I have come up with a few buffs the Gorge could administer to allies, tell me what you think.
Gorge Buffs are divided into two categories; Administered buffs: which function like heal spray, requiring the Gorge to constantly apply the buff, and wears off after a period of time if the Gorge stops. Can only effect one unit at a time and has opposite effect on enemies. Charged buffs: is an A.O.E ability and needs to be charged before use, causing the gorge to curl into a ball. The longer it is charged, the more energy that is used; this results with a larger A.O.E and more potency (lasts longer). Buffs cannot be stacked, nor can Gorges use them on themselves, Charged buffs need the energy bar to be half full at least to be used again, and Gorges can only equip themselves with one. (this dose not apply for Heal spray).
Administered buffs:
Reinforced carapace: Increases an allies damage resistance in the form of an extra layer of armour, up to 100% of the targets original amount (double). This extra layer of protection is unique because it completely absorbs all damage, the underlying health and original armour are left unscathed. Gradually depletes when Gorge stops administering the buff (? units per second on infestation, ? units per second on normal ground) and can not be replenished by Heal spray or Crags, only when a Gorge continues to administer the buff. Marines affected by this ability suffer up to -X% damage resistance, Gorges also suffer a -X% damage resistance when using this ability.
Rage (similar to frenzy): Increases an allies attack strength in correlation to it's health, 100%-70% health = X% damage increase, 69%-30% health = X% damage increase, 29%-1% health = X% damage increase, also decrease in health causes an increase in movement and attack speed at the cost of faster energy consumption. The longer a Gorge administers Rage, the longer an ally is under it's influence when Rage is not being implemented (? seconds maximum). Life forms buffed with Rage cannot be healed by Crags or infestation until it's effects have worn of completely. Marines infected with this ability experience minor fatigue and up to a -X% damage reduction, Gorges using this ability suffer a -X% movement reduction.
Charged buffs:
Hyper-metabolism: An ability that needs to be charged first at the cost of energy, the longer it is charged the larger and more potent the outcome. Causes brief, infinite energy for any aliens caught in the A.O.E along with increased movement and attack speed, these decrease as the buff wears off. Can last up to ? seconds and size of the A.O.E depends on charge time. Dose not affect marines, Gorges suffer a -X% energy recharge rate when using this ability. If charged fully (depleting all of the Gorges energy) The effects last up to ? seconds but the Gorge suffers a -X% energy recharge rate. Aliens that have been affected with this ability cannot be supported by any other buff until a ? second cool down time has past after the initial effects have warn off, this dose not apply for Heal spray.
Primal Might: An ability that needs to be charged first at the cost of energy, the longer it is charged the larger and more potent the outcome. Causes brief, invulnerability for any aliens caught in the A.O.E, any damage inflicted onto an invulnerable life form is ignored until the buff wears off (in which all the damage is applied at once).Can last up to ? seconds and size of the A.O.E depends on charge time. Dose not affect marines, Gorges suffer X% damage and slight movement impermanent when using this ability. If charged fully (depleting all of the Gorges energy) The effects last up to ? seconds but the Gorge is killed out right. Aliens that have been affected with this ability cannot be healed or supported by any other buff until a ? second cool down time has past after the initial effects have warn off, this applies for Heal spray, Crags and infestation.
Gorges alt-fire to Heal spray could be to curl into a ball and self heal, also heal spray shouldn't damage marines but impede them somehow such as partially obscuring their vision, cool down times and percentages can change, what do you all think?
i don't think the Gorge should be a spellcaster. but since this is a Beta, i personally don't see why the team can just make a "gorge week". once per week, the Gorge changes to a different type of build and we just test them
<!--quoteo(post=1852401:date=Jun 13 2011, 08:09 PM:name=Chris0132)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chris0132 @ Jun 13 2011, 08:09 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1852401"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Gorges build the only long range alien defensive structure, they are far more effective healing than a crag, they are mobile so they can push an attack, they can accelerate structure growth making it much easier to drop forward healing areas for aliens, they can drop defenses on the front line very easily, they greatly enhance other players with their aforementioned healing and defensive structures, they are getting a siege weapon, they already have spit and heal spray, and they're available right from the start.
So gorges can build stuff, spread infestation, heal people, attack bases, and generally provide light fire support with spit if they aren't needed to do anything else.
As opposed to skulks, which, er, bite stuff?
