Ping Of Death

MasterEvilAce · January 2003

<div class="IPBDescription">PROMOTES camping at end?</div> Obviously, I think we all realize it does.

I didn't really have a problem with it(ping of death), besides the fact that many times aliens COULD have gotten another hive, but died too soon. This was one of the other reasons:

I joined a server, but I realized the game was pretty much ending (Looking at scores) so I just went to spectate.

I spectated the aliens, mainly, as they were losing.

They had viaduct (pain to defend, you know?), marines had HA, Jetpacks, etc. etc.

Marines were constantly attacking them.. And I change view to this one guy.. alright so he's a skulk and goes up to the redroom.. And goes gorge... Yeah.. okay.. And he starts building D chambers and OC's. just really spamming them (as he gets the resources)... Then another guy joins him.. They're both in the SAME clan. Now, it was pretty much 6v6... and the other guy went gorge, too and helped to build. Pretty much what I saw... they were making sure THEY survived at the end. While, the 4 other aliens.. were DIEING, while FIGHTING for the hive.

Well, the hive dies, and the ping of death starts. They survive, obviously, and are goofing off in the redroom. 3 or 4 Jetpackers come up randomly, and all die from the OC's. They ended up sieging the redroom (which took SOME time)...

It's pretty pathetic that these people were doing that while their team was dieing. And the round after, aliens had the resource bug, where they had infinite resources.. heh.. so I'm just screwing around on the marine team(as are my teammates) and we're like , meh, no real reason to play.. and they guys as"for the record, we had nothing to do with this"

HEH.
Ping of death = wrong!

mojojojo · January 2003

Theres some truth in this though- I've only ever seen aliens hiding after all the hives have gone, AFTER the ping of death was introduced.
I don't agree with the ping of death, but i think if its going to be in, all the alien structures should dissolve or something when it happens... otherwise people just think they're being clever by building def chambers.

Venmoch · January 2003

In theory should the chambers take damage AS WELL??

I mean the bacteria that keeps them going would have all gone/die.

Perhaps not immediatly but say after 5mins the alien buildings start to "de-compose"

Cronos · January 2003

Usuall, if HA/HMG marines are assualting your hive, the game is essentially over. Most people F4 it. Some people find another server.

But there are a select few that find a nice location, and set up a DC farm. The Result? Laughing your **** off, at hiveless aliens positively giving the marines a run for their money.

A single lone lerk was once huddling up against a DC. For the next five minutes, I was absolutely crying with laughter as the hiveless alien chomped through FOUR LA/LMG marines, and the grand finale when he chomped a HA marine to shreds (I highly doubt the skill of the marine however). Finally it ended, when the marines resorted to SIEGING A SINGLE DC to kill him. That was the singular most humourous moment in NS for a long time.

The next time it happened, I was helping out. During the course of the fifteen minutes we prolonged the game after hive-death, me and two fellow aliens went on to double our kill scores by OC's, biting and spitgunspit. Our friends in the death queue did not mind it one bit, rather, a constant list of "LOL" "ROFL" "LMAO" and "ROFLMAO" kept passing by, they absolutely loved it, it was funny as hell. We only died becuase we were all laughing so hard that a few guys got in and we couldnt aim straight.

In short, apart from the ready room and NS gameplay itself, its one of the most fun aspects of play, why remove it?

Talesin · January 2003

I've been, and always will be, against the no-hive-kill. It should at least be moved to a serverside variable, NOT tourney/pub mode. In 1.02, I brought back Alien teams from zero-hive to win.

The only reason no-hive-kill is in there is to compensate for IDIOT Commanders who don't know how to use their CC's 'Sensor Sweep' button to locate and waypoint that last hiding Alien in the vent. I mean, we HAVE the team-imbalance auto-end. We don't _need_ the autokill. And as noted here, it just promotes lame behaviour that <b>detracts from the game</b>.

Speed_2_Dave · January 2003

meh, auto-slay all marines if they lose their comm chair <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'>

it was really retarded, back when marines didn't know where the aliens were. Their own team can "say" to tell the marines where the alien is, but *shrug*

Sephiroth2k · January 2003

actually sometimes this is fun... a bunch of us did this on nano (i think) once underwater on bast. it was really fun! then the marines came and hmged us all.

