99% sure that is just Steam being Steam. They like to inconvenience people with their random shenanigans.
Given that they time their maintenance during our playtest times - even when we change them - I'm fairly convinced at this point that an NS2 forum troll works as a Steam server operator. =P
i was able to play a bit before steam issues started. it seems performance improved quite a bit for me, although i cannot be sure yet having only played on one server so far.
Updated Hallucination Cloud on wiki. Let me know if I missed anything, thanks !
Lifeform hallucinations cannot be controlled by Alien Commander, but Drifter can be.
Unless I'm mistaken and this was changed you can still give orders to bot hallucinations. They don't follow them to the letter but if you want to use them for a feint you can precast them early and tell them where you want them to go on the map. @Decoy commanded many more alien PT games than I did so she would know better. Otherwise looks good!
Not sure if 264 related:
Played 3 games on Mineshaft, all 3 were with alien start at sorting, according to comm, couldn't cyst to cave from any direction.
I can't start a server anymore from menu (training/start game). I get black screen and then nothing. So can't test hallucinations I bet I will be ejected if I go shade first in real match. Edit: probably steam downtime issue.
Not sure if 264 related:
Played 3 games on Mineshaft, all 3 were with alien start at sorting, according to comm, couldn't cyst to cave from any direction.
I can't start a server anymore from menu (training/start game). I get black screen and then nothing. So can't test hallucinations I bet I will be ejected if I go shade first in real match.
It looks like a nav_mesh bug snuck its way in. We're currently investigating.
Unless I'm mistaken and this was changed you can still give orders to bot hallucinations. They don't follow them to the letter but if you want to use them for a feint you can precast them early and tell them where you want them to go on the map. @Decoy commanded many more alien PT games than I did so she would know better. Otherwise looks good!
I just gave them another test. They can be directed by waypoint indeed!
Steam was down for 20 minutes and suddenly I have 2 discount coupons in my inventory. Scary stuff.
I got two coupons as well. You know what's even more scary? I've pirated NS2 build 228 just about now, installed it, launched it and while it was 'compiling shaders for first run' (which was ages compared to time in current builds), I opened steam overlay and saw two -25% coupons for... Pixel Piracy. And then steam was down.
I thought Gabe was watching me.
But I bet it's ok to pirate older builds of games that you already have? Please tell me it is.
UWE dead some really great improvements to the game. I get 30-35 FPS on empty server in 228. 80-100 now. Skulk feels really bad compared to post-BT.
One thing that is cool in 228 is minimal infestation. It looks awesome compared to what we have now.
DC_DarklingJoin Date: 2003-07-10Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
Having that network related fps fix is nothing but awesome surely.
But how uwe classified the skulk sound issue as not critical enough to ix is beyond me.
I had a small hope that knowing that even the top teams use chud for, amoung others, the skulk sound fix, would help in bringing a official uwe fix.
Guess I was wrong.
An issue I noticed in sandbox mode: When you create a Drifter hallucination, and then cast the cloud again, the old hallucination is destroyed, but you only sometimes get a new one. It seems to be random, about 50:50.
Now there's only one reason remaining that makes the change OP.. and that's what I'm waiting for people to discover quickly so we can prove it, patch it, and move on with a better shade hive. :-P
Skulk sounds are still ridiculously loud. They had to reduce them by 50% in the world championship and play a modded version of ns2. Why wasn't that fix included?
This. Omg this.
The one thing i was hoping you'd fix UWE.
Shade opener is very powerful with these changes. We'll be keeping an eye on public games and feedback to see if changes need to be made. Think of this as an early preview.
Hopefully, this will reduce the whine and complaints I have continued to receive even from experienced players when dropping a veil is the first thing I do as alien com -_- .
The real effect seems to be a sense of ... calm? when playing. Less stressful. At least it feels like that ...
This could be placebo, but so far it feels AMAZING. Between this and the low lights option, my performance is now basically indistinguishable from perfect.
