Precious Hugger combat

[Darker]

So I saw many people complaining about that xeno cannot properly fight humans without using facehuggers, but isnt that a thing? Aliens main objective is to kill all humans, I'm cannot argue with that but they also must breed, because bigger hive - bigger threat.
When I playing as xeno on the first stages of the game I always use facehuggers to kidnapp marines, of course killing hosts is forbidden so after placing hugger I'm not hurting them in any way possible. But in later game when xeno army is big enough and killing is officialy allowed by queen I loose all interest in fighting using huggers (you essentialy have to make a long way to get one cuz eggs in most times are far away and killing Is more fun when you have the reasons)
So, what's the problem with that?

[Steelpoint]

Dying to a Alien that slashed you to death feels more fair than dying to a Alien that facehugged you and then proceeded to slash you to death.

Facehugger combat is not really as engaging in my opinion. With melee combat you have a very complicated wound/fracture system and one swipe is not a guaranteed death. With a facehugger you are very limited in play style as even a Young Runner can quickly end your round.

[Kavrick]

People dislike hugger combat because it requires next to no skill, even the most robust marines have nothing they can do if a runner just pounces them and sticks two huggers on the ground. Not only is it extremely cheese, it also makes no sense from a lore viewpoint, you didnt get aliens running around with handfulls of huggers in any of the media with aliens it, (especially runners as they walk on all fours)

[YungCuz]

^ These two posts, Seriously hugger combat is absolute cancer and i rarely ever say something is cancer.

[Darker]

People dislike hugger combat because it requires next to no skill, even the most robust marines have nothing they can do if a runner just pounces them and sticks two huggers on the ground. Not only is it extremely cheese, it also makes no sense from a lore viewpoint, you didnt get aliens running around with handfulls of huggers in any of the media with aliens it, (especially runners as they walk on all fours)

Okay, you cant imagine that from a lore viewpoint but in gameplay it's hard to drag people all way to the nest without any stun, they will immidiatly stand up and run away to the point where you knocked them to the ground.

[Kavrick]

Okay, you cant imagine that from a lore viewpoint but in gameplay it's hard to drag people all way to the nest without any stun, they will immidiatly stand up and run away to the point where you knocked them to the ground.

And that's a good thing, you ever played a marine? it's not fun to just get dragged away with ZERO chance of surviving, you have a rather obvious xeno bias here, maybe it'll teach xenos to use stealth and tactics rather than kamikaze with duel wielding facehuggers

[Darker]

And that's a good thing, you ever played a marine? it's not fun to just get dragged away with ZERO chance of surviving, you have a rather obvious xeno bias here, maybe it'll teach xenos to use stealth and tactics rather than kamikaze with duel wielding facehuggers

I mostly play as a marine/CL but when I play as xeno I realize that trying to tackle marine and drag them to hive when they are not stunned equal to suicide cuz marines in most time walking in groups and other marines will chase your ass even getting themselves under FF to kill you, especialy if you are weak young runner.

[Steelpoint]

The Developers have been working on a hugger overhaul for quite some time. No idea what the final implementation is but I think you'll find that most people agree that the current hugger system is unfun, its serviceable but not enjoyable.

[caleeb101]

Okay, you cant imagine that from a lore viewpoint but in gameplay it's hard to drag people all way to the nest without any stun, they will immidiatly stand up and run away to the point where you knocked them to the ground.

That's untrue. There are many ways of stun. For example, tale the 3 basic castes, Drones, Sentinels and Runners. Drones can just spam tackle and tackle marines on the ground so they basically can't get up. They can also create nests anywhere they like so nesting a marine is basically not even a problem for them. Sentinels have neurotoxin spit and the option to tackle spam if they want. Runners have pounce and tackle spam if they want to. Pounce lock is a thing as well. I play Xeno's and Marines alot because when I die as a marine I play as a xeno. Now if xenos didn't use any of these tactics or they screwed up I'll admit they can get killed really easily at that close a range with a decent gun. But the point remains, there are many options for stun.

