<!--quoteo(post=1968205:date=Aug 29 2012, 08:40 AM:name=Raneman)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Raneman @ Aug 29 2012, 08:40 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1968205"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I don't see the changelog? Where is it?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo(post=1968155:date=Aug 29 2012, 06:37 AM:name=kabab)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (kabab @ Aug 29 2012, 06:37 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1968155"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Evolving to Gorge in vent = stuck...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This has been a problem for a long time and still is, but now you can also get stuck when evolving upgrades as a skulk. :(
<!--quoteo(post=1968189:date=Aug 29 2012, 07:47 AM:name=Twiggeh)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Twiggeh @ Aug 29 2012, 07:47 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1968189"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->So.. Hydras now cost pres, and im fine with that.
But can you PLEASE change the cap? Having 3 hydras really doesnt do anything at all. couldnt it atleast be 5?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
3 would be OK, if they weren't worthless. If their going to cost cost they need to be worthy of their res or else I'm never going to use them because they are a waste of res right now.
<!--quoteo(post=1967913:date=Aug 29 2012, 03:20 AM:name=fanatic)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (fanatic @ Aug 29 2012, 03:20 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1967913"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Desperately need some way to turn the "dynamic" music off. That is annoying the hell out of me.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Next patch replacing with dubstep and to an always on state.
I'll post this here instead of a new topic, hopefully one of the devs sees it.
I'm not playing on the greatest rig right now, but the previous build was at least playable for me. I could play for hours and the game didn't crash, though fps was poor. In 217 though, the game has started to massively freeze and/or crash every few minutes. I thought it was related to the Exo, since the first two times it happened was when I started firing the minigun, but have since seen it happen regularly no matter what I'm doing.
When the freeze happens, the entire screen image suddenly freezes for ~10 seconds, and then goes black and flashes as if the program is crashing to desktop. Then one of two things happens: either the game pops back up and resumes working (and my ping number spikes to 999), or the game crashes to desktop and the bug reporter pops up. One time when it crashed I saw a notification that my display driver stopped responding. Like I said, I never experienced this in the previous build.
I'm running a stock i5 3570k on crossfired ati 5670s, game running off an SSD. I run it on pretty low settings.
Some more thoughts on things brought up by others:
Power nodes: I have mixed feelings. They don't really add much game play wise. Just one more structure to build/destroy. The only exception being PN rushes to take down the base. But those really only mimic command station rushes. So power nodes are not really needed. On the other hand they are incredibly atmospheric. This "they cut the power" homage to 'Aliens' is just too damn awesome.
ARCs: I still don't like them. They still look goofy driving around. Currently no one really uses them. And in earlier builds they were either spammed or being useless. I think they are conceptually flawed. I know what the idea behind them is, but it just doesn't seem to work out that way. Old school NS1 siege turrets worked much better.
I love the new mini map and the structure outlines. Some people are having problems with the regular map. I don't share that feeling though.
Oh and to some other forum users: If a particular change looks like a big goof-up, it probably is. Intermediate patches are bound to occasionally break something unintentionally. So stuff like health indicators disappearing from the commander view are obviously not design decisions and will be fixed without anyone having to cry about it on the forums.
Game crashes for me, last time it happened as comm after only a few minutes.
Last patch the game was barely playable but atleast didn't crash, this patch I haven't seen any real improvements in performance, sadly I can't play any longer because of the crashing.
I really get the idea people on this forum live in another universe because my experience is completely different from what the majority here has to say.
<!--quoteo(post=1968246:date=Aug 29 2012, 02:51 PM:name=NurEinMensch)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (NurEinMensch @ Aug 29 2012, 02:51 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1968246"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Some more thoughts on things brought up by others:
Power nodes: I have mixed feelings. They don't really add much game play wise. Just one more structure to build/destroy. The only exception being PN rushes to take down the base. But those really only mimic command station rushes. So power nodes are not really needed. On the other hand they are incredibly atmospheric. This "they cut the power" homage to 'Aliens' is just too damn awesome.
ARCs: I still don't like them. They still look goofy driving around. Currently no one really uses them. And in earlier builds they were either spammed or being useless. I think they are conceptually flawed. I know what the idea behind them is, but it just doesn't seem to work out that way. Old school NS1 siege turrets worked much better.
