<!--quoteo(post=1961466:date=Aug 11 2012, 07:31 PM:name=Rise)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Rise @ Aug 11 2012, 07:31 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1961466"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I'd like to see them experiment with removing spawn timers at all for the aliens and just making it dependant on egg production speed. Meaning shifts now have a purpose, and multiple hives have a more direct impact on skulk power.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is how it was originally. They've tried many different things before in order to get where it is today. Previously, if there was an open egg to spawn, you can spawn right away.
<!--quoteo(post=1961474:date=Aug 11 2012, 11:02 PM:name=m42)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (m42 @ Aug 11 2012, 11:02 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1961474"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->This is how it was originally. They've tried many different things before in order to get where it is today. Previously, if there was an open egg to spawn, you can spawn right away.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
yeah the problem is they keep balancing the wave spawn timer for newb marines, which means that against good marines the alien team is downright ######.
<!--quoteo(post=1961158:date=Aug 11 2012, 09:58 AM:name=DJPenguin)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DJPenguin @ Aug 11 2012, 09:58 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1961158"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->playing marines feels so different now that hit reg is "fixed". first time playing this patch went on 9 kill streak right out of the gate. got asked "since when can you aim?" to which i replied since hit reg was fixed. feels good man.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I'm experiencing quite the opposite... sometimes, skulks die from a long AR burst like they should, other times it feels like I'm hitting with almost the entire magazine but they're still bounding all over the place. It's got me wondering if there's bullets being "lost" between my client and the server, maybe when I'm firing faster than the server is ticking?
I haven't played in several patches, but I have noticed a few things...
*Good* -Hitreg is much improved -Performance is much improved, game is very smooth now -UI generally looks quite clean
*Meh* -The placeholder red hive icons...they look ugly...not sure marine's even need this -The MAC should be able to repair power nodes
*Bad* -Energy costs for belly slide, this seems pointless -New progress bar for building/welding, not necessary, the weld/build tool already shows % and the circle health bar on buildings also shows this.
<!--quoteo(post=1961509:date=Aug 11 2012, 09:43 PM:name=ironhorse)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ironhorse @ Aug 11 2012, 09:43 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1961509"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->This whole page is full of golden feedback<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Quick! Complain and be unproductive!
Heh.
In general I haven't felt much change. On some servers still having really bad hitreg hitches, but overall things feel a little tighter. Might be my wireless internet hurting me though. However, if someone else is being eaten I just shoot at their feet and sometimes actually hit things. =]
Red CC and Hive are mildly annoying as others have mentioned. But still help orient especially for Aliens spawning in random Hives.
Onos is still potent against a mass of LMGs, but against heavier weapons I feel like a damage sponge. It took 2-3 Onos to break a small outpost once due to all the Shotgun fire. So I suppose Onos has been relegated to a much more combined-arms role, requiring other Aliens to help do damage and heal up the Onos during the fight while the Onos tanks most of the shots.
I almost died as an Onos to MACs. I kid you not. It was a swarm of MACs running around blocking my path. It was hilarious...
<!--quoteo(post=1960385:date=Aug 10 2012, 12:18 PM:name=Koruyo)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Koruyo @ Aug 10 2012, 12:18 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1960385"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->..also something strange happened to my flashlight in one game. (cant remember if i alt tabbed at any point, guess i wont be able to reproduce it)
I'm getting the exact same flashlight bug as Koruyo. But I'm on the latest AMD drivers (5850 card). I got it in two games at docking.
Other than that the game has been running smooth for me for many many patches up until end game where everyone is firing of in the same room. Then sometimes I get a slowdown.
Marines have always dominated early game, the problem though is sprint. A marine = 2 skulks early game, but aliens should be able to win a battle of attrition before the marines reach their RT/hive. This does not happen cause of sprint..
Also so many people do not play aliens correctly; feints, teamwork, baits, drawing fire, ambushes and 99% of people cannot land bites at all. Just hold it down and hope for the best then go WTF when they don't hit anything
With the Onos being nerfed, Aliens now lack a good way to deal with Marines. It's damn near impossible to finish a game against a marine turtle team.
Skulks have become nearly useless with the fixed Hitreg, since they can't do ###### in lategame, when they have to assault defensive positions and in early game you gain no real bonus from trying to ambush, since it doesn't work like AvP, where Ambush attacks mean you get a big hit in.
Fades are now in a pretty good spot, could use a small buff.
I still have a major problem with there being no FoV slider. That goes for horizontal and vertical FoV. Can't see a Skulk biting my feet or the marine that just jumped up to evade my attack. It's for good reason most games with a melee system have third person, so you can actually see where the ###### somebody went. Right now, it's just damn confusing with all the jumping and turning. Not to mention slight amounts of motion sickness.
