Skulk passive damage streaming
randomrope
Join Date: 2013-01-16 Member: 180026Members
Join Date: 2013-01-16 Member: 180026Members
This addresses the close range melee "dance". Reading and participating in the skulk polite reminder thread has brought up some great ideas and concerns. NousWander mentioned something about the fact that Marines can defensively stream damage and I think that plays a big part in the current feel of the early marine/skulk balance while in close melee range. So what if skulks were able to passively stream damage in someway that would help counter that? You could do this a number of different ways but a few easy things I think could be implemented early game would be:
(And please don't think too extreme about them)
1.) Parasite DOT - Lower skulk parasite damage from 10 to something reasonably small (could be anything from 1-5). Change it to a DOT with more overall damage that parasite is currently at (hp and armor). Perhaps anything from 15-25. Parasite would still mark your target. An example would be marking a marine for no damage and he continues to take 15-25 points of poison type damage. This would help the 1v1 melee range battle if a skulk marks a marine before attacking. The skulk could be passively streaming damage while they are both "dancing".
2.) Poison Bite - You could leave parasite as is and give skulks a reasonable amount of poison with each bite. The poison could come in different forms. One example would be a burst poison based bite that DOT's more per tick based on accuracy. It would last very briefly and the poison damage would be dished out quickly (maybe only 2-3 tics). Where perhaps 1 solid bite and 1 glancing bite with poison from the first bite is enough to kill the marine. It could have a cool down so that not every bite in less than a second or so is poison on the marine. Maybe even only allow a accurate bite to land poison and not a glancing bite.
3.) Passive Damage Armor - A third idea would be to give the skulks a passive armor like poisoned skin or spikes which cause damage upon model collision with it and a marine. As long as the marine is simply touching the skulk he takes damage. While I have no idea what would be a balanced amount, if done right it could counter the marines ability to constantly stream damage at close range "dancing".
edit: These are early game ideas (Single hive research only). Not second or third hive abilities. Options for upgrade and scaling could be implemented after seeing the effects of having such abilities.
(And please don't think too extreme about them)
1.) Parasite DOT - Lower skulk parasite damage from 10 to something reasonably small (could be anything from 1-5). Change it to a DOT with more overall damage that parasite is currently at (hp and armor). Perhaps anything from 15-25. Parasite would still mark your target. An example would be marking a marine for no damage and he continues to take 15-25 points of poison type damage. This would help the 1v1 melee range battle if a skulk marks a marine before attacking. The skulk could be passively streaming damage while they are both "dancing".
2.) Poison Bite - You could leave parasite as is and give skulks a reasonable amount of poison with each bite. The poison could come in different forms. One example would be a burst poison based bite that DOT's more per tick based on accuracy. It would last very briefly and the poison damage would be dished out quickly (maybe only 2-3 tics). Where perhaps 1 solid bite and 1 glancing bite with poison from the first bite is enough to kill the marine. It could have a cool down so that not every bite in less than a second or so is poison on the marine. Maybe even only allow a accurate bite to land poison and not a glancing bite.
3.) Passive Damage Armor - A third idea would be to give the skulks a passive armor like poisoned skin or spikes which cause damage upon model collision with it and a marine. As long as the marine is simply touching the skulk he takes damage. While I have no idea what would be a balanced amount, if done right it could counter the marines ability to constantly stream damage at close range "dancing".
edit: These are early game ideas (Single hive research only). Not second or third hive abilities. Options for upgrade and scaling could be implemented after seeing the effects of having such abilities.
Comments
2. Lerk all ready has poison bite.
3. Eh, I'm not really sure about this one, but I don't think it fits the playstyle of skulks. This basically forces skulks to be up close to the marine at all times, which can be lethal if the marine packs a shotty or if he has friends around that then have an easy target. It's much better to use walls/ceiling to your advantage when taking on marines to keep moving so as to give them a harder time hitting you.
http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/129178/a-polite-reminder-the-skulk-vs-marine-hopping-problem-has-gone-nowhere#latest