Alien Commander Skill Trees
Sirot
Join Date: 2006-12-03 Member: 58851Members
Join Date: 2006-12-03 Member: 58851Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Role-Based Tech Trees</div>Natural Selection 2 is going to feature each side having multiple (up to 3) commanders. People have been trying to wrap their hands around how those commanders are going to work together without stepping on each other toes. One of the more obvious suggestions is each commander be given a role, such as offense, defense and support. That kind of role system existed in Relic’s titles: Company of Heroes and Dawn of War 2.
I believe that such a system be implemented for only aliens commanders because it is an opportunity to provide two major functions easily, one of which saves a lot of resources in terms of creating art assets for the developers. Not only it provides asymmetry between the two sides in terms of how they command, but it is also a method of creating a deep tech tree without having the alien commander build anything. What I want to suggest is that the alien commanders instead of building structures to advance their technology, use skill trees that are commonly seem in MMORPGs and games like Diablo 2.
<b>Basics:</b>
When an alien player enters a hive to become a commander, he or she needs to select what doctrine (skill tree) they want to follow. Once selected, that doctrine is now associated with the hive that commander entered. It is still possible to change doctrines before any upgrade or ability is researched, but as soon as the first upgrade/ability is finished researching it is permanent. A commander can be associated with only one doctrine at a time and additional commanders are required for the team to gain access to the bonuses the other doctrines provide. Commanders cannot share the same doctrine and each one needs to pick a different one. However, there are abilities present in two or three of the doctrines because they are considered too vital for a commander not to have. Upgrades are always unique to each doctrine and once researched, all alien players benefit from them. Upgrades require a commander in the hive to be researched and they lose some effectiveness if there is no commander sitting in the hive it was researched in (this is explained in Design Specifics). Since all abilities and upgrades are gained through a skill tree, the alien commander is not required to build any enabling structures. This saves the developers a lot of resources.
<b>Doctrine Specifics:</b>
Each of the doctrines would have a theme to them. An example of a theme would be offense. A commander who has an offensive themed doctrine would still be able to provide some defenses or mobility (as examples of other themes) bonuses, just not as effective as their respective doctrines. This is important to ensure that no single doctrine choice becomes standard because imaginary example playtesting shows having offensive abilities and upgrades early in the game is too crucial and the first hive doctrine most be offensive. Doctrines are divided into three tiers. Commanders start with the ability to start researching tier one upgrades and abilities. To gain access to tier 2 upgrades/abilities, a second hive needs to be built and a third hive for tier 3.
<b>Design Specifics:</b>
Each alien commander having their own set of upgrades and abilities is a way to encourage and balance more than one person becoming a commander. A player trades in the option of being able to directly affect battles by partaking them by supporting the troops more directly and in a way that only having only one or two commanders cannot. When a player chooses to be a commander, the on-the-ground players become cumulatively out numbered by one. I think this a big deal and in smaller games would shift the balance a lot. This is why I suggested that upgrades researched in a hive lose some effectiveness when a commander is not seated in the hive. It is a way to balance the alien team losing an on-the-ground player by making all the other remaining players stronger. This also creates a dynamic where the number of commanders the aliens has at any one time can change as their needs do. You are going to have players temporarily entering different hives to research upgrades and using its abilities. This could result in the aliens becoming more defensive while they are undermanned so that they could become stronger in the later game. Or, the team could have permanent commanders that use the positions abilities to their fullest extent.
I imagine it being something like this: <a href="http://www.wowarmory.com/talent-calc.xml?c=Warrior" target="_blank">http://www.wowarmory.com/talent-calc.xml?c=Warrior</a> or <a href="http://wiki.reliccommunity.com/Command_Trees_%28Company_of_Heroes%29" target="_blank">http://wiki.reliccommunity.com/Command_Tre...ny_of_Heroes%29</a>
but completely retooled to fit Natural Selection 2. The main differences is that each upgrade / ability has a research time and cost associated with it.
Note: I don't know how the developers want to handle gaining access to new classes, so I didn't bother including it in my idea.
