Kharaa Weapon Ideas
Hawkeye
Join Date: 2002-10-31 Member: 1855Members
Join Date: 2002-10-31 Member: 1855Members
I had a few Kharaa weapon ideas if I may throw my ideas here. I don't know if the weapons are going to be the same or modified or completely replaced for ns2, but in the case of the latter two, I have some suggestions that could prove interesting.
1) Shriek - A hive 2 or hive 3 ability which renders all adjacent marines deaf for about 5 seconds, all nearby marines 66% deaf, and all marines in the area 33% deaf. Marines who are partially deaf will have their rate of hearing restored at about 33% hearing every 5 seconds until fully restored. Marines adjacent who are completely deaf will remain so for 5 seconds before recovering hearing as those marines partially deaf. Perhaps you could have an interesting ringing noise at a pitch inversely proportional to the 'deafness' of the marine (that is to say, ringing heard at 100% volume when completely deaf, 66% volume when marine has 33% hearing, etc.).
2) Bile spit - A hive 1 ability much like the gorge first weapon ability that I'm thinking would be best suited for the gorge. Perhaps it would inflict slightly less damage (rather than 50 damage, more like 30 damage) but with the effect that it would render their vision black by 33%. After three hits, the marine would be basically blind. It would make for a good defense mechanism for the gorges. Though that isn't to say a marine couldn't *hear* the gorge (unless also affected by Shriek), so the gorge wouldn't get away scot-free. While blind, the motion sensing blips would have to be momentarily suspended (or else the position would be evident). <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/pudgy.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::gorge::" border="0" alt="pudgy.gif" />
3) Carpace - I had the interesting idea that an onos in ns2 would have a very well armored upper head which as a hive 1 or hive 2 ability could use this ability and lower it, thereby not only stopping bullet fire but <i>deflecting</i> bullet fire. That is to say, if I'm getting rushed at by an onos with his head down and fire, at close range, i'd be getting hit by my own bullets half the time (it would have a random deflection, but it would be more or less be a flat deflection from where the bullet hit). While the onos wouldn't directly be able to kill marines with it, it adds an interesting strength to the onos's ability to withstand firings. It would make it a tactical advantage to approach humans huddled together as an onos, and inversely, a tactiful advantage for marines to attack from multiple angles. Perhaps to balance this ability, onos would need to have less armor so that when it is hit, it counts for more. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tiny.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::onos::" border="0" alt="tiny.gif" />
4) Swipe (modified) - This is the same weapon slot 1 ability for fade as before, with some modifications. Attack rate would be slowed and its effectiveness, while damage wouldn't be increased, would have the added advantage that if a marine is swiped facing completely in the opposite direction, suffers an instant death. This would encourage sneak attacks and 'stealthy' play. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/fade.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::fade::" border="0" alt="fade.gif" />
5) Bite (modified) - This is the same weapon slot 1 ability for lerks as before, with some modifications. I think marines who have been bitten and who do <b>not</b> have armor (as a result of having been bitten or otherwise) get their screens tinted slightly green and have their life steadily worsen over the course of the next 5 minutes as much as 100 health points (which implies they would die without a health pack). Perhaps you could make it so that the health pack would cure them of the poison as well. This makes lerks be more 'hit and run' type fighters. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/lerk.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::lerk::" border="0" alt="lerk.gif" />
6) Spore (modified) - No longer causes suffocation, but rather the spores produce a bacteria rampant seed cloud which consumes armor plating. Consequently, spore reduces the armor of those standing in it by 9 every second, which would encourage lerks in their support role. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/lerk.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::lerk::" border="0" alt="lerk.gif" />
Suggestions? Just some ideas I had. How it fits in with balance, I wouldn't know, but I tried my best not to make it something that would be too powerful (for example, Fade swipe might work the first time, but is easily countered when marines turn. Though in retrospect, might make for some interesting gameplay: Imagine Shriek + 2 fades attacking from either side.. could easily be deadly for a group of heavy armored marines)
1) Shriek - A hive 2 or hive 3 ability which renders all adjacent marines deaf for about 5 seconds, all nearby marines 66% deaf, and all marines in the area 33% deaf. Marines who are partially deaf will have their rate of hearing restored at about 33% hearing every 5 seconds until fully restored. Marines adjacent who are completely deaf will remain so for 5 seconds before recovering hearing as those marines partially deaf. Perhaps you could have an interesting ringing noise at a pitch inversely proportional to the 'deafness' of the marine (that is to say, ringing heard at 100% volume when completely deaf, 66% volume when marine has 33% hearing, etc.).
