Gameplay Feedback
Daemonlaud
Join Date: 2002-12-30 Member: 11637Members
Join Date: 2002-12-30 Member: 11637Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Feedback and critique from an old-school player</div>Hey there.
As an old school NS1 player, please let me give you my immediate feedback. I love the engine and think the game is great, and my admiration for Charile and the guys who stuck with this for so long is hard to put into words.
So understand my complaints below come from a place of love and a realisation that a community can rise or fall on the opening weeks, so there is some urgency to my posting.
<b>1) The alien commander doesn't feel right so far.</b> He doesn't have as much interaction with the alien players as the marine commander dropping gear / meds, issuing waypoint orders! Often as an alien I'm not sure if he's gone AFK. But at the same time he does too much for them:
Selecting the chamber route, fine. But selecting my upgrade path for me? No thanks. This really crimps my playstyle. It's so limiting to have be stuck with a single upgrade for most of the early game - a 'choice' you didn't even make.
A return to the system of <i>"Defense Chamber is placed - now you choose regen or cara based on your playstyle or immediate requirements"</i> is really, really in <i>urgent</i> order, chaps. This is by far the single most important issue in the game right now - it's a major deal-breaker for playing aliens. It makes it un-fun and one-dimensional.
If we have to have an alien commander at all, he needs to be able to issue waypoint orders, like the marine one. This not only gives him something to do - it makes more sense in a hive-mind, thematically, and it's also more important for fast-moving skulks to recieve fast visual orders rather than explaining them painstakingly over comms. Voice should be saved for strategic rather than tactical calls. Why not have my game audio tell me "attack res node at Hub" and where this is, rather than the commander stop discussing strategy with his team to state this?
<b>2) The skulk is rather un-fun</b> Firstly this is not a combat balance issue, particuarly. I can kill marines fine, same as they can kill me. It's that skulks die so fast it's very hard to make good play decisions. If you poke your nose out to have a look, you lose 90% of your HP with a single stray burst from 2 rooms away and need to return to the hive. If you are chomping a node, there's no way to even leap to safety if a marine comes around a corner. You die *instantly*. Instant death, even if it's balanced, is just not a good design. It's not fun and it does not promote high skill caps. No longer will a good skulk be able to get on a nine-kill streak like in NS1, it's just physically impossible to stay in combat. What I'm saying is I can't do this THIS anymore:
<a href="http://i.tinyuploads.com/4RWvHG.jpg" target="_blank">http://i.tinyuploads.com/4RWvHG.jpg</a>
Skulks were hardly tanks in NS1, but there was always time to reposition or respond when a marine entered the room before you evaporated. Scouting was practical. A marine at range could not seriously damage you. You could hit-and-run structures, bait and ambush marines. And so forth. There was major impetus to get weapon upgrades as marine commander because it made good skulks less of a threat to small squads, letting you spread yourself thinner without investing in static defense. All this is gone because you die so damn fast. Cut down the damage on both sides of Tier 1!
Finally, skulk play has been dumbed down a bit. There is nowhere to hide in the new maps. The ceilings are low, the rooms are tiny, there are fewer random connective vents that are inaccesable to marines on foot, and there are no things to get behind or on top of. Having to kill power, then resource in every room is dull. The limitations on the powering of structures mean every marine-held room is laid out exactly the same for every game. So you are forced into predetermined, direct combat continually, and ambushing and quick-thinking is trivialised. This is compensated balance-wise with how fast you get Leap. Leap used to be a late-game thing in NS1. Now you get it quick and you need it quick. Which means all the early tactics are moot - and the maps get stale faster. Which brings me to the next problem:
<b>3) The game is too fast.</b>
I don't mean the combat or movement speed, either. The upgrading and teching is just too compressed. What happens when you compress the time in a strategy game with an early, mid and late game? If end-game is balanced properly (ie filled with expensive power-plays that will end the game), then the best strategy becomes to try and drag the early game out and hold out till the end-game, rather investing in shortly-redundant mid-game tech that won't stand up to your opponent's tier 3. This is very true in NS2 - why spend money on fades, shotguns and so on when Onos and Exos are seconds away?