I believe that such a system be implemented for only aliens commanders because it is an opportunity to provide two major functions easily, one of which saves a lot of resources in terms of creating art assets for the developers. Not only it provides asymmetry between the two sides in terms of how they command, but it is also a method of creating a deep tech tree without having the alien commander build anything. What I want to suggest is that the alien commanders instead of building structures to advance their technology, use skill trees that are commonly seem in MMORPGs and games like Diablo 2.
<b>Basics:</b>
When an alien player enters a hive to become a commander, he or she needs to select what doctrine (skill tree) they want to follow. Once selected, that doctrine is now associated with the hive that commander entered. It is still possible to change doctrines before any upgrade or ability is researched, but as soon as the first upgrade/ability is finished researching it is permanent. A commander can be associated with only one doctrine at a time and additional commanders are required for the team to gain access to the bonuses the other doctrines provide. Commanders cannot share the same doctrine and each one needs to pick a different one. However, there are abilities present in two or three of the doctrines because they are considered too vital for a commander not to have. Upgrades are always unique to each doctrine and once researched, all alien players benefit from them. Upgrades require a commander in the hive to be researched and they lose some effectiveness if there is no commander sitting in the hive it was researched in (this is explained in Design Specifics). Since all abilities and upgrades are gained through a skill tree, the alien commander is not required to build any enabling structures. This saves the developers a lot of resources.
<b>Doctrine Specifics:</b>
Each of the doctrines would have a theme to them. An example of a theme would be offense. A commander who has an offensive themed doctrine would still be able to provide some defenses or mobility (as examples of other themes) bonuses, just not as effective as their respective doctrines. This is important to ensure that no single doctrine choice becomes standard because imaginary example playtesting shows having offensive abilities and upgrades early in the game is too crucial and the first hive doctrine most be offensive. Doctrines are divided into three tiers. Commanders start with the ability to start researching tier one upgrades and abilities. To gain access to tier 2 upgrades/abilities, a second hive needs to be built and a third hive for tier 3.
<b>Design Specifics:</b>
Each alien commander having their own set of upgrades and abilities is a way to encourage and balance more than one person becoming a commander. A player trades in the option of being able to directly affect battles by partaking them by supporting the troops more directly and in a way that only having only one or two commanders cannot. When a player chooses to be a commander, the on-the-ground players become cumulatively out numbered by one. I think this a big deal and in smaller games would shift the balance a lot. This is why I suggested that upgrades researched in a hive lose some effectiveness when a commander is not seated in the hive. It is a way to balance the alien team losing an on-the-ground player by making all the other remaining players stronger. This also creates a dynamic where the number of commanders the aliens has at any one time can change as their needs do. You are going to have players temporarily entering different hives to research upgrades and using its abilities. This could result in the aliens becoming more defensive while they are undermanned so that they could become stronger in the later game. Or, the team could have permanent commanders that use the positions abilities to their fullest extent.
I imagine it being something like this: <a href="http://www.wowarmory.com/talent-calc.xml?c=Warrior" target="_blank">http://www.wowarmory.com/talent-calc.xml?c=Warrior</a> or <a href="http://wiki.reliccommunity.com/Command_Trees_%28Company_of_Heroes%29" target="_blank">http://wiki.reliccommunity.com/Command_Tre...ny_of_Heroes%29</a>
but completely retooled to fit Natural Selection 2. The main differences is that each upgrade / ability has a research time and cost associated with it.
Note: I don't know how the developers want to handle gaining access to new classes, so I didn't bother including it in my idea.
Comments
If having advantage from the 2nd commander suits their plans, the doctrines seem like a reasonable option at least. There's a risk that the more skilled commanders get bored with too much limitation though. In NS there is a plenty of time to do most of the stuff even though you can access the whole comm ability tree all by yourself.
If having advantage from the 2nd commander suits their plans, the doctrines seem like a reasonable option at least. There's a risk that the more skilled commanders get bored with too much limitation though. In NS there is a plenty of time to do most of the stuff even though you can access the whole comm ability tree all by yourself.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The additional options for a team gained from an additional commander is to counteract the lose of a on-the-ground player so it won't be a disadvantage. I really wanted to make mock-up doctrines, but not enough of the game has been revealed so far.