$had0w wrote:I really really want to like this game, but just a few things really put me off it. I've played 30 hours, and im still not what i'd call 'good' by a long shot :/
Commanders: winning or losing is FAR too dependent on commanders. Far far too dependent. Get a newb commander and you may aswell F4. Dont have a commander for the first 2 minutes? F4. Have your commander refuse to get leap? F4. Commander doesnt have VOIP? Well, may aswell F4 again...
I wouldnt mind all that, if commanding was something anyone could do. It is by far, the most difficult, and new player unfriendly thing in the entire game, but the team also depends entirely on a commander... It makes no sense at all...
I don't think Commander is that hard to do... I mean it's pretty much a straight up RTS interface. Granted, maybe if you're not an RTS player then it might seem really daunting. I also don't think that an newbie commander automatically means your team is screwed - if you have a couple of good players on your team (ie ones who can rack up good KDRs) who talk to the commander and suggest upgrade paths you could be fine. IMO the actual biggest factor on whether a team will do well is the ability of the individual players to kill the other team. It's no good have an ace commander, with solid build orders and pro strats if no-one on your team can even hit a skulk let alone kill it.
Being a mostly alien player, and then 95% of the time i play skulk just because its the most fun, i find that they die so easily. Without leap, its nearly pointless unless you can ambush the enemy... Running at them, even on the walls/roof? Nope, you're gonna get killed in a single burst..
Yet there are tons of ambush points on the maps. Leap is meant to come out to help counter the shotgun/armour/weapons upgrades for the Marines. Marines are just as screwed if the armour/weapon upgrades haven't come out. Also keep in mind you do need the 2nd Hive in order to research leap... If you as the team can't hold the map to keep ResTowers alive, or even just to get the 2nd Hive up, you're not going to get Leap.
Upgrades for aliens. I really want to know why nearly every alien commander always goes for celerity and carapace first over stealth. It makes no sense, at all.
With stealth, you can kill a marine easily without them having a chance to fight back. See a dude building something? Stealth over there and bite his ankles off before he can swap to a gun. See two dudes building something? Go kill one, and jump around and kill the other.
Could you do that so easily with celerity and carapace? No chance, you'd get creamed.
So again... why?!
With your example, why do you even need Stealth? If you hold shift you will walk and not make a sound. If the marines are building then they're unlikely to notice you without stealth anyway. And you realise that stealth disappears the moment you attack right? As soon as you start attacking, you're just a basic skulk with no speed or armour bonus.
Shift Hive (Celerity/Adrenaline) pretty much has to come out first so you can build a shift (lets you spawn eggs), otherwise you're taking a huge risk on being egg-locked if the marines hit your base. It'd be like the Marine Commander not building a second infantry portal. Celerity gives you the speed boost necessary for your skulks to zip all over the map to counter Marine expansion. Plus Adrenaline is a godsend for Gorges when you get Bile Bomb from the 2nd Hive. Crag Hive (Carapace/Regen) is generally what you go on the 2nd hive, because the Marines will have tech'd up to weapons2. Fades especially (but aliens in general) without Carapace will get shredded. Crag Hive also lets you build Crags (heals aliens around it) which is invaluable for holding forward positions.
The problem with upgrading to Shade (Stealth/Silence) is that neither of those 2 upgrades really offer much benefit in the mid-game. You absolutely need Carapace to counter the Weapon/Armour upgrades of Marines, and Celerity gives a genuine advantage in making you harder to hit (ie basically an armour upgrade of its own). Silence is actually pretty fun early game for a Skulk Rush, because the Marines can't hear if they're about to get hit lol. Stealth is by far the worst upgrade at early game though, because it requires the aliens to stop and move at walk speed. This means you're using it to camp, when you really need to be moving around the map and hitting the Marines wherever they try to expand. Sure you could run to a res point and lurk in stealth, but you can often do the same thing without stealth anyway by hiding behind pillars/pipes/vents etc. I'm sure if you had a really good team of Alien players you could do amazing things with stealth, but if you're playing in pubs then most people will benefit far more from Celerity/Carapace than any other upgrade combo.
Marines. My god im terrible at marines. I feel like im playing with a ping of 300 when i play marines because of how fast the aliens are, i just cant track them fast enough
Yet when i play aliens, i have no trouble getting myself killed in under a second by marines...
Also, marines should NOT be able to get inside vents. Ever. That **** is just cheap. The vents are there for the aliens, its obvious that thats what they were designed for. Not for humans to bunnyhop their way in and camp it.. or even worse, throw mines in there :/
lol, you just said that as Aliens you find celerity useless, but as a Marine you can't even hit them because of how fast they are... One of those statements doesn't add up.
As a Marine, always always group up. A single Marine is at a disadvantage against a single skulk in most situations early game, but two Marines should have no problems. That might seem unbalanced, but keep in mind that a sole skulk can't actually do anything but kill Marines, whereas a sole Marine can build an entire 2nd base. Wherever possible, try and fight in long corridors that work to the benefit of your assault rifle and dont forget your pistol. If a skulk is all over you don't reload your rifle, swap to pistol instead. Hell, if you still haven't killed the skulk, whip your axe out and start swinging. Reloading when a skulk is on you will just get you killed.
I will agree with you on vents. Marines get grenade launchers anyway which sort out any aliens in vents, why do they need to be able to get in them too? Though perhaps Marines should be able to weld vents (and doors) shut which forces Aliens to break through them first. That would be cool.
by Cozi » 2 Nov 12, 9:57 pm 