And lerks, which shoot spikes at stuff.
Or fades, which hit stuff.
Gorges have far more to them than any of the other classes, certainly in terms of discrete abilities they are packed to the gills. The interesting thing about all of their abilities is that they work much better in combination with other aliens, gorges healing makes other aliens much tougher, as a distraction they can help skulks immensely, their infestation can help players track enemies, their hydras are far far far more effective when supported by commander structures and infestation or other players, and they can accelerate commander building. Bile bomb will be effective against structures but the gorge needs other units to distract the defenders. It's really an excellent class in design.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Transcribed from another thread, but nicely sums up how I feel about the gorge, and why I really don't think it needs any more gimmicks.
<!--quoteo(post=1854542:date=Jun 19 2011, 12:14 PM:name=devak)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (devak @ Jun 19 2011, 12:14 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1854542"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->i don't think the Gorge should be a spellcaster. but since this is a Beta, i personally don't see why the team can just make a "gorge week". once per week, the Gorge changes to a different type of build and we just test them<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
twilitebluebug stalkerJoin Date: 2003-02-04Member: 13116Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
edited June 2011
Gorge week sounds fun! I think Umbra would be a great ability on the Gorge. It is currently not too useful on the Crag, due to its limited area and high energy cost, not to mention it is completely ineffective against grenades, flamethrowers, or the ARC.
If Gorges are also able to cast Umbra, it would make them more fun to play.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Transcribed from another thread, but nicely sums up how I feel about the gorge, and why I really don't think it needs any more gimmicks.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
it's true that the Gorge is more versatile. but the Lerk is a support combat which is a crowd controller and a sniper in one. the Skulk is a basic fighter unit and has little place IMHO in a fade-era game. the Fade is basically the one unit which the entire game revolves around. can the Aliens get the Fade, then their success is like 75%. if they can not, it goes to like 25%. Fades are a crucial milestone, because they are so fast and deadly.
the Gorge can build hydras, but those are not really effective against a marine with a nade launcher. they can't really handle intelligent play. useful, but not game-changing IMHO. they can heal, but any proper marine defence focuses on those nasty Gorges. nades and flame throwers easily kill them.
the Gorge has some use, yes but it's not crucial within the game itself.
i think the Gorge should be a builder first and foremost, in a role much more focused on territory control.
which is why i'd propose the Gorge creating Eggs and building siege bombs and building Oozers.
As I said, they all work well in support of other aliens. Ultimately this is important because the point of the game is players vs players, not players vs buildings.
<!--quoteo(post=1854938:date=Jun 21 2011, 03:53 AM:name=devak)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (devak @ Jun 21 2011, 03:53 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1854938"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->it's true that the Gorge is more versatile. but the Lerk is a support combat which is a crowd controller and a sniper in one. the Skulk is a basic fighter unit and has little place IMHO in a fade-era game. the Fade is basically the one unit which the entire game revolves around. can the Aliens get the Fade, then their success is like 75%. if they can not, it goes to like 25%. Fades are a crucial milestone, because they are so fast and deadly.
the Gorge can build hydras, but those are not really effective against a marine with a nade launcher. they can't really handle intelligent play. useful, but not game-changing IMHO. they can heal, but any proper marine defence focuses on those nasty Gorges. nades and flame throwers easily kill them.
the Gorge has some use, yes but it's not crucial within the game itself.
i think the Gorge should be a builder first and foremost, in a role much more focused on territory control.
which is why i'd propose the Gorge creating Eggs and building siege bombs and building Oozers.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Look, if we removed or buffed up the wazoo all non-"crucial" things, NS2 would look more like every other generic shooter out there.
One skulk will never win a game all by his lonesome. He's not meant to. A Fade is indeed a force to be reckoned with, but the high cost ensures it is used when it is meant to be used.
I've won plenty of games where we went up against fades. They're not invincible.
As for the gorge, I do believe it's utility in the late game leaves much to be desired, but it shouldn't become some engineer or demoman type class.
It's a friggin gorge and will always be a gorge. Don't see him much on the front lines, cause that's not where he's meant to be. Now if you do some raiding on the hive, that's where you should start spotting gorges and there should be some stuff related to delaying a marine advance long enough for the cavalry to arrive.
- Oozers are pretty much a crag that has a spore attack, which is extremely redundant seeing as that's the lerk's signature weapon. Their role, area denial, is pretty much the whip's job description (and maybe soon the cerebi, if that idea sticks). Hydras would be used far more often than a crag with spore.
