DavidChan's excessive list of suggestions, ideas and wishes for Colonial Marines.

[Davidchan]

So, I've been playing on CM for roughly 6 months now, it's been an on and off again love affair to put it bluntly. I love the gamemode and the tweaks we have, but there are something things that bug me. So let's get down to it.

1)Research and Robotics:

They don't really add /anything/ to the Marines. They only have Metal, Glass and Plasteel. No Silver, Gold, Uranium or Diamonds, and sparse collections of Solid Plasma. If we can tweak the code to allow Robotics to make better Exosuits, or at least mount weapons on a Ripley, it would make this more than a fluff job and easy target for invading Aliens. Research can't produce anything the Marines can use that they don't already have as well. IF there was a way for them to (eventually) make a few Laser rifles, they'd be invaluable. But as it stands these jobs add nothing to the crew, unlike a Sulaco Medic who can at least dedicate himself to providing medicines and surgery to wounded or infected marines. Give this job the ability to do something useful or remove it.

Edit:According to Staff input, Robotics and Research are being removed. I understand the ideal but I still feel there should some presence; pre-built cyborgs + positrons for late round entry or someone to rejoin who doesn't want to be an alien? Some form of Mechs in a secure armory or available to HiT sounds reasonable. As for research, I agree fully that Lasers are ludicrously strong, though I feel there /should/ be a potential for Marines to find/create Lasers by bringing back materials or research disks from the Nostromo to the Sulaco. Not enough to outfit every marine, but just enough to equip a small squad, the disks could be scattered and each one representing a blueprint or schematic. Other RnD objects honestly have no purpose unless we import /tg/ machine upgrades.

2)Cyborgs, Androids and Robots:

Synthetics are a thing in the Aliens universe, Bishop was a humanoid Android, and so was Ash in the first movie. These were actually major plot points. I'm fine with Cyborgs looking like their usual SS13 forms, it makes them distinguishable (Xenomorphs in canon differentiate Humans and Synthetics by body heat and there is no attempt by Xenomorphs to infect a robotic host that I am aware of.) But, Synthetic players DO need a radio fix, badly. Borgs on the Nostromo have no radio contact with marines, which can be EXTREMELY frustrating since they are ideal for rescue/scouting missions once the marines know about the aliens. Giving Borg players the option to receive Lethals would also be nice, either by giving Sec borgs a Rifle/SMG slot (Laser would be a bit op) or making a Combat Borg who's loadout went something like: M41A Rifle, Grenade Launcher (w/5 grenades on full charge), Flash, Stun Baton. Possibly a welder, though I can see that being abused.

Edit: As stated above, Staff seem intent on removing Robotics. I understand the decision, but do not want to see Silicon units entirely removed. Spawnable Synthetics (even as a Nostromo Borg that could be recovered) sounds like a good idea, with just enough spare parts to fix them up once or twice. I've since had to deal with Sec Borgs as an Alien and mostly retract my desire for them to have lethals, they are fairly robust, they have one glaring weakness but when grouped with marines that weakness isn't very relevant in the grand scheme.

3)Jobs/Class Loadouts

Currently, the start of every round is 5-25+ marines RUNNING to Logistics. I propose a slight change. Make Squad Leaders a unique position (like a Head of Staff) and make Alpha/Bravo/Charlie/Delta Standard Marine roles. I.E. Job select would look like.

Commander
Logistics Officer
Military Police
Sulaco Medic
Alpha Squad Leader
Bravo Squad Leader
Charlie Squad Leader
Delta Squad Leader
Alpha Squad Standard
Bravo Squad Standard
Charlie Squad Standard
Delta Squad Standard.

Standard Marines who wished to upgrade to Engineer or Medic could still do so through Logistics, as well as those wishing to move to another squad. Alternatively Squad Leaders could have a Console in their ready room to quickly change access for Squad Members, and thus have more direct control on the composition of their squad. Make a Dorm/Sleeper chamber in each Squad Ready area and have people spawn at that location on round start, all late arrivals to a round spawning in the Main Sleepers (alternatively, Sleeper/Dorms could be turned into Cargo Bay/Engineering.) I'd be interested in seeing a Sulaco AI (that could potentially tap into Nostromo Systems) as well as Cyborg player slots on round start.

