Alienfarming
riddik
Join Date: 2009-01-22 Member: 66155Members
Join Date: 2009-01-22 Member: 66155Members
<div class="IPBDescription">insect medpacks and so on</div>What if there where tasty healthy mashrooms around dc's slowely spreeding. (Or maby plant 1 mashroom wich makes other ones grow around it)
Or small buildings slowely spitting out big dumb bugs wich heal small kaharas like skulks when eaten.
Those insects would also apear on the motiondetector's of the rhines to increase insecurity in infested areas. A last funny idea would be a possibility to bait the insects with a scream so one single skulk could seem like a rush for a short while on the motiondetectors. (Or feed lifeforms somewhere close to front.)
There where such bugs in "alien versus predator 2" game peacefully flying one meter to land there and try another jump/flight two seconds later.(those dots on the motiondetector where real scarry sometimes XD)
This also would bring some more living efect and change into the infestation areas.
Or small buildings slowely spitting out big dumb bugs wich heal small kaharas like skulks when eaten.
Those insects would also apear on the motiondetector's of the rhines to increase insecurity in infested areas. A last funny idea would be a possibility to bait the insects with a scream so one single skulk could seem like a rush for a short while on the motiondetectors. (Or feed lifeforms somewhere close to front.)
There where such bugs in "alien versus predator 2" game peacefully flying one meter to land there and try another jump/flight two seconds later.(those dots on the motiondetector where real scarry sometimes XD)
This also would bring some more living efect and change into the infestation areas.
Comments
2. They (insect) would only reveal where are your buildings by spamming MT signals near them.
3. Anyone (marine player) then would recognize a mob of walking MT signals as a wave of slugs, and would ignore it.
As candy eye they could fit...
What are you getting hung up on? Offer improvements, changes, or at least a reason why you don't think the idea is viable.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->1. They (staff) aren't thinking in making A.I.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The devs are making glowies and weldbots, so I'd say they're making AI already. In fact, it would be cool if the glowies did this since they sound a lot like the insects the OP is talking about.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->2. They (insect) would only reveal where are your buildings by spamming MT signals near them.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
They wouldn't necessarily need to be clustered near buildings, just on DI. I think that is a good point though for avoiding giving marines extra information w/o scouting.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->3. Anyone (marine player) then would recognize a mob of walking MT signals as a wave of slugs, and would ignore it.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sounds like the perfect place to hide to me <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tiny.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::onos::" border="0" alt="tiny.gif" /> <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tiny.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::onos::" border="0" alt="tiny.gif" /> <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skulk.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::skulk::" border="0" alt="skulk.gif" /> <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skulk.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::skulk::" border="0" alt="skulk.gif" /> <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skulk.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::skulk::" border="0" alt="skulk.gif" />
Well I'll try and interpret, and I'm sure <b>riddik </b>will tell me if I got it wrong. The first part is two alternate suggestions for the same idea of having kharaa heal on infestation. The first is to have structures, mushrooms, that generate dcs(or other chambers). The alternate suggestion is basically the same as your <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=104938" target="_blank">Infestation Bulbs</a> idea.
The last part of his post is about having ambient "insects" on the infestation that mess with MT. Apparently there are insects that do this in AvP2, but I never played that game so I don't know. The insects sound a lot like glowies, so I think it would be cool if some glowies would leave the hive and trigger MT while doing so.
But it could sure look cool : ).
I think it is quite nice, but I wouldnt add the heal effect just to confuse the marines and it also shouldn't be everywhere and it shouldn't be for free.
Let's say the alien commander on the one hand has his ressources to tech or do whatever <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" /> and on the other hand he has like every kharaa player an very slowly refilling energy bar to use global or DI abilities like
- spawning bugs
- spread DI
- beam a low hp alien back to the main hive
- making a parasited marine loose control of his character and start shooting at teammates (requires high upgrade and can be countered by using medpack or cataclyst on the marine ...)
Those energy bar can be upgraded and manipulated ofcourse and on this way the alien commander isn't bound to any cooldowns on his abilities but is also limited so he has to tactically decide what is best at the moment.
