Why are Archaea so good?

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  • ScardyBobScardyBob ScardyBob Join Date: 2009-11-25 Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    Tweadle wrote: »
    Request denied. They've all given up and I'm the only one left.
    I'm a bit curious if you know which games top NS1 comp players are playing competitively (if any)? Being disappointing with NS2 is certainly one reason I can see top NS1 comp players not playing NS2, but there are certainly other reasonable ones (e.g. significant others, jobs, kids, etc).

  • BacillusBacillus Join Date: 2006-11-02 Member: 58241Members
    ScardyBob wrote: »
    Tweadle wrote: »
    Request denied. They've all given up and I'm the only one left.
    I'm a bit curious if you know which games top NS1 comp players are playing competitively (if any)? Being disappointing with NS2 is certainly one reason I can see top NS1 comp players not playing NS2, but there are certainly other reasonable ones (e.g. significant others, jobs, kids, etc).

    Pain User finished 3rd in SC2 MLG tournament. He's a caster mostly now. At least Nadagast is a high level player too. I think I also saw Syckness in some MLG bracket, although I'm not sure he's the NS player. Sonder played in EU Grandmaster at some point, I think.

    At least Rebeli and Wltrs have been some of the top European scouts in TF2. Admirable, Pizza, Masiina and probably a dozen others have played on pretty high level too.

    S4 won Dreamhack Dota 2 in nth and seems to be one of the top up and coming players in the whole scene.

    If I remember correctly, Makaveli played some Quake related game at high level at some point. I'm not completely sure about that one though.

    Probably some others I can't think of right now.

    ---

    I'm not sure where most people are right now, but many have definitely been active at least on the recent years.


  • GlissGliss Join Date: 2003-03-23 Member: 14800Members, Constellation, NS2 Map Tester
    edited February 2013
    ScardyBob wrote: »
    Tweadle wrote: »
    Request denied. They've all given up and I'm the only one left.
    I'm a bit curious if you know which games top NS1 comp players are playing competitively (if any)? Being disappointing with NS2 is certainly one reason I can see top NS1 comp players not playing NS2, but there are certainly other reasonable ones (e.g. significant others, jobs, kids, etc).
    TF2

    Bacillus wrote: »
    S4 won Dreamhack Dota 2 in nth and seems to be one of the top up and coming players in the whole scene.
    ! I just watched one of the tourneys today, I had no idea he was an NS1 player. awesome stuff :D
  • fanaticfanatic This post has been edited. Join Date: 2003-07-23 Member: 18377Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
    edited February 2013
    Tweadle wrote: »
    It's more than probable, strofix - it's highly likely. The vast majority of elite NS1 players were resoundingly disappointed in NS2 and Fana and Tane are literally the only two top-tier players I can think of that have managed to stomache this game.

    I don't think that's entirely fair, Tweadle, although certainly many were initially disappointed with NS2, and some still are. The real reason why most of the top tier ns1 players don't play ns2, is the same reason they quit ns1 all those years ago; their lives have changed and they have different priorities now, none of which include pouring hours into the sequel of a game they played half a decade ago.

    As for the actual number of ns1 vets playing competitively, it's hard to say, but I would wager that at least a third of all the eu players played ns1 in some form or another. There are also a significant number of top tier ns1 players, particularly in Archaea, Coolclan, Duplex, Saunamen, Forward, Be Baguette My Friend, The French Connexion, and even Mercury.

    I think you should edit out some of the posts you've made so far, to avoid confusing people with misinformation.
  • BentRingBentRing Join Date: 2003-03-04 Member: 14318Members
    |strofix| wrote: »

    The purpose for this thread is strictly in the interest of competitive NS2.

    This made me wonder why it's in general discussion rather than the comp forum.


    |strofix| wrote: »

    I typically like to wait a while before posting in my own thread again, but this is starting up slowly, so lets get some controversy rolling to get more input.


    This made me check the post times. Oh, 20 minutes have passed. Time to stir the pot?


    |strofix| wrote: »
    Something else I noticed is the respective speed of players as aliens...

    ...This honestly make me think of one thing. Exploitation.
    They're doing something to get those kinds of speeds. They're abusing some sort of mechanism to get those directional changes. Something that isn't supposed to be there, or shouldn't be there. If you watch them when they attack as a team, every single one of them does it. Its basically mandatory, and I don't like mandatory things.

