An Idea For You Turtle Buster Aliens

[Xurphorus]

Suggestion Title:Caste Ideas For Aliens

Summary:This will be suggestion for the Dev. on what aliens can become and what they will be able to do when it comes to breaking in and destroying FoBs, this will also be suggesting a whole new Caste format for aliens and the Hivemind evolution cap.

Benefits:How will this benefit? Think about the possibilities this will bring for the playerbase and those who are pro-alien/ alien friendly. This could possibly open the Dev. eyes about the FoB ruling and give a helping edge to those who have trouble cracking the shell of well constructed FoBs. We have made many arguments on both sides and both were valid points to a certain degree, however I believe this can

The Details:Everyone knows what the Aliens are and what different tiers there are, lets say we give them more, something to broaden the horizon of what they can evolve into and what abilities they can bring forth. Base Tier or Tier 0 The Alien Larva: The starting form for all alien castes, the lowest on ranking and nobility. They have the ability to hide under certain covers and terrain, and the ability to travel through vents. They SHOULD be given a smaller version of the screech ability that the queen has but only to escape danger of being killed. This skill should only be use defensively and should be enforced as a rule. Tier 1 The Drone: They are strictly a support caste and should not be found anywhere outside of the hive unless they are securing/infecting monkeys to maximize alien numbers. Drones should be only able to leave the hive unless the queen demands it. Their only main job is to find ways to make the hive more secure and watching over those that are infected within the hive.

The Runner: The Hit and Run caste of the aliens, these quick little devils should only be used for scouting purposes and should only be on the offensive when the situation demands their intervention. With the highest speed of the alien caste they are the most feared in packs of 3 and more, alone they are powerless and will be gunned down if seen to be hostile.

The Sentinel: The Hive SHITcurity is they ever were called that. They should only be tasked to protect the hive and the queen. They CAN be used as hunters but only in conjunction with the runners as back-up. Tier 2 The Carrier: This evolution is as the name implies, carriers can hold an extra amount of face huggers and have the higher throw strength of the other evolutions under the queen. They are ONE of the few evolutions of the Drone, and should be the only evolution that can leave the hive to support the other Tier 2 castes.

The Warrior: The hunter of the alien caste ,and the evolution of the runner. They have the ability to stealthily move from point to point and have the highest chance of taking down prey. The fastest of its tier, a pack of these monsters should easily take down a entire squad with ease and infect them with hit and run tactics and ambush tactics.

The Spitter: The snipers of the alien caste ,and the evolution of the sentinel. They have the ability to spit a toxin that should over time cause a marine to become paralyzed if not treated immediately with anti-toxin. The initial toxin dart should still be able to stun a marine but its deadlier effects should work over time. Spitters can also melt down most objects and constructs that get in the way of aliens spreading or breaking into a well defended position. Tier 3 The Ravager: The slasher of the alien caste and the final evolution of the runner tree. They are the brute strength of the aliens and should ONLY be used as a ambush effort to kill a group of prey. They are slow and hulky unlike their previous forms have less health. What makes up for the shorter health gauge is the amount of damage they can unleash in a few slashes.

The Praetorian: The Current #1 turtle buster of the alien caste, and the final evolution of the sentinel tree. They are the more advanced snipers of the aliens with a stronger arsenal of neuro-toxic darts, which can take down prey immediately and keep them down for a longer duration of time with the same future effects of its lesser grade form. Reason they are considered the main turtle buster against FoBs and defense posts is because of their ability to melt through most objects INCLUDING reinforced walls in a matter of moments with a strong grade of acid. The Drone Hivemind Evolutions
The Hivemind evolutions should be introduced as a way to increase the numbers of the Hivemind Strength. Given more possibilities for the new alien castes to make an appearance. The Hivelord: The builder of the alien caste and the evolution choice for the drone aside from the carrier. Its rank is second to the queen and has the highest amount of plasma at its disposal. Their should only be 1 Hivelord at a time and the queen must be the one to appoint which drone can become one. They are the overseers to the hive aside from the queen and must remain their until needed elsewhere.

The Alien Queen: The highest ranking caste of the aliens and also the powerhouse. She is the main resource to the hive as she is the only one that can reproduce eggs and the jelly to further alien evolution. The Queen can melt down certain objects and can produce resin like her lesser form. She has both offensive capabilities as she does defensive and must only be apart of the combat when the situation calls for it.

Alien Empress: The final and only Hivemind evolution of the queen that can only be rewarded for staying alive as the queen for a certain amount of time(30-40minutes in game). The has all the abilities of the queen but better, including stronger defense against bullets, more plasma reserve, and can appoint a new queen to do her dirt work for her. Yes people their will be HER and the Queen to worry about. Being mentally stronger than the Queen, she increases the alien hivemind cap by 100, and appointing a new queen will increase it once more by 50. Since she is the oldest of the aliens she is only as fast as the hivelord. The Tier 4 EvolutionsThis will be introducing the FoB busters as a whole new possibility for aliens as a whole. The Charger: This would be the next evolution of the Ravager if given more jelly by the Empress. This new evolution would be a more versatile version of the ravager giving it more health and a stronger charging speed. This caste would also get an additional ability called Rush that is a more upgraded version of Charge but if doesn't hit its mark and happens to hit an object, that object is destroyed.