AurOn2COOKIES! FREEDOM, AND BISCUITS!AustraliaJoin Date: 2012-01-13Member: 140224Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Forum staff
The biggest problem: The fact aliens spend much more time dead than alive, can be up to 30-40 seconds at most (if you 'miss' a wave) or 10-20 seconds when you appear at the middle to start of said wave, and there is no 'miss' involved. Yet marines just need to build multiple 15 res ip's to spawn at the same rate they always have... (5 seconds.. guiz. srsly. rly?) so marines can charge at 100mph to your harvesters, but skulks cant do the same? :( guys, :(.
I'm having a blast playing NS2 now (finally, the early versions almost made me lose hope) but there is one major design flaw as I see it: It's simply not fun to kill Cysts. It takes no time at all for the alien commander to place them, and it takes a long time for marines to clear them. You have the option of shooting at them and wasting ammo/force yourself to reload which is probably not the best option, or to hack and slice them up with your axe. If you opt for the axe option, you can't even reach the cyst without pressing ctrl to crouch, and seriously it's just not fun to me to be crouching on the floor killing and staring at oversized alien eggs. I don't see an easy fix for this either, to me it's a major part of the alien game mechanics that simply isn't fun for either aliens (except for the first 5 times you command maybe, after that it's very repetitive) or marines.
I even have this theory that the best way to stop a marine attack on your hive is to spam cysts along the corridors leading to it, it will take marines forever to clean that up and the OCD that exist in a lot of players will create that compulsion to clear them out before moving forward :)
<!--quoteo(post=1961697:date=Aug 12 2012, 07:58 AM:name=eoy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (eoy @ Aug 12 2012, 07:58 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1961697"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I even have this theory that the best way to stop a marine attack on your hive is to spam cysts along the corridors leading to it, it will take marines forever to clean that up and the OCD that exist in a lot of players will create that compulsion to clear them out before moving forward :)
Thoughts?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Get a Flamethrower and u are the guy who is killing the cysts faster as the khamm can drop them!
The game has improved alot and i mean it. Have been around here since the first alphas and NS1
But seriously, the performance in this released has suffered alot. Specially when near a combat type situation or when arriving at the enemy base, or sometimes randomly (eg when firing as marine), the game freezes for a couple of seconds or less and makes the whole experience unplayable. Not sure it's related with the gpu itself anymore, i'm running on maximum and the fps is good enough.
And my long time standing issue, please fix the 3rd person camera to collide with the map or all cameras what so ever, so u don't see the scene from outside and the backbuffer, cause this is totally anti climax.
And another one. I consider myself as mid-range skill player. As a skulk I could at least keep my death/kills score even, but now it's nearly impossible. Still, playing as marine I can do a pretty decent job even though I'm horrible at FPS.
Playing mostly on Chicago and All in servers, I haven't seen a single balanced game since last patch. Aliens can win only with early rush, before marines could get shotguns and armory lab. If they failed, marines just placing phase gates that gives them absurdly level of mobility. They secure two bases, which gives them all upgrades and resources, while for aliens it's a three hives and still they can't get a better armor and regen in same time. Armory heals more and faster than crag. Whips became useless against Grenade Launcher when you discover their ricochet weakness. Every marine with a welder can do repairing and structuring job. etc-etc. It's not fun anymore.
Played now some hours, you guys did a pretty good job. Frames are not perfect, but way better then old builds. This hours i had realy fun, but still typical balance problems, but its a beta. Keep up the good work =)
IronHorseDeveloper, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributorJoin Date: 2010-05-08Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
for those having odd visual artifacting, right click ns2 in your steam library > properties > local files > verify integrity of game cache
After this go to %APPDATA%/Natural selection 2/Cache/ And delete all the files (not the folder) that are in there (for me, it is c:/users/Myname/Appdata/Roaming/Natural selection 2/Cache/ And appdata is a hidden folder)
Then restart ns2 and it might hitch around your first game but with any luck you might not have said visual artifacts. If that doesnt work, attempt rolling back drivers, and if that doesnt work hit up the trouble shooting thread in these forums
Interesting to read that post 2 pages back from a week old player:
People are concerned about how much to make the game newbie friendly, well that poster had been playing a WEEK, and could already notice the build changes in 216 ... they could name lerks as being less usefull, compare the fun of fading vs onos ... new player, one week, b****ing about how you've nerfed lerk. Game seemed pretty accessable for that player at least...
I thought they had an interesting point about fading being fun, onos not so fun ... compare NS1 onos ... I could EAT people ffs ... and *amazingly* this was even fun as a marine because you could be *rescued* - not saying bring back devour but currently players on here seem to be debating whether an onos is even functional, let alone fun to play as.