I love the new mini map and the structure outlines. Some people are having problems with the regular map. I don't share that feeling though.
Oh and to some other forum users: If a particular change looks like a big goof-up, it probably is. Intermediate patches are bound to occasionally break something unintentionally. So stuff like health indicators disappearing from the commander view are obviously not design decisions and will be fixed without anyone having to cry about it on the forums.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
About power nodes, the ONLY appeal with them is that they cut the lights. I guess I am confused as to why UWE doesn't have them do just that and that alone since it seems to be the only good thing about them.
If only arc were replaced by sieges, they are too cumbersome and require babysitting and generally not worth spending the resources on something that may or may not even reach their destination. Sieges in NS1 you dropped right where you need them, plus that whole scenario everyone loved in NS1 when you would assault a hive by dropping a phase gate/turret factory/turrets/wait to upgrade to advanced then plan down sieges is completely missing from NS2 because of arcs and power nodes...
I personally find the mini-map to be very confusing with too much information. It takes me a bit to even figure out where I am because everything comes across as a big pile of information I have to sort through.
<!--quoteo(post=1968090:date=Aug 29 2012, 01:45 AM:name=Sewlek)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Sewlek @ Aug 29 2012, 01:45 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1968090"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->i ahve seen this question appear multiple times already: the patch notes are incorrect, commander ping is now on mouse3 (not alt+click, since that would interfere with voice comm.)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> No, it's unfortunately bound to alt-click as well. It's pretty annoying because it does trigger VC every time I ping, plus it accidentally triggers a ping when I'm using VC and clicking on the minimap.
<!--quoteo(post=1968270:date=Aug 29 2012, 07:42 AM:name=[R8]DJBourgeoisie)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE ([R8]DJBourgeoisie @ Aug 29 2012, 07:42 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1968270"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> About power nodes, the ONLY appeal with them is that they cut the lights. I guess I am confused as to why UWE doesn't have them do just that and that alone since it seems to be the only good thing about them.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Strongly disagree -- power nodes are amazing. Being able to shut down armories, turrets, obs, and IPs all at once is often critical to clinching a win for the aliens in a giant turtle-fest. For some reason, half the people on pubs fail to recognize this. Going for nodes at an RT is one of my favorite things to do now as well... it shuts the lights off, shuts down the RT (plus it's faster to kill than an RT), and allows me to ambush the marines that come to investigate in the dark before going after the RT itself.
The Exo really highlights one of the big problems in melee combat. I had a Fade in front of me and he blinked right through me. I had numerous Skulks that seemed to just pass through me. When an Onos stands in front of me, it looks like I'm a bit inside its body. <b>Please work on the player collision!!</b>
Also, I don't like that Exos can't build anything. Seems completely unnecessary to prevent that.
Performance is a bit better, but fps still drop below 30 regularly.
blindJoin Date: 2010-04-17Member: 71437Members, Squad Five Gold
hahahah yeah everyone wants to play exo atm
Ontopic, I love the patch. No criticism yet from me. Only a turn-off option for dynamic music would be useful for competitive matches when you have to focus on your sound alot. On pub games I like it.
<!--quoteo(post=1968244:date=Aug 29 2012, 04:48 PM:name=BVKnight)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BVKnight @ Aug 29 2012, 04:48 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1968244"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I'll post this here instead of a new topic, hopefully one of the devs sees it.
I'm not playing on the greatest rig right now, but the previous build was at least playable for me. I could play for hours and the game didn't crash, though fps was poor. In 217 though, the game has started to massively freeze and/or crash every few minutes. I thought it was related to the Exo, since the first two times it happened was when I started firing the minigun, but have since seen it happen regularly no matter what I'm doing.
When the freeze happens, the entire screen image suddenly freezes for ~10 seconds, and then goes black and flashes as if the program is crashing to desktop. Then one of two things happens: either the game pops back up and resumes working (and my ping number spikes to 999), or the game crashes to desktop and the bug reporter pops up. One time when it crashed I saw a notification that my display driver stopped responding. Like I said, I never experienced this in the previous build.