I'm sorry if this doesn't fit in here BUT I just got the idea and had to write it down before it disappears into the void again <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
Thx stay tuned
1mannARMEE
PS: Its funny what you can think about when you are suppossed to learn for your upcoming exams :S
That's a pretty sweet idea. An kharaa comm could have fun with that
i thougt a little about my idea and so i came to this:
in ns1 there where three alienbuildings per group and two kathegory
so why not make a new, cheap kathegory named infestation flora.
also for small walls wich could grow out of infested areas as bonelike structures(would also deserve a link to the other thread)
and finaly my beloved insects wich would bump out of a small insectic hive to then spread out slowely over the whole infestation area and die when they are old to avoid having more than 10 insects per insectic hive possible at the time(they would only heal small amounts of hp per insect to be usefull as medpack for skulks and lerks primarely)
as an alternative i propose the big fhungi wich are growing when a sporedropper bumps out a spore(no exponential growth). as medpacks
or maby flowers wich create a cloud of lerkgass when a rhine comes to close while going around the corner
or small scoutingtraps wich parasite you when you'r walking on them
i hope for more third kind alienstructure proposals
If this is an idea to replace the DC, I am also not very keen on the idea because it simply over complicates healing. Aesthetically, I would look nice but I prefer simplicity over the elaborate. It's just a personal preference.
i think its a new varyty to infested areas and an extention to the possibilitys a skulk has in different gamestates.
early game: i take a bug with me. drop it 2 corners behind my ambush, then if i survife the ambush i go take my medpack
midgame: the lerk will thank me if i hang around him with 10 bugmedpacks
lategame: while waching on the minimap to locate the rush there are 2 big fake groups of aliens mooving around on different places while one is the real rush. or maby one group wich mooves toward base makes 2 rhines stay in base for a while instead of being on the real front in maby hive x. (allso an onos doesnt have much interest in eating a +-50hp medpack while loosing min 4 seconds to doo this exept if he's realy low hp)
i came away from the mushroomfarm because it recembles the dc too much, but since i found a more gamefitting idea how to slow down and mentain the mushroomfarm i wanted to evolve the idea anyway.
maby others stay in the opinion that alien-goha-partys in glowing mushroom fields would bee nice.
since traps are a discussion (argh me still not able to make links to other threads) they could fit in a new building class
same thing for walls built of singel or several ripps or other bones spreeding from infestation costing res beeing destructable (hopefully i dont miss the other alienwall-thread too much)
However, this last post brings up a very interesting concept - being able to pick up the bugs and take them with you. This makes the bugs much more valuable, as it takes quite a bit of resources and time to build a DC and to be around it every time you need to be healed. Especially since DCs are almost always built under hives at first - and therfore very far away (hopefully) from marines. So I guess my question is - how would these little bug med-packs work?
-How many can you carry at once?
-When carrying one, does it take the place of anything else? i.e. Would a skulk carry this in its mouth - and therefore not be able to bite without eating the bug? Or would the skulk carry the med-bug on its back?
-Would a med-bug which you dropped off somewhere be available to anyone, or just the kharaa that picked it up?
And I guess I'd have a ton of other questions as well after those are answered. I think I could see this idea working, but specifics are needed.
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As for all the other "trap" ideas - some of them are pretty cool, but again, I think you need to be a little more technical. Seperate the ideas and give specifics as to how each would work - like your bone wall idea. Sounds good, but how specifically would it work? Would kharaa be allowed to walk through them? etc.
first some details how insects could work:
if you ever played "alien versus predator2" you will know where my idea comes from.
first a georgy buts up/buys an insectic hive.
<u>the hive:</u>
the insectic hive could ressemble a bud open to the top.
\ /
oooo
ooooo
ooooo
ooo
___\
best size of this building is recembling to dc's or a little smaller
now every lets say 30 seconds a bug gets popped out of this little insectichive.
