Gorge Tunnels - should they allow cyst placement
Rippsy
Join Date: 2013-01-16 Member: 179921Members
Join Date: 2013-01-16 Member: 179921Members
Should gorge tunnels allow the placement of cysts as a means to allow Alien Comm to breach a Marine front line with skilled play?
I've been wondering this for a while. Given the cost, danger and currently very limited use of Gorge tunnels (defensive transport system) I think this would provide an interesting and unique tool to assist with Alien expansion if they are getting bottled in against heavily dug in marines.
I've seen in a few games marines setting up a forward phase gate, but never using it for offence. Just camping out by their armoury to totally deny significant portions of map. I've no problem with this as a viable tactic, but there is no effective counter with how quickly marines can pour through phase gates.
A good example of this was a recent game on summit I had, Marines started Datacore and aliens in subaccess.
Marines rushed phase gates, camped out in Crossroads until the tech was researched, (at this point aliens had most of the map building harvesters) then all the marines rushed computer lab, setup a phase gate, the remaining marines poured down into ventilation and setup a phase gate there too. They could still sneak 1 or 2 skulks up through maintenance/pipe but not enough to do more than harass a single RT or two. If gorge tunnels allowed infesation to spread, an alien could have sneaked past the marines in vent re-evolved to gorge up in crevice and setup a forward outpost to allow the commander to continue to build a shift and allow some distraction to break up the numbers on the front line of the marine assault and possibly allow them to break a phase-gate down.
As it was, the Marines didn't even try to push. They just sat in there long tunnels shooting down all the skulks who tried to attack until they had totally out teched them and came rolling in with Jetpacks
I'm sure the skill balanced favoured marines (it was a very extreme example) but I think it might provide at least an interesting mechanic?
I've been wondering this for a while. Given the cost, danger and currently very limited use of Gorge tunnels (defensive transport system) I think this would provide an interesting and unique tool to assist with Alien expansion if they are getting bottled in against heavily dug in marines.
I've seen in a few games marines setting up a forward phase gate, but never using it for offence. Just camping out by their armoury to totally deny significant portions of map. I've no problem with this as a viable tactic, but there is no effective counter with how quickly marines can pour through phase gates.
A good example of this was a recent game on summit I had, Marines started Datacore and aliens in subaccess.
Marines rushed phase gates, camped out in Crossroads until the tech was researched, (at this point aliens had most of the map building harvesters) then all the marines rushed computer lab, setup a phase gate, the remaining marines poured down into ventilation and setup a phase gate there too. They could still sneak 1 or 2 skulks up through maintenance/pipe but not enough to do more than harass a single RT or two. If gorge tunnels allowed infesation to spread, an alien could have sneaked past the marines in vent re-evolved to gorge up in crevice and setup a forward outpost to allow the commander to continue to build a shift and allow some distraction to break up the numbers on the front line of the marine assault and possibly allow them to break a phase-gate down.
As it was, the Marines didn't even try to push. They just sat in there long tunnels shooting down all the skulks who tried to attack until they had totally out teched them and came rolling in with Jetpacks
I'm sure the skill balanced favoured marines (it was a very extreme example) but I think it might provide at least an interesting mechanic?
Comments
Just think about it.
and i would like that
So one of the end of the tunnel is built on infestation, and the other end can be build everywhere and behave like a cyst, connected to the cyst chain through the tunnel.
Does sound interesting though, can think of numerous strategies that it could create.
In my opinion the gorge shouldn't even be the one to drop "gorge" tunnels, the commander should be. In their current form, it just poses too many logistical nightmares for individual players to be placing the tunnel entrances.
You either know the location or the momentum of the infestation, but not both.
Schrödinger's Gorge springs to mind.
There is no infestation requirement on the gorge tunnels, they can be dropped anywhere (even in some shady places, like vents with enough room).
The idea of this thread is very interesting, and it would be easy for marines to counter as well; killing the tunnel entrance would eventually and inevitably kill that ecosystem off. And I don't really see the problem @Sewlek stated, I don't think it's a bad thing to have strategic features which require co-operation within the team. Isn't khammander-gorge synergy exactly what we've all been looking for? Besides, nobody's forcing the khammander to base his whole strategy on that one tunnel entrance if he doesn't trust the gorge who dropped it.
There should only be minimal infestation coming off the tunnel itself. At best only so much that you can place a structure right next to it. Leave it a conscious decision for the commander whether or not he wants to expose that tunnel more by actually placing a cyst at it and thus really spread the infestation.
I personally didn't even know they COULD be moved...
Just like hydras and clogs, placing a new one with a maximum amount of entities already on the field will kill the oldest one dropped. Preventing gorges from doing this unless marines kill the old entrances would hurt gorge-play in my opinion.
Ho, I never realized that, I always saw people building them on infestation. I guess it's easy to get confused with exceptions to the general rule. I kind of agree with Sewlek now, but it's more that having both gorge and commander being able to build structures is weird in the first place.
It does, just like placing new hydras.
Very true however I got a feeling this won't happen often. In my experiences so far gorge tunnels are rarely moved. I think it would be much more likely the tunnel gets destroyed by players. It's a classic High risk / high reward senario that is fun to play with if you have the option. This idea could be used to set up forward heal bases otherwise not previously possible....exciting times.<:-P
I think it's definitely worth testing out.
Would make crag and shade more viable, especially when cloaking structures in mid-late game opens up new, sneaky strategies.
I'm envisioning 1 hive comebacks.
Implementation is tricky - how the tunnel infestation interacts or if it is placed in vents or on a high ledge - needs to be taken into account.