This is the real reason stuff like cloak sucks, not because it's underpowered. It's designed as a mid game play that has been obseleseced by the accelerated gameplay. Cloak <i>used</i> to be a viable alternative early-game play in NS1, but that's out the window now that game ending rushes, fast teching and tiny maps are the order of the day.
<b>4) The fade is in a weird place</b>. He's a little too expensive for what he is. There are times he's a good choice, but if I've waited till 50 res, I should probably wait till 75 and get an Onos who just straight up does his job better and can actually compete with exos. This could be because the LMG is too good, I'm not sure. In NS1 the midgame was longer, so the fade had a larger role. Further, bile-bomb meant he had some potential use end-game. Neither of these is true anymore. Mid-game is best skipped by holding on till late-game.
This just doesn't happen anymore: <a href="http://i.tinyuploads.com/zukIJ2.jpg" target="_blank">http://i.tinyuploads.com/zukIJ2.jpg</a>
<b>5) Marine expanding ruins the maps and the asymmetric gameplay</b>. By making multiple command-centres required, you have made the maps seem far smaller. There's no areas of the map that are slower-paced or can be used to hide tech or hives. Compounding this is the creep/power mechanic, but so many aspects of NS1 are removed by this alone. Marine strategic-relocation is gone, as every base is part of the tech tree. I liked the asymmetric design of NS1, whereas NS2 races feel far closer in style: Marines no longer have all tech in their one base while aliens spread theirs across the map - each style having different risk-reward profiles. Now both teams function essentially the same!
<b>6) Power doesn't work well yet</b> The entire power mechanic feels sort of tacked-on and unncessary. It's annoying to manage for marines, it's annoying to deal with as aliens, and it twists the risk/reward for expanding and counterattacks in what feels like bad ways. There's so little reward for taking down power - 5 metres of corridor goes dark and they spent 0 resources to make it...I don't know. I was looking forward to this but it just feels like the game would simply improve if it was cut entirely. It probably would work better in a slower game with larger maps, and certainly with far less power nodes per map. Sending a large section of the map dark would be pretty powerful early game - if the 'early-game' lasted more than 2 minutes.
EDIT: <b>7) Alien Hivesight left a gaping hole.</b>I couidn't figure out why aliens felt so clunky compared to my memories of NS1. Then I realised that I have to constantly stare at my map to figure out what's going on, rather than instantly and intuitively see a structure being attacked, how far away it is, all from the impression of an outline on my screen. It was like wearing a haptic suit. And it fit the theme of the Khaara. The current implementation really needs this feature added back into it. It doesn't by itself make the commander redundant - it makes aliens more interesting and differentiates them from the marines.
These are the main issues I have with the game. I hope I have articulated why they don't seem to mesh well with the style of NS. Please respond quickly to the community concerns, as NS is the single most original and exciting gameplay idea in the history of PC gaming and I don't want it to die again.
Suggestions to address the above:
0) Let aliens select individual upgrades, the commander merely selects the chamber.
1) Reduce power of tier 1 LMG, and give skulks more armor. Increase marine life comensurately and thereby slow down battle, allowing skill to enter in to combat.
2) Give alien commanders the facility to order move and attack waypoints.
3) Give alien commanders a way to interact with their team members individually better - for example, let them have the option to reallocate some resources among individual Kharra.
4) Slow down teching significantly for both teams.
5) Make rooms much larger
6) Make power a less frequent but more influential resource (say a map only has 3 power nodes, but killing one sends 1/3 the map into darkness), and disconnect it entirely from resource collection and turrets.
7) Remove the requirement for multiple marine bases entirely.
8) Reduce Fade to 42 res cost.
9) Bring back hive-sight
As an old school NS1 player, please let me give you my immediate feedback. I love the engine and think the game is great, and my admiration for Charile and the guys who stuck with this for so long is hard to put into words.
So understand my complaints below come from a place of love and a realisation that a community can rise or fall on the opening weeks, so there is some urgency to my posting.
<b>1) The alien commander doesn't feel right so far.</b> He doesn't have as much interaction with the alien players as the marine commander dropping gear / meds, issuing waypoint orders! Often as an alien I'm not sure if he's gone AFK. But at the same time he does too much for them:
Selecting the chamber route, fine. But selecting my upgrade path for me? No thanks. This really crimps my playstyle. It's so limiting to have be stuck with a single upgrade for most of the early game - a 'choice' you didn't even make.
