The one and only ARC
thefonz
Join Date: 2011-06-22 Member: 105847Members
Join Date: 2011-06-22 Member: 105847Members
<div class="IPBDescription">An attempt to fix the arctrain issues</div>ARC trains suck. Even as a marine I think this. Sure its fun to win with them, in a boring, mindless sort of way. From my understanding, the ARC is supposed to be a shock unit. The thing about shock units is the more you have, the less they shock. So why not make the arc a true shock unit?
For starters
Adjust the robofactory so that, 1 upped factory can produce 1 ARC at a time. Probably should increase research cost to 20 Tres too.
Make the ARC much more expensive, 30 Tres at least.
Buff the ARC's health significantly, since there will only be one per factory.
Keep the damage the same or so, but reduce AOE and increase ROF. To chew though a base bit by bit, rather than the whole thing dying in a few shots.
I think that this will greatly improve how ARCs 'feel' in the game. Currently, they seem spammy. And killing entire bases with a handful of shots blow from the alien side.
The goals of this change are:
Eliminate arc trains.
Make the arc a true shock unit.
Make ARCs fun for both sides.
Force marines to defend their big investment.
Certainly buffing ARCs is not the fix many people expect. But think about it, which appears more balanced and fun? One very dangerous ARC that draws players from both teams into a pitched battle, the outcome of which is a is critical for either team. Or a dozen of the current ARCs that barely need to be defended, and can be replaced with ease.
The Tres suggestions arn't based on any math. Don't take the exact number I give to seriously, its just there to give you the idea im going for.
For starters
Adjust the robofactory so that, 1 upped factory can produce 1 ARC at a time. Probably should increase research cost to 20 Tres too.
Make the ARC much more expensive, 30 Tres at least.
Buff the ARC's health significantly, since there will only be one per factory.
Keep the damage the same or so, but reduce AOE and increase ROF. To chew though a base bit by bit, rather than the whole thing dying in a few shots.
I think that this will greatly improve how ARCs 'feel' in the game. Currently, they seem spammy. And killing entire bases with a handful of shots blow from the alien side.
The goals of this change are:
Eliminate arc trains.
Make the arc a true shock unit.
Make ARCs fun for both sides.
Force marines to defend their big investment.
Certainly buffing ARCs is not the fix many people expect. But think about it, which appears more balanced and fun? One very dangerous ARC that draws players from both teams into a pitched battle, the outcome of which is a is critical for either team. Or a dozen of the current ARCs that barely need to be defended, and can be replaced with ease.
The Tres suggestions arn't based on any math. Don't take the exact number I give to seriously, its just there to give you the idea im going for.
Comments
Aliens still focus on 1 ARC. however, it shoots faster and lives longer. - comparable to multiple current ARCs.
if pushing 2 ARCs, stagger them to prevent both from being hit by bile.
Marines can still push one way, while the ARC(s) go another. its got more HP now than current ARCs. while this probably isn't the best idea for them, it still works if your distraction is good.
You can still push 2 ARCs in two different directions.
All my suggestion really does is condense 4-5 ARCs into 1 ARC. It makes one ARC more pivotal an exciting. Spam in boring and repetitive. As aliens if you kill an ARC currently, great go kill the next ten..... With this idea, if you kill an ARC, F--- YEA! you got the ARC!
Edit - changed "one time" to "how often"
One solution might be to make it so that arcs have to be deployed by marines. A commander would create a set number of arcs, send them to the desired location and then activate them for deployment in very much the same way as we have currently. At this point, however, the arcs wouldn't actually deploy. Instead, they would have to be 'built' by marines before they could start firing. Once their role has been fulfilled, they could either be 'unbuilt' or undeployed by the commander (I would give the comm this ability to undeploy because I have a sneaky feeling asking marines to 'unbuild' arcs would be a mission in itself). They could then move on to the next location, whether it be target #2 or back to base. This would be good for a few reasons:
(1) It adds vulnerability to marines at siege locations and incentivises costly phase-tech/armoury entrenchments a little more
(2) The effectiveness of arcs would be staggered in such a way that hives don't get instagibbed
(3) Sneaky arc rushes would require time and presence to set up - replacing a "push while they're preoccupied and mass-deploy" approach
(4) Marines would still be crucial for the success of an arc push and, better still, the more marines the quicker the impact
(5) Arc deployment spots would be highly important because of the time invested in setting them up
(6) Arcs still stay mobile!
forgot about that. good thing that effect isn't hardcoded into the engine or something so unchangeable..... Onos stomp effect against the ARC would probably need to change. Maybe throw off the aim? Maybe slow ROF (can't target as quickly)? dunno, never said this was a perfect idea. Just trying to get good ideas out there.
<!--quoteo(post=1931355:date=Apr 28 2012, 06:07 PM:name=Champlo0)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Champlo0 @ Apr 28 2012, 06:07 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1931355"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It's an option to do that most comms don't op for because they either push en masse or barely need the arcs anyways. There's a lot of gameplay that is binded to multiple ARCs.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
yet such gameplay is clearly very rare. so perhaps something about arcs should be shifted to make such gameplay more common?
Maybe tying 1 ARC to 1 robo isnt the best idea, maybe just a health boost and cost boost will do the trick to make them less spammy and more tactical as you desire. dunno. people with a better understanding of the game can decide.
yet such gameplay is clearly very rare. so perhaps something about arcs should be shifted to make such gameplay more common?
Maybe tying 1 ARC to 1 robo isnt the best idea, maybe just a health boost and cost boost will do the trick to make them less spammy and more tactical as you desire. dunno. people with a better understanding of the game can decide.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It's more so how well equipped the aliens are to handle the rush. If aliens have an onos or two and at least two lerks they can take down an ARC train pretty well, if they can take down the marines covering it. ARC rushes generally are the main gambit or the last thing the marines will do, so you usually won't see them until marines are either desperate, or before aliens are ready for them. Thus arcs are a risky tactic due to their massive investment and all-or-nothing nature. If they were made a good supplement that didn't extremely hamper marines other tech progress they would see more use and thus these tactics I talked about would be more utilized. Just for the record, I have seen advanced ARC push tactics on multiple occasions.
By the time you kill the marines protecting the ARCs they have already fired a couple of shots, and then the commander can nano shield them to protect them more, and by the time you kill them all your hive is gone
I think it's fun from a commander perspective, boring or just necessary from a marine players perspective, and plain not-fun from an alien perspective.
Good for server and client performance.
If an arc deploys in an unpowered room, it should be offline just like a sentry turret is when unpowered.
+1 to fewer but stronger arcs
less arcs = more performance