Strategic NS2?
Cyborg16
Join Date: 2006-11-18 Member: 58656Members
Join Date: 2006-11-18 Member: 58656Members
<div class="IPBDescription">(larger field of play and more commander-controlled forces)</div>Don't get me wrong, NS2 is awesome the way it is (well, maybe add the Onos), and commanding is reasonably fun. But besides upgrades and marine drop ammo/medpack support, sometimes it feels like there isn't much to do as a cmdr, and sometimes it's a little frustrating when you want to hold some position and marines start exploring the map leaving key points vulnerable.
This set me thinking about making commanding more strategic and less about micromanagement/support. This isn't really a suggestion about how to tweak NS2 (although some of the ideas, like limiting hydras/sentries, may apply) so much as an idea for what would be awesome in NS3 or a substantial mod. As follows:
1. Make maps a bit larger. I don't mean so that you've got hundreds of resource points and hugely complex series of interconnecting paths, but so that travelling takes longer, fast travel systems are more crucial, and defending areas, either with a phase gate (or alien alternative - maybe simply hives) or with a resident force.
2. More relatively dumb defence forces controllable by the commander. The marine commander should have some kind of mobile defence guns, which could either enforce a fixed position, or support (slowly) moving marines. The alien commander should have mini-skulks or something which could be set to hide somewhere ready to jump out on nearby marines or to rush some location. They'd be relatively easy to kill and not so good at taking down structures (so that they can't destroy a base without support from real players), but able to stop wondering marines when sufficiently outnumbering the marines. Alien commanders should also be able to place static defenses.
3. Limit AI/static forces (there should be some available from the start and massive amounts of resources shouldn't allow humongous armies). Perhaps give aliens 3 mini-skulks per marine and the marines 1-2 mobile defenses per alien player. Perhaps limit the power available in rooms and have sentries take huge amounts when firing, so that only 2 may be operating in any room at once. Perhaps make infestation a "pipe-line" with each structure requiring so much capacity to live and more when being constructed, so that a route of infestation can't support more than 1 crag and 3 hydras or something.
Yes, even with the limits to static/mobile structures, there are still going to be server/bandwidth problems judging by the current NS2 builds, but hopefully performance can be improved :/
This set me thinking about making commanding more strategic and less about micromanagement/support. This isn't really a suggestion about how to tweak NS2 (although some of the ideas, like limiting hydras/sentries, may apply) so much as an idea for what would be awesome in NS3 or a substantial mod. As follows:
1. Make maps a bit larger. I don't mean so that you've got hundreds of resource points and hugely complex series of interconnecting paths, but so that travelling takes longer, fast travel systems are more crucial, and defending areas, either with a phase gate (or alien alternative - maybe simply hives) or with a resident force.
2. More relatively dumb defence forces controllable by the commander. The marine commander should have some kind of mobile defence guns, which could either enforce a fixed position, or support (slowly) moving marines. The alien commander should have mini-skulks or something which could be set to hide somewhere ready to jump out on nearby marines or to rush some location. They'd be relatively easy to kill and not so good at taking down structures (so that they can't destroy a base without support from real players), but able to stop wondering marines when sufficiently outnumbering the marines. Alien commanders should also be able to place static defenses.
3. Limit AI/static forces (there should be some available from the start and massive amounts of resources shouldn't allow humongous armies). Perhaps give aliens 3 mini-skulks per marine and the marines 1-2 mobile defenses per alien player. Perhaps limit the power available in rooms and have sentries take huge amounts when firing, so that only 2 may be operating in any room at once. Perhaps make infestation a "pipe-line" with each structure requiring so much capacity to live and more when being constructed, so that a route of infestation can't support more than 1 crag and 3 hydras or something.
Yes, even with the limits to static/mobile structures, there are still going to be server/bandwidth problems judging by the current NS2 builds, but hopefully performance can be improved :/
Comments
leave player killing to players, static defences in some form are ok for map control and as rambo killers.
So, maybe I was a bit off with the mini-skulks thing. But while aliens can get around the map reasonably fast and do plenty of damage on their own, marines need to support each other more which leaves the main base as well as RTs quite vulnerable if marines all attack somewhere. Hence why I think marine commanders should have some more defences from the get-go which don't slow down the economy massively as well as don't provide a way for marines to get massive amounts of firepower (and should be easy enough to breach once an onos or huge number of skulks attack together). If this means aliens also need to be a bit stronger to balance things, maybe that could be tweaked another way — hive defense mechanism to stop rampaging marines coming too close or infestation restricting marine movement a lot or something.
Perhaps sentry turrents are meant to fill this role, but in my opinion they're too expensive early on and too cheap late-game.
I also think maps should be such that marines take longer to get around it, while aliens should still be able to get around fast OR be able to retreat a little, find somewhere to hide and revert to egg-form to regenerate health without having to go back to a hive/gorge/crag.