Babblers
Calego
Join Date: 2013-01-24 Member: 181848Members, NS2 Map Tester
Join Date: 2013-01-24 Member: 181848Members, NS2 Map Tester
Rebuff? Leave as is? Forget about entirely in spite of how adorable they are?
Discuss.
I rarely see babblers used in pubs, though i've been remembering them more lately as a gorge lategame. They are a decent amount of armor (blocking shotgun shots being the most useful feature). But I want them to be decent at attacking as well. A gorge's final act could be to tell its beloved babies to sacrifice themselves to avenge their mother.
Discuss.
I rarely see babblers used in pubs, though i've been remembering them more lately as a gorge lategame. They are a decent amount of armor (blocking shotgun shots being the most useful feature). But I want them to be decent at attacking as well. A gorge's final act could be to tell its beloved babies to sacrifice themselves to avenge their mother.
Comments
All image credit goes to rantology.
Also, their combat potential could be enhanced by making them suicide units. one Pres buys 3, which explode for 15 dmg each when attacking a marine = 1.5 spit.
Gets rid of the frusration of babblers just kind of jumping around and not really doing anything, and makes them more useful than a Pres shield.
Early game I think there done now, gorges should start with them, or at least let the commander upgrade so the gorge can shield other players
Their viability has always been attached to the difficulty in deploying them on enemies as well as their slow speed.
Compare them to what they were inspired by:
And yes, I have played Half life 1 and 2, and know the inspiration, and they were implemented better there then in NS2.
Instead I think it should be implemented as a chargeable weapon that releases a swarm of 1-10 babblers. Tapping LMB would release 1 babbler. Holding LMB would gradually add babblers to the swarm. Once LMB is released, the gorge releases the swarm and takes an energy hit that's proportional to the size of the swarm.
The babblers then act according to what's around them: If there's anything marine, they attack; If there are any other aliens, they jump on; and if there's nothing around, they jump onto the gorge.
[EDIT] I wound up making a thread in the I&S forums for this suggestion: http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/135456/make-the-babblers-ability-chargeable
What if they stopped jumping to attack? Unless the target is a power node, simply have them run up and swarm around its feet/base, doing a steady amount of damage. Something small, but annoying none the less. Maybe like 6dmg per second; similar to lerk bites? It would take the delay and such out of the picture caused by the jumping attack and make babblers a more immediate "threat" though not threatening enough to be overly concerned with. Plus in large quantities, they could chew up buildings pretty nicely (9x6=54 dps). Then the tweakable thing is the run speed.
I like that Idea.
I'd like having control over them more with that.
Weapon4 puts the gorge into "Babbler Mode". Primary atack: chargable babbler belches; Secondary Atack: Baitball that flies like spit; Hold it to attach babblers to yourself (easier to use than current baitball)
The ai is a bit better so maybe that can help... but the hopping attacks they make are cartoonish.
The "Babbler Shield" feels rather like a gimmick. Umbra already fills the damage shield role and is more reliable. Although neither help against aliens' biggest bane: area damage (such as grenades).
Funny thing is, the gimmick is really its main use now. Shouldn't be, but is. I like the idea of babblers (well, the concept), but they seem like something that was only brought into the game out of nastalgia. Then abilities were created to try and make the babbler relevant to this game. Key word: try.
Increases offensive capability, AND gives an extra moment of teamwork and camaraderie. What's not to love?
Ff in comp would make this ability too op. If the explosion gave the marines any visual effect then it'd be troublesome.
Is the comp mod popular? I've always liked the idea of friendly fire, but I've gotten used to its absence. The comp mod will be sure to adapt one way or another, in any case.
I agree on the visual effect. Too much goo blindness would be not fun at all.
They're on biomass lvl 5 atm, since I revamped the biomass system aswell. I want to give webs more use. So they're on biomass lvl 2 and xenocide got pushed to lvl 9
Since they're on biomass lvl 5 marines have armor and maybe an advanced armory to counter the babblers quite easily, and do t forget, to attqck with babblers u basically need to hug the marine otherwise you will miss.
So double the the dmg, yeah i have tested it against a non moving marine, and he is easy to hit. I also tested against moving marines, and what a pain it is to hit them, qnd whats worse, of you miss just once, ur dead as a gorge already due to the damage ur taking from that marine, combined with the unhandyness of weapon slot 4 it will remain a rare thing to be used offensively. All they do is consume processing power on the server, and they do a lot.
without that, it seems almost impossible to get any meaningful hands-on experience that would help to judge if the rest of babbler mechanics are fine or not.
CDT Assemble!
Think. Of. Tha. POWAAHHH
Example: summit,
Say your a gorge in cross roads with a rine base sub. so you send your babblers to vent while you go to comp... When you see you babblers reach vent you count to 5 and then bile comp... 10 seconds latter the babblers die, but they served their purpose by pulling 1-2 rines out of sub and away from comp.
That's easy to fix.
1. Change babblers to float 1m above the ground.
2. User MAC/Drifter AI.
3. ???
4. profit