The Third Hive

[Geminosity]

well lets face it civ... if the marines get 2 hives locked down, it's usually game over for the aliens or as good as, I don't see why having the aliens beat back the marines to get all 3 hives is much different.

Marines don't have to fight for territory for their tech tree... all they need is the res.  Ok so that means res nodes but aliens already have to fight for that too, nevermind the hives.  Unlike the aliens a marine at top tech can be done without fighting over the hives, while the aliens HAVE to capture x amount of hives to gain a full tech tree so trying to compare the two as top tech levels isn't really fully feasible =/
it's genuinely harder for the aliens to achieve conquering and holding 3 vital areas, while the marines simply need time and res (something the aliens have to worry about ontop of the whole hive thing).

Back in 1.04 third hive was as good as game over, I remember reading somewhere that the reason they allowed the other lifeforms outside of their respective hive limits in later versions was to allow players to experience the whole spectrum of alien lifeforms and bring more diversity to them rather than any form of actual balancing.  I personally take that as a sign that 3 hive aliens have earned a win, just as 3 hive marines do =P

heck, maybe they should just the marines at one of the hives. that way you're at least guaranteed a fight for the 3rd one.

[Cold-NiTe]

it's genuinely harder for the aliens to achieve conquering and holding 3 vital areas

Considering the fact that marines are excellent at holding areas and have reliable stationary UNMANNED defenses AND Aliens have no reliable stationary defenses and must rely on ambushes (which become obsolete after marines tech up to TIER 2), forcing the aliens to hold on to territory instead of the marines is like some sort of punishment.

Seems to me that with all the quick response time and adaptability of the aliens, THEY should be the ones not to be tied down to 3 specific locations, while the marines are.  But that might actually end up as a much tougher game.

[SaltzBad]

Thats the point - aliens, the offensive team are trying to hold down places. Marines, the defensive team, are trying to take them away from the Aliens. The result is called fun :p

[a civilian]

well lets face it civ... if the marines get 2 hives locked down, it's usually game over for the aliens or as good as, I don't see why having the aliens beat back the marines to get all 3 hives is much different.

Like I said, the marines should only have a chance at winning if they are winning the resource war.  Marines with two hives locked down but with few resource nodes are not at all difficult to defeat.

Marines don't have to fight for territory for their tech tree... all they need is the res.  Ok so that means res nodes but aliens already have to fight for that too, nevermind the hives.  Unlike the aliens a marine at top tech can be done without fighting over the hives, while the aliens HAVE to capture x amount of hives to gain a full tech tree so trying to compare the two as top tech levels isn't really fully feasible =/
it's genuinely harder for the aliens to achieve conquering and holding 3 vital areas, while the marines simply need time and res (something the aliens have to worry about ontop of the whole hive thing).

I was simply using your comparison.  Third-hive Skulks should, I believe, be stronger relative to first-hive skulks than fully-upgraded marines are relative to unupgraded marines.

[Geminosity]

the problem I mentioned though civ is the aliens have to win the resource war AND the territory.  Polarise your example and think about it: marines have a ton of res and no hives taken.  It's still very feasible they can win, VERY feasible, heck they don't even need to be currently winning the res war as long as they have a decent stock to buy themselves an HA way out of it =P
Now imagine the aliens are winning the res war but only have 1 hive.  All the res doesn't really pay off until the 2nd hive kicks in =/

No disagreement from me on the skulk 1hive/3hive to marine lvl0/lvl3 thing though =3