Drifter Flare
Smaug
Join Date: 2011-05-23 Member: 100283Members
Join Date: 2011-05-23 Member: 100283Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Something to make it more popular</div>Was just discussing with teammates and about how much we love drifter flare, but how rarely it's seen.
We thought it would be interesting to see how people would respond if the Drifter Flare ability not only blinds the player, but also if it temporarily disabled turrets.
Just to say, I am completly aware of how the gameplay is currently way more in favour of aliens, and that they really shouldn't be seeing any more buffs over the marines than they already do, but I do think it would give Alien Commander something more to do, as well as have him make strategic choices - Flare is a two hive ability, so it would provide marines plenty of time to set up turrets if he so desires, but the alien comm will have to make the decision of whether he wants to spend using the flares early on in the 2nd hive's life to keep the turret count low, or spend the drifters on buildings, potentially allowing the marines to turret up further.
It might not work out so well with Onos coming in, as I believe one of the ideas of Onos is that it can tank alot of turret damage, but I wouldn't know until I saw it. However, there are some fun strategies to be had, comm would have to micro the drifter behind turrets, or have a fade temporarily tank damage until the drifter flare went off within range/los, or you can shade cloak the drifter and do a surprise attack etc.
And finally, the big point, is that it can potentially break the marine-turret stalemate.
I think it would be an idea worth trying, but naturally, I'm not assuming that it's a good idea, as in practice it might break things more :P
We thought it would be interesting to see how people would respond if the Drifter Flare ability not only blinds the player, but also if it temporarily disabled turrets.
Just to say, I am completly aware of how the gameplay is currently way more in favour of aliens, and that they really shouldn't be seeing any more buffs over the marines than they already do, but I do think it would give Alien Commander something more to do, as well as have him make strategic choices - Flare is a two hive ability, so it would provide marines plenty of time to set up turrets if he so desires, but the alien comm will have to make the decision of whether he wants to spend using the flares early on in the 2nd hive's life to keep the turret count low, or spend the drifters on buildings, potentially allowing the marines to turret up further.
It might not work out so well with Onos coming in, as I believe one of the ideas of Onos is that it can tank alot of turret damage, but I wouldn't know until I saw it. However, there are some fun strategies to be had, comm would have to micro the drifter behind turrets, or have a fade temporarily tank damage until the drifter flare went off within range/los, or you can shade cloak the drifter and do a surprise attack etc.
And finally, the big point, is that it can potentially break the marine-turret stalemate.
I think it would be an idea worth trying, but naturally, I'm not assuming that it's a good idea, as in practice it might break things more :P
Comments
I mean, that's why police and special forces use flashbangs. It completely incapacitates the enemy.
When you start adding a bunch off buffs and whatnot, it really detracts from the creative side of things. I'm not saying you shouldn't try it out -- by all means, make a mod if you want -- but I just feel the flare is good enough already.
Here's an idea -- make a movie. Show all the crazy, bad ass kills you make using flares. Then stick it up on YouTube. Once players see what flare can do (some newer commanders might not even be aware of flare), then I think you'll see it used much more often in game.
As for the balance of flare, it currently completely blinds players for 3-4 seconds that are looking at the drifter when it explodes. Additionally it half blinds players who aren't looking at the drifter but that have line of sight to the drifter. It also does this to aliens, making it sort of difficult to target specifically the marines. Adding the ability to blind turrets might make it a little too strong as it is, however it's also important to consider that it's a 2-hive tech, and requires a drifter on every use.
As Smaug said, I think this is a good idea to consider, however it might not necessarily be a good idea.
Not sure what to say about the idea of creating a video with flare frags. It seems a little silly, as one part not fighting back wouldn't make a particularly exciting video.
Finally, I think you don't see much drifter flare right now because another fade or gorge on the front lines is probably more ideal than microing drifters. Most clans usually rotate people in the alien hive as they need buildings and upgrades, and don't have a dedicated alien commander to gain the extra man in combat.
It's the "one part not fighting" that <i>makes</i> it exciting. You see two sides coming together, seemingly evenly matched. Then -- bam -- drifter explodes. Marines amble about blindly. Fades rush in and evicerate them all in a matter of seconds, then vanish in a poof of smoke before reinforcements can arrive. The once stalwart squad of just a few moments before is now nothing more than a pile of corpses.
Basically, it's just like a ninja with a smoke bomb. Soldiers are milling about, smoke obscures them, screams, when the smoke dissapates all you see are bodies. It's <i>bad ass</i>.
I was recently thinking of a light and dark (opposites) of the drifter and the mac. To give their mechanics some style.
The drifter flare would brighten the room near blindingly for the marine team, overload the sentries, and cause fury or primal rage on nearby structures or players.
The mac emp would darken the room and shut out the ability to use alien vision. It would also drain energy from all nearby structures and alien players.
Crag Umbra does make Drifters more difficult to kill, in the time before they can Flare. However, Drifters are still quite fragile (a small health increase would be great).
Allow Drifters individual upgrades sounds cool too.
As it stands it's fairly impractical because you need rather a lot of micro for a fairly limited benefit.
If you could just build a couple and then trigger them and send them into a room, and be sure they'll go off, they'd be a lot better.
The turret idea is also good.