Alien Commander

m3lior · November 2012

<div class="IPBDescription">Seems lackluster</div>So, I have noticed that when playing Marines, you almost never have problems getting a person to step in and play commander. For Aliens, however, it seems like at least half the time no one wants to fill the role. When you think about it, it seems obvious... The Marine commander has a lot of fun ways to intervene in combat and to help direct traffic... The Alien commander, however, seems to have tools that are lackluster and not as interesting. The role in itself seems lacking. There are some ideas that have been implemented that are close, but not quite there it seems.

Anyone else feel this way?

Typhon · November 2012

Many of the khamm's active abilities: echo, hallucinate, rupture, bone wall, bombard, etc. either suck or are annoyingly fiddly to use. Half the alien tech tree never sees play. I think that's a huge part of it. Fix those, and the khamm will both feel, and actually be, more useful to his team.

stickyboot · November 2012

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (m3lior @ Nov 9 2012, 08:25 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2017933"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>So, I have noticed that when playing Marines, you almost never have problems getting a person to step in and play commander. For Aliens, however, it seems like at least half the time no one wants to fill the role. When you think about it, it seems obvious... The Marine commander has a lot of fun ways to intervene in combat and to help direct traffic... The Alien commander, however, seems to have tools that are lackluster and not as interesting. The role in itself seems lacking. There are some ideas that have been implemented that are close, but not quite there it seems.

Anyone else feel this way?</div>
You have quite a few abilities and buildings to work with. Honestly, between doing stuff during the initial buildout, cysting takes up a lot of time. Very late game, you will often have to be the organising voice as many people dont in FPS view wont do it, in addition to supporting your team with buildings and units. You have the most information on your team.

m3lior · November 2012

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Typhon @ Nov 9 2012, 11:51 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2017954"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>Many of the khamm's active abilities: echo, hallucinate, rupture, bone wall, bombard, etc. either suck or are annoyingly fiddly to use. Half the alien tech tree never sees play. I think that's a huge part of it. Fix those, and the khamm will both feel, and actually be, more useful to his team.</div>

This. I feel like the mechanics are there, but need some adjustments to make them fun/feasible...

PureHostility · November 2012

Well, I will be honest.

I have more fun playing Alien comm than Marine comm.... any time any hour...but I don't like to play as a comm anyway... ;s

[R8]DJBourgeoisie · November 2012

This is going to sound bad, but I don't mind playing Alien commander at all, in face I'd say I'm pretty damn good at it considering my win loss ratio. That said, I tend to only do it when I feel like relaxing and taking a break from the frantic pace of the overall game. There are a number of reasons why I think the alien commander needs more work using a sledgehammer than a scalpel but ya, not the most entertaining or fun part of NS 2 currently. The hive would be more appropriately represented in the game by a hipster sitting in a chair at a Starbucks than the current model :P

Draco Houston · November 2012

I just played some games as kharrmander, I enjoyed it but it was much easier than marines, however, this isn't all bad. Often you have time to hop out and heal spray your buildings and join in fights when needed. This requires understanding from your team though, in the pub games I comm'd invariably someone would ask if we had a comm when I got out of the hive. It would be nice if there were a way for the game to know if the commander has completely abandoned the team, swapped with someone or has just left the hive for a second to do something.

If you're just sitting in the hive you'll find kharrmander a rather passive role, instead of a tech tree you specialize hives so there are not as many things to build and research for tech as marines have, and less assist options. Their shades, crags and shifts are really neat though! I still enjoyed playing it.

My one big complaint about karrmander is 2 hive tres onos. I had seen the strat in videos so of course the first thing I do is secure 3 RTs, a hive and sit on it, egg gets dropped and things snowball from there. It would have felt really good if I didn't know better. I felt bad for the marines, it's just so easy to do. In my last game the marines tried so hard to deny us more tres onos eggs but if we had an onos up a 2nd hive location wasn't hard to find, and more eggs would be dropped. The worst part is you don't even end up skimping on upgrades in the end, you can afford them between eggs. The marine commander takes much longer to get to a point where you're out of things to research or buildings to unlock tech.

Swiftspear · November 2012

I like the alien comm. I think it is quite a bit of fun. I'll agree it needs more work however. It's a very promising starting point in my opinion.

Mestaritonttu · November 2012

I feel the exact opposite. It's hard to get marine comms, because half the people join marines just for some good ol' FPS fun, and it's actually hard to comm, so that reduces the amount of willing people too.

While alien side, not much can go wrong as alien comm. Sure, it's not an intense experience, but it only requires one person who doesn't feel like skulking to do it. Considering how tuff skulking is in the start, there's usually alot of people willing.

My experience is also showing this true, most games it's a hassle to get a marine comm, while alien side it's usually a race who gets to hive first.

Alien Commander

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