A return to the system of <i>"Defense Chamber is placed - now you choose regen or cara based on your playstyle or immediate requirements"</i> is really, really in <i>urgent</i> order, chaps. This is by far the single most important issue in the game right now - it's a major deal-breaker for playing aliens. It makes it un-fun and one-dimensional.
If we have to have an alien commander at all, he needs to be able to issue waypoint orders, like the marine one. This not only gives him something to do - it makes more sense in a hive-mind, thematically, and it's also more important for fast-moving skulks to recieve fast visual orders rather than explaining them painstakingly over comms. Voice should be saved for strategic rather than tactical calls. Why not have my game audio tell me "attack res node at Hub" and where this is, rather than the commander stop discussing strategy with his team to state this?
<b>2) The skulk is rather un-fun</b> Firstly this is not a combat balance issue, particuarly. I can kill marines fine, same as they can kill me. It's that skulks die so fast it's very hard to make good play decisions. If you poke your nose out to have a look, you lose 90% of your HP with a single stray burst from 2 rooms away and need to return to the hive. If you are chomping a node, there's no way to even leap to safety if a marine comes around a corner. You die *instantly*. Instant death, even if it's balanced, is just not a good design. It's not fun and it does not promote high skill caps. No longer will a good skulk be able to get on a nine-kill streak like in NS1, it's just physically impossible to stay in combat. What I'm saying is I can't do this THIS anymore:
<a href="http://i.tinyuploads.com/4RWvHG.jpg" target="_blank">http://i.tinyuploads.com/4RWvHG.jpg</a>
Skulks were hardly tanks in NS1, but there was always time to reposition or respond when a marine entered the room before you evaporated. Scouting was practical. A marine at range could not seriously damage you. You could hit-and-run structures, bait and ambush marines. And so forth. There was major impetus to get weapon upgrades as marine commander because it made good skulks less of a threat to small squads, letting you spread yourself thinner without investing in static defense. All this is gone because you die so damn fast. Cut down the damage on both sides of Tier 1!
Finally, skulk play has been dumbed down a bit. There is nowhere to hide in the new maps. The ceilings are low, the rooms are tiny, there are fewer random connective vents that are inaccesable to marines on foot, and there are no things to get behind or on top of. Having to kill power, then resource in every room is dull. The limitations on the powering of structures mean every marine-held room is laid out exactly the same for every game. So you are forced into predetermined, direct combat continually, and ambushing and quick-thinking is trivialised. This is compensated balance-wise with how fast you get Leap. Leap used to be a late-game thing in NS1. Now you get it quick and you need it quick. Which means all the early tactics are moot - and the maps get stale faster. Which brings me to the next problem:
<b>3) The game is too fast.</b>
I don't mean the combat or movement speed, either. The upgrading and teching is just too compressed. What happens when you compress the time in a strategy game with an early, mid and late game? If end-game is balanced properly (ie filled with expensive power-plays that will end the game), then the best strategy becomes to try and drag the early game out and hold out till the end-game, rather investing in shortly-redundant mid-game tech that won't stand up to your opponent's tier 3. This is very true in NS2 - why spend money on fades, shotguns and so on when Onos and Exos are seconds away?
This is the real reason stuff like cloak sucks, not because it's underpowered. It's designed as a mid game play that has been obseleseced by the accelerated gameplay. Cloak <i>used</i> to be a viable alternative early-game play in NS1, but that's out the window now that game ending rushes, fast teching and tiny maps are the order of the day.
<b>4) The fade is in a weird place</b>. He's a little too expensive for what he is. There are times he's a good choice, but if I've waited till 50 res, I should probably wait till 75 and get an Onos who just straight up does his job better and can actually compete with exos. This could be because the LMG is too good, I'm not sure. In NS1 the midgame was longer, so the fade had a larger role. Further, bile-bomb meant he had some potential use end-game. Neither of these is true anymore. Mid-game is best skipped by holding on till late-game.