[Darker]

That's untrue. There are many ways of stun. For example, tale the 3 basic castes, Drones, Sentinels and Runners. Drones can just spam tackle and tackle marines on the ground so they basically can't get up. They can also create nests anywhere they like so nesting a marine is basically not even a problem for them. Sentinels have neurotoxin spit and the option to tackle spam if they want. Runners have pounce and tackle spam if they want to. Pounce lock is a thing as well. I play Xeno's and Marines alot because when I die as a marine I play as a xeno. Now if xenos didn't use any of these tactics or they screwed up I'll admit they can get killed really easily at that close a range with a decent gun. But the point remains, there are many options for stun.

Tackle spam not always works, you can miss multiple times and it's very easy to maneuver from pounce (autolock way is very timewasting)

[Kavrick]

Tackle spam not always works, you can miss multiple times and it's very easy to maneuver from pounce (autolock way is very timewasting)

Oh no, aliens might not be able to stunlock! what a shame

[MrJJJ]

Tackle spam not always works, you can miss multiple times and it's very easy to maneuver from pounce (autolock way is very timewasting)

Thats like saying the screech doesn't always work because a marine can run away far enough

That situation rarely happens, and you need to be a young T1 to miss alot, by elite T1 or T2 mature, you nearly never miss your tackle aftewards.

If you are trying to also pull a marine back to nest, something is preety wrong, with hugger combat you should already have hugged, devoured and went half-way across the map before he wakes up to do anything, without, you can still paincrit the marine or fuck him up a bit for easier capture, hunting requires stealth, patience and knowing when to attack, and not just jump out and hug a guy.

[TheMaskedMan2]

Well you need to realize if hugger combat is removed, Xenos will likely have a more reliable manner of dragging people back to the nest. I for one have an idea.

Reinforced grab. Allow Xenos to reinforce their grab on marines, so they can drag them off kicking and screaming.

Also lets make nesting more interesting, how about in order to infect someone, they have to be nested and have line of sight of an egg? The egg then opens and the hugger leaps on them. This removes the rather samey and boring resin cells, and will probably promote a more interesting hive design, and make guarding hosts more interesting.

Also yeah I'm rambling. Just some ideas, anyway hugger combat sucks and the only things that should be using it in my opinion is the drone caste.

[Kavrick]

Well you need to realize if hugger combat is removed, Xenos will likely have a more reliable manner of dragging people back to the nest. I for one have an idea.

Reinforced grab. Allow Xenos to reinforce their grab on marines, so they can drag them off kicking and screaming.

Also lets make nesting more interesting, how about in order to infect someone, they have to be nested and have line of sight of an egg? The egg then opens and the hugger leaps on them. This removes the rather samey and boring resin cells, and will probably promote a more interesting hive design, and make guarding hosts more interesting.

Also yeah I'm rambling. Just some ideas, anyway hugger combat sucks and the only things that should be using it in my opinion is the drone caste.

This would be great and extremely accurate to how it actually happens.

[Crab_Spider]

The problem I've experienced with hugger combat is that it's too simple to pull off and it's too diffucult to counter; there are ways to stop huggers, and there are mechanics most people neglect to take advantage of (for example, Swagile, you don't need a riot shield to move in range of a face hugger, it only hugs/activate if you move 2 tiles in its proximity). I CAN tolerate it, but there are instances when I'm doing good but then some asshat pulls it off. Carriers, I can honestly deal with easily, but when sentinels, who have enough advantages and counters to MY playstyle are doing it, that's where I draw the fucking line.

The stun for huggers is simply too long, and because it takes 45 seconds for the stun to wear off, you're perfectly helpless. I hate being helpless.

[MrMafioso]

I don't care when its gone just as long as its gone!

