New Ideas To Make Ns More Like A Rts
Church
Meatshield grunt-fodder // Has pre-ordered NS2 Join Date: 2002-12-31 Member: 11646Members, Constellation
Meatshield grunt-fodder // Has pre-ordered NS2 Join Date: 2002-12-31 Member: 11646Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">Coil has the right idea...</div> Coil wrote this in a post about the skulk vs the lmg marine int he beta forums:
Random thought... in Starcraft, the low-health, melee-only Zergling was balanced against the terran marine by spawning two from a single larva for the same cost. Obviously, we can't do that in NS... but what if respawn time was shorter if you died as a skulk?
You could even (I suppose) apply it more globally - more precious life forms take longer to respawn after dying (Onos > Fade > Gorge > Lerk > Skulk), and even apply it to marines (HA/JP takes longer than standard, perhaps apply to weaponry as well) if you really wanted to. But I'm really only suggesting it for skulks.
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Well I like the idea, frankly. higher-level lifeforms takes longer to get back into the game. Instead of making the marines have variable spawn time, however, I suggest making the armory kind of like a weapons-barracks. In other words, the commander can use res to order a weapon (for example a HMG) from the armory, and then the weapon would take time to build. Once the weapon is built it is available for dropping (think C&C how the buildings were built and dropped). The commander can queue up multiple weapons at the armory. Multiple armories would speed up this process, and all of them can drop advanced weaponry if even one of them is an advanced armory. The weapon building can be cancelled. The earlier the cancel the more res you get back. I'll probably have more to say about this later.
Thoughts? suggestions?
Random thought... in Starcraft, the low-health, melee-only Zergling was balanced against the terran marine by spawning two from a single larva for the same cost. Obviously, we can't do that in NS... but what if respawn time was shorter if you died as a skulk?
You could even (I suppose) apply it more globally - more precious life forms take longer to respawn after dying (Onos > Fade > Gorge > Lerk > Skulk), and even apply it to marines (HA/JP takes longer than standard, perhaps apply to weaponry as well) if you really wanted to. But I'm really only suggesting it for skulks.
END QUOTE
Well I like the idea, frankly. higher-level lifeforms takes longer to get back into the game. Instead of making the marines have variable spawn time, however, I suggest making the armory kind of like a weapons-barracks. In other words, the commander can use res to order a weapon (for example a HMG) from the armory, and then the weapon would take time to build. Once the weapon is built it is available for dropping (think C&C how the buildings were built and dropped). The commander can queue up multiple weapons at the armory. Multiple armories would speed up this process, and all of them can drop advanced weaponry if even one of them is an advanced armory. The weapon building can be cancelled. The earlier the cancel the more res you get back. I'll probably have more to say about this later.
Thoughts? suggestions?
Comments
Firstly - the Higher-Level lifeforms already take longer to evolve and cost more. Dieing as one of them as already penalty enough.
Secondly for marines. More advanced equipment and structures take longer to build/longer to research and cost more. Already enough.
Firstly - the Higher-Level lifeforms already take longer to evolve and cost more. Dieing as one of them as already penalty enough.
Secondly for marines. More advanced equipment and structures take longer to build/longer to research and cost more. Already enough. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yip I agree. So why change it?
And, scrap the research time for the weapons completely. The times it takes to build each weapon replaces that time. You'd still need the appropriate BUILDINGS to drop different weapons of course. Think about it. this allows for more variety because this allows for more customization. For example, marines actually need to commit more resources if they want to do 'shottie rush' because the team would need to build another armory to be able to drop the guns fast enough for a rush. this means less res for upgrades. Or the marines could just go for an upgrade rush and try to hold out with just lmg marines. This is much more like a RTS. Marines won't be able to 'mass' and 'upgrade' with impunity.
EDIT: Spelling
Firstly - the Higher-Level lifeforms already take longer to evolve and cost more. Dieing as one of them as already penalty enough.
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Also you respawn as skulk. Not as what you gestated into. So it wouldnt skew it a little?
Interesting idea though.
As for marine equipment - that would seem to cut into their flexibility, which is already restricted enough. Again, waiting for the resources to dish out 5 HMGs at once is a long enough wait.
The spawn queue on top of losing equipment/lifeform is enough of a punishment as it is.
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If you want to make NS more "RTSy", you really need a multi-tier system for the marines. (The aliens are fine in this regard.) As it is, you got tier one - <i>LA, mines, lmgs, pistols and shotties</i> - and tier two -<i> HA, JP, HMG, GL</i>. Once you have access to tier two tech, there's not much point in using tier one tech <i>if you have the resources not to</i>. Why be a LA with LMG when you could be a HA with an HMG? In a fight, the HA would do better every time.
In an RTS with a counter system, the use of tier one units can still win you the game. <b>The top tech needs to have its own disadvantages, and there also needs to be a way to make the bottom tech more viable.</b>
The "simplest" solution, I guess, is to go with weapon and armour upgades for <b>each individual category.</b> However, the upgrades for the tier one primary weapons also increase clip size at the expense of less damage increase. For example, instead of clip size 50/50/50/50 and damage 0%/10%/20%/30% (I think that's right), lmgs would have 25/40/55/70 clip size with 0%/5%/10%/15% damage increase. This way, you could have a lvl0HMG worse than a lvl2 shotty or LMG; you could choose to stick with the basic tech instead of <b>having</b> to dish out the big guns in order to win. While researching the big guns' tech will leave your start game a bit shakier, with less capable LA/LMGS.