Balance

Abaddon0

<div class="IPBDescription">how i see it</div> I think that the game is balanced in a since of who wins (50/50) but it seems that the game is decided with in the first 15 min of play, after that, another 2 hours of a lousing battle before it is finally over. i feel that the game gets drawn out for to long, in 1.x, the long games were the best game, where it was an epic struggle over the key hive where the tide shifted over the game several times, now it seams that after the first 15 min the game is decided, its just takes a while for the marines to move a turret farm close enough to siege the hive or for the aliens to take down the turret farm that is the marine base. After the first exciting 15 min, it seams that the game just drags on and on.

SoulSkorpion

I've had a diffrerent experience. Provided everyone's fairly competant, games tend to be 50\50, but are far from decided in the first 15 mins. The really good ones take over two hours, with territory changing hands many many times throughout the game. It can <i>feel</i> like you're fighting a losing battle, but I've found that in a game where I thought we were losing from the beginning, the aliens thought so too.

But if you try to play NS 2.0 as if it's NS 1.04: yes, it will be decided in the first 15 mins. 2.0 allows you far more flexibility than 1.04 - when you learn how to use it, games are far more fun. Just remember that the emphasis is on resources, not hives. Keep that in mind and you'll do fine; marines can only set up turret farms if they have the funds.

Terakai2000

I totally agree with SoulS on that one. The first couple of 2.0 games I played I tend to think that they were drawn out too and the end games took forever. I then realized that the 1.04 end-game is not the same as 2.0 end-game. Aliens can have three hives up in under 12 minutes, but the game isn't over. The marines would have the resource control over the three hive aliens. I had a similar game where the marines had two hives locked down pretty well and I, as an alien felt like we were fighting a losing battle; however, we had a large majority of the resource nodes. We would rush with oni and gorges to a hive (cargo in veil) and take it down only to be slaughtered by marines rushing in with shotties. After gaining and losing ground entire map for over two hours, we finally exhausted the 'rines and came up on top.

Gliss

Perfect balance wouldn't be 50/50, more like 45/55 (Marine/Alien).

Trojan2

wont be for long If V2.x uber nerf come out.....

SoulSkorpion

<!--QuoteBegin--Pjofsky+Aug 17 2003, 02:25 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Pjofsky @ Aug 17 2003, 02:25 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Perfect balance wouldn't be 50/50, more like 45/55 (Marine/Alien). <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Storyline wise, maybe. But not really <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->

Jabba_The_Hunt

tbh I just think aliens expand too quickly, marines can hold areas for too long, although I'm starting to see aliens learn how to take out marine bases quicker.

meanie

just played a game as aliens..

the marines took two hives fast and spent their resourse of farming a turret bonanza at each..

while myself and one other player were trying to counter these take overs.. the rest of our team was attacking marine spawn.. the game was over in minutes.. 2 gorgs and four skulks demolished marine spawn

all that was left was two wandering marines.. they didn't last long

as far as balance.. most games are balanced now.. but this is by the players .. marines, i'm finding are surviving longer with an experienced team and commander.. yet against and experienced team of aliens. no matter if the marines are vets or not.. they don't last the distance

Zenn

45/55?! 50/50?! Where the heck are you guys playing, and what version?! In my experience is more like 10/90 (marine/alien). I've seen the marines win 3 times in over 100 games, with everything from experienced players to noobs who build OCs on nodes. I've seen games where the marines held 5 or 6 res nodes, and had a LOT of upgrades, and STILL LOST! I've seen games of two hive lockdowns with 50+ turrets (so it seems) and the aliens still able to win.

Hell, I won't even play marines right now, they just can't win from what I've seen. If the alien team is even semi-good, knows the basics, they WILL win everytime, they are just simply the stronger team, its nice we find this all out after months of "balancing" though...ha.

MrPink

No, the game really is not balanced. In fact, the balance is horrible. Today, I played in a 8 team tournament, 16 games played total. All people were better than average, a few clanners but not all, who worked together with decent strategy.

The marines won <b>1</b> game out of 16.

Also note that we played <b>2.01b</b>

Spazmatic

Natural Selection is not balanced yet. It's balanced kinda for pub play, but that's because we're beginning to see good players stacking the 'rines, and because aliens are far more likely to make mistakes (such as be greedy) on pubs. With really good 'liens, I've not even seen vets pull off wins.

That said, on pubs, the whole "2 hour" phenomenon occurs frequently. After all, if 'rines are winning, it tends to the mean the aliens didn't expand, which also means they probably have the evolutions to drag the game on and on until the 'rines can turret push or heavy push into the hive. Other way around, even only loosely cooperative alien teams can win on pubs, which results (especially if the 'rines had a newbie turret farming commander) in a long endgame. This is far from always the case (I've seen frequent 30 minute games as well as actual, exciting 2 hour games that kept going back and forth), it's frequent, and I can understand your pain.

However, I also write this off as 2.0 growing pains. Over time, fewer nubs (not newbies, nubs) will stay around, which will result in better endgames. It will also, however, begin to reveal the imbalances so well shown by the vets and PTs (Flayra's doing beautifully at fixing it up, though!)