<!--quoteo(post=1593746:date=Jan 1 2007, 03:17 PM:name=DC_Darkling)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DC_Darkling @ Jan 1 2007, 03:17 PM) [snapback]1593746[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> If a kharaa is munching a obs upgrading (or anything upgrading for that matter), and you as comm know you can't save it, and noone can. WHY on earth are you NOT canceling the upgrade and getting most of the invested res BACK before the structure is destroyed? <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Not to mention, with a pitance of 15 res, you could just as easily beacon everyone.
<!--quoteo(post=1593832:date=Jan 1 2007, 04:06 PM:name=GreyFlcn)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(GreyFlcn @ Jan 1 2007, 04:06 PM) [snapback]1593832[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Not to mention, with a pitance of 15 res, you could just as easily beacon everyone. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Sure, if you cancel MT. Or wasted your starting res on a second obs.
<!--quoteo(post=1593817:date=Jan 1 2007, 11:40 AM:name=Exploder)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Exploder @ Jan 1 2007, 11:40 AM) [snapback]1593817[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Why should I get rid of the mouse acceleration. I'm kinda paranoid so please tell. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> If you're comfortable playing with it on, there's no real need to turn it off. It's a personal preference, there are good players who play with it on as well.
<!--quoteo(post=1593177:date=Dec 30 2006, 02:58 AM:name=ultranewb)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ultranewb @ Dec 30 2006, 02:58 AM) [snapback]1593177[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Don't listen the the airbags - they don't have an ounce of insight. I'll pose my rant in the form on a run-on sentence without paragraphs, so it's something they're acustomed to seeing.
It's quite evident that the skulk design is inherently flawed. So few players actually play them well and only because they know all the "trap door" workarounds. The "just aim your bites" joke is always good for a laugh because the representation of skulk bite and the implementation aren't the same and bites are <b>designed</b> to be hard to aim on purpose (rather retardedly). Even worse is the fact that you'll miss bites if you get too close to the marine or aim slightly below parallel with the ground. If your monitor refresh rate and FPS isn't fast, you're going to get blinded even moreso by the bite animation and if you think skulk is only good if you learn to bunnyhop, then you've already proven the design flaw. Press the "walk" key and the skulk will still make noise, decloak, and show up on MT depending on your FPS. Your claws will stick out of ambush points unless you know the skulks real point of view. The whole "skulks should chew on RTs" arguement is also laughable because someone has to defend RTs, stop phase pushes, and stop marine expansion in general - which means that early game skulks have to be able to kill marine cappers, defend RTs, defend at least 2 hive positions from capture and spawn camping, and chew on RTs all at the same time. Once marines make an initial push, ambushing is not an option - unless you want to watch your RTs and territories get claimed by marines while you sit in a corner counting your change. Alien attack and movement should be almost as second nature as the point and click marine, but instead you've been given a crappy non-intuitive obscuring animation, an incorrect viewpoint, and a "just learn to bunnyhop" locomotion which requires a combination or unatural jump repititions that can't be done on BS 1 servers without a mousewheel or macros (the prefered choice these days) and a system so overpowered that it can compensate for the poor inconsistant FPS's generated by ns+half-life's engine (something a geforce6800 and an 2Gz AMD 64 can't do) and a config where strafe, duck, and jump are easily accesable and pressable all at the same time so you can get 180% normal speed because it's obvious that normal skulks suck without an unnatural speed boost.
A person sends out a complaint and the obvious consensus is that he "just isn't good enough".
This is why it gets so dam hard to discuss issues. One party thinks if everyone reaches a certain level of physical skill, all will be fine, while the other wants to alter the game itself for everybody.
I'm up for change; that's how we got to 3.2 in the first place.
But I don't really play NS anymore. I've given up the "just isn't good enough" race. I play card games. Everyone is "good enough" to shuffle and lay cards.
dont know about you guys but ns is the #1 game i get pis sed at when playing followed by dota (wc3). why is that? do i suck? probably not after all these years. must be the game design then, but hey thats just my opinion.
<!--quoteo(post=1593965:date=Jan 2 2007, 12:06 AM:name=MrBananaMan)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MrBananaMan @ Jan 2 2007, 12:06 AM) [snapback]1593965[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> why is that? do i suck? probably not after all these years. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
hey, hellabean has been playing NS forever and he's probably better than you are.
if you want to magnify skulks problems, then go to a large server that is on a combat map and tell me how you do as a skulk in the last 5 minutes of play. can you achieve the same score as if you were a fade?
