Predators and being the hunted

[Renomaki]

You know, I been a predator for a little while now, and during my hunting career, I had hunted quite a few marines and xenos alike, getting a fair few trophies here and there. But it has only been recently that I begun to wonder how people felt about becoming "wanted game".

In all my time here, I don't think I was ever hunted ONCE by predators. Sure, I got into plenty of fights with them, but I never had a predator look at me and go "Hmm, yeah, I wanna make a trophy of that baldie" and furiously track me down and cut me to ribbons. But I know that there were quite a few marines and xenos alike that were targeted and hunted down, sometimes to the ends of the map, seeing the fear in their eyes as a tall humanoid chases them down and tries to murder them for sport... Which makes me wanna ask:

What is it like to be hunted?

I figure, as scary as it may be, it would be flattering to have a predator make a trophy of you, big or small as it may be. Let alone that you'd have more interactions with the predator than most when targeted.

I'm not talking about duels, by the way, I'm talking about simply being hunted, where the predator uses his tools to chase down and corner their prey into a fight for survival, making it use every ability it has to defend itself from the hunter and giving it a fight worth while (while still retaining honor, of course).

So, can anyone tell me how they feel when they are being hunted? Any ways to make it more enjoyable and less frustrating, so that your death isn't as anti-climactic? It wouldn't hurt to ask, being a predator myself.

[Chaznoodles]

I'd love to see predators reworked to have more of a focus on trapping and hunting, rather than just walking into marines and pointing at one until he gets the idea.

[Feweh]

God im so ready to consume the salt from this thread.

[Casany]

*Salts*

For real though, I don't think I've ever been actively hunted sadly. But I assume it'd be cool

[driecg36]

Yeah most of my interactions with preds have been them making noises from cloak.

Then again i dont actively seek out preds so idk.

[Renomaki]

*Salts*

For real though, I don't think I've ever been actively hunted sadly. But I assume it'd be cool

It would be cool, yeah, but painful.

Like that one time I chopped off both of a smartgunners arms, him waggling helplessly as he only BARELY avoided death by my hand. I can imagine he was either shitting his pants or cursing loudly as a predator kept chasing him down every chance he got.

Being a xeno would be a bit easier, since you wouldn't have to worry about becoming a nugget, but depending on your caste, you might not have a good chance 1V1 against a predator no matter how robust you are.

Either way, being chosen for a hunt can be surprisingly difficult, considering all my past fights with predators were just fights, not being hunted.

[Zilenan91]

I remember a predator going behind the tree above engineering on 624 and scream for medic over and over and entire squads of marines went over there to see what was up and I thought that was really funny.

Only other experience I've had with predators that hasn't been a xeno was back in Pre-Alpha just after 624 got released and predators were shit. You could shoot them in the head and if shrapnel got stuck in their head they'd go blind and could not heal this damage away so even if they killed you and healed their actual brute damage they still couldn't see shit and would end up dying anyways. This was also before AP ammo so really you just had to pump rounds into them until they went down and like 2 or 3 marines doing that would kill them and they weren't threatening at all.

Right now they're still not threatening. They point at you saying you're their prey but you can just walk away and they can't do anything, even as a xeno, because your friends will help you shred it. The only time they could be threatening is if you're alone but if you're along in this game and aren't a xeno you're retarded because there's so many things that can kill you nearly instantly if you're alone.

I think the most robust thing I've seen someone do was wait for the predator back in Pre-alpha near a dropship and then he got into a 1v1 with it and tried to drag the fight out a lot with emotes. Then he grabbed the predator and threw it under the dropship and it got gibbed.

[NescauComToddy]

I remember when I was hunted by a predator after having survived and mortally wounded him in a basically random encounter.

Regarding the sensation of being hunted, I have to admit that it is exceptionally amusing when you can realize that there is a transparent figure following you. It's not scary, in fact, it's extremely exciting. Most of the time according to my relatively low experience of being a worthy prey, the predator who is hunting you will simply watch you until he has the opportunity to re-engage your character.

Unfortunately, most times the hunter never finds his prey after the first interaction for several reasons. Almost always a Marine that a predator is hunting goes back to the Almayer and is hardly ever found again.

Maybe the Marine already died, or maybe he's in the midst of fifty other Marines in the FoB...

