NS2 Feedback
Reconomgwtfbbq
Join Date: 2012-09-12 Member: 159073Members
Join Date: 2012-09-12 Member: 159073Members
<div class="IPBDescription">NS1 vs NS2</div>Right'o, let's get started.
I am a huge fan of NS1 and to my childhood memory it plays just as big a part as Ocarina of Time. The strategic gameplay, the fun and the craziness which could occur was part of making NS one of my most favorite games ever. Now I have beta tested NS2, first played it about half a year ago and decided to try it out again since back then it was in the early stages and still full of a lot of bugs.
I am going to give some feedback to NS2 in comparison to NS1, I hope the developers will read it.
Pros:
- Amazing work on the structure/model/texture design.
- The new maps look absolutely amazing
- The infestation/growth idea was brilliant and adds a new touch to the game
- I love how you maintained the basic combat mechanics from NS1
- Upgrades are the same (mostly) and a new ones have been added.
Cons:
- I don't like that all the structures new look new. I can understand the new armor/skin types for the characters, but why change the look on every structure in the game? NS1 players will be very confused.
- The marine structures (some of them) maintained their old names, but all the alien structures have new ones.
- Exo (aka the new heavy armor) is overpowered. I don't know why you didn't keep the old heavy armor upgrade.
- Marines have individual currency.
- Commanders play a much smaller role than before
- Resnodes need growth/power in order to function
- Command station position are optional
- The old maps are gone
- Turrets are useless and siege canons are gone.
So let me elaborate a bit on the cons, take no offense please this is just my personal feedback :)
Structures:
- I think it's great with updating the old models but I still think they could have resembled the old ones at least a little bit. The only thing that you will be able to recognize from NS 1 is res nodes, the hive and infantry portals. Everything else looks completely new which can be very confusing. It takes a while to get into and prioritizing is truly difficult.
The alien structures now look like something taken from the Zerg campaign and there is a lot of them. First of all, the hive now has a bunch of regular basic structures (eggs) near the hive. This adds a nice touch, but is there a use for it? The average player will have trouble utilizing all the new structure abilities to their full capacity. Lots of new options and choosing the wrong one can very well decide the outcome of a match. The few times I have played as alien commander the community was kind enough to guide me through it. But without them, I would have been completely lost and it would have taken me ages to figure out by myself.
Secondly, the gorge used to be the builder. As an alien you had to chose to sacrifice your own res to get your teammates res. The Gorge was the absolute most important alien out there. 2-4 players had to go gorge in order to get res nodes up and upgradeable structures while the rest of the team held the pressure on the marines to keep the gorges and their structures safe. Lastly, the most important sacrifice. Chosing between hive or fade. Both equally as important but a amazing strategic outcome every time. This was part of making the alien side a challenging but very giving and fun aspect. Now it is gone and I find that sad. This wasn't complicated, it was quite simple.
I know that you wanted to remove the "sacrifice" aspect of the game by giving the aliens a hive commander, but thats what alien was all about. Apart from the gorges being able to set up a small amount of useless structures the aliens are now pretty much the same as the marines. Model/textures being different is about the only difference now.
Lastly, I want to talk about the offensive structures. We now have something called a robotics factory which is the most useless and annoying thing in the game. It can make turrets, sure...... which only shoot at structures in their sight. They don't shoot at lifeforms. In order to place down a turret, you must first build a powernode and then you can buy the turret which has to be DIRECTLY next to the power node in order to work. What's the point of that? Why would you ever waste resources on them? To kill the ridicules low hp gorge structures which marines early rip down anyway?
As for the offense towers, they are now limited to 3 pr gorge, a marine will kill a gorge even though 3 are shooting at him, they wont stop 2 or 3 marines anyway, they have limited range.... ughr.... useless. The gorge bile bombing is worth something at least but all the structures the gorge builds simply delay a marine advancement for a few minutes at the very most. And its not enough
Gameplay:
Since the gameplay has become more or less the same for each side, this game cannot really be called natural selection 2. It feels more like a mod to NS1 with new graphics. The basic combat mechanics are the same, but we all know that we loved the game for the strategic differences it would give us. I don't know why this was changed, sure.... the new game is fun..... just not as much fun as the old one.