Wait...are you going to argue that the game design is flawed because a free unit is less effective than one that costs 50 res? Seriously?
I'd like to point out, by the way, that the Skulk actually dishes out damage faster than any other alien unit available short of an Onos. It only seems weak because of its low hp, but <b>all</b> aliens have low enough HP that they live primarily by avoiding enemy fire rather than absorbing it. Once you get in close enough, skulk bites are more deadly than lerks OR fades, which cost a ton more. The trick is just living long enough to do it.
<!--coloro:orange--><span style="color:orange"><!--/coloro-->If you don't have anything of worth to add, don't post - Mouse<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<!--quoteo(post=1593978:date=Jan 2 2007, 01:27 AM:name=MrBananaMan)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MrBananaMan @ Jan 2 2007, 01:27 AM) [snapback]1593978[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> if you want to magnify skulks problems, then go to a large server that is on a combat map and tell me how you do as a skulk in the last 5 minutes of play. can you achieve the same score as if you were a fade? <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> The problem here is large servers and combat not the skulk.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->if you want to magnify skulks problems, then go to a large server that is on a combat map and tell me how you do as a skulk in the last 5 minutes of play. can you achieve the same score as if you were a fade <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Xenociding retards who think that it's fun to try rushing, or balling up.
I've outscored fades countless times with xenocide.
<!--quoteo(post=1594130:date=Jan 2 2007, 04:28 PM:name=Lt_Patch)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Lt_Patch @ Jan 2 2007, 04:28 PM) [snapback]1594130[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Xenociding retards who think that it's fun to try rushing, or balling up.
I've outscored fades countless times with xenocide.
(Ed) Quote right person next time, nubje (/Ed) <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
And if I could be arsed to reinstall NS, and actually find a decent CO server, then you could have your demo.
Outscoring fades isn't hard, you just need the requisite skill to do it. Ok, so the KTD isn't fantastic through Xenocide, but you outscore a fade by a long shot.
<!--quoteo(post=1594143:date=Jan 2 2007, 04:37 PM:name=Lt_Patch)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Lt_Patch @ Jan 2 2007, 04:37 PM) [snapback]1594143[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Outscoring fades isn't hard, you just need the requisite skill to do it. Ok, so the KTD isn't fantastic through Xenocide, but you outscore a fade by a long shot.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
so theres a fade out there that gets less frags than a xenociding skulk. i do believe you, but may i just ask how this is relevant to the discussion
holy crap cxwf said something smart, also Im getting very alarmed at the amount of ill conceived tripe greyflcn is repeating from what other people have said in other threads with no explaination nor reasoning <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->You whine about skulks and marines not being equal, and then you want the skulk to be good enough that a new or worse player can beat a good player with it.
What are you complaining about? That you can run into me ten times and die halfway there, or that you can't kill Mr Hello-Im-As-Bad-As-semipsychotic? It makes a difference see, since I think you could play very well vs the latter without any weird tricks or tactics you don't already know.
Oh right right, the point. The point is that you are aruing that skulks are not fun or balanced on public servers with very mixed levels of skills. You feel frustrated when you rush and die to players who are better than you over and over and over. That is understandable, but I fail to see how that is the problem of a certain part of the game. Rather, if you still like playing the game after three and a half years without having gotten good enough to overcome this problem, find yourself a community that fits you. Somewhere where you can play on an even playingfield and feel you do some good as a skulk. That's what I did.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> This debate is not about me. I draw from older experiences to build my position, and I've made it clear that I no longer make the mistakes I talk about: let that be submitted so we may speak of other things.
Currently, there is no fun role for that skulk when the clock reads five or ten: ambushing is impossible, supporting is overly difficult and often futile, and chewing on RTs just isn't fun unless you know it's only a little further for victory. This isn't a matter of balance or equality at all: all it takes to give the game some life is a mere shadow of a chance. Two vanilla skulks surprising a pair of armor-3, weapon-3 lights in a hallway shouldn't claim any kills on a regular basis, but if they get within range, they'll be playing a more exciting game with their tangible, however tiny, chance for victory.