I'm running a stock i5 3570k on crossfired ati 5670s, game running off an SSD. I run it on pretty low settings.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Afaik crossfire doesn't work for this game. At least I can't get it to work. Share secret if it does work (aka more than 50% GPU power on each). Otherwise you might wanna try just disable it. Might be crash, might not. But regardless if it doesn't give you more than 50% on each all you get is stuttering from it.
Also, low pop game and Beacon + 2 exos dominated a game where they had 3 hives and we 1 cc (we managed to get 1 CC up, ppl pop Exo fast as it was alrdy researched). The exos could guard the Arcs easily from the few Aliens while constant beacon to defend made any attempt for aliens to atk useless. It might have been bad alien play, but on low pop server (14 players or so) the few aliens that dont atk the CC can't takeout the exos. So beacon is damn good when combined with Exo, if it's good or bad I dunno as it's so new that people haven't really figured out the tactic. That's my 2 cent, that it might be something to keep an eye on.
<!--quoteo(post=1968313:date=Aug 29 2012, 11:49 AM:name=Raza.)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Raza. @ Aug 29 2012, 11:49 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1968313"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The Exo really highlights one of the big problems in melee combat. I had a Fade in front of me and he blinked right through me. I had numerous Skulks that seemed to just pass through me. When an Onos stands in front of me, it looks like I'm a bit inside its body. <b>Please work on the player collision!!</b>
Also, I don't like that Exos can't build anything. Seems completely unnecessary to prevent that.
Performance is a bit better, but fps still drop below 30 regularly.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Actually having Exos unable to build anything is a good downside for using them. Think of it this way, if all marines go Exo they will be unable to build a forward armory/pg/etc or even be able to weld each other. That's a good way to keep the entire marine team from all going Exo's.
I was axing a shade and I was hitting it and then all of a sudden the shade starting recloaking and it wouldn't die. It sounded like I was hitting it still and didn't move, but it never died. Same thing happened when I was at aliens hive trying to kill a crag. I started axing it and it never died. It might have to do w/ the shade because the crag was clocked and de-cloaked when I started hitting it but just like the shade it started to re-cloak and I couldn't kill it.
However the game ended up being exosuit spam, with MAC spam circlejerking and arcspam. Marines with loads of res become extremely powerful, while aliens have what? Onos? Those die in seconds against a marine team. Hell you cannot take on an exosuit alone, despite costing far more.
Only counter is getting the entire alien team to gang up on 1 exo, and they will all die in the process. Or gorge bilebomb, but marines are aware of this enough that any gorge dies immediately. Immediately. I have never seen so much attention towards my gorge the second I appeared in a fight.
<!--quoteo(post=1968327:date=Aug 29 2012, 01:06 PM:name=SanCo)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SanCo @ Aug 29 2012, 01:06 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1968327"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Afaik crossfire doesn't work for this game. At least I can't get it to work. Share secret if it does work (aka more than 50% GPU power on each). Otherwise you might wanna try just disable it. Might be crash, might not. But regardless if it doesn't give you more than 50% on each all you get is stuttering from it.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I believe crossfire was working fine for me last patch, I had played around with it to make sure like you said that both GPUs were pushing the load. And there is a built in Natural Selection 2 crossfire profile in the Catalyst software, I guess someone at AMD likes to play the game! Regardless, that's why I pointed out the difference between last patch and this one: I didn't change anything, but everything started crashing with the new patch.
<!--quoteo(post=1968342:date=Aug 29 2012, 07:33 PM:name=MiniH0wie)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MiniH0wie @ Aug 29 2012, 07:33 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1968342"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Actually having Exos unable to build anything is a good downside for using them. Think of it this way, if all marines go Exo they will be unable to build a forward armory/pg/etc or even be able to weld each other. That's a good way to keep the entire marine team from all going Exo's.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Exos already can't use armories or phase gates and they can't weld each other. So those things are no reasons for why they can't build. Having to stand helpless next to an unbuild RT is so unsatisfying.
I think I've talked about this before, but I always very much enjoyed how versatile the NS1 units were. It was more about understanding the situations and doing the right thing at the right moment rather than doing the one thing you're designed to do. The exo weaknesses seem to go pretty heavily against that kind of gameplay.
I don't know if it's just the way NS2 works on these things, but at least on paper I'd very much prefer softer limitations. For example: what if exos were slightly slower to draw their gun after building up things or what if phasing generated some extra heat to their weapons or even damaged them quite a bit?