2) Bile spit - A hive 1 ability much like the gorge first weapon ability that I'm thinking would be best suited for the gorge. Perhaps it would inflict slightly less damage (rather than 50 damage, more like 30 damage) but with the effect that it would render their vision black by 33%. After three hits, the marine would be basically blind. It would make for a good defense mechanism for the gorges. Though that isn't to say a marine couldn't *hear* the gorge (unless also affected by Shriek), so the gorge wouldn't get away scot-free. While blind, the motion sensing blips would have to be momentarily suspended (or else the position would be evident). <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/pudgy.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::gorge::" border="0" alt="pudgy.gif" />
3) Carpace - I had the interesting idea that an onos in ns2 would have a very well armored upper head which as a hive 1 or hive 2 ability could use this ability and lower it, thereby not only stopping bullet fire but <i>deflecting</i> bullet fire. That is to say, if I'm getting rushed at by an onos with his head down and fire, at close range, i'd be getting hit by my own bullets half the time (it would have a random deflection, but it would be more or less be a flat deflection from where the bullet hit). While the onos wouldn't directly be able to kill marines with it, it adds an interesting strength to the onos's ability to withstand firings. It would make it a tactical advantage to approach humans huddled together as an onos, and inversely, a tactiful advantage for marines to attack from multiple angles. Perhaps to balance this ability, onos would need to have less armor so that when it is hit, it counts for more. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tiny.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::onos::" border="0" alt="tiny.gif" />
4) Swipe (modified) - This is the same weapon slot 1 ability for fade as before, with some modifications. Attack rate would be slowed and its effectiveness, while damage wouldn't be increased, would have the added advantage that if a marine is swiped facing completely in the opposite direction, suffers an instant death. This would encourage sneak attacks and 'stealthy' play. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/fade.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::fade::" border="0" alt="fade.gif" />
5) Bite (modified) - This is the same weapon slot 1 ability for lerks as before, with some modifications. I think marines who have been bitten and who do <b>not</b> have armor (as a result of having been bitten or otherwise) get their screens tinted slightly green and have their life steadily worsen over the course of the next 5 minutes as much as 100 health points (which implies they would die without a health pack). Perhaps you could make it so that the health pack would cure them of the poison as well. This makes lerks be more 'hit and run' type fighters. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/lerk.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::lerk::" border="0" alt="lerk.gif" />
6) Spore (modified) - No longer causes suffocation, but rather the spores produce a bacteria rampant seed cloud which consumes armor plating. Consequently, spore reduces the armor of those standing in it by 9 every second, which would encourage lerks in their support role. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/lerk.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::lerk::" border="0" alt="lerk.gif" />
Suggestions? Just some ideas I had. How it fits in with balance, I wouldn't know, but I tried my best not to make it something that would be too powerful (for example, Fade swipe might work the first time, but is easily countered when marines turn. Though in retrospect, might make for some interesting gameplay: Imagine Shriek + 2 fades attacking from either side.. could easily be deadly for a group of heavy armored marines)
Comments
The gorge balance right now is very sketchy. It takes a whole clip to kill a gorge! Don't give them an attack which is more powerful than their current spit and certainly don't make them any more harder to hit/kill.
Swipe... uhh, I don't like it because I like combat being predictable and the TF2 spy backstab is the most annoying feature in the game due to buggy hitboxes etc...
The lerk bite is a good idea, but it should be reserved to the initial bite damage plus 25 points of additional toxicity damage which is cured by a medpack. Sounds fair enough.
Car'A'pace- ehh, it would require really droping the onos' side armor on certain spots, legs and lower belly? But it does sound nice, make the onos also look down at the ground, meaning he only sees whats infront of him from the top of his eye socket, so it's hard for him to see.
Shriek-Sounds like a skulk ability =) I'd love to see a skulk with this. The Lerk can have his roar that moralizes other aliens, the skulk can get a ear bleeding scream!
Lerk Bite- I like, it shows a diffrence between the 2 bites, but make the lerk bite more...weak, but also poison =) The lerk only has 5 or so teeth right? he good as armor pierceing, whil skulk has shorter but more teeth to much flesh <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
So i like most of them.
I wouldn't even consider that spore. The present spore is already a massive pain, not to speak of lerk tearing the whole a1 advantage down in a few seconds. Obiviously it can be tweaked by numbers, but the present spore is quite nasty for the armor already.
Guys, this is a thread for all Kharaa weapon ideas, not just mine, so out with your ideas! If you modify my ideas, I won't mind. Heck, I might even like it. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink-fix.gif" />
I was considering other upgrade ideas as well for the Kharaa along the lines of the central three chamber types, sensory, movement, and defense:
Sensory:
Scent of Fear (modified) - Footsteps of marines leave a scent of fear whereever they go. Those particularly keen on picking up the scent can almost see the traces of where they've been. The number of sensory chambers determines the amount of time it takes before the footsteps completely fade away (5 seconds per chamber). Obviously jetpackers can completely throw the trail off.
Movement:
Camoflauge skin - Motion tracking cannot track you and you gain 33% cloaking which doesn't decrease while moving.
Defense:
Volitile gland - When you die, you have a 20%-60% chance of exploding and inflicting 200 damage to nearby hostile units (great combination with skulk kamikazi, which would potentially give you a chance to do 400 damage, but you'd have to do it without carpace).