Once a player has gotten good enough in Counter-strike, he can hold a pistol and feel that, with the right timing, teamwork, and marksmanship, he can do the team some good by possibly nailing a rifle-toting enemy. In reality, the odds are way against him, he knows that, and his deaths will reflect that, but the hope for victory keeps him hooked if he's already on a good server. And heck, he might make enough good shots to contribute to a team victory.
Better contrast: it's fun to be a frontiersman. When the odds in their favor dwindle, they keep shooting at those fades, hoping that this salvo will be the last. There is that chance, but good fades escape much more often than they die. Marines still have a line of work in and out of combat, and it's fun until the numbers of Oni and fades grow hopelessly beyond their control.
That's what I'm hoping for in the skulk: the <i>perception</i> of a chance, no matter how small, that they can claim victory in a battle. Being shot at range doesn't offer that feeling, and that's what happens: they're shot while peering from vents, leaping from corners, and following the fade and Oni into battle ("Hey, look, the easy kill!"). If they could just get close and get a few bites off before being shot (no guarantees for hallway chargers, I'm still thinking of skulks played with the right idea in mind and decent execution), it would make a difference for the game. A change to accomplish this would need to apply to properly played skulks and <i>not</i> apply to hallway chargers, so I believe a change in motion tracking would best accomplish this.
This is no crucial, "plague of locusts o'er the land" issue that will destroy our crops and families if we do not appease God, and it probably doesn't deserve as much time as we've given it, but it is a suggestion with the intent to improve the game.
<!--quoteo(post=1594280:date=Jan 2 2007, 10:23 PM:name=semipsychotic)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(semipsychotic @ Jan 2 2007, 10:23 PM) [snapback]1594280[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> That's what I'm hoping for in the skulk: the <i>perception</i> of a chance, no matter how small, that they can claim victory in a battle. Being shot at range doesn't offer that feeling, and that's what happens: they're shot while peering from vents, leaping from corners, and following the fade and Oni into battle ("Hey, look, the easy kill!"). If they could just get close and get a few bites off before being shot (no guarantees for hallway chargers, I'm still thinking of skulks played with the right idea in mind and decent execution), it would make a difference for the game. A change to accomplish this would need to apply to properly played skulks and <i>not</i> apply to hallway chargers, so I believe a change in motion tracking would best accomplish this. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I see your point. However in my view that chance already exist, and isn't exactly overly small. You ask for something that is already there. And once again just as in Counter-Strike you need to have reached a certain level of proficiency before that makes itself seen.
The only gripe with NS I have is that it appears to be a game catering to public play when in fact alot of things appear very broken until you start playing in organised six versus six matches (after which other things you accepted before start looking broken). I think this is what's causing the opinions and observations of the game to differ so greatly.
I guess I should touch on the subject of Motion Tracking as well. Motion Tracking as it is is mostly used as an upgrade to solidify an already strong marine position. It's a "lock down" upgrade so to speak. In 3.1 you usually got it after a hive was down and you had recapped your resource towers and started putting pressure on theirs again. This made sure aliens couldn't pull any unexpected base rushes or the like to turn the game around. In my opinion you might as well just do away with the upgrade completely. It IS frustrating to play against since it's not an upgrade aimed at finishing a game directly, just shutting down any chance of losing it, and the style of play it caters to is one that draws out the end game far too long for anyone's liking.
And once again the lack of any dedication in balancing the game for more than one specific number of players will never make NS succeed in large scale. (Although it is always a nice tech-demo)
X Res scale based on players (Nope, after 1.04 Flayra said this isn't going to come back) X Marine upgrade costs scale on players (Nope, not a chance) X ... X ...
Simply put, anything that would scale on the player number is nothing that will be considered, with that put it isn't hard to draw the conclusion that the game will never be balanced except for 6v6 which by far isn't the optimal number of slots for a server open for pub.
It's fun playing Clanwars Pugs etc, but those things will never attract a large scale of players.
DC_DarklingJoin Date: 2003-07-10Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
Skulks although weak do have a great use. I call it "Kill the Hive JPer". In pubs we've all been there. A JPer with his favored weapon is buzzing around your hive.
Onos can't reach him, your fades are to crap to make a difference, you've got hardly any lerks doing there job and most are skulk. Now leap is a blessing, but parasite is even better. A JPer damaged by the few skulk and fade which hit it might just die by parasite. Wouldn't be the first JPer I parasited out the sky, and I doubt its the last.