I also noticed the introduction of dark areas. Possibly to give the aliens the advantage to hold more corridors.... the only thing lacking though is enough ventilations to get around that. Marines never feared corridors, they loved them. It meant aliens could only come from one direction while they set up structures and slowly pushed forward. They were ###### scared of open areas and ventilations since those were the most unsafe areas of the game. Now, you may think that open space were a disadvantage for aliens and they were in a sense for Onos and gorges but any other lifeform would love them. It meant more directions to attack from. Now we are limited to one or two at the very most. All hives having 2 single corridors to move in on have very much limited defense capabilities. Welders play a much smaller role than before since upgrading them is expensive.
I don't know, this just doesn't feel right. Too many changes.
Maps:
The new maps look absolutely amazing. Hands down, amazing work. What I don't get however, is why there is so many of them. NS_Veil is currently the most popular map out there. And it is a remake of the old one from NS1. Why not bring more of the old maps into the game? They were what made this game so great.
First of all, they were bigger. Meaning, that you would have marines in your hive within the first minute of gameplay. Secondly, most of them had a double res node area which was crucial to strategic advancement in the game. Meaning, the teams wouldn't always be fighting over a hive location but also over map locations.
They were slow paced. I noticed that the matches don't last as long as they used to. Meaning the game speed has moved up A LOT hence making each decision in the game more crucial. Mistakes now have a very large toll on your team. I loved the matches that would take time. The longer the match lasted, the more fun it usually was. Lots of different lifeforms heavy armors and jetpackers vs fades and onos... it was incredible and amazing.
Support roles:
- Lerk gas is.... not reliable. A lerk could stop a marine advancement in NS1 way better than a gorge can in NS2. You now have to fly INTO a group of marines (Good luck with that) and you leave a thin trail of gas behind you. Which any marine can avoid by taking a step sideways. The spike gun is back from the early NS1 build..... I like to think there was a reason for it being removed. It still wont stand a chance in a fight between a marine in any hall way. Useless against structures just like before....... meh. Lerk needs a lot of work.
You know... to be honest, I might as well stop here. I could mention a lot more but I think you've gotten the point I am trying to prove. NS2 is great. It really is. It's just not NS1.... at all. I loved NS1 and I think I going to wait for the conversion mod. I would love to play NS2 featuring all the stuff from NS1.
What I would personally like is NS1 with NS2 graphics and mechanics.
I want the nostalgia back such as:
- Build defense chambers in a vent and survive losing all hives (have a gorge survival party)
- Have a gorge rush and OT spam marine spawn
- Relocate the command console to double for a better strategic gameplay
- Secretly build a TF in a vent and siege a alien hive
- Build turrets to defend important locations and phase gates
- Be able to electrify res nodes.
- Play CO mode (why isn't this in the game???)
- Use the heavy machinegun (hmg)
- Sneak into a hive location, morph and dump a hive while there is a active phasegate and turrets
- Make a last stand as marines in spawn with turrets, machineguns and shotties and hold the aliens off for 20min push out and win
- Weld vents
- I want to play siege maps (because my god they were fun)
- I want the old maps back. The new ones are great, but the old ones were larger with more possibilities.
I hope someone will make a mod which brings the nostalgia fron NS1 into NS2. Once again, NS2 is great, it just isn't for me personally :) Hope you take this as constructive feedback instead of a rant.
Best regards - Recon
I am a huge fan of NS1 and to my childhood memory it plays just as big a part as Ocarina of Time. The strategic gameplay, the fun and the craziness which could occur was part of making NS one of my most favorite games ever. Now I have beta tested NS2, first played it about half a year ago and decided to try it out again since back then it was in the early stages and still full of a lot of bugs.
I am going to give some feedback to NS2 in comparison to NS1, I hope the developers will read it.
Pros:
- Amazing work on the structure/model/texture design.
- The new maps look absolutely amazing
- The infestation/growth idea was brilliant and adds a new touch to the game
- I love how you maintained the basic combat mechanics from NS1
- Upgrades are the same (mostly) and a new ones have been added.
Cons:
- I don't like that all the structures new look new. I can understand the new armor/skin types for the characters, but why change the look on every structure in the game? NS1 players will be very confused.
- The marine structures (some of them) maintained their old names, but all the alien structures have new ones.
