Brainstorm: Third Hive Abilities
Bad Mojo
Join Date: 2009-05-01 Member: 67317Members
Join Date: 2009-05-01 Member: 67317Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Almost anything is better than Vortex/Xenocide</div>This thread is for your ideas of possibilities for third hive abilities, particularly for Fades and Skulks, since those are under the most scrutiny at the moment. Keep it simple. There's no reason to flesh out all of the exact numbers when throwing an idea out there. The specifics and numeric value would have to be tested anyway for balance within the game.
<b>Skulk:</b>
Improved Parasite - Short duration parasite (15s or so) which prevents affected marine from hp or armor healing of any kind
Frenzy (Passive, Also no the same frenzy I've heard about from beta) - Landing a bite on an enemy unit/structure increases attack speed by 10% for 1 second. A second successful bite increases the bonus to 20%. Stacks up to 5 times for 50% increased bite speed. Resets after 1 second.
<b>Lerk:</b>
Lerk abilities are pretty much fine. I would like to see alternate attack change when you have spores or umbra selected to be the ranged version of that ability. Kind of like how spikes is sort of the ranged version of bite. The primary attacks of umbra/spores (AKA the cropdust versions) would be more potent since they are harder/more risky to use.
<b>Fade:</b>
I almost never play Fade, so I'm not too passionate about how they should be improved, but many people want Focus and/or Metabolism. Sounds okay, but I personally would like to see Acid Rocket.
Rush - The Fade quickly dashes a short distance forward (about the same as SS), wildly swinging it's claws and dealing massive damage to anything in it's path, slightly knocking back any marines in the process.
<b>Gorge:</b>
1 Hive: Clogs/Hydras
2 Hives: (Power) Leech - can be placed on destroyed or unbuilt power nodes to make the room completely dark.
3 Hives: Web - fired like bile bomb, but with (much) shorter range. Fires a glob of adhesive webbing that spreads into a small circle on the floor that greatly slows marine movement. Only destroyed by flamethrower/ARCS. Max 2 per gorge.
<b>Skulk:</b>
Improved Parasite - Short duration parasite (15s or so) which prevents affected marine from hp or armor healing of any kind
Frenzy (Passive, Also no the same frenzy I've heard about from beta) - Landing a bite on an enemy unit/structure increases attack speed by 10% for 1 second. A second successful bite increases the bonus to 20%. Stacks up to 5 times for 50% increased bite speed. Resets after 1 second.
<b>Lerk:</b>
Lerk abilities are pretty much fine. I would like to see alternate attack change when you have spores or umbra selected to be the ranged version of that ability. Kind of like how spikes is sort of the ranged version of bite. The primary attacks of umbra/spores (AKA the cropdust versions) would be more potent since they are harder/more risky to use.
<b>Fade:</b>
I almost never play Fade, so I'm not too passionate about how they should be improved, but many people want Focus and/or Metabolism. Sounds okay, but I personally would like to see Acid Rocket.
Rush - The Fade quickly dashes a short distance forward (about the same as SS), wildly swinging it's claws and dealing massive damage to anything in it's path, slightly knocking back any marines in the process.
<b>Gorge:</b>
1 Hive: Clogs/Hydras
2 Hives: (Power) Leech - can be placed on destroyed or unbuilt power nodes to make the room completely dark.
3 Hives: Web - fired like bile bomb, but with (much) shorter range. Fires a glob of adhesive webbing that spreads into a small circle on the floor that greatly slows marine movement. Only destroyed by flamethrower/ARCS. Max 2 per gorge.
Comments
Imagining how a handfull of skulks just eat bases with this.
Vortex might be workable, but it needs to be far more oriented towards base-breaking since that's what aliens always need from their 3rd hive abilities. I think it would be useful if it lasted much longer on structures such that it could realistically lock down a phase gate or arms lab.
triggering on death is bad. Evolutions are passive, hive abilities are active. no hive ability should have an automatic triger. A parasite efect, or some other form of secondary effect would be nice though such as producing a few bile bomb projectiles, or spores, or a flashbang type effect, or something of that sort.
alternatly you could do is it so you can hold the attack key with xenocide to "charge it up" and you explode a second after you release, the longer you charge before hand the more damage and/or area of effect it has. make the skulk in question glow (like when you are healed/regen evilution but a different color than green), and maybe add a progresive speed penalty the longer you hold the charge. Then you could have it max out at a bit more damage than needed to one shot a level three light armor marine, but you would be very obvious and vulnerable in the meantime so it would normaly be wiser to use a lesser charge.
The 3 hive ability for gorges should definatly be a structure they can build IMO, preferably something powerful but indirect, such as a debuf, something that wont be dangerous to marines without aliens nearby to capitalize on it. Make said structure be cloaked by default (even when attacking) so it will require a scan or lucky bullet to find. Sample ideas could be webs, or something that makes hit marines take increased damage, or have it project halucinations, or darkness, or something like that.
You mean like an Onos charging at them, or more like the structure projects a wall where there is no wall? :P
i was thinking more along the lines of skulks and lerks skittering around, maybe a few alien struectures. Wouldnt react to marines at all, if there are no aliens around marines would put a few bullets in em, see no flinch or damage numbers and oh thats a fake. But in the chaos of battle one moving target isnt much different from another and a few waasted bullets can be the difference between a dead alien on the ground at your feat and wondering why you dont have a face anymore.
Allow commander to set where players shall spawn(hive 3 ability,locks selected player spawn to a specific building that produces eggs).As well as a way to speed up people's spawning.This way you'll be able to make more coordinated endgames pushes.Suddenly xenociding marines to death becomes a valid strategy?
2).Make vortex a ranged ability with a long effect on buildings.
3).Either buff Hydras or make them free,because currently they are pretty crappy.Gorge needs to be able to create cysts,minicrags,minishades,minishifts - depending on the hive's type.If he is not a proper fighter - make him a proper basebuilder!Give gorge other props other than green blobs to have fun with - like a giant blob with a small hole for a life form to fit in to act as a gates.
Makes skulk, lerk, and fade main attacks much more viable in late game.
-Focus
-Devour
-Motion Tracking
These are from NS1 as I've understood.What did those abilities do?
-Focus
-Devour
-Motion Tracking
These are from NS1 as I've understood.What did those abilities do?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
focus was a sensory evilution (that what shade is now) that increased the damage of your basic (bite) attack but reduced its firerate. It caused a net reduction of dps, but alowed more burst damage. Also as it brought most attacks to over 100 damage medpack spam could not counter it.
devour was an onos ability (one hive) that allowed them to eat a marine player, that player would then be slowly digested, doing damage directly to their health and healing the onos, a full hp marine took something around 15 seconds to digest IIRC. If the onos died the marine was rescued. If the onos was teleported to hive via redemption (a defence evilution, thats craig now, that would teleport injured aliens to the hive for healing) the marine would be droped, I dont recall waht would happen if you used a movement chamber to teleport. Movement chambers (thats shifts now) used to be able to be used to teleport an alien to the nearest hive, or the hive currently taking damage.
Motion tracking was an marine upgrade that showed moving aliens through walls with blue circles at all times, it was basicly built in wallhacks.
2 Hives: (Power) Leech - can be placed on destroyed or unbuilt power nodes to make the room completely dark.
3 Hives: Web - fired like bile bomb, but with (much) shorter range. Fires a glob of adhesive webbing that spreads into a small circle on the floor that greatly slows marine movement. Only destroyed by flamethrower/ARCS. Max 2 per gorge.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So need that leech ability....
Might also be an idea as a building for the commander.
Its so annoying to have an hive in a brighty lit room...