I meant that even the normal damage spore does is huge to a group of marines. They'll lose the armor enough to go down with 2 bites in a matter of seconds. Basically the idea is fine, but it's already in the game. I kinda like how it goes at the moment and can't see why the damage to the armor should be emphasized.
Well yeh. Aliens need some way to smoke marines out of the good spots though. Whether its spore or not is another thing.
As for new ideas, what if there was a way of tweaking the stats for any given alien. I mean, maybe I want my skulk to bite faster with a weaker bite, or the fade to have a longer reach with swipe that takes more stamina. Granted, these won't be significant changes. Just enough to personalize the aliens a bit and to conform to the situation is at hand.
yea, having some personal customations that do small changes would be nice, but too complicated, adding more things to the menu for a unit is bad, it becomes a hassal to find what u want, and puts more stress and downtime on the player.
As for new ideas, what if there was a way of tweaking the stats for any given alien. I mean, maybe I want my skulk to bite faster with a weaker bite, or the fade to have a longer reach with swipe that takes more stamina. Granted, these won't be significant changes. Just enough to personalize the aliens a bit and to conform to the situation is at hand.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I was playing Command and Conquer the other day and they have this sort of strategic building which grants certain advantages and disadvantages to your gameplay depending on your play style.
Perhaps they could do something of this sort? You get a one-time upgrade which determines which advantages and disadvantages you might get. This upgrade might only be made available with a (new?) chamber.
For example, one might be stealth which grants you a permanent 20% cloaking (walking or running) and 10% faster run speed, but you lose 20% armor.
Another might be juggernaut which grants you a permanent 20% extra armor but you move 20% slower.
Last could be beserker which lets you do 20% more damage but you take 20% more damage.
Could be a good idea what you're suggesting, but I think it should be all-encorporated rather than letting each individual detail set by the player.
I like the idea =) if beserk, i demand to have glowing red eyes!
(you know...this sound like an idea that come from that new star ship trooper 3 movie, where the Brain Bug shriek in terror that blew everyone heads off *oops spoiler alert...too late* I knew it you could never thought of this yourself)
As for the other weapons ideas, some are just too in dept, like the gorge spit and bite, it should just stay as a general attack not too in dept. As for the Swipe isn't the fade already deadly enough?
Last but not least, spore would not be effective anymore, the idea of spore is to kill off soldiers and jet packer prevent them from building sieges and protect Heavies , if all it do is reduce armor there would be no point in using it.
Bile Spit, shouldn't do any damage and should only lower vision if hit in the face. Could be Med Packed away.
Carapace, would easily be abused because you could get two Onos together and just stand in a doorway taking no damage. However if they lower their heads their weapon should be replaced with Impale. You could Impale one Marine at a time. The Impaled Marine would be stuck on the Horn of the Onos rendering it's attacks such as Devour and Gore unusable. The Marine on the Horn would be alive but unable to move, call for med packs, be beaconed, call for ammo, or jump; they would be able to attack until all they are left with is their Knife. The Marine on the Impaled horn would slowly bleed to death, they couldn't be bitten or attacked by Aliens or Offensive Chambers; however area effects such as Xenocide, Acid Rocket, Spore, and Heal Spray would damage them.
Swipe, too over powered. You could just run around to every Marine's backside and one hit them.
Bite, again too over powered because with Spore and that "Bite" you could take out hole squadrons of Marines easily as a lone Lerk.
I've always thought Spore should only do damage to Health not to Armor/Health.
Bile Spit WOULD BE A BAD IDEA.
DARKNESS IS COMING DARKNESS IS COMING!!! yes every time there's a gorge rush you know that will happen, have 3-6 gorges Bile spit at every marine they spotted, and have the rest of the team drop and build offensive chamber...then you have PERFECTION!
The marines also refer to this as the Black Death.
Shriek distance, not sure.. I was thinking that marines 'in the area' would be 20 feet. Marines nearby would be 10 feet. Adjacent marines would be within 5 feet.
i would like if the alien camouflage would be like heatwaves, so they would be a little easier to see when moving (like in "the hidden" )
<img src="http://glasserver.de/phpfusion/images/news/hidden.gif" border="0" class="linked-image" />
and making the gorge spit to be a little like the dynamic infestation, by making it temporairly stop small things like proppelars in airvents
BTT. (Back To Topic)
if the fade get his teleport back. the secondary attack should tele you back to the last position you teled.
the secondary for lerk hive 3 ability should be something that makes the marines sight flicker/blurry/shake.
I like the shrieking ability. It's like the flashbangs in Counter-Strike, but for the hearing <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
it can be in the minimum range, anywhere out of that 1-3 meters wont get blurr vision.
I think they're going for a totally different weapon set, so where are the ideas going to come from? I think if we come up with a set of balanced Kharaa weapon ideas, they'd use a lot of them. So post your ideas here.
But I partially agree, the Dev team might rid of half to almost all the original attacks and up them up, since this game does take 10 years after NS1, so they aliens would have evolved abit.