Crag ability: Sparks (AoE that interferes with marines)

<div class="IPBDescription">A localised ability that interferes with marine tech</div>Howdy!

At the moment, Crags do not really live up to the label of "defensive structure."
At most, they protect vulnerable structures from two or three marines, but as soon as an ARC, grenade launcher, exo, or any other form of advanced tech enters the field, they become mostly worthless.
The commander either places them with important structures, to give them a bit more life, or hidden slightly away, so aliens can go off to heal and return to help defend.

How can Crags be made more useful? Sparks!

Now, before you read on, let me quote something from the “Balance” header:
“You’re probably thinking ‘aliens don’t need anymore abilities! They’re powerful enough already.’
If this were added to the game, a lot of balance values would have to change that may result in other aspects of aliens being weaker, or aspects of marines being stronger (probably a mix of the two).”

Remember, just because it affects something, doesn't mean it has to disable it instantly!

<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><b>Description</b><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
A localised ability deployable by a Crag that interferes with marine technology (HUD, ammo counter, ARCs, etc) and does no permanent damage.

It makes marine offenses more difficult, but not impossible. The expected effect on various marine offensive strategies (e.g: upgrade sniping, sneaky phase, Exos & ARCs) will be explained at the end.

The basic idea is:
<ul><li>Sparks charge nearby marine units (the closer the faster).</li><li>The higher the charge, the more the unit is “interfered with”.</li><li>A marine can easily tell his charge by the appearance of his HUD and any extra effects.</li></ul>

<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><b>Visual appearance</b><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
A cloud of vapour with hundreds of tiny "sparks" arcing from random places in the cloud.
This effect should NOT significantly impair the vision of marines, while remaining noticeable from a distance.

On a marine’s screen, I imagine there would be tiny sparks around the edge (like the blood effect when low health). The higher their charge, the more active the sparks (though they should NOT impair vision of the world). They could also tell by their HUD’s visual quality (or lack of).

