My questions and concerns about ns. for pts.
SonnyG007
Join Date: 2002-08-07 Member: 1092Members
Join Date: 2002-08-07 Member: 1092Members
<div class="IPBDescription">I think they havn't been answered.</div>Hi, I have a some questions and concerns about NS. Hope they don't sound too noobish.
1. How is the combat like. Is it like CS where the outcome of the battle is determined within the first half second. Or is it more like TFC, where combat is more relaxed and stratagy. Like in CS if you find someone with there back to you then your 98% going kill him but in TFC there's still a very good chance you could turn around and fight, or retreat and call for reinforcements. So is there going to be any use for a "I need backup!" command in NS. Because if it's like CS then by the time the commander could order backup the marine will either be dead or he would have already killed the alien.
2.Voting system. If there a crappy commander and you want to get rid of him how is the voting? Will it be a vgui menu like sven-coop or console command like CS. I think it should be a vgui popup because alot of people have no idea what a console is. I remember CS games where everyone knows a guy is cheating but getting everyone to type "kick llama" in the console is next to impossible.
3. Balancing issue. Is the game set up so the winner keeps winning and the loser keeps losing. Like say if the aliens somehow get all 3 hives. Is there any chance of the marines getting a foothold and winning the map? Or vice-versa? It's more suspenseful if the game could turn around at any moment. Like it isn't over until the fat lady sings. It wouldn't be fun if the winner of the game is deterimined in the first 5 minutes and the other 25 min is just cat and mouse with no chance for the losing team to come back.
4. Does the map change after every round or is it on a time limit? Server decides?
Thats about it for now. I thought up of some more but I can't remember them now. When they come back to me I'll post them. Thanks in advance.
1. How is the combat like. Is it like CS where the outcome of the battle is determined within the first half second. Or is it more like TFC, where combat is more relaxed and stratagy. Like in CS if you find someone with there back to you then your 98% going kill him but in TFC there's still a very good chance you could turn around and fight, or retreat and call for reinforcements. So is there going to be any use for a "I need backup!" command in NS. Because if it's like CS then by the time the commander could order backup the marine will either be dead or he would have already killed the alien.
2.Voting system. If there a crappy commander and you want to get rid of him how is the voting? Will it be a vgui menu like sven-coop or console command like CS. I think it should be a vgui popup because alot of people have no idea what a console is. I remember CS games where everyone knows a guy is cheating but getting everyone to type "kick llama" in the console is next to impossible.
3. Balancing issue. Is the game set up so the winner keeps winning and the loser keeps losing. Like say if the aliens somehow get all 3 hives. Is there any chance of the marines getting a foothold and winning the map? Or vice-versa? It's more suspenseful if the game could turn around at any moment. Like it isn't over until the fat lady sings. It wouldn't be fun if the winner of the game is deterimined in the first 5 minutes and the other 25 min is just cat and mouse with no chance for the losing team to come back.
4. Does the map change after every round or is it on a time limit? Server decides?
Thats about it for now. I thought up of some more but I can't remember them now. When they come back to me I'll post them. Thanks in advance.
Comments
2. There's a pop-up menu binded to mouse 2, made so perfect, you'll never have to learn any console commands, eva. And it's designed very purty, not some crappy boxes over each other.
3. The whole thing restart when a round is over.
4. When the round is over, the map changes.
I'm not a pt, but I'm pretty sure I've got it.
2. Not sure yet how this will work out. I have yet to see it in action during playtests.
3. Games can turn at any point. It can be tough for a losing team to come back - very tough sometimes - but it's almost always <i>possible</i>. There have been many instances where I was suprised by the outcome.
4. Server variable.
1. NS isn't a realism mod. All the player models have only 1 hitbox. However the outcome of a battle is probably determined by where the battle takes place. If the marines round a corner and find aliens waiting for them, they are going to get chopped to peices (aliens have devastating melee attacks). However if the marines know that the aliens are coming, they can set up (tripmines, sentires and such) and also retreat to get in position so they won't get chewed right at the outset. So I guess if you're an alien and you come up someone from behind, he's dead. If you're a marine and come up on an alien from behind, it all depends on the level of the alien and marine's gun/armor.