    Oh there's the strofix we all know and love.
  • GoldenGolden Join Date: 2004-09-01 Member: 31169Members, NS1 Playtester, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, WC 2013 - Silver, NS2 Community Developer
    A lot of the top NS1 competitive players are playing TF2. Myself, Boom, Blue, and Kani are all from NS1 teams.
  • xDragonxDragon Join Date: 2012-04-04 Member: 149948Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited February 2013
    The Makaveli from Quake is different - most old comp NA players either play TF2, or dont play any FPS anymore due to the lack of a 'good' one to play (some of the old xensity players I play with). Some others have gone on to Shootmania or other Quake esq games.
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    BentRing wrote: »
    |strofix| wrote: »
    The purpose for this thread is strictly in the interest of competitive NS2.

    This made me wonder why it's in general discussion rather than the comp forum.

    If strofix went to the comp forum he'd be laughed at by everyone. For his own safety, GD is the way to go.
  • dwqrfdwqrf Join Date: 2013-02-08 Member: 182884Members
    Hello, hi, I'm new here. I'm sorry, I'm posting my first message and I hope I won't offense anybody. As I sadly have been raging on pubs sometimes, I don't want it to happen here. My english is not perfect neither, so I apologize, and if you are not sure of what i'm saying, i'll be glad to explain myself. I'm not here to flame, I'm just being a part of the great NS2 community and trying to share my though. Only that.

    -

    This thread is really interesting and strofix is doing hell of a job to be polite, point out things and explain them, while defending himself against people whom can't even understand the point of this talk. If you disagree with a thread, explain your point of view, don't come to be negative and insult around. I'm really bad at being polite too, i'm not good neither at keeping my calm when "useless" people become agressive.

    This is a forum, and everybody should be able to express themselves without being spammed by trolls vomiting around.

    The author is trying to have a normal discussion without trolls nor flamers. And he does not be one of em himself.

    -

    The topic is simple : why the f**k was this game, tonight, so boring to watch (unless you are in love with ARC). Yes, It was boring. I was so happy to have some free time to watch a final of a competition of a game I love, and unfortunately, it was a massacre. Hg tried. They did, but they got brained and outplayed, all the 4 games long. It does happen, but for many reasons.

    I think, and it's simply an opinion, which I have the right to have and to express; that ARC was understanding in a better way the affect of aggressive gameplay. Locking RTs. Eggs. Most of the bullets or bites from ARC (which hit) is hitting the right target at the right moment. They talk about it and make the right choice in a strategic way.

    After that, of course you need skill and a good mobility to be able to reach your goals. But a good skill and a good mobility without good target make you worthless. Mercury tried to move in the great target on theses games. But ARCs players were at the right place at the right time to stop them doing so.

    The position of ARCs players was always close to perfect. Marines where defending an agressive position. Skulk were always teaming up and running in the right direction to bite and/or create enough distraction while the trap was closing.

    After spending that much time on a game; you just know the game, the engine, the pixel, the balance, what's is dangerous and what is not. Going in a hive with two marines to get an exctractor, and surviving it is not being crazy/lucky nor being godlike. It's juts being able to read the game, spot the ennemy's position, and know that this single move may be possible and will be effective if successed. So yeah, sure, they are better than anyone at doing all theses little things which make you superior.

    -

    Right, and there is the exploit thing. Yes, ARC fully exploit the game. They know all the tricks, they know the glitchs, they know everything; and i'm even sure they know a bunch of thing nobody knows neither the dev. Like everybody. Sometime you find a pixel, and you jump on it, and you surprise people which blame you for cheating. When you are a top team, you share theses things.

    But is that a way to say that there are cheating ? No, its not. And it's not the EXPLOIT word which is wrong here. They DO EXPLOIT, as much as a counter strike player will crounch jump or bunnyhop. They use everything the game allow them to use, and they do it better with a better training/experience behind them. And what's wrong with it ? The game IS like that. Everybody could do so, but not everybody can do so. It's a question of discovering and training.

    There is few BUGs which are a problem, and some are EXPLOIT in the wrong side of the term (I totally think of the blink, available before its over); but theses peoples are not going to use this kind of exploit which are clearly destroying the game. Because they are great people from a great community, and even if they are sure happy to win, they are glad to have sportsmanlike opponents, and I don't think they would legitimately use-bug to secure a game.

    -

    For a third part, it's really hard to clearly see how skilled they actually are without a good spectator mode. I mean, the spectator mode is awesome; on of the best of his kind, but its only limited to the RTS part. Without first person, you can't really get into the player's perspective and see how skilled, clever, good, they are. And you cannot see all theses little exploits neither. Which are there, I guess.