- Burblebomb: TF2 cart, anyone? I'd like to say "Oh god no" and just purge my brain of it, but it might make for an interesting game mode. Marines have to push a nuke across the map, while aliens have the... well, an organic bomb a la banelings from Starcraft 2. No, I don't like the name "Burblebomb." At all. But like I said, I wouldn't complain if it was used in a game mode. In regular NS2, it just wouldn't work. Be a real b**** to keep marines from destroying it before it got near em.
- Egg making: Way way back in 2007, there was a game called Quake Wars with a similar feature. You could put machines on dead enemies that would become respawn points. Now, where Quake Wars made it dependent on you finding a dead body to begin with and being able to hook him up after and have it in a place where you wouldn't be torn to shreds should you respawn there, your idea just has gorges spamming eggs that can be shotgunned rather easily and would likely be in places that aren't very good for anyone wanting to evolve into a lerk or fade or onos. It isn't that hard for aliens to zoom across the map in a short amount of time. Aliens don't need to spawn outside of the hive. Ever.
The real problem with the gorge is that it's main purpose has been taken over by the commander. It doesn't need to change into something that isn't a gorge, there just needs to be a separation between what the alien commander is responsible for and what the gorge is responsible for. Gorge has medic and turret duties right now. It could do other things, but they really have to be based on what gorge gameplay actually is.
It might just have to be that gorges are basically field commanders, using personal resources instead of team resources. Or they could have special interactions with buildings that make them vital for defense. (Let's just say, for the hell of it, that one of these interactions would be that they hop inside a crag and a bunch of hydras pop out and the gorge is able to shoot at marines with them. That's what I mean there, though of course the idea isn't perfect.)
If you're going to add anything to the gorge, just remember that you can't take anything away from the commander (or, at least, not too much) and you can't make gorge an offensive class.
The Gorge are a defensive support class. They heal, they build, they annoy marines who enter the hive. That's pretty much gorge gameplay and anything outside of that isn't a good idea for gorge gameplay. That's just how it has to be.
Actually gorges are very good on the front lines, they provide mobile healing, fire support, and siege attacks. It's probably their strongest role, hive defence also works but good frontline gorging can remove the need for it and also help the attack.
<!--quoteo(post=1855283:date=Jun 21 2011, 11:46 PM:name=Chris0132)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chris0132 @ Jun 21 2011, 11:46 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1855283"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Actually gorges are very good on the front lines, they provide mobile healing, fire support, and siege attacks. It's probably their strongest role, hive defence also works but good frontline gorging can remove the need for it and also help the attack.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Well, by "front lines," I mean getting in the marine's faces and killing them dead.
They're surprisingly good at that too actually, healspray is really easy to hit with. It's pretty funny watching a gorge bounce around like a big green rubber piggy and killing marines with deadly halitosis.
They aren't good in direct combat but catch a marine unawares or with other aliens and you can probably get a kill out of it.
But even without that, gorges are definitely front line units, they are very good when you mix them with other aliens doing the attacking, marines often consider them low priority targets because they don't seem that dangerous, but actually they make other aliens a lot more dangerous.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I've won plenty of games where we went up against fades. They're not invincible.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
hence why i said 75% chance of success. but IMHO they are game changers.
twilitebluebug stalkerJoin Date: 2003-02-04Member: 13116Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
Mark my words, come next patch, if Skulk leap is disabled until the completion of 2nd Hive, you *will* see more frontline battle Gorges. I will be one of them. =D
Well, don't mistake the nerfing of one class to be the buffing of another.
However, I do like the idea of battle gorges, just not mini-onos that build things, which is really what Devak was on about. Rather than seeing a general buff, why not some unique upgrades for the gorge.
Increased resources when hydras get kills. Increased damage (to spit, not heal spray) after you've healed another teammate. Or spit poisoning marines for a period of time.