Edit: I am aware that the initial setup, assignment and gearing phase for marines is important for the Drones to establish a nest, gather/infect monkey hosts and allow their Queen to molt and begin laying eggs. I only argue if we are going to waste time, we can at least waste time in a fashion more appropriate to allow natural roleplay I stand by my idea for marines to spawn directly into squads, and offer up the idea for the Sulaco to be in transit for the first 15 minutes or so of a round. Marines can use this time to get briefed and armed as usual, but starting out in the squad together would hopefully encourage them to RP and bond a bit, encouraging them to work as a team and be able to recognize their squad leaders, I can't name the number of times I've deployed to the Nostromo without my Squad Lead ever saying a peep, and quite often Marines don't even know who the lead is.

4)Webbing:

As someone who plays Engineer a lot, every backpack slot is precious to me. Having any variety of webbing would a godsend, and irks me since every other server I've played on Security and Engineering teams (as well as ERTs) get Webbing by default in their lockers, in additions to their belts. As it stands, the only reason I can think of NOT to have webbing is because Knives and Pistols could be hidden on them where most Aliens could not get to them (though, removing an Accessory is a strip option, though most aliens who I do see strip Items just take everything from habit.)

5)Shuttle Armory/Vending Machine:

More of a convenience, and continuity issue, but in the Movie Aliens, the Marines actually stored their weapons on the shuttle, and it would be rather useful to be able to retreat to the shuttle and arm up without having to fly back to the Sulaco and make a dash to the Armory just to reequip what may have been lost. Larger shuttles in general would be nice, with Cyborg Chargers and Mech Chargers, as well as some storage racks for Marines to put extra gear. This doesn't have to be a mobile hospital and one stop shop for all your needs, but in the movie the shuttles had everything on them, and carrier their APC. Plus, a bigger shuttle would be advantageous to the Aliens if/when it comes time to assault the Nostromo. Just for gods sake remove the windows near the front so Aliens stop trying to breach through the shuttle that way. Also, landing gear bays. Just saying, that's how the Queen got onto the Sulaco in the movie.

6)Explosive/Useful Grenades:

Right now, the two Grenades available to Marines are Smoke Grenades and Flash bangs. Neither of these do /shit/ to Aliens. Made worse to a poor Marine who grabs a grenade launcher thinking it would be useful. Canon marines all had underbarrel Grenade Launchers that shot a D-Cell battery sized explosive that could gib an Alien. I'm just asking low-yeild (for SS13) grenades that would explode on contact or a few seconds after and at least damage/stun an alien that was within 1 or 2 tiles of it. This doesn't need to be something super powerful, but the Marines need a limited use answer for Aliens hiding around corners where marine's can't shoot them but aliens can still disarm them. These should not be powerful to breach, maybe scorch a few floor tiles or break the plating off a wall and shatter a window, but using this in the middle of a hallway shoudln't blow a hole through the floor that sucks out all the atmos.

7)Smaller Hivelords:

Hivelords are freaking huge. Big as the queen, big as Ravagers, bigger than Praetorians (the 'big' aliens in every other canon.) A hivelord being bigger than a Warrior or Carrier is fine, but they don't need to be bigger than Praetorian. It only serves to make them even clumsier than they already are in combat thanks to their slow speed, trying to disarm or trip a marine who's shaken loose of his nest only makes you bite yourself 9 out of 10 times if the marine is smart enough to stay above you. Can we shrink/change the sprite? Hell, I'm in favor a class rename as well. Defender or Brood Tender sounds much better, Hivelord makes it sound like it's equal to the Queen.

8)Disarm/Grab Plasma Transfer

Inspired by IPCs. IPCs 'feed' by using a grapple intent on an APC to suck power from it, and can use the disarm intent to fill an APC from their own reserve. Would it at all be possible for (the Queen at the very least) to 'grab' fellow aliens to suck 25-50 Plasma from their reserves, or allow disarms to quickly transfer an equal amount of plasma. I'd even be fine with this technique having a net loss over the 'Transfer Plasma' verb (i.e. Queen grabs a drone, she gets 30 plasma, drone loses 50 and the other 20 is just lost.) But it can be very frustrating as a Queen when players don't understand your Plasma builds slowly and the Hive is supposed to feed you to make more Jelly and Eggs. Being able to forcibly take plasma would be adored, maybe set it so only Queen/Praetorians/Hivelords can take but allow all castes to give it through disarms.