Interesting thoughts. I was thinking that perhaps a 1 minigun exo should be permitted to build or hold a welder, but 2 minigun exos lose those capabilities for the extra firepower.
<!--coloro:#aadd00--><span style="color:#aadd00"><!--/coloro-->Edit: ^ Hah, beat me to it somewhat.
I know this is the first public implementation of EXO, but I'm hoping I assume right that being able to actually customize the loadout will be a thing later? If so this also could be something you could do to return at least building back to them With a specialized arm for it if you'd prefer the versatility over the extra firepower. Not a welder mind you, I like that limitation and really don't want to welcome back self-sufficient heavy trains. <!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
With certain equipment allowing building, you're still stuck in a situation where you have designated builders and designated guards in your squad.
I guess what I'm looking for situation where you might sometimes have all squad building, sometimes the heaviest guns covering, sometimes everyone contributing to the firepower, sometimes half of the squad welding up quickly and all that.
That kind of squad dynamics are where the RTS part of the game starts interacting wonderfully; there are timings you want to hit and it's your job to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible while still having the firepower you need to defend yourself. Everything becomes a lot more situational, adjustable and there's massive amounts of finesse and detail whenever your squad is capable of adjusting their roles in a versatile way.
<!--quoteo(post=1967901:date=Aug 29 2012, 03:03 AM:name=Khyron)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Khyron @ Aug 29 2012, 03:03 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1967901"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Congratulations on the milestone!
<ul><li>Automatic medpack/ammo requests bombards/overwhelms the commander. The requests can come from marines standing beside an armoury or even completely surrounded by aliens (about to die, no matter what). It just puts more burden on the commander who already has the most intense jobs in the game.</li><li>Removing marine health/armour info from the commander's view. Was this intentional (a balance change)? It also makes the Cmdr's job harder.</li><li>Map alerts. I found myself triggering a lot of alerts by mistake while trying to use the voice chat. Can we go back to shift+click? Was there a reason that needed to be changed?</li></ul><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Agree completely on auto requests - make them moaning marines ask for it themselves!
Also, I always bound mouse3 (mousewheeldown) to voice - which is now also hardwired to ping the map. Please make map ping an optional bind.
invTempestJoin Date: 2003-03-02Member: 14223Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
The Good: <ul><li>Collisions are greatly improved and little if any uncontrolable sliding while trying to remain still.</li><li>FPS increase across the board</li><li>Servers can support 22 players with relative ease (2500k's @ 4.4 Ghz that is)</li><li>L4D style hive sight</li><li>Exo fisting action</li><li>Longer build times for extractors</li><li>Quicker alien expansion and harvester building</li><li>Map layout changes</li><li>Colored vents on minimap*</li></ul> The Bad: <ul><li>No more health/armor bars for commander - I hope this is just a bug and not a design decision as the comm should always know the health of the marines on the ground.</li><li>Icons on minimap are too small now and it makes it hard to quickly see what is under attack. Not to mention that I use the minimaps in comm mode to see where all action is happening on the map and the small size makes it difficult to quickly determine where marines / skulks / enemies are.</li><li>Marine grunting sounds and death screams seem out of place. </li><li>CC / Hive death music cues start playing at 40% health which makes it hard to hear if marines or aliens are approaching - I do like the music that is played and the sense of urgency that it creates I just think it needs to be toned down a little and maybe start at 25% health.</li><li>The alien minimap colors for cysts and vents are nearly identical and should be more easily discernable.</li></ul>
<!--quoteo(post=1968467:date=Aug 29 2012, 02:49 PM:name=invTempest)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (invTempest @ Aug 29 2012, 02:49 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1968467"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><ul><li>No more health/armor bars for commander - I hope this is just a bug and not a design decision as the comm should always know the health of the marines on the ground.</li></ul><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Temporary fix for this <b>bug</b> by Schimmel, if you command please go and download this:
Comments
<a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/news/2012/8/ns2_build_217_titanium_changelog" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/news/2012...anium_changelog</a>
Edit: dam, ninja'd
This has been a problem for a long time and still is, but now you can also get stuck when evolving upgrades as a skulk. :(
<!--quoteo(post=1968189:date=Aug 29 2012, 07:47 AM:name=Twiggeh)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Twiggeh @ Aug 29 2012, 07:47 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1968189"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->So.. Hydras now cost pres, and im fine with that.
