Lerk spikes vs exo .. damage per spike is way too high!

2

Comments

  • joederpjoederp Join Date: 2012-11-02 Member: 165992Members
    One situation you guys are failing to think about is when a team of marines roll into a hive to take it down, and they have an exo or two for support, the exo is going to focus on the immediate targets like skulks, gorges and of course onos. But then way back on the distance, this lerk is picking them off while the exo covers his team mates. The lerk spike deals so much damage that exo will go down before the battle is over, purely from the spikes! Which of course the exo is bound to take at least a bite or two with some bile bomb, which normally might leave him at 400 hp but instead he is dead because the lerk with the golden gun is sitting back in a nice hiding spot. Bile bomb insta-tards macs so there goes your mac theory. And it would take 1-2 marines constantly welding the exo to keep him from dying, which is essentially a waste of those other marines time (3 guys required to have 1 exo firing) .
    Railgun exo is a good counter to a lerk, but dont forget the railgun exo is a complete joke vs onos, which usually by the time exos are around so are onos, so they very rarely make any difference at all in the game. W3 LMG is arguably more effective at killing a Lerk anyway.

    Anyway since I am apparently out of my mind I'll just stop posting about this. But hey while we are all in crazy town (100% disagree to my OP), can we get a dual-fist exo that can out melee an onos? Wouldn't that be AWESOME? Why shouldn't the ranged class have a melee unit that can defeat the melee class' strongest unit? deerrrrpp
  • RoobubbaRoobubba Who you gonna call? Join Date: 2003-01-06 Member: 11930Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    But what exo doesn't target that lerk? Even in a mad hive rush situation... Or what light marines look at the spike trails coming down to the exo and don't shoot the lerk?

    I now understand what your complaint is, and I also understand why I didn't understand it before. It's because I've basically never seen the combination of an amazing unkillable lerk (which sounds like it's perched too...) versus some apparently derpy marines who a) don't notice they're being hit or b) don't respond to being hit and c) can't take down a lerk with a dual minigun and d) can't communicate between them to ensure that the lerk goes down or goes away.

    As a light marine, you need to weld your exo, yes, but you also need to stay alive and keep him alive. And the best way to do that is to shoot skulks from around his feet, shoot gorges that are popping out to bile bomb, and shoot lerks that are spiking from afar.

    What can I say, but I'm sorry I just don't recognise what you're describing as being a problem!!
  • current1ycurrent1y Join Date: 2003-12-08 Member: 24150Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester
    edited April 2013
    joederp wrote: »
    One situation you guys are failing to think about is when a team of marines roll into a hive to take it down, and they have an exo or two for support, the exo is going to focus on the immediate targets like skulks, gorges and of course onos. But then way back on the distance, this lerk is picking them off while the exo covers his team mates. The lerk spike deals so much damage that exo will go down before the battle is over, purely from the spikes! Which of course the exo is bound to take at least a bite or two with some bile bomb, which normally might leave him at 400 hp but instead he is dead because the lerk with the golden gun is sitting back in a nice hiding spot. Bile bomb insta-tards macs so there goes your mac theory. And it would take 1-2 marines constantly welding the exo to keep him from dying, which is essentially a waste of those other marines time (3 guys required to have 1 exo firing) .
    Railgun exo is a good counter to a lerk, but dont forget the railgun exo is a complete joke vs onos, which usually by the time exos are around so are onos, so they very rarely make any difference at all in the game. W3 LMG is arguably more effective at killing a Lerk anyway.

    Anyway since I am apparently out of my mind I'll just stop posting about this. But hey while we are all in crazy town (100% disagree to my OP), can we get a dual-fist exo that can out melee an onos? Wouldn't that be AWESOME? Why shouldn't the ranged class have a melee unit that can defeat the melee class' strongest unit? deerrrrpp

    You act as if the exo should be able to just roll into any location with what sounds like multiple skulks gorges and at least 1 lerk and expect to live. Sorry It's not how the game works. The exo isn't mean to just be able to walk around any location care free.
    Also try not to take it personally people disagree with you..it happens.

    I do agree lerks are VERY powerful against exos but whats good about it is if the exo understands positioning, when to move forward and how to prioritize targets lerks area minimal threat. They are good at keeping exos out and killing them when they make a mistake in one of the key areas I mentioned above.

  • gnoarchgnoarch Join Date: 2012-08-29 Member: 156802Members, Reinforced - Gold
    edited April 2013
    I actually think it can be a problem.

