Ideas from an older guy who loves sci-fi

Vision305Vision305 Join Date: 2013-09-03 Member: 187724Members
Some ideas that can make the game look and feel better. All my opinion.

Alien models need a little love. Aliens look and act more like dogs like a pack of wolves instead of more like a hive of insect buggy slimy things. The buildings and the creepy slime looks really good but the models for the aliens feel like they dont really match correctly withe their habitat of goo and slime. The Onos' head looks pretty decent but the body looks like a big gorilla.

Marine jumping almost everyone is complaining about it. I think it looks very bad during combat and not only that it is affecting the skulks gameplay drastically to the point where skulks do not have a close up advantage anymore and instead both range and close up combat are favoring the marine (skulks vs marine). I think that jumping should be limited so that you cannot repeatedly jump around, reloading in the air should be removed as well as the aiming needs to be very bad when you are jumping around.

Marine jetpacks Jetpacks dont seem to fit the game in my opinion. Who thinks of going into an alien infested room with jetpacks? You would hit your head and die inside a building not to mention burn your friends or explode. There needs to be a better way to help marines than giving them jetpacks. Maybe drone controlled robots that can be controlled from a structure. The marine controlling it would be vulnerable while at the structure.

Flame Throwers Using flamethrowers to cure poison from your fellow comrades by lighting them on fire is just not the way to go... Instead add a support unit that can do that or something but this is not looking good. The flame thrower should be strong but also burn fellow allies that way you force the flamethrower to the front. Also if the flame thrower is very strong in clearing bases and dealing damage it should be a heavy weapon which slows the marine down a bit.

Granade Launchers and Granades I do not like the idea of throwing explosive grenades at your friends to help them. There has to be a better way. Maybe a sonic emmitter than only damages the aliens but right now these kinds of things make the older crowd feel like they are playing a child's game. Remember this is sci-fi and there are plenty of older people here that want to enjoy the fiction yet are unforgiving when they see things like explosive grenades being thrown at friends to "help" them. There needs to be a better way to achieve the same thing.

Command Centers and Hives
I do not see the need to a command center for the humans. I would think the command center is in space orbiting the station. Also, I think there should only be one hive which is basically a queen that lays eggs. It would also be cool to see a hive actually detach and move to a different location. I think the expansion should be more for resources rather than tech. I think all tech should be doable at one base and the battle is for control of the resources.

Creep slime the creep slime should have a purpose other than to spread your influence. I think it should help camouflage skulks helping them blend into the environment. I also think that a normal person walking on sticky goo would move slower.

Skulk upgrades the humans have a 1 shot weapon for close range called a shotgun. There should be an equivalent upgrade for the same cost that a skulk can get for his bite.
Leap version 2 when a skulk is standing still he can charge a leap for an energy cost. When the leap is released the skulk leaps in whichever direction hes aiming. Successfuly hitting a marine with this wlil stun them for about a second or less by dropping them on the ground.

Fade I dont think this unit fits the game. It doesnt look like it even belongs to the hive. Simply giving the skulks better upgrades could achieve what the devs are trying to accomplish here or even a tier 2 skulk. I dont think upgrades on skulks should be free either. Its not free for the marines to buy better weapons.

For Humans

Laser sights and other sights give it a more tactical feel with cosmetic things like lasers and sights. Flashlight lighting could be stronger.

NVG and Thermal so that you dont need to turn on that flashlight and give away your position.

Armor should be something you have to buy. This is an incredible help against a skulk.

Lighting the whole building should be offline with only the room the marines start in lit up. Also, destroying a generator should leave lights off, emergency lights should also have a generator that is destroy-able if they are going to come on at all. This would give a sense of creepiness to the game which I think would be fun with the right balance.

Friendly fire the option to turn this on or off would be something to have and give a more hardcore play time for those that like it.

Bullet effect on Skulks and other aliens Skulks that take damage are slowed down in speed which is scaled with the amount of damage. At the same time there needs to be a way to ambush marines who are being careless by giving a similar thing to the skulks like the leap idea I mentioned, once a skulk has bitten you a marine shouldnt be able to leap away so easily or run away so easily.

These are some ideas I think would make this game way more interesting and give it a more realistic feel even though it is sci-fi doesnt mean that physics and other natural things arent supposed to happen. Sci-fi doesnt mean "Loonie Tunes" cartoon level fakeness. I know the developers are never going to do anything like this because it seems the intent of the game is to look and feel arcade-y but hopefully one day someone will make a similar mod to this which I would gladly pay money for if it was decent enough.