The game is awesome and follows nicely in the footsteps of the original NS!
Some of the issues I have in the beta are with performance (to be expected): I have a i7 920, nvidia 560ti (301.42), 12gbs of ram and an M-Audio 192. I've properly checked for any overheatingproblems, since someone suggested that might be reason. I have also monitored r_stats, for some logical clues as to what happens when the game begins to slow down - did not find any. All the numbers fit well with the margins. No matter which resolution or which graphics settings i run the game in, the fps drops to around <25-30fps midgame and during some stages of the late game I get ~10fps. This even happens with resolutions of <800x600.
I also tried to force absolutely no extra graphics settings from the nvidia controlpanel - no change.
I can understand that when more stuff is going on during a game, and as more structures get placed - the game would eventually slow down. However, monitoring r_stats, never indicate that something is going crazy.
Anyone got any ideas, or perhaps found a clue from the specs above?
Also, why is the FOV so low for Marines? Did you not have TotalBiscuit visiting you recently, hehe? :)
<!--quoteo(post=1961929:date=Aug 12 2012, 07:10 PM:name=imbamakaber)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (imbamakaber @ Aug 12 2012, 07:10 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1961929"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The game is awesome and follows nicely in the footsteps of the original NS!
Some of the issues I have in the beta are with performance (to be expected): I have a i7 920, nvidia 560ti (301.42), 12gbs of ram and an M-Audio 192. I've properly checked for any overheatingproblems, since someone suggested that might be reason. I have also monitored r_stats, for some logical clues as to what happens when the game begins to slow down - did not find any. All the numbers fit well with the margins. No matter which resolution or which graphics settings i run the game in, the fps drops to around <25-30fps midgame and during some stages of the late game I get ~10fps. This even happens with resolutions of <800x600.
I also tried to force absolutely no extra graphics settings from the nvidia controlpanel - no change.
I can understand that when more stuff is going on during a game, and as more structures get placed - the game would eventually slow down. However, monitoring r_stats, never indicate that something is going crazy.
Anyone got any ideas, or perhaps found a clue from the specs above?
Also, why is the FOV so low for Marines? Did you not have TotalBiscuit visiting you recently, hehe? :)
Best regards<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> The game is completely CPU limited at the moment. Doesn't matter how amazing of a graphics card you have or what resolution you run at, its the game logic that limits everything. The server is in the same state, and as the server's speed decreases during heavy action or as the game progresses, the clients have more work to do in predicting where things should be going rather than the server just telling them, which makes it even worse.
But rest assured, optimization is priority #1 for the devs, its improving every release.
<!--quoteo(post=1960684:date=Aug 10 2012, 10:58 PM:name=rantology)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rantology @ Aug 10 2012, 10:58 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1960684"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro-->Yay!<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> <!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro-->+<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Addition of insight ;) <!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro-->+<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->the new main menu additions <!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro-->+<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->the Alien energy changes - fade and leap skulks seem a bit more balanced now - I love the skulk changes. <!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro-->+<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Reduced cost of upgrading a hive <!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro-->+<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->the new changes to docking!
<!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->Nay..<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> <!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->-<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Pretty much every new addition to the ingame UI. :( A new player to NS2 might feel they are somewhat helpful but as someone who already knows the game they make me want to claw them out of my eyeballs. They take away <b>so</b> much screen real-estate to display extremely redundant information. The HP progress bars are especially irritating as they take up probably 10x more space as a simple "x% | x%" hp/build text that was in last patch to relay the exact same info. This is a shooter you need to be able to see what you are shooting at, right now the UI feels extremely MMO / CoDish with all the training wheels in it. :/ <!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->-<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->The Armory energy implementation is pretty negligible and does not scale with player count - which it very much needs to. They are pretty much just like the 214 armories again (which were too good). <!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->-<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->The parasite change was really unnecessary, it's useless now aside from the damage aspect when used on a0 marines to 2-bite them.
<!--coloro:#00BFFF--><span style="color:#00BFFF"><!--/coloro-->suggestions:<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> <!--coloro:#00BFFF--><span style="color:#00BFFF"><!--/coloro-->*<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Please for the love of all that is holy, add an option to disable many of the in-game UI attributes. Or at the very least make them easier to mod, currently the UI components are in like 10+ different folders and LUA files. <!--coloro:#00BFFF--><span style="color:#00BFFF"><!--/coloro-->*<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Make the Armories easily exhaustible and most importantly make their energy rate <u><b>scale with player count</b></u>. Make them supplemental to welders, not the primary source of free healing on a forward position. Marines should not realistically be able to hump armories in forward/vulnerable positions for very long, if at at all. <!--coloro:#00BFFF--><span style="color:#00BFFF"><!--/coloro-->*<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Revert the parasite change or work miracles with whatever you guys had in mind for it.
