I found this little gem somewhere on my harddrive a day or two ago. Thought I'd share my youthful naivite with you. Ok, so it's only been half a year. Bite me. I've added comments in purple.I have now played a few games of NS 2.0 - about 7-10 in total so far - and I'd like to share my first impressions of this new version:
Rock! Keep your shirt on dude…Oh hell yeah.
Hell Yeah! This is too good to be true (literally, a few almost NS-less weeks coming up, damn!). There's so much to say, I'd better start somewhere instead of blabbering incoherently.
I. Kharaa
I'll start with the Kharaa, as they are still (or actually, now even more so) my favourite race.
Amen to that brother.1. Skulk
The Skulk seems to have gotten both weaker and stronger (as indeed most Kharaa seem to have). The new, faster bite makes close combat a lot easier, but the easier-to-aim-with lmg makes closing the distance harder if you don't rely on stealth. The model rotation makes the Skulk even more believable as these terrible things with pointy things (no more sticking out from walls at a 90° angle, yay!!), and makes it harder to detect. A 1.x Skulk protruding from the wall like a medieval gargoyle was hard to miss, but a 2.0 beast is quite a different thing.
I always hated that… Good job!
I grieve for the parasite's ability to toggle switches, but I agree that the Skulk's remote control was a little unfair.
No I don't. Removing it was uncool, putting it back in was nice. Sucking up to Flayra won't get you any favours. The new strafing will take some getting used to, but as far as I can see it is merely an adjustment, not a nerf.
Thank God I got that "adjusted" back again. Small but annoying bug that luckily didn't require a patch to fix, just a cvar adjustment. We'll soon learn to Skulk properly again, and then I think we will be even more dangerous.
2. Gorge
The Gorge is now a more widespread evolution, as more than one is needed to win the game. Its combat abilities haven't changed too much (although SCs can make for some cool ambushes that give the Gorge a better chance). Most notable is bilebomb, as the Gorge can now tear down structures with speed and little risk (until the reinforcements arrive and chase it all over the map). It seems strange that with individual res-for-kills and equal sharing of resources, the Gorge has the lowest income of all the races. This is somewhat offset by Skulks saving res and then going Gorge at a hundred res and placing a hive+defenses all at once. More Gorges around the map mean more healing for the other classes, too.
3. Lerk
Sorry, gotta say it again:
Aww, Hell Yeah! This is the Lerk I've always wanted.
Yep. Screw bite, this is so much better. Spikes do less damage but also use less energy, meaning you can spike for quite some time before running out of stamina. Spores are just great. Harassment missions just got fun. Throwing a few spores into the marine base, then hightailing it out is a surefire way to piss the poor humans off. And the Lerk isn't so "paper-thin" as I'd feared, in fact, as long as I stay out of close range my survival rate is pretty high. I'm just waiting for marines to start ambushing those pesky flyers, as the Lerk lacks the ability to deal a lot of damage quickly. Get caught at close range and it's game over for you. Being able to shoot umbra is nice, although the clouds are short-lived. Allows you to help while staying out of harms way.
Just remember to actually DO it, then. The meager protection you offer is completely cancelled out (and then some) if you block that Onos from retreating.4. Fade
Uhm, what can I say? The Fade is a completely new experience. I suppose you use blink to get in close, slash those marines, then blink away again (and with blink, the Fade suddenly became the fastest lifeform of them all). Blink is hard to control (I fear the class is gonna be neglected in favor of the easier-to-learn Onos), but I'm sure it will be a great ability with practice. Metabolise is fine, as the Fade takes damage often, and thus needs frequent "repairs".
A good Fade player will rely on speed, unpredictable movement and hit-and-run attacks to survive, not carapace. You're better off with regeneration sonnyboy.5. Onos
Sorry, it's happening again:
Aww, Hell Yeah! Onos is mad fun. Of course we all knew that, but now we can have mad fun much more often. Devouring marines is just cool (haven't checked if it works with HAs
It does.), especially when they start making sullen remarks ("This is the third time in a row you swallow me! There are lots of other juicy marines, you know?").
That joke never gets old... wait, no. It does. Stomp is good at stopping marines from bouncing around. Charge is killer.
What was I smoking back then? Charge wasn't killer. No sir. Idiot. Watch that health though, it dwindles faster than you think!
