Natural Selection Beta 3.6 Changelog

[rad4Christ]

Here's the compiled Changelog for NSCM playtest, all combined into one LONG list. Just thought you'd like to see.

Gameplay changes
O Aliens have innate regeneration at a rate of 2% per second, this regeneration will always heal at least 1 point of health or armour and stacks with DC or hive healing, but doesn't 'stack' with Regeneration.
O Alien upgrades cost 0 resources.
O Gestating to skulk costs 0 resources.
O Sieges no longer damage players.
O Siege now does 330 Damage.
O Turrets now prioritise players over structures.
O Offense Chambers now priorities players over structures.
O Parasite now takes precedence over Scent of Fear image (allows players to see that their Parasite hit when using SOF to help teammates track enemies).
O Bile Bomb's range has been increased by 15%.
O Cat-pack cost has been reduced from 4 to 3.
O Marines near Sensory chambers show up as if detected by Scent of Fear.
O Acid rocket now does double damage to armour.
o Fades can blink off ladders. (Pre2)
o Recycling observatories won't uncloak aliens. (Pre2)
o Increased visibility for aliens moving at greater than normal moving speed (bunnyhopping, gliding, etc.). (Pre2)
O Changed Scan cost from 25 to 20 energy units. (Pre3)
O Changed default combat game time to 15 minutes. (Pre3)
O Combat scan deploy time halved to 0.25 (Pre4)
O Alien flashlight tweaks: Marines in the alien's field of view are now lit up just like friendly structures and players. (Pre4)
O Knockback reduced to 1/3 for ducking players on the ground. (Pre4)
O Added a cooldown for cloak. You have to wait 3 seconds after uncloaking before you begin to cloak again. (Pre5)
O Limits how fast a player can re-join a team from readyroom. 3 seconds must pass before re-joining the game. (Pre5)