<!--coloro:#DDA0DD--><span style="color:#DDA0DD"><!--/coloro-->Other concerns:<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> <!--coloro:#FF00FF--><span style="color:#FF00FF"><!--/coloro-->-<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Alien Wavespawn just needs to go. It's buggy and <u><b>no one</b></u> wants to sit in a 40 second spawn queue. It's also counter-intuitive to the way aliens "should" be constricted when spawning and that would be the egg count. It's just stupid to sit in a 40 second spawn queue with a nice view of the 20 available eggs in your hive. Makes no sense. Not fun. Unnecessary at this point. Alien egg spawns also need to scale with player count. <!--coloro:#FF00FF--><span style="color:#FF00FF"><!--/coloro-->-<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->"RFD" or "no res when dead" needs to go also. It did not accomplish its original goal of staggering life-form explosions, it's counter intuitive when you look at abilities like Xenocide and it overly punishes aliens at the moment who have monumental spawn times when compared with the marines. One could argue it adds one more disadvantage to the team that is already at a disadvantage (losing team? lose even harder!)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
THIS! +1
+ belly slide, cara vs regen, regen nerf need to be changed/rebalanced
<b>Suggestions:</b>
Also, I do suggest rebalancing prices of power nodes or giving robotics factory an upgrade for power nodes to supply 2 buildings with energy. (Would help marines with surviving)
Win/Lose conditions are imbalanced.
Aliens - loose when hive dies Marines - loose when CP is destroyed, power is off + genocide, respawn points destroyed + genocide, power off + no welders (can't drop welders to fix node)
Theres a great issue with power, optional upgrade for remote power nodes (rename to generator ? confusing) to power more buildings would help alot.
Or make power nodes responsible for lights in the room, and generators for power (and as a building)?
Emergency lights are not so cool, remove them or make area dark for longer. They make flashlight a bit useless and take the thrill away. Such a thing would encourage aliens to shut down lights for easier fight but would not be a game changer as it is right now.
So this doesn't really apply specifically to this patch, but I wasn't active when this change was introduced, and I'm sure its been done to death, so I don't want to make a new topic about it.
This no res while dead system is seriously... misguided... in my opinion. If I am personally punished as a player for going into combat, and receive absolutely no reward, why on earth should I do it?
<!--quoteo(post=1961933:date=Aug 13 2012, 01:15 AM:name=Typhon)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Typhon @ Aug 13 2012, 01:15 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1961933"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The game is completely CPU limited at the moment. Doesn't matter how amazing of a graphics card you have or what resolution you run at, its the game logic that limits everything. The server is in the same state, and as the server's speed decreases during heavy action or as the game progresses, the clients have more work to do in predicting where things should be going rather than the server just telling them, which makes it even worse.
But rest assured, optimization is priority #1 for the devs, its improving every release.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It's seems more and more ridiculous now. Some guys talking about cheaters in the game, and yes — 15 kills as a skulk and without a single death, while marines have mines and shotguns, is a bull######. More ridiculous was a match, when marines just sat before our last hive, waiting for egg to hatch, so they could get nice numbers in their score by killing newborn skulks. After this match some dude just switched the sides, made himself a commander and recycled their IP. Marines themselves have a habit just recycle their stuff if it gets too hard for them. Makes aliens' win feels like some handout. It takes ages for skulk to get extractor down, and just when it at 10% — marines' commander recycle it and gets some res back, I suppose.
I discover for myself, that exactly makes marines so invincible during raids — med-pack and ammo-packs. As if it's not enough for them to have an armory and gates near hive, their commander just spamming with those packs. Buying an jet-pack and new shiny gun for marine require about 3 second, while evolving takes ages. If you manage to kill a dude with big gun, another marine can just pick this gun up. Compare to when aliens loose all their res if they dying during an evolution, it seems fair enough, of course. Infinite welder for 5 res, what gives all marines an ability to repair their stuff — another great example of excellent balance that this game have.
Last tree days aliens' teams was almost always outnumbered. Even if we could get forced random team, some dudes just switching sides right after start, so they know our location (so, please kill this rr thing or something).
------------
Marines is a typical FPS gameplay. While I don't really like this genre, there a millions other people, who spend years playing duties and fields. Shooting in games is not a new thing, and most of your potential consumers can do it pretty well. In the other hand, there like two games with aliens-like gameplay. They have an unique mechanic, that required a skills and learning. And while it's already hard, you're nerfing them? There no onoses anymore, only few going to gorges, lerk's just a waste of res. Fades are useless without blink, but if aliens manage to get it, it's only one scenario for next 10 minutes of match.
