ARCs better or worse than ns1 siege turrets?

deathshrouddeathshroud Join Date: 2010-04-10 Member: 71291Members
im leaning towards the siege turrets of ns1 as being a better implementation. My reasoning is that the marines had to control the area they wanted to siege from in ns1. however in ns2 they only need to control an area close to the siege area and with enough arcs they can make a push and hold it for the time it takes to drop the hive. i much prefer the build up of siege turrets as opposed to the movement of arcs. Instead arcs could act as some mobile turret platform.

Bring back siege turrets.
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Comments

  • swalkswalk Say hello to my little friend. Join Date: 2011-01-20 Member: 78384Members, Squad Five Blue
    Or make the marines deploy the ARCs once the commander sets the deploy order for them? About 5 seconds of deployment time for each ARC. That would make it nessesary for the marines to really hold the area where the ARCs are being deployed. Make marines nessesary for a siege to happen.
  • SquishpokePOOPFACESquishpokePOOPFACE -21,248 posts (ignore below) Join Date: 2012-10-31 Member: 165262Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited March 2013
    No way, I love ARCs! Little pew pew siege tanks, so awesome. I rarely ever see them anyways, since they are built for specific purposes (end game versus a good team).
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    Siege turrets could be made on the spot quite quickly, they were stronger imo.
  • FLuXFLuX Join Date: 2002-12-30 Member: 11633Members, NS2 Playtester, Subnautica Playtester
    I seem to recall that NS1 siege turret splash damage of NS1 used to damage aliens heavily so any aliens trying even defend the hive would get royally wrecked just from the siege cannons alone. :) So, I'll have to say no, I like the current implementation much much more, additionally you could get siege turrets up a lot faster than arcs actually, rather than waiting for a build time for each one in NS1 you could drop 4-5 at once and have marines build them. There are already trade offs between the two implementations.
  • deathshrouddeathshroud Join Date: 2010-04-10 Member: 71291Members
    but couldnt be retreated, i like the idea of marines deploying arcs, so if they get rushed marines die commander cant just recall arcs he has to rely on marines to revert them back to a wheeled state.
  • KhazeKhaze Join Date: 2006-12-12 Member: 59031Members
    They're different. I think I liked the NS1 siege cannons better, because it was a much more permanent resource investment and it involved the marine team aswell, by forcing them to build the factory and the cannons themselves.. These ones are all built by the Commander and you can just keep moving them around after you've sieged one location. An evolution over the NS1 cannon, certainly, but worse for gameplay, IMO.

    The early versions of the NS1 siege cannon did infact hurt players aswell, but atleast the latest version doesn't have that feature anymore. Sieges are a big enough death sentence even without the splash damage.
  • TheriusTherius Join Date: 2009-03-06 Member: 66642Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Supporter
    Khaze wrote: »
    They're different. I think I liked the NS1 siege cannons better, because it was a much more permanent resource investment

    How can this be true when the NS1 siege cannons could be recycled and took considerably less time to build than the ones in NS2 (depending on the players of course).

  • The_JanitorThe_Janitor Join Date: 2013-03-24 Member: 184320Members
    ARCs are tragically terrible. They can just roll past half of the enemy team and be fine, even if they're completely unguarded with no Marine support. Don't get me wrong, I like the concept. But when they have a ludicrous amount of health and it takes a dedicated chunk of your team to take them down before they reach anything valuable, it's not working.
  • RoobubbaRoobubba Who you gonna call? Join Date: 2003-01-06 Member: 11930Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    If they're unguarded and you don't have a gorge bile bombing them, you probably deserve to lose...

    marines being required to deploy and undeploy is a good idea though.
  • xen32xen32 Join Date: 2012-10-18 Member: 162676Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    Anyone knows where I can find video of NS1 siege cannons in action?

    Also, HMG/HA/JP in NS1?
    Could not find any advanced NS1 stuff on youtube.
  • RoobubbaRoobubba Who you gonna call? Join Date: 2003-01-06 Member: 11930Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    You could go and play it... It's a free hl mod. And if you don't own hl... Well there's a game every single gamer should have played...
  • |strofix||strofix| Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165453Members
    Consider this: A single ARC takes 114 seconds to destroy a hive in NS2, while a single siege cannon takes 80 seconds.
    Then consider that sieging a hive in NS1 required not only that a robotics factory equivalent be present in the area, but that it be upgraded to support siege cannons as well.

    In my opinion, too much preparation can be done "off site" in NS2. The first alert that the hive is being sieged should not be its death.
  • xen32xen32 Join Date: 2012-10-18 Member: 162676Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    edited March 2013
    Roobubba wrote: »
    You could go and play it... It's a free hl mod. And if you don't own hl... Well there's a game every single gamer should have played...
    I own HL and I played NS a little back then, and I have NS installed right now, but there is a problem: 1) Nobody plays NS now. 2) Popup menu is glitched for me and so is Comm interface so I can't do anything as a comm and as an alien, and I've heard I'm not the only one having that problem (I once found a game with 20+ players).
    :(
  • KhazeKhaze Join Date: 2006-12-12 Member: 59031Members
    edited March 2013
    Therius wrote: »
    Khaze wrote: »
    They're different. I think I liked the NS1 siege cannons better, because it was a much more permanent resource investment

    How can this be true when the NS1 siege cannons could be recycled and took considerably less time to build than the ones in NS2 (depending on the players of course).

