My Take On The Issue Of "balance"

ProtomanProtoman Join Date: 2003-08-09 Member: 19291Members
Balance, by definition, is a state of stalemate because no side has any inherent advantages over the other.

A fun RTS is where two sides with entirely different strategies and capabilities see who can use their unique traits in a better way than the other guy can use his unique traits.

This is what NS2.0 has. The aliens creep over the map early and sow their roots. They lurk in the shadows and around every corner.
The marines are powerful, but slow and methodical. They are defensively strong and if played right can slowly overtake the map.

We DON'T want the marines to be able to expand as well, and we DON'T want the aliens to be able to defend or siege bases as well.
We don't want warcraft III; Where each side is essentially capable of the same things as another side, but the presentation is different.



Having said that, there are still a few things that could be tweaked, but overall I would rather see the strengths of each side excentuated rather than boosting their weaknesses to bring them closer to the enemy.

Comments

  • GrimmGrimm Join Date: 2003-04-13 Member: 15448Members
    Here here. Diversity is a key point in any RTS and hybrids. If we wanted everything to be perfectly "balanced", we would just have it set up as Marines vs Marines or Kharra vs Kharaa.
  • EighteenTwelveEighteenTwelve Join Date: 2003-08-10 Member: 19366Members
    Well, there IS a push for that.
  • RedfordRedford Monorailcatfjord Join Date: 2002-04-28 Member: 528Members, NS1 Playtester
    We have allready had about 100 posts so far that were either "NS SUX AND THIS IS WHY, CHANGE IT NUBS", or "THIS WILL MAKE NS BETTER!, I AM POSTING IN THE WRONG FORUM BECAUSE MY IDEA IS IMPORTANT!". Your post falls into the latter.

    We do not need anymore balance posts. Go away.
  • ProtomanProtoman Join Date: 2003-08-09 Member: 19291Members
    edited August 2003
    You stupid **** Redford, you didn't even read past the title did you?

    If you had half a clue you would know the suggestion forum is closed anyway.

    t-w-a-t is censored? lol.
  • BugBrainBugBrain Join Date: 2003-05-14 Member: 16279Members
    Maybe try twit?

    Many of the recent balance post have not been so much about balancing NS in particular, but balancing games and balance principles. Long, well thought out, unbiased post about what balance means are great to read, and I may actually learn something. Those kinda post are good. Whining about redemption onos is bad.

    Personally, I don't think balance is that hard to acieve. I do think alines have it too easy now, but.....well...... I like it. I love it. I have always been mainly an alien player, even in 1.0, and getting constantly owned by JP/HMG sucked. Now the Kharaa win! RINES ARE AFRAID. I do want a balanced game, because easy wins get boring as much as cheap losses, but right now it is sooo much fun biting and gassing rines to death.
  • VolomonVolomon Join Date: 2003-08-11 Member: 19406Members
    edited August 2003
    You know what the biggest problem is the aliens are so damn fast then they get celerity or whatever, They can reinforce an area instantly almost and continually, where marines go down with 1 or 2 hits half the time. The aliens also get redemption which sends a rushing onos (one that does nothing but save for onos) and has it continually come back over and over untill it beats whatever is there.

    I say Marines get a medical class that does nothing but heal with maybe a superior pistol and no rifle? Or Marines are able to carry extra medpacs or something.

    When they spawn faster get send back to the hive with redemption or can retreat and heal with regeneration or ono/gorge for even a group of 5 marines its rough when there outta res cuase of the ono rush.

    The gorge rush is just as bad since they can put down 5 res towers when the marines get done with one, then they can all build towers at those spots at the same time, where as the marines can only do one at a time. Then putting up defences for the area cast 3-5 times as much as the aliens since you have to put turrent factory after turrent factory down just to see it go down to some damn sneak attack from behind it, which makes all the turrents then wasted and worthless.

    Everything the aliens have is more effective.

    There should be a suit of armor even bigger than heavy that can't be so easily eaten!!


    Also
    <!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Balance, by definition, is a state of stalemate because no side has any inherent advantages over the other.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    I see balance as multiple scales sitting on a desk, the wieghts on each scale might out balance the other side, but thats not what matters it comes down to the total over all balance on a larger scale.

    The wierdest thing about this game is the expansion to cost ratio the marines expand alot slower yet have higher cost for all items since its going out to all the marines and not each individual one is getting res.