Game mechanics
O Hitbox code has been much improved, so shooting through the legs of an Onos will miss, while shots on edges of models will now hit.
O Players using Cloaking upgrade will no longer be fully visible at any time unless attacking or being attacked.
O Players moving faster than walking pace will gradually become more visible the faster they move, but only to a max visibility of 30%.
O Turrets will not fire at aliens with less than 10% visibility.
O Clicking on an enemy structure (visible, non-visible and cloaked) gives a 'move to' waypoint.
O Shotgun range begins to fall off at 500 units, and is then reduced by 1% for every 2 further units, resulting in 0 damage after 700 units, to stop shotgun sniping.
O If you are within 600 units of marine start, you will not be transported in by Distress Beacon.
O Group waypoints will now act like personal waypoints for each player (so when you reach the waypoint, it disappears for you, while remaining for all other players).
O Alien respawn time reduced for teams larger than 6. As the number of hives increase, this time is increased, so at 3 hives there is no difference from respawn rate at 6 players.
O Combat wavespawn now takes a 5 seconds plus 2 seconds for every dead player, up to a maximum of 13 seconds.
O Added 'notready' command to reverse ready status in tournament mode.
O Fixed exploit where structures could be dropped near marines in water to avoid building restrictions.
O Equipment, med-packs, ammo-packs, etc. can again be dropped directly on players.
O Knife knockback has been removed.
O Players no longer join a team in the 'dead' state.
O Phasegate bug that allowed for the fast transportation of numerous marines has been fixed.
O Changed player min build distance from 20 to 30.
O Pancake prevention code. Flapping no longer adds lift after speed exceeds about 900 ( or 1000 with celerity ). This seems to work well, forward movement is as normal, and diving is as normal.
o Mines now damage normally when the player leaves the team. (Pre2)
o More tweaks to pancake capping. (Pre2)
o Fixed cloaking bugs (lerks no longer cloak when gliding quickly, etc.). (Pre2)
o Players only beacon in if they are more than 600 units away from all spawn points. (Pre2)
o Reverted to beta5 hitboxes to get a lead on the hitbox issues. (Pre2)
O Changed structure build restriction radius from 60 to 30 units (Means that you can now drop multiple structures within viewing range of each other.) (Pre3)
O Changed player build restriction radius from 25 to 16.50 units (Should reduce the amount of marines-standing-in-the-way to the bare minimum, makes medpack- and ammodropping easier.) (Pre3)
O Scan exploit fix improved. (Pre3)
O Fixed a bug where a hive could not be dropped over a chamber. (Pre3)
O Team join sounds now only play for the team joined. (Pre3)
O Fixed bug where resupply wasn't effective for HMG or pistol. A resupplied weapon will never reload to less than a full clip. (Pre3)
O Combat scan is now triggered by partially cloaked aliens. Note: Scan 'fires' every 3 seconds, so there is a window in which a fast alien can still close the distance. (Pre4)
O Hive drop check fix redux. (Pre4)
O Changed the health bar around structures to more acurately reflect its health. Full bar is now exactly 100% health, empty bar is 0%. (Pre4)
O Reset room_type to 0 after being digested to avoid sound issue. (Pre4)
O Fixed small bug from last revision where recycling wouldn't show on the health bar. (Pre4)
O Recycling IP now triggers change of marine status in queue. (Pre4)
O Fixed bug that makes dead marines show up with 1 red health segment in the healthbar. (Pre5)
O Tweaked xenocide/gore pushback behavior to eliminate weird flying marines and cratering (WIP). (Pre5)
O Included cool coloured minimaps from JazzX. (Pre5)
O Fixed bug where a dead IP would not reset its respawn queue. (Pre5)
O Commander hints will not play if cl_autohelp is set to 0. (Pre5)
o Fixed the disabled weapons bug ( AKA Weapon redout ) (Pre6)
o updated minimaps from jazzx (Pre6)
O Scan build restrictions removed.  ( still problems dropping on water ) (Pre6)
O Reverted structure nobuild radii to 60. (Pre6)
O Allows the placement of items and weapons within RT nobuild radius. (Pre6)
O Fixed xeno/gore knockback so it doesn't cause marines to fly at high speeds. (Pre6)

Cosmetic changes:
O Added Heavy Armour falling sound.
O Gave each Alien a unique landing sound.
O Updated Jetpack sound.
O Updated LMG clip out and clip in sounds.
O Updated Pistol reload sounds.
O Reverted LMG firing sound back to sound from beta 4.
O Updated welder idle sound to be more obvious when not welding anything.
O Replaced raindrop sprites.
O Added a "player joined team" messages to HUD.
O Updated cat-pack commander menu icons to provide a consistent interface.
O Friendly parasited players no longer show up in hive sight, and are no longer notified that they are parasited (Parasite still does FF damage though).
O Added a separate sprite for parasited enemy structures (placeholder graphics).
O Hive locations always appears on Hive Sight.
O Unbuilt hives use a different sprite for easy detection.
O Commander Station always shows as closed in combat maps.
O Changed Hivesight sprites to be better discernable for colour-blind players (Thanks Jazz!).
O Partly implemented third person reload animations.
O Added slightly tweaked xenocide charge and explosion sounds.
O Animations for egg now play, they were broken
o New medpack skin and icons from Supernorn (thanks!) (Pre2)
O Added all-new hivehealth indicators for the alien HUD. (Pre3)
O Replaced the old parasited structure sprite (thanks, gazz0zz!). (Pre3)
O Modified hive health sprite to indicate damaged hive at 99% health. (Pre4)
O Alien_hivedying2.wav now plays. (Pre4)
O Recycling phasegates are no longer visually active. (Pre4)


Map changes:
O co_angst
- Completely reworked center area of map
- Increased brightness in landing gear zone
- Fixed several onos stuck issues
- Various other changes around the map

O Updated co_core. It now actually has a RR. (Pre3)
O co_core changes (Pre4)
- New light in hive
- Widened new vent
- Credits in RR
O co_core  (Pre5)
o made the new vent wider

co_daimos (Pre5)
o Full visual rework
O Updated co_daimos (Pre6)
- Fixed two small stuck issues.
- Railings can now be shot through.
- Added windows in the MS ceiling to light up area.
- Added some lights in the Tram Tunnel
- Added some fog in the sewer area.
- Added a hologram to show players where they can activate the PGs.
- Added location names
- Vent from Cargo Storage to Lower Tram now has an alternative exit/entrance at Upper Tram.