@HeatSurge I might have been one of those people whining lol. Its just prior this patch shade hive was really disastrous if either you had a really good marine team or a mediocre alien team. For the most part that still hasn't changed.......its just hallucinations are now awesome and can make it more viable than it once was ^_^
Steam was down for 20 minutes and suddenly I have 2 discount coupons in my inventory. Scary stuff.
I got two coupons as well. You know what's even more scary? I've pirated NS2 build 228 just about now, installed it, launched it and while it was 'compiling shaders for first run' (which was ages compared to time in current builds), I opened steam overlay and saw two -25% coupons for... Pixel Piracy. And then steam was down.
I thought Gabe was watching me.
I got the same coupons. However, I did not pirate anything.
The real effect seems to be a sense of ... calm? when playing. Less stressful. At least it feels like that ...
This could be placebo, but so far it feels AMAZING. Between this and the low lights option, my performance is now basically indistinguishable from perfect.
Not sure if placebo either, but I had the same experience tonight, only played ~40 mins, but everything just felt... smoother, aliens seemed to "flow" better (Marines tested only :-) ). So far very nice!
build 263 - landingpad death barrier removed so you can exploit
billd 264 - landingpad death barrier added so you cant exploit just like before
________________________________________________________________
build 264 - Mineshaft cave spawn can only build 3 cyst far from hive and stuck
so let me guess...
build 265 - Mineshaft cave spawn can build cyst like usual just like before it again?
I like the idea of a hallucination buff. What about Ink though? Ink is really not that useful right now, and improving it could make Shade even ore viable
I like the idea of a hallucination buff. What about Ink though? Ink is really not that useful right now, and improving it could make Shade even ore viable
Wait what?
If I have a 2nd hive, I will usually make it shade specifically for ink, if we have scouted arcs.
Well timed ink blasts can slow down the fire rate of the arcs to almost 50%
Comments
Played 3 games on Mineshaft, all 3 were with alien start at sorting, according to comm, couldn't cyst to cave from any direction.
I can't start a server anymore from menu (training/start game). I get black screen and then nothing. So can't test hallucinations
It looks like a nav_mesh bug snuck its way in. We're currently investigating.
Steam was down for 20 minutes and suddenly I have 2 discount coupons in my inventory. Scary stuff.
I just gave them another test. They can be directed by waypoint indeed!
I got two coupons as well. You know what's even more scary? I've pirated NS2 build 228 just about now, installed it, launched it and while it was 'compiling shaders for first run' (which was ages compared to time in current builds), I opened steam overlay and saw two -25% coupons for... Pixel Piracy. And then steam was down.
I thought Gabe was watching me.
But I bet it's ok to pirate older builds of games that you already have? Please tell me it is.
One thing that is cool in 228 is minimal infestation. It looks awesome compared to what we have now.
But how uwe classified the skulk sound issue as not critical enough to ix is beyond me.
I had a small hope that knowing that even the top teams use chud for, amoung others, the skulk sound fix, would help in bringing a official uwe fix.
Guess I was wrong.
The one thing i was hoping you'd fix UWE.
Hopefully, this will reduce the whine and complaints I have continued to receive even from experienced players when dropping a veil is the first thing I do as alien com -_- .
Wat. It shouldn't do that.
I got the same coupons. However, I did not pirate anything.
Not sure if placebo either, but I had the same experience tonight, only played ~40 mins, but everything just felt... smoother, aliens seemed to "flow" better (Marines tested only :-) ). So far very nice!
billd 264 - landingpad death barrier added so you cant exploit just like before
________________________________________________________________
build 264 - Mineshaft cave spawn can only build 3 cyst far from hive and stuck
so let me guess...
build 265 - Mineshaft cave spawn can build cyst like usual just like before it again?
E: no auto merge
Wait what?
If I have a 2nd hive, I will usually make it shade specifically for ink, if we have scouted arcs.
Well timed ink blasts can slow down the fire rate of the arcs to almost 50%