Flashlight and the new camo

Newguy123Newguy123 Join Date: 2012-11-19 Member: 172448Members
The new changes to camo I feel are great, however it leaves no way for single marines or the comm to counter cost effectively . So i'm suggesting why not have the shiny flicker on the aliens like the old patch, if the marine shines his flashlight onto the alien?

This would create a very tense atmosphere and add another dimension for good marines to 'shine' :P

Comments

  • Katana314Katana314 Join Date: 2012-11-03 Member: 166379Members
    I'm actually not 100% sure on what the current camouflage mechanics are, but I will say this: Any game that has had invisibility be "semi-visible" tends not to work out too well. Even in TF2, the "semi-visible" state of the Spy's cloak is meant to <b>give him away completely</b> and only occurs when he bumps into someone. Plus, people tend to fiddle with graphical settings to ensure they can always see as much of someone as possible.

    That's why in multiplayer games, invisibility mechanics tend to be binary; either you see them, or you don't. Plus, there is no reason a master-stealth alien playing well should need to be in constant fear while hiding; that should be the marine's job, even if it means spreading some shots around to find aliens.
  • SehzadeSehzade Join Date: 2010-12-29 Member: 76024Members
    <!--coloro:#F4A460--><span style="color:#F4A460"><!--/coloro-->Hidden: Source<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
    partially invisible subject that is very agile.
    Very hard to catch it.

    that's the only way partially invisibility works in MP


    Camo now works like that:
    You are invisibile even when you are moving.
    it triggers after 1.5 seconds out of combat.

    you will be revealed when
    1) being shot
    2) attacking
    3) touching mariens or marine structures
    4) scans/obs
    5) jumping
  • SeahuntsSeahunts Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151973Members
    There is a person who I have played with / against numerous times now who shall remain nameless. This person gets hackusations levelled at him every single time he plays marines because it appears he can see cloaked aliens perfectly and always knows where skulks are hiding in dark corners with or with out cloak. From the rages I have seen in the chat, there was no scan. Even I have accused him of hacking as he walked straight in to a room where I was hiding up on the ceiling and picked me off instantly, 100% sure there was no scan, miles from an obs.

    Today when someone accused him, he claimed its because he was using a flash light that he can see where cloaked things are. Is this true? I have never seen cloaked creatures when using a flashlight before.
  • Ellen RipleyEllen Ripley Join Date: 2012-11-06 Member: 167803Members
    He was using a mod to cheat. I'd expect something like that to trigger a consistency check, but bright neon player skins don't so... meh.

    It would be an interesting mechanic if flashlights caused aliens to drop to 99% invisibility, just enough for a keen eye to spot them. It would also give aliens a reason to actually try being stealthy rather than sitting in the middle of a hallway waiting for marines to walk into them. That's not a fun mechanic for either side.

    It would also make stealth onos stand out like sore thumbs, and that's a damned good thing in my opinion.

    If it's a balance concern, make it an upgrade for flashlights researched at the observatory or something. Maybe only active for the first 5-10 seconds of flashlight activation and on a short cooldown afterwards.

    Scanning in its current form will never be a suitable counter to stealth. Scanning is for revealing hives, not providing constant vision support for marines. That's a good way to drain a lot of t-res fast and waste a comms time.

    Actually, what about as an alternative having a mac unit that acted as a short-mid range observatory but couldn't repair? This would keep it out of the hands of every marine, and if guarded and kept safe would only be a one time investment. On the aliens side, it is a highly destructible asset and taking one out to render a marine squad vulnerable can dramatically shift the dynamics of a fight or prepare them for an ambush.
  • EmooEmoo Ibasa Join Date: 2002-12-20 Member: 11198Members
    <!--quoteo(post=2040999:date=Dec 6 2012, 02:14 PM:name=Ellen Ripley)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Ellen Ripley @ Dec 6 2012, 02:14 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2040999"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Actually, what about as an alternative having a mac unit that acted as a short-mid range observatory but couldn't repair? This would keep it out of the hands of every marine, and if guarded and kept safe would only be a one time investment. On the aliens side, it is a highly destructible asset and taking one out to render a marine squad vulnerable can dramatically shift the dynamics of a fight or prepare them for an ambush.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Would give the robo lab a bit more use. Make it a separate unit to the mac, short range scanner bot have it cover about half a room. Just enough that marines can stand around it safely but not so much that it nullifies observatories.


    One possible fix without adding anything to marines is the change cloak so it only works when still, or only being able to move a little bit. It's the ability to move invisible that makes it so powerful. But if you could cloak nearly instantly and then only move a little bit before decloaking then you'd have to move in steps as marines turned their back.
    What you don't want is something that easily revels stationary aliens because that will send cloak back to being useless.
  • joederpjoederp Join Date: 2012-11-02 Member: 165992Members
    The cloak isn't the problem, it works as it should for how much it costs the alien Khamm. The problem is the marines have no good way to counter. Scanning, tons of obs, or traveling in packs helps but its still not a 'counter' just a crappy way to cope. Also the camo at 2 min is a bit too quick.. there should not be invisible packs of skulks converging on marine positions at 2 min into the match.

    A marine upgrade to allow for motion tracking within a short range of the marine would be a good counter. Make it achievable in the same amount of time for the same resources as cloak costs the alien khamm. The motion tracking would not reveal the alien, just show the motion circle when there is movement. This way the alien could sit still to remain hidden, but if he moves the marine would see the motion tracking circle appear. This would be a good counter to camo as a skilled alien could still use camo to his advantage, yet a marine would be able to tell if a pack of skulks was walking straight into his face ..
  • SherlockSherlock Join Date: 2012-11-09 Member: 168595Members
    Why not add a heartbeat/heat sensor upgrade to a gun, which allows you to see all alien lifeforms within a small radius, but deactivates the firing mechanism?

    Or is that too Aliens: Colonial Marines?
  • nailertnnailertn Join Date: 2012-11-18 Member: 172301Members
    edited December 2012
    <!--quoteo(post=2029404:date=Nov 19 2012, 04:58 PM:name=Katana314)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Katana314 @ Nov 19 2012, 04:58 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2029404"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I'm actually not 100% sure on what the current camouflage mechanics are, but I will say this: Any game that has had invisibility be "semi-visible" tends not to work out too well. Even in TF2, the "semi-visible" state of the Spy's cloak is meant to <b>give him away completely</b> and only occurs when he bumps into someone. Plus, people tend to fiddle with graphical settings to ensure they can always see as much of someone as possible.

    That's why in multiplayer games, invisibility mechanics tend to be binary; either you see them, or you don't. Plus, there is no reason a master-stealth alien playing well should need to be in constant fear while hiding; that should be the marine's job, even if it means spreading some shots around to find aliens.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    A still skulk in a dark corner that is already difficult to spot should be practically invisible with camo. A skulk walking up to marines on the floor in broad daylight without a care and chewing their ######s off before they can notice it? That should not be happening. Camouflage should improve existing ambush locations and open up some new ones, nothing more. The maps are littered with them already, skulks should make at least some effort to use them. There are implementations of partial invisibility that can't be tricked by video settings, see SC2 for an example.
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