. This could make for some really interesting forward expansions past a marine blockade.
Quite a few possibilities with an idea like this. I'd love to see this in a mod or something.
Cool idea, it would be hard to manage from the commander view. I am just imagining 10 tunnels to the marine base and then spawning whips there while the Gorge's build them :P
I think simplest solution is that a gorge tunnel exit/entrance acts like a cyst and allows other cysts to be placed near it (independent of a chain).
Would add some interesting tactics and give aliens a chance of holding nano on veil even if they cant secure space between it and their hive.
Yes, it's kind of sucks now that aliens could be locked down in one room with no possibilities to expand, except dropping ninja hive somewhere, which is not only risky, but requeires marines not to have CC there as well.
One sneaky alien building building tunnel and khamm then setting up crags/shifts near it could solve this problem.
I could think of a lot of cool secret ninja gorge tunnel spots. It would make gorge tunnels come in a lot sooner. Breaks the asymmetry though.
Well being limited by infestation was put in place to address khamms expanding too easily, was not intended part of asymmetry initially, has only become such to slow down expansion.
The tunnel already looks like it's infested, through and through. If one entrance is placed within cyst creep, then the other end should output cyst creep as if it were a cyst itself!
The tunnel ends acting like 2 connected Cysts is a great idea!
This would make tunnels actually useful. A lot of games I felt that tunnels alone aren't enough for a comeback or to be useful for anything but desperation harassment. Being able to secure a location with a Shift and Crags without requiring a giveaway Cyst chain would totally change that. The game dynamic of securing Tech Points would benefit when the Tech Point between 2 taken bases won't automatically go to that team.
It's a nice idea, but would probably be overpowered. You could essentially have full map control without placing any cysts.
but it needs cysts to actually produce infestation...and what about harvesters and preventing marine pushes by preventing their tech down
So the Gorge tunnel will act like a cyst, such that you could have an entrance/exit next to one hive, pop one up on the other side of the map and continue cysting from there. Thus, you could put one next to each hive you drop and you won't ever need to place a cyst down on the map except when connecting to res towers. The rest of the map wouldn't need cysting. Also in doing this the marines would have no idea where you are spreading. It's a logical but overpowered idea.
Only way I would be on board with this is if "gorge" tunnels were to become commander only buildings.
With tunnels acting as cysts, they become a very strategic building, but one that player res is used to build..... meaning in larger games it will be much easier for aliens to do this strategy. And I hate things that make the game highly volatile and unstable as player count changes..we already have enough of that.
If this were a commander only building that needed team res, then yea this could be an option if properly priced. The commander can choose to spend res on rapid expansion (via tunnels) at the expense of economy/research/support..ect..
It may be hard to ensure that the first placed Gorge tunnel ( The one supposed to be connected to the hive or the main cyst chain) is actually connected to the cyst chain in the first place. Cysts need relative line of sight to the next cyst of hive, and you may place the first tunnel entrance only to find that a box or a thin edge of a wall is actually preventing it from working correctly, especially if the entrance is on top of structure like the gantries in ns2_veil.
The problem may not arise until you have placed the second tunnel entrance, and the commander starts to have trouble placing any structures at the exit. By the time he has fixed the cyst chain back at the main hive, the element of surprise on the other end could have been lost.
It's a nice idea, but would probably be overpowered. You could essentially have full map control without placing any cysts.
but it needs cysts to actually produce infestation...and what about harvesters and preventing marine pushes by preventing their tech down
So the Gorge tunnel will act like a cyst, such that you could have an entrance/exit next to one hive, pop one up on the other side of the map and continue cysting from there. Thus, you could put one next to each hive you drop and you won't ever need to place a cyst down on the map except when connecting to res towers. The rest of the map wouldn't need cysting. Also in doing this the marines would have no idea where you are spreading. It's a logical but overpowered idea.
The cost outweighs any possible benefit. 30 pres per tunnel (inc gorge) plus research with a limit of one tunnel per player, which the specific player has to go back gorge and rebuild either end of the tunnel if it gets destroyed for another 20pres.
love this idea, however i would say that the amount of infestation should only be minimal on the exit end, perhaps something like the minimum radius of a cyst (6 meters) would be the amount of infestation radius of the tunnel exit. so if the commander was to cyst from a tunnel exit the first cyst would have to be placed within 6 meters of the tunnel exit. It could also be added that in order to generate the infestation on the other side, the entrance of the tunnel must be placed within the minimum radius of a connected cyst.
Had a situation in the last few days where this would have been useful. Aliens had been locked down to two hives with no luck breaking through any other command points that the marines held, aliens were able maintain control of a number of res nodes however could not actually build res extractors because of a lack of ability to actually get cysts past marine control lines.
Only way I would be on board with this is if "gorge" tunnels were to become commander only buildings.