[Darker]

Reinforced grab - sounds great

[shyshadow]

Seriously, I do hope a new way of incapacitating marines/humans in general comes soon. The norm of Hugger-Combat and the power gaming aspect of it is extremely unfair and there's absolutely no way to counter it without putting on 70 Helmets. Literally one round I was trying to fend off some aliens, and a Runner just pounces at a wall with huggers in hand and they just insta KO me without any effort. It's unfair and no counter.

[Crab_Spider]

Seriously, I do hope a new way of incapacitating marines/humans in general comes soon. The norm of Hugger-Combat and the power gaming aspect of it is extremely unfair and there's absolutely no way to counter it without putting on 70 Helmets. Literally one round I was trying to fend off some aliens, and a Runner just pounces at a wall with huggers in hand and they just insta KO me without any effort. It's unfair and no counter.

There IS a counter, don't move and kill the huggers. Literally, Carrier KO you because the huggers are moving in your direction.

[Renomaki]

Honestly, while I hate it as much as the next guy, I honestly am at that point where I feel quite comfortable with hugger combat these days.

Sure, huggerless combat is nice and all, but if you play smart, you can easily use someone's reliance on them to your advantage. A xeno that jumps out and does a quick slash is going to do damage that will require healing, but a xeno that only jumps out to drop a hugger will only waste his time if you remain calm. And if they try to plant one on you? Well, if you have a helmet, you are still fairly safe as long as they don't quickly doublehug you. It is a lot easier to get a new helmet than to splint your head, after all...

And even if you get hugged, there are a few ways to get it off without getting infected, so while you might take a bit of damage from having it pulled off (or take the risk of trying to stab it off your own face in time), you'll at least be ready to get back into the fight in no time at all.

When huggercombat was removed, huggers were buffed to the point that helmets were worthless, infection couldn't be avoided, and carriers were the most fearsome thing ever to witness, let alone one that has aged a fair bit. While it was nice to have MOST aliens get more combative and less reliant on crutches, but if I had to choose between superhuggers or normal huggers, I'd stick to normal huggers anyday over insta-infectors.

[YummyToast]

I always just thought that having anything other than a carrier running around with huggers, especially filling both hands with them, was kinda silly. I think carriers have their own special place built around using huggers in combat but other castes I've always wished they just had some normal way of dragging you back to the hive for infection. Instead it's more of they use the infection to be able to drag you back to the hive.

[Garrison]

Well you need to realize if hugger combat is removed, Xenos will likely have a more reliable manner of dragging people back to the nest. I for one have an idea.

Reinforced grab. Allow Xenos to reinforce their grab on marines, so they can drag them off kicking and screaming.

Also lets make nesting more interesting, how about in order to infect someone, they have to be nested and have line of sight of an egg? The egg then opens and the hugger leaps on them. This removes the rather samey and boring resin cells, and will probably promote a more interesting hive design, and make guarding hosts more interesting.

Also yeah I'm rambling. Just some ideas, anyway hugger combat sucks and the only things that should be using it in my opinion is the drone caste.

This, and I'm perfectly fine with Hugger combat on carriers, cause they are exclusively designed for it, and its a tier that needs to be evolved into.

[MrJJJ]

There IS a counter, don't move and kill the huggers. Literally, Carrier KO you because the huggers are moving in your direction.

How are you going to dodge huggers directly clicked? thrown into you? carrier huggers that directly hit you?

Yeah i thought so.

[completelynewguy]

Hugger combat is the cause of my HBP. Also, how come marines can't catch the huggers like the Rookie does in AVP 2010? Just allow the marines to catch a hugger like any normal object and slap on some flavor text about holding the fucking thing off.

[Crab_Spider]

How are you going to dodge huggers directly clicked? thrown into you? carrier huggers that directly hit you?

Yeah i thought so.

*facepalm* Does it look like I'm trying to say you can counter carriers? Or am I explaining the mechanics of huggers? Oh yeah, there's something called RESTING in which thrown huggers ignore the "stunned" mob.