Viewing the Lerk with a fighter/bomber airplane analogy

thefonzthefonz Join Date: 2011-06-22 Member: 105847Members
edited March 2012 in NS2 General Discussion
<div class="IPBDescription">I think I see where UWE is trying to go here.</div>So lets talk about some recent changes to the Lerk.

<ul><li>Spore clouds now descend downward. Encourages Lerk to fly above marines while gassing them.</li><li>Bile Bomb moved to Lerk. Only useable in the air (goofy and unintuitive to me, but I figured it out alright eventually). Slight forward arc to the shot.</li><li>Lerk flight has been getting better and easier! Rock on UWE!</li></ul>

Now think about air planes from the WW2 era. For the less historically nerdy that would be, Spitfires, BF-109 Messerschmitts, P 51-D Mustangs, Zeros (not really ground attack but I'm trying to mention all the major players in WW2), (somebody fill in a Russian one for me), ect. Possibly the best to consider (of the ones I know) would would be the German Stuka dive bomber.

After thinking about these planes and how simmilar they are to the Lerk, things are making more sense. Possibly more importantly, I like. I really<i>really</i> like.

<ul><li>Spikes = Strafeing Runs (sorta, airplanes can't hover/roost/sit on the ground)</li><li>Gas = Bombing Run</li><li>Bile Bomb = Dive Bombing</li></ul>

It seems to me that UWE wants the Lerk to be an old school fighter/bomber (aka ground attack) plane. When I think about the Lerk from this perspective, the recent changes not only make sense, they are <b>AWESOME!</b> More importantly I think that this will/can be tuned for great game play from both the Alien and Marine perspective.

I hope this post has helped people see the Lerk in a new light. It may not be exactly as UWE in-visions it to be, but I think its is a good general description. Thinking about the Lerk this way has really changed my view of the lerk. It was my least favorite life form before, by a mile and a half (maybe because I suck with it :P ). Now, I love it even though I still suck as a Lerk (now I've got areason to get better though!).Below is a link to another post of mine discussing the new Lerk and some changes I think should be made to the Lerk and level design in general that would benefit the Lerk and how it is played / fought against.

<a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=117107" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/in...howtopic=117107</a>

Comments

  • SajSaj Join Date: 2003-01-30 Member: 12936Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    This is the way Ive been thinking about it too and I like it alot, the Lerk is meant to be fast and mobile not hiding in a vent or biting ankles.
  • PsiWarpPsiWarp Gifted Gorge Richmond, B.C., Canada Join Date: 2010-08-28 Member: 73810Members
    Same here, although I think Spore and Bile Bomb could use more visual indication (they happen around the Lerk, often out of its view). You'd just fly by and hope for the best, basically.
  • serpicoserpico Join Date: 2012-02-12 Member: 145150Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    oh god it seriously didn't occur to me until I read this that the whole downward movement thing enables me to drop spores from way above marines, I had been thinking of it purely as a nerf. Totally missed the obvious huge advantage here, will have to play with this.
  • rhombusrhombus Lerk Queen Join Date: 2011-06-23 Member: 106055Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
    That's what I was hinting at when I posted my drawing of the bomber lerk!

    Repost:

    <img src="http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/2742/lerkbomber.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    edited March 2012
    now if they give him umbra and a lot more HP, or just a lot more HP, oh and did i mention more HP? he will finally be able to provide his role in a combative situation / group of marines. (you know, instead of being one shotted from a single shotgun?) :-D
  • Shrike3OShrike3O Join Date: 2002-11-03 Member: 6678Members, Constellation
    edited March 2012
    Not necessarily a lot more HP, but some more and a small bump to his spike damage output to make him better at a standoff fight than a couple of marines dumping LMG mags. Getting into 1-shot shotgun range of a marine is unfortunate, but most things die when you do that. :) Enough to soak up 2 shots would be a nice improvement.
  • XariusXarius Join Date: 2003-12-21 Member: 24630Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    edited March 2012
    I don't think his spike needs any buffing, I've seen good lerk players really rock with it. (+gas)
    His main issue currently would be survivability an/or bile bomb DPS being too low. I think just buffing the latter would already go a long way in making lerk bombing runs viable. (Currently spike almost deals as much damage as the bile bomb, forcing him to stay around longer rather than being able to just hit and run effectively)
  • Shrike3OShrike3O Join Date: 2002-11-03 Member: 6678Members, Constellation
    <!--quoteo(post=1914117:date=Mar 16 2012, 05:03 PM:name=Xarius)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Xarius @ Mar 16 2012, 05:03 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1914117"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I don't think his spike needs any buffing, I've seen good lerk players really rock with it. (+gas)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    If it takes a good player to make a 30 res upgrade "really rock," it's not quite tuned up enough. A scrub marine, with a flame thrower or a grenade launcher, can seriously mess up somebody's day, and when <i>he</i> dies his buddy can pick that weapon back up.
  • TechercizerTechercizer 7th Player Join Date: 2011-06-11 Member: 103832Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1914141:date=Mar 16 2012, 07:34 PM:name=Shrike3O)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Shrike3O @ Mar 16 2012, 07:34 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1914141"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->If it takes a good player to make a 30 res upgrade "really rock," it's not quite tuned up enough. A scrub marine, with a flame thrower or a grenade launcher, can seriously mess up somebody's day, and when <i>he</i> dies his buddy can pick that weapon back up.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Yeah, we should really consider revisiting that mechanic now that hit detection and framerates have improved significantly... Balancing two lifeforms of equal resource costs tends to end badly when one of them can just run to its old corpse and get all its upgrades back for free.
  • ImbalanxdImbalanxd Join Date: 2011-06-15 Member: 104581Members
    edited March 2012
    I don't really care who has bile bomb, what annoys me is how utterly useless it is now. A few games ago I was lerk in a pretty tough match. I decided to all out harrass marine base by doing non stop bombing runs, literally just went in, dropped the bombs, went out, and went straight back in again once I heard the DOT had stopped. How did they counter this? They built a <b>single</b> MAC. That one MAC could repair an entire marine base of about 10-12 structures faster than I could damage it, even though I was doing damage in a huge AOE. They also built<b> two</b> sentries which hit me so quickly I had to start flying all the way back to the hive before I could do another run.

    <!--quoteo(post=1914192:date=Mar 17 2012, 08:23 AM:name=Techercizer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Techercizer @ Mar 17 2012, 08:23 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1914192"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yeah, we should really consider revisiting that mechanic now that hit detection and framerates have improved significantly... Balancing two lifeforms of equal resource costs tends to end badly when one of them can just run to its old corpse and get all its upgrades back for free.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    What game are you playing?
  • ArkantiArkanti pub baddie Join Date: 2011-07-22 Member: 111781Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited March 2012
    Perhaps they should make the lerk spikes more accurate rather than a flat increase in the damage output. The wild spray can be quite annoying.
  • Shrike3OShrike3O Join Date: 2002-11-03 Member: 6678Members, Constellation
    Either/both of those options would be fine. Imbalanxd, per the Twitter feed, bilebomb is already getting tweaked for the next build.
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