Ns
th0r0n
Born again n00b Join Date: 2003-06-12 Member: 17313Members
Born again n00b Join Date: 2003-06-12 Member: 17313Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Long winded post alert.</div> I know I've posted something like this before, but I've decided to post again.
Firstly, I have loved NS since the day it came out, and I personally thank the developers for giving us all so much fun.
But, NS at the moment is inbalanced? Why... Well, in this I shall try to explain why I feel it is unbalanced.
We've established it's because aliens can expand too fast, but it's more simple than that, aliens HAVE THE RES to expand too fast, too quickly.
This comes from the res incrementing proportianally (sp) to the number of players, and also, more largely due to Res For Kills.
Even the higher alien lifeforms get res for kills, so the higher the lifeform you are, the more resources you can harvest, this means that even if you kill an onos, it's in vain, as the player can usually go onos again as soon as he respawns. This needs to be addressed, higher lifeforms (Or imo ANY alien) should not get resources for kills, purely because aliens > marines start game, especially with an early upgrade chamber.
At the moment 1 hive aliens can cream the high tech marines, this is the problem with free lifeforms and res for kills together, they DO NOT work well. The only thing worth getting a hive for (Provided that you have a good 1st chamber) Is the resource node.
I think a better solution to free lifeforms would be giving aliens more 1 hive weapons that are a counter to 2 hive lockdowns, for example, Umbra and Bilebomb would be a nice first hive weapon to prevent such lockdowns.
The game is now based around resource nodes, which the marines need.
Arguably the aliens do NOT, as due the fact the high life forms can get a 100 res easily if they're playing well.
MARINES AND ALIENS NEED A COMMON GOAL.
In 1.04 this was clear, hives were the goal. But the very nature of RFK totally negates the alien need for more than a handful of resource towers.
The benefit of resources must be made more important to the aliens to give them something to fight the marines for.
Aliens have NO restrictions on what they can become, the only restriction is chambers, and now any hive can be taken back, even with the hugest of turret farms.
Whereas marines need a mighty 60 odd res just to EQUIP a soldier, nevermind the 120 or so res it takes to build an armoury, upgrade it, build an arms lab, build a protolab, research... and so on.
Marines cannot get their act together quick enough to fight the aliens free lifeforms.
These are just my opinions though, feel free to leave your own after my own <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Firstly, I have loved NS since the day it came out, and I personally thank the developers for giving us all so much fun.
But, NS at the moment is inbalanced? Why... Well, in this I shall try to explain why I feel it is unbalanced.
We've established it's because aliens can expand too fast, but it's more simple than that, aliens HAVE THE RES to expand too fast, too quickly.
This comes from the res incrementing proportianally (sp) to the number of players, and also, more largely due to Res For Kills.
Even the higher alien lifeforms get res for kills, so the higher the lifeform you are, the more resources you can harvest, this means that even if you kill an onos, it's in vain, as the player can usually go onos again as soon as he respawns. This needs to be addressed, higher lifeforms (Or imo ANY alien) should not get resources for kills, purely because aliens > marines start game, especially with an early upgrade chamber.
At the moment 1 hive aliens can cream the high tech marines, this is the problem with free lifeforms and res for kills together, they DO NOT work well. The only thing worth getting a hive for (Provided that you have a good 1st chamber) Is the resource node.
I think a better solution to free lifeforms would be giving aliens more 1 hive weapons that are a counter to 2 hive lockdowns, for example, Umbra and Bilebomb would be a nice first hive weapon to prevent such lockdowns.
The game is now based around resource nodes, which the marines need.
Arguably the aliens do NOT, as due the fact the high life forms can get a 100 res easily if they're playing well.
MARINES AND ALIENS NEED A COMMON GOAL.
In 1.04 this was clear, hives were the goal. But the very nature of RFK totally negates the alien need for more than a handful of resource towers.
The benefit of resources must be made more important to the aliens to give them something to fight the marines for.
Aliens have NO restrictions on what they can become, the only restriction is chambers, and now any hive can be taken back, even with the hugest of turret farms.
Whereas marines need a mighty 60 odd res just to EQUIP a soldier, nevermind the 120 or so res it takes to build an armoury, upgrade it, build an arms lab, build a protolab, research... and so on.
Marines cannot get their act together quick enough to fight the aliens free lifeforms.
These are just my opinions though, feel free to leave your own after my own <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Comments
I agree there is some imbalance, but I don't think it's due to RfK or differing equipment costs (marines are pretty cost effective when you get down to it - they can reuse their guns, they don't need to have everyone periodically spending 10 res if they want to build something...)
Suppose resource nodes are important for marines, well if the marines can get them, they'll get tougher to take down, and more likely to enroach on your territory! So it's in the aliens best interest to go for those nodes too, even if it's mainly to prevent marines from using them!(remember, res is still great for aliens, and an RT prevents marines from instantly placing a tower, and serves as a warning bell)
I disagree.
Then small games will be effective.
The other day it was a 5 on 5 game. The marines went around building res and ended with a shotty rush that dropped their hive. Two aliens quit while we were shooting the hive. The aliens were able to gather so much res they had another hive building when theri first dropped. And about 5 minutes later they had skulks leaping around.
Any game with 3 or less aliens means the aliens have nearly unlimited res. It doesn't matter how many marines you have for the most part...you just won't be able to compete. On average I can drop two oc's for every one you destroy. This is a very very bad way to have the game and the fix is so simple. Furthermore, the fix I described will not throw balance out the window...in fact it won't even effect 6 on 6 through 8 on 8 games because the aliens will be gaining res at the same rate. And in larger games, where the tide turns in favor of the marines due to lack of resources...it will again fall into balance.
Every form/marine gets a basic RFK level.
Skulk: 1res
Gorge: 2res
Lerk: 3res
Fade: 4res
Onos: 5res
In addition for every upgrade the alien has the killer gets 0.5 extra res. So a full upgraded onos would give out total res of 6.5 (the numbers are radom so don't argue about them)
Same with Marines.
LA: 1
JP: 2
HA: 3
Shotty: +1
HMG/GL: +2
For every upgrade the marines researched the alien rfk increases by 0.25
So a Full upgraded HA/HMG/welder guy is worth 6.5 res. (welder don't count it's only 5 res <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> )
I think this "CAN" pretty balance the hole RFK thing. Slow in the beginning damn fast on the end. Of course massive testing would be needed.