Actually SDJason... buffs of sensories were done in the beta versions, up to B5. Between B5 and 3.X, sensories have not been changed (at least to my memories).
What changed from defense to movement is the free upgrades. Not senory buffs.
As for <10 hp, I meant that moreorless as a blanket statement. For me, this applies to all lifeforms. All innate regen did was loosen the grip of defense as first chamber. Free upgrades is what made movement first, not sensory buffs.
My oppinion? It's almost 100% due to free upgrades...Statistically carapace *does* help lower lifeforms, and the like, but Celerity, addren, and silence, are all three viable and useful abilities for lower lifeforms.(addren arguably not so for skulk.) plus, the MC is an extremely versatile chamber, especially with adequate gorge support to heal outside of the hive.
Once you give skulks a reason to use chambers, and the team a reason to get them up earlier, the more combat effective chamber becomes most preferable. If aliens can dominate the first 3-4 minutes will celerity skulks and the like, regen or carapace fades aren't usually needed until hive 2, in which case you can get such easily anyways.
<!--QuoteBegin-Theslan+May 11 2005, 11:51 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Theslan @ May 11 2005, 11:51 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Actually SDJason... buffs of sensories were done in the beta versions, up to B5. Between B5 and 3.X, sensories have not been changed (at least to my memories).
What changed from defense to movement is the free upgrades. Not senory buffs.
As for <10 hp, I meant that moreorless as a blanket statement. For me, this applies to all lifeforms. All innate regen did was loosen the grip of defense as first chamber. Free upgrades is what made movement first, not sensory buffs. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> Im almost positive it was 3.0 FINAL when aliens can run cloaked with SC upgrade, and SC's detect marines with SOF in radius......
Because thats when i started my hilariously funny Cloak CC rush, even thought it would have worked just as well in B5... possibly better
SDJason, what you're missing is the fact that free upgrades buffed all three chambers, but by completely different amounts. The amount that each strategy was buffed is based on the usefulness of the upgrades to skulks. It has been argued since at least 2.0 that defense upgrades are the least effective for skulks. However, since skulks never got upgrades because of the 2 res cost, it was a moot point. With free upgrades, skulks should always have upgrades now.
<!--QuoteBegin-SDJason+May 11 2005, 12:28 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (SDJason @ May 11 2005, 12:28 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-Theslan+May 11 2005, 11:51 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Theslan @ May 11 2005, 11:51 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Actually SDJason... buffs of sensories were done in the beta versions, up to B5. Between B5 and 3.X, sensories have not been changed (at least to my memories).
What changed from defense to movement is the free upgrades. Not senory buffs.
As for <10 hp, I meant that moreorless as a blanket statement. For me, this applies to all lifeforms. All innate regen did was loosen the grip of defense as first chamber. Free upgrades is what made movement first, not sensory buffs. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> Im almost positive it was 3.0 FINAL when aliens can run cloaked with SC upgrade, and SC's detect marines with SOF in radius......
Because thats when i started my hilariously funny Cloak CC rush, even thought it would have worked just as well in B5... possibly better
~Jasno <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> Hrm, weird. I found 3.0 final aliens were switching def/movs/sen left and right before they settled on movements. Maybe that's just the server I play on.
<!--QuoteBegin-SDJason+May 10 2005, 05:45 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (SDJason @ May 10 2005, 05:45 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Back in 1.04-2.0-3.0B5 It was always Defense Chambers, always defense first. It was a generally accepted rule and EVERYONE agreed that that was the only way aliens really stood a chance. Sure occasionally some idiot dropped SC first or MC and the aliens did good but most of the time it was DC DC DC or DIE/Kick/BAN <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> not everypone accepted that crap, I was obviously one of thoose idiots that did not like dc first as much and I've won many games with not dc first and more than one gorge.
Its also crap that not every patch touched every chamber, maybe not directly, but every changing anywere changes the whole game.
a_civilianLikes seeing numbersJoin Date: 2003-01-08Member: 12041Members, NS1 Playtester, Playtest Lead
edited May 2005
<!--QuoteBegin-SDJason+May 11 2005, 11:33 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (SDJason @ May 11 2005, 11:33 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I do know a skulk regenerate's 1 (one) hp per tick of health or armor, assuming its once every 3 seconds like DC MC stuff....
Thats 30 seconds to regenerate one LMG bullet worth of damage (15 seconds if its regenerating armor)<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> A skulk with 90 health takes 9 LMG bullets. A skulk with 91 health takes 10. Therefore, just one tick of innate regeneration allows it to survive an additional bullet.
