Make the gorge more fun to play?
StixNStonz
Join Date: 2006-11-06 Member: 58439Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2006-11-06 Member: 58439Members, Reinforced - Shadow
<div class="IPBDescription">Post well thought out ideas!</div>Hey,
The gorge is currently the least fun role to play in the whole game, imo. What are some ways this could be changed?
Clogs are amazing. Perfect implementation.
Hydras are interesting, and I think they could maybe only cost 2 res, but that's a different story. They're fairly solid as they are.
But once those are placed, and before bilebomb + celerity (if the comm even upgrades them) or before stronger lifeforms are available to support, the gorge feels pretty lame. Basically the gorge is boring to play for the first seven minutes or so, aside from the quick hydra and clog placement.
I feel like the gorge is just missing that one additonal key feature that will round out his abilities, giving him just a bit more things to do, and make him a lot more fun to play for the whole game.
Some ideas thrown around:
1) Fungal slow-down.
A cluster of fungal tendrils that extrude from infestation and slow down passing marines. The gorge can only place one or two patches, and it slows marines walking through it by a small amount (20%?). It only lasts for 30-45 seconds, so the gorge has to maintain these slow-down patches, giving him plenty to do. Maybe he places it like a cyst and the tendrils pop out around it.
The best part about this idea is the free + maintenance aspect. Gorges can make small area buffs that play well with other gameplay systems, and take a lot of micro for gorges to use.
2) Web.
Could be implemented like a cyst, or like in NS1 where the gorge 'spits' one point and then spits the other to form a web between them. Marines hitting them are slowed down significantly for a few seconds, but unlike NS1, I'd much prefer that they can still shoot. Of course, welders, flamers and GLs clear them.
To make this an immediately available ability (it was late tech in NS1), limit a gorge to 3 - 5, and they cost 1ish res each. Maybe the gorge selects it in the build menu (like a Hydra), but that selection costs 3 res and says [+5 webs]. He then has access to weapon slot 4, which is the web-spitter, and shows him how many of his 5 webs are left to build. He places one web, and when he selects the slot 4 again, it says [4 webs remaining to place].
Say he places all five webs but three are destroyed. If he goes to the build menu, the web option still says 3 res to buy, but only says [+2 webs (3 already placed)]. That means that a gorge would optimally wait until all his webs are destroyed before buying more.
The great thing about this Web implementation is that it's cheap, fairly easily countered, but gives gorges a much bigger support role and they have more to spend their res on. Once the Hydras are placed, it seems like Gorges just start saving for lifeforms, which pulls them away from the gorge role.
3) Power node leech.
Saw this in another thread. Let the gorges place 'leeches' on empty power nodes that make the room continuously pitch black. I believe this would be balanced if it costed 2 res and the gorge could only have one active at a time. Perhaps marines would have to knife it out before they could rebuild the rt.
Other ideas guys?
The gorge is currently the least fun role to play in the whole game, imo. What are some ways this could be changed?
Clogs are amazing. Perfect implementation.
Hydras are interesting, and I think they could maybe only cost 2 res, but that's a different story. They're fairly solid as they are.
But once those are placed, and before bilebomb + celerity (if the comm even upgrades them) or before stronger lifeforms are available to support, the gorge feels pretty lame. Basically the gorge is boring to play for the first seven minutes or so, aside from the quick hydra and clog placement.
I feel like the gorge is just missing that one additonal key feature that will round out his abilities, giving him just a bit more things to do, and make him a lot more fun to play for the whole game.
Some ideas thrown around:
1) Fungal slow-down.
A cluster of fungal tendrils that extrude from infestation and slow down passing marines. The gorge can only place one or two patches, and it slows marines walking through it by a small amount (20%?). It only lasts for 30-45 seconds, so the gorge has to maintain these slow-down patches, giving him plenty to do. Maybe he places it like a cyst and the tendrils pop out around it.
The best part about this idea is the free + maintenance aspect. Gorges can make small area buffs that play well with other gameplay systems, and take a lot of micro for gorges to use.
2) Web.
Could be implemented like a cyst, or like in NS1 where the gorge 'spits' one point and then spits the other to form a web between them. Marines hitting them are slowed down significantly for a few seconds, but unlike NS1, I'd much prefer that they can still shoot. Of course, welders, flamers and GLs clear them.
To make this an immediately available ability (it was late tech in NS1), limit a gorge to 3 - 5, and they cost 1ish res each. Maybe the gorge selects it in the build menu (like a Hydra), but that selection costs 3 res and says [+5 webs]. He then has access to weapon slot 4, which is the web-spitter, and shows him how many of his 5 webs are left to build. He places one web, and when he selects the slot 4 again, it says [4 webs remaining to place].