    I don't care if these options have been repeditive I can't stand playing the game any more especially with the balancing issues there is also an issue of team play marines require a hell of alot more team work and ends up only 1/2 or 1/3 of the team follows orders which makes the gameplay even worse whereas the aliens can work indepenantly of each other entirely.
  • monkeymastermonkeymaster Join Date: 2003-02-20 Member: 13771Members
    No....More.....Balance....Posts.........

    JUST PLAY DA GAME FOOOO'S!!
  • NeverNever Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 4555Members
    ya know, i totally agree with the essence of this post. ive said it before and ill say it again. if the game is 50-50, you will lose half of your games.

    i am getting pretty tired of people complaining because they lost (essentially). <b>you arent supposed to win all the time</b>. everyone loses at some point. believe it or not it happens every game.

    i know people are basing their complaints behind preceived problems in the systems of the game, but there are ways around it. if one person can do it then we all can. please, people, stop nitpicking. its an awesome game and both sides can win.
  • EpidemicEpidemic Dark Force Gorge Join Date: 2003-06-29 Member: 17781Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--Redford+Aug 11 2003, 02:51 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Redford @ Aug 11 2003, 02:51 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->We have allready had about 100 posts so far that were either "NS SUX AND THIS IS WHY, CHANGE IT NUBS", or "THIS WILL MAKE NS BETTER!, I AM POSTING IN THE WRONG FORUM BECAUSE MY IDEA IS IMPORTANT!". Your post falls into the latter.

    We do not need anymore balance posts. Go away.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Not really.
  • ProtomanProtoman Join Date: 2003-08-09 Member: 19291Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->

    No, balance is when two sides have 50% chance of winning. Stalemate is caused by lack of dynamics, which is a different thing. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Wrong. The only game that garentees each player a 50% chance of winning is "flip the coin".

    This game, as most, comes down to a test of skill. Because even a game with two identical sides will come down to the skill of the players.

    But identical sides are boring; So a good RTS makes it so that each team requires a different skill set, and whomever uses that skill set better than the enemy can use their skill set will win.
  • SoulSkorpionSoulSkorpion Join Date: 2002-04-12 Member: 423Members
    *cough*

    <a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=1&t=42239' target='_blank'>Read this</a>.

    That and this: I had this argument with someone online the other day. A statelmate is a deadlock, it's when the game is stagnant and neither side can progress because for whatever reason they can't shift the balance of power. This is not the case - the game in which I had this argument went on for something like three hours not because we simply held the marines back for three hours but because the game was <i>constantly</i> changing. We lost and retook ventilation hive three times. Territory rapidly changed hands, the balance of power swung back and forward over the course of the game, it was anything but static. That's not a stalemate, and it was fantastic.

    I disagree that there are more deadlocks in 2.0. That's not what a stalemate is, and I much prefer the current way.
  • nthingnthing Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 3091Members
    Hear hear. Nobody screams that TFC is unbalanced just because a good group of players go blue for a few games and win each one.
  • TCFKTCFK Join Date: 2003-08-11 Member: 19414Members
    Everyone can say what he/she wants, but I still think it is unbalanced. It's like aliens 60% and marines 40%. Everything of the marines is too expensive and the aliens are too strong too fast. I mean in v1.0 you needed 3 hives to be onos, now you can be onos whenever you got 100 res. And aliens get rt's fast too fast! <!--emo&::marine::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/marine.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='marine.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • grafgraverkegrafgraverke Join Date: 2003-08-09 Member: 19246Members
    quoting volomon: The aliens also get redemption which sends a rushing onos (one that does nothing but save for onos) and has it continually come back over and over untill it beats whatever is there.

    hope and pray you find an opposing team comprising of entirely this class of 'players'

    kills get you res, plus standing still on a map is a surefire way to get boxed in by so many turretfarms you'll never get through.

    now, the thing to REALLY fear is the player who went on to making 30 kills as Gorge or Skulk who decides to gestate Onos... r4pe time !

    second, I mostly play Alien and rarely if ever even use redemption nowadays.. seen too many times a potential gamewinner foiled by the untimely 'saving' of my beast!

    I now take regen, and either I make my target or I die trying !

    plus dying as Onos from time to time helps create a false sense of heroism into the rines who then walk right in the webs while chasing that other Onos... not exactly standard operating procedure but if it helps.. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
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