- Exo (aka the new heavy armor) is overpowered. I don't know why you didn't keep the old heavy armor upgrade.
- Marines have individual currency.
- Commanders play a much smaller role than before
- Resnodes need growth/power in order to function
- Command station position are optional
- The old maps are gone
- Turrets are useless and siege canons are gone.
So let me elaborate a bit on the cons, take no offense please this is just my personal feedback :)
Structures:
- I think it's great with updating the old models but I still think they could have resembled the old ones at least a little bit. The only thing that you will be able to recognize from NS 1 is res nodes, the hive and infantry portals. Everything else looks completely new which can be very confusing. It takes a while to get into and prioritizing is truly difficult.
The alien structures now look like something taken from the Zerg campaign and there is a lot of them. First of all, the hive now has a bunch of regular basic structures (eggs) near the hive. This adds a nice touch, but is there a use for it? The average player will have trouble utilizing all the new structure abilities to their full capacity. Lots of new options and choosing the wrong one can very well decide the outcome of a match. The few times I have played as alien commander the community was kind enough to guide me through it. But without them, I would have been completely lost and it would have taken me ages to figure out by myself.
Secondly, the gorge used to be the builder. As an alien you had to chose to sacrifice your own res to get your teammates res. The Gorge was the absolute most important alien out there. 2-4 players had to go gorge in order to get res nodes up and upgradeable structures while the rest of the team held the pressure on the marines to keep the gorges and their structures safe. Lastly, the most important sacrifice. Chosing between hive or fade. Both equally as important but a amazing strategic outcome every time. This was part of making the alien side a challenging but very giving and fun aspect. Now it is gone and I find that sad. This wasn't complicated, it was quite simple.
I know that you wanted to remove the "sacrifice" aspect of the game by giving the aliens a hive commander, but thats what alien was all about. Apart from the gorges being able to set up a small amount of useless structures the aliens are now pretty much the same as the marines. Model/textures being different is about the only difference now.
Lastly, I want to talk about the offensive structures. We now have something called a robotics factory which is the most useless and annoying thing in the game. It can make turrets, sure...... which only shoot at structures in their sight. They don't shoot at lifeforms. In order to place down a turret, you must first build a powernode and then you can buy the turret which has to be DIRECTLY next to the power node in order to work. What's the point of that? Why would you ever waste resources on them? To kill the ridicules low hp gorge structures which marines early rip down anyway?
As for the offense towers, they are now limited to 3 pr gorge, a marine will kill a gorge even though 3 are shooting at him, they wont stop 2 or 3 marines anyway, they have limited range.... ughr.... useless. The gorge bile bombing is worth something at least but all the structures the gorge builds simply delay a marine advancement for a few minutes at the very most. And its not enough
Gameplay:
Since the gameplay has become more or less the same for each side, this game cannot really be called natural selection 2. It feels more like a mod to NS1 with new graphics. The basic combat mechanics are the same, but we all know that we loved the game for the strategic differences it would give us. I don't know why this was changed, sure.... the new game is fun..... just not as much fun as the old one.
I also noticed the introduction of dark areas. Possibly to give the aliens the advantage to hold more corridors.... the only thing lacking though is enough ventilations to get around that. Marines never feared corridors, they loved them. It meant aliens could only come from one direction while they set up structures and slowly pushed forward. They were ###### scared of open areas and ventilations since those were the most unsafe areas of the game. Now, you may think that open space were a disadvantage for aliens and they were in a sense for Onos and gorges but any other lifeform would love them. It meant more directions to attack from. Now we are limited to one or two at the very most. All hives having 2 single corridors to move in on have very much limited defense capabilities. Welders play a much smaller role than before since upgrading them is expensive.
I don't know, this just doesn't feel right. Too many changes.
Maps:
The new maps look absolutely amazing. Hands down, amazing work. What I don't get however, is why there is so many of them. NS_Veil is currently the most popular map out there. And it is a remake of the old one from NS1. Why not bring more of the old maps into the game? They were what made this game so great.
First of all, they were bigger. Meaning, that you would have marines in your hive within the first minute of gameplay. Secondly, most of them had a double res node area which was crucial to strategic advancement in the game. Meaning, the teams wouldn't always be fighting over a hive location but also over map locations.