MadJackMcJack · January 2003

Once on Eclipse, playing as aliens, we'd pretty much taken out the marines. But a few slipped the net, so we started playing 'Hunt the Meat'. Yet one eluded us. A horde of skulks, fades and onos roamed the map, while a gorge placed sensory towers to try and catch him. After 5 minutes, we were getting confused. <i>Where was he?</i> I was a fade, and was down by Eclipse Command, on the side with the ramp leading to the dark tunnel. As I passed, I noticed a concentration of towers. Odd, as I was the earlier gorge, and my tower rush was further down. Then I noticed that they were all DCs and MCs, and arranged in a curve to block the corner. I jumped on top.

I swear that I could see the sheepish grin on his face as we stared at each other. I figured it out as I sliced him up. A traitor! Still, it was fun <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'>

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='skulk.gif'> Vere is da marvine? You vill talk! For you gorgey, ze round is over! <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/pudgy.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='pudgy.gif'> Cor blimey, I'm a goner fer sure this time!

Vimstl · January 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Cronos @ Jan 21 2003, 08:52 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>During the course of the fifteen minutes we prolonged the game after hive-death, me and two fellow aliens went on to double our kill scores by OC's, biting and spitgunspit.</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
This is an elegant encapsulation of the whole problem. Cronos admittedly "prolonged the game", but to what end? The aliens had lost, the marines had won, and Cronos and his crony prevented all the other players from starting a new game. Why? Perhaps he answers this question with his comment "[we] went on to double our kill scores..." NS is a team game, my friends. Show me guys who double their kill scores and yet lose the game, and I'll show you a couple of LOSERS.

I have no problem with playing on in the face of adversity. I have been a member of teams that have won games that seemed hopeless, and lost games that we thought were in the bag. But huddling behind walls of lame to prevent a game from ending? That's childish and selfish.

Ahnteis · January 2003

But the problem is that these people are NOT trying to stand till the bitter end. At any sign that they may lose, they run off to build their lame li'l country retreat while the REST of the team is desparately trying to take back another hive in hopes of somehow turning the battle. They're shortchanging their own team.

BlackPanther · January 2003

imho, the game should automaticly end when the last hive is destroyed, no matter what aliens are left alive, and no matter how many ressources the gorges have.
I mean, the hives are what the aliens need to use their "hive mind" and guide them. When it's gone... well the aliens shouldn't be able to function anymore.

RevHippie · January 2003

I think the Ping of Death should increase damage with time, and chambers should lose their potency as well.

However, I once played a freakish game on Eclipse where the marines took out our last hive (Maintenance), and a gorge instantly started a new hive, then died. We had a gorge and a lerk alive, one hidden in a duct near a defense chamber and one *in maintenance* near some defense chambers.

The marines couldn't get past the maintenance offense chambers in the TWO MINUTES it took the hive to build. We had six players DEAD unable to respawn laughing our butts off.

Hive came up, we spawned, we had marine for lunch.

neonfaktory · January 2003

You wanna know a simple solution to this without cheapening the game at the end? Works all the time, even when you have a good group of patient people that haven't left already.

Theres normally only 1 - 2 aliens alive doing the DC thing, so I just say "ALL DEAD ALIENS PRESS F4 IF YOU WANT TO PLAY" and 9 times out of 10, everyone will F4 and the game will end. Thats how you take care of that ****. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'>

*EDIT* Another solution i didn't think of right away and I'm SURE has been mentioned before... Just have the DCs stop healing when the last hive is down.

Suicide_Run · January 2003

ive come back from a no hive,

they had all our hives but we had d chambers underneath feedwater hive and a couple
of fades left from a while ago cause they didnt die but didnt get to last hive in time

and like 3 gorges <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'>

the fades took feed back and the gorges went up and built it

it turns out they relocated their base their <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'>

we won about 10 min later it was so funny

Teufel_Eldritch · January 2003

IMO the "ping-o-death" should be removed from the game or at the very least be made a server variable for both Tourney and Casual modes alike.

Tieom · January 2003

I saw the topic and thought that the 'ping of death' referred to the ping (latency/lag) increasing by about 200 between beginning and end game, which severely hampers aliens (Skulks in paticular).

Edit: Actually, I'm still not sure exactly what the PoD is... someone want to clarify?