<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><b>Behaviour</b><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
<ul><li>Any marine entity (unit or structure) in the area slowly becomes "charged".</li><li><u>The closer they are to the Crag, the faster their charge increases.</u></li><li>(<i>maybe</i>) The effect stacks with multiple Crags: two crags on the same position using the same effect means marine units will be charged at twice the rate (obviously, at twice the resource cost).</li><li>As an entity becomes more charged, various things happen:
</li><li><b>Marine HUD</b>:<ul><u>(Note: Any visual interference on a marine’s HUD should NOT impair vision of the world.</u>)</li><li><b>Low: HUD elements start to be "interfered" with, making them difficult to see (but NOT impeding vision of the world)</b></li><li><b>Med</b>: HUD elements barely recognisable (but NOT impeding vision of the world). Health, ammo and resource counters begin to vary randomly around their correct values. Minimap becomes difficult to read. Motion tracking circles are off target.</li><li><b>High</b>: HUD fails completely, providing a great view of the world but none of the typical information!</li></ul>
</li><li><b>Marine Commander Support</b>:<ul><li>The higher the charge, the less effective nano-shield is.</li><li>The commander cannot place medpacks, ammopacks or structures within the area of effect (meaning the commander place meds and ammo BEFORE the Sparks, just outside, or not at all).</li><li>OR: Marines cannot pick up meds and ammo while they are charged.</li></ul>
</li><li><b>Rifles, Shotguns & Pistols</b>:<ul><li><b>Low</b>: Ammo counter display is interfered with a little bit, but is still readable.</li><li><b>Med</b>: Ammo counter display shuts down.</li><li><b>High</b>: (<i>maybe</i>) Rifles and Shotguns lock up and don't fire, but pistols (and obviously the Switch-Axe) still operate.</li></ul>
</li><li><b>Grenade Launchers & Flame Throwers</b>:<ul><li><b>Low</b>: Ammo counter display is interfered with a little bit, but is still readable.</li><li><b>Med</b>: Ammo counter display shuts down. Grenades explode prematurely (in mid-air). Flame Thrower range is significantly diminished.</li><li><b>High</b>: (<i>maybe</i>) Reserve ammunition explodes, killing the marine carrying the weapon.</li></ul>
</li><li><b>Builders & Welders</b>:<ul><li><b>Low</b>: Builder fails. Welder operates normally, but with display slightly interfered with.</li><li><b>Med</b>: (<i>maybe</i>) Welder fails.</li><li><b>High</b>: Welder fails.</li></ul>
</li><li><b>Mines & Sentries</b>:<ul><li><b>Low</b>: Mines detonate.</li><li><b>Med</b>: Sentries start to miss target.</li><li><b>High</b>: Sentries fail.</li></ul>
</li><li><b>Jetpacks</b>:<ul><li><b>Low</b>: Jetpacks operate normally.</li><li><b>Med</b>: Fuel is burnt a lot quicker.</li><li><b>High</b>: Jetpacks fail.</li></ul>
</li><li><b>Exosuits</b>:<ul><li><b>Low</b>: Nothing; Exosuits resist sparks.</li><li><b>Med</b>: HUD starts to be interfered with. Targeting and motion tracking circles begin to be inaccurate.</li><li><b>High</b>: HUD fails completely and minigun cooldown rate is slightly reduced.</li></ul>
</li><li><b>MACs & ARCs</b>:<ul><li><b>Low</b>: MACs move and weld slightly slower.</li><li><b>Med</b>: MACs are disabled. ARCs take longer to charge.</li><li><b>High</b>: ARCs take a very long time to charge.</li><li>(<i>maybe</i>) Additionally, any alien structure in the area of effect has a medium resistance against ARC shots (this would probably be over-powered).</li></ul>
</li><li><b>Marine Structures</b>:<ul><li><b>Any structure</b>: High charge results in power failure.</li><li><b>Armory</b>: The higher the charge, the slower the delivery of health and ammo.</li><li><b>Observatory</b>: The higher the charge, the less reliable the local tracking results.</li><li><b>Phase Gate</b>: At medium charge, intermittently fails. At high charge, power failure!</li><li><b>Other marine structures</b>: I’m not whether other structures should be interfered with. If it affected <i>any</i> structure, then it may be used offensively through walls; imagine having your arms lab disabled by a sneaky crag! I think it should only be active damage and support structures like sentries and armories that are affected.</li></ul>
</li><li><b>Power Nodes</b>:<ul><li>Nothing. Being able to disable power in a room with a single crag would be impossible to balance!</li></ul>
</li><li><b>Aliens</b>:<ul><li>(<i>maybe</i>) Charge heals aliens! It’d make this a replacement for healing wave.</li><li>(<i>maybe</i>) Charge extinguishes aliens.</li></ul></li></ul>

<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><b>Balance</b><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
I imagine 10 seconds of Sparking with a 30 second cooldown. This means you need 4 crags to continuously use Sparks.

There’s a number of ways this ability could be made available.
<ul><li>Like ink/healing wave: every crag can do it as a base ability for a cost (4-7 res) (my preference).</li><li>Like hallucination/echo: every crag can be upgraded for a cost (5-10 res) to use the ability for a cost (3-6 res).</li><li>As a passive ability: every crag will emit sparks as soon as a marine unit is nearby. This could be combined with one of the above, to have “free passive slow charge” and “costly rapid charge”.</li></ul>
There’s also a number of ways it could be deployed:
<ul><li>Like ink/healing wave: area of effect centred on the crag.</li><li>Like bonewall: area of effect centred on mouse-click.</li><li>Alternatively: a “chain lightning” effect that moves from unit to unit. This would probably use the pathing-system to check the chain distance, making Crags operate not through walls/obstacles but around them.</li></ul>
For a cooldown, you could make it global (like a egg spawning) or local (like ink). I would like it to have a local cooldown so that more Crags means more Sparks.. but a global cooldown may make it easier to balance and would also introduce some interesting tactical situations (“Should I use it to stop that marine sniping an upgrade, or to prevent that Marine with a grenade launcher from killing this Gorge?”).

Obviously, a lot of careful balancing of charge speed and charge thresholds would be required to prevent it from being over- or under- powered.
You’re probably thinking “aliens don’t need anymore abilities! They’re powerful enough already.”
If this were added to the game, a lot of balance values would have to change that may result in other aspects of aliens being weaker, or aspects of marines being stronger (probably a mix of the two).
For example, grenade launchers may become more powerful, meaning aliens need to get crags and deploy Sparks to counter them.

