The State of Gameplay

[BadApple]

There would need to be another way for them to regenerate before the hivelords come out or if they all die, but otherwise I think this could be a really interesting change. And I say that as the one crazy person who enjoys sitting in the hive and guarding the hosts/queen all round the few times I go xeno.

That said, I've basically given up on non-shipside roles since the update. I'll go back to them once balance changes happen, but it's kind of problematic even playing shipside when the hijack comes so quickly. And most rounds having no survivors that make it to the Almayer kind of kills a lot of CL/MP RP.

I think there should be more of a risk to xenos exposing themselves to damage. Blasting off their bits would be very fun (so damn fun, best bit of AVP 2010), but I think making them rely on healer casts would not suit them, and making the game less assymetrical and simply two sides with different skins.

For balance I think just changing the rate of healing might work, so it takes longer to heal heavy damage.

[xXen0zS1ay3rXx]

There's still one more xeno to be added per the chart (spoilers its the corroder), we've already got some balancing tweaks ready to go once that's in.

I was hoping for a tunnling xeno ala the tremors films

[Kasius]

CM is a video game and like all video games, balancing is tough.

Especially when it comes to a game where you play with -and- against OTHER players.

It's up to us as the players to voice our opinions, give suggestions and hopefully you strike oil with those things.

From what I can see thus far, Xenos are extremely tough to kill when it comes to a....let's call it a "fair fight". They have great utility and once teamwork comes into play, a few Xenos can easily dominate the field together.

This tips the combat scale too much in one direction. The marines need more utility in game mechanics to help them stay afloat or at the very least create more interesting situations.

We enter the game and it starts off at a 0. Eventually the climax builds up and the arrow begins to move up the chart and eventually plateaus mid-round until the very end where the Xenos overtake the FOB and eventually boards the Almayer to clean house, the flat-lined action then steadily drops down on the chart and we're done.



As of right now, we have a game where marine players get geared, get a little RP in with each other before being briefed on objectives by other players who assume Command roles, and then they're dropped into the what I call the "gameplay zone".

In this "gameplay zone" is where the action happens obviously and RP is scarce or is reduced to quick snippets once the fighting starts.

I don't have too many ideas as how we can make this better but one idea I do have is something like....

Perhaps things like random events that occur mid round? They can be Admin-created or perhaps timed events. They can vary from colony to colony.

These random events can take the attention away from the Humans vs Xenos for a little bit and force the two sides to react to these events as they fight eachother. (I.E. A volcanic eruption on Big Red covering areas of the map with impassible lava or on the Ice Colony, there's suddenly an earthquake and certain parts of the underground areas are collapsed.)

These are boring and cliche examples, but you guys get the idea. This is just one of many suggestions out there to create a more dynamic "mid-round".

[Decker100]

The events are mostly unique and those that aren’t are often managed well due to being tried and tested many times before.

There have been some mid-round things but if its possible to overcome the hurdle of setting them up, more would be fun. I do find it interesting when an event occurs due to player actions such as the Liasion or Commander, as long as the events are inclusive to more than the players who trigger them.

The developers do updates, the most recent one has made Xenos extremely powerful and whilst it will be fixed, it is fun to have some difference in gameplay, even if its an insane difficulty tweak.

I would also not take your model for granted, there have been tomes where Xenos and Marines hit a stalemate, or the Marines get a major grip and push in. Sometimes Xenos would bound back or Marines would. I would also call the climax of combat when the Marines are in fill combat with Xenos and a proper front line is formed.

[Kasius]

I would also not take your model for granted, there have been tomes where Xenos and Marines hit a stalemate, or the Marines get a major grip and push in. Sometimes Xenos would bound back or Marines would. I would also call the climax of combat when the Marines are in fill combat with Xenos and a proper front line is formed.

Oh no, I completely understand my crude drawn out model is FAAAAAAR from depicting -every- outcome of -every- round but this is just a general overview as to what is currently happening even BEFORE the Defenders and the Xeno re-work was introduced to the game.

My main point is that the "mid-round" gameplay needs some more more, how should I say? Juice!

[Jonesome]

My solution is (and this was a suggestion from a while back), is to make Xenos heal from plasma and not weeds. And make the castes with the biggest pools of plasma (ie the Hivelords and Drones) become the “medics” and doctors of the xeno team. You could also still have weeds heal xenos, but at a much slower rate.

This way the xenos wouldn’t be able to just run at the marines, soak up a bunch of bullets, and run back to their one weed patch for 30 seconds just to do it again.

[Renomaki]

There's still one more xeno to be added per the chart (spoilers its the corroder), we've already got some balancing tweaks ready to go once that's in.

Wait, the corroder is making a comeback? I wonder what part of the xenotree that'll be a part of?

Also, Looking forward to seeing some adjustments to the current xenos so marines aren't completely boned when they face said xenos. I know they are supposed to be front line fighters, but still...

[zoboomafoo]

I'm going to guess the corroder is the question mark.

[Casany]

Holy hell if the corroder is added back in I’m actually gonna commit honorable sudoku

Honestly it was just the fucking worst, and I hope Donut is just memeing us

[Nyeshivuu]

I can only image the corroder is like all the annoying things about the boiler but as a caste and worse

[misto]

corroder, coming off of drone rather than spitter? i think a trick is being played. i HOPE the question mark coming off of drone will be some kind of princess to encourage better lines of succession in the event of queen death rather than relying on random drones to step up

[Butlerblock]

“Spoiler, it’s corrodor” -spooky

[misto]

spoiler, i think he might be playing tricks and not telling the truth! and that between the new prae and the boiler i dont know what kind of meaningful job a corroder would have! whereas a princess type being the mechanically locked-in next-in-command-if-queen-dies would be a new and unique position!

[Casany]

For those who don’t know what a corroder is/was, basically...
It was a t2 (I think) spitter caste that could use its spit to melt whatever the spit hit. Like floors, and walls, and marines. When it hit a marine it would melt through their armor destroying it (actually causing it to disappear) and melt through their clothes and basically kill them instantly through burn damage. You had to be extremely fast to not die when hit. It led to just a ton of corpses naked in hallways of the Nostromo. It could also melt into space and melt SPACE itself causing some horribad bugs.

It was just the worst