Sure.. this hardly happens, but I tell you in the rare event it does happen I feel very usefull as a skulk.
puzlThe Old FirmJoin Date: 2003-02-26Member: 14029Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation
<!--quoteo(post=1594422:date=Jan 3 2007, 12:19 PM:name=XCan)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(XCan @ Jan 3 2007, 12:19 PM) [snapback]1594422[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Simply put, anything that would scale on the player number is nothing that will be considered <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This isn't true. There are already aspects of NS scaled for player number. The alien respawn rate increases with large player numbers.
<!--quoteo(post=1594424:date=Jan 3 2007, 01:30 PM:name=puzl)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(puzl @ Jan 3 2007, 01:30 PM) [snapback]1594424[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> This isn't true. There are already aspects of NS scaled for player number. The alien respawn rate increases with large player numbers. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I see your point. However in my view that chance already exist, and isn't exactly overly small. You ask for something that is already there. And once again just as in Counter-Strike you need to have reached a certain level of proficiency before that makes itself seen.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> You're right. That level of proficiency for aliens does exist, and I haven't reached it yet: a crafty skulk can still get close to a marine and have that battle, even if he isn't great at the point-click-bite game. Thanks; you've given me reason to give the skulk some more time.
Game balance for sized teams is another interesting topic, and it goes along with the clans and pubs debate. What is also important is the difference between a good pub and a bad pub, which is the difference between casual voice communications (which can be partially substituted with frantic typing) and no communication at all: that can also cause big differences in thought, especially in pub players who become server regulars and forget how other places feel (I'm guilty of that).
Someone said skulk is not fun to play after 5 minutes, but is Gorge fun to play at all? Are marines fun to play after 5 minutes? Is gaming fun only if you can't kill and own? NS is based on teamplay and teamplay is based on working for the team, not yourself. Someone always has to do the dirty job. Maybe teamplay is not fun? Eat RTs if you cant kill marines.
Comments
If a kharaa is munching a obs upgrading (or anything upgrading for that matter), and you as comm know you can't save it, and noone can. WHY on earth are you NOT canceling the upgrade and getting most of the invested res BACK before the structure is destroyed?
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Not to mention, with a pitance of 15 res, you could just as easily beacon everyone.
Not to mention, with a pitance of 15 res, you could just as easily beacon everyone.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sure, if you cancel MT. Or wasted your starting res on a second obs.
aliens are the ones supposed to do the stalking.
Why should I get rid of the mouse acceleration. I'm kinda paranoid so please tell.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If you're comfortable playing with it on, there's no real need to turn it off. It's a personal preference, there are good players who play with it on as well.
Don't listen the the airbags - they don't have an ounce of insight. I'll pose my rant in the form on a run-on sentence without paragraphs, so it's something they're acustomed to seeing.
It's quite evident that the skulk design is inherently flawed. So few players actually play them well and only because they know all the "trap door" workarounds. The "just aim your bites" joke is always good for a laugh because the representation of skulk bite and the implementation aren't the same and bites are <b>designed</b> to be hard to aim on purpose (rather retardedly). Even worse is the fact that you'll miss bites if you get too close to the marine or aim slightly below parallel with the ground. If your monitor refresh rate and FPS isn't fast, you're going to get blinded even moreso by the bite animation and if you think skulk is only good if you learn to bunnyhop, then you've already proven the design flaw. Press the "walk" key and the skulk will still make noise, decloak, and show up on MT depending on your FPS. Your claws will stick out of ambush points unless you know the skulks real point of view. The whole "skulks should chew on RTs" arguement is also laughable because someone has to defend RTs, stop phase pushes, and stop marine expansion in general - which means that early game skulks have to be able to kill marine cappers, defend RTs, defend at least 2 hive positions from capture and spawn camping, and chew on RTs all at the same time. Once marines make an initial push, ambushing is not an option - unless you want to watch your RTs and territories get claimed by marines while you sit in a corner counting your change. Alien attack and movement should be almost as second nature as the point and click marine, but instead you've been given a crappy non-intuitive obscuring animation, an incorrect viewpoint, and a "just learn to bunnyhop" locomotion which requires a combination or unatural jump repititions that can't be done on BS 1 servers without a mousewheel or macros (the prefered choice these days) and a system so overpowered that it can compensate for the poor inconsistant FPS's generated by ns+half-life's engine (something a geforce6800 and an 2Gz AMD 64 can't do) and a config where strafe, duck, and jump are easily accesable and pressable all at the same time so you can get 180% normal speed because it's obvious that normal skulks suck without an unnatural speed boost.