<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><b>Impact on Game</b><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
Overall, it would make alien bases much easier to defend from various marine offenses (which are often combinations of the following).
<ul><li><b>Marine-only Sniping</b>: Often, a small team of marines will sneak into the hive and attempt to snipe an upgrade. As Khammander, I often place a Crag and a whip next to the upgrades to give my team more time to respond. With Sparks, you could deter marines from continuing because they’ll be slightly disoriented, realise their commander cannot support them, and be aware that you are aware of their presence. You also take a risk depending solely on the Sparks to deter them; they may continue despite this, at which point your team will quickly have to respond.

</li><li><b>Basic Marine-only Hive Assault (Rifle, Shotgun, Comm Support):</b> This is common in the early game when the aliens place a fast hive. By placing a crag with the hive, it’s possible to deter marines long enough for the aliens to respond (at a high cost, obviously.. seen as it’s early game).

</li><li><b>Sneaky Phase Gate</b>: I’ve lost numerous hives and killed many more with this strategy (in early, mid and late game). Having a few Crags around a hive room makes it possible to disable the phase gate if the marines aren’t on their game. Obviously, the “rate of charge” for phase gates would have to be tweaked to prevent them from being instantly disabled; the effect would also have to be easily noticed.
This would work well in some hive rooms, but not others. Cargo on ns2_veil would be difficult to perfectly cover, whereas Sub-Sector and Pipeline would need only two or three crags to cover entirely.

</li><li><b>Advanced Marine-only Hive Assault (Rifle, Shotgun, GLs, Flamers, Jetpacks, Comm Support):</b>
The main aspect impact on this form of assault is the mid-air grenade detonation and the disabling of Jetpacks. If the marines stay back and kill any outlying Crags, the can still easily assault the hive from a distance with rifles and shotguns. If they try to get close, or ‘nade the hive, they may have trouble. Of course, using Sparks could backfire on the aliens; mid-air detonating grenades may result in a wall of explosions that injure nearby aliens.

</li><li><b>ARC Sniping/Assault</b>: In about 25% of the games I’ve played on ns2_veil, the marines have tried to snipe Nano-Grid from West or East Junction. Having Crags against the walls (assuming Sparks works through walls, like every other AoE ability) would slow the assault and give the aliens a chance to respond.
Full-on ARC assaults would also be deterred if Crags were present.
On ns2_tram, I’ve often seen the Warehouse hive killed from North Tunnels using ARCs. On ns2_mineshaft, it’s possible to kill the Deposit hive from Central Drilling. Aliens have no defense against a sudden onslaught of 10+ ARCs attacking from a distant position.
Obviously, Sparks would not make ARCs totally ineffective: it only slows them, and there’s still the cost of the Sparks and any structures that die from splash damage (usually all of them).
In most cases, the ARCs would kill the Crags, allowing them to kill the Hive without any further delay.
</li><li><b>Exosuits</b>: In my mind, Exosuits would be mostly resistant to Sparks. The main impact would be the failure of welders at medium-charge and MACs at high-charge, meaning the exo must retreat a small distance for their team to weld them. Unless a Exo gets really close or stays in continuous Sparks for a while, they would not reach high-charge (which only stops their HUD and slightly slows mini-gun cooldown rate (because coolant system failure!)).</li></ul>
As for offensive tactics.. the most likely use would be a surprise crag behind a wall, to disable marine structures sneakily.
The purpose of Sparks is defense, not offense.. so it should be difficult (or costly) to use offensively. The most obvious way to prevent it from being used offensively is to require 100% maturation before Sparks can be deployed OR having the ability cost resources to upgrade (making it risky to upgrade it near a marine base). Remember though: sometimes the best defense is a good offense... so don't entirely stop it from being used offensively :)
Sparks triggering damage notifications for the commander is essential, as well as obvious visual sparking.
Remember that units and structures would charge over time, giving the marines plenty of time to notice it and react appropriately.

<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><b>Conclusion</b><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
Sparks would greatly improve the effectiveness of Crags as a defensive structures.
For a cost, an alien Khammander could turn the tide of the game for better or worse. A lone marine could trick the Khammander into activating it prematurely! This would waste res and prevent it from being used for the next 30 seconds (or whatever), meaning those 5 marines around the corner can attack without hindrance!

I hope you consider this idea :D