Anyway, my biggest recommendation would be to be more present in the actions of your prey. Be aware to approach it as soon as you can to prevent you from losing the opportunity in the future.

Note: I believe there is no way to make a player's death less frustrating for him, even if you try as hard as you can. Try to interact with him in a memorable way so that he adjusts to the frustrations he may have. Remember that you will always have people complaining about you and thinking they know more about what you are doing.

[Swagile]

In their current state, predators are not scary at all.

Predators currently do more damage, both injury, fracture, broken bones, and destruction of FOB's in their self destructs than they do when they actively hunt.

Ive only seen TWO hunts where predators were robust and did a lot of damage, and those were extremely rare to see.

Because of that, and the fact that most of the time they never get a chance to RP with you because they get filled with AP, my experiences with Predators is very little and tends to be watching them blow themselves up. Aka boring to watch, and/or play with / against.

Ive only had TWO fun interactions with Predators; one when I rallied two other survivors as a survivor myself and became a slave of Predators, helping them build their lodge and our own housing...

The other is when I got into a duel 1 v 1 and nearly killed them.

Tl;dr predators are underpowered and unfun to watch 90% of the time, either because they die quickly or because they resort to just making spooky noises in the dark.

[SagaSword]

I remember I was hunted by spartanbobby because I shot him near the river accidently when he was cloaked. I had rp with him beforehand and considered them "Harmless" because they helped a survivor. So when I shot him I apologized and tried to rp with him but he went ham bam on me with a roar and began trying to jab me with his spear even when I'm at the middle of my marines. Call it baldness or utter madness this guy followed me everywhere I went, I was constantly swapping between my m41 for shooting ayy scums and the machete for fighting the predator. I ended up with good ayy kills and wounded the pred badly, all of this with an almost white screen because I had trauma from the FF in the head and it was splinted. (Luckily I didn't go blind till I went to the Almayer)

I feel being hunted is so frustrating and infact terrifying once you immerse yourself with your IC character.

[Evan Stelf]

A while back I was a survivor on the LV and I wandered into a pred base. When I was hiding in there I was surrounded by three preds then they made me fight them. I refused and instead fought with just fists. They then beat me up and threw me out to the marines and I got treated. After I got treated I messed around with the preds until one decided I was being annoying and decapped me with his hand scimitar or something. Easy round would survivor again.

[Karmac]

Nibbas complain too much about predators and then go around asking to get a combistick shoved up their collective asses. Predators don't have it that easy and some of you realise that, but whether you care or not the only people preventing proper RP with predators are the ones that'd rather gun them down than deal with their shenanigans.

That said, no one likes it when you go up and start hugging the giant jamaicans, or when you start expecting them to be the good guys.

[Steelpoint]

Predators need more proper RP tools, such as being able to visibly skin Humans/Xenos and hang them up somewhere, etc.

IMO I think Predators should be made more MedRP, made a bit weaker and turned into a proper side antagonist.

[Karmac]

>made weaker

I'd rather lose my whitelist

[Steelpoint]

The only thing stopping a Predator from wiping the floor is the individual players competence and the code of honor. So long as the player is competent and is able to employ their full arsenal they should have little problems. Honestly I usually see Predators die when they either overextend or they allow themselves to get cornered.

The height of Predator role play is tossing rocks/heads at people and roaring in the dark. Every other form of ""roleplay"" is some usually either some weird interpretive dance or an act that breaks the lore.

I kinda wish Predators had more functions/objectives akin to /tg/stations Space Ninjas, in that they must collect a point score of skull trophies, with certain skulls being worth more (Specialist or Ravager skulls would be worth more than a Standard or Runners one).

From a true lore perspective our Predator balance is out of whack, the strength of a Predator is in their stealth, not in their ability to tank damage. They have a extreme pain threshold but a Predator will still go down a M41A burst or a shotgun slug to the chest (ala Predator 2 or any comic with Predators and Marines).

[Swagile]

Yeah, Predators in their current state aren't very "highRP" and usually just roar at people in the dark all round.

Making them more of an antagonist of the round would be interesting, considering how weak they currently are and the low amount of them available per Predator round unless admins bus the Predators. I sure as heck would love to fight Predators a lot more than the usual xeno v human fest every round.