This just doesn't happen anymore: <a href="http://i.tinyuploads.com/zukIJ2.jpg" target="_blank">http://i.tinyuploads.com/zukIJ2.jpg</a>
<b>5) Marine expanding ruins the maps and the asymmetric gameplay</b>. By making multiple command-centres required, you have made the maps seem far smaller. There's no areas of the map that are slower-paced or can be used to hide tech or hives. Compounding this is the creep/power mechanic, but so many aspects of NS1 are removed by this alone. Marine strategic-relocation is gone, as every base is part of the tech tree. I liked the asymmetric design of NS1, whereas NS2 races feel far closer in style: Marines no longer have all tech in their one base while aliens spread theirs across the map - each style having different risk-reward profiles. Now both teams function essentially the same!
<b>6) Power doesn't work well yet</b> The entire power mechanic feels sort of tacked-on and unncessary. It's annoying to manage for marines, it's annoying to deal with as aliens, and it twists the risk/reward for expanding and counterattacks in what feels like bad ways. There's so little reward for taking down power - 5 metres of corridor goes dark and they spent 0 resources to make it...I don't know. I was looking forward to this but it just feels like the game would simply improve if it was cut entirely. It probably would work better in a slower game with larger maps, and certainly with far less power nodes per map. Sending a large section of the map dark would be pretty powerful early game - if the 'early-game' lasted more than 2 minutes.
EDIT: <b>7) Alien Hivesight left a gaping hole.</b>I couidn't figure out why aliens felt so clunky compared to my memories of NS1. Then I realised that I have to constantly stare at my map to figure out what's going on, rather than instantly and intuitively see a structure being attacked, how far away it is, all from the impression of an outline on my screen. It was like wearing a haptic suit. And it fit the theme of the Khaara. The current implementation really needs this feature added back into it. It doesn't by itself make the commander redundant - it makes aliens more interesting and differentiates them from the marines.
These are the main issues I have with the game. I hope I have articulated why they don't seem to mesh well with the style of NS. Please respond quickly to the community concerns, as NS is the single most original and exciting gameplay idea in the history of PC gaming and I don't want it to die again.
Suggestions to address the above:
0) Let aliens select individual upgrades, the commander merely selects the chamber.
1) Reduce power of tier 1 LMG, and give skulks more armor. Increase marine life comensurately and thereby slow down battle, allowing skill to enter in to combat.
2) Give alien commanders the facility to order move and attack waypoints.
3) Give alien commanders a way to interact with their team members individually better - for example, let them have the option to reallocate some resources among individual Kharra.
4) Slow down teching significantly for both teams.
5) Make rooms much larger
6) Make power a less frequent but more influential resource (say a map only has 3 power nodes, but killing one sends 1/3 the map into darkness), and disconnect it entirely from resource collection and turrets.
7) Remove the requirement for multiple marine bases entirely.
8) Reduce Fade to 42 res cost.
9) Bring back hive-sight
Comments
I disliked the alien commander from day 1. But, after playing with the alien commander through so many maps (i am one that likes aliens first, marines second for team choosing), I think he has more usefulness than it appears. You don't realize the potential of the alien commander until you've had a decent one. (fast 1 have upgrade, fast two hive, replaces res nodes that were downed, spawns eggs in places that marines are pushing, plans for defensive areas for aliens to defend at. etc)
2.) Hmm... haven't felt this way yet.
3.) I totally agree. There seems to be no mid-game. As soon as marines take FIVE skulk bites to kill is when skulks become too painful to play. Every time I kill a marine with level 3 armor i think it feels like I killed a heavy armor. Regardless of marines having level 3 armor, this is too much. Basic lifeforms of both alien and marine should be at an equal state late game, not marines pulling ahead. They should only pull ahead when aliens have 1 hive compared to 2 CC.
The way i really liked about NS1 is the levels of carapace you could receive. I think this is a good model for NS2 as well. (even though I realize this is NS2 and not a repeat of NS1)
4.) YES, YES, YES! Every time i fade, i feel like it's too late. Marines already have upgrades that can easily squash a fade. A good marine team knows how to take down a good fade. In NS2, it has become much easier to kill fades. (trust me, try this trick... place a mine in front of you and carry a shotgun).
The fade does essentially have 50 less HP in NS2 compared to NS1. I don't altogether think that is a bad thing. I have easily gone 45-4 in games of NS2. However, late game fade has absolutely no place. Why waste 50 res to die to one Exo? The amount of res spent needs to match the power of the alien. In fades situation, it does not (but it is close).
