I wish they would add more new playable types of aliens in the future. Will they add more in the future?
The problem is redundancy imo. For new alien lifeforms to come into play, you'll have to find new distinct roles (and looks) for them. And you already have a costless fourlegged all purpose wall crawler, a flying support unit with ranged and AoE attacks, a bipedal assassin like unit with teleportation capacities, a slow but huge meatshield unit, and a cuddly healer/combat engineer. If you've got some good ideas I'd love to hear them, but me personally, I'd rather like to see some more abilities/upgrades to diversify the tech trees a bit more.
I wish they would add more new playable types of aliens in the future. Will they add more in the future?
The problem is redundancy imo. For new alien lifeforms to come into play, you'll have to find new distinct roles (and looks) for them. And you already have a costless fourlegged all purpose wall crawler, a flying support unit with ranged and AoE attacks, a bipedal assassin like unit with teleportation capacities, a slow but huge meatshield unit, and a cuddly healer/combat engineer. If you've got some good ideas I'd love to hear them, but me personally, I'd rather like to see some more abilities/upgrades to diversify the tech trees a bit more.
Yeah, lets flesh out what we have before we start adding new stuff.
its difficult to think up an alien that would actually fill a role thats missing though
i thoguht up to new alien structures but i cant think up any new alien life forms...
mollusc - small shell like creature that feeds off power nodes, can be constructed over adestroyed power node to prevent marines from taking the node, when it is damaged it releases a smallcloud around it of spores and makes a loud screaming noise.
Crab, mobile arc like structure that once deployed opens up like a clam and begins to slowly fill up an area with spore gas.
the only lifeform I could think of would be some kind of ground unit with good ranged attacks for late-game turtle base annihilation
(sea) snail (the arc type)
- costs 40 res (kham egg drop with 3rd hive)
- very slow (faster on infestation)
- very vulnerable when attacking/charging attacks, but high hp/armor (between onos and fade)
- when attacking and up to X secs after attacks, the turning/aiming speed is very low (should prevent easy 360° coverage when flanked/attacked from behind)
+ tier 1 ability: acid vomit
* little "charge up" time when attacking (like chaingun spin up)
* snail can't see sh** while shooting
* good vs buildings
* a little more range than bilebomb
* ballistically (drop not so high like bilebombs, and x% of vomit drops everywhere between snail and targeted area)
* only affects buildings, exos, macs, marine armor (not hp)
* no (huge) "distort vision" effect on marines/exos
* shoots constantly until attack stopped or energy depleted
* high energy costs (no adren: full energy = 1 robotics factory, with adren = 2 robotics factories)
+ tier 2 ability: mucus shot
* charged attack (the longer the charge, the bigger the aoe and the wider the range: full charge: aoe of 10 meters (effect decreases from center to outher ring) and decent mid-range traveling)
* does no damage at all, doesn't affect buildings either
* just stucks on players/exos/macs and makes them x% slower and decreases turning speed by x% for x seconds
* marines can't heal while covered with mukus,...
* ...but spores doesn't affect them that much (hp damage reduced by x%)
* mucus can be slowly removed with welders (1-3 secs per target))
the only purpos is to support a organized base attack, a snail on it's own is useless (no hp damage to players), but can be very efficient for killing buildings and supporting the team by slowing the marines and preventing constant healing at an armory.
that's only a suggestion though, I don't think a snail is a must have unit or is really needed. but I think, it could be usefull and would fit the organic/oceanic styleset of the kharaa.
I would LOVE to see a lifeform capable of using PSI powers something like the PSI reavers in system shock 2 (look it up if you don't have a clue what I'm on about)
Telekinetic abilities like pull a marine closer to you so your fellow aliens can chomp on 'em or even push them over the edge in crevice on the summit map or whatever you can imagine I guess.
I think redundancy is not necessarily a bad thing - you can have multiple lifeforms that fill similar roles in a different way. L4D2 is a good example of this. L4D had the basic infected classes of Hunter, Smoker and Boomer. Let's say Hunter is a DPS role, Smoker is Separation, and Boomer is Support. Then L4D2 added the Charger, Jockey and Spitter. I would argue that those classes fall into the same three basic categories, but they introduce new mechanics to accomplish similar goals, thus adding more gameplay variety.
Similarly, new lifeforms in NS2 wouldn't necessarily need to fill a unique role, they would just need to accomplish an existing role in a different way. The same applies to both marine gear and alien lifeforms. If we insist that everything in the game has a distinct role, it won't be long before there's no more new stuff left to add.
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if you can think of a new, unique, not-yet-done alien type for them to implement, sure. because we don't want to implement a fadelerkskulkgorge, do we? ... do we?
if you can think of a new, unique, not-yet-done alien type for them to implement, sure. because we don't want to implement a fadelerkskulkgorge, do we? ... do we?
what about my snail?
