Arms lab mirrors alien upgrades
sotanaht
Join Date: 2013-01-12 Member: 179215Members
Just an idea to design the marine weapon/armor upgrades to function more like alien spur/shell/veils.
Marines get to build one arms lab per command chair. Arms labs automatically unlock 1 level of armor/weapon upgrade each. Cost per arms lab is increased to 60 to match the current cost of lab+w1+a1 as well as that of a2+w2 with the existing lab. Arms labs can be built anywhere (not locked to a particular chair) and if a chair is destroyed the upgrades remain so long as the arms labs are not destroyed as well.
The benefits of this are that killing an arms lab is more desirable for the alien team (60 res lost) and it more elegantly implements the idea of having marines on one tech be limited to lower upgrade levels. Theoretically you could also have an armor/weapons level 4 on 4 command chairs.
Just something to try out in balance beta test most likely.
Marines get to build one arms lab per command chair. Arms labs automatically unlock 1 level of armor/weapon upgrade each. Cost per arms lab is increased to 60 to match the current cost of lab+w1+a1 as well as that of a2+w2 with the existing lab. Arms labs can be built anywhere (not locked to a particular chair) and if a chair is destroyed the upgrades remain so long as the arms labs are not destroyed as well.
The benefits of this are that killing an arms lab is more desirable for the alien team (60 res lost) and it more elegantly implements the idea of having marines on one tech be limited to lower upgrade levels. Theoretically you could also have an armor/weapons level 4 on 4 command chairs.
Just something to try out in balance beta test most likely.
Comments
Saying that marine upgrades are a lot more forgiving than alien upgrades. Lose 3 chambers and its 60 res to replace, lose W3/A3 and it's still only 20 res to replace. Something like this could be tried.
Maybe arms lab costs 20 and once built you have a choice of making it a weapon lab or armor lab which adds one level to that trait. The research could cost 20 or make the arms lab cost 40 and the research free. Does mean having to make 6 (as opposed to your 3) arms labs to get A3/W3, not sure if that's necessarily a bad thing.
A1 is not pointless. It takes an additional bite with parasite to kill an a1 marine, and you can stretch meds further with it as well. W1 might have been pointless pre 250 (a 100 ehp skulk took 10 shots regardless) but with variable alien health due to biomass there will definitely be times when it saves you a bullet or more killing a skulk.
None of these upgrades would be lost if the comm chairs are lost. If a armslab gets destroyed, you could build a new one with -1w/-1a from what had been unlocked previously. This would make taking out an armslab a good target for breaking down the marines turtle at the end of a round (much like in NS1). Even if the armslab is rebuilt, the marines are still weakened slightly.
This may seem overly complex, but the armslab is a pillar of the marine tech tree. I believe it could use a bit more possibility space and depth of decisions to round out the meta-balance against the kharaa upgrade system. It would also motivate marine teams to occupy more of the map earlier to build their strength while discouraging the long turtle to end-game tech that currently can occur.
Who?!
I don't like the idea of un-researching tech. Losing tech because the building providing it is gone and then getting it back when that building is rebuilt is the way most of the game is set up. What you are suggesting means going through about 5 minutes to re-research a3/w3 in addition to all the costs involved (100 res for the tech+building) which is all way too steep.
Weapons/armor 3 cost 40 res each, plus the arms lab for another 20, and it takes 2-3 minutes to research each one (dont know exact time but it's not fast).
Me, thats how I do it a lot of the time. It's a good tactic