NarfwakJoin Date: 2002-11-02Member: 5258Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Playtest Lead, Forum Moderators, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, Subnautica PT Lead, NS2 Community Developer
This might be because I played NS1 and Starcraft but ARCs are super intuitive for me. They're one part siege turret, one part siege tank. I mean, okay, if you don't play video games before NS2 then I can imagine it'll be a little weird, but NS2 is not exactly a gateway game into the hobby of gaming... it's a little like someone getting upset they can't move whenever they want in 40K because they've never played a game of chess before.
Just to throw it out there: The ARC units are based on SONIC TECHNOLOGY not energy or lazors or whatever you're thinking.. SONIC!
The lore or explanation for it doesn't really matter. You can't communicate that information to the player visually in a concise manner. It's a generally good rule of thumb in game design to not have attacks that the player can't see. It's incredibly frustrating to not know where you are being attacked from.
This is one of the flagship traits of the siege cannon. Frustrating? Working as intended. Awesome-mode for Marines? Yes. A proud carry over from NS1? Most definitely.
One of the problems is that the set up time is non existent. the arcs are mobile, build em in base move em out and boom.
In ns1 there was no surprise. hell the maps had siege rooms. Marines had to build a mini base, set up a tf upgrade the tf then build the siege cannon, ( I think only one cannon per upgraded factory?) The aliens had like 3 minutes to charge the location and take it out before the siege cannon entered play. It was a heavy investment to make, and back then an onos could eat up one of your heavy armors and run away digesting him for a while before he dies and respawns, or they kill the onos and drag him out of its gut. Fades shot acid, lerks shot spores. gorges built everything.
Actually, sieging in NS1 was way faster than it is in NS2. You have to compare the following processes when doing comparison between them: 1) the time it took in NS1 for the marines to get to the spot, build a TF and a PG, let the TF upgrade and build the sieges and 2) the time it takes in NS2 to build a robotics factory, upgrade it, start building sieges and then actually move them into position. The NS1 equivalent was multiple times faster, as the time it took to get to the position and to build the sieges was up to the marines, whereas the build queue in a robotics factory is pretty slow. After the turret factory went up and was upgraded (which in itself was faster than the same with the robotics factory) it was a matter of half a minute to get the actual sieges up, depending on alien pressure of course.
What you seem to be comparing are the whole process in NS1 against the time it takes for ready-made ARCs to roll into position next to the hive. You can't justify this, since if aliens know what they're doing, they will do constant scouting and they will know the ARCs are coming way before they are in position. And just like in NS1, the siege spot has to be protected and controlled by the marines, or the sieges are as good as dead. I do admit that it's safer to build the sieges in NS2 than it was in NS1, but in no way is it any faster.
Differences in favor of NS2 sieges are that they can be saved by moving the out of the siege spot if things get hot (though as a drawback they cannot be recycled after doing their job), and that the sieges cannot be deactivated by killing the central turret factory.
Also there was no limit on siege turrets unless a server was using custom plugins.
I understood that the reason for siege cannons firing through walls was that they were immobile and had to be built. Arcs move, wtf do they retain that ability? Not that it can be removed, the maps are not designed with los arcs in mind.
Comments
This is one of the flagship traits of the siege cannon. Frustrating? Working as intended. Awesome-mode for Marines? Yes. A proud carry over from NS1? Most definitely.
Actually, sieging in NS1 was way faster than it is in NS2. You have to compare the following processes when doing comparison between them: 1) the time it took in NS1 for the marines to get to the spot, build a TF and a PG, let the TF upgrade and build the sieges and 2) the time it takes in NS2 to build a robotics factory, upgrade it, start building sieges and then actually move them into position. The NS1 equivalent was multiple times faster, as the time it took to get to the position and to build the sieges was up to the marines, whereas the build queue in a robotics factory is pretty slow. After the turret factory went up and was upgraded (which in itself was faster than the same with the robotics factory) it was a matter of half a minute to get the actual sieges up, depending on alien pressure of course.
What you seem to be comparing are the whole process in NS1 against the time it takes for ready-made ARCs to roll into position next to the hive. You can't justify this, since if aliens know what they're doing, they will do constant scouting and they will know the ARCs are coming way before they are in position. And just like in NS1, the siege spot has to be protected and controlled by the marines, or the sieges are as good as dead. I do admit that it's safer to build the sieges in NS2 than it was in NS1, but in no way is it any faster.
Differences in favor of NS2 sieges are that they can be saved by moving the out of the siege spot if things get hot (though as a drawback they cannot be recycled after doing their job), and that the sieges cannot be deactivated by killing the central turret factory.
Also there was no limit on siege turrets unless a server was using custom plugins.