I don't think that it's a fadelerkskulkgorge. It's more some kind of onosgorge without legs
Noooope. From a design stand point, 6 separate alien classes, 3 of them with arguably steep-ish learning curves, would be redundant and overwhelming. I mean you barely justify what the Fade's role is supposed to be, apart from looking scary and cool, and being cheaper than the behemoth Onos.
What we need (assuming UWE really keep its pulse on the game), is abilities for the aliens/alien comm and new toys for marines.
What I feel lacking is a real story around the Aliens. The various lifeforms have been taken over by the Kharaa bacteria and that's a really interesting story. How many players knows about that? There's no details about it anyway. I for instance would like to see what the original lifeforms looked like before they were infested.
Something that would be great is critters on the maps. Most RTS games have them, right? Why not NS2? Imagine running into an AI controlled, uninfested Gorge. It might have fur and be even cuter than the player-controlled Gorge. It can't hurt you, it just tries to avoid the players and you can pet it and make it chuckle by pressing E (or you can just kill it and be a terrible human being). Have it roam Descent:
Not really, I am a UT2k4 modder through and through and skipped UT3 almost completely. That's not to say that I didn't backport new features from UT3 to my old love.
The Unreal modding license actually allows the players to port content between different versions of their franchise.
Hugh said new units were coming in the next patch. Everyone has been eagerly awaiting babblers, and it has been hinted at a lot.
I am excited to see some new editions to the game, I think Gorge tunnels could be a really interesting dynamic. I hope they actually form in real time, i.e. they make a physical hole in the world and the tunnel links using pathing somehow. That would be mega cool.
I mean you barely justify what the Fade's role is supposed to be, apart from looking scary and cool, and being cheaper than the behemoth Onos.
Are you serious? Fades are the only shock-troop lifeforms meant for combat only, and the only ones that can do it well. If you compare oni to them, and play oni like they're meant to kill marines and destroy everything, then you're playing oni wrong (and if I may add, just like almost everyone does).
Not really, I am a UT2k4 modder through and through and skipped UT3 almost completely.
Aww... UT3 is my favorite of the series, gameplay-wise. (Not so much netcode/singleplayer/stock maps wise).
I'm pretty sure I may have downloaded some of your UT2004/UT3 mods. Did you port over the weapons from UT3? And the hoverboard? Those looked great.
I never really liked UT3 for what they did to the gameplay (plus making it look all brown-greyish with post processing for whatever reason). I missed the responsiveness and speed of UT2k4, since UT3's characters just felt like some heavy space marines (and also looked like they were on anabolic, like most of Epic's UE3 characters). UT3 also felt on many ends like a tech demo: there were many maps that seemed to be built just to display one specific new element that they could create with Kismet.
ONS back in UT2k4 was also a lot about tactical decisions, since you had always multiple Node links and could attack different Nodes at a time to cut the enemy off. Many WAR maps on the other hand had a lot of linear linksetups with choke Nodes that enforced mindless zerging until someone one-shots the Node with an Orb. No tactics whatsoever. Or they showed off their fancy new Node mechanics like they Floodgate Node in WAR-Floodgate or the Core-raising independent Nodes in WAR-Market. Gimmicky features everywhere. Plus screwing the balance of infantry vs vehicles: in 2k4 could any footsoldier still win a fight head on against any vehicle if he was good enough - no way that's going to happen in UT3.
Nah, the weapons were the responsibility of GreatEmerald. The Hoverboard was done by someone else too, but after all it's not the real hoverboard. I'd like to see a mutator at some point that allows to spawn the hoverboard by the player himself and which also utilizes true ragdolls with recovery option (there is already a mod that managed to achieve the ragdolls, but I am not sure if they replicate accurately enough in netplay).
I did my take on the UT3 Deployables such as EMP Mine, Shaped Charge, Link Station, Spider Mine Trap, Shield Deployable and Xray Field for a use with a potential Stealthbender or GreatEmerald's Nightshade, but never actually got past their alpha stage or even released them.
Wormbo, who was basically my mentor in early UnrealScript coding, implemented the UT3-styled aim for the Hellfire SPMA, though.
My work has always been more on the side of providing mappers (and primarily myself) with new tools that allows them to create awesome maps with new gameplay mechanics rather than going for straightout total conversion mods. Besides, the ONS servers that I have been mapping and modding for always had a policy of "only stuff that keeps the server whitelisted", so there was some inventive creativity required to get some things done without using any Mutator-hooks of the engine. But that's the nice thing about the UT games: there is pretty much always some way to hack your desired mechanic together without compromising anything else of the game.