Bytor · January 2003

I have no problem with the DC end game tactic. The last time it was used when I was on the alien team, we <b>almost</b> got a new hive up. The marines were all concentrating on rooting us out, and one gorge was able to get away and almost bring up a hive. I can't remember if the ping of death got him, or if a marine spotted him.

Anyway, the point is, there's almost always some remote chance for a glorious comeback. Don't remove that possibility just because the majority of players are too cowardly to attempt the seemingly impossible.

That being said, I realize how annoying and lame these end game turtling tactics can be for the dead players and the opposing team. The sad truth is that most players out there are simply trying to prolong the game, and aren't making any real attempt at a comeback. So, my vote would be to increase the damage of the ping of death over time, as RevHippie suggested, but the increase in damage should be slow, and barely noticeable. This would give the surviving aliens a sense of urgency to try for a comeback. I think it could really create some intense last-ditch scenarios.

Bytor · January 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Tieom @ Jan 22 2003, 03:57 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>I saw the topic and thought that the 'ping of death' referred to the ping (latency/lag) increasing by about 200 between beginning and end game, which severely hampers aliens (Skulks in paticular).

Edit: Actually, I'm still not sure exactly what the PoD is... someone want to clarify?</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
He's referring to the beep sound that you hear when all hives are gone. With each beep, any surviving aliens take a few points of damage. To counter this, many gorges will build a bunch of Defense Chambers to keep them healed, effectively nullifying the Ping of Death.

cybrangl · January 2003

I was actually that last skulk alive when the ping started. Our gorge had just started a new hive as the last one went down. I hid by some DCs and waited for the hiv to grow. Once it was done, the team spwaned and rush the base (all the marines were out seraching for me) and we won! We get just as many campers with ping, and less chane for comeback.. might as well do away with it.

Dubbilex · January 2003

I, for one, could most definitely do without the Ping of Death. Why?

Has anyone here ever been the last alien alive (I'm talking pre-1.02)? Its just plainf FUN to lerk, or whatever and to slowly, ever so slowly, pick the marines off from a rafter?

<b>lerk</b>: *pfft**pfft**pfft**pfft* (spikes)

<b>Joe Marine</b>: C0MM4Nd3R!! N33d Sho77y and J3t!! Are y0u l1st3ning, C0mm??!

<b>lerk</b>: *pfft**pfft**pfft**pfft**pfft**pfft*

<i>SnipeyMcSnipe *spike* Joemarine</i>

<b>Joe Marine</b>. OMG. Where is he... *pisses pants*

<b>lerk</b>: *chuckle* *Flies away to another position*

And so on...

that was AWESOME to do! And don't tell me that you "remember those lame skulks who hid in the vents and didn't move" once the hives were down. Motion tracking and scanner sweeps take care of this! Just send a marine up with a jetpack, and *voila*! Game over.

It even used to be fun for the MARINES! I remember the paranoia that I felt, thinking that there was one skulk or lerk left who was frenzied with the thought of self-preservation, who had nothing better to do than wait in a dark corner for llama's like me to skip by. It brought gaming to a new height for me!

So, I vote to change it to a server decision: not a mandatory one.

Ahnteis · January 2003

The better option was to give them 2 minutes (or insert other short time) to get the hive up, THEN kill them quickly. That way, you lose incentive to go hide in the middle of nowhere. You have 2 minutes to get a hive up or you are dead. No hiding, no defense chambers underwater, etc.

Dubbilex · January 2003

Just thought of something: Isn't the PoD kinda unrealistic to the material? How did the aliens even GET to the place at all if they didn't have a hive pre-made for them? Did they just spontaneously appear?

Chalk one up for all of the Catholics out there <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'> <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'> <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'> <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'>

in case this is needed....No offense meant to any of the Catholic faith <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

Teufel_Eldritch · January 2003

You are spot on Dubbilex. I have never seen the need for the "ping-o-death." Its like ppl dont understand that they can use Sweeps, Parasite, or Sensory Chambers. "Ping-o-death" actually encourages ppl to set up little Defense Chamber hidey holes now. But what can ya do? Nothing. We arent working on the mod. The mod isnt ours. So we just have to deal with it I guess. Hopefully sometime soon Flayra will realise what a mistake PoD really is and takes it out of the game. Until that time tho we are screwed.

Ping Of Death

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