O Added co_ether

O co_faceoff
- Widened vents near marine start
- Changed geometry behind comm chair to be more accessible
- Hive can no longer be shot by jetpackers sitting in the side vents
O Re-compiled co_faceoff.bsp for performance fixes (Pre6)

O Added co_niveus

O co_pulse
- Added a ramp to the hive room

O co_sava
- Increased brightness
- Added cover in various rooms
- Reworked hive room to increase alien-friendliness
- Added several vents
- Increased brightness level
- Added more cover for aliens
- Tweaked some areas to allow easier Onos movement
O Updated co_sava (Pre2)
O co_sava Aesthetical fixes (Pre4)
- Fixed stuck issue in Lower water distribution access
co_sava (Pre5)
o General Updates

O ns_altair
- Increased lighting variation and brightened up overly dark rooms
- Various texturing fixes and improvements
- Reworked geometry slightly in various rooms
- Added vent between Omega Site, Phi Test Site, and Zeta Corridor
o Updated ns_altair  - build 7 (Pre2)
    * Added vent from Omega to Zeta with two exits into Phi
    * Added vent from Muck Pump to Parts Room RT
    * Rspeed optimizations
    * Adjustments to Surface Umbilical to reduce LOS
    * Adjustments to MS top entrance
    * New monitor textures by Samejima
    * Covered up pit in Omega
    * More details
    * Removed Diving tanks and connected Nanite Regulation and Settling tanks
    * Rerouted path from Settling tanks into Communications
    * Moved weldable to Muck Pump
    * Optimized Sub Bay
    * Moved node from outside Parts room into parts room
O Updated ns_altair (Pre3)
- Moved Parts Room RT to Sigma Test Site
- Added new info_locations to help navigation and direction
- Split up Life Support info_location
- Split up Sub Bay info_location
- Removed weldable door
- Reopened path between Sub Bay and Parts Room
- Moved some alien spawns into Life Support instead of being a bit outside the hive room.
O ns_altair v7d (2/14/05) (Pre4)
- Played with HLRAD compile settings a bit
- Added a few new lights to sewer
- Misc detail to parts room and Station Monitoring
- Small tweek to fix minimap glitch till I have time to do a full sprite again
- Added new vent weldables
O ns_altair (Pre5)
- extended rim around water in Submarine Bay to connect the doorway in the northeast corner with the eastern platform
- combined two nodes to one in the center of the map
- moved node in Settling Tanks closer to MS (back to its former location)
- re-opened wall near Settling Tanks to allow faster travel between MS and the southern hive

O ns_ayumi
- Gorge's Hideout and Oxygen resource towers removed
- Windows in Cold Turn and Hamasaki Hive are now breakable
- Fixed some snag spots in Eastern Entrance
- Change entrance to AE35 so Onos can fit
- Fixed spelling mistakes and invisible ledges
O Fixed the ns_ayumi alien-spawn-issue. (Pre6)