This page lists most of my work, though it's a bit outdated. Recently I made a Mutator/ServerActor that plays the weapon-specific killstreak cues from UT3 that we did not have in UT2k4 back then, (like Bio Hazard for 15 Bio Rifle kills or Rocket Scientist for 15 Rocket Launcher kills). And currently am I porting UT3's Orb mechanic to ONS. Stay tuned.
I think an "advanced gorge" would be very cool, for end game. Someone who could spend pres to build new structures (alien mines?). Perhaps with a stronger base "spit", and the same healing/building but no bile bomb. Instead of bile bomb maybe a goop which slows movement and causes jetpacks to drain more quickly.
I like L4D over L4D2 partially because it has less special zombies. Comparing or using L4D as an example wouldn't work anyway; you can't choose what special zombie you spawn with in either L4D.
I would LOVE to see a lifeform capable of using PSI powers something like the PSI reavers in system shock 2 (look it up if you don't have a clue what I'm on about)
Telekinetic abilities like pull a marine closer to you so your fellow aliens can chomp on 'em or even push them over the edge in crevice on the summit map or whatever you can imagine I guess.
Sounds cool.
I'd like a swap ability. Alien that can swap it's body with a marine. As an alien (mind) in a marine, they can shoot other marines. No loss of control for either player. Balance for all this would be a pain in the butt.
Hugh said new units were coming in the next patch. Everyone has been eagerly awaiting babblers, and it has been hinted at a lot.
I am excited to see some new editions to the game, I think Gorge tunnels could be a really interesting dynamic. I hope they actually form in real time, i.e. they make a physical hole in the world and the tunnel links using pathing somehow. That would be mega cool.
Speaking of which, the gorge, lerk, fade, and onos all have attachpoints for babblers aka babblers will ride aliens
Comments
I think it's quite difficult to get really good with all of them (onos aside...) as it is, so there's plenty of scope for varied gameplay currently.
(the other answer is: I think it would be cool if there could be some sort of scorpian that hovars without flaping)
The problem is redundancy imo. For new alien lifeforms to come into play, you'll have to find new distinct roles (and looks) for them. And you already have a costless fourlegged all purpose wall crawler, a flying support unit with ranged and AoE attacks, a bipedal assassin like unit with teleportation capacities, a slow but huge meatshield unit, and a cuddly healer/combat engineer. If you've got some good ideas I'd love to hear them, but me personally, I'd rather like to see some more abilities/upgrades to diversify the tech trees a bit more.
Maybe a small parasite that can reanimate and play as dead marines?
i thoguht up to new alien structures but i cant think up any new alien life forms...
mollusc - small shell like creature that feeds off power nodes, can be constructed over adestroyed power node to prevent marines from taking the node, when it is damaged it releases a smallcloud around it of spores and makes a loud screaming noise.
Crab, mobile arc like structure that once deployed opens up like a clam and begins to slowly fill up an area with spore gas.
(sea) snail (the arc type)
- costs 40 res (kham egg drop with 3rd hive)
- very slow (faster on infestation)
- very vulnerable when attacking/charging attacks, but high hp/armor (between onos and fade)
- when attacking and up to X secs after attacks, the turning/aiming speed is very low (should prevent easy 360° coverage when flanked/attacked from behind)
+ tier 1 ability: acid vomit
* little "charge up" time when attacking (like chaingun spin up)
* snail can't see sh** while shooting
* good vs buildings
* a little more range than bilebomb
* ballistically (drop not so high like bilebombs, and x% of vomit drops everywhere between snail and targeted area)
* only affects buildings, exos, macs, marine armor (not hp)
* no (huge) "distort vision" effect on marines/exos
* shoots constantly until attack stopped or energy depleted
* high energy costs (no adren: full energy = 1 robotics factory, with adren = 2 robotics factories)
+ tier 2 ability: mucus shot
* charged attack (the longer the charge, the bigger the aoe and the wider the range: full charge: aoe of 10 meters (effect decreases from center to outher ring) and decent mid-range traveling)
* does no damage at all, doesn't affect buildings either
* just stucks on players/exos/macs and makes them x% slower and decreases turning speed by x% for x seconds
* marines can't heal while covered with mukus,...
* ...but spores doesn't affect them that much (hp damage reduced by x%)
* mucus can be slowly removed with welders (1-3 secs per target))
the only purpos is to support a organized base attack, a snail on it's own is useless (no hp damage to players), but can be very efficient for killing buildings and supporting the team by slowing the marines and preventing constant healing at an armory.
that's only a suggestion though, I don't think a snail is a must have unit or is really needed. but I think, it could be usefull and would fit the organic/oceanic styleset of the kharaa.
Telekinetic abilities like pull a marine closer to you so your fellow aliens can chomp on 'em or even push them over the edge in crevice on the summit map or whatever you can imagine I guess.
It is no matter, these aliens will be crushed an assimilated. Glory to the hive.
Ooh yeah can't wait to cleanse her!
