Currently, babblers behave like adorable, retarded cousins of the skulk. Pretty much the way they were in NS1. There has been talk of perhaps giving them a more aggressive edge, comparable to Snarks in Half Life. Nothing solid though. I'm sure they'll get tweaked a bit, currently they're sometimes a bit too retarded. ^^
Like retarded kittens. I guess, we need to see AI improvments, before buffing them. They've got pretty scary stats as it is.
I read over the AI last night. Babblers will teleport back to the Gorge who spawned it if it gets too far away from them (no Babbler armor for faster teammates in long range engagements). Not only that, without that ball to chase, they'll be wagging their tails and occasionally bouncing off to look at shiny things (like cysts... actually, the only interesting target right now).
I'm going to update the original post with their speed and jump height.
Oh and the new range on the bile bombs will kill the aliens.
I spent half of the last game i played bile bombing my own toes, but if they changed the name to Bile Dribble, and it's doesn't totally flat-line the alien's chances: I could live with it
Anyone have trouble attacking with them attached? I've been an onos trying to attack structures and it does the swipe animation instead, sometimes even causing no damage but I get the blood spray of an alien.
"local kTargetSearchRange = 12"
thats about the range of the bilebomb splash/area of effect, i realy think thats half the problem, upping that to 20-25 and giving the babblers +1 speed should make them lots more usefull.
anyone else having problems with babblers falling through the floor/melting into the walls/just generally disappearing? Ive been trying to hatch them in a vent and have them rush out and help me ambush marines, but by the time marines walk past there's usually only one or two of my guys that haven't just completely fucked off into the abyss. And even then, those two guys won't leave the vents...
I was really excited for babblers, and they're turning out to be kind of meh. I'll use them for the armor still, I was mostly putting them on lerks.. hopefully they can't block the spikes.
IronHorseDeveloper, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributorJoin Date: 2010-05-08Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
babblers falling through the world is known/reported and is being worked on, just fyi.
It was one of those that just didn't make it in on time for the release.
IronHorseDeveloper, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributorJoin Date: 2010-05-08Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
edited March 2013
Every week/day/hour is bug triage, baby! :-P
I actually think i should make a post explaining what its like from a PT lead pov... I feel like the community doesnt have a grasp of what goes on and how things end up where they are.
Would anybody be interested in this/should i bother?
I actually think i should make a post explaining what its like from a PT lead pov... I feel like the community doesnt have a grasp of what goes on and how things end up where they are.
Would anybody be interested in this/should i bother?
If it's anything like QA, I have a pretty good idea.
I actually think i should make a post explaining what its like from a PT lead pov... I feel like the community doesnt have a grasp of what goes on and how things end up where they are.
Would anybody be interested in this/should i bother?
I think a lot of people would be interested, including me (although I suspect, like Mr. Beverage, that I have a pretty good idea already).
currently they seem rather pointless most of the time they do nothing and a marine can happily walk past them and kill the gorge, they should be mroe agressive and a little quicker.
IMO however they should have remained an ability for the crag hive.
I think people use them the wrong way. Yesterday I played a game where Aliens gave us Hell for 10 minutes by rushing one of our bases with skulks and 2 gorges with babblers non stop. I think they really help your skulks in bigger engagements because they are just another moving target and potential thread the marine's brain has to process. Also, they deny area for marines. If a room is rushed by 2 skulks, a gorge with babblers can deny ground and therefor force a engagement in a more favourable spot for aliens.
i wonder how it would work if the babbler hp was increased by 100-200%.
i like the idea of 'dumb' distraction units more than a locust swarm of doom. but right now a single marine can faceroll and usually kill all 9 babblers in a single AR clip, which would still be pathetic even if the babbler AI was improved.
They should just make them how they were in NS1. As soon as they appear they heat seek a nearby enemy.
They should also be free. Remove all this throwing a ball nonsense.
in their current state 1 pres is probably too much for 3 babblers... but i think gorge is meant to be a viable 'career' lifeform, and not merely a stop gap before your onos evolution.
if babblers were more useful - cost wouldn't be a problem.
Babblers do not function in vents. If you create them in vents, you cannot get them out. Even if you throw the ball out a vent they won't chase it. This is a huge loss to the ns2 trolling community!
