Big games - Gl spam - and weapons lock
UncleCrunch
Mayonnaise land Join Date: 2005-02-16 Member: 41365Members, Reinforced - Onos
Mayonnaise land Join Date: 2005-02-16 Member: 41365Members, Reinforced - Onos
I got 2 observations
1 / GL spam
Gl spam is not stoppable in big game 16 to 24). 4 GL can do much more damage than 5 ARCs.
I wish somebody or dev could limit the number of GL to a ratio in the marine team. A simple division. Frankly it's retarded to a point that even if marines get hammered from the beginning they can come back like that with a single rush. Spare me the the alien just have to intercept. Basically you alien can't due to numbers.
2 / Lock advanced weapons.
Upgraded armory gives access to new weapons. But some of these weapons are better used with Jetpack. Problem is that some ppl just buy GL and run everywhere like mentally ill ppl. The fumiest (or sad-est) goof is the guy shoot the grenade at a skulk. But the skulk is too close and the grenade bounce back and blow the marines face... Good times...
You would say it's because these ppl are the dumb kind that shoot the hive when the com plan for a shadow operation to ARC... I would answer : "So they are many isn't it".
I wish that a commander could lock weapon availability until Protolab has one upgrade.
Any one for a mod ?
Comments
Well, there are several variables that I think need to scale with server size once you get past 16 players and this is just one of them, and only one of the reasons it's needed for balance.
I play preferably on 18p servers, and GL spam is not a problem here. Also, I wouldn't count anything below 20 as "big".
For >20 players such a ratio could be useful, though.
I don't think we should introduce features because some players are too dumb to use existing features correctly.
In this specific case, it's likely that your JP/GL noob is going to be killed by a Fade/Lerk at the first occasion, anyway.
Haaaaa dynamic balance. One thing i vote for since a long time. Bullet/bite damage, etc...
I'm afraid it won't happen unless a moder starts to pull out the game guts and start to sort things out.
At least he would have a chance using the combo JP/GL properly.
Not the other story:
Getting a GL, get killed.
Getting a JP but no GL.
I can't agree with you @UncleCrunch. Whilst mass GL spam is an annoyance, having a hidden mechanic like that (even one that is well explained - eg. in the buy menu with clear indication how many are available), I would still consider it a hidden mechanic (and god know there are already enough of these in the game). The way I see it play out is:
Marine jp/GL rush as last ditch push, Alien could trade base (assuming Aliens are 2-3 hives) and win. Remember any marines that die isn't likely to get GL or JP in a hurry (if its a close game or Aliens just have an edge in terms of map control). If a base trade isn't possible, then a gorge rush could significantly damage the marines base (eg. bile rush to kill AA or Proto). And I would consider locking weapons the same sort of hidden mechanic that I would not like (especially if you are dealing with Greens).
Lastly, if you allot 2/, you might as well go back to NS1 style of Comm dropping weapons (arrr, nostalgia).
The problem with dynamic balance is that the game will be even less intuitive. "My bites did 75 damage before. Why do they deal only 60 now? How many fucking bites do I actually need to kill that marine?" etc. Idlers/afkers and bad players will be even worse, then, than before.
That is punishing good play, one does not want to punish good play.
The best suggestion in this case is just to make the Grenades glow. It will give the Alien team a way to dodge the Grenades once they are the ground, and glowing grenades will not harm comp players since they will track all the grenades anyways.
If somebody is up to the task, a tracer round type grenade would be cool. Like a trail of smoke or something similar to visualize the trajectory. Probably a tall order for the average modder with limited free time but I think it would be welcomed by most. I'm actually surprised the devs never did anything about this in the early days. I guess ppl/testers didn't complain about it as much since whips gave a hard counter against grenades... what happened to you whips
The whips decide who to attack and who not to. They are sentient beings with poor aim. Grenades were too difficult to hit. Lowered their xp and wouldn't allow them to evolve into dragon lorks. Sadly, this feature is not implemented yet. Until then, we must deal with the pikichu evolution. Just get those lightening stones and evolve again.
You just stole my idea that I've been pushing for months.. You Zuckerberg, you.
On the topic of grenades, what really should happen is a cool down placed on buying hand grenades. It's ridiculous when an armory gets put outside a hive and it's just an endless flow of hand grenade spam.
That doesn't solve close-range gl hits on fades. Shotgun is one thing, but GL is kind of op when used that way.
Maybe add a short timer for it to explode on hit? Also I suggest increasing GL price to 25 and maybe reduce firing speed slightly.
And why hasn't anyone thought of this yet? Seriously, iron. Geeze.
I never claimed it was an original idea, or not stolen.
The only bad part about large servers is 10 GL/SG on the hive or 10 gorges in a base.
I'm saying there's a minimum arming distance, so up close or melee range gl impact shots will just result in bouncing off of the player.
My biggest grievance is the opposite; the moment AA kicks in, the marine team starts losing ground because of people buying GLs and FTs and being absolutely useless on the field. If only there was a way for the marine commander to regulate the team's arsenal according to the situation.
This would make the single skulk/marine/gorge useless. Try rushing the power in marine base: Double the health? Too bad.
Every time my nonskulk lifeform died due to nades was because I did something stupid which I should not have. A shotgun would have produced the same results.
max 18 slots though.
Considering the rate that players die/spawn on those (20-24 player) servers, there will ALWAYS be at least one marine respawning at the base to defend the power anyway. A single skulk would be useless regardless of power node HP.
All that means is that it would take ~2-3 skulks to have the same effect.
Granted, its hard to get this done in Public Play, but if it helps alleviate the instant-loss situation created by ~10 players attacking a structure designed to only be attacked by (at most) 5, I think its a worthy trade off.
P.S. I never liked power nodes anyway
P.P.S. Why doesn't a dynamic HP scaling mod exist already? The code should be mostly there since Aliens spawn with more eggs on higher player servers right?
Maybe my definition of close-range is different from yours =P. I also find it annoying how fades can be taken down more easily with a gl than a shotgun.
Also what is dynamic hp?
Its the concept of the HP/Armor values scaling by number of players.
i.e. a Hive would have 2x HP in a 12v12 compared to a 6v6.
Also that scaling sounds a bit severe.