I think it would be cool for Gorge players to "choose their path" so to speak. The overall game experience could change depending on what abilities players choose before evolving into a class. So some players could choose to be a Gorge that buffs allies, impede marines and damage buildings (Bile Bomb), causing players to move near or onto the front lines, while other players could choose to be able to build structures and traps (Hydras, Cerberi, Mines, Oozers. etc) causing them to hang further back and support the commander more instead of helping with the assault. This way Gorges remain a potential "Jack of all trades" class, and makes them more fun. All alien classes could have a couple evolution paths that center around their core function and they can change from one to the other if wanted, or combine somewhat. A gorge could be able to drop "Oozers", "Cerberi" and have the "Primal might" buff, making him a combination of both paths but not being amazing with either. Just a stupid idea I came up with, probably not going to be liked but oh well.
<!--quoteo(post=1856477:date=Jun 26 2011, 05:39 AM:name=SomeMiceDrinkingTea)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SomeMiceDrinkingTea @ Jun 26 2011, 05:39 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1856477"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I think it would be cool for Gorge players to "choose their path" so to speak. The overall game experience could change depending on what abilities players choose before evolving into a class. So some players could choose to be a Gorge that buffs allies, impede marines and damage buildings (Bile Bomb), causing players to move near or onto the front lines, while other players could choose to be able to build structures and traps (Hydras, Cerberi, Mines, Oozers. etc) causing them to hang further back and support the commander more instead of helping with the assault. This way Gorges remain a potential "Jack of all trades" class, and makes them more fun. All alien classes could have a couple evolution paths that center around their core function and they can change from one to the other if wanted, or combine somewhat. A gorge could be able to drop "Oozers", "Cerberi" and have the "Primal might" buff, making him a combination of both paths but not being amazing with either. Just a stupid idea I came up with, probably not going to be liked but oh well.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I for one like the idea of having "battle gorge," "medic gorge," and "engineer gorge" as three separate paths.
While at first, you'd be a generic "jack of all trades, master of none" gorge, but as you get more personal res and more research is completed, you can specialize yourself at the cost of not being able to do tasks belonging to other roles.
So a "battle gorge" would trade a heal spray for a more deadly toxic spray, while a "medic gorge" would gain a more effective heal spray that doesn't work on alien buildings or the marines. "Engineer gorge" would have a heal spray that is only good for repairing alien structures.
And so on and so forth.
While the current upgrade interface isn't very good for this kind of stuff, it wouldn't be that hard to give the gorge their own tech tree menu. For marines, this tech tree menu would show what has or hasn't been researched yet, giving them a better idea of what's available at armories and what situations are too big for them to take on.
<!--quoteo(post=1856817:date=Jun 28 2011, 12:22 AM:name=SgtHydra)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SgtHydra @ Jun 28 2011, 12:22 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1856817"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->"Engineer gorge" would have a heal spray that is only good for repairing alien structures.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
He should also be able to equip several mechanical arms that pick up the weapons of fallen marines and use them. mecha-gorge!
and i think he have to get points for healing or get points if the fade/ skulk makes a kill in the next to 2-5 secs after being healed from gorge ;) like the medic in "team fortress 2". Because when you play gorge you don't get many kills and that a bit of frustrating (for gorge beginners) - the only thing that you get is "respect" from other players in form of :,,thx mate!" and i am sick of healing Fades and then build hydras because when don't do heal fades first they will call you a noob/badass AND after i healed them i get NOTHING! BTW the belly slide has to be changed i don't know how but i think it must be a more useful.
twilitebluebug stalkerJoin Date: 2003-02-04Member: 13116Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
<!--quoteo(post=1857760:date=Jul 3 2011, 02:51 AM:name=Papayas)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Papayas @ Jul 3 2011, 02:51 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1857760"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><b><u>The Gorge should be able to: </u></b> Make Sturctures grow faster. <b>Make people gestating evolve faster.</b><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I'd like that. Waiting half a minute to evolve to Fade is no fun... I imagine the Onos will take even longer...
<!--quoteo(post=1857762:date=Jul 3 2011, 04:25 AM:name=[GER]TheLemonBoy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE ([GER]TheLemonBoy @ Jul 3 2011, 04:25 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1857762"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> and i think he have to get points for healing or get points if the fade/ skulk makes a kill in the next to 2-5 secs after being healed from gorge ;) like the medic in "team fortress 2". Because when you play gorge you don't get many kills and that a bit of frustrating (for gorge beginners) - the only thing that you get is "respect" from other players in form of :,,thx mate!" and i am sick of healing Fades and then build hydras because when don't do heal fades first they will call you a noob/badass AND after i healed them i get NOTHING! BTW the belly slide has to be changed i don't know how but i think it must be a more useful.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Gorge Ubercharge! =P
I do like the idea of rewards for assisting (damaging enemies/healing allies) for Marines as well as Kharaa.
