biomass 9 for xeno
clankill3r
Join Date: 2007-09-03 Member: 62145Members, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2007-09-03 Member: 62145Members, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow
Comments
I have no problem with this!
Xenocide is more of an "end game" ability as it requires 3 hives. to have 7 biomass already means that you are well established.
To make it 9 biomass is only delaying the inevitable (in my opinion anyway), but to have 6 biomass (on 2 hives) is also too soon as you would tear through your eggs too quickly.
I think that at 7 biomass is the perfect amount.
and with that being said, I will just leave this photo here
When i play as alien, i only ever use it when there is one marine base left and they refuse to concede and they just turtle in the last base.
Exo's can be taken down easily with skulk bite so i don't see why xenocide is required to take them down, the only good reason i can see xenocide being used for is an end of game tactic when marines are turtling in base.
In that regard, i would like to see xenocide moved to biomass 10-12.
4 hives pretty much guarantees marines have lost thus they deserve xenocide rape if they are too dumb to accept their fate.
And it's not about killing the Exos, but clearing out all their support so they can be picked off.
When you fulfill the prerequisites, you are probably already winning, so it does not matter. Even then, you will do more damage with actively biting than by using xeno - you must count the time you have to move in to the battle constantly, so it's not very effective.
Moreover, late in the game, most aliens should have higher lifeforms to stay competitive with upgraded marines.
I have certainly never seen xenocide used in comp play, not even once. I understand that it may have its merit on crowded servers with unskilled players, though.
not to support bio 7 or 9 in this thread but you still need 3 hives for xenocide.
But you wont necessarily "get to bio9 regardless", you'll only get to bio9 regarding whether or not the game lasts long enough to do so.
The context I gave in my post was my experience of not seeing many games lately last up till 9 biomass (alot of marine teams conceding shortly after a 3rd hive goes up). If you're going to ignore that or disagree at least say so.
I don't think 3 hives doesn't mean it's an end game. Often it's now because of xenocide. Xenocide at biomass 9 will give marines a bit more time to recover a base loss. Now often the 3th hive goes up within 1 minute with a few gorges supporting it.
Or
bio9 with increased damage against building
- requires almost no skill to execute, just about anyone can run into a group of marine and xeno; only skill it takes is timing.
- completely offsets any skill and also resource balance (easy to suicide on 35 Tres JPS/Shotgunners with 0 pres skulk)
As result, I think it completly ruins lategame balance. Thankfully most of the newbies we got thanks to the sale don't even know how to use it.
Example to redesign it would be some sort of DoT instead of instant (similar to lerk gas), that way it can still be used to break groups; still doesn't fix the low skill floor/ceiling, however.
I said to someone in a combat server that xenocide was for people with no skill. Strictly speaking on a combat server, where it's more about a quick blast and trying to hone certain things, that applies perhaps moreso than in a real game. He replied by saying that jetpacks and shotguns are for people with no skill. This is a classic case of someone missing the point.
In the hands of a noob, xenocide is less potent than in the hands of a pro, but not too much so. Anyone can leap into a group and press left click.
In the hands of a noob, a jetpack and shotgun is not that distinguishable from a 0/0 marine with the LMG. In the hands of a pro, you can decimate an entire enemy team.
I don't think xenocide should even be in the game. It totally destroys combat mode, where you constantly have a barrage of leaping xenociding skulks flying into you. You only get medpacks as few people spend a point on the welder so you're basically one hit away from death constantly.
In a real game it is less frustrating. I hate these facile, "well if it's gone that far..." arguments. I've seen plenty of comebacks from this point before. Biomass 9, by all means - it takes a good couple of minutes more to get it and one can have three hives and very few RTs (think mineshaft where you can have deposit, sorting and cave, and yet only have 3 RTs) such that you cannot even research it because you need to concentrate on other things.
On a side note, Onos xeno mod is the funniest thing I have seen in this game. Some pub NA server had the mod on it.
P.S. I hate xeno as well.
I once experimented with allowing another Biomass upgrade on each Hive, even more expensive than the previous ones.
Like 40-50 res. All Biomass upgrades in a Hive would cost 90-100 res then, making it quite a large investment in a single structure, hence why you would still want to rather secure another Hive location instead in order to get the upgrades cheaper and with less risk of losing everything at once.
It allows aliens to get to Biomass 12 on 3 Hives, if they accumulate enough resources. And it opens up Leap on 1 Hive and the other abilities (except Stomp) on 2 Hives, unless you move them a bit around in the Biomass tree to accommodate this change. And it actually gives you more of a choice in regards to when and how you get your upgrades. Heck, you could even make the first Biomass on a new Hive, which would usually be free and instant, researchable as well for 10 res, thus slightly delaying alien tech after a new Hive went up.
You don't instantly lose the game when an opponent is up one base in SC2.
It also breaks combat mod.
If you have 3 hives you will get biomass pretty damn soon. If you don't then you would have only had xeno for 1 minute anyway.
Often aliens are at biomass 6 before 3th hive drop, so all they need is the 3th hive to complete.
If you're going to disagree, address my point directly. You're doing the equivalent of what people do then they talk to you with their eyes closed.
It's not even THAT big a point, seems like you're just disagreeing with me because you have crabby panties
Yeah but my point is if they do have that bio6 before 3rd hive, once 3rd hive is up the goal is contaminate, which needs bio9. Biomass doesn't take long to research so unless the comm is an idiot you're going to get to biomass 9 in about a minute, minute and a half after 3rd hive is up.