Again, I have a few suggestions to fix this (one of the following). Bring back res / kill rewards (skulks that get more kills early game get to fade faster). Push blink back to a basic skill that doesn't need researched (let's be honest, a fade at first spawn needs celerity, carapace, AND blink to be useful).
I see a lot of great onos in this game. I never see great fades. If you were great at NS1 fade, i do believe there is potential to be great at fade in NS2 though.
RE: Vortex. Yes it is broken, i never use it. One shot from a marine by the time we have Vortex puts me with no armor and highly vulnerable. Fade is meant to be a get in-get out alien, not a sit around for 4 seconds while i hit stuff. The skill doesn't fit the fade gameplay style. I would like to see something that correlates better.
5.) Maybe, I do like the new setup... possibly just another balance issue that could be solved another way. I'm still disappointed in the linear resource path of marines. Techincally, if you have 12 marines on your team, one armor upgrade goes a lot farther for 12 marines than it would 5 marines. Anyone know if res is balanced the same in large servers as small servers? This has historically been a downside of NS1. It looks like it has crossed over into NS2.
<!--quoteo(post=2014135:date=Nov 7 2012, 11:55 AM:name=Dtere)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dtere @ Nov 7 2012, 11:55 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2014135"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->2.) Hmm... haven't felt this way yet....As soon as marines take FIVE skulk bites to kill is when skulks become too painful to play. Every time I kill a marine with level 3 armor i think it feels like I killed a heavy armor.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Again, please don't mistake "skulk play is not that fun/interesting" with "skulks are underpowered". Skulks seem fine as far as I can see, balance-wise. It's just that they are currently low-skill cap (at least compared with NS1), and it's not fun to die instantly all the time with no chance to respond - even if you can give as good as you get. Skulk combat feels like mainly luck or winnning with numbers. You can't be just better than your opponents and do stuff like this: <a href="http://www.tinyuploads.com/images/4RWvHG.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.tinyuploads.com/images/4RWvHG.jpg</a>
This is compounded by the inability to choose your upgrade sub-path - if I'm doing scouting, I can't choose regen to stay out longer. If I'm assaulting and my commander did go regen, I don't have the option to change on the fly.
<!--quoteo(post=2014129:date=Nov 7 2012, 11:45 AM:name=NeoRussia)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (NeoRussia @ Nov 7 2012, 11:45 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2014129"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Alien commander and power nodes do feel tacked on because.... well because they are tacked on. I wish it wasn't so, but power nodes are a gimmick from the start and the game is balanced around it now, and alien commander is like playing sim city. You watch your skulks run around and place structures at desired locations, with the monotony only being broken by a gorge who is willing to help you out and co-ordinate structure placement.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I have not yet played as alien commander, but I could see immediately from playing the team how limited and uninteresting his role is. While I wouldn't be adverse to removing him entirely, it's a mechanic that is certainly salvagable - it may turn out great. Let him issue waypoint orders and maybe give him the ability to reallocate resources among individual aliens.
But he needs to stop telling me what upgrade I have to use!
if anything it adds more strategy and allows for more interesting map design, for example an easily defensible location for marines, but the power node is more vulnerable; or you want to drop a phase gate behind alien lines but need to sneak your marines into the power node first.
it also makes marine turtle play more difficult because you have to defend an extra building which can't be awkwardly hidden in a corner like arms lab or prototype lab, because the location is controlled by the map author.
i believe it's new in the NS series, but it's one of the features i like most in the game.
additionally, in response to the comment about alien commander... i love that as well. what if you want to play RTS... do you have to sit in lobby waiting to be marine? the commander has a lot more to do than build stuff - you have a much better view of the map than your team and therefore a better position to give guidance. one thing alien commander lacks is 'toys' like scan, beacon, MAC and ARC, because drifter is naff compared to those. but i wouldn't describe it as 'tacked on'.
Selecting the chamber route, fine. But selecting my upgrade path for me? No thanks. This really crimps my playstyle. It's so limiting to have be stuck with a single upgrade for most of the early game - a 'choice' you didn't even make.