    On more than one occasion I have been that lerk that holds off multiple Exos (I'm a really baad Lerk).
    It's simply this situation:
    If there are 1 or two gorges biling the entrance, the exos take some damage anyway and often times cant simply just waltz in because they would probably die.
    So the best way or them normally would be to gradually advance covering each other and driving off the gorges/Onos around the immediate entrance.
    But if a Lerk gets into a advantageous position he can shoot at the legs/torso of the exos standing directly in front of the door without actually being visible to them because ther POV too high and their vision is blocked by the upper part of the door.
    In this situation an exo can take serious dps from bile+spikes so he has to either retreat or storm in and hope the others follow AND there are not enough aliens to kill an uncoordinated attack.



  • _Necro__Necro_ Join Date: 2011-02-15 Member: 81895Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Nice trolling. Mix in a little bit of stomping on the floor and maybe some tears. ;)

    Obviously all the people that disagree with you are crazy and you are the only one that can see the truth. It can't be possible that you are simply wrong and need more skill with the Exo. (Yeah yeah... You were the Lerk that killed the Exo not the other way around... Sure bro.)

    But anyway. I congrat you for winning the prize "Most disagrees of the month". Now please hand it out to him, Savant. :P
  • BentRingBentRing Join Date: 2003-03-04 Member: 14318Members
    While I personally think lerk damage is in an ok spot, I can definitely understand where the OP is coming from. Depending on the situation, lerks are incredibly annoying to an exo (and supporting marines).
    If you don't think so, you should challenge the OP to a 1on1 as an exo in Dome and assault cargo hive with the OP as a defending lerk.

  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    edited April 2013
    @joederp , @Mestaritonttu and all :

    Last adjustment to spike damage

    flayra Wednesday 17th October 2012, 2:49 pm Etc/GMT+8 Build 224
    Increased Lerk spike damage (7-9 to 10-12). Increased spike accuracy also.


    I can double confirm this, as it was Sabahell and myself that provided these numbers after a lot of time testing.
    And you can double confirm those numbers above by checking Balance.lua file in your NS2 install directory. :-D
  • RoobubbaRoobubba Who you gonna call? Join Date: 2003-01-06 Member: 11930Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    IronHorse wrote: »
    @joederp and all :

    Last adjustment to spike damage

    flayra Wednesday 17th October 2012, 2:49 pm Etc/GMT+8 Build 224
    Increased Lerk spike damage (7-9 to 10-12). Increased spike accuracy also.

    I can double confirm this, as it was Sabahell and myself that provided these numbers after a lot of time testing.
    And you can double confirm those numbers above by checking Balance.lua file in your NS2 install directory. :-D

    I didn't remember any changes to the lerk, but with everyone saying how there was definitely a change, I didn't really want to stick my head above the parapet to say it...

    So instead I'll lame it after the event, all Doubting Thomas Styleee
  • NeokenNeoken Bruges, Belgium Join Date: 2004-03-20 Member: 27447Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Playtester
    Ah yes, it was the recent patch of b224 on wednesday 17th October 2012. My bad, didn't remember it, my short term memory is not that great. :)
  • joederpjoederp Join Date: 2012-11-02 Member: 165992Members
    edited April 2013
    IronHorse wrote: »
    @joederp , @Mestaritonttu and all :

    Last adjustment to spike damage

    flayra Wednesday 17th October 2012, 2:49 pm Etc/GMT+8 Build 224
    Increased Lerk spike damage (7-9 to 10-12). Increased spike accuracy also.


    I can double confirm this, as it was Sabahell and myself that provided these numbers after a lot of time testing.
    And you can double confirm those numbers above by checking Balance.lua file in your NS2 install directory. :-D

    Thanks for the info.

    A quick venture in explore mode yields the following times to kill an A0 exo (400 armor)
    I used adrenaline with a shift nearby so none of the units ran out of energy.

    Times are measured with a stopwatch to the best of my ability so actual time may vary by a tenth of a second or so:

    onos crush: 4.0 seconds
    Skulk bite: 5.0
    fade swipe: 5.0
    lerk spike: 7.9
    lerk bite: 8.0
    Gorge bile: 14.9

    So yeah, spike will kill an exo only a few seconds slower than onos / fade / skulk and much faster than bile bomb.. not to mention the spike kills the exo just about exactly as fast as the lerk biting it. Does this really seem balanced to you all??
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    So an A0 exo (why would you do this, and when does this happen in reality?)
    And an Andren lerk (OVER CELERITY?!@ see above parenthesis)
    Without any welders or following macs?...or other marines/ exos?