(90 health comes from 70 health + 10 armor; 91 is the same but after one tick of innate regeneration.)
Edit: Just tested, and the first tick of innate regeneration occurs the instant the damage is taken. It is therefore impossible to kill a skulk with 9 bullets from a level 0 LMG.
<!--QuoteBegin-NGE+May 11 2005, 06:03 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (NGE @ May 11 2005, 06:03 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Meep, take a moment, and consider.
MC first was not NEARLY as powerful as it is now. With upgrading the skulk every life being an incredibly foolish move, and upgrading the skulk was and still would be considered a waste of res, if it cost anything. DC first helped the larger lifeforms survive best, thus proving the most useful.
Now that upgrading is free, a skulk will always upgrade. It's not even a question of "is the trade off of res worth the upgrade?" It's "Hm I died which upgrade should I get this life"
It's no "strat of the month" or "OMG ADAPT NEWBAIS," it's taking advantage of a new system. Upgrading your skulks is viable now, so they can actually use the chamber to its advantage, making the most common unit of the alien team quite deadly.
It's called doing what you can to make your team most powerful. Before, having fades period was what made the team powerful. With the addition of making the skulk able to upgrade as it desires, you can now think for the whole team, and without totally crippleing the entire alien economy, keep upgrading every life. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> That's a misleading argument. Do you see fades as any less critical now than before? A team with no higher lifeforms is still dead in the water when faced with shotgun marines. Fades are still necessary.
Would you take regen over celerity if you had the choice? I know I wouldn't. A regen or cara fade takes a lot of patience and planning to kill a shotgunner because they have to conserve energy for swiping and blinking away. A celerity fade can easily blink in, swipe and blink out of most situations. Does regen provide adaquate healing in the field? It's slow. A single shotgun blast takes most of your armor and 3 shotgun blasts will practically kill you. Most fades return to the hive to heal for speed even with DCs. Celerity is the most essential fade upgrade in my opinion.
I've witnessed the adoption of strats in the clan scene (and subsequently pub scene) since 1.03. Pandas had a really sweet lerk rush strategy that was fun and powerful. After using it a couple times, everyone started using it. ReD used an OC expansion strategy that everyone tried for a while. DN did a fade rush that was popular for a little while. Exigent's marine phasegate lock down strategy from 2.01 was defacto for quite a while. Exigent also played sensory first in 2.01 for a while, and soon everyone was doing it. It worked for a short while even though it was really easy, at the time, for a weaker team to counter it and win, if they used their brains.
MC first is not used because it's powerful. It's used because top clans had success with it. A strategy's acceptance and widespread use isn't based on how viable it is. Witness the "diversity" of strats in competitive play. How often do you see a shotgun rush?
I've seen a Shotgun rush in the cal-omega finals, heck, that was the only way they could end it.
Regen was quite useful in defending the second hive- it was the only way for a single fade to stick around for extended periods of time without gorge support, which happens all too often. DC's are the most powerful ground gaining chamber, due to the fact that they allow an alien to stay on the field for an extended period of time. MC's allow quick access to the map, in ways such as destroying res or getting from place to place quickly. They don't allow one to stay in a single area for an extended period of time- however, with free upgrades one shouldn't need to. If you die as a skulk, you can now regain ground with unprecedented speed. Gorges can keep up the healing on the field, and lerks do kick ****.
I'm not saying MC first is weak, or was weak anyways. Back in the day, #cri had quite a powerful lerk strat that basically <i>replaced</i> fades, but due to the lacking ability to remain on the field and regain ground efficently, the strat was eventually scrapped.
Granted, the flavor of the moment is what top clans think usually- this is due to the fact that top clans need to find the most powerful combination of moves in order to win against eachother. Lower level clans can realize this, and try to mimic them. Upper level clans keep looking for ways to improve their game, even if in ways that look good as numbers on paper. They'll try everything, and through a process of Darwinism, they'll figure out what is most effecient to play. They play to win, not for quirky plans or random ideas. They'll try everything, not just limiting themselves to what's against or with the norm. They'll always be within the norm, however, because it is these clans that establish the norm.
Personally, I'd prefer celerity on certain smaller maps, such as EC, but on other maps I'd love regen instead. It's not that slow- waiting 14 seconds and still posing a threat to marines the whole time rather than running back to the hive and giving up the ground you were fighting for can often pay off.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> A strategy's acceptance and widespread use isn't based on how viable it is. Witness the "diversity" of strats in competitive play. How often do you see a shotgun rush? <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
:| Shotgun rushes are not totally viable; it's do-or-die, can be stopped easily if the tactic is discovered before a hive is reached, and one early lerk could cause much havok.
