Remember when they were so OP they could turn skulks nigh invincible early game? Babblers can have a purpose, too!
Step up for your babblers today! Only YOU can give a lone babbler a future!
Enlist as a gorge now.*
*Death by Rifles, Shotguns, Grenades or other human equipment not covered by insurance
Seriously though, babblers can work. Just gotta keep trying!
I love your optimism @F0rdPrefect . I think we need to think of a worth for the 2 pRes the babbler costs as now the start gorge is pretty starved for pRes, so it must be spent wisely. Bear in mind if we make the ability good for 2 pRes and useful early game, it will be OP mid-end game when you have alot more res nodes. I like the babbler armor, but at 1 bullet per babbler and lasting only 2 minutes if not being shot at, does seem a little wasteful. I think the numbers needs to be tweaked.
It'd be more worthwhile if a babbler egg was actually a babbler hive that regularly spawned 1-2 babblers and/or babblers could help with building things that were nearby - making them micro-drifters.
You mean the original idea of them coming out of crags?
It'd be more worthwhile if a babbler egg was actually a babbler hive that regularly spawned 1-2 babblers and/or babblers could help with building things that were nearby - making them micro-drifters.
It'd be more worthwhile if a babbler egg was actually a babbler hive that regularly spawned 1-2 babblers and/or babblers could help with building things that were nearby - making them micro-drifters.
You mean the original idea of them coming out of crags?
At the very least it's something I'd pay pres for.
@cooltic Not quite. I personally prefer the idea of babblers being utility units. So, when a gorge is setting a base up they can spend some pres on babblers to help get it up a bit quicker and to perhaps even make it easier to maintain.
Hell, if you want to make them really cute, got all the way and turn the building ability I suggested into a really weak healspray and have them swarm around anything the gorge is building/healing and try to help.
It'd be more worthwhile if a babbler egg was actually a babbler hive that regularly spawned 1-2 babblers and/or babblers could help with building things that were nearby - making them micro-drifters.
You mean the original idea of them coming out of crags?
At the very least it's something I'd pay pres for.
@cooltic Not quite. I personally prefer the idea of babblers being utility units. So, when a gorge is setting a base up they can spend some pres on babblers to help get it up a bit quicker and to perhaps even make it easier to maintain.
Hell, if you want to make them really cute, got all the way and turn the building ability I suggested into a really weak healspray and have them swarm around anything the gorge is building/healing and try to help.
That sounds cool, a bit like Repair Kits in Tribes:Ascend, which are Technician droppables that are left near structures and vehicles to auto repair them, freeing up the Technician to perform other tasks.
I'd rather Babblers become a tool for combat support, because Gorge already has plenty of defensive tools, but are killed very quickly when performing the combat medic role.
My idea is, Babblers could become "soft targets" that do not block bullets even when attached to aliens, but heal nearby aliens when the Babbler is killed. This would allow Gorges to heal allies from a safer distance, by either: sticking Babblers on allies, or simply sending them in to attack. Babblers would work as soft counter against area damage (eg grenades) that currently bypass "Babbler armor".
I maintain that the babbler shield is a bizarre mechanic that most players don't understand or appreciate, especially with no quantifiable way to determine how effective they are. They should just be designed as offensive/self-defense pets and that's that IMO. That's what everybody initially wants out of Babblers before they try it and inevitably are disappointed.
In regards of spawning them, I liked the idea of them being a chargeda ability best.
E.g. you click the mouse button = spawn 1 babbler
Hold mouse button for a few seconds = spawns a continuous stream of babblers, up to the maximum number
1) make it so babblers follow your path like ducklings instead of this weird and complicated loitering they do at the moment
2) make it so if a marine comes within range of you, the gorge, the babblers will attack him automatically. If, after they've attacked, you are out of range of the marine, they'll run back and follow you. You can still use the bait ball to put them on yourself or get them to attack something specific until death while you run away.
3) bait ball - should have faster initial velocity so they can be fired further (and used in an aggressive-defensive way without putting the gorge at great risk.
