Metarushing the Alamo Lockdown

[Damous]

As a proud xeno main I believe that the complaints about 'metarushing the alamo lockdown' are unfounded. The xenos are extremely intelligent, thus they would have foresight into what a sophisticated military airship console would be like and how it would function, and with the nature of their evolutionary process would be perfectly okay with sending their queen to suicide-rush the cockpit and instantly lock the shuttle down by hacking into the mainframe and bypassing security features that lock normal marines.

Besides the pasta, is it fair for the alamo to be locked down indefinitely because the queen clicked on the PO console?

Anyway, let me know what you people think.

[CABAL]

It's 10 minutes and Queen don't need to "rush" to the cockpit, becouse Alamo console is usually nearby.

This "feature" might be needed becouse every dropship with PO would just simply fly away with all marines when barricades are breached, but I feel it's too long. It should be a minute at max. For a minute you still have to defend the dropship, but you can escape, unlike now. And there should be 30 seconds of cooldown for another "Queen Lockdown" becouse I can see the future without this and "Lockdown spamming" Queen.

[Garrison]

Kill the pilot, lock down the remote control, and congrats, the ship is yours. Thats how it should be.

I don't understand why the pilot can't "manually" control the ship if the queen locks it down. That would eliminate this issue all together. And if the Xenos are storming the dropship, it shouldn't be too difficult to overtake the cockpit and kill the pilot before they can take action. Granted there might be some tinkering required so the pilot can't just take off the moment the hive threatens the ship.

[Damous]

Kill the pilot, lock down the remote control, and congrats, the ship is yours. Thats how it should be.

I don't understand why the pilot can't "manually" control the ship if the queen locks it down. That would eliminate this issue all together. And if the Xenos are storming the dropship, it shouldn't be too difficult to overtake the cockpit and kill the pilot before they can take action. Granted there might be some tinkering required so the pilot can't just take off the moment the hive threatens the ship.

It happened a few rounds ago, pilot was SSD(lol), so the queen just walked there and locked the alamo down, but some random marine made her ate two point blank buckshot, so she went crit and died.

Marines put up a fight for more than 5 minutes(new queen...ect..) but they ran out of time and got stormed by the xenos.

I really believe the timer should be lowered down to a timer between 30 seconds (if the queen is still controling the console) and two minutes.

[MattAtlas]

30 seconds to two minutes is not even close to enough time, have you people ever touched xeno before? Honest question.

There are a lot of factors in play. Drones building defenses, SSD xenos needing transportation to the dropship, infected hosts needing transport, Queen ovipositor to allow new xenos to evolve. 2 minutes just isn't enough and this has honestly never been a problem, why is it one now?

If the Queen rushes the Alamo dropship console it is the MARINES' FAULT. You let the Queen into the fucking cockpit past 3 lines of marines, what else do you expect?

[Sulaboy]

30 seconds to two minutes is not even close to enough time, have you people ever touched xeno before? Honest question.

There are a lot of factors in play. Drones building defenses, SSD xenos needing transportation to the dropship, infected hosts needing transport, Queen ovipositor to allow new xenos to evolve. 2 minutes just isn't enough and this has honestly never been a problem, why is it one now?

If the Queen rushes the Alamo dropship console it is the MARINES' FAULT. You let the Queen into the fucking cockpit past 3 lines of marines, what else do you expect?

The external console would lock the DS for like two minutes or maybe a bit longer in which Xenos would rush the dropship and try to kill all of the occupants. If the queen gets into the cockpit they would then have a longer lockdown placed into the Alamo.

I'm just putting this up as a possible solution. I don't have much experience with the locking console part of a hijack so I'm not very qualified to say anything about it.

[MattAtlas]

The external console would lock the DS for like two minutes or maybe a bit longer in which Xenos would rush the dropship and try to kill all of the occupants. If the queen gets into the cockpit they would then have a longer lockdown placed into the Alamo.

I'm just putting this up as a possible solution. I don't have much experience with the locking console part of a hijack so I'm not very qualified to say anything about it.