How often have you seen a team NOT have one player save for fade?
How often have you seen a team NOT get a 2nd hive, and instead OC ****?
Fading and 2nd hiving early are accepted strats because they are VIABLE. Diversity does not come into it. EVERYONE gets one fade asap and hive2 even sooner. --
There's a diversity of strats in competive play as we're the ones who, shock, think them up. New and original strats will often confuse the opposing team long enough into giving you an advantage. Time is everything at clan level; down to the second.
Summary: MCs are used first because they're powerful. Suggesting there's a sort of "peer pressure" from clanners to force pubs into using MCs first is ludicrous. "O0 o0, clan X are using MC first, we'd better do it too or we'll look silly"
<!--QuoteBegin-Ollj+May 11 2005, 12:38 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Ollj @ May 11 2005, 12:38 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-SDJason+May 10 2005, 05:45 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (SDJason @ May 10 2005, 05:45 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Back in 1.04-2.0-3.0B5 It was always Defense Chambers, always defense first. It was a generally accepted rule and EVERYONE agreed that that was the only way aliens really stood a chance. Sure occasionally some idiot dropped SC first or MC and the aliens did good but most of the time it was DC DC DC or DIE/Kick/BAN <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> not everypone accepted that crap, I was obviously one of thoose idiots that did not like dc first as much and I've won many games with not dc first and more than one gorge.
Its also crap that not every patch touched every chamber, maybe not directly, but every changing anywere changes the whole game.
<b>im with cheese from page 2 here.</b> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> Ollj, if you read some of my older posts..1.04 and on... you will see that i actually agree with you, that ive always hated DC first
I was merely formatting my post to reflect the general consensus and the fact that it surprised me that despite the clear SC buff generally MC came out on top....
<!--QuoteBegin-Theslan+May 11 2005, 11:19 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Theslan @ May 11 2005, 11:19 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> You also have to consider the marine gameplay between the different versions.... [Page 2] <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> Nice post. I don't think I was playing until version 2, but to be honest everything before I joined the forums is quite a blur. I remember skulkrushes, Mother hive on Nancy being called Unnamed and Hera's CC-up-a-lift-and-in-a-closable-room-plus-MS-skulkvents (!). I don't remember the nuke button, though.
I think you're definitely correct in drawing attention to changes in Marine strategies.
P.S. I'm also a firm believer that the current version is the most balanced yet.
I've played ns for years as a pub player (tried clan play its really good but I havn't got the continuous commitment it requires).
I have to say I've never seen all these new strats people say are tried, when a patch is first released yeah everything is a bit random, but I see it go both ways (i've seen sc own and mc lose and visa versa). I guess to some extent it is trend or fashion, but I have no need to argue.
I think what people overlook most in NS is the difference in skill of the players, though this new verion shows it alot more clearly, its no longer about getting the right upgrades so any newbie can kill, its about having the skill to defend a rt, or protect the hive, or take down those seiges, or attack the enemies res. Its the battles going on between the marines and aliens for control which are making the difference now, and I think its great.
Would I be justified in tossing in a great big "Toldja so" now to all those people who were claiming the SCs were overpowered within a month of final coming out?
Listen to this man, for he is speaking the truth.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> I don't really want to reopen debate because I think NGE's last post essentially agreed with mine, but
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>OH GOD</span>, Grendel agrees with me. Have I really given in to the Dark Side? <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif' /><!--endemo-->
The only reason people went dc's first a while ago, was because of regen for the higher lifeforms.
Innate regen lessens the need for regen (and thus dc's), and if you're going to take into account skulks are way powerful atm with the right early upgrades (which don't include dc's), it's only logical dc's are way underpowered at the moment. That's excluding the neat MC feature you get with teleporting to a building hive, and the adren boost you get from the chambers themselves (sporing lerk in fusion vent, tanith anyone?).
So yes, MC is a good first choice.
SC is just as viable though, but I get the feeling most clans don't want to lame around with cloaking.
Comments
What changed from defense to movement is the free upgrades. Not senory buffs.
As for <10 hp, I meant that moreorless as a blanket statement. For me, this applies to all lifeforms. All innate regen did was loosen the grip of defense as first chamber. Free upgrades is what made movement first, not sensory buffs.
Once you give skulks a reason to use chambers, and the team a reason to get them up earlier, the more combat effective chamber becomes most preferable. If aliens can dominate the first 3-4 minutes will celerity skulks and the like, regen or carapace fades aren't usually needed until hive 2, in which case you can get such easily anyways.
Just my oppinion and two cents here.
