Balance

Shuvit_ViperShuvit_Viper Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 62Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Is it good right now?</div>ok. Im not a playtester, so i would not know. But, isn't the game very unbalanced? I thought of this lately. We know, there are about 2-3 marines needed to kill a alien (at least the better ones).
You could think, the marines have teamplay, the aliens not. But what if the alien -do- get teamplay? In cs, there is no commander mode, but teamplay (at least in good games) there is. The team cooperates, although there is no commander. Wouldn't be the alien team unstoppable if they teamplay? If there are 4 aliens (2x lev4, lev3 and lev5) on a rush, there would be 8-12 marines needed to stop this rush. So, if there would be two 4-alien teams rushing, the marines just cannot stop them.

Is the game balanced? or isnt it?

Comments

  • lazygamerlazygamer Join Date: 2002-01-28 Member: 126Members
    Hard to say. I think the KEY is to give aliens there own damage zones. So you can slow them down by hitting them in the limbs, or do more severe damage by hitting them in a certain area. Aliens can each have totally diffrent "vital" zones, so knowing where to hit X species helps. Of course hitting them ANYWHERE still goes a long way.

    The reasoning is that a REALLY skilled player would represent a really skilled marine. OMG it's a BOB! Ok X area is extra damage, Y area is super extra damage! DIE BOB MOFO! <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->

    Of course the alien "headshot" would be far less damaging then a human headshot.

    Perhaps in the manual there is an anatomy diagram for each species. I think that would be very cool.
  • Nemesis_ZeroNemesis_Zero Old European Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 75Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Constellation
    More than anything else it would force players to learn the game by heart, which is no good thing IMAO.

    The key element most people keep forgetting when thinking about balancing issues is that marines can build some pretty snazzy structures.
    Granted, should a marine scouting team fall into the fangs of the described alien pack, they would most certainly die.
    However, if the same marines had set up a little base with some turrets nearby and could fall back there, the aliens would be in enormous trouble.
  • MoleculorMoleculor Namer-of-Bob Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 9Members
    Ya'd think so, wouldn't ya? But in all honesty, things are pretty balanced. You can't say (at the moment) Team X wins more than Team Y.
  • XTS_HighlanderXTS_Highlander Join Date: 2002-04-13 Member: 429Members
    Well of course NS has withstood the numerous playtests thus far (with many a tweak and a polish) but the real test will come when it is released.  When version 1 hits the file mirrors, we'll see for sure whether this mod is balanced or not.  Then, and only then, will we actually know.
  • KheldarKheldar Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 64Members
    and plz find som good time for us in europe too... the most games that r released over the internet r released like 2 in morning over here... but of course some extreme fans might stay up but the most wont...so plz try
  • Shuvit_ViperShuvit_Viper Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 62Members
    i will stay up for NS... definatly...
    damn i would stay up only to playtest...
  • GraheimGraheim Join Date: 2002-04-02 Member: 375Members
    Hell, I live in Boston and I'M planning on staying up 'till the wee hours of the morning to get this mod.  I imagine there's going to be a serious drain on server capacities to download this mod.  A lot of people are going to want this.
  • coilcoil Amateur pirate. Professional monkey. All pance. Join Date: 2002-04-12 Member: 424Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    Builder rush!  Builder rush!!!
  • Hida_TsuzuaHida_Tsuzua Lamarck&#39;s Heir Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 79Members, NS1 Playtester
    Need fast downloads and no lines!

    Anyways, something I've been wondering about is where to the playtesters get the game?  Does Flayra attach it to an e-mail or is there a sercet page here that you could download it from?
  • MoleculorMoleculor Namer-of-Bob Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 9Members
    He shipped the first copy to us on a CD with the installer passworded with a password based off of our own personal DNA. We had to encode our own personal DNA with a blood sample taken at the time of the install just to get it to install. The game then downloads patches as they come out (about one every weekend), some of which require photographs of our teeth, or retinal-scans just to unlock.
  • CuerzoCuerzo Join Date: 2002-04-29 Member: 546Members
    I heard you can even unlock the secret alien level 6 if you do 200000 points in a map playing with your feet while juggling with oranges and singing "500 green bottles" from beginning to end.
  • FlayraFlayra Game Director, Unknown Worlds Entertainment San Francisco Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 3Super Administrators, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
    Interesting thought Shuvit.

    Actually, I don't believe coordination, play-style or teamwork can be taken into account to balance.  I think the game needs to be balanced assuming both sides are playing their best.

    There is definitely some wiggle room here though.  It's kind of like cs_assault, where people say "Oh, it's balanced if the CTs all work together", but it's not otherwise.  We'll just have to find out!

    Good one Mole.  Sorry Hiro, details about the playtest build are supa-secret.  For shame! ;)
  • realityisdeadrealityisdead Employed by Raven Software after making ns_nothing Join Date: 2002-01-26 Member: 94Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    <!--QuoteBegin--Moleculor+May 02 2002,15:17--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (Moleculor @ May 02 2002,15:17)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->He shipped the first copy to us on a CD with the installer passworded with a password based off of our own personal DNA. We had to encode our own personal DNA with a blood sample taken at the time of the install just to get it to install.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Stupid needles.

    /me rubs his arm.
  • GreedoGreedo Bounty Hunter Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 37Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    What?  You got a needle?  Oh man, all I got was sandpaper.
  • KilltoyKilltoy Join Date: 2002-03-28 Member: 358Members
    <!--emo&???--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='???'><!--endemo-->
    Am I the only one that had to be subjected to a spinal tap to make sure my nervous system was up to the NS experience?

    I still can't sit on the can without some pain...
  • Shuvit_ViperShuvit_Viper Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 62Members
    i believe you can download the playtest build from a supa secret readyroom location... then, when you update you have to have the right registry keys to update. When you autoupdate and download the playtest build it cannot install... you must ask MonsE about the registry details.
    Maybe the playtesters just download the NSTR2 and get a reg editor somewhere which easily adds those keys... then you can auto-update easily...
  • Spyder_MonkeySpyder_Monkey Vampire-Ninja-Monkey Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 8Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    <!--QuoteBegin--Killtoy+May 02 2002,15:42--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (Killtoy @ May 02 2002,15:42)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin--><!--emo&???--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='???'><!--endemo-->
    Am I the only one that had to be subjected to a spinal tap to make sure my nervous system was up to the NS experience?

    I still can't sit on the can without some pain...<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    No, KT, you're not. I haven't seen anyone else mention having to give MonsE a urinalysis in person though. <!--emo&:(--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':('><!--endemo-->

    Shuvit, methinks you can speculate all you want, but never find anything. <!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo-->
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