[SagaSword]

I disagree actually, predators have everything that could make them antagonists and very "High RP". I think predators should try to make "Self Objectives" just like I do when I become a xeno or marine. Examples: try to lure the prey into a trap or setup the lodge in a highly dangerous area and see what will happen. Maybe even follow your prey EVERYWHERE it goes even if it went to the Almayer (It is dangerous, but don't forget that Preds can be as sneaky as a hunter if they know how to hide well), corner your prey and fight it then try to go back to the Planet again. Or try to make a human friend if they show promise in battle, make them your "Apprentice" or something or catch poor wounded marines and treat them then become slaves in your lodge forever!

The possibilities are endless if you think about it, remember that the pred's first and foremost rule is to bring fun to the round by any means without excessive grief and you just need the higher ups' confirmation.

[Swagile]

I disagree actually, predators have everything that could make them antagonists and very "High RP". I think predators should try to make "Self Objectives" just like I do when I become a xeno or marine. Examples: try to lure the prey into a trap or setup the lodge in a highly dangerous area and see what will happen. Maybe even follow your prey EVERYWHERE it goes even if it went to the Almayer (It is dangerous, but don't forget that Preds can be as sneaky as a hunter if they know how to hide well), corner your prey and fight it then try to go back to the Planet again. Or try to make a human friend if they show promise in battle, make them your "Apprentice" or something or catch poor wounded marines and treat them then become slaves in your lodge forever!

The possibilities are endless if you think about it, remember that the pred's first and foremost rule is to bring fun to the round by any means without excessive grief and you just need the higher ups' confirmation.

Luring prey into a trap ends in being obliterated by Marine squad with AP, luring Xenos will just make them pounce spam away and now your down a hunting trap.

Making a lodge in a dangerous area has ALWAYS lead to entire marine squad wipes as they almost always open fire on the predators. Only a decent squad with a good CO could prevent a firefight on immediate contact and thats rarer than a good predator.

The slave idea has worked before as I have been a slave both as a Survivor and as a Commander, but it requires people who won't just shoot predators on sight, which is AGAIN extremely rare.

All in all, most roleplay opportunities are still centered around Ship roles, while surface roles end up being nothing but combat, Predator included unless they hide in stealth all round.

[misto]

what its like depends entirely on the weapons and tactics the pred chooses. me and 1 other marine got butchered by a pred who came at us with harpoons and blades, but we managed to shoot him enough that his organs failed on him and he started gasping and passing out and exploded himself after we had died. conversely, if a pred decides to whip out the good weapons, dozens of marines can fall. i havent been on the receiving end of that myself but ive seen it enough times as a ghost

of course the most damage ive ever seen a pred do was purely accidental, when their suicide explosion destroyed the doors and transit shutters on one of the dropships, resulting in the suffocation deaths of numerous marines as command recklessly kept trying to use the ship for transport

[Zilenan91]

Predators should be able to use the targeting beam for their plasma caster and aim it on a guy to freak him out like they did in the movies. Could also be used to mark a challenge I guess.

[solidfury7]

Yeah most of my interactions with preds have been them making noises from cloak.

Then again i dont actively seek out preds so idk.

Predators in a nutshell

[Renomaki]

The slave idea has worked before as I have been a slave both as a Survivor and as a Commander, but it requires people who won't just shoot predators on sight, which is AGAIN extremely rare.

The whole slave thing used to be a thing, but then Apop heard about it and was not very happy about it.

So we can't really do that anymore, not unless an elder commands it.

[Imperator_Titan]

Predators should be able to use the targeting beam for their plasma caster and aim it on a guy to freak him out like they did in the movies. Could also be used to mark a challenge I guess.

I'm pretty sure that that has already been implemented. Just the other day, I saw a breadator aim at a guy and the three dots showed up on his sprite.

[Enceri]

I remember i've had multiple encounters with you Reno while you were a pred. Good times those were, fisticuffing like a true hero.

[Swagile]

The whole slave thing used to be a thing, but then Apop heard about it and was not very happy about it.

So we can't really do that anymore, not unless an elder commands it.

Wew.

Just another reason why Predators should become MedRP. They try something new like slaves and its shut down; might as well just make them a wildcard in the round instead of a highRP role.