------------
Why not to make a time limit at lest 5 seconds for next use of Phase Gate? If it would be so, marines won't build a million gates in every location and their mobility would be much more reasonable. Or let aliens to use the damn dates too, so it would be an convenient, but in the same time dangerous thing.
Or maybe you just should make a "win" button for marines instead those changes? It would be much easier. As for me, I'm quoting this game until the release. If balance at the time will be at the same level, I will consider a refund.
In my experience over the weekend (about 20 hours of 216 - yes I know alot :smiles: )
Marines win if both sides have non NS1 player 50/50 if both sides have average skilled NS1 players Aliens tend to still win most of the time with high skilled NS1 players A side will always loose with a comm that does not know retarded / knows meta game / fast at medacks and ammo / managing cysts ect.
It's heartwarming to see that so many have so much to say. A lot of people are very involved in NS2 and passionate about the game. All good things in my book :) NS2 has a great future up ahead.
There's no doubt in my mind that there will be a NS1-mod so all looking for that exact gameplay will have it (just look at the gorgecraft mod). Considering the tight bond between UWE and the modding community (x-ist, they ARE the modding community :) ) there will be so many versions out there that most players will be satisfied.
Me? I will LUA the crap out of it and then play 24/7, chuckling madly all alone on my server with bots who never disagree (or I'll de-res their asses...) :D
Yeah I've been getting the feeling that the main reason for the 50/50 win ratio. is because of all the new players/etc. not that it's a bad thing getting new players and all but you can't really depend on the current ratio., maybe in a couple of weeks or even a month it would be more likely to be closer being the actual ratio. when most players will get the hang of things but by then I could imagine we would be very close to a release. (if we are to assume August/september will be the time for NS2' release)
Nonetheless great update with the usual increased performance but I'll admit I don't see why it is needed to add a healthbar for the CC/hive when they're taking damage for everybody to see, I almost spilled some lampoil in terror of an upcoming boss fight but luckily that wasn't the case.
<!--quoteo(post=1961942:date=Aug 12 2012, 07:37 PM:name=Imbalanxd)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Imbalanxd @ Aug 12 2012, 07:37 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1961942"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->This no res while dead system is seriously... misguided... in my opinion. If I am personally punished as a player for going into combat, and receive absolutely no reward, why on earth should I do it?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> +1 Agreed, plus more time dead than alive can really suck.
Comments
This is how it was originally. They've tried many different things before in order to get where it is today. Previously, if there was an open egg to spawn, you can spawn right away.
yeah the problem is they keep balancing the wave spawn timer for newb marines, which means that against good marines the alien team is downright ######.
I'm experiencing quite the opposite... sometimes, skulks die from a long AR burst like they should, other times it feels like I'm hitting with almost the entire magazine but they're still bounding all over the place. It's got me wondering if there's bullets being "lost" between my client and the server, maybe when I'm firing faster than the server is ticking?
*Good*
-Hitreg is much improved
-Performance is much improved, game is very smooth now
-UI generally looks quite clean
*Meh*
-The placeholder red hive icons...they look ugly...not sure marine's even need this
-The MAC should be able to repair power nodes
*Bad*
-Energy costs for belly slide, this seems pointless
-New progress bar for building/welding, not necessary, the weld/build tool already shows % and the circle health bar on buildings also shows this.
Looking forward to the EXO!
Quick! Complain and be unproductive!
Heh.
In general I haven't felt much change. On some servers still having really bad hitreg hitches, but overall things feel a little tighter. Might be my wireless internet hurting me though. However, if someone else is being eaten I just shoot at their feet and sometimes actually hit things. =]
Red CC and Hive are mildly annoying as others have mentioned. But still help orient especially for Aliens spawning in random Hives.
Onos is still potent against a mass of LMGs, but against heavier weapons I feel like a damage sponge. It took 2-3 Onos to break a small outpost once due to all the Shotgun fire. So I suppose Onos has been relegated to a much more combined-arms role, requiring other Aliens to help do damage and heal up the Onos during the fight while the Onos tanks most of the shots.
I almost died as an Onos to MACs. I kid you not. It was a swarm of MACs running around blocking my path. It was hilarious...
Maybe its just the nvidia betadriver (304.79)
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/rN7AS.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm getting the exact same flashlight bug as Koruyo. But I'm on the latest AMD drivers (5850 card). I got it in two games at docking.
Other than that the game has been running smooth for me for many many patches up until end game where everyone is firing of in the same room. Then sometimes I get a slowdown.
Keep up the good work.