[MrGabol100]

+1 Good ideas, but the Jobs one has been clarified to be made to give aliens time to build the hive.

[Davidchan]

+1 Good ideas, but the Jobs one has been clarified to be made to give aliens time to build the hive.

Wouldn't it be easier on the LOs and Marines alike if the Sulaco was 'enroute' for the first 10-15 minutes of gameplay, much like the Nuke Ops shuttle but with a longer duration? Squads would have time to bond, hash things out and prepare themselves for the mission (and I hate to keep ringing this bell, but like the Marines did in Aliens), The Commander could pull Squad Leaders into the conference room for a breifing and give them objectives, Squad Leaders could pass on objectives to their squads in the Ready Rooms, the Mass All Call really doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Commanders could still choose to do this, but really they should be giving Marines instructions and mission details /before/ the marines arm themselves to the teeth.

I would /strongly/ add Commander and Squad Leaders require a Whitelist to prevent bad marines from taking over and rambo marching their troops right into the alien hive or calling for fortifications before the Aliens are even encountered

Basically, one of the biggest complaints against Marine Players is they don't RP, when the protocol they are doing makes little sense and discourages RP. LOs are rushed to assign troops where ever they can, Marines are rushed to get ready and gear up, and the Commanders are rushed through their briefing so everyone can go down to the Nostromo.

IMO the LO class could be completely removed, rarely do LOs stick around long enough to see the end of round and they are always off doing something that isn't their job (Aka manning the desk) for when fresh marines need an assignment, Squad Leaders and the Commander should be able to reassign people as needed.

[SecretStamos (Joshuu)]

Wouldn't it be easier on the LOs and Marines alike if the Sulaco was 'enroute' for the first 10-15 minutes of gameplay. Squads would have time to bond, hash things out and prepare themselves for the mission (and I hate to keep ringing this bell, but like the Marines did in Aliens)

This would be really cool. It could be a lot like the emergency shuttle, except at the round start. It would also keep people from sneaking out and calling the shuttle to the Nostramo early.

[Mycroft Macarthur]

that would be helpful for marines but i could see survivors having issues if it took the marines an additional 10-15 minutes before the marines even arrive, most people who get survivor dont know where all the stuff is so they cant just rush to get sec hardsuits and break into the armory for SMG's and crap, the survivors are really screwed as it is since the ship is so dark and they start out completely naked, even if you know where flashlights are and you can get to them you can barely click them because its near impossible to see and the only place i know to get flares is from the sec lockers (which can only be opened if you can find a firearm, of which i only know of one in the entire nostromo which isnt hidden behind a door you need to hack or in a locker).

alot of survivors REALLY need the marines to come help them as you can only do so much to hide or defend yourself when you are naked, blind and wounded at the start of the match, if they had to survive on their own for an extra 10-15 minutes i think its a guarantee that survivors would almost always end up dead or captured before the marines even arrive, if you intend to do this then you need to throw them abit more of a bone to start out.

[Davidchan]

that would be helpful for marines but i could see survivors having issues if it took the marines an additional 10-15 minutes before the marines even arrive, most people who get survivor dont know where all the stuff is so they cant just rush to get sec hardsuits and break into the armory for SMG's and crap, the survivors are really screwed as it is since the ship is so dark and they start out completely naked, even if you know where flashlights are and you can get to them you can barely click them because its near impossible to see and the only place i know to get flares is from the sec lockers (which can only be opened if you can find a firearm, of which i only know of one in the entire nostromo which isnt hidden behind a door you need to hack or in a locker).

alot of survivors REALLY need the marines to come help them as you can only do so much to hide or defend yourself when you are naked, blind and wounded at the start of the match, if they had to survive on their own for an extra 10-15 minutes i think its a guarantee that survivors would almost always end up dead or captured before the marines even arrive, if you intend to do this then you need to throw them abit more of a bone to start out.