Similarly, new lifeforms in NS2 wouldn't necessarily need to fill a unique role, they would just need to accomplish an existing role in a different way. The same applies to both marine gear and alien lifeforms. If we insist that everything in the game has a distinct role, it won't be long before there's no more new stuff left to add.
what about my snail?
I don't think that it's a fadelerkskulkgorge. It's more some kind of onosgorge without legs
What we need (assuming UWE really keep its pulse on the game), is abilities for the aliens/alien comm and new toys for marines.
Something that would be great is critters on the maps. Most RTS games have them, right? Why not NS2? Imagine running into an AI controlled, uninfested Gorge. It might have fur and be even cuter than the player-controlled Gorge. It can't hurt you, it just tries to avoid the players and you can pet it and make it chuckle by pressing E (or you can just kill it and be a terrible human being). Have it roam Descent:
Fury-like strong flying alien with tentacles.
Not really, I am a UT2k4 modder through and through and skipped UT3 almost completely. That's not to say that I didn't backport new features from UT3 to my old love.
The Unreal modding license actually allows the players to port content between different versions of their franchise.
I am excited to see some new editions to the game, I think Gorge tunnels could be a really interesting dynamic. I hope they actually form in real time, i.e. they make a physical hole in the world and the tunnel links using pathing somehow. That would be mega cool.
Are you serious? Fades are the only shock-troop lifeforms meant for combat only, and the only ones that can do it well. If you compare oni to them, and play oni like they're meant to kill marines and destroy everything, then you're playing oni wrong (and if I may add, just like almost everyone does).
Aww... UT3 is my favorite of the series, gameplay-wise. (Not so much netcode/singleplayer/stock maps wise).
I'm pretty sure I may have downloaded some of your UT2004/UT3 mods. Did you port over the weapons from UT3? And the hoverboard? Those looked great.
I never really liked UT3 for what they did to the gameplay (plus making it look all brown-greyish with post processing for whatever reason). I missed the responsiveness and speed of UT2k4, since UT3's characters just felt like some heavy space marines (and also looked like they were on anabolic, like most of Epic's UE3 characters). UT3 also felt on many ends like a tech demo: there were many maps that seemed to be built just to display one specific new element that they could create with Kismet.
ONS back in UT2k4 was also a lot about tactical decisions, since you had always multiple Node links and could attack different Nodes at a time to cut the enemy off. Many WAR maps on the other hand had a lot of linear linksetups with choke Nodes that enforced mindless zerging until someone one-shots the Node with an Orb. No tactics whatsoever. Or they showed off their fancy new Node mechanics like they Floodgate Node in WAR-Floodgate or the Core-raising independent Nodes in WAR-Market. Gimmicky features everywhere. Plus screwing the balance of infantry vs vehicles: in 2k4 could any footsoldier still win a fight head on against any vehicle if he was good enough - no way that's going to happen in UT3.
Nah, the weapons were the responsibility of GreatEmerald. The Hoverboard was done by someone else too, but after all it's not the real hoverboard. I'd like to see a mutator at some point that allows to spawn the hoverboard by the player himself and which also utilizes true ragdolls with recovery option (there is already a mod that managed to achieve the ragdolls, but I am not sure if they replicate accurately enough in netplay).
I did my take on the UT3 Deployables such as EMP Mine, Shaped Charge, Link Station, Spider Mine Trap, Shield Deployable and Xray Field for a use with a potential Stealthbender or GreatEmerald's Nightshade, but never actually got past their alpha stage or even released them.
Wormbo, who was basically my mentor in early UnrealScript coding, implemented the UT3-styled aim for the Hellfire SPMA, though.
My work has always been more on the side of providing mappers (and primarily myself) with new tools that allows them to create awesome maps with new gameplay mechanics rather than going for straightout total conversion mods. Besides, the ONS servers that I have been mapping and modding for always had a policy of "only stuff that keeps the server whitelisted", so there was some inventive creativity required to get some things done without using any Mutator-hooks of the engine. But that's the nice thing about the UT games: there is pretty much always some way to hack your desired mechanic together without compromising anything else of the game.
This page lists most of my work, though it's a bit outdated. Recently I made a Mutator/ServerActor that plays the weapon-specific killstreak cues from UT3 that we did not have in UT2k4 back then, (like Bio Hazard for 15 Bio Rifle kills or Rocket Scientist for 15 Rocket Launcher kills). And currently am I porting UT3's Orb mechanic to ONS. Stay tuned.
I think there are plenty of ideas out there!
Sounds cool.
I'd like a swap ability. Alien that can swap it's body with a marine. As an alien (mind) in a marine, they can shoot other marines. No loss of control for either player. Balance for all this would be a pain in the butt.
Speaking of which, the gorge, lerk, fade, and onos all have attachpoints for babblers aka babblers will ride aliens