    I meant in the sense that once you had them built, you couldn't just simply "recall" them if you didn't think your marines could protect them. Losing the forward base meant losing all the resources you put in researching and building the cannons. Or indeed just not being able to build them off-site while your marines prepare the area, like strofix pointed out.
    |strofix| wrote: »
    Consider this: A single ARC takes 114 seconds to destroy a hive in NS2, while a single siege cannon takes 80 seconds.
    Then consider that sieging a hive in NS1 required not only that a robotics factory equivalent be present in the area, but that it be upgraded to support siege cannons as well.

    In my opinion, too much preparation can be done "off site" in NS2. The first alert that the hive is being sieged should not be its death.

    This is what's bugging me aswell. While the aliens are certainly at a fault for not scouting properly, you often don't get any early warning that your hive is about to be sieged. And once you're being sieged, in most cases it's already way too late. You can't outheal ARCs, or atleast I've never seen it done.

    I've seen some competitive play where the commander would use ARCs to push a hive while simultaneously using the rest of the team to push another. While I like this aspect in a tactical sense, it is a terrible mechanic when a commander can essentially double the size of his team with AI units. Sieging should be a team effort, requiring both the commander and the marines on the ground to pull off. Isn't that whole idea of the game? An RTS where the units on the ground are people - not machines.

  • tagwolftagwolf SF Bay Area Join Date: 2013-02-01 Member: 182710Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver
    I only want one change to arcs.

    Line of sight fire only.

    No more killing hives through walls.
  • irEricirEric Join Date: 2012-11-20 Member: 172615Members
    tagwolf wrote: »
    I only want one change to arcs.

    Line of sight fire only.

    No more killing hives through walls.

    That'd make them pretty useless.
  • BCSephBCSeph Join Date: 2005-02-24 Member: 42384Members, Constellation
    Ah yes, everyone stand on top of a structure to avoid the siege turret splash damage :P
  • RisingSunRisingSun Rising California Join Date: 2004-04-19 Member: 28015Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    I have been thinking about this for the last couple days after reading Savant's Forgiveness thread. Allowing commander micro with ARCs adds much more RTS element and gives you more to do, but it does detract from the FPS element. Having to guard/set up things is a game type in many FPS games and i think without it in NS2 we have ventured more into a 40-60 (RTS-FPS) instead of 20-80 like in NS1. Combined moving arcs with macs and nano shield and we have much more RTS than is needed imo.

    Alien comm (though boring) is a good example of letting the FPS take over the RTS element. A bad alien comm, as long as they research everything and not buy millions of whips early game, cant be bad. There are some minor decisions to be made like where to spread infestation and whether to re-drop RTs but not much.

    I'm getting a bit off topic... just a bit. All in all i wish the old siege mechanic was back and it was more about defending the forward position. Less RTS and more FPS is always a good thing imo.

  • deathshrouddeathshroud Join Date: 2010-04-10 Member: 71291Members
    edited March 2013
    arcs certainly need a hp reduction imo, i would reduce their hps by 1/3 of current. wondering what mobile sentries mounted to arc platforms would be like.
  • BentRingBentRing Join Date: 2003-03-04 Member: 14318Members
    RisingSun wrote: »
    A bad alien comm, as long as they research everything and not buy millions of whips early game, cant be bad. There are some minor decisions to be made like where to spread infestation and whether to re-drop RTs but not much.

    If this happens
    |strofix| wrote: »
    The first alert that the hive is being sieged should not be its death.


    then yes, you had a bad khamm.
  • |strofix||strofix| Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165453Members
    BentRing wrote: »
    then yes, you had a bad khamm.

    Yes, if you don't know that a completely silent, completely autonomous conga line of ARCs is moving to one of potentially many locations you control, you must be bad.
    arcs certainly need a hp reduction imo, i would reduce their hps by 1/3 of current. wondering what mobile sentries mounted to arc platforms would be like.

    That would make the gameplay even worse by mirroring the problem aliens have with ARCs now. One slight mistake and a gorge throwing 5 bile bombs into your ARCs would destroy all of them. On the other hand, one slight oversight and 5 ARCs destroy your hive in under 10 seconds. No fun either way.

    ARCs need more health and less damage. Aliens should need a coordinated and concerted effort to destroy them, and marines should need a coordinated and concerted effort to last through an entire sieging of a hive. There should be no quick fixes here.