    -

    And for a last little useless part of my comment, i'd like to talk about all theses super skilled player on NS2 which are not doing competition. This game is hard. You cannot win it by being just skilled. You need a team, you need teamplay, you need to spend TONS of hours with your mates to perfect your strategy. And here it's getting boring, i guess. You need to find opponent, you need to train, and game are long. And the issues does not always depend on you, even when you are at your best. And in all of that, you need to all stay close and keep welding each other. No room for anger and rage. A single drop and it's ruining it.

    This game is incredibly addictive and passionating, when you are a random and you play on pub. It's sharpening your skill super-hard; aliens moves fast and runs everywhere. Its sharpening your sneaking, while skulk, parasiting and braining-out poor scary marines. Pubs are great, they are untertaining. Competition seems awesome too, only and only when you have a really mature team with a great ambiance. Playing NS2 with friends is awesome, but really annoying if the skill of one marines is too high.

    -

    Well. Sorry for this big "shit-talk". Hope you won't call me troll; Trolls.


  • Omar - The WireOmar - The Wire Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165320Members
    edited February 2013
    Bacillus wrote: »
    If I remember correctly, Makaveli played some Quake related game at high level at some point. I'm not completely sure about that one though.

    There was a high level TFCer named Makaveli who also played Quake Live and some other Quake spin offs. Still does, last I talked to him. I don't know if he played Ns2, but it wouldn't surprise me.
  • fanaticfanatic This post has been edited. Join Date: 2003-07-23 Member: 18377Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
    edited February 2013
    Bacillus wrote: »
    Stuff about past NS1 players being successful in other games.
    It's actually remarkable how talented as a whole the NS1 competitive scene was. There's been an astounding number of past NS1 players gaining notoriety at the highest level in other games after the community died out.

    Mustang is probably the most famous example, going pro at CS:S in the CGS. The TF2 scene was, and is, inundated with past NS1 players; in fact so many that it would be too much effort to list them all here. Some very notable examples: Rebeli, wltrs, SycknesS and enigma. Both Pain_User and SycknesS saw a bit of success at StarCraft 2. Tane was a big name in Left 4 Dead. s4druid recently had his Dota 2 breakthrough. The list goes on...
  • Katana-Katana- Join Date: 2008-11-25 Member: 65575Members
    thanks for posting the info about past ns1 players. it is cool to see the names of players I used to spectate in ns1 games, and hear that they have gone on to do well in other games.
  • BacillusBacillus Join Date: 2006-11-02 Member: 58241Members
    fanatic wrote: »
    Tweadle wrote: »
    It's more than probable, strofix - it's highly likely. The vast majority of elite NS1 players were resoundingly disappointed in NS2 and Fana and Tane are literally the only two top-tier players I can think of that have managed to stomache this game.

    I don't think that's entirely fair, Tweadle, although certainly many were initially disappointed with NS2, and some still are. The real reason why most of the top tier ns1 players don't play ns2, is the same reason they quit ns1 all those years ago; their lives have changed and they have different priorities now, none of which include pouring hours into the sequel of a game they played half a decade ago.
    Definitely a lot of people have simply quit, but I do think we could have much more people around if the game was a bit different and more complete at this point. For example SC2 had most of the old pros transferring over despite the community being probably as inactive as in NS.

    Basically the 3 year delay, still somewhat incomplete features and gameplay and the casualized mechanics make a bad mix if you're trying to decide whether you want to be putting time into games once more before calling it a quit. You can get away with one or maybe two, but all three combined is quite a bit.
  • blindblind Join Date: 2010-04-17 Member: 71437Members, Squad Five Gold
    It's Scrajm - I wanna lick his brains. I get nerd chills every time he commands.

    Oh yeah, and some of his field marines he has to constantly aimbot-medspam to survive are somewhat ok. But his use of the whip to keep discipline in the team combined with the threat of visiting them if they dare to leave the team made it possible to have the most solid roster in all teams NS2 has seen so far, so that he has some acceptable material to work with.

    It is also quite astonishing how Scrajm can motivate his rookies so they actually hit some bullets, in average 1 out of 4, to fulfill his superior strategic goals. He also manipulated Fana's head with the terrifying thought that if his lerk ever touches the bottom he would hit hot brewing lava just to make him fly in panical erratic moves making it almost impossible to hit him. Tane is mentally controlled by Scrajm, actually all his moves and game understanding is directed by Scrajm himself. To cover this up, he wrote some outstanding Marine guides about positioning with the name "Tane" as author and made him believe that the work was actually his. Poor mindless zombie.