But can you PLEASE change the cap? Having 3 hydras really doesnt do anything at all. couldnt it atleast be 5?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
3 would be OK, if they weren't worthless. If their going to cost cost they need to be worthy of their res or else I'm never going to use them because they are a waste of res right now.
Next patch replacing with dubstep and to an always on state.
I'm not playing on the greatest rig right now, but the previous build was at least playable for me. I could play for hours and the game didn't crash, though fps was poor. In 217 though, the game has started to massively freeze and/or crash every few minutes. I thought it was related to the Exo, since the first two times it happened was when I started firing the minigun, but have since seen it happen regularly no matter what I'm doing.
When the freeze happens, the entire screen image suddenly freezes for ~10 seconds, and then goes black and flashes as if the program is crashing to desktop. Then one of two things happens: either the game pops back up and resumes working (and my ping number spikes to 999), or the game crashes to desktop and the bug reporter pops up. One time when it crashed I saw a notification that my display driver stopped responding. Like I said, I never experienced this in the previous build.
I'm running a stock i5 3570k on crossfired ati 5670s, game running off an SSD. I run it on pretty low settings.
Power nodes: I have mixed feelings. They don't really add much game play wise. Just one more structure to build/destroy. The only exception being PN rushes to take down the base. But those really only mimic command station rushes. So power nodes are not really needed. On the other hand they are incredibly atmospheric. This "they cut the power" homage to 'Aliens' is just too damn awesome.
ARCs: I still don't like them. They still look goofy driving around. Currently no one really uses them. And in earlier builds they were either spammed or being useless. I think they are conceptually flawed. I know what the idea behind them is, but it just doesn't seem to work out that way. Old school NS1 siege turrets worked much better.
I love the new mini map and the structure outlines. Some people are having problems with the regular map. I don't share that feeling though.
Oh and to some other forum users: If a particular change looks like a big goof-up, it probably is. Intermediate patches are bound to occasionally break something unintentionally. So stuff like health indicators disappearing from the commander view are obviously not design decisions and will be fixed without anyone having to cry about it on the forums.
Last patch the game was barely playable but atleast didn't crash, this patch I haven't seen any real improvements in performance, sadly I can't play any longer because of the crashing.
I really get the idea people on this forum live in another universe because my experience is completely different from what the majority here has to say.
is the funniest thing
ever.
Seriously, never remove it.
When I first heard it I thought it was the wilhelm scream. Queue confusion as I search for a movie playing in the background on my machine.
Power nodes: I have mixed feelings. They don't really add much game play wise. Just one more structure to build/destroy. The only exception being PN rushes to take down the base. But those really only mimic command station rushes. So power nodes are not really needed. On the other hand they are incredibly atmospheric. This "they cut the power" homage to 'Aliens' is just too damn awesome.
ARCs: I still don't like them. They still look goofy driving around. Currently no one really uses them. And in earlier builds they were either spammed or being useless. I think they are conceptually flawed. I know what the idea behind them is, but it just doesn't seem to work out that way. Old school NS1 siege turrets worked much better.
I love the new mini map and the structure outlines. Some people are having problems with the regular map. I don't share that feeling though.
Oh and to some other forum users: If a particular change looks like a big goof-up, it probably is. Intermediate patches are bound to occasionally break something unintentionally. So stuff like health indicators disappearing from the commander view are obviously not design decisions and will be fixed without anyone having to cry about it on the forums.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
About power nodes, the ONLY appeal with them is that they cut the lights. I guess I am confused as to why UWE doesn't have them do just that and that alone since it seems to be the only good thing about them.
If only arc were replaced by sieges, they are too cumbersome and require babysitting and generally not worth spending the resources on something that may or may not even reach their destination. Sieges in NS1 you dropped right where you need them, plus that whole scenario everyone loved in NS1 when you would assault a hive by dropping a phase gate/turret factory/turrets/wait to upgrade to advanced then plan down sieges is completely missing from NS2 because of arcs and power nodes...