They were slow paced. I noticed that the matches don't last as long as they used to. Meaning the game speed has moved up A LOT hence making each decision in the game more crucial. Mistakes now have a very large toll on your team. I loved the matches that would take time. The longer the match lasted, the more fun it usually was. Lots of different lifeforms heavy armors and jetpackers vs fades and onos... it was incredible and amazing.
Support roles:
- Lerk gas is.... not reliable. A lerk could stop a marine advancement in NS1 way better than a gorge can in NS2. You now have to fly INTO a group of marines (Good luck with that) and you leave a thin trail of gas behind you. Which any marine can avoid by taking a step sideways. The spike gun is back from the early NS1 build..... I like to think there was a reason for it being removed. It still wont stand a chance in a fight between a marine in any hall way. Useless against structures just like before....... meh. Lerk needs a lot of work.
You know... to be honest, I might as well stop here. I could mention a lot more but I think you've gotten the point I am trying to prove. NS2 is great. It really is. It's just not NS1.... at all. I loved NS1 and I think I going to wait for the conversion mod. I would love to play NS2 featuring all the stuff from NS1.
What I would personally like is NS1 with NS2 graphics and mechanics.
I want the nostalgia back such as:
- Build defense chambers in a vent and survive losing all hives (have a gorge survival party)
- Have a gorge rush and OT spam marine spawn
- Relocate the command console to double for a better strategic gameplay
- Secretly build a TF in a vent and siege a alien hive
- Build turrets to defend important locations and phase gates
- Be able to electrify res nodes.
- Play CO mode (why isn't this in the game???)
- Use the heavy machinegun (hmg)
- Sneak into a hive location, morph and dump a hive while there is a active phasegate and turrets
- Make a last stand as marines in spawn with turrets, machineguns and shotties and hold the aliens off for 20min push out and win
- Weld vents
- I want to play siege maps (because my god they were fun)
- I want the old maps back. The new ones are great, but the old ones were larger with more possibilities.
I hope someone will make a mod which brings the nostalgia fron NS1 into NS2. Once again, NS2 is great, it just isn't for me personally :) Hope you take this as constructive feedback instead of a rant.
Best regards - Recon
Comments
Nonsense. Most structures retain their basic structure, they're just bigger. CC, Armory, IP, Obs (nearly identical).
Some, like the PG, were redesigned because they were badly implemented in NS1.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- The marine structures (some of them) maintained their old names, but all the alien structures have new ones.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Good because the NS1 names were more like role descriptions than names, "Offense/Defense chamber".
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Exo (aka the new heavy armor) is overpowered. I don't know why you didn't keep the old heavy armor upgrade.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
In NS2, HA would be way overpowered since it can weld, build, use any weapon, crawl in vents, use phase gates, get beaconed.
The Exo cannot do any of the things listed there, it's only advantage is having more armor and bigger guns.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Marines have individual currency. <!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Quite an excellent change, the amount of babysitting the comm had to do in NS1 was ridiculous.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Commanders play a much smaller role than before<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Nope, they just don't hold your hand every second.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Resnodes need growth/power in order to function<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Territorial control is one of the best aspect of modern RTS games.
SC2 does this as well with Zerg and Protoss.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Command station position are optional<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
?
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- The old maps are gone<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Most will be getting remakes, like <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=115970" target="_blank">Eclipse</a> and <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=116097&st=0" target="_blank">Tanith</a>.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Turrets are useless and siege canons are gone.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Turrets are still WIP and sieges are just mobile now and renamed to ARCs.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Build defense chambers in a vent and survive losing all hives (have a gorge survival party)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
As much as this is "fun" its boring and quite annoying for the aliens that just want to move on to the next match.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Have a gorge rush and OT spam marine spawn<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
You mean OC?
You can still do that, hydras can be built off infestation and even take less time to build than OCs.
You can add some clogs for more protection.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Relocate the command console to double for a better strategic gameplay<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Perhaps, but on some maps this made playing alien impossible.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Secretly build a TF in a vent and siege a alien hive<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
A bit too exploitable on some maps.
Remember Red Room on NS_Nothing?
Not really fair to build 3 sieges in a vent room with 2 small entrances that can be easily camped.