II. Kharaa Structures
1. Offense Chamber
So much more useful than its 1.x counterpart.
Amen. Those were only useful as physical barriers, nothing else. No longer a wall with limited firepower (read: a hurdle that must be jumped in order to get at the Gorge behind), they are now a force to be reckoned with.
"What, a Gorge with two OCs? Free Gorge kill!" No longer, soldier! Ignore those OCs and you'll end up a hedgehog. Or a porcupine.
Maybe both? A... hedgupine? Porchog?2. Resource Chamber
Not much to say about those. Umm... Protect them! Yeah, that's it. You're lost without 'em.
Amazing how slow people have been in learning that lesson. Even now, more than half a year later, many people still don't get it.3. Defense Chamber
Not much to say either. Heals nearby strucures and players. No big changes since 1.x.
4. Motion Chamber
As always, the MC offers upgrades that are useful to all classes (well, silence may not be
too useful for an Onos, and adrenaline is not the first choice for Skulks either). Silence is evil, and celerity is good for Gorge getaways. Run bitch, rruuuuuunnnn!
5. Hive
Not as "paper-thin" as I'd feared. A Hive doesn't go down quickly unless a sizeable force manages to get in there (and that's
your fault, not the game's!).
Or you could just try hiveguns... Later to be known as "shirtguns" or "Lork-on-the-clorf-remedy". Good job on making the Hives important, but not all-important. The two- and three-hive abilities are so great that everyone wants another hive, but if the marines are low on res, you'll slaughter 'em without too.
6. Sensory Chamber
I've saved these until now because I reckon them to be the star of 2.0.
Would you believe me if I said that we've mostly slipped back into the bad ol' DMS? The chamber offers two truly useful upgrades (with pheromones not being all too useful
More like useless. I told you, Flayra does not love you. You don't need to send him chocolate for Valentine's.), and cloaks everything in a big radius. A chain of SCs offers aliens the ability to travel great distances completely invisible (SC + Silence = Marine Fear). Once the chamber's novelty wears off, people will start to use other chambers more, but the SC is a keeper in any case (I bet it will lose some of its popularity when marines start to hunt for SCs with scanner sweeps).
Heh. "Use other chambers more." lolfighter, the King ov Understatement. A great, though not unbalancing, chamber. Stop whining rines, whaddya think the observatory is there for huh?
III. Marine Weapons and Equipment
1. Knife
No changes as far as I can see (or are there new idle animations? Don't think I saw the balancing one before).
Yah, that one's funneh.2. Pistol
Haven't checked the firerate yet. It still fires as fast as I can click. Gotta bind a key to fire to check.
Never made that ckeck. Still fires faster than I can click. New sounds is great.
3. Light Machine Gun
Neat. No chances to firing rate or damage as far as I know. The lowered model allows for better aiming, definitely a good thing. The sound seems to indicate a higher rate-of-fire, but that doesn't seem to be the case. New sound is good anyway.
4. Shotgun
Faster rate-of-fire makes it a lot easier to use (has damage been lowered to compensate?). Still doesn't see too much use, but I guess that's bound to change as Commanders all around discover what a nifty tool it is.
It did. The animation doesn't look graceful now (as it was made for a longer firing delay), but that's trivial.
5. Mines
Not seen used yet. Strange. Go down too easy with bilebomb?
Does bilebomb even take 'em down anymore?
Used occasionally later on.6. Welder
New, faster draw animation is swell.
Aye.7. Heavy Machine Gun
I like the reduced damage versus buildings. coil and his posse finally got what they wanted I see. Way to go coil!
"coil and his posse" don't love you either. And what kind of language is that? Posse? Blegh.Because of the uneven clip size, two "turns" of ammo at the armory only give you 124 bullets (half of 125 is 62.5, rounded down is 62, 62 times two is 124). Though strange, this is no big problem. One more "turn" at the armory and you've got your remaining bullets. Possible solution: Double the time it takes to use the armory once, but make it hand out whole clips at a time.
They just made the armory hand out 63 bullets for the HMG instead. I still like this one better though. Why does the armory hand out half clips? "Here's half your clip. Hang on a second... And here's the other half. Now glue 'em together."8. Grenade Launcher
In my opinion the GL didn't need change, but I was wrong. The new GL looks really cool. I fully expected it to go through the entire four-round loading animation even if I fired only one round before reloading. What a pleasant surprise to the contrary. My only gripe is that it will go through the entire four-round loading animation even if I only have two grenades left, and I'll do all this loading and still end up with only two bangs in the drum.
