Lerks
Crazy_Monkey
Join Date: 2002-11-13 Member: 8453Members
Join Date: 2002-11-13 Member: 8453Members
<div class="IPBDescription">In line with the beta discussion debate</div> Following the lerk debate has shown me that the lerk is near (note I said near) useless in 2.0 as of now, both in support and assault. This is of couse in speculation and second hand info from the vets and PTs posts. While we may equate the lerk to a mage in games that contain them, weak in strength/physical and easy to kil but with insane attack abilities while "charged". I see that Flayra is happy with the lerk, so this post may be in vain, but I am with Savant that the lerk is in a somewhat odd state.
I think that Savant's ideas of HP increase or some cost reduction (maybe not even down to 10) would seem in line with it's abilities, yet that may not be advisable. Giving an alien with ranged abilities so early and often might upset game balance a little too easily, or one that is still not to hard to get (30 res) yet difficult to kill.
So, my suggestion. Make it even more of a support class. Spores appears to fit where it is though maybe a damage increase to 7 or 8 would help a bit, umbra is perfect for the lerk of course, though an increase in duration would be nice, two seconds makes the ability dang near useless. Spikes sound fine as they are, and primal scream is cool. The deal seems that since nothing stacks, having more than one lerks is useless unless you're just spiking.
Maybe avoid ALL changes to the lerk and just allow umbra and spore stack.
Just two bits from an alien lover. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
I think that Savant's ideas of HP increase or some cost reduction (maybe not even down to 10) would seem in line with it's abilities, yet that may not be advisable. Giving an alien with ranged abilities so early and often might upset game balance a little too easily, or one that is still not to hard to get (30 res) yet difficult to kill.
So, my suggestion. Make it even more of a support class. Spores appears to fit where it is though maybe a damage increase to 7 or 8 would help a bit, umbra is perfect for the lerk of course, though an increase in duration would be nice, two seconds makes the ability dang near useless. Spikes sound fine as they are, and primal scream is cool. The deal seems that since nothing stacks, having more than one lerks is useless unless you're just spiking.
Maybe avoid ALL changes to the lerk and just allow umbra and spore stack.
Just two bits from an alien lover. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
Comments
I've held my tounge on 2.0 until this issue came up.
The problem we had last build was that you could have <b><i><u>unlimited</u></i></b> umbra on the units if you had adrenline, and I think that was a little cheap. That would probably be the reason to lowering it to two seconds, and that sounds fine. Maybe they should lower the energy on it if they didnt yet.
The explanation could be something along the lines of spores are concentrated bacterium that interfere with the marine's nano-powered suits while the marine is inside the cloud.
In 1.04 people used its main attack often, swoop in and bite for 75 and perhaps finish off with a few spikes. The idea being that by the time the marine knows what's happening he's dead.
While I don't miss bite that much, I DO think the lack of a high damage attack makes the lerk very vulnerable. Since you have to engage marines at a distance, you are playing THEIR game. They have the better ranged weapons by far, and so if you go head to head with a marine using spikes vs pistol, the pistol will win every time. Seeing as a free marine can EASILY solo a lerk, the 30 res investment is lost quickly.
That's my concern. The lerk is great to fly, but what use is it if you get picked out of the air with ease?
I don't think stacking spores is a viable option though. It was my original suggetsion to stop spores from stacking, the reason being that it just does too much damage to too many marines. You could slaughter whole teams if you played it right.
Since spores no longer stack, I think instead we should make the lerk live longer. Leave the cost at 30 but give him 200/50 health and make him a REAL support class. Yeah lerks will be hard to kill, but so are fades (250/100) and they cost 50. (fades blink in and out REALLY fast now - so by the time you start shooting the fade is already gone.) However, that's part of investing in the higher level aliens. You have to be able to live longer or what's the point right?
Regards,
Savant
If spores need to a be a bit more lethal, how about this: Have them ignore armor. From a logic standpoint it makes perfect sense, and a gameplay standpoint it would make spores more useful in the middle game (when armor upgrades are common). Damage would need to be tweaked accordingly, of course.
If lerks are dying too easily, there are different ways to fix it. I feel such a radical increase of health would be rather crude, though boosting armor back to the v1.04 value (50) might work well. You could also try to make the lerk a more difficult target by further reducing the energy requirement for flying. I believe the current cost is .04 per flap (was .06 in v1.04); dropping it to .02 would allow the lerk to bounce all over the place. Grenades would still be an effective counter.
Who knows, just a few random ideas.
And up the damage
EDIT: It would be interesting though if the aliens really needed lerks in order to win. During those times when the marines have HA/HMG and 3/3 upgrades, people always scream for a lerk. Its so fun when fades go in and come back as skulks. <!--emo&::nerdy::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/nerd.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='nerd.gif'><!--endemo-->
I think the best way to fix the lerk is to decrease the transparency of the spore sprite.
Thus, rather than an offensive weapon, spores become a way to conceal alien movement. It increases the tactical flexibility of the lerk (and the alien team in general) without fundamentally changing the lerk class. And it lines up with the lerk's role as a support class. And it's a trivial sprite change, so no massive recoding work for Flayra.
Just a thought.