More viability for 'lower lifeforms'

Gorge Costanza

<div class="IPBDescription">via lifeform-specific upgrades</div>I'm thinking this is way too radical a change at this point in the game's development, and it's probably been brought up before, but oh well.

One of the things I currently dislike about aliens is that they have very little variability in terms of lifeform strategy. Skulks/Gorges/Lerks are all OK. Fades and Onos are awesome. So you do what you can with the earlier forms...but really, unless aliens are rushing, they're waiting to get to Fade/Onos to really get down to business.

We consider NS to be part RTS, but if you think of a game like Starcraft, you're not always trying to go deep into the tech tree and get Carriers or Battlecruisers or Archons or whatever. Sometimes you make a force out of early game troops (zealots/dragoons, Marines+Medics, lings/Hydras) who are fairly well upgraded.

I think it would be interesting to see a game where aliens could choose to go really heavy with Lerks and buy some upgraded poison gas or better bilebombs. Or maybe they could spent all their TRES on upgrades to make skulks really good. Or maybe they want to play more defensively and can upgrade Gorge Hydras to be more effective.

I think this would add an extra level of interesting gameplay to the Marine side as well as (1) they'd have additional incentive for scouting ("I saw the Lerk upgrade structure in their hive room!") and (2) they'd be forced to enact more specific counter-strategies. Aliens spent a bunch of res getting better hydras? Let's make some ARCs. Aliens are getting better Lerks? Let's do something that's anti-air (I don't know what this would be).

Laosh'Ra

aren't those lifeforms already a lot stronger when you get your 2nd hive up? every additional hive will also allow you an additional upgrade. i think the main issue is (currently) that the onos is too powerful in the current situation, they already addmited that. fades without blinking and the damage-nerf are not nearly as powerful with juts one hive now. so i think skulks and lerks will remain a valid option having 2 hives. bile bomb is a good example but the leap is also quite powerful e.g. to bypass sentries.

so in the end, i'm against upgrade structures which are reserved to only 1 kind of lifeforms. it would harm the diversity you see on the field.

Yuuki

I agree, strategy wise the game is really poor right now, there is very little variations, you can't even trade army for economy or tech because of the double res system! Anything that can improve this situation would be good.

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->It would be very nice to introduce a fourth chamber, on three hives map you would have four different chamber combination, introducing a bit of diversity.

For example in starcraft bw in TvZ the terran will typically go mech or bio, and you'll see a very different match if he goes one or the other. In a typical game only part of the tech tree is explored. This create a huge diversity and is very desirable.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Some ideas here also :

<a href="http://unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=116266" target="_blank">http://unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index....howtopic=116266</a>