I don't know if this is really in character for the gorge, but it would be awesome to have some sort of acid spewing style attack, IE the alien flame thrower, that would: A: Put out burning friendlies and enemies hit by it. B: Douse the enemy in acid, obscuring their vision and dealing damage over time, granted, it wouldn't be as powerful as the flame thrower. C: Slick the floor, causing enemies standing in it slide and take damage and allowing you to belly slide across it quickly
Alternatively, instead of doing damage it could slow down enemies in a gross mucus web or something.
Comments
Gorge Buffs are divided into two categories; Administered buffs: which function like heal spray, requiring the Gorge to constantly apply the buff, and wears off after a period of time if the Gorge stops. Can only effect one unit at a time and has opposite effect on enemies. Charged buffs: is an A.O.E ability and needs to be charged before use, causing the gorge to curl into a ball. The longer it is charged, the more energy that is used; this results with a larger A.O.E and more potency (lasts longer). Buffs cannot be stacked, nor can Gorges use them on themselves, Charged buffs need the energy bar to be half full at least to be used again, and Gorges can only equip themselves with one. (this dose not apply for Heal spray).
Administered buffs:
Reinforced carapace: Increases an allies damage resistance in the form of an extra layer of armour, up to 100% of the targets original amount (double). This extra layer of protection is unique because it completely absorbs all damage, the underlying health and original armour are left unscathed. Gradually depletes when Gorge stops administering the buff (? units per second on infestation, ? units per second on normal ground) and can not be replenished by Heal spray or Crags, only when a Gorge continues to administer the buff. Marines affected by this ability suffer up to -X% damage resistance, Gorges also suffer a -X% damage resistance when using this ability.
Rage (similar to frenzy): Increases an allies attack strength in correlation to it's health, 100%-70% health = X% damage increase, 69%-30% health = X% damage increase, 29%-1% health = X% damage increase, also decrease in health causes an increase in movement and attack speed at the cost of faster energy consumption. The longer a Gorge administers Rage, the longer an ally is under it's influence when Rage is not being implemented (? seconds maximum). Life forms buffed with Rage cannot be healed by Crags or infestation until it's effects have worn of completely. Marines infected with this ability experience minor fatigue and up to a -X% damage reduction, Gorges using this ability suffer a -X% movement reduction.
Charged buffs:
Hyper-metabolism: An ability that needs to be charged first at the cost of energy, the longer it is charged the larger and more potent the outcome. Causes brief, infinite energy for any aliens caught in the A.O.E along with increased movement and attack speed, these decrease as the buff wears off.
Can last up to ? seconds and size of the A.O.E depends on charge time. Dose not affect marines, Gorges suffer a -X% energy recharge rate when using this ability. If charged fully (depleting all of the Gorges energy) The effects last up to ? seconds but the Gorge suffers a -X% energy recharge rate. Aliens that have been affected with this ability cannot be supported by any other buff until a ? second cool down time has past after the initial effects have warn off, this dose not apply for Heal spray.
Primal Might: An ability that needs to be charged first at the cost of energy, the longer it is charged the larger and more potent the outcome. Causes brief, invulnerability for any aliens caught in the A.O.E, any damage inflicted onto an invulnerable life form is ignored until the buff wears off (in which all the damage is applied at once).Can last up to ? seconds and size of the A.O.E depends on charge time. Dose not affect marines, Gorges suffer X% damage and slight movement impermanent when using this ability. If charged fully (depleting all of the Gorges energy) The effects last up to ? seconds but the Gorge is killed out right. Aliens that have been affected with this ability cannot be healed or supported by any other buff until a ? second cool down time has past after the initial effects have warn off, this applies for Heal spray, Crags and infestation.
Gorges alt-fire to Heal spray could be to curl into a ball and self heal, also heal spray shouldn't damage marines but impede them somehow such as partially obscuring their vision, cool down times and percentages can change, what do you all think?
So gorges can build stuff, spread infestation, heal people, attack bases, and generally provide light fire support with spit if they aren't needed to do anything else.
As opposed to skulks, which, er, bite stuff?
And lerks, which shoot spikes at stuff.
Or fades, which hit stuff.
