Natural Selection 2 News Update - NS2 Build 219 released
Flayra
Game Director, Unknown Worlds EntertainmentSan Francisco Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 3Super Administrators, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
Game Director, Unknown Worlds EntertainmentSan Francisco Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 3Super Administrators, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
Comments
OH MY GOD I LOVE YOU INSIGHT. I suggested this a little while ago but I never thought it would make it in so soon!
I love you guys! Not mentioned in the checkin-
Colors are built into the new pen tool. A simple console command can be used to change the color, "jm r g b a" (alpha is optional, numbers should be either (0, 1) or (0, 255))
for example:
jm 1 0 1 - will set the color to magenta
bind F5 "jm 0 255 0 128" - will bind F5 to set the color to transparent green
Colors are built into the new pen tool. A simple console command can be used to change the color, "jm r g b a" (alpha is optional, numbers should be either (0, 1) or (0, 255))
for example:
jm 1 0 1 - will set the color to magenta
bind F5 "jm 0 255 0 128" - will bind F5 to set the color to transparent green<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Is there a built-in Hugh filter system though, I'm fed up with boogers on the stream :P
Power pack observatories save games
Curious to see how big an impact this'll have.
Well they can't shoot through walls and they can attack players. Soo
Killing egg's in hive just cause 1000x more important
Dropping high evolution on an egg and some random insta spawning in it = no longer!
Big spawn waves = harder to camp aliens if marines didn't bother to kill / clear out eggs.
ps: little disappointed no mention of wall jumping being fixed
'Course, this just my first impression on the change since, again, I haven't tried them in-game yet. Anyone else wanna weigh it?
Great decision to remove power nodes and add turrent power for only the turrents. Thats is the only solution to prevent turrent spam. Exaclly like ns1. :D
Power pack observatories save games<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I didn't see anything about power packs being removed? Or am I blind?
They're removed :(
"Remove portable power nodes from the game. These are flawed in concept and work against the power nodes in general. Sorry, ninja tactics! Maybe we can figure out another way for you to ninja your 'gates."
BTW, they are not called portable power nodes *shakes fist at devs*
"Remove portable power nodes from the game. These are flawed in concept and work against the power nodes in general. Sorry, ninja tactics! Maybe we can figure out another way for you to ninja your 'gates."
BTW, they are not called portable power nodes *shakes fist at devs*<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Not that I don't believe you, but I'm using CTRL+F and still not finding anything about that in the patch notes. Then again it's far from the first time that the notes missed something important.
Allow me to join in, though:
WTF? I really liked the idea of backup/ninja power packs! Was there even a grounds for getting rid of them?
Allow me to join in, though:
WTF? I really liked the idea of backup/ninja power packs! Was there even a grounds for getting rid of them?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I copy pasted that from the patch note page man :D And yes that is indeed a valid question, I would have rather seen this alternative, before removing them...
But yeah, I never heard a single complaint that they were being abused or were imbalanced. They were useful, kind of expensive unless it was really important, but HAD a purpose. So what does UWE do? Nuke it, while things like the horrible flamethrower, fade "tech explosions," and other things run rampant. \:D/
But yeah, I never heard a single complaint that they were being abused or were imbalanced. They were useful, kind of expensive unless it was really important, but HAD a purpose. So what does UWE do? Nuke it, while things like the horrible flamethrower, fade "tech explosions," and other things run rampant. \:D/<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well, this one made sense, despite the fact that I am also unhappy with the change. It didn't fit their design choice of forcing the Marines to set up, defend, and repair Power Nodes, so it was removed...it wasn't a matter of it being imbalanced or not (although it may have been).
I'm also most unhappy with the current state of the Flamethrower, but getting all of these changes in just six days (especially the bug fixes, because I know first hand how horrible that can be) is enough to satisfy me. It'll probably be handled at some point.
