My two cents
VampricHunter
Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 4133Members
Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 4133Members
First and most importantly, I'd like to say, <b>THERE IS NO BALANCE PROBLEM!</b> Goodness people, the team put an incredible amount of time and effort into this project, testing it, until they, who are also very skilled gamers, were thouroghly satisfied, and you come back after 48 hour after the release and relentlessly rant about imbalances? Most of you don't even have the general layout of the maps down yet. I also would like to say massive kudos on an incredible mod to the makers (Silver Fox or Greedo, if you could pass that on).
The believe of the imbalance stems from two main things:
1) The admin resource tweeking, and
2) The entire concept of the alien team. Let me elaborate. Most of the FPS players who are trying out NS play marines because its what they are used to. They buy guns and armor, defend bases, and work together. All typical FPS strats, that you'd find in everything from TFC to DoD to Counter Strike. The aliens, however, are a completely new concept. How often do CT's leap onto Terr's from a dark shadowy corner w/ claws extended? People don't know how to play them well, and don't want to learn, so they mass the marine team or are reluctantly forced to play alien. And of course, if they don't know how to play alien and are of the mindset that they will lose, then they will.
From the first time I heard about this mod, I wanted to try the Kharaa. Why play another gun toter? I've been playing PC FPS games since CS beta 5 (yes, <u>before</u> the retail version), and I've tried quite a few of the vast number of HL mods out there. Firing a HMG at any sort of target just didn't seem very fun anymore. In fact, I haven't even tried playing marine yet. The Kharaa intreagued me. Their play style is so different than any other, it brings countless possibilities that just require imagination rather than tedious grenade fire. The thought of silently blinking into existence as a fade behined a cluster of parasited marines, or sitting cloaked on an elevator until a marine steps on, presses the button, and its too late for him to turn back, and just let out a bestial chuckle before diving at him out of nowhere... Now that'll get ur blood pumping. The Kharaa need creative, open-minded players, people that intentionally stay away from "tried and true" strategies. Only then will their full potential be reached; and when it is, marines beware... all the turrets in the world won't save you.
Let me give you an example of a game I played earlier, that resulted in a Kharaa victory. Myself, along w/ several other skulks, had been attempting to curb marine progress in ns_hera. We'd try anything we could think of, diving at them from vents, dropping out of the ceiling wiring, etc., but the marines slowly but surely pressed on. After the particularly gnasty outcome of random hallway encounter, the other leading player on my team decided he'd had enough losing, and he switched to marine. About 10 minutes later, I observed a marine comment addressing this side-swapping player as "commander". Not only had he betrayed the Kharaa, but he was now the heart of the opposing team. I said aloud that I'd stop him myself, a comment that was met with a good deal of laughter. They had no idea I could make good on what I'd said. Frankly, I wasn't even too sure. I evolved my trusty defense upgrade, as well as a particularly useful celerity, and sprinted to the enemy base, encountering and dealing with a marine on the way. When I arrived, I peeked around the corner to notice just how many turrets were up... I think there were about 5. But I didn't care, I had a goal that needed accomplishing, whether or not I died a few times in the process. I backed up a few paces, and sprinted. Straight into the enemy base. Between turrets. Past armories. Up the wall. I leaped from corner to corner running up the walls, dodging fire the entire time. One last leap brought me into the raised CC platform, and before anyone in the base knew what had happened, I had locked myself in the tiny room with the abandoner commander and the enemy CC. I tore the building and the marine down with my bare teeth, my spree ending only with a volley of grenade fire into the chamber, which, ironically, destroyed their last remaining CC. Without the ability to build, the marines are nothing. The game lasted only a few more minutes, and the only replies to my adventurous run were embarrassed grumbles from the defeated human team.
The Kharaa are an awesome thing to experience when played well, it's like nothing you've played before. Give it a shot and stop treating the creatures like reskinned marines. Again, much thanks to the makers and testers, and you can bet I'll be playing NS and Kharaa for a long time. The Lerk has so much potential that no one has even begun to tap.
<!--emo&::skulk::--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/skulk.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='::skulk::'><!--endemo--> out.
-Vampy
The believe of the imbalance stems from two main things:
1) The admin resource tweeking, and
2) The entire concept of the alien team. Let me elaborate. Most of the FPS players who are trying out NS play marines because its what they are used to. They buy guns and armor, defend bases, and work together. All typical FPS strats, that you'd find in everything from TFC to DoD to Counter Strike. The aliens, however, are a completely new concept. How often do CT's leap onto Terr's from a dark shadowy corner w/ claws extended? People don't know how to play them well, and don't want to learn, so they mass the marine team or are reluctantly forced to play alien. And of course, if they don't know how to play alien and are of the mindset that they will lose, then they will.
From the first time I heard about this mod, I wanted to try the Kharaa. Why play another gun toter? I've been playing PC FPS games since CS beta 5 (yes, <u>before</u> the retail version), and I've tried quite a few of the vast number of HL mods out there. Firing a HMG at any sort of target just didn't seem very fun anymore. In fact, I haven't even tried playing marine yet. The Kharaa intreagued me. Their play style is so different than any other, it brings countless possibilities that just require imagination rather than tedious grenade fire. The thought of silently blinking into existence as a fade behined a cluster of parasited marines, or sitting cloaked on an elevator until a marine steps on, presses the button, and its too late for him to turn back, and just let out a bestial chuckle before diving at him out of nowhere... Now that'll get ur blood pumping. The Kharaa need creative, open-minded players, people that intentionally stay away from "tried and true" strategies. Only then will their full potential be reached; and when it is, marines beware... all the turrets in the world won't save you.
Let me give you an example of a game I played earlier, that resulted in a Kharaa victory. Myself, along w/ several other skulks, had been attempting to curb marine progress in ns_hera. We'd try anything we could think of, diving at them from vents, dropping out of the ceiling wiring, etc., but the marines slowly but surely pressed on. After the particularly gnasty outcome of random hallway encounter, the other leading player on my team decided he'd had enough losing, and he switched to marine. About 10 minutes later, I observed a marine comment addressing this side-swapping player as "commander". Not only had he betrayed the Kharaa, but he was now the heart of the opposing team. I said aloud that I'd stop him myself, a comment that was met with a good deal of laughter. They had no idea I could make good on what I'd said. Frankly, I wasn't even too sure. I evolved my trusty defense upgrade, as well as a particularly useful celerity, and sprinted to the enemy base, encountering and dealing with a marine on the way. When I arrived, I peeked around the corner to notice just how many turrets were up... I think there were about 5. But I didn't care, I had a goal that needed accomplishing, whether or not I died a few times in the process. I backed up a few paces, and sprinted. Straight into the enemy base. Between turrets. Past armories. Up the wall. I leaped from corner to corner running up the walls, dodging fire the entire time. One last leap brought me into the raised CC platform, and before anyone in the base knew what had happened, I had locked myself in the tiny room with the abandoner commander and the enemy CC. I tore the building and the marine down with my bare teeth, my spree ending only with a volley of grenade fire into the chamber, which, ironically, destroyed their last remaining CC. Without the ability to build, the marines are nothing. The game lasted only a few more minutes, and the only replies to my adventurous run were embarrassed grumbles from the defeated human team.
The Kharaa are an awesome thing to experience when played well, it's like nothing you've played before. Give it a shot and stop treating the creatures like reskinned marines. Again, much thanks to the makers and testers, and you can bet I'll be playing NS and Kharaa for a long time. The Lerk has so much potential that no one has even begun to tap.
<!--emo&::skulk::--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/skulk.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='::skulk::'><!--endemo--> out.
-Vampy