Gorges have far more to them than any of the other classes, certainly in terms of discrete abilities they are packed to the gills. The interesting thing about all of their abilities is that they work much better in combination with other aliens, gorges healing makes other aliens much tougher, as a distraction they can help skulks immensely, their infestation can help players track enemies, their hydras are far far far more effective when supported by commander structures and infestation or other players, and they can accelerate commander building. Bile bomb will be effective against structures but the gorge needs other units to distract the defenders. It's really an excellent class in design.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Transcribed from another thread, but nicely sums up how I feel about the gorge, and why I really don't think it needs any more gimmicks.
I'm game.
If Gorges are also able to cast Umbra, it would make them more fun to play.
it's true that the Gorge is more versatile. but the Lerk is a support combat which is a crowd controller and a sniper in one. the Skulk is a basic fighter unit and has little place IMHO in a fade-era game. the Fade is basically the one unit which the entire game revolves around. can the Aliens get the Fade, then their success is like 75%. if they can not, it goes to like 25%. Fades are a crucial milestone, because they are so fast and deadly.
the Gorge can build hydras, but those are not really effective against a marine with a nade launcher. they can't really handle intelligent play. useful, but not game-changing IMHO. they can heal, but any proper marine defence focuses on those nasty Gorges. nades and flame throwers easily kill them.
the Gorge has some use, yes but it's not crucial within the game itself.
i think the Gorge should be a builder first and foremost, in a role much more focused on territory control.
which is why i'd propose the Gorge creating Eggs and building siege bombs and building Oozers.
the Gorge can build hydras, but those are not really effective against a marine with a nade launcher. they can't really handle intelligent play. useful, but not game-changing IMHO. they can heal, but any proper marine defence focuses on those nasty Gorges. nades and flame throwers easily kill them.
the Gorge has some use, yes but it's not crucial within the game itself.
i think the Gorge should be a builder first and foremost, in a role much more focused on territory control.
which is why i'd propose the Gorge creating Eggs and building siege bombs and building Oozers.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Look, if we removed or buffed up the wazoo all non-"crucial" things, NS2 would look more like every other generic shooter out there.
One skulk will never win a game all by his lonesome. He's not meant to. A Fade is indeed a force to be reckoned with, but the high cost ensures it is used when it is meant to be used.
I've won plenty of games where we went up against fades. They're not invincible.
As for the gorge, I do believe it's utility in the late game leaves much to be desired, but it shouldn't become some engineer or demoman type class.
It's a friggin gorge and will always be a gorge. Don't see him much on the front lines, cause that's not where he's meant to be. Now if you do some raiding on the hive, that's where you should start spotting gorges and there should be some stuff related to delaying a marine advance long enough for the cavalry to arrive.
- Oozers are pretty much a crag that has a spore attack, which is extremely redundant seeing as that's the lerk's signature weapon. Their role, area denial, is pretty much the whip's job description (and maybe soon the cerebi, if that idea sticks). Hydras would be used far more often than a crag with spore.
- Burblebomb: TF2 cart, anyone? I'd like to say "Oh god no" and just purge my brain of it, but it might make for an interesting game mode. Marines have to push a nuke across the map, while aliens have the... well, an organic bomb a la banelings from Starcraft 2.
No, I don't like the name "Burblebomb." At all.
But like I said, I wouldn't complain if it was used in a game mode. In regular NS2, it just wouldn't work. Be a real b**** to keep marines from destroying it before it got near em.
- Egg making: Way way back in 2007, there was a game called Quake Wars with a similar feature. You could put machines on dead enemies that would become respawn points.
Now, where Quake Wars made it dependent on you finding a dead body to begin with and being able to hook him up after and have it in a place where you wouldn't be torn to shreds should you respawn there, your idea just has gorges spamming eggs that can be shotgunned rather easily and would likely be in places that aren't very good for anyone wanting to evolve into a lerk or fade or onos.
It isn't that hard for aliens to zoom across the map in a short amount of time. Aliens don't need to spawn outside of the hive. Ever.
The real problem with the gorge is that it's main purpose has been taken over by the commander. It doesn't need to change into something that isn't a gorge, there just needs to be a separation between what the alien commander is responsible for and what the gorge is responsible for.
Gorge has medic and turret duties right now. It could do other things, but they really have to be based on what gorge gameplay actually is.
