Anyone Think The Phase Gate Builds Too Fast?
Harry_S_Truman
Join Date: 2002-11-21 Member: 9568Members
Join Date: 2002-11-21 Member: 9568Members
I certainly do. We kept taking down the marine phase gate (three in a row!!) the other day and they kept building another one. It take around 5 seconds to finish building one and as powerful a force multiplier as they are, they should take much longer. Longer than a Turret Factory, thats for sure!!
Why build a TF when you can build a phase gate? Marines shoot better than turrets anyway.
Why build a TF when you can build a phase gate? Marines shoot better than turrets anyway.
Comments
Oh, if you're in the marine base, and I see that I can squish an observatory, I usually [edit]eat[/edit] it.
I think that the phase gate maybe has a higher number of hit points than it should (I don't know how many this is, but they sure do take a decent amount of chomps to take down) but I don't see increasing the amount of time needed to build them making your job as an alien that hates phase gates much easier.
Using it to go to the marine base is really not a good idea. First of all, you don't know where on the chain of phase gates this one is. It might go right to their base, or you might have to jump thru it several times, being shot at by turrets each time. Secondly, phase gates are usually built at hive locations. Securing the hive and preventing more marines from pouring thru is far more important than launching a hastily organized attack on the marine base.
Just by having that extra hive, you've increased your effectiveness far more than being able to jump right into the middle of the turrets. If they can still jump thru it, the location is not secure.
Require +use to be teleported (at the very least for the alien team.)
The simple dimensions of the hitbox combined with the fact that you can run onto it (due to how low it is) combined with the need to chomp it from close range (if you're an alien)... means that it can be far too easy to overstep and get warped into a marine turret nest instead of chewing up the nice delicate-looking highly-experimental prototype parts.
Amen to that. This is a really big problem. Buliding too fast is not really a problem. The thing is that it seems to take longer to destroy than it is to be built. hope this is a bug or something..
too many times I've fallen though a phase gate and by the time I've warped through the next four or five, when each has a few turrets beside them, I'm either dead or close to it.
the only good thing about phase gates from the alien perspective when attacking is when you get two marines stuck on one, then you can have a chuckle at them whilst killing the poor suckers. Otherwise they need to have their hp's dropped somewhat or they do become too powerful especially as a monkey ( oops marine ) with a welder can undo a skulk's minute of hard labour within a few seconds.
<b>I think that the cost of a Phase Gate should be increased to 25, or preferably 30. </b>
I dislike the fact that the Marines can build 2 spawns, armory, observatory, and two spawn gates on a single resource node, within the first 90 seconds to two minutes of the game. I just think it is a bit much. Increasing the cost 5 or 10 points would do a lot to keep the game in balance during the first few minutes. Marine rushes can be dealt with, but when there is a phase gate backing them up, its a big problem.
The main problem Phase gates present such a balance issue during the beginning of the game is Marines can spawn 2 at a time, and Aliens just one at a time. So in a full on battle at the hive Marines will out number Aliens 2 to one assuming everyone dies once. And since Marines spawn together, odds they can attack in pairs, while Aliens straggle in 1 by 1. It's just not a good situation.
Increasing the cost by 5 or 10 points would DEFINITELY slow down their use in the first critical minutes of the game, keeping everything in balance.
There's another discussion <a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=5&t=14900&hl=phase+gate' target='_blank'>here</a> about this.
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Just a thought here... phase gates can go up like weeds. On Eclipse, we were fighting for the last hive (Eclipse itself) and there was me, a fade,and a Lerk blasting the place. I would run around, shoot at the phase gate, and run back. Eventually it was killed, then the last marine in the place sent a few grenades of love in our direction... we got trapped by our own defensive towers and pretty much got instantly gibbed (If we had gibs). So by the time I respawn and use the movement chamber to get over to eclipse (NOT evolving) that ONE MARINE has gotten another phase gate up and has pretty much whored the place full of turrets with his buddies that came through.
I'm all for making the phase gate take about as long as a resource tower to put up as a sole marine: On long games, they spring up like weeds, making pretty much landmines all over the place (One interesting trick I saw was to put phase gates in front of turrets, so melee units can't hit the turrets without getting disoriented.)
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
- are very powerful
- can't really have a backup (unlike tfacs)
- are quick to build
- are quite cheap
- are very, very hard to destroy
I would make them easier to kill (reduce the health by 25-50%, do the +use thing), otherwise they are fine.
marine hive defence:
- 1 phase gate
- 1 tfac & turrets to defend the phase gate [not to stop aliens getting in, but to stop aliens destroying it]
Either the build time goes down, the hit points go down, or both!
And the hitboxes.... oh geez, make them a bit bigger plz? Being low down as a Skulk, it's hard enough to eat a phase, as a Fade it's even worse, since you tower over the dang thing!
The main problem Phase gates present such a balance issue during the beginning of the game is Marines can spawn 2 at a time<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I've always wondered how the number of infantry portals affect the respawn time. One time my team had 3 portals. Most of us got killed and we would come out of them randomly one by one. Does having a greater number decrease the time it takes to respawn or do people just build some as backup incase the other portal is destroyed?
Each spawn portal comes with its own spawn queue. So yes, build 8 of them and if 8 people die at the same time, they will all come back at the same time.
The problem I have with them is trying not to go through them when either a) destroying them as alien, b) Welding/fixing as marine, or c) when trying to see the health of it (not as a comm) :/
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Problems with requireing "+use" to use it is that a fade standing inside the phase would then either block all incoming marines or get telefragged as they come in.
Still, risking telefragging would be better for aliens than the current problems of fighting around the portal without getting sucked into it. Lots of problems with that when the portal is built in a corridor.
Bw, a skulk dancing with turrets to draw their fire while a gorge drops and builds an OC or two on top of the phase gate is a beautiful thing .. hard to set up though.
I don't get it. AFAIK if a fade was ON the pad, he'd be telefragged by the incoming player--same as with spawn portals. But a player cannot BLOCK a pad except by building a structure over it, or if the pad was placed badly and the cieling is too low.
My solution:
- As I mentioned in another thread, I'd like to see marines coming through a damaged phasegate get damaged themselves (phasegate health at 50%, marines lose 50% health/armour if they decide to use it).
It would keep the gate as a decent transport device between secure locations, but if it starts getting attacked, it would make marines think twice before all piling through (if the gate was at 10% health, all marines coming through would only come out the other side with 10% of what they entered with - would make it more risky).
Recent experiences as a commander have led me to believe that phase gates are a godsend- they're easy to get up, but the real difficulty is getting a siege/turret base up without suspicious aliens hearing you. Phase gates get splattered (as do marines phasing in) when aliens batter every side- it's just a matter of time until they're gone again, in which cases the gorge should chamber-up the former Phase area.