What changed from defense to movement is the free upgrades. Not senory buffs.
As for <10 hp, I meant that moreorless as a blanket statement. For me, this applies to all lifeforms. All innate regen did was loosen the grip of defense as first chamber. Free upgrades is what made movement first, not sensory buffs. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Im almost positive it was 3.0 FINAL when aliens can run cloaked with SC upgrade, and SC's detect marines with SOF in radius......
Because thats when i started my hilariously funny Cloak CC rush, even thought it would have worked just as well in B5... possibly better
~Jasno
What changed from defense to movement is the free upgrades. Not senory buffs.
As for <10 hp, I meant that moreorless as a blanket statement. For me, this applies to all lifeforms. All innate regen did was loosen the grip of defense as first chamber. Free upgrades is what made movement first, not sensory buffs. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Im almost positive it was 3.0 FINAL when aliens can run cloaked with SC upgrade, and SC's detect marines with SOF in radius......
Because thats when i started my hilariously funny Cloak CC rush, even thought it would have worked just as well in B5... possibly better
~Jasno <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Hrm, weird. I found 3.0 final aliens were switching def/movs/sen left and right before they settled on movements. Maybe that's just the server I play on.
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
not everypone accepted that crap, I was obviously one of thoose idiots that did not like dc first as much and I've won many games with not dc first and more than one gorge.
Its also crap that not every patch touched every chamber, maybe not directly, but every changing anywere changes the whole game.
<b>im with cheese from page 2 here.</b>
Thats 30 seconds to regenerate one LMG bullet worth of damage (15 seconds if its regenerating armor)<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
A skulk with 90 health takes 9 LMG bullets. A skulk with 91 health takes 10. Therefore, just one tick of innate regeneration allows it to survive an additional bullet.
(90 health comes from 70 health + 10 armor; 91 is the same but after one tick of innate regeneration.)
Edit: Just tested, and the first tick of innate regeneration occurs the instant the damage is taken. It is therefore impossible to kill a skulk with 9 bullets from a level 0 LMG.
MC first was not NEARLY as powerful as it is now. With upgrading the skulk every life being an incredibly foolish move, and upgrading the skulk was and still would be considered a waste of res, if it cost anything. DC first helped the larger lifeforms survive best, thus proving the most useful.
Now that upgrading is free, a skulk will always upgrade. It's not even a question of "is the trade off of res worth the upgrade?" It's "Hm I died which upgrade should I get this life"
It's no "strat of the month" or "OMG ADAPT NEWBAIS," it's taking advantage of a new system. Upgrading your skulks is viable now, so they can actually use the chamber to its advantage, making the most common unit of the alien team quite deadly.
It's called doing what you can to make your team most powerful. Before, having fades period was what made the team powerful. With the addition of making the skulk able to upgrade as it desires, you can now think for the whole team, and without totally crippleing the entire alien economy, keep upgrading every life. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
That's a misleading argument. Do you see fades as any less critical now than before? A team with no higher lifeforms is still dead in the water when faced with shotgun marines. Fades are still necessary.
Would you take regen over celerity if you had the choice? I know I wouldn't. A regen or cara fade takes a lot of patience and planning to kill a shotgunner because they have to conserve energy for swiping and blinking away. A celerity fade can easily blink in, swipe and blink out of most situations. Does regen provide adaquate healing in the field? It's slow. A single shotgun blast takes most of your armor and 3 shotgun blasts will practically kill you. Most fades return to the hive to heal for speed even with DCs. Celerity is the most essential fade upgrade in my opinion.
I've witnessed the adoption of strats in the clan scene (and subsequently pub scene) since 1.03. Pandas had a really sweet lerk rush strategy that was fun and powerful. After using it a couple times, everyone started using it. ReD used an OC expansion strategy that everyone tried for a while. DN did a fade rush that was popular for a little while. Exigent's marine phasegate lock down strategy from 2.01 was defacto for quite a while. Exigent also played sensory first in 2.01 for a while, and soon everyone was doing it. It worked for a short while even though it was really easy, at the time, for a weaker team to counter it and win, if they used their brains.
MC first is not used because it's powerful. It's used because top clans had success with it. A strategy's acceptance and widespread use isn't based on how viable it is. Witness the "diversity" of strats in competitive play. How often do you see a shotgun rush?
Regen was quite useful in defending the second hive- it was the only way for a single fade to stick around for extended periods of time without gorge support, which happens all too often. DC's are the most powerful ground gaining chamber, due to the fact that they allow an alien to stay on the field for an extended period of time. MC's allow quick access to the map, in ways such as destroying res or getting from place to place quickly. They don't allow one to stay in a single area for an extended period of time- however, with free upgrades one shouldn't need to. If you die as a skulk, you can now regain ground with unprecedented speed. Gorges can keep up the healing on the field, and lerks do kick ****.