    Even ignoring all that.... in what world does a lerk survive for 8 seconds against an exo aiming at it?
    Lets see those numbers.
  • Blarney_StoneBlarney_Stone Join Date: 2013-03-08 Member: 183808Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Adren on a Lerk can actually be really useful if you play a spike-happy style of gameplay. In fact it's arguably better in the late game when biting stops really being possible.
  • joederpjoederp Join Date: 2012-11-02 Member: 165992Members
    _Necro_ wrote: »
    Nice trolling. Mix in a little bit of stomping on the floor and maybe some tears. ;)

    Obviously all the people that disagree with you are crazy and you are the only one that can see the truth. It can't be possible that you are simply wrong and need more skill with the Exo. (Yeah yeah... You were the Lerk that killed the Exo not the other way around... Sure bro.)

    But anyway. I congrat you for winning the prize "Most disagrees of the month". Now please hand it out to him, Savant. :P

    LOL talk about trolling.. I'm not mad at all I just want to see this game balanced. I point out a clear imbalance with a unit and everyone acts like I'm crazy. I'm generally a bad lerk compared to the competitive players I play with, and even I am able to exploit this. I'm really surprised more of the skilled people posting here disagree, maybe they just don't want to see their precious lerk spike get nerfed? Or maybe you guys just never buy an exo since they basically never show up in competitive play? Try buying an exo more often and see if you think its balanced. I truly didn't notice how bad it was until I set the lerk down and tried it. Oh wait I forgot Necro discovered my true secret!
  • joederpjoederp Join Date: 2012-11-02 Member: 165992Members
    edited April 2013
    IronHorse wrote: »
    So an A0 exo (why would you do this, and when does this happen in reality?)
    And an Andren lerk (OVER CELERITY?!@ see above parenthesis)
    Without any welders or following macs?...or other marines/ exos?

    Even ignoring all that.... in what world does a lerk survive for 8 seconds against an exo aiming at it?
    Lets see those numbers.

    What? You do actually play this game right? Celerity won't speed up the rate of spike firing so why would I have used that in the test??

    And yeah obviously the exo will usually have better than armor 0, and should usually have welding backup - how does that contradict the test results? If I had bumped them to armor 3 all the times would just be longer, so whats the point?

    The point is the lerk spike is much more effective than bile, and only slightly less effective than a skulk bite, fade swipe, and exactly as effective as the lerk bite. All of which put the alien in much greater danger since he must be within melee range. If you can't understand how deadly spikes are due to being able to pop in & out of cover, all while dealing only slightly lower dps than skulk / fade, than I guess there is no point in carrying on this conversation.
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    edited April 2013
    Adren on a Lerk can actually be really useful if you play a spike-happy style of gameplay. In fact it's arguably better in the late game when biting stops really being possible.
    In late game,
    I wouldn't attempt spiking at a marine who had equal chances of rifling me to death with W3
    I wouldn't attempt biting an A3/W3 shotgun marine

    I would however utilize umbra and spores through highly evasive maneuvers with celerity and fellow teamates.
    And then maybe.. maybe... utilize those other two above should the clear opportunity present itself

    But more than likely, being that its lategame, i wouldn't pick a lerk at all if those two options above weren't on the table.

    but hey that's me :-P

    As for the rest of that scenario.. i still find it highly unlikely.
  • joederpjoederp Join Date: 2012-11-02 Member: 165992Members
    IronHorse wrote: »
    Adren on a Lerk can actually be really useful if you play a spike-happy style of gameplay. In fact it's arguably better in the late game when biting stops really being possible.
    In late game,
    I wouldn't attempt spiking at a marine who had equal chances of rifling me to death with W3
    I wouldn't attempt biting an A3/W3 shotgun marine

    I would however utilize umbra and spores through highly evasive maneuvers with celerity and fellow teamates.
    And then maybe.. maybe... utilize those other two above should the clear opportunity present itself

    But more than likely, being that its lategame, i wouldn't pick a lerk at all if those two options above weren't on the table.

    but hey that's me :-P

    As for the rest of that scenario.. i still find it highly unlikely.

