The Many Enemies of the USCM

[Wubs4Scrubs]

Something I've been thinking about recently is how many adversaries the USCM faces beyond the Xenomorphs. The dirty ayys are a danger which has effectively gone unseen by the entirely of the galaxy (beyond potentially incredibly top secret W-Y reports.) As such, the marines have for the most part been tasked with fighting various human factions across many worlds.

So my topic of discussion is essentially, would people like to see more development put into the human vs human aspect of CM? Currently the only time the USCM face human enemies on the server are when Feweh hosts events. Would people like to see combat against things like the CLF become more common or potentially even its own rotation mode? Since rounds against xenos have been the standard for the entirely of CM's existence, it's interesting to think about the addition of other game modes that could be implemented.

Something that I've pondered is how feasible it is to have special event maps that function as their own game mode. When Feweh hosts events like fighting the CLF on standard maps like the Ice Colony it requires a significant amount of monitoring to influence the flow of the round and ensure that people are having fun. Having dedicated maps for fighting human opponents might relive some of the burden since devs can somewhat mold how the round progresses through the map's design. Instead of having a sprawling two level research outpost like Ice Colony it might be interesting to have a smaller map like a CLF outpost or a terrorist organization occupying a W-Y warehouse.

I have no idea how plausible any of this is development wise and considering the large work load I'm sure the team already has on their plate none of this would happen anytime soon. However, I thought it would be interesting to see what other people think about fighting something other than the Xenomorphs on a more regular basis, or if playing USCM to fight (or play as) xenos is something integral to the server to the extent that it should always be the focus.

[Karmac]

Human vs Human combat would be nice because we'd see some actual tactics being applied and medics would be able to do something besides healing burn damage.

[Wubs4Scrubs]

Human vs Human combat would be nice because we'd see some actual tactics being applied and medics would be able to do something besides healing burn damage.

Yeah, it would be super interesting to see what kind of rounds develop with two separate command teams operating against each other. What I have in mind with a map could be the marines deploy to a CLF outpost where they have some basic buildings set up or occupied. It's a really cool to imagine the CLF command team in a tent organizing tactics while the USCM command strategizes from the Almayer's CIC, does a great job at symbolizing the difference in tech between the two factions.

[Steelpoint]

Only issue with Human v Human events is that the non-Marine faction have very little value on your life, since the event will just constantly respawn new people in so being wounded or dying is no real concern.

[Wubs4Scrubs]

Only issue with Human v Human events is that the non-Marine faction have very little value on your life, since the event will just constantly respawn new people in so being wounded or dying is no real concern.

That is an issue with the event version of human v human. However, when I think of having specific maps designed for human combat there would be a certain percentage of players that are randomly chosen to be CLF or USCM. Once the round began a way to fix the issue would be to disable late joins since it would put a much greater emphasis on a soldier's life. Event rounds such as hunter games already have this mechanic where once the round starts you can't late-join.

If a specific map was made for only human v human combat I imagine that the rounds probably wouldn't last super long on average which would balance out not having late-joins.

[caleeb101]

Only issue with Human v Human events is that the non-Marine faction have very little value on your life, since the event will just constantly respawn new people in so being wounded or dying is no real concern.

That's part of the fun though. There are massive amounts of casualties on both sides with Human vs Human events. When you die and look over the battlefield, you can just see piles of bloodied bodies across the board while small, scattered skirmishes or massive, devastating battles rage on. It's epic to me at least.

Plus, the tactics thing with one commander vs another commander really would be interesting. Especially if both sides get similar/ the same gear. Then it'd really be down to how you use your stuff.

[ImHereToHelp]

I think there are good ways to implement Human vs Human, although the programming logistics required to weave that in with also balancing for xeno vs human will be quite a challenge.

I just wish that when events happened, it doesn't just end up with every dead marine becoming a UPP/PMC/CLF and just overwhelming marines in the late game.

[Skimmy2]

Personally I wouldnt mind if say 1-10% chance that the round would just feature CLF/UPP rather than Xenos. If anything then because Marines arent suppose to know what they are dropping into, you would probably take more slugs/long range equipment and actually have viable uses with smoke grenades if you believed a human threat was likely.
Tactics would also probably revolve more heavily on recon and room clearing in the early stage, though arguably we already do that currently.