I'm not saying MC first is weak, or was weak anyways. Back in the day, #cri had quite a powerful lerk strat that basically <i>replaced</i> fades, but due to the lacking ability to remain on the field and regain ground efficently, the strat was eventually scrapped.
Granted, the flavor of the moment is what top clans think usually- this is due to the fact that top clans need to find the most powerful combination of moves in order to win against eachother. Lower level clans can realize this, and try to mimic them. Upper level clans keep looking for ways to improve their game, even if in ways that look good as numbers on paper. They'll try everything, and through a process of Darwinism, they'll figure out what is most effecient to play. They play to win, not for quirky plans or random ideas. They'll try everything, not just limiting themselves to what's against or with the norm. They'll always be within the norm, however, because it is these clans that establish the norm.
Personally, I'd prefer celerity on certain smaller maps, such as EC, but on other maps I'd love regen instead. It's not that slow- waiting 14 seconds and still posing a threat to marines the whole time rather than running back to the hive and giving up the ground you were fighting for can often pay off.
A strategy's acceptance and widespread use isn't based on how viable it is. Witness the "diversity" of strats in competitive play. How often do you see a shotgun rush?
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
:|
Shotgun rushes are not totally viable; it's do-or-die, can be stopped easily if the tactic is discovered before a hive is reached, and one early lerk could cause much havok.
How often have you seen a team NOT have one player save for fade?
How often have you seen a team NOT get a 2nd hive, and instead OC ****?
Fading and 2nd hiving early are accepted strats because they are VIABLE. Diversity does not come into it. EVERYONE gets one fade asap and hive2 even sooner.
--
There's a diversity of strats in competive play as we're the ones who, shock, think them up. New and original strats will often confuse the opposing team long enough into giving you an advantage. Time is everything at clan level; down to the second.
Summary: MCs are used first because they're powerful. Suggesting there's a sort of "peer pressure" from clanners to force pubs into using MCs first is ludicrous. "O0 o0, clan X are using MC first, we'd better do it too or we'll look silly"
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
not everypone accepted that crap, I was obviously one of thoose idiots that did not like dc first as much and I've won many games with not dc first and more than one gorge.
Its also crap that not every patch touched every chamber, maybe not directly, but every changing anywere changes the whole game.
<b>im with cheese from page 2 here.</b> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ollj, if you read some of my older posts..1.04 and on... you will see that i actually agree with you, that ive always hated DC first
I was merely formatting my post to reflect the general consensus and the fact that it surprised me that despite the clear SC buff generally MC came out on top....
~Jason
Nice post. I don't think I was playing until version 2, but to be honest everything before I joined the forums is quite a blur. I remember skulkrushes, Mother hive on Nancy being called Unnamed and Hera's CC-up-a-lift-and-in-a-closable-room-plus-MS-skulkvents (!). I don't remember the nuke button, though.
I think you're definitely correct in drawing attention to changes in Marine strategies.
P.S. I'm also a firm believer that the current version is the most balanced yet.
I have to say I've never seen all these new strats people say are tried, when a patch is first released yeah everything is a bit random, but I see it go both ways (i've seen sc own and mc lose and visa versa). I guess to some extent it is trend or fashion, but I have no need to argue.
I think what people overlook most in NS is the difference in skill of the players, though this new verion shows it alot more clearly, its no longer about getting the right upgrades so any newbie can kill, its about having the skill to defend a rt, or protect the hive, or take down those seiges, or attack the enemies res. Its the battles going on between the marines and aliens for control which are making the difference now, and I think its great.
Listen to this man, for he is speaking the truth.
Listen to this man, for he is speaking the truth.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't really want to reopen debate because I think NGE's last post essentially agreed with mine, but
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>OH GOD</span>, Grendel agrees with me. Have I really given in to the Dark Side? <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Innate regen lessens the need for regen (and thus dc's), and if you're going to take into account skulks are way powerful atm with the right early upgrades (which don't include dc's), it's only logical dc's are way underpowered at the moment. That's excluding the neat MC feature you get with teleporting to a building hive, and the adren boost you get from the chambers themselves (sporing lerk in fusion vent, tanith anyone?).
So yes, MC is a good first choice.
SC is just as viable though, but I get the feeling most clans don't want to lame around with cloaking.
MC = lets sneak up and be uber fast for some seriousely fun ****.
DC = lets play it safe and stay back and ambush a lot.