I personally find the mini-map to be very confusing with too much information. It takes me a bit to even figure out where I am because everything comes across as a big pile of information I have to sort through.
1. imo it takes to long to destroy them
2. time they turn out the light is not long enough
Those 2 things should be balanced a bit imo...
No, it's unfortunately bound to alt-click as well. It's pretty annoying because it does trigger VC every time I ping, plus it accidentally triggers a ping when I'm using VC and clicking on the minimap.
<!--quoteo(post=1968270:date=Aug 29 2012, 07:42 AM:name=[R8]DJBourgeoisie)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE ([R8]DJBourgeoisie @ Aug 29 2012, 07:42 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1968270"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
About power nodes, the ONLY appeal with them is that they cut the lights. I guess I am confused as to why UWE doesn't have them do just that and that alone since it seems to be the only good thing about them.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Strongly disagree -- power nodes are amazing. Being able to shut down armories, turrets, obs, and IPs all at once is often critical to clinching a win for the aliens in a giant turtle-fest. For some reason, half the people on pubs fail to recognize this. Going for nodes at an RT is one of my favorite things to do now as well... it shuts the lights off, shuts down the RT (plus it's faster to kill than an RT), and allows me to ambush the marines that come to investigate in the dark before going after the RT itself.
But 2 things need to be change for aliens :
1. Possibility to parasite structures back !!!
2. Why fade can't blink behind ? he can with shadow step but can't with blink...
Also, I don't like that Exos can't build anything. Seems completely unnecessary to prevent that.
Performance is a bit better, but fps still drop below 30 regularly.
Ontopic, I love the patch. No criticism yet from me. Only a turn-off option for dynamic music would be useful for competitive matches when you have to focus on your sound alot. On pub games I like it.
I'm not playing on the greatest rig right now, but the previous build was at least playable for me. I could play for hours and the game didn't crash, though fps was poor. In 217 though, the game has started to massively freeze and/or crash every few minutes. I thought it was related to the Exo, since the first two times it happened was when I started firing the minigun, but have since seen it happen regularly no matter what I'm doing.
When the freeze happens, the entire screen image suddenly freezes for ~10 seconds, and then goes black and flashes as if the program is crashing to desktop. Then one of two things happens: either the game pops back up and resumes working (and my ping number spikes to 999), or the game crashes to desktop and the bug reporter pops up. One time when it crashed I saw a notification that my display driver stopped responding. Like I said, I never experienced this in the previous build.
I'm running a stock i5 3570k on crossfired ati 5670s, game running off an SSD. I run it on pretty low settings.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Afaik crossfire doesn't work for this game. At least I can't get it to work. Share secret if it does work (aka more than 50% GPU power on each). Otherwise you might wanna try just disable it. Might be crash, might not. But regardless if it doesn't give you more than 50% on each all you get is stuttering from it.
Also, low pop game and Beacon + 2 exos dominated a game where they had 3 hives and we 1 cc (we managed to get 1 CC up, ppl pop Exo fast as it was alrdy researched). The exos could guard the Arcs easily from the few Aliens while constant beacon to defend made any attempt for aliens to atk useless. It might have been bad alien play, but on low pop server (14 players or so) the few aliens that dont atk the CC can't takeout the exos. So beacon is damn good when combined with Exo, if it's good or bad I dunno as it's so new that people haven't really figured out the tactic. That's my 2 cent, that it might be something to keep an eye on.
Also, I don't like that Exos can't build anything. Seems completely unnecessary to prevent that.
Performance is a bit better, but fps still drop below 30 regularly.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Actually having Exos unable to build anything is a good downside for using them. Think of it this way, if all marines go Exo they will be unable to build a forward armory/pg/etc or even be able to weld each other.
That's a good way to keep the entire marine team from all going Exo's.
I was axing a shade and I was hitting it and then all of a sudden the shade starting recloaking and it wouldn't die. It sounded like I was hitting it still and didn't move, but it never died.
Same thing happened when I was at aliens hive trying to kill a crag. I started axing it and it never died. It might have to do w/ the shade because the crag was clocked and de-cloaked when I started hitting it but just like the shade it started to re-cloak and I couldn't kill it.
Everything looks awesome - exosuit, map changes, gui changes.
