make alien lifeforms researchable?

d0ped0g

It's maybe not the best idea, but I thought I should get a discussion on this going. Perhaps, with skills being upgraded by the alien commander at the hive, alien lifeforms could be researched there too? Meaning, you would have to research lerk, fade or onos to get them.

I thought it could perhaps add a bit more decision making for the alien comm, and put a bit more pressure on the alien economy. It would mean that tradeoffs would have to be made - e.g. whether to buff skulk and research leap early, or make sure fades or lerks are available. This would no doubt nerf the rapid expansion of alien technology too (i.e. fades and onoses or abilities would come later in the game due to the need to research lifeforms aswell). Perhaps also, only a mature hive should be able to research onos, or possibly even fade too. I'd like to see 2 mature hives being needed for onos, and one for fade, but I think the developers are moving away from tying hives to lifeforms unfortunately.

Anyway, what do people think? Good idea, or worst idea ever?

Angelusz

On its own, this is an interesting idea. I'm not sure whether it's neccesary though, the higher lifeforms are already limited by the pres price, which is relatively high compared to marine improvements. This causes them to become available in the mid/late game more.

One reason <b>not</b> to do this is asymmetry - marines have to research for new 'forms' (jp/exo), aliens don't.

hapro

I think this would fit in with competitive play, but would be terrible in public servers. Not being able to play the class I want to play would be frustrating if the commander just decided he didn't want to get it.

Benson

Lifeforms don't need to be researchable, only their upgrades. a fade without blink is A LOT less survivable, same with an onos without stomp. When the abilities get tied to a 2nd hive again (next patch i think?) the incredibly rapid upgrades will be delayed a lot or come at a huge tradeoff, should solve a lot of problems with things like 30 sec leap

TimMc

Structure spam and researching upgrades is already plenty of demand upon alien economy. If we are going to slow it down further, we need better higher lifeforms since currently best alien tech is worse than best marine tech.

internetexplorer

<!--quoteo(post=1949346:date=Jul 6 2012, 05:44 AM:name=Angelusz)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Angelusz @ Jul 6 2012, 05:44 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1949346"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->One reason <b>not</b> to do this is asymmetry - marines have to research for new 'forms' (jp/exo), aliens don't.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

On the other hand, we're already halfway there by having to research the abilities used by those lifeforms. The asymmetry is mostly lost, and for obvious gains in the quality of the game. Asymmetry isn't everything!


<!--quoteo(post=1949397:date=Jul 6 2012, 10:20 AM:name=hapro)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (hapro @ Jul 6 2012, 10:20 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1949397"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I think this would fit in with competitive play, but would be terrible in public servers. Not being able to play the class I want to play would be frustrating if the commander just decided he didn't want to get it.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Don't you think it would be awful if competitive and public players were playing different games?
Pub players would adjust to this the same way they adjusted to lifeform abilities requiring research:
<ul><li>Don't notice for a while</li><li>Notice</li><li>Ask the commander to research the thing you want (SUCCESS! PLAYERS ARE COMMUNICATING WITHIN THEIR TEAM TO DECIDE HOW TO SPEND RESOURCES IN THE TEAM BASED STRATEGY GAME!)</li></ul>

Armymunchkin

I like the idea, i suppose this would be the easier for the marines to keep up with the aliens, instead of the marines losing nearly all their map control within the early stages due to gorges and lerks.

MiniH0wie

<!--quoteo(post=1949397:date=Jul 6 2012, 09:20 AM:name=hapro)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (hapro @ Jul 6 2012, 09:20 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1949397"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I think this would fit in with competitive play, but would be terrible in public servers. Not being able to play the class I want to play would be frustrating if the commander just decided he didn't want to get it.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

+1