Cameoflage

Beelzebub · October 2012

<div class="IPBDescription">Could it be different?</div>I wonder if it would be possible or even better to make camouflage more like a chameleon rather than an invisibility or even both invisible when completely still but still different color when moving. Matching your colors to the surrounding etc, perhaps if youre on alien turf you would appear as a green hue matching the infestation and on other turf maybe change to a more metallic grey hue to blend in much like marines blend in already. Again I don't even know if this is program ably possible or not, but i think it might make cameo a more viable choice than the always feign death or silence

TimMc · October 2012

As long as you are still invisible when stationary, sure sounds good.

My biggest issue though is that you will be very disorientating when fighting, people won't accurately be hitting you. It should turn off when you attack.

arnyboy87 · October 2012

I love camo as a skulk/fade and often take it over silence as i can always just hold shift and with celerity you still get a movement buff while holding shift, my only problem is that when in camo and moving at the camo slow speed I don't think you should be visable at all your already getting the - of moving really slow.

arnyboy87 · October 2012

Also I think camo should not break with marine obs, I think this should be the counter to it , but scan should reveil any life form with camo. This would make taking camo still useful at late game

schkorpio · October 2012

better still, instead of changing the color/opacity of player - how about the player takes on the form of a nearby 3D model.

E.g. if you have the camoflague ability evolved, and you are standing near a pile of small crates, you turn into one fo those crates. infestation T1000 terminator style :)

I just think it would be hilarious fun to turn into a armslab and slowly sneak into the marine base - until someone realises "we didnt have to arms labs!"
at which point you would leap and bite :)

not to mention how funny it would be to see a pipe or a computer console sneaking up behind a group of marines :)

DanielD · October 2012

Camo is pretty gimmicky since obs reveals it, agree with the post saying only scan should reveal.

ÒŗăNģё · October 2012

I'm pretty sure this camo is still a place holder. Better implementations of it are sure to come when they have time to focus on things like this after 1.0

Nordic · October 2012

Obs no longer detects camo. Onos quietly walks into marine base. PROFIT

Xarius · October 2012

I think camouflage needs the fade time decreased for it to be more viable as an upgrade, right now it just takes slightly too low.

Beelzebub · October 2012

Seeing as an alien stands out against almost any surface, i think simply changing the color of a camo alien would really increase effectiveness. Might even help against what ive heard of color files being modded to make aliens bright pink or something. Not sure if its true or not, just puttin it out there

yehawmcgraw · October 2012

<b>How about this for a mechanic: </b>

So in real life if you were to try to 'be invisible' just by changing the color of your skin, you would 'paint' your skin to match your background as seen from *someones* perspective. It's important to note you are <b>not clear</b> but instead textured to <b>look like</b> whats behind you....Only effective for one target...

Why not this for aliens? The alien perfectly adapts to the perspective of ONE marine, say the closest one, or the marine closest to the alien's center of vision. Any other marine would see and eerie as $#%^ slightly-off camouflaged alien. Startling I'd imagine.

It would punish a marine traveling alone and still might be effective for many targets from a distance (as they share nearly the same perspective). Would be a more real-to-life mechanic, adds complexity to gameplay, allows fast cloaked movement with a different major downside.

spellman23 · October 2012

So no one remembers how this worked in NS1?

If you went cloak first, you could get close and get a free hit often turning the tide of a fight. But this was quickly nullified by scans and Obs Spam. Or really careful listening. Or Motion Tracking. And yes, pretty much only used by Skulks or by a trolling Onos to invisible Devour you. The other reason to pick up SC early was for Focus and Scent of Fear, both excellent upgrades for a variety of classes.

Right now the major problem with Camo is 1) it takes too long to activate and 2) it's too situational to be worth an early upgrade. It really only helps early game when Obs aren't around or to help confuse players, and even then only for the Skulk. And there are much better single upgrades to pick up in its place (or just rush 2nd Hive + higher lifeform eggs).

If we want to make it viable later in the game, give it a benefit against late-game tech. Nullifies MT would be helpful.

In short, Cloak/Camo is a niche early-game ability, but there isn't a good reason to take it in NS2 due to the change to individual upgrading techs.

Beelzebub · October 2012

See thats my point though. Since getting the first hit later on in the game isnt as crucial, making them harder to see at all times including movement would make it a more viable option to use. Think about how hard it is to find marines sometimes without alien vision, all that grey they blend right in with almost any surroundings. Cloak could do that for aliens. when they aren't standing completely still for total invisibility, their color is somewhat matching to the background colors still making them visible but making motion tracking a little more difficult without making them translucent. Think... big green onos on alien infestation or greyish onos when not on infestation

spellman23 · October 2012

I recall several games like Dystopia implemented a distortion. So while moving you can see shimmers of them, but while still unless you're looking really carefully it's hard to see the distortion outline. I think that could work better.

Nordic · October 2012

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (spellman23 @ Oct 11 2012, 02:24 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1989885"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>I recall several games like Dystopia implemented a distortion. So while moving you can see shimmers of them, but while still unless you're looking really carefully it's hard to see the distortion outline. I think that could work better.</div>
That is how it is now

spellman23 · October 2012

It's more a pure transparency swap right now.

A translucent distortion would be more interesting imo. See player's model in lower right of this video from Dystopia.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thvhyUQRiMM#t=49s" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thvhyUQRiMM#t=49s</a>

Beelzebub · October 2012

That might be a bit overpowered if they stayed translucent like that. Perhaps a bit too hard to track especially on a small skulk moving somewhat quickly.. though skulks move slower than a marine running with no weapons..which is.. beyond my comprehension

spellman23 · October 2012

Well, not stay translucent. Taking damage would uncloak, attacking as well, but it would provide a means of detecting a moving enemy instead of randomly spraying the room or praying for the Comm to scan the area.

Man, I miss Hand Grenades from NS1 to help uncloak things....

Cameoflage

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