A return to the system of <i>"Defense Chamber is placed - now you choose regen or cara based on your playstyle or immediate requirements"</i> is really, really in <i>urgent</i> order, chaps. This is by far the single most important issue in the game right now - it's a major deal-breaker for playing aliens. It makes it un-fun and one-dimensional.
If we have to have an alien commander at all, he needs to be able to issue waypoint orders, like the marine one. This not only gives him something to do - it makes more sense in a hive-mind, thematically, and it's also more important for fast-moving skulks to recieve fast visual orders rather than explaining them painstakingly over comms. Voice should be saved for strategic rather than tactical calls. Why not have my game audio tell me "attack res node at Hub" and where this is, rather than the commander stop discussing strategy with his team to state this?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
1) I absolutely agree. I personally know what is best for me to be most effective as a player. I also know what I like to do the most (after all the point to playing a game is having fun). The current structure of making the kammander choosing which upgrades to pick seems like a poor attempt at giving him a larger roll (a single player) at the expense of the rest of the team.
I especially miss the times of quiet in the maps! That the battle can happen in parts of the map, rather than forcing you to fight for all of it.
+1,000,000
it also makes marine turtle play more difficult because you have to defend an extra building which can't be awkwardly hidden in a corner like arms lab or prototype lab, because the location is controlled by the map author.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->I respect your viewpoint, but I must say I feel exactly the opposite.
Bases were already sort of pinned by resource nodes, but in NS1 it was still an option to put a res-less base for strategic control of an area or to place a cannon. Now that simply doesn't exist. Further, by having two preset points around which your base must go, you essentially pre-structure the base - you have two fixed points around which you need to build, forming a line that the base must be built on or it's vulnerable or useless.
By ceding base design almost entirely to the map author, they have excised yet another strategic element and individual play style from the game. Base layouts and marine defenses are less interesting now. You can't do the creative things you could do in NS1, exploiting the map terrain for advantages not forseen by the map author. Now you will never get that awful rush feeling of going on top of tram tunnel and finding a small nest of turrets with a phase building...
It removes an interesting dimension of community play development from the game, and I think marines feel the poorer for it - I don't think it's just the aliens are affected by the less interesting mechanics of NS2. And it makes the maps get old faster for everyone. "You are free to choose your tactics...but YOU MUST PUT YOUR BASE EXACTLY HERE AND COVER THIS MUCH SPACE AND BUILD THESE THREE STRUCTURES FIRST..." Snark: Was NS2 designed for iOS? Sorry. :D
I however still agree with you that the darkness mechanic and red lights barely do anything, and that power nodes are horrendous noobtraps (skulks should sometimes just ignore them) and they should be looked at asap..
I think i have a suitable solution for this <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=123462" target="_blank">here</a>, the goal of which is to give players more options on how to upgrade their life forms while also making sure that no upgrade choice is a bad one.
As far as the alien commander goes I agree that he isn't fully fleshed out and could use some major improvements, I will work on this idea in conjunction with my previous suggestions.
the only powernode that matters is the one in a marine base
And this game didnt need powernodes in order to turn the lights off, infestation could of turned them off when it grew inside a room
I agree with alot of what the op says unfortunately
Usually by the time you took down one, you could of taken down the resource node, or destroyed a building or two and actually have cost the marines something.
And for marines, I feel like power nodes kinda make it too hard to actually set up defenses. You have to defend both a resource node AND a power node in any given spot. And sometimes they're not in a good position to protect, since guarding one tends to leave the other wide open. Which just winds up as a waste of resources to put defenses up with.
Everything needs a cost. The fact that no cost was found to be the correct figure is telling in terms of how they feel the effectiveness is at.
It's bad that a skulk can spend 2 minutes munching on something that has such a limited effect. Yet if you make them weaker, they're too much of a failure point for bases. if you make them cost res, it's a serious nerf to marine early base placement...
In my view, they need to be more important, less common, and thereby justify a res coust - or removed.
Why dont you ask? In my experience most comms are willing to research upgrades. As for fade, be happy marine comms havent figured out EMP on the mac yet.
It's a nice idea, but it wouldn't work in the current game. The gorge can't perform a role like you described when, less than 5 minutes into the game, he will have jetpack shotties taking him out and making a mockery of his defense.
