Update 299 Released! - Natural Selection 2

SystemSystem Join Date: 2013-01-29 Member: 182599Members, Super Administrators, Reinforced - Diamond
edited May 2016 in NS2 General Discussion

imageUpdate 299 Released! - Natural Selection 2

Aliens didn’t get all the love, though. Marines have also received some new toys and changes to their existing tech. A preliminary version of the Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) has...

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  • SystemSystem Join Date: 2013-01-29 Member: 182599Members, Super Administrators, Reinforced - Diamond
    edited May 2016
    imageUpdate 299 Released! - Natural Selection 2

    This week we have brought you a whole bunch of new alien toys including a new ability for the Shade hive which saps health, a new Crag hive ability which...

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  • GhoulofGSG9GhoulofGSG9 Join Date: 2013-03-31 Member: 184566Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Reinforced - Supporter, WC 2013 - Supporter, Pistachionauts
    Bump sorry for the delay.
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  • KasharicKasharic Hull, England Join Date: 2013-03-27 Member: 184473Members, Forum Admins, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, NS2 Community Developer
    loving the shake up so far. keep up the good work guys!
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  • MephillesMephilles Germany Join Date: 2013-08-07 Member: 186634Members, NS2 Map Tester, NS2 Community Developer
    vampirism heals only health and no armor right?
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  • rantologyrantology Join Date: 2012-02-05 Member: 143750Members, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold
    Mephilles wrote: »
    vampirism heals only health and no armor right?

    This is correct.
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  • moultanomoultano Creator of ns_shiva. Join Date: 2002-12-14 Member: 10806Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold, NS2 Community Developer, Pistachionauts
    Intense! Can't wait to try it!
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  • DilligafDilligaf Join Date: 2014-05-25 Member: 196238Members
    i'm impressed.. This will definitely shake up the auto pilot i have in my mind when playing this game for so long.
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  • moultanomoultano Creator of ns_shiva. Join Date: 2002-12-14 Member: 10806Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold, NS2 Community Developer, Pistachionauts
    Am I correct that shade hive has only 2 upgrades right now while the other two gives have 3?
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  • aeroripperaeroripper Join Date: 2005-02-25 Member: 42471NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation
    Yay for the HMG making a glorious return. Hopefully this will help the marines more in the end-game to kill lifeforms.
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  • Saffron_bakerSaffron_baker Sweden Join Date: 2015-06-09 Member: 205352Members
    this is the hmg we need http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/135464/hmg-work#latest
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  • BicsumBicsum Join Date: 2012-02-27 Member: 147596Members, Reinforced - Gold
    moultano wrote: »
    Am I correct that shade hive has only 2 upgrades right now while the other two gives have 3?

    Yep, they're still working on Focus. https://trello.com/c/njCroUoO/269-focus-shade-hive-ability
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  • remiremi remedy [blu.knight] Join Date: 2003-11-18 Member: 23112Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester
    Bicsum wrote: »
    moultano wrote: »
    Am I correct that shade hive has only 2 upgrades right now while the other two gives have 3?

    Yep, they're still working on Focus. https://trello.com/c/njCroUoO/269-focus-shade-hive-ability

    Yes, we didn't have time this week to get that in and functional, but didn't think the other abilities should be held back as a result.
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  • aeroripperaeroripper Join Date: 2005-02-25 Member: 42471NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation
    Forgot to note that the HMG needs its own kill icon to differentiate from the lmg. At least, it looks like its the same one.
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  • SupaDupaNoodleSupaDupaNoodle Join Date: 2003-01-12 Member: 12232Members
    edited May 2016
    Great to see the game being updated. Thanks as always for the hard work!

    Only thing I would say is that this seems like a big buff for aliens. Hopefully HMGs will balance things out or else we are going to see a lot of marine losses, especially on pubs where late-game marines generally have a lot of trouble as it stands (in my experience).

    Will check things out tonight.
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  • artemartem Join Date: 2012-09-16 Member: 159587Members
    MOAR <3
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  • EragonguEragongu Shanghai Join Date: 2015-08-31 Member: 207613Members
    Exo can still appers in 4mins R.I.P alien >:)
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  • VetinariVetinari Join Date: 2013-07-23 Member: 186325Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver
    edited May 2016
    This is an impressively big patch with some nice changes and some I don't quite understand. Either way good job, though!
    Here's my thoughts:
    1. Crush seems like a neat addition, especially for res biting. Doesn't fit *as* well with the crag hive's theme, but it's better than in the other two, I guess...
    2. Vampirism: This one seems rather... odd. I don't get why cloaking and health drain belong to the same ability. If anything I'd expect health drain on the crag hive. Also, you call it "leech" once in the change notes.
    3. Silence is going to further cement shift as first hive. Ambushes, yay. And then go crag second for ultra res biters. I hope you're coming up with something good for shade to counteract this.
    4. Biomass scaling seems good.
    5. Boneshield... as an Onos player I have to ask: Isn't christmas over half a year away? The old boneshield was nice, this one might turn out to be op. Essentially you grant Onos an Überheal ever ten seconds. Neither gorge nor Hive can heal that quickly. Not that I'm complaining... And yes, I know there's the HMG now, but it takes quite a while to dump a whole clip into something.
    6. Speaking of which... that sure looks familiar :D But also kinda... ugly? I mean, take a look at this:
      0a6iul3dcelu.jpg[/spoiler:dizzy: Surely, that can't be how it's supposed to look?
    7. I like the jetpack fuel change - I've been asking for this literally for years. Now you can buff the flamethrower again! Just make it's fuel + movement cost really high :>
    8. Now to the stuff I don't really understand: Mines and crosshairs. Crosshairs... fair enough, don't think we really needed it, but hey. But mines? What was the motivation behind those?
    9. Any time I type, the forum software opens this stupid emoticon insert popup thingy; it's really annoying. Please fix :dizzy:
    10. Can't wait to see how this patch plays in practice.

    edit: Also, I'm not buying that the HMGs clip holds 100 bullets.
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  • BicsumBicsum Join Date: 2012-02-27 Member: 147596Members, Reinforced - Gold
    edited May 2016
    F0rdPrefect wrote: »
    Now to the stuff I don't really understand: Mines and crosshairs. Crosshairs... fair enough, don't think we really needed it, but hey. But mines? What was the motivation behind those?

