Passive cloak detection from the observatory.
thefonz
Join Date: 2011-06-22 Member: 105847Members
Join Date: 2011-06-22 Member: 105847Members
So if i am not mistaken, the obs should have (or is going to get) a passive alien detection ability.
i think that as a passive ability it should detect cloaks but NOT break the aliens cloak. rather highlight the alien on marine huds as a silhouette. this makes sneaking into marine areas a bit more dangerous. the alien player may think he is safe because he is still cloaked, but what he doesn't know is that the marines have passively detected him.
the big downside is that alien players may feel they are up against hackers who can see them regardless of cloak. perhaps a better alternative exists. if it is implemented that cloaked aliens are normally 90-95% transparent then the obs's passive detection should simply force the alien to become more visible the closer it is to the obs. up to say 0% transparency within 3 meters of the obs. the alien player should then also see his cloak becoming less effective the closer he gets to the obs. that seems fair.
the normal, active scan from the commander however should still break cloaks.
actions deserve reactions ----> active scans break cloaks
passive abilities get passive results ----> passive detection only marginally helps marines find aliens near the edge of the obs detection range.
noticed this from another <a href='index.php?showtopic=0'>THREAD</a>
China suggests a pinging noise to play when near a cloaked alien the obs has detected. this solution allows the alien to maintain full invisibility while also giving marines a heads up that there is a threat near by.
i think that as a passive ability it should detect cloaks but NOT break the aliens cloak. rather highlight the alien on marine huds as a silhouette. this makes sneaking into marine areas a bit more dangerous. the alien player may think he is safe because he is still cloaked, but what he doesn't know is that the marines have passively detected him.
the big downside is that alien players may feel they are up against hackers who can see them regardless of cloak. perhaps a better alternative exists. if it is implemented that cloaked aliens are normally 90-95% transparent then the obs's passive detection should simply force the alien to become more visible the closer it is to the obs. up to say 0% transparency within 3 meters of the obs. the alien player should then also see his cloak becoming less effective the closer he gets to the obs. that seems fair.
the normal, active scan from the commander however should still break cloaks.
actions deserve reactions ----> active scans break cloaks
passive abilities get passive results ----> passive detection only marginally helps marines find aliens near the edge of the obs detection range.
noticed this from another <a href='index.php?showtopic=0'>THREAD</a>
China suggests a pinging noise to play when near a cloaked alien the obs has detected. this solution allows the alien to maintain full invisibility while also giving marines a heads up that there is a threat near by.
Comments
And I'm also pretty sure that it is fixed for the patch.
I thought part of the observatory's function was to detect aliens, particularly the one you can't see.
It should be possible to balance the game w/o a passive cloak detection, well at the very least one that doesn't cause alien to lose their cloak.
At the bottom of my post I reference a suggestion made by China in your thread. His/Her(?) suggestion would work very well in balancing the cloak vs. obs detection w/o making aliens lose their cloak.
imo, without some form of passive detection to at least alert the marines that an enemy (type unknown, cloaked) is nearby the game will suffer. As the shade is currently, a wise alien team will spam multiple shades and constantly be cloaking them (conveniently the shades cloak lasts almost as long as the shade needs to gain another 25 energy). Without passive detection for defensive purposes the only effective counter becomes observatory spam and CONSTANT scans (the scan duration is very short, multiple obs needed because the commander will quickly run out of energy). Otherwise you base is wide open. Wasting scans on you base seems stupid, those scans should be used to support your marines when you are on the offensive.
The more I think about it, the more China's suggestion makes sense. It doesn't take away too much from the advantage of being invisible. If the Obs pinged any time an alien (invisible or not) was in its radius, then balance is maintained.
example
You are a marine, you hear the obs ping.
Is it a lerk around the corner? A fade blinking nearby? Or is it an invisible skulk about to bite your crotch off?
Naturally, when away for the obs, the game plays quit normally. All of those things can happen without warning. At least near your base (or forward obs) you have a warning.
It's your base. If there is one place you should have a warning system, its there.
I agree, your suggestion is a good one, and it should do exactly what you want it to. but I like to be careful before I suggest a feature gets nerfed. Though the shade clearly needs some type of nerf.
I'm trying to find a way to give aliens the advantage they should have when away from an obs, and the marines a heads up when they are dealing with aliens near their bases. I really like China's suggestion, a little beep and a blinky light. Useful only to marines who pay attention. The flip side of China's suggestion is that anytime a comm sees one of their observatories blinking a quick scan will ruin a cloaked (or just plain hiding) aliens advantage.
I feel that this is one of those things that's just gonna have to tried, evaluated and tried again until we get it right.
As per your original idea. I'd see if schimmel is up to prototyping anything new. this is a complete guess (i've never looked at any code for the game) but i think it should be possible to test at least something close to you idea by editing a few variables. eg. cloak_duration = 20, 30 ,w/e....
Oh and schimmel if you see this.. ever have a chance to try implementing my old ARC Health suggestion? Was thinking about it recently.