    Koruyo on the other hand is Scrajm's youngling and padawan so he received some "leadership" role. Hah. We all know who is really behind the strings. Eagleeye has his name for a reason, Scrajm implanted him some eagle eyes for an experiment if he could aim better with them - it actually worked out well, eagleeye is now a deadly sharpshooter, but he has to fully obey to Scrajm's commands if he ever wants his real eyes back. Some silent tongues even insisted eagleeye could see marines through walls as an alien with those. He personally just does as Scrajm commands and always answers: "Sound, bro."

    I didn't pick up the story behind Skuggan yet...but it must be really horrifying since every time Scrajm pushes a certain button on his desk, Skuggan screams very loud in the teamspeak channel and gets an instant triple kill on some poor skulks nearby. (If anyone figured out how the hell he does that with Skuggan yet, TELL ME! It's really annoying to play against this guy.)

    And I'm not sure if I can tell you what he did to ray and Treffnix, probably this thread would get censored, so I rather keep this to myself for the moment.



    <3
  • fanaticfanatic This post has been edited. Join Date: 2003-07-23 Member: 18377Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
    edited February 2013
    Bacillus wrote: »
    Definitely a lot of people have simply quit, but I do think we could have much more people around if the game was a bit different and more complete at this point. For example SC2 had most of the old pros transferring over despite the community being probably as inactive as in NS.

    The difference being that those were actual pros, unlike ns1 which nobody ever made a dime playing. I don't see that the two are comparable at all. I'm surprised we have as many ns1 vets as we do, considering we were all in school back then and now most are working full time jobs. We're all helpless romantics as far as I'm concerned. Love the game, love the community, warts and all.

    The discussion about the relative merits of ns1 vs. ns2 is, I think, best left for another time and thread.
  • blindblind Join Date: 2010-04-17 Member: 71437Members, Squad Five Gold
    dwqrf wrote: »
    The topic is simple : why the f**k was this game, tonight, so boring to watch (unless you are in love with ARC). Yes, It was boring.
    I think the first game (on Tram with Arc as Marines) was the best I've seen so far, different viewpoints then ;)
  • LocklearLocklear [nexzil]kerrigan Join Date: 2012-05-01 Member: 151403Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, WC 2013 - Shadow
    |strofix| wrote: »
    Something else I noticed is the respective speed of players as aliens.

    Now I thought I was a pretty average walljumping skulk (not an average skulk, an average walljumping skulk). I could get pretty fast, but not that fast, and I never really put much time or effort into learning how to do it because its not my style. After watching HG, my feelings were reinforced, with some of them going a little bit faster, but most of them maintaining the same kind of speed I'm used to seeing.

    When Archaea went aliens, I was surprised to say the least. They all move twice the speed I ever could. They move faster with carapace than I do with celerity, much faster. The speed at which fana flies with the Lerk is mind boggling to me. I consider myself quite a bit above average, but I could never fly at that speed, no matter what I did. I can't even think how you go that fast.

    This honestly make me think of one thing. Exploitation.
    They're doing something to get those kinds of speeds. They're abusing some sort of mechanism to get those directional changes. Something that isn't supposed to be there, or shouldn't be there. If you watch them when they attack as a team, every single one of them does it. Its basically mandatory, and I don't like mandatory things.

    Best troll of all time award.

  • MouseMouse The Lighter Side of Pessimism Join Date: 2002-03-02 Member: 263Members, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    fanatic wrote: »
    I don't think that's entirely fair, Tweadle, although certainly many were initially disappointed with NS2, and some still are. The real reason why most of the top tier ns1 players don't play ns2, is the same reason they quit ns1 all those years ago; their lives have changed and they have different priorities now, none of which include pouring hours into the sequel of a game they played half a decade ago.

    As for the actual number of ns1 vets playing competitively, it's hard to say, but I would wager that at least a third of all the eu players played ns1 in some form or another. There are also a significant number of top tier ns1 players, particularly in Archaea, Coolclan, Duplex, Saunamen, Forward, Be Baguette My Friend, The French Connexion, and even Mercury.

    The au scene is somewhat similar. There are a decent number of ns1 vets in the local clan scene. As an extreme example: My clan (mid-tier) is a resurrected ns1 clan and currently has about 15-16 members. Since we reformed for ns2 we have only recruited 2 new members. The rest have returned from ns1.