Also so many people do not play aliens correctly; feints, teamwork, baits, drawing fire, ambushes and 99% of people cannot land bites at all. Just hold it down and hope for the best then go WTF when they don't hit anything
Skulks have become nearly useless with the fixed Hitreg, since they can't do ###### in lategame, when they have to assault defensive positions and in early game you gain no real bonus from trying to ambush, since it doesn't work like AvP, where Ambush attacks mean you get a big hit in.
Fades are now in a pretty good spot, could use a small buff.
I still have a major problem with there being no FoV slider. That goes for horizontal and vertical FoV. Can't see a Skulk biting my feet or the marine that just jumped up to evade my attack. It's for good reason most games with a melee system have third person, so you can actually see where the ###### somebody went. Right now, it's just damn confusing with all the jumping and turning. Not to mention slight amounts of motion sickness.
The fact aliens spend much more time dead than alive, can be up to 30-40 seconds at most (if you 'miss' a wave) or 10-20 seconds when you appear at the middle to start of said wave, and there is no 'miss' involved.
Yet marines just need to build multiple 15 res ip's to spawn at the same rate they always have... (5 seconds.. guiz. srsly. rly?) so marines can charge at 100mph to your harvesters, but skulks cant do the same? :( guys, :(.
I even have this theory that the best way to stop a marine attack on your hive is to spam cysts along the corridors leading to it, it will take marines forever to clean that up and the OCD that exist in a lot of players will create that compulsion to clear them out before moving forward :)
Thoughts?
Thoughts?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Get a Flamethrower and u are the guy who is killing the cysts faster as the khamm can drop them!
<img src="http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/326/2012081200003.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/8669/2012081200001.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/7853/2012081000001o.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
:(
But seriously, the performance in this released has suffered alot. Specially when near a combat type situation or when arriving at the enemy base, or sometimes randomly (eg when firing as marine), the game freezes for a couple of seconds or less and makes the whole experience unplayable. Not sure it's related with the gpu itself anymore, i'm running on maximum and the fps is good enough.
And my long time standing issue, please fix the 3rd person camera to collide with the map or all cameras what so ever, so u don't see the scene from outside and the backbuffer, cause this is totally anti climax.
Thx.
I consider myself as mid-range skill player. As a skulk I could at least keep my death/kills score even, but now it's nearly impossible. Still, playing as marine I can do a pretty decent job even though I'm horrible at FPS.
Playing mostly on Chicago and All in servers, I haven't seen a single balanced game since last patch. Aliens can win only with early rush, before marines could get shotguns and armory lab. If they failed, marines just placing phase gates that gives them absurdly level of mobility. They secure two bases, which gives them all upgrades and resources, while for aliens it's a three hives and still they can't get a better armor and regen in same time.
Armory heals more and faster than crag. Whips became useless against Grenade Launcher when you discover their ricochet weakness. Every marine with a welder can do repairing and structuring job. etc-etc.
It's not fun anymore.
Frames are not perfect, but way better then old builds.
This hours i had realy fun, but still typical balance problems, but its a beta.
Keep up the good work =)
edit: "hours", not "game"...
After this go to %APPDATA%/Natural selection 2/Cache/ And delete all the files (not the folder) that are in there
(for me, it is c:/users/Myname/Appdata/Roaming/Natural selection 2/Cache/ And appdata is a hidden folder)
Then restart ns2 and it might hitch around your first game but with any luck you might not have said visual artifacts.
If that doesnt work, attempt rolling back drivers, and if that doesnt work hit up the trouble shooting thread in these forums
People are concerned about how much to make the game newbie friendly, well that poster had been playing a WEEK, and could already notice the build changes in 216 ... they could name lerks as being less usefull, compare the fun of fading vs onos ... new player, one week, b****ing about how you've nerfed lerk. Game seemed pretty accessable for that player at least...
I thought they had an interesting point about fading being fun, onos not so fun ... compare NS1 onos ... I could EAT people ffs ... and *amazingly* this was even fun as a marine because you could be *rescued* - not saying bring back devour but currently players on here seem to be debating whether an onos is even functional, let alone fun to play as.
Some of the issues I have in the beta are with performance (to be expected):
I have a i7 920, nvidia 560ti (301.42), 12gbs of ram and an M-Audio 192. I've properly checked for any overheatingproblems, since someone suggested that might be reason. I have also monitored r_stats, for some logical clues as to what happens when the game begins to slow down - did not find any. All the numbers fit well with the margins.
No matter which resolution or which graphics settings i run the game in, the fps drops to around <25-30fps midgame and during some stages of the late game I get ~10fps. This even happens with resolutions of <800x600.
I also tried to force absolutely no extra graphics settings from the nvidia controlpanel - no change.
