Parasite Burn-Out

schkorpio

<div class="IPBDescription">upgrade to parasite</div>this is an upgrade which must be researched by the commander

EDITed:


Once researched, a skulk can parasite a marine- THEN the hive commander(not the skulk) can then activate the burn out ability on the parasite in the marine.

This makes the parasite die from over exhaustion, but it makes the marine drop his current weapon from the pain. (maybe even does 5 damage)

requires commander energy





Adds to teamplay, and has a similar purpose as a stun ability, without the annoyingness of being stunned :)

McGlaspie

Ugh. Anything that triggers a player to involuntarily perform a self-f**king action is not a good idea. It doesn't mean the Parasite/Comm combo is lost though. Why not just switch it to do some kind of damage or something simple along the same lines. Forcing a player to drop their weapon would be some seriously bad mojo.

wulf

<!--quoteo(post=1825839:date=Jan 20 2011, 06:44 PM:name=McGlaspie)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (McGlaspie @ Jan 20 2011, 06:44 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1825839"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Ugh. Anything that triggers a player to involuntarily perform a self-f**king action is not a good idea. It doesn't mean the Parasite/Comm combo is lost though. Why not just switch it to do some kind of damage or something simple along the same lines. Forcing a player to drop their weapon would be some seriously bad mojo.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


Agreed. Things like stomp/stun/shaky camera really don't add to atmosphere and reality but just piss me off and make me realize i'm playing a ###### game. =D

twiliteblue

@schkorpio: I came up with the same idea when I was brainstorming for the secondary attack of Parasite (detonate & remove parasite for damage). Stuns, on the other hand, can ruin fun in FPS, especially in a fast paced game like NS2. Stuns worked in games like L4D because the units have higher health.

Heroman117

I would hate an ability like that, you would know your parasited and know that the alien commander could strip you at any time, not a fun mechanic, would just get annoying and wouldn't add any real strategy, just harass marines at most, which would be more frustrating than effective. something like applying damage would be better.

McGlaspie

After thinking about this a little bit more, it made me ask: "Why can't there be combinations between alien abilities and commander actions?"

The OP's original idea isn't that balanced however, the basic premise is still sound. I'm not sure on any kind of specifics, but this concept (alien abilities + commander actions) could open a way for new mechanisms to be folded in and a means for the Alien Commanders to spend their Plasma. Oops, I mean personal resources.

I think the underlying concept deserves another look. There has got to be at least a few things that could be done this way. Then again, UW may already have plans for the Alien Commander's <strike>Plasma</strike> personal resources to be used (Phantasms comes to mind).

pSyk0mAn

I like the purpose of the idea but not its effect.

Being parasited is already a disadvantage.
I can imagine some kind of tradeoff where the parasite causes some damage, when triggered by the commander, in order to help aliens kill the marine with one less bite/slash, but after that and if aliens fail to kill the marine, the parasite is gone and commander energy wasted.
Depending on how easy it is to parasite marines, energy cost should be higher to make it a rare action, because it would be frustrating for marines.
Could be a nice counter to jetpacks though.

McGlaspie

I think something more along the lines of an EMP effect would be appropriate. So, when the comm "cashes in" the parasite, the Marine's HUD get's scrambled/flickers for X amount of time. This would effectively turn-off ammo counters, Mini-map, HP and Armor, etc for a short time. This could provide assistance for aliens trying to ambush a Marine. And if this was done to a group of marines, it would be even more effective.

schkorpio

<!--quoteo(post=1825883:date=Jan 21 2011, 06:40 PM:name=Heroman117)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Heroman117 @ Jan 21 2011, 06:40 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1825883"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I would hate an ability like that, you would know your parasited and know that the alien commander could strip you at any time, not a fun mechanic, would just get annoying and wouldn't add any real strategy, just harass marines at most, which would be more frustrating than effective. something like applying damage would be better.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Of course it adds strategy, it'll be in the aliens best interest to parasite as many marines as possible before they come into a hive - then the commander can try and "disarm" them at the right point (just as they storm into the room) and the aliens can then counter attack.


I don't think it would be frustrating at all its only dropping your main gun - which means your pistol would automatically come out, and you can pick your gun back up as soon as it hits the ground - it just disrupts an attack if done right., and there is nothing stopping the marines from running away - you aren't actually stunned.


also can't you get rid of parasite by going to the armoury?


i thought about it doing damage, but i think its even lamer that a commander could damage you, and potentially insta kill you if you are already on low health - which is why disarm is a good option.

edit: yes the EMP effect is a great idea :)
i guess you could do other things instead of disarm - like make the marine shoot the weapon to force a reload or have the marine drop all spare ammo.


edit 2: actually i've got a good one - make it so that the marine takes additional damage - or deals less damage for a short duration (5-10 seconds) while the parasite is "burning out"

TheSlim

Off Topic: anyone else thought the title of this post was "paradise burnout" ?