O ns_bast
- The broken door in MS is now closed
- Marines have to go through Main Aft again to get to Engine (fixes the 15 second run)
- Added infestation in Refinery to block the massive line of sight to the hive
- Added cover in Refinery in a desperate attempt to make the hive more alien-friendly (and someone somehow convinced me to do it)
- Reworked and renamed Docking Storage (it's called Reactor Core Regulation now)
o Updated ns_bast (Pre2)
O Changes to bast: (Pre4)
- Fixed horrible stuck issues in Refinery (two of them)
- Fixed not being able to wall-run on Feedwater-Tram tunnel vents
- Sped up MS door (that one that leads to atmos)
- Added vent from engine to water treatment
- Fixed LoS issue in Engine hive
- Moved column in Atmospheric Processing more to the center
- Widened the corridor outside feedwater
- Fixed multiple stuck issues in Refinery

O ns_eclipse
- Recreated Marine Start as a mixture between 1.0x and 2.0x versions and removed doors
- Moved Power Subjunction, Horseshoe, and Maintenance resource nodes
- Redesigned some hallways
- Vent from Horseshoe to Marine Start removed
- Various bug fixes
O Updated ns_eclipse (Pre4)
O Updated ns_eclipse (Pre6)

O Added ns_eon
o Updated ns_eon (Pre2)
O Updated ns_eon (Pre3)
- Lowered Marine Start roof considerably, and added a cc alcove.
- Small aesthetic changes to N-Turn.
- Centre console in Core Monitoring to reduce line of sight.
- Vents rearranged in Core Monitoring to help aliens and a new vent added.
- Vent in Core Power moved as part of the vent rearrangement.
- New space added to Engineering Hive to increase space for spawn points and add more cover, and just make it cooler.
- Other minor adjustments to Engineering Hive.
- Removed vent doors from Bridge Hive, while blocking line of sight to hive created by their removal.
- Increased usefulness of bridge vents (one exits from the cieling, the other is higher), and removed stickiness on one vent exit.
- Decreased Bridge Hive vent weld time from 60 seconds to 20 seconds.
- Increased lift speed from 70 to 90.
- Fixed onos stuck issue at Core Monitoring.
O ns_eon (Pre5)
- Made some minor aesthetic improvements.

O Updated ns_hera
- Moved data core delta node into hive room
- General bug fixes/cosmetic improvements
- Onos can now leave through back door of delta hive (oops!).
O Changes to hera (Pre4)
- Outside now has proper light level
- Restricted movement outside even more so gorges can't build on tube
- Skulks cannot climb the cliff walls or sky anymore. (might be slightly unaccurate - skulks are still able to stick to the ceiling but only if they manage to get through a trigger_push pushing them away with a force of 2000 units.)
- Hanger bay doors now openable/closable (again). Added a twist whereby for a short moment (3 secs) when opening/closing, onoses aren't able to pass through.
- A few general clipnode improvements
- Minimap Sprite updated (sorry for not including that before)
- Removed Systems and Fog Corridor nodes.
- Fog Corridor now has a weld to turn on lights
- Made the CC area more open/acessible to help alien attacks.
O ns_hera (Pre5)
- minor bug fixes
- lighting returned to previous states
- fixed ms door
O Included a reompiled hera with map geometry visible to the naked eye. (Pre6)
O Fixed being able to get on top of hera station. (Pre6)

O ns_metal (Pre5)
- General Updates

O ns_nothing
- Sped up and fixed all elevators
- Elevators can no longer be permanently blocked by players or structures
- Widened most vents
- Fixed several ladders to improve Onos navigability
- Fixed railings in Ominous Kismet and improved general navigability of the area
- Several trivial bug fixes
O Updated ns_nothing (Pre4)

O ns_tanith
- Fixed ramp in Central Access tunnels
- Added structures to Waste and Satcom hives to reduce spawncamping
- Added a vent between Satcom and Acidic Solution resource node
- Fixed bugs with ceiling architecture in Fusion Reactor hive

O ns_veil
- Moved Emergency Nozzle C-12
- Redesigned Pipeline hive
- Added cover to east exit from Cargo hive
- Fixed vents from Cargo to Nanogrid monitoring
- Various bug fixes
O Updated ns_veil (Pre4)
O ns_veil (Pre5)
- Reverted ot the earliest version without clipping issues
O Updated ns_veil (Pre6)

[A Boojum Snark]

"Alien flashlight tweaks: Marines in the alien's field of view are now lit up just like friendly structures and players."