<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skulk.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::skulk::" border="0" alt="skulk.gif" /> <design blunders 101>
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Except this, my message to this thread: @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ please die
This is why it gets so dam hard to discuss issues. One party thinks if everyone reaches a certain level of physical skill, all will be fine, while the other wants to alter the game itself for everybody.
I'm up for change; that's how we got to 3.2 in the first place.
But I don't really play NS anymore. I've given up the "just isn't good enough" race. I play card games. Everyone is "good enough" to shuffle and lay cards.
why is that? do i suck? probably not after all these years.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
hey, hellabean has been playing NS forever and he's probably better than you are.
I'd like to point out, by the way, that the Skulk actually dishes out damage faster than any other alien unit available short of an Onos. It only seems weak because of its low hp, but <b>all</b> aliens have low enough HP that they live primarily by avoiding enemy fire rather than absorbing it. Once you get in close enough, skulk bites are more deadly than lerks OR fades, which cost a ton more. The trick is just living long enough to do it.
if you want to magnify skulks problems, then go to a large server that is on a combat map and tell me how you do as a skulk in the last 5 minutes of play. can you achieve the same score as if you were a fade?
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The problem here is large servers and combat not the skulk.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Xenociding retards who think that it's fun to try rushing, or balling up.
I've outscored fades countless times with xenocide.
(Ed)
Quote right person next time, nubje
(/Ed)
Xenociding retards who think that it's fun to try rushing, or balling up.
I've outscored fades countless times with xenocide.
(Ed)
Quote right person next time, nubje
(/Ed)
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I would like very much to see a demo of that.
Outscoring fades isn't hard, you just need the requisite skill to do it.
Ok, so the KTD isn't fantastic through Xenocide, but you outscore a fade by a long shot.
Outscoring fades isn't hard, you just need the requisite skill to do it.
Ok, so the KTD isn't fantastic through Xenocide, but you outscore a fade by a long shot.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
so theres a fade out there that gets less frags than a xenociding skulk. i do believe you, but may i just ask how this is relevant to the discussion
What are you complaining about? That you can run into me ten times and die halfway there, or that you can't kill Mr Hello-Im-As-Bad-As-semipsychotic? It makes a difference see, since I think you could play very well vs the latter without any weird tricks or tactics you don't already know.
Oh right right, the point. The point is that you are aruing that skulks are not fun or balanced on public servers with very mixed levels of skills. You feel frustrated when you rush and die to players who are better than you over and over and over. That is understandable, but I fail to see how that is the problem of a certain part of the game. Rather, if you still like playing the game after three and a half years without having gotten good enough to overcome this problem, find yourself a community that fits you. Somewhere where you can play on an even playingfield and feel you do some good as a skulk. That's what I did.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This debate is not about me. I draw from older experiences to build my position, and I've made it clear that I no longer make the mistakes I talk about: let that be submitted so we may speak of other things.
Currently, there is no fun role for that skulk when the clock reads five or ten: ambushing is impossible, supporting is overly difficult and often futile, and chewing on RTs just isn't fun unless you know it's only a little further for victory. This isn't a matter of balance or equality at all: all it takes to give the game some life is a mere shadow of a chance. Two vanilla skulks surprising a pair of armor-3, weapon-3 lights in a hallway shouldn't claim any kills on a regular basis, but if they get within range, they'll be playing a more exciting game with their tangible, however tiny, chance for victory.
Once a player has gotten good enough in Counter-strike, he can hold a pistol and feel that, with the right timing, teamwork, and marksmanship, he can do the team some good by possibly nailing a rifle-toting enemy. In reality, the odds are way against him, he knows that, and his deaths will reflect that, but the hope for victory keeps him hooked if he's already on a good server. And heck, he might make enough good shots to contribute to a team victory.
Better contrast: it's fun to be a frontiersman. When the odds in their favor dwindle, they keep shooting at those fades, hoping that this salvo will be the last. There is that chance, but good fades escape much more often than they die. Marines still have a line of work in and out of combat, and it's fun until the numbers of Oni and fades grow hopelessly beyond their control.