Comments

  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    Nanites answer all your concerns
  • Vision305Vision305 Join Date: 2013-09-03 Member: 187724Members
    indeed it answers many of them but not all!
  • dragonmithdragonmith Join Date: 2013-02-04 Member: 182817Members, Reinforced - Diamond
    You mentioned flamethrowers that should have FF then went and said FF anyway...
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    It does indeed answer all your concerns. The concepts are just too ineffable for our small 21st century brains to understand quite yet.
  • HobocopHobocop Join Date: 2010-11-23 Member: 75226Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Vision305 wrote: »
    Some ideas that can make the game look and feel better. All my opinion.

    Alien models need a little love. Aliens look and act more like dogs like a pack of wolves instead of more like a hive of insect buggy slimy things. The buildings and the creepy slime looks really good but the models for the aliens feel like they dont really match correctly withe their habitat of goo and slime. The Onos' head looks pretty decent but the body looks like a big gorilla.

    Kinda the point. The alien lifeforms were always originally designed with a more mammalian bent to them ever since NS1. Makes them easier to empathize with in a way, I guess, since both sides are just trying to survive.

    Marine jumping almost everyone is complaining about it. I think it looks very bad during combat and not only that it is affecting the skulks gameplay drastically to the point where skulks do not have a close up advantage anymore and instead both range and close up combat are favoring the marine (skulks vs marine). I think that jumping should be limited so that you cannot repeatedly jump around, reloading in the air should be removed as well as the aiming needs to be very bad when you are jumping around.

    Mostly people are complaining about OP strafe jumping at the moment, which got buffed in Reinforced for no apparent reason. That particular buff is getting removed, but marines being able to have some form of mobility keeps things interesting. I'm bored to death of shooters with neutered movement mechanics.

    Command Centers and Hives
    I do not see the need to a command center for the humans. I would think the command center is in space orbiting the station. Also, I think there should only be one hive which is basically a queen that lays eggs. It would also be cool to see a hive actually detach and move to a different location. I think the expansion should be more for resources rather than tech. I think all tech should be doable at one base and the battle is for control of the resources.

    Only way for the marines to get their advanced stuff going is by having a console with a direct interface into the facility's nanogrid because the bacteria infestation creates too much interference for sustained remote operations.

    Skulk upgrades the humans have a 1 shot weapon for close range called a shotgun. There should be an equivalent upgrade for the same cost that a skulk can get for his bite.

    Why? No real reason given other than 'there should be'. What for?

    Leap version 2 when a skulk is standing still he can charge a leap for an energy cost. When the leap is released the skulk leaps in whichever direction hes aiming. Successfuly hitting a marine with this wlil stun them for about a second or less by dropping them on the ground.

    I think stomp is the absolute upper limit to where they want to go with hard disables. Too many just makes things needlessly frustrating, and I don't see any real gain from such a thing.

    Fade I dont think this unit fits the game. It doesnt look like it even belongs to the hive. Simply giving the skulks better upgrades could achieve what the devs are trying to accomplish here or even a tier 2 skulk. I dont think upgrades on skulks should be free either. Its not free for the marines to buy better weapons.

    Upgrades on skulks are akin to weapon and armor upgrades for marines. Commander builds/researches them and they get it for free. It's pretty much mandatory for this to be possible since skulks are the free, basic lifeform, and needing to spend to get upgrades on them every single time you die means you'll likely never get to see advanced lifeforms, which isn't particularly conducive to an interesting game.

    Armor should be something you have to buy. This is an incredible help against a skulk.

    For what reason would they send their forces into hostile territory without even basic armor? Oh yeah, and welders.

    Lighting the whole building should be offline with only the room the marines start in lit up. Also, destroying a generator should leave lights off, emergency lights should also have a generator that is destroy-able if they are going to come on at all. This would give a sense of creepiness to the game which I think would be fun with the right balance.

    Idea is already in beta testing in sewlek's beta test mod, along with some serious bioluminescence from alien structures.

    Friendly fire the option to turn this on or off would be something to have and give a more hardcore play time for those that like it.

    Pretty sure there's already a server variable for this. You'll just need to find a server that gives enough of a toss about 'realism' to deal with how much FF breaks the game because it simply isn't designed around it.
  • Vision305Vision305 Join Date: 2013-09-03 Member: 187724Members
    @Hobocop
    The jumping movement called bunny hopping by some for marines looks really bad. This is more of a halo or quake thing. Im guessing this is where the devs wanted to take it though. I think it looks ugly and not only that the humans jump higher than the skulks. I was spectating a game today and saw how much marines are constantly jumping. It looks very silly from my perspective. I was also watching the poison gases that lurks leave in the air and how the counter to it is a fellow marine using a flame thrower all over his friends to clear it up. This is ABSURD!!!! Its so bad I cant even begin to explain it. I also saw 3 marines charge into a room with shotguns while a marine stayed behind launching granades into the room where his partners are charging. But again, this seems to be the direction the devs wanted to take with this game. The run and shoot arcade-y combat mechanics.