    You're right, it is just you. Trying to spore some of the guys I play with once shotguns are researched is suicide, I don't care what 'evasive maneuvers' you do.
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    Yea i can agree, hence why i said i more than likely wouldn't pick lerk late game.. Why pick the fragile class from the team that doesnt scale equally and requires proximity to utilize none the less?

    But i digress ... i'd still love to hear a response to the rest of my original reply to you @joederp :)
  • amoralamoral Join Date: 2013-01-03 Member: 177250Members
    so a patch from half a year ago is recent now?
  • current1ycurrent1y Join Date: 2003-12-08 Member: 24150Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester
    edited April 2013
    YOLO....however I ignore this all the time if i'm having fun :)

    And both Adren and Celerity lerk have their purpose. Personally though I more often then not go Celerity.
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    joederp wrote: »
    IronHorse wrote: »
    So an A0 exo (why would you do this, and when does this happen in reality?)
    And an Andren lerk (OVER CELERITY?!@ see above parenthesis)
    Without any welders or following macs?...or other marines/ exos?

    Even ignoring all that.... in what world does a lerk survive for 8 seconds against an exo aiming at it?
    Lets see those numbers.

    What? You do actually play this game right? Celerity won't speed up the rate of spike firing so why would I have used that in the test??

    And yeah obviously the exo will usually have better than armor 0, and should usually have welding backup - how does that contradict the test results? If I had bumped them to armor 3 all the times would just be longer, so whats the point?
    It all has to do with relevancy man. If the scenario never occurs, why test it?

    Same goes for spike utilization being somehow more effective over BB?
    You can BB targets without even showing yourself to them.
    It has a radius of 6 meters.. and does 55 dmg per second for 5 seconds for a total of 275 armor damage per shot. You dont exactly have to aim.
    Thats a big distinction.

    Also are you using cheats to replicate these timings? I wouldn't it leads to funky results.



  • RoobubbaRoobubba Who you gonna call? Join Date: 2003-01-06 Member: 11930Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    Those numbers look just about right tbh. Skulk bite is much faster than lerk spike. I have lost count of how many times I've 1v1'd exos as a skulk. Without silence, too. Although with silence it's even easier :D Mind you, those were some derpy marines back when the game was pretty new, so I can't really count those times.

    Out of interest, if the marines you play against are good enough that you simply can't use spores as a lerk late game, then how are they also so bad that you can solo spike an exo?
  • NeokenNeoken Bruges, Belgium Join Date: 2004-03-20 Member: 27447Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Playtester
    joederp wrote: »
    onos crush: 4.0 seconds
    Skulk bite: 5.0
    fade swipe: 5.0
    lerk spike: 7.9
    lerk bite: 8.0
    Gorge bile: 14.9

    So yeah, spike will kill an exo only a few seconds slower than onos / fade / skulk and much faster than bile bomb.. not to mention the spike kills the exo just about exactly as fast as the lerk biting it. Does this really seem balanced to you all??

    Yes, it does.

    Now measure the time it takes for an exo to kill a lerk.
  • ChizzlerChizzler Join Date: 2013-01-04 Member: 177532Members
    I actually see joe's point. Far too often I see exo's spinning around frantically shooting at skulks rather than Lerks dancing around in the distance during heavy engagements. The issue isn't that Lerk Spikes are OP, it's that most (public) Exo's don't consider them dangerous. Skulks have to get up close, where your support can take them out easily, but if your support is wielding shotguns, they're not going to take down that lerk for you. A quick burst of your minigun and that lerk is either dead, or fleeing. It's even less of an issue thanks to spike tracers. I've seen a few exo's drop to lerks on Mineshaft (Cave area), but for the most part, a lerk puts himself in serious danger to shoot exo's and they're very squishy lifeforms, potentially dying before they've even realized they're being shot at. If a lerk is hitting an exo from out of the FOV, send a marine in ahead to scare it off, It's good practice anyway to draw out any ambushers.
  • GORGEousGORGEous Join Date: 2012-02-19 Member: 146762Members, NS2 Map Tester
    I just tested this out and armor 3 exos (the only time you see exos) take ~13 seconds for a lerk to spike down. The dual minigun exosuit kills a lerk in 0.5 - 1s at medium distance.

    I fail to see the problem, but perhaps I'm just too good at math.
  • joederpjoederp Join Date: 2012-11-02 Member: 165992Members
    GORGEous wrote: »
    I just tested this out and armor 3 exos (the only time you see exos) take ~13 seconds for a lerk to spike down. The dual minigun exosuit kills a lerk in 0.5 - 1s at medium distance.