With tunnels acting as cysts, they become a very strategic building, but one that player res is used to build..... meaning in larger games it will be much easier for aliens to do this strategy. And I hate things that make the game highly volatile and unstable as player count changes..we already have enough of that.
If this were a commander only building that needed team res, then yea this could be an option if properly priced. The commander can choose to spend res on rapid expansion (via tunnels) at the expense of economy/research/support..ect..
It still costs a ton for a very niche option. Khamm's gotta research the tunnels, gorge has to spend his own res in placing them, etc. In this case the cost alone would prevent overuse IMO. Plus it couldn't be used early early game (think starting gate) simply because it does cost so much.
I think it is definitely worth trying out.
What if only fully mature gorge tunnels could act like cysts? Do tunnels have maturity?
This has the potential of being very useful, more than just "niche". If it turns out its only used once in a blue moon, then fine... doesn't matter (I wouldn't even bother the devs to hurry up and add in this feature either).
However we see several excited posters in thread because it is looking initially like this is going to be useful ..perhaps OP even. I'm more and more against anything that does not scale well with player count. Gorge tunnels already fit that bill, but their effectiveness is rather mild (might change with bigger maps), so I don't mind so much. However its a strategic tool, and with more players, the easier it is to field and replace tunnels. Comm research is only a one time thing. Not only is stuff like this making balancing all different player counts a nightmare, but larger games have already become too disconnected from 6v6 comp matches. Its the main reason I have problems following the comp scene in NS2 (a shame) since I know pro players are essentially not playing the same game I'm playing. Unlike SC2 and MOBA games which the pros are playing under the same rules and environment as everyone else..just at a much higher skill level of course.
The only concern for me is potentially repeating the problems of the Mini-Cyst from beta: Cyst chain broken by accident or trolling, and TRes investments (everything built on disconnected infestation) down the drain, especially when used across the map and away from nearby Hives.
Comments
Quite a few possibilities with an idea like this. I'd love to see this in a mod or something.
Would add some interesting tactics and give aliens a chance of holding nano on veil even if they cant secure space between it and their hive.
One sneaky alien building building tunnel and khamm then setting up crags/shifts near it could solve this problem.
Well being limited by infestation was put in place to address khamms expanding too easily, was not intended part of asymmetry initially, has only become such to slow down expansion.
This would make tunnels actually useful. A lot of games I felt that tunnels alone aren't enough for a comeback or to be useful for anything but desperation harassment. Being able to secure a location with a Shift and Crags without requiring a giveaway Cyst chain would totally change that. The game dynamic of securing Tech Points would benefit when the Tech Point between 2 taken bases won't automatically go to that team.
UWE do it!
but it needs cysts to actually produce infestation...and what about harvesters and preventing marine pushes by preventing their tech down
So the Gorge tunnel will act like a cyst, such that you could have an entrance/exit next to one hive, pop one up on the other side of the map and continue cysting from there. Thus, you could put one next to each hive you drop and you won't ever need to place a cyst down on the map except when connecting to res towers. The rest of the map wouldn't need cysting. Also in doing this the marines would have no idea where you are spreading. It's a logical but overpowered idea.
With tunnels acting as cysts, they become a very strategic building, but one that player res is used to build..... meaning in larger games it will be much easier for aliens to do this strategy. And I hate things that make the game highly volatile and unstable as player count changes..we already have enough of that.
If this were a commander only building that needed team res, then yea this could be an option if properly priced. The commander can choose to spend res on rapid expansion (via tunnels) at the expense of economy/research/support..ect..
The problem may not arise until you have placed the second tunnel entrance, and the commander starts to have trouble placing any structures at the exit. By the time he has fixed the cyst chain back at the main hive, the element of surprise on the other end could have been lost.
The cost outweighs any possible benefit. 30 pres per tunnel (inc gorge) plus research with a limit of one tunnel per player, which the specific player has to go back gorge and rebuild either end of the tunnel if it gets destroyed for another 20pres.
I think it is definitely worth trying out.
What if only fully mature gorge tunnels could act like cysts? Do tunnels have maturity?
However we see several excited posters in thread because it is looking initially like this is going to be useful ..perhaps OP even. I'm more and more against anything that does not scale well with player count. Gorge tunnels already fit that bill, but their effectiveness is rather mild (might change with bigger maps), so I don't mind so much. However its a strategic tool, and with more players, the easier it is to field and replace tunnels. Comm research is only a one time thing. Not only is stuff like this making balancing all different player counts a nightmare, but larger games have already become too disconnected from 6v6 comp matches. Its the main reason I have problems following the comp scene in NS2 (a shame) since I know pro players are essentially not playing the same game I'm playing. Unlike SC2 and MOBA games which the pros are playing under the same rules and environment as everyone else..just at a much higher skill level of course.