Squad idea
Wavesonics
Join Date: 2006-12-02 Member: 58833Members
Join Date: 2006-12-02 Member: 58833Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Left4Dead style player outlines</div>So I had this idea. When you are in a squad with someone, you'd see Left 4 Dead style outlines of them through the walls.
Pretty simple and less invasive then some of the other ideas I think, and I think it'd really encourage squads to stick together with out it seeming forced.
What do you all think?
Pretty simple and less invasive then some of the other ideas I think, and I think it'd really encourage squads to stick together with out it seeming forced.
What do you all think?
Comments
I also think it would be much better if parasited marines and buildings showed up this way to aliens. It's so much better to see the building outline visually rather than having the same icon for everything with text building names.
Perhaps they don't want to do this though as it may make the game look too similar to L4D.
It gets fuzzier once you fall into perhapsland
That beeing said, the whole squad system needs rethinking anyway. I honestly don't know what the squads are good for now. They are random, and you change squads all the time.
For example, i like the squad system in battlefield 3. You get assigned to a squad for the whole game, and you always know where your teammates are.
Battlefield 3 has a squad spawning system. That works well there, but obviously can not work in ns2 (sneak one marine into a hive, suicide the rest of the squad, spawn there). But other ideas are good there. For example, i always knew where my friends where. In BF3 you have a little icon over the head of every teammember, and their name.
I would suggest the following basic changes to make it easier to play with your friends: Draw your steam friends, or squad members, in a different color on the minimap (easy to do, helps a lot).
Always draw the name of your steam friends or squad members over their head, in a smaller font than it is done currently. Or they could just get a little icon over their head. A really small one, like BF3, it really doesn't cause a problem there.
in a slightly cartoony setting it can be forgiven, but i love my immersion with the dynamic lighting and organic hivemind vs technology feel the game currently has.
also, whats the point with the map overlay? its smoothly implemented and worked very well. outlining someone on the other side of the map would be silly, right?
As i said, i'm sure that it would already help very much to just color the squad members in a different color on the minimap.
That beeing said, the whole squad system needs rethinking anyway. I honestly don't know what the squads are good for now. They are random, and you change squads all the time.
For example, i like the squad system in battlefield 3. You get assigned to a squad for the whole game, and you always know where your teammates are.
Battlefield 3 has a squad spawning system. That works well there, but obviously can not work in ns2 (sneak one marine into a hive, suicide the rest of the squad, spawn there). But other ideas are good there. For example, i always knew where my friends where. In BF3 you have a little icon over the head of every teammember, and their name.
I would suggest the following basic changes to make it easier to play with your friends: Draw your steam friends, or squad members, in a different color on the minimap (easy to do, helps a lot).
Always draw the name of your steam friends or squad members over their head, in a smaller font than it is done currently. Or they could just get a little icon over their head. A really small one, like BF3, it really doesn't cause a problem there.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The current squad system just doesn't work.
The commander should be able to setup squads of any 1+ players, and assign them to a hotkey. Anything else is just stupid.
Starcraft/modern RTS has a wonderful squad/binding system, why not use the same thing?
Select units and hit Ctrl-1. Bam! Squad created.
Select other units, hit Ctrl-2 Bam! Squad created.
The only difference I see here is that when a player dies and respawns, they maintain their squad assignment.
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On a different note, I'd like an RTS style loading screen.
Vote for who starts as commander, commander can assign squads, click start -> 5s countdown, go!
A couple things I'd like to add though.
1) I think there should be some kind of indication when your entire squad is close together. I know the commander has the colored circles, but it would be helpful if the guys on the ground could have a quick indication of when they are all grouped up. That way the point man doesn't accidentally run to far ahead when someone in the rear is lagging behind. There could be a tooltip on it as well, for new players, to encourage them to stick with their squad.
2) I've seen this before on the forum, but I think it bears repeating. On the commander HUD, there should be a list of all the marines, with their HP and armor listed next to them. That way it it is easier to keep tabs on who is in trouble. Clicking on a name moves the screen to their location, for ease of investigating and dropping health packs.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->On a different note, I'd like an RTS style loading screen.
Vote for who starts as commander, commander can assign squads, click start -> 5s countdown, go!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think that's a great idea.
Everyone has said everything I think this would add and would add another level to the game.
The only con I can think of is that how would this work in a pub? When I think pub, I think laid back game with fun casual chat with people just making up fun tactics on their own. On the other hand this would help out professional gaming immensely.
Now I'm going out there, but what would you guys think of game modes? I know this could be a whole topic on its own but what do you think?
Example:
Casual Combat (No Commander)
Professional Combat (No Commander)
Casual NS (Commander)
Professional NS (Commander)
I'm not trying to make it like MW2 or any other game. I'm just thinking sorting of types of game to be flexible will make it more appealing to the whole spectrum of players since this is a RTS FPS game.
<img src="http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/4624/hudv.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Displays direction, distance, health, and equipped weapon.
NOTE: This is just me using Photoshop, it isn't actually in-game.
EDIT: Maybe the commander would have a tab that let him/her view all squad's vitals/weapon.
EDIT 2: Alternatively, icons could be placed horizontally. The icons could also have two bars indicating ammo/armor.
EDIT 3:
Horizontal with Ammo and Armor bars:
<img src="http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/3678/hud2u.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I think the reason is that the aliens have hivesight to see their teammates trough walls. Giving it to marines too would make the teams more similar.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The unique feature of hivesight isn't being able to see your allies, but being able to see parasited enemies. Knowing where your allies are, on the other hand, makes teamwork easier and less frustrating, and teamwork is what NS2 is all about.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yeah, I think the L4D style outlines are a really awesome way of highlighting things. Not just for your squad mates but also for weapons on the ground and med/ammo packs.
I also think it would be much better if parasited marines and buildings showed up this way to aliens. It's so much better to see the building outline visually rather than having the same icon for everything with text building names.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think the L4D style of seeing outlines through walls should be reserved for the alien's hivesight. Except in place of the sharp outlines in that game, for the hivesight use blurry, indistinct silhouettes. Actually being able to see the nebulous forms of a group of marines running toward your base would be much cooler than the little red circles they have now.