    That said, there has definitely been disappointed ns1 vets around. There's actually been an odd consistent dynamic since release. One clan rises up and dominates everyone for a few weeks. Then, they get bored/disappointed/tired and half of them give up on ns2. The remaing members join existing clans or form their own clan. This prompts a partial shuffling of members throughout most of the local clans.
  • ExoskelettExoskelett Join Date: 2012-12-18 Member: 175509Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    Well at first they do have the equipment to run a stable fps with that bad performance this engine delivers - and actually i guess the servers run on a much higher level, otherwise i could not explain why they are able to hit skulks with such bad hit detection
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    Exoskelett wrote: »
    Well at first they do have the equipment to run a stable fps with that bad performance this engine delivers - and actually i guess the servers run on a much higher level, otherwise i could not explain why they are able to hit skulks with such bad hit detection

    IMO hit detection is just fine, it's all client latency and interpolation.
  • ExoskelettExoskelett Join Date: 2012-12-18 Member: 175509Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    Well dont think so that the hitdetection is fine - killed too many skulks while i have watched 180° into wrong direction or killed them behind corners while model wasnt even visible anymore
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    edited February 2013
    Yes..that's called lag.

    EDIT: Play a full 12v12 on a LAN, then tell me if these issues exist, I bet they don't.
  • ExoskelettExoskelett Join Date: 2012-12-18 Member: 175509Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    for sure they dont - everything for commercial.
  • senatesenate Join Date: 2010-11-19 Member: 75023Members
    It's pretty simple. Intel i5/i7 processors, exceptional hand to eye coordination, and lots of time to practice.
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    You left out prediction skills.
  • dwqrfdwqrf Join Date: 2013-02-08 Member: 182884Members
    blind wrote: »
    dwqrf wrote: »
    The topic is simple : why the f**k was this game, tonight, so boring to watch (unless you are in love with ARC). Yes, It was boring.
    I think the first game (on Tram with Arc as Marines) was the best I've seen so far, different viewpoints then ;)

    I was talking about what I though was the topic the author talked about : "why is ARC so good, why is everyone else not that good, why are their game ending in a domination ?" And yes, I had to think, it was boring to see someone being dominated. (3/4 games). Boring is maybe the wrong word. Linear is maybe better ?

    Yes, the first game was super awesome, blind, i totally agree. ARC was awesome. But... did you see any super awesome move from Mercury ? Proxy Baneling Gorge ? Did the game tend to switch favor from one team or the other ? Or was it just 3 bases marines vs 2 base kharra all game long until a arc train ? I don't say Hg is bad, I say they couldn't do anything. It was a good game, but they didn't successed to get out of sub/warehouse. Maybe a couple of skulk eating one or two RTs. That's all. It was like looking an Alien movie. Marines win in the end and that's not surprising you; but even if Alien did look scary at a point, well, they got shot. Shotgunned. Pistoled Onos.

    -

    In a other hand, are you the shoutcaster ? :)

    My brother and I watch the stream, and even if we liked it, few cameras moves were frustrating. Like, we see two marines getting engaged by two skulk and suddenly the camera switch to a marine alone killing a RT; We know it was a good choice to show this and that, but we lose the excitement when you cut a move from ambushing skulk in the middle.

    And one of you lost his voice, it happen, it's winter, it's a hard job, but that made my brother angry. He said "Why the hell is he casting like that, did he forget the people he is casting for ?" Somehow he pointed an interesting fact, but I can't agree. You are making a good job, and you just need to do it even better !
  • GISPGISP Battle Gorge Denmark Join Date: 2004-03-20 Member: 27460Members, Playtest Lead, Forum Moderators, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Gold, Subnautica Playtester, Forum staff
    edited February 2013
    eh? & |strofix| Keep it civil please.
  • KoruyoKoruyo AUT Join Date: 2009-06-06 Member: 67724Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited February 2013
    @blind

    http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/114790/x&mode=threaded&pid=1872174

    Thats were the "leadership" role started, GoD (a fun team started out of completely random ppl that didnt have a team but wanted to play in the ns2hd beta tournament) which was a placeholder name for like a week became pub.eu and then Archaea. So while most/all organizing stuff went over to zeikko later, and scrajm today, its not an accident.
  • senatesenate Join Date: 2010-11-19 Member: 75023Members
    prediction can mean anything. When I hear prediction skills I think about being aware of sounds and capabilities. By capabilities I mean knowing when the opposite team will be able to reach a certain location. And then properly entering that location with that awareness.
  • nsguynsguy Join Date: 2010-01-03 Member: 69869Members
    Not enough of us can afford the $1,000,000 computer required to play NS2 with smooth framerates. I attribute this factor to the large number of players unable to aim.
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