<u>the bug:</u>
i immagine my bug like a classical earthling bug. only that it's like 15cm long.
it has a natural liveexpectency of 7minutes. (this way there will never be more than 15 bugs per bughive)
-----------oooooooooxiiii
------oooooooooooooiiiiiiiiiiiii
---ooooooooooooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-----ii
-oooooooooooooooxxxxiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii---iii
-----xxxooooxxxxxxxxxiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
----------xxxxxxxxxxxxxiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
---------------/--/ ----\--\
-------------- \--\-----/--/
in comportement it is like hanging around two seconds on the ground. then in a mix of jumping, hoovering and flying it mooves like 1 to 2 meters. finely it's resting few seconds.
when 2 bugs come close to eachother the "randomdirection" of theyr next flight tends to bring them further away from eachoter.
they dont think about leaving the infested area (exept when a sculk leads them).
<u>skulkinteraction:</u>
now the skulk comes and wantes to take the bugg with him.
all he has to do is bait the bugg with a noise like a slow clicking noise
all the bugs wich hear this noise fallow the sculk like gone mad. they dont even land at this state. even the distance in wich bugs start to avoid eachother gets smaller at this state.
... reply to be continued
oki i guess have to work now, as you see i'm not this quick in writing (why would i drawrite else^^)
cya
once his target reched the sculk may stop the baiting noise to release the bugs into normal behavior.(normal behavior = fly 2 meters, land, wait 1 or 2 seconds, fly two meters with random direction. once they tuch infested area again they stay on it)
the point is that such bugs have different options to be used:
they may be small mobile medpacks probably most usefull for small kaharas like skulks or lerks.
they build insecurity in infested areas for rhines(i know, the more players learn to use the motiontracker, the better they will distinguish an alien from a bug. but its still more information to handel, even for an expert)
when baited by a skulk they can dissimulate an onos to motiontrackers, disimulate the size of a rush to mt, simulate a rush to mt, with only 1 skulks you can get 1 additiononal heep of points on the minimap...
i thinc there are funny new possibilitis to small aliens thanks to the insectic hive without overpowering them.
but I still think this is more complicated than simple DCs although definately more mobile. I'm a more simplistic person. I don't like making things too complicated in a game.
dc's have healing as one of it's strength. if you want players to build dc at start. wich in actual state never happens now in ns1 exept when half team sais "who the **** took dc" . <u>with replacements like medi bugs / mt-scrambler bugs it will get even less probable that dc's get built.</u>
But if you want to<u> feed a fade or even an onos</u> with bugs, you get <u>empty of all the bugs</u> of one full populated bughive to get 50hp * 15 bugs <u>750hp</u>. this only works after <u>7min of "don't tuch it"</u>, we need it to feed one fade for 30 seconds"
also <u>one bug could give like 40hp...</u>
bugs
are good healing at the begining of a mach.
in the lategame they could maby be realy usefull to fake motiontracker in an important moment.
dc's
aint worth much in the beginning.
keep healing all present kaharas all the time (even an onos feels the benefit).
big alien can get a lot of hp by sitting close to it.
give good upgrades like carapace, regen, redempt wich dont help in mid/lategame primarely
what i want to say is:
bugs heal well at start
dc's do well in the lategame (soon as second hive is up)
I don't know if I'd like the whole 'trail of bugs' idea, nor the flying around part of them (but I do know the reference). I would want something a little more.. 'sure'. Meaning - for the skulk who got one of the bugs to follow it (or whatever) and dropped it off at a certain location.. what happens when he comes back to eat the bug, and its not there? I would want the bug to stay still and <u>not</u> draw attention to itself, as its literally my meal ticket to surviving longer.
As for the bugs following a kharaa who called them.. Skulks move really fast, they climb walls and run across cielings.. Is a stupid little bug going to be able to follow one through vents across rooftops and at a speed which will be helpful? I think it might be better if the bugs say.. crawled onto a calling kharaa's back and just hopped off when told to and stayed stationary at that location for a certain amount of time.
But with all this.. as BadMouth said.. its a little complicated. Not that complicated is bad, but too much complication and people wont use it.
So what are you supposed to do if you do like the idea, but you think it needs something worked out? You post your thoughts don't you?
Is belittling people really that much fun?
Y'know, popular ideas stay at the front. Less popular ideas fade away to obscurity... or Ideas and Suggestions page two. You know, natural selection.
Oh, and to answer your question. Yes, yes it very much is.
But that's not what I was doing here.
Or was it? :O