He who is surrounded by idiots
Inexorable
Join Date: 2002-09-28 Member: 1360Members
Join Date: 2002-09-28 Member: 1360Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Finds himself in a hall of mirrors.</div>Everything I've seen about Natural Selection so far makes my 'game nerve' tingle. But I find myself worried. There's so much talk of command options, and building, and strategy it makes me drool. What I don't find is talk of idiots.
Now, I'm not (for the most part) talking about malicious idiots, those who's purpose in life is to make the game less fun for other people. Nor those well-meaning folk who are simply cursed with a lack of skill (or blessed with an abundance of ping). I'm talking about your run of the mill FPS player. The guy who doesn't know, or care, about the specifics of how the game is played; he just wants to see himself 1st on the scoreboard.
I'm sure you all know this type of player. His play philosophy is "There is no 'team' in 'win', but there is 'I'".
So what I'm wondering is how much of a tolerance does NS gameplay have for that type of player? Can I expect a good match if there's at least 1 or 2 good players per team, or do I need to set up my own private server to prevent a couple of Smacktards from ruining it?
Now, I'm not (for the most part) talking about malicious idiots, those who's purpose in life is to make the game less fun for other people. Nor those well-meaning folk who are simply cursed with a lack of skill (or blessed with an abundance of ping). I'm talking about your run of the mill FPS player. The guy who doesn't know, or care, about the specifics of how the game is played; he just wants to see himself 1st on the scoreboard.
I'm sure you all know this type of player. His play philosophy is "There is no 'team' in 'win', but there is 'I'".
So what I'm wondering is how much of a tolerance does NS gameplay have for that type of player? Can I expect a good match if there's at least 1 or 2 good players per team, or do I need to set up my own private server to prevent a couple of Smacktards from ruining it?
Comments
The hope is, players who are truly from the DM (or often CS public server) world will adapt their Marine playing style once they see how hard it is to go Rambo on the human team. For one, the human team does not have stats on their scoreboard, so there will be no way to have 'Ultimate Soldier' bragging rights. Additionally, if you don't do what the commander wants you are going eventually run low on ammo and health and be eliminated far from your base. It's not like CS where 5 minute rounds make health levels less important, or DM where you can get an automatically respawning health boost - you really need to have your commander's help, or stay with a group to keep casualties low.
From another perspective, these sorts of players will do just fine on the Alien team. They are designed more for a gung-ho DM style of gameplay - they can get their own health refreshed (via hives, defense chambers, and personal abilities). They have no ammo limits (only delays). They are pretty tough, and good for solo action in general. Hopefully, those sorts of players will gravitate towards aliens if they can't seem to get teamplay into their skulls...
Hope that answers the question.
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curses! foiled by monse again!
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<!--EDIT|DOOManiac|Sep. 27 2002,15:37-->
Mind you , I was a player of cs from beta 4 , but as was stated, supah-players with no concept of team play and those who had team play in mind but wouldn't know their head from their ### ruined CS for me. I no longer play the game.
So what exactly is on the score board at the end? <!--emo&???--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='???'><!--endemo-->
ether
" " <!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo-->
There's simply a blank space where the score would usually go.
Ethereal: While overall kill count isn't necessarily the best or only way to tell which team is "winning", team-total stats are still shown. Also, choosing the "Random Team" door in the readyroom will place you in the team with the lowerhand.
1) The only thing displayed for a marine is his ping.
2) The commander is marked as COMM, but only the marines see this.
3) Alien points and deaths are visible to both teams.
4) Aliens get points for frags or for building a structure.
5) Aliens are marked by their current level, but only aliens can see this.
And, as Monse said, if the player wants to see his score, he can easily play aliens, and not marines. Marines have no scores to highly encourage teamplay.
<!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo-->
Trust me when I say that with no scoreboard for Marines, you end up not missing it after about 30 minutes. The world will go on, trust me. It really does encourage you to be a teamplayer once quickly get used to it. Or encourage you to play those wussy DMing aliens...
<!--EDIT|MonsieurEvil|Sep. 27 2002,19:49-->
A) This was, and still is, a concern of my own. Balancing seems to be good now, but then again, they are playing with hand-picked playtesters who agree to play the game it was meant to be played. Everyone can DM and play "team" games with rambo tactics. The aliens will flourish. But what about the marines? A lot of people say they want teamplay. How many of them will actually live up to it? That's why the game is being tested at some LAN parties with people who have never played it before. I remember MonsE talking about a time at a LAN party testing with Flayra. Flayra led the alien team, and MonsE led the marines. MonsE naturally hopped in the CC, and tried to direct his teammates to some resource nodes to start gathering some points. The marine players basically said, "Why bother? We have guns, they don't, let's ROLL!" They ran through the door, only to be torn apart by Flayra and company, who picked them off easily as they came through individually, one at a time. After dying a few times, they realized that perhaps those tactics weren't going to work, and decided to follow orders. As MonsE put it, "The game encourages teamplay for marines. If you don't play as a team, it will smack you, and smack you HARD." (OR something to that effect...I wish I could find the post.) I would hope that the marines who would want to continue on with rambo tactics would try playing as the alien for a bit, perhaps to come back to the marine at a later date. It still doesn't guarantee that you won't end up on a marine team full of Rambos. But, there's always <a href="http://www3.telus.net/peaches/nsf/nsf.html" target="_blank">NSF</a>. Hopefully, the teamplayers will rule.
B) If they have to get scored on kills to have a good time, I wouldn't want them on the server, anyway. Aliens are scored on kills, but whether you are alien or marine, the team is always, always, always, always first. I do think, however, that these kinds of players will turn out to be the minority. They will be there, to be sure, but they will probably be able to see past it. Besides, the commander will recognize his/her good players. And if you really want to be a hero on the marine's team, try being the commander. Half of every win is the commander's doing.
-Ryan!
"Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago."
-- Bernard Berenson
A team of skilled DMers in Natural Selection:
as marines,
1) will not individually have the firepower to take out a hive on their own.
2) will not get upgrades or higher level weapons, since they probably won't build structures.
3) probably won't be receiving ammo or health from their commander, if one of them even goes into the chair.
4) will eventually be ambushed by a skulk or split open by a fade.
5) won't respawn if they didn't even build an infantry portal.
as aliens,
1) will have more success as long as they realize they need to ambush rather than try a head-on attack.
2) will not get upgrades in any way (chambers or hives) if no one goes builder.
Both teams require *some* teamplay, and either team will lose without it. Aliens are more DM-capable.
As for people leaving because they don't get a score... they can play aliens, or they can leave. I wouldn't miss them. NS does require a higher level of *social* intelligence than any other online game, and that's not a bad thing as far as I'm concerned.
But hey, if that NSF thing works out, I think I'll have nothing to worry about. <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->
NS will be popular because NS has such Diverse appeal. There is room in an NS game for a handfull of Teamplayers, a Handfull of Deathmatchers, and even a Starcraft Afficianado. Diversity is key. NS has it.
There is no "I" in "team", but there is in "idiot".
I think that sums this up.
1) The only thing displayed for a marine is his ping.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
only his ping? i guess his name will be displayed too <!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo-->
That's about 3/4's of the map the aliens have to watch for invasion. If someone's about to make an assault, a quick "need some back up at the airlock (bast), going to take the cc" over voicecom or text will ususally generate a healthy standard of soldiers.
But for the most part, you're out there wall climing and flying your own little heart out.
<!--EDIT|rob6264|Sep. 28 2002,01:18-->
I am a playtester.
I am a playtester.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
...
Did Fam's account get hijacked or something??