Powerpacks returning in 204
peregrinus
Join Date: 2010-07-16 Member: 72445Members
Join Date: 2010-07-16 Member: 72445Members
Comments
They are coming back with limited functionality, so they will only power a single structure. This will remove the biggest issue of the old Powerpack in that it doesn't negate the point of attacking rooms power nodes as it will not be affordable to have a power pack for every structure. It should also bring back some more interesting sneaky phase gate plays.
Exactly :)
That are the latest thought abou PP from flayra.
Yes but often a power node is surrounded by infestation, meaning if perhaps a jetpack marine has gotten to the location undetected, they will be found out by building the power.
However if they do find a good use for the power system I'm all up for it, but at the moment its only hurting the game. It gives little value for the damage it does to the game play.
The problem is not only ninja phase gates, it wastes players time and limits marine placements. Also makes the game harder to balance.
You can already see this in competitive play, marines build the power nodes but aliens never bite them down. The only place the power is ever taken down is marine start.
I do hope they can find a good place for it in the future.
However if they do find a good use for the power system I'm all up for it, but at the moment its only hurting the game. It gives little value for the damage it does to the game play.
The problem is not only ninja phase gates, it wastes players time and limits marine placements. Also makes the game harder to balance.
You can already see this in competitive play, marines build the power nodes but aliens never bite them down. The only place the power is ever taken down is marine start.
I do hope they can find a good place for it in the future.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Quite a few places on various maps also seem to be "bugged" in that even though you have all of the nearby power nodes build, you can't built any structures in the area regardless. the one place that comes to mind for me is the area in the east outside of elevator transfer on Tram
Agree. Personally I think infestation hive sight should be something that needs to be upgraded to work, It is too big of an advantage.
How does a power pack help a ninja phase when the only places you would want a ninja phase to are covered in cysts with the latest in GPS technology.
But I kinda like the power system anyway. When I as a marine see the red lightes i can "feel" that im not welcome in this room. Same as when I play aliens, when I see the red light I feel "safe". And with the creep spread it just feels awesome/terrifying depending on which team im on when I enter a room. I cant be sure, but my guess is that is the feeling devs want us to have. In NS1 all rooms just felt boring, in this game I really enjoy the dynamics depeding on who "owns" the room.
Instead of the current system, power should control lights. The aliens want the room to be dark due to the alien vision, and marines wants the opposite. Why not just let the power system control the light? And make the rooms darker when the light is out? And make the nodes easier to take down. Perhaps even make power similiar to creep vision aswell: if an alien enter a powered room, make them show up as blips. This will make the power system extremly important, but wont hurt gameplay as much.
How about making upgrades for powernodes at some cost, tho only one can be active - if destroyed the upgrade goes away.
Also i wouldnt power down the room until the powernode is rebuilt but only for a set amount of time.
To keep the sentry spam counter one of those upgrades might be a sentry targeting system, without it sentrys might shoot way slower or take very long to lock in on a target.
Other upgrades could be area specific motion tracking, or some counter to infestation => so infestation patches dont grow very big or whatever.
Lots of possibilitys, tho again only 1 upgrade can be active per powernode, but you can switch the upgrade if you need for the res cost of the ability.
- Sensation of 'owning' a room
- Creates light/dark gameplay
- extra option for aliens
- looks cool on paper
Powergrid NO
- marines and aliens end up 'owning' rooms they don't even occupy
- infestation is much better at this anyway
- light/dark gameplay sucks
- the extra option is often a false choice
- the extra option can cheaply end the whole game
- marines have to defend the powernode - promotes caution and turtling
- building/repairing power is boring
- biting power is even more boring
- biting/building power comes before or after biting/building resource towers anyway
- the powergrid system forces the same rooms to be used every game
- power makes covert pgs and covert strategies in general even harder
- emphasis is taken away from rooms strategic importance eg. proximity, geometry
- I don't like it
- we've spent thousands of man hours trying to fix it
- there's no silver bullet answer so bring on more features!
Take this post with a pinch of salt. I clearly don't have much time for the powergrid system :P
I really like the mechanic, I just wish there was a way to make it better on gameplay, while still keeping the upsides. I think it more or less evens out aliens having to place cysts that can get cut off. I'm sure we can all figure something out if we really dig deep :P
The feeling of a room being 'owned' is fine. It's not overly important in the grand scheme of things but still a noble enough goal - I largely bracket it under 'immersion'. We already have something that does this extremely well, though. Infestation is the perfect tool for making things feel alien and, let's face it, everything else usually feels pretty human/marine without it anyway. Infestation is perfect because it ominously 'spreads', it's a great aesthetic cue, it's a consequence of real choices made by aliens, it's one of the real signs that an alien commander even exists, it is genuinely useful for aliens and, lastly, it is attached to advantages and disadvantages that alter gameplay. We're trying to get power to do something that is already done very well by something else.
Turning on the lights does create a level of gameplay that doesn't always exist in other games. While I personally don't like being in the dark 30% of the time and I know for a fact that light maps are statistically favoured in other games, I can work with the concept in principle. What I would argue though is that, ignoring my personal gripe against darkness, there other ways of achieving this mechanic. Mappers are the first port of call in this regard and can choose to make rooms with whatever lighting they wish. What this lacks is the dynamism of the current system though where a room can change fro light to dark. To be quite honest, I think commanders should just be able to drop massive lamps that light a room. It's a really simple idea without any glaring difficulties. Everyone gets their light/dark fix.
So of the three goals (strategy, immersion, light/dark gameplay); one has failed, the other is already done and the last is achievable through an incredibly simple feature which is easy to implement and balance. I'm therefore suggesting something which I guess is quite radical. I want the whole powergrid system to be replaced by... portable lights.
So basically after Marines run over a load of infestation, set up a powerpack and then a phasegate... they can ninja a hive?
Have I got this right?
Why not just have a 'battery' upgrade that can be added to buildings, so when the power goes it powers them for a limited time?
Comm could click drop it on any building he chooses, and aliens could bite it off.
I just think it is hard enough to sneak through the level as marines at the moment, and now you have to build 2 structures before you can 'ninja'...
I just think it is hard enough to sneak through the level as marines at the moment, and now you have to build 2 structures before you can 'ninja'...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Big +1 actually. Battery upgrade, even a temporary one like nanoshield would be a much cleaner addition. Marine comm can click any building and select 'enable emergency battery power' or something like that. Then for x minutes that structure would be powered independently. Buys marines some time to ninja in and set up the power in force, without the nuisance for aliens and marines to build/destroy 2 structures.
Would also make for some epic moments where power gets cut but marine comm puts down emegency power on infantry portals.
Really hope devs take note of this thread
That looks like the solution!
If you want dark maps thats fine, but it shouldnt be a core thing for ns2... it doesnt work well for a pure competitive multiplayer fps.
You cant have everything in one game, ppl that want more immersion should wait for a singleplayer or coop alien game instead. ( aliens colonial marines - fall)
Still the powerpack should have mechanic that it DOESNT show up when it gets builded. Just when you drop the PG it should show and leave just enough time to react if spotted in time.
Or other thing would be an upgrade trough obs that could cloak an area (little radius and little time) (when your building PG and powerpack) somehow, either cloak them completely when theyr <u>OUT OF COMBAT</u>.
Otherwise powerpack is useless, it could just to be bought to phases if nodes get picked off, but still i do not think you would have the res to invest on them anyway....