I think that is my favorite part of it after innate regen I've sooo missed Advanced Hivesight.

[Manta]

"Fades can blink off ladders."

YES!  <3

"Pancake prevention code. Flapping no longer adds lift after speed exceeds about 900 ( or 1000 with celerity ). This seems to work well, forward movement is as normal, and diving is as normal."

GG 2_8.  

[Malevolent]

Sounds good to moi.

[SwiftSpear]

Hmmm, I wonder if rines will ever win games any more, seems like beta6 is entirely marine nerfs and alein beefs.  I love alot of the changes, they should make the alien game alot more fun, but hopefully they beef the marines next beta rather than nerfing the aliens to compensate.

My favorite change by far is that hives are always visable on hivesight again.  I love that feature, and it really helps you learn new maps and get the hang of customs more quickly.

[Dark]

they still win trust me. the nerfs aren't that bad

[X-S-Z]

The alien "flashlight" kicks some serious ass.

[Necrosis]

The more I read, the more I like.

I'm glad to see Bast's dreaded northeast getting addressed. Very happy. I have great faith in the mapmonkeys. And Ref getting a bit more clogged up is always good.

Game wise this would seem to favour alien aggression, which is excellent as its alien aggression that wins games. Very much looking forward to this release.

[Isamil]

You know, Adj preaty much controlled what the lerk changes would be, actully you'll find it harder to kill him now(I think he's trying to make it so changing your direction won't lower your speed, but I don't see it in the changelog yet)

[Vinegar Ninja]

that flashlight will make it SO much easier for aliens to see their target.
thank god for this.

[Malevolent]

And it'll be easier to find those marines that hide at the end in dark corners.

[Clashen]

wow the flashlight thing REALLY sucks, no more ninjaing.

[2_of_8]

I wonder if there will be any reason whatsoever to turn off the flashlight for aliens; looks like it will be almost a necessity. Or are there any drawbacks to it?

[Manta]

You'd turn it off in bright areas. Could drop a bit of FPS. Plus, everyone being so bright can get irritating.

[Necrosis]

I don't think it sucks - aliens are meant to be the ambush predators, not rines.

Second, it still doesn't block crates, so you can still hide and ninja, you just can't sit in a dark vent anymore going kekekeke.

[Mr.Bill]

Real ninja don't get seen, ever.

[Dark]

Real ninja don't get seen, ever.

[snapback]41398[/snapback]

that is correct.. so if you are a true ninja like ABS you won't be seen ever

[A Boojum Snark]

that is correct.. so if you are a true ninja like ABS you won't be seen ever

[snapback]41419[/snapback]

<3  :blush: :ph34r:

[SlickWill]

I just joygasmed.   :blush:   More seriously though, when is this supposed to come out (the date without adding the 6-8 months later when it will come to fruition.)  




Also, since I mostly play aliens, I love the flashlight, but it will truly hurt ninjas.  I can't tell you how many times whole slews of aliens have walked by me without seeing me in a corner while a ninja a pg.  Would destroy a vital element of the game in my mind.  No more sg rush ftw.  

[Iconoclast]

I just joygasmed.   :blush:   More seriously though, when is this supposed to come out (the date without adding the 6-8 months later when it will come to fruition.) 




Also, since I mostly play aliens, I love the flashlight, but it will truly hurt ninjas.  I can't tell you how many times whole slews of aliens have walked by me without seeing me in a corner while a ninja a pg.  Would destroy a vital element of the game in my mind.  No more sg rush ftw. 

[snapback]41423[/snapback]

From what I've seen, it's still possible to do. You just have to be sleek.

The flashlight reminds me of playing AvP as the predator, cycling through all the vision modes.