Where is the sneaking?

DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
Ok ok.. hold on.. imagine.

In NS1 you could sneakup a phasegate as close to the hive as possible in sometimes weird places. (catwalk anyone, remember?)
Or you will crawl in a vent, throw your upgrades there, and pray the marines never get jetpack.

In other words.. you could be sneaking around with real purpose.


Now I feel it is diminished..
getting sneak phasegates is a lot harder because you need to kill infestation in most cases, let alone the power node. Any comm notices a cyst dying.
You can not really build in vents anymore. A Khaam can not reach the spots to build, and a gorge has nothing to drop there. (if there is even room inside to drop stuff).

You can hardly build up on things like catwalks, if at all.


I dont see any good way of fixing it, but I sure as hell miss the sneaking now and then.
What about you folk?

Comments

  • ScardyBobScardyBob ScardyBob Join Date: 2009-11-25 Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    Biggest issue is the size of the maps. Most NS2 maps are smaller than NS1 ones, such that its harder to move around parts of the map without being seen. Add in drifters/scan and its not difficult to have a good idea of everyone's location.

    That being said, I have both seen and done ninja PGs on numerous occasions. Its not impossible, though its a bit more difficult, especially on those 24 player servers.
  • DavilDavil Florida, USA Join Date: 2012-08-14 Member: 155602Members, Constellation
    I don't see a problem with aliens being able to prevent a close phase gate by putting up infestation
  • thefonzthefonz Join Date: 2011-06-22 Member: 105847Members
    Another big factor is AV. If you are a marine trying to get into a good ninja spot, dont count on shadows to hide you. A lot of aliens run around with AV on, making shadows meaningless for marines to use. The best bet is to hide around corners or use objects to stay out of the FOV until they pass.

    I have made many alien teams pay dearly in harvesters just by avoiding confortations with those tricks.
  • CommunistWithAGunCommunistWithAGun Local Propaganda Guy Join Date: 2003-04-30 Member: 15953Members
    Ok ok.. hold on.. imagine.

    In NS1 you could sneakup a phasegate as close to the hive as possible in sometimes weird places. (catwalk anyone, remember?)
    Or you will crawl in a vent, throw your upgrades there, and pray the marines never get jetpack.

    In other words.. you could be sneaking around with real purpose.


    Now I feel it is diminished..
    getting sneak phasegates is a lot harder because you need to kill infestation in most cases, let alone the power node. Any comm notices a cyst dying.
    You can not really build in vents anymore. A Khaam can not reach the spots to build, and a gorge has nothing to drop there. (if there is even room inside to drop stuff).

    You can hardly build up on things like catwalks, if at all.


    I dont see any good way of fixing it, but I sure as hell miss the sneaking now and then.
    What about you folk?

    Sneaking has been determined to be fun. Fun has been determined to be "bad"
    Power nodes have been added to reduce the "fun" bug.

    -Added power nodes: Marines must announce their intentions to the entire alien team before proceeding.
  • SavantSavant Join Date: 2002-11-30 Member: 10289Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    I tend to agree, power nodes aren't really a fin mechanic.

    Aside from infestation, there are also invisible drifters that can burn you too. Or if you trigger a whip/hydra, that's shows up on the map as well.

    I like sneaking too, and I can pull it off sometimes, but it's not the same as NS1, I agree. Another aspect that I feel is missing on many maps is dead end hallways and such. There used to be a lot more passages in the NS1 maps. More back hallways and crawlways, ladders and hidden areas that usually weren't travelled, which made it a perfect way for opponents to sneak in. Now you have two entrances to a point (in most cases) and maybe a vent nearby. While the maps are great in terms of the look of the design and such, they still feel 'cramped' in many cases, with few alternate paths.

    Nowadays sneaking is something only a few people can pull off with any regularity, since it requires a lot of patience.
  • HazeHaze O RLY? Join Date: 2003-07-07 Member: 18018Members, Constellation
    Savant wrote: »
    There used to be a lot more passages in the NS1 maps. More back hallways and crawlways, ladders and hidden areas that usually weren't travelled, which made it a perfect way for opponents to sneak in. Now you have two entrances to a point (in most cases) and maybe a vent nearby. While the maps are great in terms of the look of the design and such, they still feel 'cramped' in many cases, with few alternate paths.

    I miss this.
  • |strofix||strofix| Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165453Members
    Do you remember the last time you snuck up on an alert dog, or other highly attuned animal?

    Marine's aren't sneaky. They shouldn't be. Aliens are sneaky.
  • SavantSavant Join Date: 2002-11-30 Member: 10289Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    Marines can most certainly be sneaky. It doesn't mean they'll be successful, but that falls to the alien team to decide. If they are not paying attention then it can be quite possible to sneak a phase gate in.

    However, as I said above, I miss the larger maps that had more 'dimension' to them. Places like the Observation Bridge in Tanith, which was awkward to travel through, so hardly anyone used it. However, it also made it a perfect way for marines to try and sneak into refinery.

    I also miss large hatches that opened and closed, airlocks, elevators, doors, ladders, weldables, switches that activated things the aliens couldn't activate etc.