However the game ended up being exosuit spam, with MAC spam circlejerking and arcspam. Marines with loads of res become extremely powerful, while aliens have what? Onos? Those die in seconds against a marine team. Hell you cannot take on an exosuit alone, despite costing far more.
Only counter is getting the entire alien team to gang up on 1 exo, and they will all die in the process. Or gorge bilebomb, but marines are aware of this enough that any gorge dies immediately. Immediately. I have never seen so much attention towards my gorge the second I appeared in a fight.
I believe crossfire was working fine for me last patch, I had played around with it to make sure like you said that both GPUs were pushing the load. And there is a built in Natural Selection 2 crossfire profile in the Catalyst software, I guess someone at AMD likes to play the game! Regardless, that's why I pointed out the difference between last patch and this one: I didn't change anything, but everything started crashing with the new patch.
That's a good way to keep the entire marine team from all going Exo's.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Exos already can't use armories or phase gates and they can't weld each other. So those things are no reasons for why they can't build.
Having to stand helpless next to an unbuild RT is so unsatisfying.
Armories heal exos.
I don't know if it's just the way NS2 works on these things, but at least on paper I'd very much prefer softer limitations. For example: what if exos were slightly slower to draw their gun after building up things or what if phasing generated some extra heat to their weapons or even damaged them quite a bit?
I know this is the first public implementation of EXO, but I'm hoping I assume right that being able to actually customize the loadout will be a thing later? If so this also could be something you could do to return at least building back to them With a specialized arm for it if you'd prefer the versatility over the extra firepower. Not a welder mind you, I like that limitation and really don't want to welcome back self-sufficient heavy trains. <!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
I guess what I'm looking for situation where you might sometimes have all squad building, sometimes the heaviest guns covering, sometimes everyone contributing to the firepower, sometimes half of the squad welding up quickly and all that.
That kind of squad dynamics are where the RTS part of the game starts interacting wonderfully; there are timings you want to hit and it's your job to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible while still having the firepower you need to defend yourself. Everything becomes a lot more situational, adjustable and there's massive amounts of finesse and detail whenever your squad is capable of adjusting their roles in a versatile way.
<ul><li>Automatic medpack/ammo requests bombards/overwhelms the commander. The requests can come from marines standing beside an armoury or even completely surrounded by aliens (about to die, no matter what). It just puts more burden on the commander who already has the most intense jobs in the game.</li><li>Removing marine health/armour info from the commander's view. Was this intentional (a balance change)? It also makes the Cmdr's job harder.</li><li>Map alerts. I found myself triggering a lot of alerts by mistake while trying to use the voice chat. Can we go back to shift+click? Was there a reason that needed to be changed?</li></ul><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Agree completely on auto requests - make them moaning marines ask for it themselves!
Also, I always bound mouse3 (mousewheeldown) to voice - which is now also hardwired to ping the map. Please make map ping an optional bind.
<ul><li>Collisions are greatly improved and little if any uncontrolable sliding while trying to remain still.</li><li>FPS increase across the board</li><li>Servers can support 22 players with relative ease (2500k's @ 4.4 Ghz that is)</li><li>L4D style hive sight</li><li>Exo fisting action</li><li>Longer build times for extractors</li><li>Quicker alien expansion and harvester building</li><li>Map layout changes</li><li>Colored vents on minimap*</li></ul>
The Bad:
<ul><li>No more health/armor bars for commander - I hope this is just a bug and not a design decision as the comm should always know the health of the marines on the ground.</li><li>Icons on minimap are too small now and it makes it hard to quickly see what is under attack. Not to mention that I use the minimaps in comm mode to see where all action is happening on the map and the small size makes it difficult to quickly determine where marines / skulks / enemies are.</li><li>Marine grunting sounds and death screams seem out of place. </li><li>CC / Hive death music cues start playing at 40% health which makes it hard to hear if marines or aliens are approaching - I do like the music that is played and the sense of urgency that it creates I just think it needs to be toned down a little and maybe start at 25% health.</li><li>The alien minimap colors for cysts and vents are nearly identical and should be more easily discernable.</li></ul>
Temporary fix for this <b>bug</b> by Schimmel, if you command please go and download this:
<a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=120420&view=findpost&p=1968285" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/in...t&p=1968285</a>