So, what CAN you do in the alpha right now?

Dickbeard the PirateDickbeard the Pirate Join Date: 2010-07-27 Member: 73082Awaiting Authorization
Seeing as we can't connect to servers, I tried messing around in a LAN game to check out the game content. I played as a marine, had a look in the commander thing which it seems I should probably read the manual for first (only there isn't one) and also joined the alien team and jumped around as one of the little aliens and played with the buggy wall crawling mechanism.

What else is there? Are there more types of aliens / more guns you can get as a marine?

Comments

  • PhiXXPhiXX Join Date: 2008-10-22 Member: 65274Members
    press b to evolve to gorge or lerk as alien. I think you can get shotgun and grenadelauncher by cheatcodes. Remember it's only alpha and imho the important part is fixing the obvious bugs right now. Better have a smooth(er) game before you put in a lot of content...
  • ColJonesColJones Join Date: 2010-07-22 Member: 72673Members
    This is probably a stupid question because I doubt they've had time to code this yet but... is there any form of AI to use while playing a LAN game? I ask because I've been having trouble joining servers.
  • DeWdDeWd Join Date: 2006-11-01 Member: 58140Members
    edited July 2010
    did u try out the alien commander mode? walk up to the hive near the tentacles and press use key... only thing u can do is order units you build to drop rts and build them... pretty cool stuff... besides that so far in the alpha they have skulk with bite and leap... gorge with hydra build/heal spray/spit/belly flop... lerks with spikes/spores... flight is really bugged tho.. there are no upgrades for aliens yet but the menu to choose them is already setup in both command mode and evolve menu.. oh and they implemented a feature they talked about in one of their video casts about having aliens spawn from pre placed eggs near the hive.. marines can kill these eggs before they spawn a new skulk but there are these things called glowies that spawn new eggs in random places if u kill enough of the eggs... i find that a really great idea and I am glad they were able to make that into the game

    on the marine side you have the cc which builds these robots that create structures for u.. no more marines holding e to build stuff.. really bugged tho i was only able to build one structure per robot and they don't go away they just sit there unable to weld or anything and u cant recycle them so they lag the server up after building a lot of them... u also have ips with a few upgrades that are coming soon (transponder?)... armory has advanced armory upgrade which unlocks shotgun and grenade launcher upgrades.. on a side note the commander doesn't drop the weapons anymore the marines use the armory to open up a buy menu and u select your load-out... Im assuming it uses the new team resource called plasma... while building stuff comes from metal resource... both coming from rts... the armory also has the weapon/armor upgrades included in it (previously found in arms labs) and a few coming soon items as well... ummm i think that's everything that Ive learned so far.. oh and there's ammo and med packs in the game already and the armory shows a flamethrower upgrade but its not unlockable yet...

    overall the game is largely unplayable in its current form but is a real testament to how close the devs are to making a really awesome game... they do have a lot of bug fixing ahead of them tho... aloooooot of bug fixing... one cuz the hitboxes are a complete mess and Ive only been able to kill aliens with the grenade launcher and the switch-axe... the grenade launcher is also completely bugged if u get killed while launching a grenade.. it goes into an infinite explosion animation and nobody else s grenades go off cuz of it... the hydra (ocs) and hive have correct hitboxes tho..

    Performance wise it is looking pretty good for a alpha build i mean i do have a pretty high end computer but i was running a server with 12 ppl connected and i noticed no real lag other than when there was a lot going on in my fov...
  • spellman23spellman23 NS1 Theorycraft Expert Join Date: 2007-05-17 Member: 60920Members
    Nice stuffs, DeWd.

    I've actually found a few bugs and have reported them already. Including managing to get the builder bots to leave the level.

    However, I'm pretty impressed with their pathfinding so far. I've given waypoints to weird spots and they respond beautifully.
  • BloodhouseBloodhouse Join Date: 2010-07-14 Member: 72369Members
  • CordycepCordycep Join Date: 2008-04-27 Member: 64171Members
    Yeah, I tried the commander mode. I sent the robot to cap a res point, canceled the order by accident before it could reach the point, re-issued the order and the bot just sat there. :( Completely useless after that. A bit like a council worker if you ask me.
  • DeWdDeWd Join Date: 2006-11-01 Member: 58140Members
    lol yea they seriously need to work on that but i like the concept of having the bots do the commanders bidding while marines guard... should make a lot of pugs a bit easier to play
  • PsympleJesterPsympleJester Join Date: 2008-04-06 Member: 64024Members
    Currently...

    Your best option is to get a group of your friends..>
    Download Hamachi and run a VNP P2P server with your friends.

    As marines you can build:
    Res nodes, Comand Chair, armoury, Inf Portal.
    Can upgrade all weapons and armour to level 3.
    You can research shotguns and grenade launchers.

    Aliens can build Hydra, Harvisters and Hives.
    And can evolve to gorge and lerk.
  • GeneralBowserGeneralBowser Join Date: 2010-05-19 Member: 71801Members
    I like the commander modes, they seem more intuitive then ns1. I don't like the skulk tbh, the visibility is even lower then ns1 once you're biting :(
    I like the gorge, how his 2nd weapon is hydras..one hydra is quite weak but once you got a bunch of em... :)
  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    The grenade launcher seems somewhat too powerful, with that one shot kill vs hydra's though...
  • olisisolisis Join Date: 2003-02-01 Member: 12944Members
    What can I do?

    I can get in the ready room!! But joining a team crashes my game, sad face
  • Silver_FoxSilver_Fox Spammer Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 34Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    You can load up the alpha - it starts.

    Some times, you can join internet games.

    There are actually start and end triggers for matches and they actually work.

    There are weapons and they actually hurt the opposing team.

    3 of 5 alien life forms are in the game already.

    You can fly as a lerk.

    You can build things as a gorge.

    Both commander features are actually functional.

    You can almost kind of 'play' the game in this state already.

    This alpha release is a huge success.

    Anyone intending to load the game up and have hours long sessions and 'get their game on' and 'play matches' are seriously misunderstanding what this is supposed to be.
  • QuovatisQuovatis Team Inversion Join Date: 2010-01-26 Member: 70321Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    You can upgrade 2 hives to "hive mass". Whatever that does. Like the marines, I guess it enables some upgrade paths.
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