I can understand that when more stuff is going on during a game, and as more structures get placed - the game would eventually slow down.
However, monitoring r_stats, never indicate that something is going crazy.
Anyone got any ideas, or perhaps found a clue from the specs above?
Also, why is the FOV so low for Marines?
Did you not have TotalBiscuit visiting you recently, hehe? :)
Best regards
Some of the issues I have in the beta are with performance (to be expected):
I have a i7 920, nvidia 560ti (301.42), 12gbs of ram and an M-Audio 192. I've properly checked for any overheatingproblems, since someone suggested that might be reason. I have also monitored r_stats, for some logical clues as to what happens when the game begins to slow down - did not find any. All the numbers fit well with the margins.
No matter which resolution or which graphics settings i run the game in, the fps drops to around <25-30fps midgame and during some stages of the late game I get ~10fps. This even happens with resolutions of <800x600.
I also tried to force absolutely no extra graphics settings from the nvidia controlpanel - no change.
I can understand that when more stuff is going on during a game, and as more structures get placed - the game would eventually slow down.
However, monitoring r_stats, never indicate that something is going crazy.
Anyone got any ideas, or perhaps found a clue from the specs above?
Also, why is the FOV so low for Marines?
Did you not have TotalBiscuit visiting you recently, hehe? :)
Best regards<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The game is completely CPU limited at the moment. Doesn't matter how amazing of a graphics card you have or what resolution you run at, its the game logic that limits everything. The server is in the same state, and as the server's speed decreases during heavy action or as the game progresses, the clients have more work to do in predicting where things should be going rather than the server just telling them, which makes it even worse.
But rest assured, optimization is priority #1 for the devs, its improving every release.
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro-->+<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Addition of insight ;)
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro-->+<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->the new main menu additions
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro-->+<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->the Alien energy changes - fade and leap skulks seem a bit more balanced now - I love the skulk changes.
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro-->+<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Reduced cost of upgrading a hive
<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro-->+<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->the new changes to docking!
<!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->Nay..<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->-<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Pretty much every new addition to the ingame UI. :( A new player to NS2 might feel they are somewhat helpful but as someone who already knows the game they make me want to claw them out of my eyeballs. They take away <b>so</b> much screen real-estate to display extremely redundant information. The HP progress bars are especially irritating as they take up probably 10x more space as a simple "x% | x%" hp/build text that was in last patch to relay the exact same info. This is a shooter you need to be able to see what you are shooting at, right now the UI feels extremely MMO / CoDish with all the training wheels in it. :/
<!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->-<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->The Armory energy implementation is pretty negligible and does not scale with player count - which it very much needs to. They are pretty much just like the 214 armories again (which were too good).
<!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->-<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->The parasite change was really unnecessary, it's useless now aside from the damage aspect when used on a0 marines to 2-bite them.
<!--coloro:#00BFFF--><span style="color:#00BFFF"><!--/coloro-->suggestions:<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<!--coloro:#00BFFF--><span style="color:#00BFFF"><!--/coloro-->*<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Please for the love of all that is holy, add an option to disable many of the in-game UI attributes. Or at the very least make them easier to mod, currently the UI components are in like 10+ different folders and LUA files.
<!--coloro:#00BFFF--><span style="color:#00BFFF"><!--/coloro-->*<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Make the Armories easily exhaustible and most importantly make their energy rate <u><b>scale with player count</b></u>. Make them supplemental to welders, not the primary source of free healing on a forward position. Marines should not realistically be able to hump armories in forward/vulnerable positions for very long, if at at all.
<!--coloro:#00BFFF--><span style="color:#00BFFF"><!--/coloro-->*<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Revert the parasite change or work miracles with whatever you guys had in mind for it.
<!--coloro:#DDA0DD--><span style="color:#DDA0DD"><!--/coloro-->Other concerns:<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<!--coloro:#FF00FF--><span style="color:#FF00FF"><!--/coloro-->-<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Alien Wavespawn just needs to go. It's buggy and <u><b>no one</b></u> wants to sit in a 40 second spawn queue. It's also counter-intuitive to the way aliens "should" be constricted when spawning and that would be the egg count. It's just stupid to sit in a 40 second spawn queue with a nice view of the 20 available eggs in your hive. Makes no sense. Not fun. Unnecessary at this point. Alien egg spawns also need to scale with player count.