Say he places all five webs but three are destroyed. If he goes to the build menu, the web option still says 3 res to buy, but only says [+2 webs (3 already placed)]. That means that a gorge would optimally wait until all his webs are destroyed before buying more.
The great thing about this Web implementation is that it's cheap, fairly easily countered, but gives gorges a much bigger support role and they have more to spend their res on. Once the Hydras are placed, it seems like Gorges just start saving for lifeforms, which pulls them away from the gorge role.
3) Power node leech.
Saw this in another thread. Let the gorges place 'leeches' on empty power nodes that make the room continuously pitch black. I believe this would be balanced if it costed 2 res and the gorge could only have one active at a time. Perhaps marines would have to knife it out before they could rebuild the rt.
Other ideas guys?
Comments
I wanted to give Gorges a little Mandrake plant they can spit out that screams at marines as they come in and deafens them (similar to the near death effects). If I had my way, they'd also detonate grenades caught by the screech, and screw with the systems on an Exo. Obviously, they'd have to be very squishy, but very potent if stuck in a nice spot.
EDIT: Alternatively, they'd blow out flames from a flamethrower, acting as a counter and saving friendly buildings and lifeforms caught in the wail.
And as for a third hive Gorge ability, I'd like to see a healing cloud that acts like an umbra cloud. You spit it out over a bit of time, and it heals aliens in the green mist and stops flames.
Anything that makes the Gorge more active as a builder makes me happy, as I spent a lot of time as a Gorge turtle in NS1.
Oh? You wanted to go through that hallway? SURPRISE! DEATH BY SPIKES! THOUSANDS OF THEM!
<!--quoteo(post=1970677:date=Sep 4 2012, 10:52 AM:name=schkorpio)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (schkorpio @ Sep 4 2012, 10:52 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1970677"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I think that the gorge would be really fun to play, if you were more of a gardener, (rather than just dropping 3 hydras and some clogs.)
Wouldn't it be fun if, as a gorge, you relocate commander dropped structures to better positions?
E.g. alien commander drops a crag, but its no longer in a useful spot, so you can hold "e" on it and it shrinks and dissolves. Then you could bring up your build menu and select it from there, and build the crag like you would normally with hydras.
This means you could now:
-put this crag into a safe location like on the ceiling or a wall etc.
-or move it closer to your gorge fort.
-or digest it, and slide away if your fort is failing! to save the crag and place it somewhere else.
This would work for all commander structures (except harvesters of course), so now you could strategically place whips on walls and ceilings too, to increase their effectiveness.
I don't think trolling would be much of an issue, since you would only be able to relocate structures onto infestation.
And maybe if a gorge is being a troll, the commander could click on the gorge and select a lock option, so that gorge can no longer move structures.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
My idea is for the Gorge to be able to build a fairly weak sack that can be filled with heal-spray, and releases the spray when an injured unit enters its (Fairly low) range. These would only work if filled with Heal-spray by the Gorge, so it gives them something to do when they are not required to heal anybody, and aids them in healing units when the workload begins to overwhelm them.
I think it should be fairly small, but inflate as it is filled, as a visual indicator. (Maximum size of the sack about that of a clog?) but it should glow, similar to the Gorge's belly, so it is a fairly easy to spot and large target, as well as being rather weak.
I don't really have much of an idea for res cost, but I feel it shouldn't be that high, as the sack is useless and empty when first deployed, and only gains use when a Gorge has put time in to it.
2. Allow more hydras if not bringing back offensive chambers
3. Buff hydras
4. Fix gorge spit not registering
5. Add an attack the temporarily covers the marines screen with sludge so the gorge can escape. (besides bile bomb, it doesn't work very well)
2. Allow more hydras if not bringing back offensive chambers
3. Buff hydras
4. Fix gorge spit not registering
5. Add an attack the temporarily covers the marines screen with sludge so the gorge can escape. (besides bile bomb, it doesn't work very well)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
We don't need offensive chambers back, as that would encourage people like me to turtle again. Hydras are our defensive chambers... they just come in tiny packs of three. They don't need a buff so much as either making them free, or letting the Gorge build more of them.
Gorge spit does what you're asking for in point 5, but it never registers.
Had an idea.
Allow Gorges to jump into a belly slide, increasing momentum. This would require a new diving animation, but it would be amazing. The increased early momentum may be enough to help Gorges run away. Unfortunately, a Gorge off of infestation is likely to be taken out because of their lack of speed with or without such a change.