External console shouldn't lock the console, and I don't think it does at the moment. If it does, it shouldn't.

The cockpit console timer has no reason to be shortened imo.

[Garrison]

30 seconds to two minutes is not even close to enough time, have you people ever touched xeno before? Honest question.

If the Queen rushes the Alamo dropship console it is the MARINES' FAULT. You let the Queen into the fucking cockpit past 3 lines of marines, what else do you expect?

Whenever this was an issue, I was always a Marine, whenever I played Xeno we always just outright overwhelmed the ship without needing to lock it down.

My key example was this: was late game mid-low pop on LV-624, PO went into cryo, so Alamo was being remote controlled, I saw the queen coming in from the now unfortified right side doors next to me, (I was still unaware of how the queen locked down the ship at the time) I freaked out cause I was thinking "OH GOD SHES GONNA SCREECH" so obviously, I run screaming to the other marines that we had company. To my surprise, she didn't screech, just went to the cockpit door, and simply left. Then the Xenos besieged the landing zone from all possible angles and wiped out the marines over an amount of time I do not remember, (Although a few escaped, the damage was done).

Then when I had a chance to play a full round as a Xeno Queen few days later, I found out you can override the ship by simply pressing the lock down button outside the cockpit... which put all the pieces of my personal puzzle into place.

I call BS on such a thing, especially since the pilot can't undo it, and the Queen just needs to get to the cockpit door, not actually inside it. If the Xenos have active control of the ship, Marines should be unable to do anything to stop them. But if the Marines are still present or chase the xenos off, I personally feel that if the pilot is still alive, they can retake control of the ship, or in a balanced sense, speed up the process exponentially.

[MattAtlas]

Whenever this was an issue, I was always a Marine, whenever I played Xeno we always just outright overwhelmed the ship without needing to lock it down.

My key example was this: was late game mid-low pop on LV-624, PO went into cryo, so Alamo was being remote controlled, I saw the queen coming in from the now unfortified right side doors next to me, (I was still unaware of how the queen locked down the ship at the time) I freaked out cause I was thinking "OH GOD SHES GONNA SCREECH" so obviously, I run screaming to the other marines that we had company. To my surprise, she didn't screech, just went to the cockpit door, and simply left. Then the Xenos besieged the landing zone from all possible angles and wiped out the marines over an amount of time I do not remember, (Although a few escaped, the damage was done).

Then when I had a chance to play a full round as a Xeno Queen few days later, I found out you can override the ship by simply pressing the lock down button outside the cockpit... which put all the pieces of my personal puzzle into place.

I call BS on such a thing, especially since the pilot can't undo it, and the Queen just needs to get to the cockpit door, not actually inside it. If the Xenos have active control of the ship, Marines should be unable to do anything to stop them. But if the Marines are still present or chase the xenos off, I personally feel that if the pilot is still alive, they can retake control of the ship, or in a balanced sense, speed up the process exponentially.

You're letting the Queen into the dropship with no resistance, do you seriously think the dropship lockdown is undeserved? Considering the flank was undefended and there were no marines, it would've been extremely easy for the Queen to just waltz into the dropship cockpit and screech once she comes out. You said it yourself, the flank was unfortified AND there were no marines.

A dropship lockdown doesn't magically delete the FOB. You guys could've still defended the LZ if you so wished. Lowpop sucks, yes, but we shouldn't be balancing over one situation in lowpop (there not being a pilot).

[CABAL]

You're letting the Queen into the dropship with no resistance, do you seriously think the dropship lockdown is undeserved? Considering the flank was undefended and there were no marines, it would've been extremely easy for the Queen to just waltz into the dropship cockpit and screech once she comes out. You said it yourself, the flank was unfortified AND there were no marines.

A dropship lockdown doesn't magically delete the FOB. You guys could've still defended the LZ if you so wished. Lowpop sucks, yes, but we shouldn't be balancing over one situation in lowpop (there not being a pilot).

Queen to the cockpit? Fine, even if she can just screech, go for it and escape so you have no counter. Even if you try to bodyblock xenos just push you like a crate.
The main issue is the Queen that can lock the Dropship from console OUTSIDE dropship. On Ice colony and LV it's just next to left side doors, on Big Red it's far away in place that nobody ever defends.