    1. The default crosshairs were terrible. Its a rookie buff.
    2. Mines are now destroyable with parasite right away. No more waiting for energy. The price was reduced to compensate the nerf. The result should be less frustration and more fluid gameplay

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  • VetinariVetinari Join Date: 2013-07-23 Member: 186325Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver
    Bicsum wrote: »
    F0rdPrefect wrote: »
    Now to the stuff I don't really understand: Mines and crosshairs. Crosshairs... fair enough, don't think we really needed it, but hey. But mines? What was the motivation behind those?

    1. The default cross hairs were terrible. Its a rookie buff.
    2. Mines are now destroyable with parasite right away. No more waiting for energy. The price was reduced to compensate the nerf. The result should be less frustration and more fluid gameplay

    1. As far as I can tell the crosshairs don't change a lot, they mostly add little spaces in the circles.
    2. Parasite does ten damage, Mines now have 40 hp. You still need to expend your entire stamina to kill one as a skulk. But otherwise fair point.
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  • SupaDupaNoodleSupaDupaNoodle Join Date: 2003-01-12 Member: 12232Members
    I'm not sure how slowing down marines with hmg/jp will enable lifeforms to be killed. Onos are super fast already and can only barely be beaten by a jp marine. Now, if that marine has an HMG, he'll literally be biting the onos' dust.

    I think the only fair thing would be to slow down all alien lifeforms by about 10% globally.

    Anyway let's see how it pans out in the real world.
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  • IeptBarakatIeptBarakat The most difficult name to speak ingame. Join Date: 2009-07-10 Member: 68107Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited May 2016
    SupaDupaNoodle wrote: »
    I'm not sure how slowing down marines with hmg/jp will enable lifeforms to be killed. Onos are super fast already and can only barely be beaten by a jp marine. Now, if that marine has an HMG, he'll literally be biting the onos' dust.

    I think the only fair thing would be to slow down all alien lifeforms by about 10% globally.

    Anyway let's see how it pans out in the real world.

    The HMG and fuel usage makes the marine hella slow, but I'd rather see that changed than make the rest of the game slower to match it.
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  • Dean0Dean0 Germany Join Date: 2015-10-01 Member: 208253Members
    SupaDupaNoodle wrote: »
    I'm not sure how slowing down marines with hmg/jp will enable lifeforms to be killed. Onos are super fast already and can only barely be beaten by a jp marine. Now, if that marine has an HMG, he'll literally be biting the onos' dust.

    I think the only fair thing would be to slow down all alien lifeforms by about 10% globally.

    Anyway let's see how it pans out in the real world.

    one marine alone shouldnt be able to kill highest lifeform.
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  • usermcwusermcw Join Date: 2006-11-04 Member: 58349Members, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Supporter
    Need to remove spawning marines hearing, they can hear a gorges tunnel while spawning...
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  • HEllrunner2kHEllrunner2k Join Date: 2013-07-05 Member: 185945Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited May 2016
    the regular NS2 health and energy circles are displayed now togehther with the NS1 bars from NS2+ ... can you fix that please?
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  • Sgt_SassSgt_Sass Join Date: 2016-02-13 Member: 213004Members
    Cool changes, will reinstall and check them out!
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  • rkfgrkfg Russia Join Date: 2013-09-03 Member: 187744Members, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
    On the bright side, these changes really bring some new tactics I'm eager to try. For instance, the Shift Hive doesn't look like the only right way now, the "Crush" ability might be crucial to quickly destroy an extractor or two!
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  • ZavaroZavaro Tucson, Arizona Join Date: 2005-02-14 Member: 41174Members, Super Administrators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Playtester, NS2 Community Developer, Pistachionauts
    Still not sold on the JP weight changes. HMG is just too much of a burden. Lots of these changes are quality of life changes in the form of balance, such as the cyst one.

    Curious if the new abilities will prove useful or bad. Crush got hugely nerfed from 30% to 15% damage, and for that reason I'm afraid it might not see as much play. Similarly, I'm still not sold on Vampiric, as I think Cloaking (without silence) has always fit into the "unfun yet balanced" mechanic since NS1, and did not need a buff.

    Focus not going in yet has made the Shade Hive again feel lackluster, sadly. I'm afraid that less games will play with it, and there will be less Hive 1-Vampiric games.

    That said, I think the compmod HMG fits well into NS2 vanilla. I haven't played yet since our testing sessions yesterday, but I'm hoping that today's HMG is more in line with compmod. I know that compmod's HMG is precisely the remedy for what our internal feedback was suggesting for the weapon.

    I think Lerk biomass could increase further, especially with the inclusion of the HMG and the insanity of current exosuits.

    Now that mines are so weak, can we remove them from being highlighted in alien visions?
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  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    Zavaro wrote: »
    Now that mines are so weak, can we remove them from being highlighted in alien visions?

    You had me nodding my head agreeing, until that line
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