That's what I'm hoping for in the skulk: the <i>perception</i> of a chance, no matter how small, that they can claim victory in a battle. Being shot at range doesn't offer that feeling, and that's what happens: they're shot while peering from vents, leaping from corners, and following the fade and Oni into battle ("Hey, look, the easy kill!"). If they could just get close and get a few bites off before being shot (no guarantees for hallway chargers, I'm still thinking of skulks played with the right idea in mind and decent execution), it would make a difference for the game. A change to accomplish this would need to apply to properly played skulks and <i>not</i> apply to hallway chargers, so I believe a change in motion tracking would best accomplish this.
This is no crucial, "plague of locusts o'er the land" issue that will destroy our crops and families if we do not appease God, and it probably doesn't deserve as much time as we've given it, but it is a suggestion with the intent to improve the game.
That's what I'm hoping for in the skulk: the <i>perception</i> of a chance, no matter how small, that they can claim victory in a battle. Being shot at range doesn't offer that feeling, and that's what happens: they're shot while peering from vents, leaping from corners, and following the fade and Oni into battle ("Hey, look, the easy kill!"). If they could just get close and get a few bites off before being shot (no guarantees for hallway chargers, I'm still thinking of skulks played with the right idea in mind and decent execution), it would make a difference for the game. A change to accomplish this would need to apply to properly played skulks and <i>not</i> apply to hallway chargers, so I believe a change in motion tracking would best accomplish this.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I see your point. However in my view that chance already exist, and isn't exactly overly small. You ask for something that is already there. And once again just as in Counter-Strike you need to have reached a certain level of proficiency before that makes itself seen.
The only gripe with NS I have is that it appears to be a game catering to public play when in fact alot of things appear very broken until you start playing in organised six versus six matches (after which other things you accepted before start looking broken). I think this is what's causing the opinions and observations of the game to differ so greatly.
I guess I should touch on the subject of Motion Tracking as well. Motion Tracking as it is is mostly used as an upgrade to solidify an already strong marine position. It's a "lock down" upgrade so to speak. In 3.1 you usually got it after a hive was down and you had recapped your resource towers and started putting pressure on theirs again. This made sure aliens couldn't pull any unexpected base rushes or the like to turn the game around. In my opinion you might as well just do away with the upgrade completely. It IS frustrating to play against since it's not an upgrade aimed at finishing a game directly, just shutting down any chance of losing it, and the style of play it caters to is one that draws out the end game far too long for anyone's liking.
X Res scale based on players (Nope, after 1.04 Flayra said this isn't going to come back)
X Marine upgrade costs scale on players (Nope, not a chance)
X ...
X ...
Simply put, anything that would scale on the player number is nothing that will be considered, with that put it isn't hard to draw the conclusion that the game will never be balanced except for 6v6 which by far isn't the optimal number of slots for a server open for pub.
It's fun playing Clanwars Pugs etc, but those things will never attract a large scale of players.
I call it "Kill the Hive JPer". In pubs we've all been there. A JPer with his favored weapon is buzzing around your hive.
Onos can't reach him, your fades are to crap to make a difference, you've got hardly any lerks doing there job and most are skulk.
Now leap is a blessing, but parasite is even better. A JPer damaged by the few skulk and fade which hit it might just die by parasite.
Wouldn't be the first JPer I parasited out the sky, and I doubt its the last.
Sure.. this hardly happens, but I tell you in the rare event it does happen I feel very usefull as a skulk.
Simply put, anything that would scale on the player number is nothing that will be considered
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This isn't true. There are already aspects of NS scaled for player number. The alien respawn rate increases with large player numbers.
This isn't true. There are already aspects of NS scaled for player number. The alien respawn rate increases with large player numbers.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That is indeed true and I forgot that one.
You're right. That level of proficiency for aliens does exist, and I haven't reached it yet: a crafty skulk can still get close to a marine and have that battle, even if he isn't great at the point-click-bite game. Thanks; you've given me reason to give the skulk some more time.
Game balance for sized teams is another interesting topic, and it goes along with the clans and pubs debate. What is also important is the difference between a good pub and a bad pub, which is the difference between casual voice communications (which can be partially substituted with frantic typing) and no communication at all: that can also cause big differences in thought, especially in pub players who become server regulars and forget how other places feel (I'm guilty of that).