Hive: The nervous system
waterbuster
Join Date: 2006-12-17 Member: 59117Members
Join Date: 2006-12-17 Member: 59117Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Taking down hives just got better</div>The idea(s):
1. The three hive locations in each map become two "allocation" points(or a place where the bacteria has a vast amount of resources to spawn players, much like a hive) and one hive.
With each point captured, the aliens get the same benefits as before. Chamber, new ability, armor, ect. The difference being that the one hive becomes self-efficient. It can defend itself. Its basically like a hive, with exceptions.(The idea comes from an area that gives massive production values to bacteria and/or mold. Like a humid/wet location, or a place with vast amount of resources.)
The main hive or "HQ" of the kharaa can act both as a spawning point and a self-defendable location. It would also be the place where aliens could egg/grow/drop chambers/ect. Gorges could plant defenses around the hive(TENTACLES! Must have tentacles. Like that barnacle thingy in HL). Bots could patrol the hive area, maintaining eggs/ the hive(for graphics)
If a AP was destroyed, it could be recovered. If the HIVE was destroyed, the main "nervous system" of the kharaa would be disturbed, slowing down spawning or even stopping it all together. I would think that a brain with brain damage would act incorrectly, right?(Stopping the spread of DI as well, I would think)
With the hive destroyed, the lifeforms slowly spawning could redrop a hive at one of the AP points, Or a hive could grow at random in one of the remaining AP.
My idea is to turn the hive into more of a "boss" than just a spawning point. A brain, a hive mind, something that is both a weakness and strength to the kharaa.
What do you think?
1. The three hive locations in each map become two "allocation" points(or a place where the bacteria has a vast amount of resources to spawn players, much like a hive) and one hive.
With each point captured, the aliens get the same benefits as before. Chamber, new ability, armor, ect. The difference being that the one hive becomes self-efficient. It can defend itself. Its basically like a hive, with exceptions.(The idea comes from an area that gives massive production values to bacteria and/or mold. Like a humid/wet location, or a place with vast amount of resources.)
The main hive or "HQ" of the kharaa can act both as a spawning point and a self-defendable location. It would also be the place where aliens could egg/grow/drop chambers/ect. Gorges could plant defenses around the hive(TENTACLES! Must have tentacles. Like that barnacle thingy in HL). Bots could patrol the hive area, maintaining eggs/ the hive(for graphics)
If a AP was destroyed, it could be recovered. If the HIVE was destroyed, the main "nervous system" of the kharaa would be disturbed, slowing down spawning or even stopping it all together. I would think that a brain with brain damage would act incorrectly, right?(Stopping the spread of DI as well, I would think)
With the hive destroyed, the lifeforms slowly spawning could redrop a hive at one of the AP points, Or a hive could grow at random in one of the remaining AP.
My idea is to turn the hive into more of a "boss" than just a spawning point. A brain, a hive mind, something that is both a weakness and strength to the kharaa.
What do you think?
Comments
(How) would gameplay continue after the primary hive was destroyed?
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Very simply.
The remaining aliens could go gorge and start a new hive at one of the AP's.
With the AP under alien control, the hive would cost 25 res. If its not, 50 res. The growth rate would be the same, but the hive would be defenseless.
When I mean "control", Im talking about covered with at least some percent of DI.
Actually that was one of my first I&S ideas like two years ago if I can find the thread... Basically I suggested adding the Half-Life roach NPC in a fashion into any hive location with a built hive.
Think about how much that really improves immersion. It doesn't have to be much. But a collective advanced enough to adapt and evolve to any threat in mere minutes and seconds.
My take on this idea, is that you would start with a random of the three locations to have your hive (since im assuming we want to keep that dynamic aspect of NS maps).
The two other locations wouldn't be identical hive locations, but more like add-ons. Giving abilities and all, but still subordinate to the original hive? And the original hive gets additional abilities? That just sounds like it has so much potential.
The barnabies, YES. Maybe cosing 5 res, the gorge spits their location, and they lower a nearly invisible string, which snags marines and raises them? Perhaps also removing their ability to shoot, to enhance the teamwork aspect. God, that would be the coolest thing to see, especially if it had an awesome animation of the marine freaking out as he's raised.
Great idea.
I think the hive should be static but have it's own AI to respond to threats, and with the alien team's help and resources, repel attacks. I would also like it if the hive had several different areas in which it can be dropped in. Marines can relocate, why can't aliens?
Hive affecting gameplay more? Yes.
The barnacle idea is pretty cool, but I don't like the idea that the marines are helpless. They're bait once they're snagged anyways, from aliens or the thing dragging them up to their doom.
Maybe if there were multiple hives, perhaps the aliens would be able to switch the location of the main hive with a sub-hive, a process that would take a few minutes? Just think; the marines sorely dissapointed to find they spent all that time seiging something the aliens could live without, and the main threat had moved elsewhere.
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YES!!! Relocation FTW! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
1 main hive, and 2 little sub hives. If the main hive gets attacked, the aliens could some how choose to move it (through a path of DI) to another hive. This would obviously be a rather long process, (the wider the path of DI, the faster it transfers)but it would stil force the marines to hurry up and seige it before it has moved.
The little critters and locusts around the hive would really really add to the immersion and atmosphere of the game.
EDIT: How long until I see my little constellation icon?
It would simply be a bigger ordeal to siege the main hive; the hive itself would lend certain abilities. And the devs could do anything with this. Aliens within a certain radius (perhaps enough to cover siege areas) could get an armor bonus of 5-20, or speed increase, or infinite energy, or partial cloak, etc. The hive itself could even have abilities like shooting out spore clouds within its field of vision.
You could probably also have an option to 'relocate the hive' to one of the other 'hivemind hubs' (i'll just use that name for now, but there is definitely a better one out there) that you *have already built*. Maybe, on top of costing the 40 res, it would only cost 20 to transfer the main hive over, and take 2 mins. During that time, if the main hive dies, the whole of the alien hivemind dies, etc.
It would be a new approach to the idea of hives and hive locations, perhaps a much more cohesive approach; how crazy does it feel to see a hive right now, but how crazy would it be so see a hive if its the DADDY of all hives.
If such a thing were implemented, I'd think that it would still be the 3 'standard' hive locs, with a random one being The Hive, and the other two naturally becoming the 'Hivemind Hubs' or whatever they would be. You'd probably put them up just like we put up the 2nd hive right now; it would cost a lot, and they would still be a prime target for siegeing, etc.
It would simply be a bigger ordeal to siege the main hive; the hive itself would lend certain abilities. And the devs could do anything with this. Aliens within a certain radius (perhaps enough to cover siege areas) could get an armor bonus of 5-20, or speed increase, or infinite energy, or partial cloak, etc. The hive itself could even have abilities like shooting out spore clouds within its field of vision.
You could probably also have an option to 'relocate the hive' to one of the other 'hivemind hubs' (i'll just use that name for now, but there is definitely a better one out there) that you *have already built*. Maybe, on top of costing the 40 res, it would only cost 20 to transfer the main hive over, and take 2 mins. During that time, if the main hive dies, the whole of the alien hivemind dies, etc.
It would be a new approach to the idea of hives and hive locations, perhaps a much more cohesive approach; how crazy does it feel to see a hive right now, but how crazy would it be so see a hive if its the DADDY of all hives.
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You just summarized everyone else's posts here, really, though the additions of the bonuses to the main hive and the hive relocation costing res were good ideas; though perhaps the aliens around the main hive would only get bonuses if it was under siege or something, etc. as it would exert the hive too much under normal circumstances.