Make the alien's varying presence felt.
|strofix|
Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165453Members
Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165453Members
<div class="IPBDescription">a task for the new DI perhaps?</div>So with the release of the new infestation system (which looks highly calibratable), I think it would be great if this was used to emphasise a big aspect of the game as a whole, and especially of the alien commander, which is territory expansion and presence.
What this translates to is the idea of a particularly area of the map being more strongly controlled depending on the amount of effort a commander is putting in to keep it by placing whips, shifts, crags and shades (and hydras from the gorge). So say the alien commander decides he would like to expand into double res, but doesn't have too much hope in holding it and so places the minimal cysts and harvesters. In such a case, there would be absolutely no change in comparison to the infestation we currently see. But, if the alien commander decided that he was going to invest time and resources into keeping double res, and placed numerous structures to assist his players, then the infestation would become highly rampant, and would take on different characteristics and appearances. The large growths could perhaps become more bulbous and numerous, the pulsating could become quickened etc. I don't propose that this uber-infestation have any explicit gameplay impact, but it would serve to more clearly illustrate where the commanders presence is most felt, to the marine AND alien players.
One potential gameplay impact I do propose though is that the infestations spread radius be increased in such a situation as the one outlined above. Let me give you an example of a situation which I find happens quite often throughout the game, but to me is most noticeable at the ballcourt/maintenance transition in docking. Quite often I find myself, as alien commander, either building on either side of the blown out hole in the wall in ballcourt, or building in the maintenance res node "cubicle", with marines applying pressure from the opposing position. I think it would be awesome if, as I built more structures in the area, the infestation slowly became "more powerful", and began expanding into their territory. Perhaps causing mines to explode, and preventing the marines from building structures any closer to my territory. I'm not talking miles and miles of infestation, but perhaps a 50% to 70% radius increase on a typical cyst's range.
This overall increase in infestation presence could be determined simply by the number of structures in the area, capping off at maybe 7 or 8, after which the infestation does not grow noticeably in presence.
What this translates to is the idea of a particularly area of the map being more strongly controlled depending on the amount of effort a commander is putting in to keep it by placing whips, shifts, crags and shades (and hydras from the gorge). So say the alien commander decides he would like to expand into double res, but doesn't have too much hope in holding it and so places the minimal cysts and harvesters. In such a case, there would be absolutely no change in comparison to the infestation we currently see. But, if the alien commander decided that he was going to invest time and resources into keeping double res, and placed numerous structures to assist his players, then the infestation would become highly rampant, and would take on different characteristics and appearances. The large growths could perhaps become more bulbous and numerous, the pulsating could become quickened etc. I don't propose that this uber-infestation have any explicit gameplay impact, but it would serve to more clearly illustrate where the commanders presence is most felt, to the marine AND alien players.
One potential gameplay impact I do propose though is that the infestations spread radius be increased in such a situation as the one outlined above. Let me give you an example of a situation which I find happens quite often throughout the game, but to me is most noticeable at the ballcourt/maintenance transition in docking. Quite often I find myself, as alien commander, either building on either side of the blown out hole in the wall in ballcourt, or building in the maintenance res node "cubicle", with marines applying pressure from the opposing position. I think it would be awesome if, as I built more structures in the area, the infestation slowly became "more powerful", and began expanding into their territory. Perhaps causing mines to explode, and preventing the marines from building structures any closer to my territory. I'm not talking miles and miles of infestation, but perhaps a 50% to 70% radius increase on a typical cyst's range.
This overall increase in infestation presence could be determined simply by the number of structures in the area, capping off at maybe 7 or 8, after which the infestation does not grow noticeably in presence.