    Hopefully someone makes a similar game that appeals more to gamers who like to see more realism in the game even if it is sci-fi.

    the game at its current state has many great points but it lacks to appeal to the crowd who wishes to see more realism and less "cartoonish" behavior.

  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    Nanites are programed to not hurt marines. So right before impact bullets, grenade fragments, and other nanite projectiles lose all kinetic energy. The marine armor is completely resistant to fire.
  • Squirreli_Squirreli_ Join Date: 2012-04-25 Member: 151046Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    When making blanked statements like "almost everyone is complaining about it" (as OP wrote in regard to the marine jumping), please remember that the forums have a tendency to bring in the people who have something to complain about and are often a soapbox for a vocal minority... A little exaggerated, but not that far from the truth: "The people content with the game are on the servers playing and not on the forums."

    Is the insane marine jumping a problem right now? I think so. It too powerful in it's current form. However, difficult skill-based combat is something that made NS1 golden and pretty much has to be there for NS2 too. Skill-based movement on both teams is part of that. So even though marine jumping combined with skulk changes and alien vision changes is a problem right now, the jumping, strafing marines are (hopefully) here to stay.
  • PaLaGiPaLaGi Join Date: 2008-01-03 Member: 63331Members, Constellation
    Squirreli_ wrote: »
    When making blanked statements like "almost everyone is complaining about it" (as OP wrote in regard to the marine jumping), please remember that the forums have a tendency to bring in the people who have something to complain about and are often a soapbox for a vocal minority... A little exaggerated, but not that far from the truth: "The people content with the game are on the servers playing and not on the forums."

    Is the insane marine jumping a problem right now? I think so. It too powerful in it's current form. However, difficult skill-based combat is something that made NS1 golden and pretty much has to be there for NS2 too. Skill-based movement on both teams is part of that. So even though marine jumping combined with skulk changes and alien vision changes is a problem right now, the jumping, strafing marines are (hopefully) here to stay.

    The OP's less than 2 week old forum account is a hint he doesn't speak for the community. Besides, he already "quit the game", said his peace in one of those pointless goodbye threads, and now won't stop continue to post his narrow minded views. http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/132298/frustrations-with-this-game

    My only guess is he's trying to break a record for how many "disagree" badges he can get.
  • TheriusTherius Join Date: 2009-03-06 Member: 66642Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Supporter
    The irony of this thread is immense, seeing as NS2 as it is is based on old-school game mechanics while almost everything OP stated would bring the game towards a more CoD-like experience fitting the preferences of the younger generation of gamers.
  • KwisatzHaderachKwisatzHaderach Join Date: 2012-02-06 Member: 143872Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Supporter
    Vision305 wrote: »
    SWho thinks of going into an alien infested room with jetpacks?

    Duke1.jpg
  • Vision305Vision305 Join Date: 2013-09-03 Member: 187724Members
    Call of Duty? Whats with people always saying this? Not only do I not like Call of Duty, I play games more like Arma 3, StarDrive, DayZ....

    Yeah Duke Nukem was a good old game but its a child's game now.
    Therius wrote: »
    The irony of this thread is immense, seeing as NS2 as it is is based on old-school game mechanics while almost everything OP stated would bring the game towards a more CoD-like experience fitting the preferences of the younger generation of gamers.

    The younger generation audience likes things like Halo, Call of Duty, and Gears of War games which I dislike do to the mostly "arcade-y" combat styles.

  • HobocopHobocop Join Date: 2010-11-23 Member: 75226Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    I like how you refer to older games as 'child's' games in an attempt to sound superior somehow, when all it really does is make you appear stubborn and perhaps even more childish than those whose viewpoints you propose to be against.
  • SeeVeeSeeVee Join Date: 2012-10-31 Member: 165206Members
    edited September 2013
    The marines armor protects them from the flames :)

    I would however like to be able to buy a smores pack from the armory and toast it over a burning skulk pit to give me some sort of power up .... mmmmmm good!

    The only thing I agree on with the original post is that the aliens could look a bit more menacing. Maybe the devs can create an alien menace pack DLC that clients can activate and use if they want something more mean looking. I just get so sad when I kill a gorge... they're so damn cute!
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