Even if flank was defended etc, you still can't stop the Queen if there are no barricades, or there is a breach. Fire? Immunity. Explosives? Immunity. Bullets? High HP pool, armor and screech. Point Blanks? "Anti-bodyblock" system, screech, High HP pool.
Queen can even just do suicide charge, lock the console and die. Another Queen will emerge from drone very fast. Since screech works as good when young, or ancient, xenos didn't lose much.
If the Queen touches the console you are just marked as dead. There is no way that marines could defend the dropship for 10 minutes if there was a way for Queen to go in. Only counter is to meta barricade console with two layers of cades, so the marines could evac.

[MattAtlas]

Queen to the cockpit? Fine, even if she can just screech, go for it and escape so you have no counter. Even if you try to bodyblock xenos just push you like a crate.
The main issue is the Queen that can lock the Dropship from console OUTSIDE dropship. On Ice colony and LV it's just next to left side doors, on Big Red it's far away in place that nobody ever defends.

Even if flank was defended etc, you still can't stop the Queen if there are no barricades, or there is a breach. Fire? Immunity. Explosives? Immunity. Bullets? High HP pool, armor and screech. Point Blanks? "Anti-bodyblock" system, screech, High HP pool.
Queen can even just do suicide charge, lock the console and die. Another Queen will emerge from drone very fast. Since screech works as good when young, or ancient, xenos didn't lose much.
If the Queen touches the console you are just marked as dead. There is no way that marines could defend the dropship for 10 minutes if there was a way for Queen to go in. Only counter is to meta barricade console with two layers of cades, so the marines could evac.

As I said the outside console shouldn't lock the dropship, it should only be the lockdown button + cockpit console that lock it.

[DefinitelyAlone0309]

Folks, I don't think you know how locking the DS works. The outer console only unlocks the DS doors, and you need the queen to get inside the cockpit or at the very least the red button north of the passenger area to actually lock the DS down.

[Gnorse]

ten minutes does feel like way too long.

[Garrison]

Folks, I don't think you know how locking the DS works. The outer console only unlocks the DS doors, and you need the queen to get inside the cockpit or at the very least the red button north of the passenger area to actually lock the DS down.

From my experience as the Xeno Queen and general hearsay. Accessing the terminal releases the locks on the Dropship doors and allows you to call the Alamo down, whereas interacting with the lock down button or the dropship console in the cockpit will shut off control of the ship to anyone but the queen.

What seems to be getting on peoples nerves is either the queen "sneaks" onto the Alamo and locks down the ship, or rushes inside the dropship while the marines are evacuating. Both for the sole purpose of stopping the marines from escaping when the Xenos make their grand assault against the LZ, even if it gets her killed in the end.

What I find aggravating is that there is no real solution in the aftermath rather than "too bad, deal with it and/or die". If things are going to stay the way they are, I'd be much happier if the Queen had to actually get into the cockpit and interact with the controls to lock down the ship. That way marines would have more then enough opportunity to stop the queen before she could do such a thing prematurely. And if she still gets away with it, then the marines truly deserve to be in the situation they are now in. Just having to push the lock down button seems way too easy for the queen to do.

[Damous]

30 seconds to two minutes is not even close to enough time, have you people ever touched xeno before? Honest question.

There are a lot of factors in play. Drones building defenses, SSD xenos needing transportation to the dropship, infected hosts needing transport, Queen ovipositor to allow new xenos to evolve. 2 minutes just isn't enough and this has honestly never been a problem, why is it one now?

If the Queen rushes the Alamo dropship console it is the MARINES' FAULT. You let the Queen into the fucking cockpit past 3 lines of marines, what else do you expect?

Did you just disconsidered what i stated between parentheses?...

Anyway, im no talking about the queen killing everyone on the shuttle and locking it down(if they did this then its well deserved), im talking about the queen suicide-rushing the cockpit and literally clicking the PO console once(and dying a few seconds later).