In NS1, the gorge had a nice 10-12 minute window where he could expand and lock down areas in relative safety, as assaulting a D-Tower+Offensive chamber with a gorge hiding in there was suicide for anything less than large coordinated squad until at least 1/1 upgrades were up.
<!--quoteo(post=2015069:date=Nov 8 2012, 01:19 AM:name=1dominator1)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (1dominator1 @ Nov 8 2012, 01:19 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2015069"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Why dont you ask? In my experience most comms are willing to research upgrades.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You don't understand - even if the comm is my personal pocket assistant, he can't let me swap between two different sets of upgrades on the fly until they are actually researched. I can't assault with carapace for two lives and then switch to regen for scouting hit and run res harass without gimping the rest of the team who need silence next...and I shouldn't have to!
fast forward whips would be horrible, and is doable in the first minute or so already if you 'speed-cyst'.
it would be even worse than protoss cannon rush in starcraft, not to mention it's the lone commander who makes that stupid gamble and causes his entire team to lose.
it would be like starcraft cannon rushing where the protoss doesn't even need pylon power.
I really do not like the current implementation of aliens. The alien commander really takes everything fun away from playing a gorge, and it really doesn't fit well into the game. The upgrade system was much better in the original game as well. Being able to select your upgrade based on your playstyle was much more flexible than waiting for a commander to research all the skills from the same tree. I'm not a huge fan of the infestation either, it seems unnecessary - but it looks cool.
I also miss some of the old skills and items. Super skulk bite (forgot name :)), Onos' digest (I can see why this isn't there anymore, but it was fun), HMG, Electrified structures, etc...
Overall, I'm still having fun playing the game, but I don't think it'll have the staying power of NS1. Aliens just aren't as fun as the old days, and Marines are too rigid and predictable.
Get rid of the Alien commander and bring back the old Gorge and give marines more flexibility in their base locations. These two changes would go a long way in making this game great in my opinion. My $0.02
Is this more of a communication problem between the commander and his players? If you want celerity, shouldnt you just tell your commander to research it for you? Remember, some of this design decisions are made when keeping-in-mind Premade Teams.
Or are you saying that when a Commander Upgrades a Hive to a Shift hive, you want Adrenaline AND celerity available without having to research either one on the Spur?
I think it would be an amazing idea if power nodes couldn't be built or destroyed by players, but existed statically from the start of the game in every room, and then as alien infestation spread into a room it would slowly take over the node taking down the power. Then, for the marines to recover power in that room, they have to clear away the infestation and then repair the node as per usual.
-This way skulks don't get distracted by power nodes.
-It adds to the khamm gameplay, allowing additional decisions for locking down rooms by denying power to marines.
-Marine base power no longer is a instant "gg" button.
<!--quoteo(post=2016059:date=Nov 8 2012, 05:35 PM:name=Afterhours)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Afterhours @ Nov 8 2012, 05:35 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2016059"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Is this more of a communication problem between the commander and his players? If you want celerity, shouldnt you just tell your commander to research it for you? Remember, some of this design decisions are made when keeping-in-mind Premade Teams.
Or are you saying that when a Commander Upgrades a Hive to a Shift hive, you want Adrenaline AND celerity available without having to research either one on the Spur?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
He wants both. As it stands, khamms only get one upgrade because it is expensive to try and get all of them. This takes away from the adaptability that NS players once had (switching from one upgrade to another as the situation calls for it) and forces them to choose just the overall general upgrade making playstyle very linear
Both the Khamm and the Gorge probably need some more toys, but the core design is solid.
<!--quoteo(post=2014129:date=Nov 7 2012, 05:45 PM:name=NeoRussia)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (NeoRussia @ Nov 7 2012, 05:45 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2014129"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Alien commander and power nodes do feel tacked on because.... well because they are tacked on. I wish it wasn't so, but power nodes are a gimmick from the start and the game is balanced around it now, and alien commander is like playing sim city. You watch your skulks run around and place structures at desired locations, with the monotony only being broken by a gorge who is willing to help you out and co-ordinate structure placement.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't know, that's like saying Pylons in starcraft are tacked on.
I see nothing wrong with the Khamm being more of a forever alone player, plus good Khamms will talk as much if not more then Comms before build his stuff.