Differentiating alien comm from marine comm
Wheeee
Join Date: 2003-02-18 Member: 13713Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2003-02-18 Member: 13713Members, Reinforced - Shadow
<div class="IPBDescription">just spouting/rehashing random ideas</div>A recurring talking point I've seen about the alien commander is that it should be removed because it makes for too much symmetry between the Kharaa and Marine play experience. It seems that most of the detractors believe that the alien comm position should be removed entirely.
I believe, however, that the alien comm role can be made sufficiently different from the marine comm as to allow a commander-type role to be filled in a manner that feels and behaves much differently than the marine comm.
<b>gameplay role:</b> I firmly believe that the gorge should still be the main engineer unit on the Kharaa side. That is not to say that the alien comm should not take on any building or support roles. I think having the comm select what type of chambers to drop fits well with the concept that the commander should be making the strategic choices and the individual aliens implementing it. However I believe gorges should be the ones dropping res extractors. the building drones are something that I believe we should do away with; instead how about making them like mobile resource packages that can be picked up by aliens?
<b>fog of war:</b> It's been suggested many many times, and I think the alien comm is the perfect role to be limited by FoW.
If tied to the spread of dynamic infestation, there would be an additional, passive bonus to the alien team in that it would increase the range of vision for the alien comm, as well as introduce some gameplay depth in how marines can counteract the alien comm, as well as an incentive for the Kharaa to take and hold key routes or map locations. It makes sense in terms of game universe/backstory as well.
<b>modus operandi:</b> I think, instead of being in a top-down overhead "command" view the entire time, the alien comm experience should be enhanced further by allowing the alien comm to get a "first kharaa view"- or rather a 3rd person vantage of any structures or players within range of the dynamic infestation - much like being in spectator mode. Rather than placing structures via overhead view we normally associate with commanding, the alien commander would place structures in this 3rd person vantage, with the overhead view relegated to allowing the comm to select where to manifest its consciousness and as a means of keeping tabs on what's going on elsewhere.
<b>vulnerability:</b> One of the things about your classic RTS commander role is that you are safe as long as your command building isn't under attack. I believe if the aforementioned gameplay changes were implemented, this would add another element of differentiation between alien and marine comm: since every kharaa building could possibly become the 'command chair', the alien comm becomes much more exposed to danger, especially psychologically. While perhaps the alien comm wouldn't die if the chamber cluster he was viewing suddenly got sieged/grenaded, some other malus might be applied to the alien comm after being subjected to such trauma.
<b>revamped HUD:</b> Obviously the alien comm mode HUD will feature much different layout/sprites/etc. However there are other things that can be done to increase the disparity. good HUD design will be one of the key ways to differentiate the feel. Of course this won't be a priority until later.
I believe, however, that the alien comm role can be made sufficiently different from the marine comm as to allow a commander-type role to be filled in a manner that feels and behaves much differently than the marine comm.
<b>gameplay role:</b> I firmly believe that the gorge should still be the main engineer unit on the Kharaa side. That is not to say that the alien comm should not take on any building or support roles. I think having the comm select what type of chambers to drop fits well with the concept that the commander should be making the strategic choices and the individual aliens implementing it. However I believe gorges should be the ones dropping res extractors. the building drones are something that I believe we should do away with; instead how about making them like mobile resource packages that can be picked up by aliens?
<b>fog of war:</b> It's been suggested many many times, and I think the alien comm is the perfect role to be limited by FoW.
If tied to the spread of dynamic infestation, there would be an additional, passive bonus to the alien team in that it would increase the range of vision for the alien comm, as well as introduce some gameplay depth in how marines can counteract the alien comm, as well as an incentive for the Kharaa to take and hold key routes or map locations. It makes sense in terms of game universe/backstory as well.
<b>modus operandi:</b> I think, instead of being in a top-down overhead "command" view the entire time, the alien comm experience should be enhanced further by allowing the alien comm to get a "first kharaa view"- or rather a 3rd person vantage of any structures or players within range of the dynamic infestation - much like being in spectator mode. Rather than placing structures via overhead view we normally associate with commanding, the alien commander would place structures in this 3rd person vantage, with the overhead view relegated to allowing the comm to select where to manifest its consciousness and as a means of keeping tabs on what's going on elsewhere.