From my experience as the Xeno Queen and general hearsay. Accessing the terminal releases the locks on the Dropship doors and allows you to call the Alamo down, whereas interacting with the lock down button or the dropship console in the cockpit will shut off control of the ship to anyone but the queen.

What seems to be getting on peoples nerves is either the queen "sneaks" onto the Alamo and locks down the ship, or rushes inside the dropship while the marines are evacuating. Both for the sole purpose of stopping the marines from escaping when the Xenos make their grand assault against the LZ, even if it gets her killed in the end.

What I find aggravating is that there is no real solution in the aftermath rather than "too bad, deal with it and/or die". If things are going to stay the way they are, I'd be much happier if the Queen had to actually get into the cockpit and interact with the controls to lock down the ship. That way marines would have more then enough opportunity to stop the queen before she could do such a thing prematurely. And if she still gets away with it, then the marines truly deserve to be in the situation they are now in. Just having to push the lock down button seems way too easy for the queen to do.

Agreed.

Although i dont think there is any immediate solution.

[MattAtlas]

Did you just disconsidered what i stated between parentheses?...

Anyway, im no talking about the queen killing everyone on the shuttle and locking it down(if they did this then its well deserved), im talking about the queen suicide-rushing the cockpit and literally clicking the PO console once(and dying a few seconds later).

That's the same issue as a xeno suiciding to kill a spec, not something devs can prevent. If an elder empress suicides to lock the cockpit that's a huge loss for the aliens, an elder empress is a HUGE help in almayer battles.

[Damous]

That's the same issue as a xeno suiciding to kill a spec, not something devs can prevent. If an elder empress suicides to lock the cockpit that's a huge loss for the aliens, an elder empress is a HUGE help in almayer battles.

A a single xeno(that can be substituted no less) is more important than 20/30 captured or killed marines?

As a person who only play drone and queen, i desagree.

[GoliathTheDespoiler]

Just don't tell the marines to actually defend the LZ, I still love capturing the alamo and getting 30+ captures by walking through a single metal barricade.

[MattAtlas]

A a single xeno(that can be substituted no less) is more important than 20/30 captured or killed marines?

As a person who only play drone and queen, i desagree.

those 20 captures are all ultimately useless in an almayer battle because they're all young/mature T1s, and that is if someone has their xeno pref on

[Damous]

those 20 captures are all ultimately useless in an almayer battle because they're all young/mature T1s, and that is if someone has their xeno pref on

Kinda going off topic, but a single xeno still worthy more than one marine and at that state of the round(1,5-2 hour) people will always join as larvae.

What im trying to convey here, is that the timer on the queen lockdown (PO console) should be way lower IF the queen dies. Maybe the PO being able to take control of the alamo again IF he is still alive, would be a way to fix this.

[Gnorse]

Actually, how about this : if the queen dies, launching the ship from the cockpit can be done instantly, while remote launching it takes about one or two minutes to unlock.

[BillyBoBBizWorth]

Almost every time ive been apart of or watching a shuttle get locked down and swarmed, 10 minutes still seems like too much.The xenoes end up just sitting around waiting to depart just like the marines topside are waiting for them to arrive, wasting both of our time.

I dont think the 10 minutes should be halved necessarily, but maybe if it was randomized between 5-10 minutes when locked down by the queen, could be 7 minutes for example this time, something else next time.

Or we can keep standing around waiting like we have been, even though we all know what the next stage of the battle is, its getting abit absurd pretending like we dont know.

Slowly i think its enivitable that eventually most of the things we currently have to "act dumb" about will have to be reversed over time, because long time players can only do it for so long before its just not entertaining anymore and is more a chore than anything acting oblivious all the time.

Including knowing that the xenoes can control USCM shuttles.

[OatzAndHoes]

I just thought of a use for those maintenance computers. What if you used them to unlock the Alamo?

[AkaBinxstar]

But we aren't allowed to bomb LZ....HMMMM.

[Bath Salts Addict]

The console at the LZ doesn't lock the ship, it just unbolts the doors if the pilot locked them down. It's the console in the cockpit that locks the ship.