Either way you can still
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Be able to electrify res nodes.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Bandaid solution for alien domination in NS1.
Not really needed (yet) in NS2.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Play CO mode (why isn't this in the game???)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
It's been modded in by the community.
I'd rather have UWE work and polish the main game.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Sneak into a hive location, morph and dump a hive while there is a active phasegate and turrets<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
You can do that as the Khamm now, but wasting res is a bad way to play the game.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Make a last stand as marines in spawn with turrets, machineguns and shotties and hold the aliens off for 20min push out and win<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Had quite a few games like that, also you forgot to mention the #1 thing that makes these comebacks possible, the mighty GL spam.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Build turrets to defend important locations and phase gates
- Weld vents
- I want to play siege maps (because my god they were fun)
- I want the old maps back. The new ones are great, but the old ones were larger with more possibilities.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Agreed on these, sentries are still WIP, and we'll get new maps, siege maps and remade NS1 maps from the community in due time.
Very true, there are a lot of aspects in the game I am yet to discover, do not get me wrong. It was very difficult for me to get into NS2, it is quite a large leap from NS1. Very large.
I think the thing which annoys me most is the Alien Commander position and the major change to the gorge. It's like they split the Gorge into two. The lifeform retains some of its abilities while the rest are showed into the "commander" position. I don't like the split, especially because the gorge has lost a lot of its strength. Not being able to place a defensive structure near its other structures is a major setback.
In NS1 for example, if 2 gorge decided to block a hallway it was blocked until half the marine team showed up with shotguns or nade launchers. This cost the gorges a lot of their personal res but they were able to hold it up for a long time. 5 marines can plow down the structures of 2 gorges and kill them both in less than a minute the way it is now.
I know this is meant to encourage teamplay, but teamplay used to function in a different way back in NS1.
Aliens had to work together but also individually use their res in a way that could benefit the team.
Marines had to move in a group and have the commander "hold their hand" along the way.
Typically if the alien team could get 3 gorges to put down res nodes, OC wall 1 corridor, get a fast lerk, 1 fade 1 second hive within the first 5 minutes that would give them a brilliant start and most likely make them win the game.
This was countered by a commander pushing hard, medpacking, getting PG up, 3 shotties for a fade/lerk etc you know....
For the record, you might want to have a look at the structures in NS1 in comparison to NS2, they look nothing alike ;)
And with all due respect to the developers creation, don't you think that the majority of the fanbase would prefer NS2 with NS1 mechanics?
As for the growth/power issue.... Imagine playing as Zerg while having no control over your units except the queen. All you can do is put down structures, make a few upgrades and have the queen spam growth.
Or playing as Terran where you cannot decide what units you create. Sometimes you get a Marine othertimes a firebug and on occasions a tank. All you hear is "additional supply depots required/resource tower is under attack". That's your function.
Can you really not see that from a perspective of other players where such a mechanic is boring and annoying? I mean... come on. Its limitations.
Try and think back to what a good/bad commander could do in the old days. What a huge impact it had if you had good or bad gorges. And how long a game could last regardless of the skill of players.
FYI: I did know a lot of the basic stuff here, but bloody hell... imagine being a new player and having to get into all of this on your own.
Very true, there are a lot of aspects in the game I am yet to discover, do not get me wrong. It was very difficult for me to get into NS2, it is quite a large leap from NS1. Very large.
I think the thing which annoys me most is the Alien Commander position and the major change to the gorge. It's like they split the Gorge into two. The lifeform retains some of its abilities while the rest are showed into the "commander" position. I don't like the split, especially because the gorge has lost a lot of its strength. Not being able to place a defensive structure near its other structures is a major setback.
In NS1 for example, if 2 gorge decided to block a hallway it was blocked until half the marine team showed up with shotguns or nade launchers. This cost the gorges a lot of their personal res but they were able to hold it up for a long time. 5 marines can plow down the structures of 2 gorges and kill them both in less than a minute the way it is now.
I know this is meant to encourage teamplay, but teamplay used to function in a different way back in NS1.
Aliens had to work together but also individually use their res in a way that could benefit the team.
Marines had to move in a group and have the commander "hold their hand" along the way.