    I fail to see the problem, but perhaps I'm just too good at math.

    13 seconds sounds like a lot compared to my previously posted times. How about you post how long the other lifeforms take to destroy an a3 exo?
  • joederpjoederp Join Date: 2012-11-02 Member: 165992Members
    Roobubba wrote: »
    Those numbers look just about right tbh. Skulk bite is much faster than lerk spike. I have lost count of how many times I've 1v1'd exos as a skulk. Without silence, too. Although with silence it's even easier :D Mind you, those were some derpy marines back when the game was pretty new, so I can't really count those times.

    Out of interest, if the marines you play against are good enough that you simply can't use spores as a lerk late game, then how are they also so bad that you can solo spike an exo?

    I think you missed the part about how a good lerk can carefully hit the exo without being vulnerable to attack from the exo. So the exos ability to aim really doesn't play a part at all unless the lerk screws up and reveals himself to the exo long enough to get minigunned to death, or if a supporting marine is somehow able to penetrate behind the aliens and flush the lerk out.
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    @joederp

    wait.. so are you proposing that if you put me in a room as a dual exo and you as a lerk, that you could successfully get me to even HALF health (with no macs or welders) before i absolutely find and shred you? Are you saying that's even a possibility?

    I'll take that bet.

    Add me on steam, lets do this. :)
    http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197960471387/

    You pick the best lerk you know. I'm not the best shot, but then again i dont think i have to be for this test.
  • MestaritonttuMestaritonttu Join Date: 2004-07-29 Member: 30229Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold
    amoral wrote: »
    so a patch from half a year ago is recent now?

    YES IT IS, AND IF ANYONE, ANYONE AT ALL, TELLS OTHERWISE, I WILL BE FORCED TO REMIND YOU HOW LONG IT TOOK TO GET NS2 OUT! :D

    In that light it felt very recent. :P But yes, I suppose I should have been more specific.
  • GORGEousGORGEous Join Date: 2012-02-19 Member: 146762Members, NS2 Map Tester
    joederp wrote: »
    Roobubba wrote: »
    Those numbers look just about right tbh. Skulk bite is much faster than lerk spike. I have lost count of how many times I've 1v1'd exos as a skulk. Without silence, too. Although with silence it's even easier :D Mind you, those were some derpy marines back when the game was pretty new, so I can't really count those times.

    Out of interest, if the marines you play against are good enough that you simply can't use spores as a lerk late game, then how are they also so bad that you can solo spike an exo?

    I think you missed the part about how a good lerk can carefully hit the exo without being vulnerable to attack from the exo. So the exos ability to aim really doesn't play a part at all unless the lerk screws up and reveals himself to the exo long enough to get minigunned to death, or if a supporting marine is somehow able to penetrate behind the aliens and flush the lerk out.

    I don't buy this because it's just as easy for an exosuit to back out or corner hump. A lerk simply never forces the exosuit into danger and an exosuit should never allow himself to be killed by a lerk.
  • RoobubbaRoobubba Who you gonna call? Join Date: 2003-01-06 Member: 11930Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    edited April 2013
    joederp wrote: »
    Roobubba wrote: »
    Those numbers look just about right tbh. Skulk bite is much faster than lerk spike. I have lost count of how many times I've 1v1'd exos as a skulk. Without silence, too. Although with silence it's even easier :D Mind you, those were some derpy marines back when the game was pretty new, so I can't really count those times.

    Out of interest, if the marines you play against are good enough that you simply can't use spores as a lerk late game, then how are they also so bad that you can solo spike an exo?

    I think you missed the part about how a good lerk can carefully hit the exo without being vulnerable to attack from the exo. So the exos ability to aim really doesn't play a part at all unless the lerk screws up and reveals himself to the exo long enough to get minigunned to death, or if a supporting marine is somehow able to penetrate behind the aliens and flush the lerk out.

    Again, total derpy exo doesn't react to being shot... Total derp marines don't support the exo. Is this lerk perched and the exo not moving? A perched lerk is a dead lerk if the marines don't suck. A non moving exo deserves to die.

    Or are you seriously suggesting that the lerk is flying, evading all light marine fire, and spiking the exo while moving such that, midair and dodging, the lerk can hit the exo and never reveal himself to be shot?

    I just don't buy your arguments here...!
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