  • Lt.RealnessLt.Realness Join Date: 2004-03-17 Member: 27379Members
    edited January 2013
    I miss these sneaky actions too. These were the things that really got your blood pumping faster and made the game exciting. I guess the aspect had to be cut from the game due to the impatience of the younger players (jeez I'm 26 and I'm saying that..:S). The need to make the game "more dynamic" by cutting down the size of the maps and removing some nice key elements was (not in every case) absolutely misplaced.
    Unfortunately new players will not be attracted to a game with "huge" maps and where it actually takes some time until you see an enemy or realize what's going on. New players want to walk around, get some new 4wes0m3 weapons as quickly as possible and go and kill stuff.

    That's exactly what most players mentalities are about. "Doing stuff".
    But since the devs are working close with the community I think that there is some hope that changes will still be made for the better =)
  • rantologyrantology Join Date: 2012-02-05 Member: 143750Members, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold
    I think it has less to do with map design and more to do with the powernode/infestation systems, and more so, drifters.
  • bERt0rbERt0r Join Date: 2005-03-23 Member: 46181Members
    edited January 2013
    Sneaking was great in ns1, in ns2 the sound seems kind of off. I sometimes mistake my own footsteps for a skulk approaching... Epic times sneaking in pgs or even relocations. ns_hera 2 hive siege point relocation anyone? I pulled that off as the last marine alive once, after a skulkrush.

    Edit: Another thing thats quite detrimental to marine hiding: It seems as if alien vision lets them look right through the rich infestation bubbles. Those would make some nice hiding spots sometimes.

    I dont know why "younger" players would dislike bigger maps. Afaik Battlefield 3 has huge maps and is quite popular. Even progamers say that long matches are very exhausting, I dont know why there has to be action going on all the time without some time to take a breath.
  • SavantSavant Join Date: 2002-11-30 Member: 10289Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    Yeah infestation has no impact on alien vision, and alien vision basically lights you up like a Christmas tree. So while you could hide in a corner and no be seen without alien vision, with it available it really makes it hard to pull a fast one.
  • HalfcentaurHalfcentaur Join Date: 2013-01-30 Member: 182612Members
    These sorts of tactics usually only ever just *bought* time for the marines as well.
    It was very rare that they were very game changing, if they even worked in the first place.
  • GirTurkeyGirTurkey Join Date: 2005-03-03 Member: 43040Members
    small maps got rid of the need to be sneaky, because you can get to any position in the map in no time at all.

    there is no point to sneaking because invisible alien drifters spot you from a mile away and instantly notify the alien team as to your location.

    if you try and sneak through an area that an alien has been even around lately, you leave a black cloud on the map for the commander to see and hear. that's right, even if there is no alien presence nearby, the commander can still see you.

    to make drifters more powerful, marines now must spend resources to ping an area, rather than just using the energy of an observatory.

    if you make it without seeing an alien, without running across a drifter and without being attacked by other AI units, like whips and drifters, you must then contend with other AI units.

    you must first kill any infestation around where you want a PG, any god commander cysts up the PG areas.

    then you must contend with the powerful AI unit of the power node, that when finished being completed, allows any nearby aliens to be alerted to the loud noise that occurs when the power comes up, and the drastic chance in lighting that follows.

    once you have completed all of these factors, then you can ninja attack something. GL AND HF!

    (i'm not even going to start on how aliens don't have a need to be sneaky either, but they don't, its full rush both sides all day long, woooooooooh)
  • SavantSavant Join Date: 2002-11-30 Member: 10289Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    What's ironic is that the aliens are the ones with cloaking and shade, yet they rarely every take advantage of it to any significant extent.
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    Considering you only want to sneak around early game, and shade isn't viable, it's not surprising they rarely use it.
  • DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
    I hope that in time performance will go up by such a percentage, that we can get ourselves big maps again.. Aaah, one can dream.
  • WakeWake Join Date: 2003-03-05 Member: 14351Members, Constellation
    I agree that it was diminished, and I like the fact it was.

    I like that the NS2 map control has more inertia on the alien side than NS1 while the marine use phase gates from a point to another.

    It add to the asymetrical dimension of the game and I like this.
  • HalfcentaurHalfcentaur Join Date: 2013-01-30 Member: 182612Members
    I hope that in time performance will go up by such a percentage, that we can get ourselves big maps again.. Aaah, one can dream.

    Ugh, big maps were always so stressful and unimaginative in the original NS.
  • JektJekt Join Date: 2012-02-05 Member: 143714Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow
    Having the ability to creatively and freely place chambers and structures lends itself to a more dynamic experience and supplements a well designed map, as well as a game trying to promote unique round to round game play.
  • DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
    I did mean to focus more on the point Jekt said, rather then what Halfcentaur said.
    Was basicly the point
  • deathshrouddeathshroud Join Date: 2010-04-10 Member: 71291Members
    the marine team needs the ability to construct batteries that can run a single structure without power, albiet more costly and larger than a snetry battery but can be used to power something in a room with no power.
  • JektJekt Join Date: 2012-02-05 Member: 143714Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited January 2013
    the marine team needs the ability to construct batteries that can run a single structure without power, albiet more costly and larger than a snetry battery but can be used to power something in a room with no power.

    That was already in the game once. It was removed before the game launched, maybe you already knew that and I'm terrible at jokes. I believe the power pack was removed as it conflicted with the localized 'one in every room' mechanic of power nodes.

    The problem lies with the limitations the infestation and power node systems impose. Drifters are also a detriment to this style of game play, capable of offering free scouting even if an alien team is otherwise distracted.
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