Typically if the alien team could get 3 gorges to put down res nodes, OC wall 1 corridor, get a fast lerk, 1 fade 1 second hive within the first 5 minutes that would give them a brilliant start and most likely make them win the game.
This was countered by a commander pushing hard, medpacking, getting PG up, 3 shotties for a fade/lerk etc you know....
For the record, you might want to have a look at the structures in NS1 in comparison to NS2, they look nothing alike ;)
And with all due respect to the developers creation, don't you think that the majority of the fanbase would prefer NS2 with NS1 mechanics?
As for the growth/power issue.... Imagine playing as Zerg while having no control over your units except the queen. All you can do is put down structures, make a few upgrades and have the queen spam growth.
Or playing as Terran where you cannot decide what units you create. Sometimes you get a Marine othertimes a firebug and on occasions a tank. All you hear is "additional supply depots required/resource tower is under attack". That's your function.
Can you really not see that from a perspective of other players where such a mechanic is boring and annoying? I mean... come on. Its limitations.
Try and think back to what a good/bad commander could do in the old days. What a huge impact it had if you had good or bad gorges. And how long a game could last regardless of the skill of players.
FYI: I did know a lot of the basic stuff here, but bloody hell... imagine being a new player and having to get into all of this on your own.
<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
I've often seen 1 gorge hold on to some easily blockable hallways till the 15 minute mark in NS2.
And that was before hydras got 33% HP buff.
Hydras might still need some tweaks but as previously said, UWE don't want to turn the game into players vs turrets, that's boring.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- For the record, you might want to have a look at the structures in NS1 in comparison to NS2, they look nothing alike ;)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Only the new alien chambers.
The marine buildings are textured differently but they have the basic structure of their NS1 counterparts, with a few added doodads:
The IP is still a small pad on the ground.
The armory is still a big clump of metal that you can hump.
The Res Tower is still the pump-like structure is 4 legs.
The Obs is still the dish antenna.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- And with all due respect to the developers creation, don't you think that the majority of the fanbase would prefer NS2 with NS1 mechanics? <!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Depends on what mechanics. Because some were outright bad and some were bandaid fixes.
NS1 was great but there's no lying that it had quite a few core issues throughout it's many versions, be it balance or gameplay.
NS2 isn't perfect but it is certainly 10 steps forward and 4 steps back (due to some on-going balance issues).
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- As for the growth/power issue.... Imagine playing as Zerg while having no control over your units except the queen. All you can do is put down structures, make a few upgrades and have the queen spam growth. <!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
The Khamm can also assist players with drifters, nutrient mist and infestation spikes to block marines.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Or playing as Terran where you cannot decide what units you create. Sometimes you get a Marine othertimes a firebug and on occasions a tank. All you hear is "additional supply depots required/resource tower is under attack". That's your function.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
The commander decides the tech path and communicates with his team. You can't buy shotguns or whatever if they're not researched.
Most marines will buy what's available, a few might save for EXO. But it's the job of the comm to direct them and work with them.
Plus, he can still drop weapons and equipment, marines just have some added freedom.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- Try and think back to what a good/bad commander could do in the old days. What a huge impact it had if you had good or bad gorges. And how long a game could last regardless of the skill of players.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
A bad comm will still lose you the game in NS2.
A bad Khamm will most likely lose you the game as well, unless the marines had no comm and the skulk rush wins.
And long drawn out games, that continue way past the point of one of the teams losing was one of NS1's big flaws.
NS2 has less of this annoying base turtling or hiding in vents. Only equally matched teams manage to pull of long, close games and that's quite excellent.
<!--coloro:#696969--><span style="color:#696969"><!--/coloro-->- FYI: I did know a lot of the basic stuff here, but bloody hell... imagine being a new player and having to get into all of this on your own.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Not at all, compared to NS1 it is way easier on the noobs with all the hints and auto-waypoints.
I got what every basic marine building was except the Arms Lab from the first time loading the alpha, ~2 years ago.
And if not, I know there's an NS2 classic mod being developed by the community and from what I hear, it's pretty cool so far. It's NS2, but using NS1 roles/rules. As for combat, there was a semi-functional version out a few builds ago, but UWE has been pumping stuff out since then and combat ran into some bugs as far as I know. I think once 1.0 hits, combat will surface, or so I hope!