  • RedrimRedrim Join Date: 2012-09-20 Member: 160112Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    I'm not sure if that wouldn't be to overpowered, but what if sculk parasite could mark arcs permanently or for long time (like 4-5 minutes) + the parasite can not be taken off.
    Even though it doesn't change time for deployment, but aliens will at least know that arc train is coming. Plus parasite will get at least some usefulness.

    What do you think?
  • BentRingBentRing Join Date: 2003-03-04 Member: 14318Members
    |strofix| wrote: »
    BentRing wrote: »
    then yes, you had a bad khamm.

    Yes, if you don't know that a completely silent, completely autonomous conga line of ARCs is moving to one of potentially many locations you control, you must be bad.

    If you don't know a conga line capable of destroying a hive with no marines guarding them is en route to a hive, then you failed miserably with your drifters.
  • XaoXao Join Date: 2012-12-12 Member: 174840Members
    How do you not notice an arc factory in the base...or ARCs in a base...or put drifters in areas ARC roll past at 0.1 MPH...all of my why.
  • ChizzlerChizzler Join Date: 2013-01-04 Member: 177532Members
    edited March 2013
    There's no excuse for not seeing an Arc train coming. your looking at several minutes before they've built the robotics factory, upgraded it for arcs, built 2-4 arcs and moved them into position. If not one alien or drifter has seen this going on, then you've got bigger problems than Arc's. You don't even need to see them to know they're being worked on as marines won't have other upgrades as a result of the Tres being pumped into them.

    I think their health and damage output are fine, but I think there should be a cap on the number of arcs (per robotics factory, tech point or just a hard cap). You should never need more than 4 arcs and they only really become overpowered when you've got 8-10 on the field as you can't take them down fast enough.
  • |strofix||strofix| Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165453Members
    I think people are getting confused if they think its enough to know that there are ARCs coming to your hive, or that the enemy has the ability to build ARCs.
    You can't display your knowledge of the marine team's intentions and expect them to return to base and leave the ARCs behind for you to destroy. You actually have to have the capabilities necessary to destroy the threat.

    What this typically entails is at least 2 gorges, but you will typically need more, as well as the necessary life forms to protect them. This requires those payers to either already be gorge, or be in a position to instantly evolve to gorge, with mist used of course. They also need to instantly relocate to the threatened location. All defending life forms must also be able to drop everything they are doing and immediately return to defend.

    Keeping in mind that 5 ARCs will destroy a hive in about 15 seconds... ye, like I said, people are confused.
  • MelancorMelancor Join Date: 2003-12-15 Member: 24415Members
    edited March 2013
    In my opinion, too much preparation can be done "off site" in NS2. The first alert that the hive is being sieged should not be its death.
    Poor scouting. Really. And of course, poor scouting. Although I miss (from NS1) the marine structures rocking when they were upgrading.
    "There's no excuse for not seeing that coming." goes for a lot of things. The concept of denying an upgrade hasn't quite fired yet though.
  • ChizzlerChizzler Join Date: 2013-01-04 Member: 177532Members
    edited March 2013
    By knowing they're coming, you give your team time to respond accordingly.

    If they're pushing almost their whole team in with these arcs, force a beacon.
    If they've only brought a few marines out to defend them, you should have no issue killing them (preferably on-route)
    If they've set up a forward base with a pg & armory, your in trouble and you need to rally your entire team to bring it down

    a push on 2 sides, one with arc's and the other marines is trickier to deal with, and you need to see it coming as early as possible to split your team up accordingly.
    |strofix| wrote: »
    ...You actually have to have the capabilities necessary to destroy the threat...

    Yes. Obviously if your team can't eliminate them because there's no lifeforms to do so and no one evolves (even free ones a comm may drop), or through a lack of coordination by the team to respond to the threat, Despite seeing them coming, you got outplayed.

    It's only an issue when you can't take the arc's down fast enough (too many, slightly spread out) and a cap on the number of arcs would stop this...however, the marines should never have the res to pump out so many, if they do, it's probably been "gg" for a while.
  • |strofix||strofix| Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165453Members
    Chizzler wrote: »
    you got outplayed

    Outplayed by what? Non player controlled units? A commander's single click? Should one person have the power to single handedly and almost instantly destroy a primary structure? And if so, where is the aliens response? Are you going to tell me that, for the sake of asymmetry, the marines are able to essentially nuke an entire room instantaneously, while the aliens cannot?
  • ChizzlerChizzler Join Date: 2013-01-04 Member: 177532Members
    edited March 2013
    that would suggest you can just roll in arcs without support and pop the hive in a few seconds...It's possible, but requires some serious failure from the aliens... not unlike a gorge (or any other lifeform) that can take out the power in marines base on his own if the marines fail to respond.

    Ok, the structures remain but they're completely useless (CC excluded).

    Your also overusing the word instantly. it's not instant or even 'almost instantly' unless your talking about large numbers of arcs (and if they've had that much res to waste on arcs, you lost already). Don't forget crags help. 3 crags can almost outheal 2 arcs entirely (maybe they can with heal spray?).
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