2. I assume voting is done from popup menu.
3. I'm not PT obviously... but read the "Tales from the frontlines" thread, there are quite alot of stories. E.G. the marines had barely any RPs, and facing a huge amount of aliens they still won... or where the aliens literally only had 1 builder left, and he managed to win the game by building a hive etc.
4. Rounds are pretty long so I think the map changes after it, but I'm not sure.
EDIT: AAARGH beaten to it
2. I believe the vote option is included in the heavily-used popup menu.
3. I've seen aliens win after losing all their hives, and I've seen marines win even after the aliens have gotten 3 hives online. It's infrequent, though. Basically, there's a level playing field, but with steep dropoffs at the edges. While a battle usually takes about a half-hour to be played out in its entirety, once one team clearly has the upper hand there's sort of a "slippery slope" to their victory.
This idea is mostly accomplished by the resource system - if your team has no nodes, you'll have few resources and won't be able to afford heavy weapons or high-level evolutions. The reason behind this is to prevent stalemates. Back when teams got resources for kills, a team backed into a corner could still hold out because of the RPs gained from killing enemy attackers. Now, if they have no nodes, they have no points - simple as that, and it keeps games from lasting longer than they should.
4. This is a server variable; the default time on one map is an hour. Games are never ended prematurely by a map change, though. What happens is that the game plays itself out; when the game ends and the players return to the readyroom, the server checks to see if the timer's expired. If it has, they play a new map. If not, they play the same map again. On average, you'll get 2 games per map; it works out very well.
-Khaim/Kai
P.S. if the aboot bit bothers you post or pm me, or just change it if your an admin.
Damn I've got a big mouth. <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo-->
/me looks at coil's post
/me looks at Khaim's... <b>OH WAIT, YOU DIDN'T ANSWER HIS QUESTIONS DID YOU?</b>
Oh, so I'm not good enough huh???
# OF POSTS SHOULDN'T MATTER!!!
HELP, <b>I'M BEING OPPRESSED</b>
lmao
lmao<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
And yet, his answers were still better than yours...
Yes, I admit I'm not a pt/dev.. DRR... and yes his replies were better.
I'd put NS right in between TFC and CS personaly. There are times when you can kill someone who isnt paying attention practically any time and there are firefights that last well into minutes.
One minute may not seem like much, but it deffinatly is when you've got things trying to destroy you on the other end attacking for that full minute.
I think I even remember a few fights that may have lasted as long as 15 strait minutes ...
<!--emo&:0--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':0'><!--endemo-->
"2. Not sure yet how this will work out. I have yet to see it in action during playtests."
Im sorry, but when a developer says that he doesnt know the answer to something as important and potentially abused as this, I get worried.
Im sure it's not an issue but at this point it is important to try to poke as many holes as we can, in my opinion.
Relic is a mapper, not a coder. It's not his responsibility to know the ins and outs of the Commander kick system... that's Flayra's arena. And it works fine, trust me.
Really not trying to be an ###. Just want to get my point across.
<!--EDIT|Flayra|Oct. 10 2002,12:07-->
Just drop it. I think the people currently PLAYING the game care even more than you.
Well, seeing as its been a closed Beta Test, aside from deliberatly testing the commander kick option, I doubt it's been used. I doubt very much they recuited members of [myg0t] specificly to test out their kick code <!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo-->
And with 70+ (I belive) playtesters, it's entirly conceviable Mr. Relic wasn't present during any of those test times.
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->Yes, yes, and no. 32-players will probably not be a recommended configuration due to gameplay constraints.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't think I've ever played a game in any HL mod, or any game period that went well with 32 players. Most scenarios/maps are two small to accomodate that many people comfortably, and as a result most games just degenerate into deathmatch chaos, a style of play I truly despise. Even you CS kiddies have to admit that the game gets even more pointless with more that 10 players per side.
From what I've seen of NS, and any HL mod I've ever played, and ideal server limit is usually 16 players. Gives you enough personel to mount both an effective defense and offense, if its required by the mod. Tho I have heard it mentioned that NS servers should be run in odd numbers, with the extra player slot going to the marines, to balance the fact that the commander isn't actually out there killing the aliens.
<i>goes back to watching the alien anthology</i>
So settle down. There's a voting system, and I trust that it works. You should too.
rofl