<!--coloro:#FF00FF--><span style="color:#FF00FF"><!--/coloro-->-<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->"RFD" or "no res when dead" needs to go also. It did not accomplish its original goal of staggering life-form explosions, it's counter intuitive when you look at abilities like Xenocide and it overly punishes aliens at the moment who have monumental spawn times when compared with the marines. One could argue it adds one more disadvantage to the team that is already at a disadvantage (losing team? lose even harder!)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
THIS! +1
+ belly slide, cara vs regen, regen nerf need to be changed/rebalanced
<b>Suggestions:</b>
Also, I do suggest rebalancing prices of power nodes or giving robotics factory an upgrade for power nodes to supply 2 buildings with energy. (Would help marines with surviving)
Win/Lose conditions are imbalanced.
Aliens - loose when hive dies
Marines - loose when CP is destroyed, power is off + genocide, respawn points destroyed + genocide, power off + no welders (can't drop welders to fix node)
Theres a great issue with power, optional upgrade for remote power nodes (rename to generator ? confusing) to power more buildings would help alot.
Or make power nodes responsible for lights in the room, and generators for power (and as a building)?
Emergency lights are not so cool, remove them or make area dark for longer. They make flashlight a bit useless and take the thrill away. Such a thing would encourage aliens to shut down lights for easier fight but would not be a game changer as it is right now.
This no res while dead system is seriously... misguided... in my opinion. If I am personally punished as a player for going into combat, and receive absolutely no reward, why on earth should I do it?
But rest assured, optimization is priority #1 for the devs, its improving every release.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That explains alot. Thank you!
It's seems more and more ridiculous now. Some guys talking about cheaters in the game, and yes — 15 kills as a skulk and without a single death, while marines have mines and shotguns, is a bull######.
More ridiculous was a match, when marines just sat before our last hive, waiting for egg to hatch, so they could get nice numbers in their score by killing newborn skulks. After this match some dude just switched the sides, made himself a commander and recycled their IP.
Marines themselves have a habit just recycle their stuff if it gets too hard for them. Makes aliens' win feels like some handout.
It takes ages for skulk to get extractor down, and just when it at 10% — marines' commander recycle it and gets some res back, I suppose.
I discover for myself, that exactly makes marines so invincible during raids — med-pack and ammo-packs. As if it's not enough for them to have an armory and gates near hive, their commander just spamming with those packs.
Buying an jet-pack and new shiny gun for marine require about 3 second, while evolving takes ages. If you manage to kill a dude with big gun, another marine can just pick this gun up. Compare to when aliens loose all their res if they dying during an evolution, it seems fair enough, of course.
Infinite welder for 5 res, what gives all marines an ability to repair their stuff — another great example of excellent balance that this game have.
Last tree days aliens' teams was almost always outnumbered. Even if we could get forced random team, some dudes just switching sides right after start, so they know our location (so, please kill this rr thing or something).
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Marines is a typical FPS gameplay. While I don't really like this genre, there a millions other people, who spend years playing duties and fields. Shooting in games is not a new thing, and most of your potential consumers can do it pretty well. In the other hand, there like two games with aliens-like gameplay. They have an unique mechanic, that required a skills and learning. And while it's already hard, you're nerfing them? There no onoses anymore, only few going to gorges, lerk's just a waste of res. Fades are useless without blink, but if aliens manage to get it, it's only one scenario for next 10 minutes of match.
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Why not to make a time limit at lest 5 seconds for next use of Phase Gate? If it would be so, marines won't build a million gates in every location and their mobility would be much more reasonable. Or let aliens to use the damn dates too, so it would be an convenient, but in the same time dangerous thing.
Or maybe you just should make a "win" button for marines instead those changes? It would be much easier. As for me, I'm quoting this game until the release. If balance at the time will be at the same level, I will consider a refund.
Marines win if both sides have non NS1 player
50/50 if both sides have average skilled NS1 players
Aliens tend to still win most of the time with high skilled NS1 players
A side will always loose with a comm that does not know retarded / knows meta game / fast at medacks and ammo / managing cysts ect.
There's no doubt in my mind that there will be a NS1-mod so all looking for that exact gameplay will have it (just look at the gorgecraft mod). Considering the tight bond between UWE and the modding community (x-ist, they ARE the modding community :) ) there will be so many versions out there that most players will be satisfied.
Me? I will LUA the crap out of it and then play 24/7, chuckling madly all alone on my server with bots who never disagree (or I'll de-res their asses...) :D
Nonetheless great update with the usual increased performance but I'll admit I don't see why it is needed to add a healthbar for the CC/hive when they're taking damage for everybody to see, I almost spilled some lampoil in terror of an upcoming boss fight but luckily that wasn't the case.
+1 Agreed, plus more time dead than alive can really suck.
Hive sight broken? Annoying.
Parasited green marines? Weird.
Build bars, look beyond tacky, not in keeping with the other "gritty" visuals.
Health bars - Pointless, looks tacky again - Pulls you out of the games look/feel.