Leap with Biomass 3 in the tech tree to solve actual problems
Okxyd
Join Date: 2012-02-06 Member: 143981Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2012-02-06 Member: 143981Members, Reinforced - Shadow
I will not come back on the marines strafejump mechanics, almost everything has been said, particularly the insane combinaison of a perfect timing and the use of shotguns. However a solution could be to invert shadowstep and leap on the actual tech tree:
It could resolve some problems:
- make the fadeplosion a little less effective during the first ten minutes as delay the shadowstep obtention
- add mobility to skulk when marines get shotty and increase the viability of playing skulk during 5-10 minutes of the game
- prevent the obligation to have a shift hive on big maps like Veil by enhancing the overall skulk speed
It will not solve every problems but it could be a good beginning.
So, what do you think about it ?
EDIT: I changed the thread title because I think everyone is against the idea of a leap with 2 biomass.
It could resolve some problems:
- make the fadeplosion a little less effective during the first ten minutes as delay the shadowstep obtention
- add mobility to skulk when marines get shotty and increase the viability of playing skulk during 5-10 minutes of the game
- prevent the obligation to have a shift hive on big maps like Veil by enhancing the overall skulk speed
It will not solve every problems but it could be a good beginning.
So, what do you think about it ?
EDIT: I changed the thread title because I think everyone is against the idea of a leap with 2 biomass.
Comments
+ shadowstep not that usefule overall, imo. (although i'm a pretty bad fade player, so ymmv
And what about placing the leap in third position and bile bomb in second ? In this way you will have leap with the 2nd hive most of the time but if you are unable to drop a second hive you have a chance to come back with the leap. Actually I find the position of the shadowstep a bit illogi, get 2nd biomass give almost nothing, it´s like the marines were forced to make a mid game upgrade before shotguns or a1/w1. @F0rdPrefect I find it very useful if you not have adrenaline, which is very uncommon however.
AFAIK fadesplosion is NS1-only
Leap is powerful and doesn't fit into early game.
- Fadeplosion is no longer an issue (they actually need to be slightly buffed again
- The goal for leap is to increase the skulks viability mid-late game, not early game. Leap on biomass 2 would be a bit too early imo.
- Sure, having celerity is a nice bonus, but I'd hardly say it's obligatory to go shift hive, even for the larger maps in the game. On the contrary, I still prefer crag honestly. But that's just me.
However, I do feel the skulk upgrades are too costly. And because bilebomb/umbra/onos upgrades are more important for the mid-late game, you mostly only see leap very late into the game. Breaking up the upgrade-clusters and thus making single abililities researchable again might help in this regard.
Fade upgrades are almost always bought last, too.
Leap has to need 2 hives.
edit: First hive has to equal basic abilities. It's unfortunate that bile bomb is on 3 biomass right now
@Draconis I disagree with this opinion, Leap is a very predictable movement, for me it does not nullify a good placement or tech. However 2 minutes with 2 biomass requiered is probably a bit extreme but in a balanced game with biomass 3 option you will have leap at 4 or 5 minutes, when marines get shotguns. It does not shock me at all because it means they will not have their tier 3 upgrades. You can consider the situation like this:
Hive spec (10) + 3 upgrades (50) : 70 res
Biomass 3 (50) + Whip (10) + leap (20): 80 res
By the way if you rush leap, other lifeforms will have hardest time so it's pretty faire on a tech plan.
In addition to having an alternate initial build order. Mid game loss of a hive would not be GG and allow players to fight back... JP/SG vs non-leap skulk isn't fun.
I'd consider leap more of a one hive ability for skulks than I would bile bomb to be a one hive ability for gorges. If that proved to be over powered, it wouldn't take much thought to balance the strength of the leap with biomass similar to hp. Entry level leap could just match, say, a strafe jump, and with increased biomass would make a linear progression to full leap, which ideally would be better than now to help fight jetpacks.
Maybe making leap more energy consumtive would balance this out?
Moving SS to biomass 4... I don't think this is necessary, nor will it change all that much. When you move up in the biomass order (early mid-game), you usually won't have Fade upgrades before bio 4 anyway. And when you fall back to bio 3 or less, any comeback will usually not depend on SS. The alien comeback lifeform has to be the Skulk, not the Fade.
I think its current energy usage is pretty balanced, higher than pre-250, but not too much. If it needs to be balanced, the Skulk upgrade should become a bit more expensive instead.
Rather, make it so 1 hive leap has the same timings as we have now with 2 hive leap, nobody should complain then.
Perhaps if hives didn't automatically provide 1 biomass ... and all biomass came from upgrades, so instead of hives giving 1 biomass and then 2 biomass upgrades, they instead gave 0 biomass and 3 biomass upgrades. The cost and timings would all need to be balanced again though.
Unless someone has a better idea on how to make aliens not so helpless on 1 hive ... or is it pretty much the status quo now that aliens lose as soon as they lose their 2nd hive ? Everyone likes the way it is ?