On second thoughts, make it so you can hold the LMB to 'charge' the bait ball to fire it further. If you hold LMB a bit longer, however... (see next point)
4) bait ball - bouncing it off a wall to put babblers on yourself is extremely unintuitive and seems... hack-ish in a way. Just make it so if you hold LMB for a couple of seconds with the bait ball out, your gorge does a sparkly bait-ball coloured fart and the babblers stick to you. Could use a similar graphic to the railgun for charge status.
Make it so the fart sound isnt affected by phantom/silence please, just so I can hide in a corner and get marines to turn on eachother for not owning up "who smelt it dealt it!"
5) if you die, the babblers should commit seppuku so they dont clutter the place up.
problem fixed, EZPZ wheres my payrise
6) Secret 4th Hive upgrade available- Babbler hive, automatically covers every alien, structure and cyst in babblers. Also babblers do heavy damage.
Chagelog
-Reduced Babbler jump height.
-Increased Babbler bite hitbox.
-Increased Babbler movement speed to 9.
-Increased Babbler turning speed.
-Reduced Babbler attack interval from 1 second to 0.8 second (shorter recovery time after attack).
-Increase Babbler jump force.
Comments
I love your optimism @F0rdPrefect . I think we need to think of a worth for the 2 pRes the babbler costs as now the start gorge is pretty starved for pRes, so it must be spent wisely. Bear in mind if we make the ability good for 2 pRes and useful early game, it will be OP mid-end game when you have alot more res nodes. I like the babbler armor, but at 1 bullet per babbler and lasting only 2 minutes if not being shot at, does seem a little wasteful. I think the numbers needs to be tweaked.
You mean the original idea of them coming out of crags?
Like locusts in SC2?
@cooltic Not quite. I personally prefer the idea of babblers being utility units. So, when a gorge is setting a base up they can spend some pres on babblers to help get it up a bit quicker and to perhaps even make it easier to maintain.
Hell, if you want to make them really cute, got all the way and turn the building ability I suggested into a really weak healspray and have them swarm around anything the gorge is building/healing and try to help.
That sounds cool, a bit like Repair Kits in Tribes:Ascend, which are Technician droppables that are left near structures and vehicles to auto repair them, freeing up the Technician to perform other tasks.
I'd rather Babblers become a tool for combat support, because Gorge already has plenty of defensive tools, but are killed very quickly when performing the combat medic role.
My idea is, Babblers could become "soft targets" that do not block bullets even when attached to aliens, but heal nearby aliens when the Babbler is killed. This would allow Gorges to heal allies from a safer distance, by either: sticking Babblers on allies, or simply sending them in to attack. Babblers would work as soft counter against area damage (eg grenades) that currently bypass "Babbler armor".
E.g. you click the mouse button = spawn 1 babbler
Hold mouse button for a few seconds = spawns a continuous stream of babblers, up to the maximum number
The current "babbler egg" mechanic is cumbersome.
2) make it so if a marine comes within range of you, the gorge, the babblers will attack him automatically. If, after they've attacked, you are out of range of the marine, they'll run back and follow you. You can still use the bait ball to put them on yourself or get them to attack something specific until death while you run away.
3) bait ball - should have faster initial velocity so they can be fired further (and used in an aggressive-defensive way without putting the gorge at great risk.
On second thoughts, make it so you can hold the LMB to 'charge' the bait ball to fire it further. If you hold LMB a bit longer, however... (see next point)
4) bait ball - bouncing it off a wall to put babblers on yourself is extremely unintuitive and seems... hack-ish in a way. Just make it so if you hold LMB for a couple of seconds with the bait ball out, your gorge does a sparkly bait-ball coloured fart and the babblers stick to you. Could use a similar graphic to the railgun for charge status.
Make it so the fart sound isnt affected by phantom/silence please, just so I can hide in a corner and get marines to turn on eachother for not owning up "who smelt it dealt it!"
5) if you die, the babblers should commit seppuku so they dont clutter the place up.
problem fixed, EZPZ wheres my payrise
Deadly Babbler (Server mod) http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=307212068
Chagelog
-Reduced Babbler jump height.
-Increased Babbler bite hitbox.
-Increased Babbler movement speed to 9.
-Increased Babbler turning speed.
-Reduced Babbler attack interval from 1 second to 0.8 second (shorter recovery time after attack).
-Increase Babbler jump force.
Any server op is welcomed to give it a try.