JektJoin Date: 2012-02-05Member: 143714Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow
Once everyone has tried them out a few times, I don't see them getting used at all in their current state outside of the occasional troll. They are just too convoluted to mange for such little reward.
3 babblers per egg
1 pres per egg
9 max babblers
6 can be attached to an alien
Detach after 20 seconds automatically
Die after 120 seconds
Throw bait ball constantly to have them follow
Bait ball is slow
Babblers are slow
They auto attack within 12 units radius
The attack is useless
IronHorseDeveloper, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributorJoin Date: 2010-05-08Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
edited March 2013
This is what I figured they'd be like:
And you can make them like that too by adjusting the numbers.
I found increasing ground speed to 9 (from 5) and minimum jump force to around 12 (from 6 iirc) and doubling their movement interval with the option of increasing their target acquisition range, created almost identical behavior.. although they become quite the threat when this happens.., much more than just a distraction.
Good idea implemented as usually.
I mean, it's not like I expected them to be killing machines, smashing everything and everyone once unleashed i enemy base, but come on, they can't ever serve as distraction. I keep ignoring these suckers as a marine as there is literally nothing they can do.
And disappearing after 2 minutes? They really should stay until killed. Would be really great if they could stay where left (like guarding a room)
I hope this is not going to be another one of those features UWE implements in some shoddy state and then completely ignores. We already have plenty of those. (Half of the alien upgrades, single minigun exo, ink shade, echo, most of the alien T3 abilities, sentries...)
Comments
Like retarded kittens. I guess, we need to see AI improvments, before buffing them. They've got pretty scary stats as it is.
I'm going to update the original post with their speed and jump height.
Probably they should be retarded for 0.33 res each.
Yes to this.
I spent half of the last game i played bile bombing my own toes, but if they changed the name to Bile Dribble, and it's doesn't totally flat-line the alien's chances: I could live with it
thats about the range of the bilebomb splash/area of effect, i realy think thats half the problem, upping that to 20-25 and giving the babblers +1 speed should make them lots more usefull.
I was really excited for babblers, and they're turning out to be kind of meh. I'll use them for the armor still, I was mostly putting them on lerks.. hopefully they can't block the spikes.
It was one of those that just didn't make it in on time for the release.
I actually think i should make a post explaining what its like from a PT lead pov... I feel like the community doesnt have a grasp of what goes on and how things end up where they are.
Would anybody be interested in this/should i bother?
Look at Valve/Blizzard.
If it's anything like QA, I have a pretty good idea.
I think a lot of people would be interested, including me (although I suspect, like Mr. Beverage, that I have a pretty good idea already).
IMO however they should have remained an ability for the crag hive.
i like the idea of 'dumb' distraction units more than a locust swarm of doom. but right now a single marine can faceroll and usually kill all 9 babblers in a single AR clip, which would still be pathetic even if the babbler AI was improved.
They should also be free. Remove all this throwing a ball nonsense.
in their current state 1 pres is probably too much for 3 babblers... but i think gorge is meant to be a viable 'career' lifeform, and not merely a stop gap before your onos evolution.
if babblers were more useful - cost wouldn't be a problem.
black mesa snarks ^^ (best part 1.04min )
ot...wait for 1-2 patches and they will be fixed
3 babblers per egg
1 pres per egg
9 max babblers
6 can be attached to an alien
Detach after 20 seconds automatically
Die after 120 seconds
Throw bait ball constantly to have them follow
Bait ball is slow
Babblers are slow
They auto attack within 12 units radius
The attack is useless
And you can make them like that too by adjusting the numbers.
I found increasing ground speed to 9 (from 5) and minimum jump force to around 12 (from 6 iirc) and doubling their movement interval with the option of increasing their target acquisition range, created almost identical behavior.. although they become quite the threat when this happens.., much more than just a distraction.
I mean, it's not like I expected them to be killing machines, smashing everything and everyone once unleashed i enemy base, but come on, they can't ever serve as distraction. I keep ignoring these suckers as a marine as there is literally nothing they can do.
And disappearing after 2 minutes? They really should stay until killed. Would be really great if they could stay where left (like guarding a room)