Beta 6 changelog

[TheAdj]

If you can imagine a ghost skulk, that's what it looks like.  I've never had a problem seeing cloakers moving for the most part, that shimmer is how almost all cloaked things appear.  In starcraft you often had to find innovative ways of killing cloaked objects, so in NS it's not quite as difficult.  Half the battle is KNOWING there are cloaked aliens, spotting them is usually pretty straight forward if you have your vis settings correct (Read: You can actually see and it's not too dark or too bright) and know what you're looking for.  Often it's near impossible to notice a cloaker in time to react if you don't know they're around.

[lolfighter]

Cloaking in NS should be approached like walking around wearing a cardboard box in Metal Gear: You move (walk) when the rines are looking away, then stand still when they turn around. Remember, the closer you are, the bigger you appear on their screen, and the easier it is to spot you if you're not completely invisible. When standing still, you are completely invisible if I'm not mistaken. If you're still far away, it may be safe to move even if in full sight of the enemy, but don't come crying to me if it gets you killed.

Basically, what gets a cloaker killed is growing overconfident. If you are not 100% cloaked, you CAN be seen. At 5% it's hard, but far from impossible, much further than you'd like. It's almost as if fate has a sense of irony: If you believe you cannot be seen, you WILL be seen.

Cloaking is a mighty upgrade if used right, but it's NOT flawless or almighty. Not overestimating its usefulness will allow you to utilise it to its best.

[rad4Christ]

I think one counter that should be possibly discussed and PT'd is a simple one, either decrease energy needed for ping to say, 20 energy per ping, or have the energy replenish faster, about 1 every 2 seconds. Not both mind you, but either or. Then, ping is a bit more useful, and can be used more often.

That way SC can still be a powerful choice, but amrines don't need 4 OBS in base to counter.


My 2 cents...

[lolfighter]

Hmm... But if the rines can largely negate the advantage given by SCs with only, say, two observatories, while the aliens have to spread half a dozen SCs around the map for them to be truly effective, isn't that a bit harsh?

According to Niteowl's manual, an observatory is 20 res. And we all know that rines generally get more bang for their resources because their resources are pooled, as opposed to the aliens, where they're spread out. If SCs become too cheap to counter, don't we risk that they become useless once again?

[Mr.Ben]

That change would make sieging even easier and you'd probably never have to sight the hive.

[a civilian]

When standing still, you are completely invisible if I'm not mistaken.

You are still 5% visible when not moving, but it's much more difficult to spot the faint distortion of a cloaked alien when it isn't moving.

[SwiftSpear]

I was playing today and I encountered what I'm pretty sure is going to be a major issue with B6.  Playing NS_metal on a fairly small game I took the oppertunity to spam OCs in marine start while the marines were off shotty rushing a some hive (I was trying to force a beacon) and managed to get 8 down and several half built (half built so that they would all start attacking as close to the same time as possible).  Now in beta 5 with the OC's prioritizing the structures the spawning marines were able to slowly but surely kill them off one by one, dispite the damage they did; I did however get away with at least five kills out of the rush.  In beta 6 all turrets will prioritize players over structures.  So if a rine team manages to get up a TF and some turrets in a building hive, or a gorge decides to lame up MS those things are going to seriously fry any spawning players be they skulk or marine... essentially these things now spawncamp by thier nature alone!

I know the reason it was implimented was to prevent the lameness of CC blocking defence groups, but that is far easier to prevent from an administrative level then spawncamping.  I forsee this next version seriously laming up lunixmonster's no spawncamping rule at very least, that is if it doesn't just cause the new beta to flop altogether...

Thus my cry to playtesters, lame turrets and OC's at every possible oppertunity, either prove me wrong or get this problem fixed before the B6 release is final!

[TheAdj]

The moment I see someone coming into marine start alone I'll be hopping out with my handy HMG and shredding whatever it is (minus an onos).  Any commander worth their salt will stop you from building even 1 OC, either by himself or with help.  As for the turrets in the hive, I do believe if they get turrets up in the hive you're pretty much screwed anyways, the likelihood of recovering at that point is pretty low.  I don't see how it would throw off balance as compared to rewarding marines for exploiting the stupidity of the alien team, which is how most marines teams win nowadays anyways, not on skill but on the blatant stupidity of the alien teams.

[SwiftSpear]

The moment I see someone coming into marine start alone I'll be hopping out with my handy HMG and shredding whatever it is (minus an onos).  Any commander worth their salt will stop you from building even 1 OC, either by himself or with help.  As for the turrets in the hive, I do believe if they get turrets up in the hive you're pretty much screwed anyways, the likelihood of recovering at that point is pretty low.  I don't see how it would throw off balance as compared to rewarding marines for exploiting the stupidity of the alien team, which is how most marines teams win nowadays anyways, not on skill but on the blatant stupidity of the alien teams.

[snapback]37517[/snapback]

If that be the case, I'll be sure to abuse it as much as possible with the release of B6.

My beloved OC kamakazi just got several times better  

[lolfighter]

I suggest spawnprotection against turrets only. OCs near the IP/turrets near the hive are not a necessity, so this won't cripple anything, except of course Swiftspear's OC kami.