Idea for 6th lifeform for the Kharaa
Morshu
Join Date: 2012-08-13 Member: 155539Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2012-08-13 Member: 155539Members, Reinforced - Shadow
There's been chatter here and there about a possible 6th lifeform even Charlie himself mentioned that he could imagine adding some type of heavy flyer maybe (in one of the dev Q&A sessions don't remember which one) so without further due here's my idea for a possible 6th lifeform for the Kharaa.
Last month I played "System Shock 2" and had a blast with that and then I got to encounter this creature:
http://shodan.wikia.com/wiki/Psi_Reaver
Looking back now have made me 'all kinds of crazy' about the idea to add a psi-related lifeform to the kharaa I mean why not? we have the fade that can enter and exit BETWEEN PLANES OF EXISTENCE AT WILL so a lifeform with psi-capability wouldn't be completely out of the picture in my opinion.
Now I'll try to make it short as humanly possible so here's the details I have on my mind:
- Heavy flyer with a focus on deception and disruption
- Heavy flyer which 'floats' in the air rather flying like the lerk
- Medium amount of HP (something like 300 HP or so since we are talking about a slow floating lifeform)
- Left shift standard ability slot with a temporarily speed boost for 4 secs + while using this ability it'll create mirror copies of itself* confusing marines somewhat when it comes to targetting, energy cost should probably be more than the fade's shadow step to make it somewhat balanced on that part.
* check out this link for an example about the whole "creating mirrors of itself as it use this ability" like the high templars around the 0:35 mark:
- Left click standard attack should be a ranged attack, which fires a bolt of concentrated
psi energy dealing 40-50 damage* + blinding the marine for 2 secs with a horrific image (image of a hazy pile of screaming skulls, the van gogh scream painting or even a gorge with make-up it just needs to be in your face and make you go 'Whaa da ****?!'.
*Now I'm not entirely sure what kind of damage would be balanced but just throwing out some numbers here
(should probably cost 20-25 energy on use)
- Right click ability (2nd hive upgrade) Telekinetic pulls target towards yourself for 5 meters (only works on marines) with an energy cost of 70-75
Now as a 3rd hive upgrade I'm not sure what that should be but what I got on mind is either a psi ability that'll create 2 mirror copies of the lifeform itself circling around the player with 50% less HP than the actual player lasting 20 seconds OR
a psi ability that'll 'conjure' a psy blade entity for the player to go slice some marines/other stuff up.
Note: I don't 'feel' the need for a 6th lifeform but if there's going to be one eventually I would love to see some kind of psi-capable caster like lifeform for the kharaa as mentioned earlier since we have the 5 other lifeforms pretty much covering everything we could 'initially imagine' I guess.
Last month I played "System Shock 2" and had a blast with that and then I got to encounter this creature:
http://shodan.wikia.com/wiki/Psi_Reaver
Looking back now have made me 'all kinds of crazy' about the idea to add a psi-related lifeform to the kharaa I mean why not? we have the fade that can enter and exit BETWEEN PLANES OF EXISTENCE AT WILL so a lifeform with psi-capability wouldn't be completely out of the picture in my opinion.
Now I'll try to make it short as humanly possible so here's the details I have on my mind:
- Heavy flyer with a focus on deception and disruption
- Heavy flyer which 'floats' in the air rather flying like the lerk
- Medium amount of HP (something like 300 HP or so since we are talking about a slow floating lifeform)
- Left shift standard ability slot with a temporarily speed boost for 4 secs + while using this ability it'll create mirror copies of itself* confusing marines somewhat when it comes to targetting, energy cost should probably be more than the fade's shadow step to make it somewhat balanced on that part.
* check out this link for an example about the whole "creating mirrors of itself as it use this ability" like the high templars around the 0:35 mark:
- Left click standard attack should be a ranged attack, which fires a bolt of concentrated
psi energy dealing 40-50 damage* + blinding the marine for 2 secs with a horrific image (image of a hazy pile of screaming skulls, the van gogh scream painting or even a gorge with make-up it just needs to be in your face and make you go 'Whaa da ****?!'.
*Now I'm not entirely sure what kind of damage would be balanced but just throwing out some numbers here
(should probably cost 20-25 energy on use)
- Right click ability (2nd hive upgrade) Telekinetic pulls target towards yourself for 5 meters (only works on marines) with an energy cost of 70-75
Now as a 3rd hive upgrade I'm not sure what that should be but what I got on mind is either a psi ability that'll create 2 mirror copies of the lifeform itself circling around the player with 50% less HP than the actual player lasting 20 seconds OR
a psi ability that'll 'conjure' a psy blade entity for the player to go slice some marines/other stuff up.
Note: I don't 'feel' the need for a 6th lifeform but if there's going to be one eventually I would love to see some kind of psi-capable caster like lifeform for the kharaa as mentioned earlier since we have the 5 other lifeforms pretty much covering everything we could 'initially imagine' I guess.
Comments
Really? More ways for Marines to be blind?
And for the standard left click maybe a really low damage ranged attack that makes the marine see a skulk running around at it's feet. So a trained marine would know oh I only took 5 damage and look for the floater, but unskilled players would start firing at nothing around their feet. It could also then be used to provide additional cover for an actual skulk attack. This might be over powered and probably hard to program but would make for some interesting team play.
I feel like if it is a Psi-unit it should be focused on support and encourage coordinated attacks.
I don't quite agree with this, look at the special infected from L4D and especially L4D2, they were designed to break up the group of survivors, and I think this really added a sense of fear of being alone and a sense of dependence on your team. The nature of the attacks (for most SI) made you vulnerable so they had to be timed right.
I've often thought that if they alien team had a way to separate a marine from the group it could add a nice bit of drama for both sides. But then again, i aint a game designer so I dunno if such things would work in the context of NS2, they are at least worth considering, it might be fun.
Just a thought.