It might just have to be that gorges are basically field commanders, using personal resources instead of team resources. Or they could have special interactions with buildings that make them vital for defense. (Let's just say, for the hell of it, that one of these interactions would be that they hop inside a crag and a bunch of hydras pop out and the gorge is able to shoot at marines with them. That's what I mean there, though of course the idea isn't perfect.)
If you're going to add anything to the gorge, just remember that you can't take anything away from the commander (or, at least, not too much) and you can't make gorge an offensive class.
The Gorge are a defensive support class. They heal, they build, they annoy marines who enter the hive. That's pretty much gorge gameplay and anything outside of that isn't a good idea for gorge gameplay.
That's just how it has to be.
Well, by "front lines," I mean getting in the marine's faces and killing them dead.
They aren't good in direct combat but catch a marine unawares or with other aliens and you can probably get a kill out of it.
But even without that, gorges are definitely front line units, they are very good when you mix them with other aliens doing the attacking, marines often consider them low priority targets because they don't seem that dangerous, but actually they make other aliens a lot more dangerous.
Sgt.hydra: Touché
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I've won plenty of games where we went up against fades. They're not invincible.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
hence why i said 75% chance of success. but IMHO they are game changers.
However, I do like the idea of battle gorges, just not mini-onos that build things, which is really what Devak was on about. Rather than seeing a general buff, why not some unique upgrades for the gorge.
Increased resources when hydras get kills. Increased damage (to spit, not heal spray) after you've healed another teammate. Or spit poisoning marines for a period of time.
All that stuff fits in with the gorge's role.
-Hydras (Like he does already)
-Mini Crags
-Traps (Like the Ceberi Idea)
-Resource Towers!
and others.
I for one like the idea of having "battle gorge," "medic gorge," and "engineer gorge" as three separate paths.
While at first, you'd be a generic "jack of all trades, master of none" gorge, but as you get more personal res and more research is completed, you can specialize yourself at the cost of not being able to do tasks belonging to other roles.
So a "battle gorge" would trade a heal spray for a more deadly toxic spray, while a "medic gorge" would gain a more effective heal spray that doesn't work on alien buildings or the marines. "Engineer gorge" would have a heal spray that is only good for repairing alien structures.
And so on and so forth.
While the current upgrade interface isn't very good for this kind of stuff, it wouldn't be that hard to give the gorge their own tech tree menu.
For marines, this tech tree menu would show what has or hasn't been researched yet, giving them a better idea of what's available at armories and what situations are too big for them to take on.
He should also be able to equip several mechanical arms that pick up the weapons of fallen marines and use them.
mecha-gorge!
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Make Sturctures grow faster.
Make people gestating evolve faster.
Because when you play gorge you don't get many kills and that a bit of frustrating (for gorge beginners) - the only thing that you get is "respect" from other players in form of :,,thx mate!" and i am sick of healing Fades and then build hydras because when don't do heal fades first they will call you a noob/badass AND after i healed them i get NOTHING!
BTW the belly slide has to be changed i don't know how but i think it must be a more useful.
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Make Sturctures grow faster.
<b>Make people gestating evolve faster.</b><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'd like that. Waiting half a minute to evolve to Fade is no fun... I imagine the Onos will take even longer...
<!--quoteo(post=1857762:date=Jul 3 2011, 04:25 AM:name=[GER]TheLemonBoy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE ([GER]TheLemonBoy @ Jul 3 2011, 04:25 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1857762"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
and i think he have to get points for healing or get points if the fade/ skulk makes a kill in the next to 2-5 secs after being healed from gorge ;) like the medic in "team fortress 2".
Because when you play gorge you don't get many kills and that a bit of frustrating (for gorge beginners) - the only thing that you get is "respect" from other players in form of :,,thx mate!" and i am sick of healing Fades and then build hydras because when don't do heal fades first they will call you a noob/badass AND after i healed them i get NOTHING!
BTW the belly slide has to be changed i don't know how but i think it must be a more useful.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Gorge Ubercharge! =P
I do like the idea of rewards for assisting (damaging enemies/healing allies) for Marines as well as Kharaa.
A: Put out burning friendlies and enemies hit by it.
B: Douse the enemy in acid, obscuring their vision and dealing damage over time, granted, it wouldn't be as powerful as the flame thrower.
C: Slick the floor, causing enemies standing in it slide and take damage and allowing you to belly slide across it quickly
Alternatively, instead of doing damage it could slow down enemies in a gross mucus web or something.