Mmm. Lady, I got a "bang in the drum", and the hammer is "cocked". Wanna be my "victim"? Oh well, no gamebreaker.
9. Jetpacks
Thoroughly nerfed. Longer research time, higher cost. They are no longer an all-round benefit, but more of an Onos counter.
Tried flying past a goring Onos in a small hallway? No? Thought so. But they DID need the nerf. "Catch me if you can, you silly bloated cow!" Never liked 'em anyway, so thank you!
10. Heavy Armor
Once again, people discover just how much rock HA is. With spore immunity (and no Onos devouring?
Devour is the COUNTER to heavy armor. Try chargedevour if you've got the hives, mad fun.), heavy armor and the ability to quickly be repaired, these are the be-all and end-all of the marine tech tree. In the end, taking one of these behemoths down is almost as satisfying as slaughtering an Onos, and almost as hard.
Well, when on their own, they're a lot easier to kill. Try swarming a rambo HA with skulks. The walking sounds are dead on.
Unless you have L3 armor, in which case they're just dead - no sound at all.IV. Marine Buildings
There's not much to say, so I'll ommit anything that isn't important. It's notable that it takes Lerks a long time to destroy any kind of marine structure.
1. Electrified Resource Towers and Turret Factories
As their main purpose is keeping Skulks away as far as I know, they perform well. They quickly fall to Fades, Onos or bilebombing Gorges, but I figure that's intentional.
2. Sentry Turrets
Much more accurate. One can still be taken out by a Skulk, but if several are around, high-hp lifeforms are required. Good job. Larger turret farms can be dangerous to even Onos.
Too dangerous in fact. The endgames were horrible. Turrets had their damage reduced to half against Onos later on. Bring Gorges and/or Lerks.
V. Golden Moments
1. Devouring marines is always fun. Particularly the one that was devoured over and over and over again, as soon as he ventured outside base (in a hopeless quest to kill the two Onos out there. Three vanilla marines do NOT threaten an Onos, let alone two!
Well, three might, if they're good shots and don't all get stomped. Nublets). During one particular five-minute period, he must have spent more time inside an Onos than outside. Hilarious.
The same marine found jumping over railings a particularly good way to escape Onos (experience is the best tutor). That is, until he became overconfident and stood right on the other side of the railing, still just inside devour range. *Gulp* He: "WTH???" Me: "Phear m3h six-ph33t tongue of D3WM!" Oh God, I've rarely experienced laughter as so agonizing.
2. Half-running, half-flapping backwards through twisted corridors, sporing as I go, listening to the footsteps of pursuing marines. The final spore kill pictogram and *ugh* *clunk* sound of a marine dying is pure gold.
And you know what? Some of them still fall for the "broken wing" trick and come running after you as if they can kill you with magic laser beams from their eyes and spores don't do any damage. And then they die.3. Being saved from the belly of an Onos. "Thank God. Oh, and thank you guys, of course!"
4. SC ambushes. Nuff said.
This about sums it up. My only gripes are with the Skulk parasite (no more switch fun! *sniff*), the strafing (will take a little time getting adjusted to, but then we're good to go) and the slow resource-gain as Gorge (no more getting showered with res).
I remember a game of 1.04 on ns_tanith, with me as Gorge. By the end of the game (and yeah, we had three hives), the pool was filled with so much res overflow that I'd build an OC and immediately get filled up to 100 again. WoLs EVERYWHERE I tell you.Yes, this may sound like shameless praise, but 2.0 deserves it.
It DOES sound like shameless praise. And did Flayra ever answer your love letters? Of course, the jp/hmg rush didn't show up before a couple of month had passed, but I'm not gonna be pessimistic before I see something that looks threatening.
Well, nothing anywhere near as bad as jp/hmg happened. And the marines started winning after a while as competent commanders started to appear, and the incompetent ones that thought they were good because they won games of 1.04 stopped coming (or got better).And why am I typing an essay so long that nobody will read it when I could play instead?
this, I'm off.
Me too. Over 'n out yo.
Topic: Ns 2.0, First Impressions (Read 2155 times)