That sounds more of a problem with Survivors in general than Marines. I don't think survivors have been completed yet, IMO they should spawn with a random job, plus a few goodies. I.E. toolset for hacking, budget gloves, a weapon, even if it's something like a spear or flamethrower. They DID survive the Xeno infestation thus far, and if the Nostromo is assumed to be a 50 person space station, it's a hell of a feat to be the last man/woman standing. Basically, Survivor should be strong enough to repel the Starting Drones, needing a runner or sentinel to properly take them down.

As for things like Flares, they spawn in emergency toolsets, red toolboxes that contain a flashlight, fire extinguisher, flare, crowbar and radio. These are scattered amonst o2 lockers as well as being placed in the storage closets. Firefighting gear is pretty good for survivors too, because of the headlamp. And I know a gun spawns in escape, the bartender's shotgun is still viable, and the armory.

Best Advice I can give to survivors is RUN to tool storage, grab a belt/toolbox, get a jumpsuit and backpack from the break room, check aux storage for extra gear you might need (hazard vests are nice since they have storage slots and can externally carry a flashlight till you get better) and then run down to engineering and test your hacking skills on the janitor's closet. Figure out the power wires (or at the very least, the bolt wire) and cut open tech storage to get a pair of gloves before running to security to get the rest of what you need to last.

Once upon a time when the Captian's pistol and spare ID were still around, I'd urge people to grab that, but for now it seems Survivors are doomed to never have a station ID despite being crew. I understand that lots of the good gear was removed to discourage looting, but really it only screws over the survivors since nobody else RPs. There is a disturbing lack of Energy weapons or means to get them, and that annoys me greatly.

[Allan1234]

They don't really add /anything/ to the Marines. They only have Metal, Glass and Plasteel. No Silver, Gold, Uranium or Diamonds, and sparse collections of Solid Plasma. If we can tweak the code to allow Robotics to make better Exosuits, or at least mount weapons on a Ripley, it would make this more than a fluff job and easy target for invading Aliens. Research can't produce anything the Marines can use that they don't already have as well. IF there was a way for them to (eventually) make a few Laser rifles, they'd be invaluable. But as it stands these jobs add nothing to the crew, unlike a Sulaco Medic who can at least dedicate himself to providing medicines and surgery to wounded or infected marines. Give this job the ability to do something useful or remove it.

First off Lasers are OP and kill aliens in 2-3 shots which is why we have removed them, Robotics and Research are both being removed from the sulaco because its a light troop transport and really in lore only has 12 marines, it also causes marines to make borgs, mechs and mess around with genetics which is meta and no marine medic should know genetics. exosuits MAY be in a secure armory on the new sulaco. research MAY be added on a different ship.


i may add more tomorrow but im to tired right now

[Davidchan]

First off Lasers are OP and kill aliens in 2-3 shots which is why we have removed them, Robotics and Research are both being removed from the sulaco because its a light troop transport and really in lore only has 12 marines, it also causes marines to make borgs, mechs and mess around with genetics which is meta and no marine medic should know genetics. exosuits MAY be in a secure armory on the new sulaco. research MAY be added on a different ship.


i may add more tomorrow but im to tired right now

I have updated my post some to better reflect the current state of things as well as what is planned. I just want to point out these are suggestions with RP and atmosphere in mind, and adding a bit of grease to the mechanics to make certain things not so jarring.

If an idea is shit or goes against what the Staff/Community wants, I understand and can simply say I offered my 2 cents on the matter.

[apophis775]

Didn't I reply to this?

Anyway:

1+2: This is going bye-bye. In a way-down-the-road update, we are planning to incorporate a sort of "research" system, with autopsies and such.

3. This is going to be implemented in the new bay code

4. Maybe a possibility

5. Nope. I don't want marines to have such quick access to extra weapons. They have what they take with them, that's it.

6. Grenades have been re-enabled for awhile, we won't be doing underbarrel grenades, probably ever.

7. Hivelords are SUPPOSED to be big and slow, those some minor adjustments are on the way.

8. No. Perhaps, hivelords will be able to make "plasma sacks" one day, but that won't be in the next few months.

[apophis775]

no more replies, so closed.