<b>vulnerability:</b> One of the things about your classic RTS commander role is that you are safe as long as your command building isn't under attack. I believe if the aforementioned gameplay changes were implemented, this would add another element of differentiation between alien and marine comm: since every kharaa building could possibly become the 'command chair', the alien comm becomes much more exposed to danger, especially psychologically. While perhaps the alien comm wouldn't die if the chamber cluster he was viewing suddenly got sieged/grenaded, some other malus might be applied to the alien comm after being subjected to such trauma.
<b>revamped HUD:</b> Obviously the alien comm mode HUD will feature much different layout/sprites/etc. However there are other things that can be done to increase the disparity. good HUD design will be one of the key ways to differentiate the feel. Of course this won't be a priority until later.
Comments
I believe, however, that the alien comm role can be made sufficiently different from the marine comm as to allow a commander-type role to be filled in a manner that feels and behaves much differently than the marine comm.
<b>gameplay role:</b> I firmly believe that the gorge should still be the main engineer unit on the Kharaa side. That is not to say that the alien comm should not take on any building or support roles. I think having the comm select what type of chambers to drop fits well with the concept that the commander should be making the strategic choices and the individual aliens implementing it. However I believe gorges should be the ones dropping res extractors. the building drones are something that I believe we should do away with; instead how about making them like mobile resource packages that can be picked up by aliens?
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->I can't really agree to that, if the Khaara could build the resource towers themself, while the marines would need to rely on their AI controlled builder bots, the Aliens would have an enormous advantage. Earning resources should be the same for both sides, either by builder drones, or by the players themself. I believe the drones are better, because it's the job of the commander to do such things imo.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<b>fog of war:</b> It's been suggested many many times, and I think the alien comm is the perfect role to be limited by FoW.
If tied to the spread of dynamic infestation, there would be an additional, passive bonus to the alien team in that it would increase the range of vision for the alien comm, as well as introduce some gameplay depth in how marines can counteract the alien comm, as well as an incentive for the Kharaa to take and hold key routes or map locations. It makes sense in terms of game universe/backstory as well.
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->I like the idea of combining it with the dynamic infestation. But isn't there some kind of fog already in place? I mean, you can't see things out of your units/buildings vision anyway already.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<b>modus operandi:</b> I think, instead of being in a top-down overhead "command" view the entire time, the alien comm experience should be enhanced further by allowing the alien comm to get a "first kharaa view"- or rather a 3rd person vantage of any structures or players within range of the dynamic infestation - much like being in spectator mode. Rather than placing structures via overhead view we normally associate with commanding, the alien commander would place structures in this 3rd person vantage, with the overhead view relegated to allowing the comm to select where to manifest its consciousness and as a means of keeping tabs on what's going on elsewhere.
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->I would already be satisfied to zoom in and out.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<b>vulnerability:</b> One of the things about your classic RTS commander role is that you are safe as long as your command building isn't under attack. I believe if the aforementioned gameplay changes were implemented, this would add another element of differentiation between alien and marine comm: since every kharaa building could possibly become the 'command chair', the alien comm becomes much more exposed to danger, especially psychologically. While perhaps the alien comm wouldn't die if the chamber cluster he was viewing suddenly got sieged/grenaded, some other malus might be applied to the alien comm after being subjected to such trauma.
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->It's a nice idea, but teh way the Alien Commander is right now, he just has a temporary job. So it's very likely, that there won't be anyone inside the Hive when it gets attacked. And if it gets attacked he would just jump out and defend it, because unlke his marine counterpart he does his team no damage when he doesn't sit in the hive for a short amount of time.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<b>revamped HUD:</b> Obviously the alien comm mode HUD will feature much different layout/sprites/etc. However there are other things that can be done to increase the disparity. However, a good HUD design will be one of the key ways to differentiate the feel. Of course this won't be a priority until later.
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->Agreed.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Added my ideas in red.
That could be counterbalanced by changing the alien res model a bit with starting resources, gorge costs, etc. In the case of gorge-only RT dropping, alien start resources could be lowered, gorge evo cost raised, or RT costs raised to counteract the effect of faster alien RT capping. in the case of shared dropping of RT's between alien comm and gorge, RT drop costs for gorges could be increased. A lot of the balancing will revolve around mapping efforts as well. I don't think it would be nearly as one sided as you claim.