I will second this, I'm loving the updates. I played a bit, but not a lot, near the beginning (mainly due to my own performance, even as the builds got better), so it is very interesting now that I have a much better computer (built partially to play NS2 in full maxed graphic glory!) to see how the changes are compared to long ago, like when the fade was first released versus now. I'm really enjoying it!
I don't see how it's making sense as it didn't affect any of their design decisions in any serious way, otherwise the power packs would have been the topic of much discussions along the lines of "Oh they are OP!" or "They are useles, why are they in the game?!". Instead most people accepted that they have a use and a niche.
As it is, removing them just removes options for marines, without adding any new ones or fixing any big issues, as such it doesn't make much sense to remove them.
Except we want to push the whole "solid frontlines!" gameplay design which is, imho, totally out of place as it simply doesn't work for the NS RTS side of the game. Might as well turn that aspect to an DOTA/Moba clone then, if fights are supposed to be linear along easily identifiable front lines (powered rooms) with less/no options of outmaneuvering the enemy.
No more ninja pg's turning around rounds, no more sneaky tactics, it's all an full frontal assault spam fest to win and lose ground on the map. Sounds great in "design theory", but plays way to linear and repetitive in actual gameplay. NS2 maps are already small in scale, there is no need to artificially narrow down map expansion that much to funnel the two teams into fighting over powernode hotspots.
Now they have to figure out a new way to bring back ninja tactics and outmaneuvering the enemy team, which is an far bigger task then it might sound. If it ain't broken, don't try fixing it :/
Anything that gives more options to the commanders is a good thing.
Playtesters tryed out a few differnt tactics and did alot of testing whit the sentries. They have there uses *wink* *wink*
As it is, removing them just removes options for marines, without adding any new ones or fixing any big issues, as such it doesn't make much sense to remove them.
Except we want to push the whole "solid frontlines!" gameplay design which is, imho, totally out of place as it simply doesn't work for the NS RTS side of the game. Might as well turn that aspect to an DOTA/Moba clone then, if fights are supposed to be linear along easily identifiable front lines (powered rooms) with less/no options of outmaneuvering the enemy.
No more ninja pg's turning around rounds, no more sneaky tactics, it's all an full frontal assault spam fest to win and lose ground on the map. Sounds great in "design theory", but plays way to linear and repetitive in actual gameplay. NS2 maps are already small in scale, there is no need to artificially narrow down map expansion that much to funnel the two teams into fighting over powernode hotspots.
Now they have to figure out a new way to bring back ninja tactics and outmaneuvering the enemy team, which is an far bigger task then it might sound. If it ain't broken, don't try fixing it :/<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
How about this: Sentries and Sentry batteries are allowed to be placed on infestation? Then you could have one Marine set up a number of Sentries surrounding the Hive, then have him build the battery to power them to quickly burst down the Hive before any Aliens have a chance to respond.
Of course, there are a number of issues with this idea (First and foremost being that it's not entirely intuitive if only one structure can be placed on infestation while the rest can't), but it would still allow Marines that sneak behind enemy lines to do something worth worrying about.
Like what? From my quick testing they did low damage to buildings, constantly refocused on players (and did near ignorable damage on players), and for the most part couldn't even get range of a hive because of the hive's own infestation.
edit:
Apparently you can build them on infestation. They're pretty cheap. Still seem like junk to me, though.
Today is a good day. I've been waiting like 1 year for this. It was so frustrating when you ask for ammo and the com drops 1 pack.
So it's as I feared...
I would very much like to hear how the playertesters used them, then.
Colors are built into the new pen tool. A simple console command can be used to change the color, "jm r g b a" (alpha is optional, numbers should be either (0, 1) or (0, 255))
for example:
jm 1 0 1 - will set the color to magenta
bind F5 "jm 0 255 0 128" - will bind F5 to set the color to transparent green<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Haha I just noticed that you posted a few days ago in the Insight thread about this new feature. So I should've already been excited :D