The Corroder: This is up for debate and if you guys have any ideas for what it can do be my guests. This will be a possible evolution of the Spitter or Praetorian.

The Crusher: This would be the next evolution of the Praetorian when given jelly by the Empress. The Crusher will be more like a tank with the highest of the Health gauges and regeneration rate of the aliens. This type of alien will be the king of the FoB busters as their can be only 1 of these on the field and has an ability called Buster, which can dismantle a wall faster than a ripley. The Crusher can still use corrosive acid and only shoot the lesser version of its toxic darts. Implementation: All that is needed is the Dev.'s and the coders point of views on this suggestion and how they can be introduced to the gameplay. I know that the arguments over the FOB ruling is starting to get old and everyone is just nit picking at this point. This can be a solution for the FoBs somehow being overpowered and make it more possible for aliens to destroy them.

[ShadowDeath6]

I personally feel like aliens and marines are pretty balanced right now, but that the aliens are seriously lacking in ranged damage dealers. I get where you're coming from, but adding castes like crusher or whatever might give the alien side too much of an edge.
FOBs are a real annoyance for aliens, though, and maybe adding something that can actually take marines out of the fight longer than a few-second stun. The corroder, before it got removed, was a great example of something that could accurately deal ranged damage. It got removed for some reason before, but it's probably the best bet we have in something that can break FOBs without making aliens godded.

On the empress, I really don't have anything to say on it. It's just making another queen, and one queen is already a massive annoyance to marines. I'd say that it won't be added.

(edit)

I'm not entirely sure if you guys know what corroder used to do, since it was removed some time ago. It used to be able to fire a ranged spit over tables that would latch onto walls or people and start corroding it. I think it worked like praetorian's current acid, but I don't know the length. Anyway, I think it was removed because the ranged acid basically forced a marine to drop his weapons and strip his exosuit/jumpsuit to avoid getting killed by the acid. The acid melts through clothes, and when it hits your skin, I think it's a guaranteed kill.

[TopHatPenguin]

I love it Xur but I think with the corroder it will need to have the same Acid as a praetorian but maybe have more health and move abit faster to give it a edge compared to the praetorian.

[coroneljones]

The corroder was bugged as hell..it could melt space

Now for the lore..i see the last three basically as the copies from the CM game
Empress.,pretty sure only one exists.and its far away in "xeno prime"

[apophis775]

There is no way we can redo the aliens anywhere near what you said.

It would require MONTHS of rebalacing and testing, during which time, marines would said aliens OP, and aliens woudl say Marines OP.

It took me, nearly 4 months, of CONSTANT WORK to get the balance as good as it currently is, which i think that while people will argue with some of the things I've done, I don't think anyone will say the aliens/marines are far out of balance (minus, aliens lacking a true "ranged" unit).

[Xurphorus]

There is no way we can redo the aliens anywhere near what you said.

It would require MONTHS of rebalacing and testing, during which time, marines would said aliens OP, and aliens woudl say Marines OP.

It took me, nearly 4 months, of CONSTANT WORK to get the balance as good as it currently is, which i think that while people will argue with some of the things I've done, I don't think anyone will say the aliens/marines are far out of balance (minus, aliens lacking a true "ranged" unit).

I just wanted to post what could someday be a possible thing for the players and for You and the coders to dabble with, if something could be done immediately I would like to propose that maybe giving the spitter the next evolution as the Crusher which the abilities already posted, if not at least give the Ravagers a slight resilience to damage and give them a new ability to tackle through a normal wall. The ability should be able to deconstruct the wall or just run through it, taking it down completely. That would be an eye opener when you see a large hulking alien bashing through a wall ready to kill you and your buddies. Honestly Ravagers are a big hulky target but can join the ranks as a FoB buster like the Praetorian

[Davidchan]

When people suggest bringing back the Corroder, they want it back in name only. Not the OP/bugged as shit abilities, but the logical evolution of the Spitter to maintain it's mobility and ranged speciality. Super neuro spit, or more powerful acids, or just acid that can be used at range on items/walls that corrosive acid can melt.

[Felkvir]

When people suggest bringing back the Corroder, they want it back in name only. Not the OP/bugged as shit abilities, but the logical evolution of the Spitter to maintain it's mobility and ranged speciality. Super neuro spit, or more powerful acids, or just acid that can be used at range on items/walls that corrosive acid can melt.

Ranged is fine and all, but there's still a pretty balance needed between reasonable alien ranged attack to complaint inducing capabilities.

[Davidchan]

Ranged is fine and all, but there's still a pretty balance needed between reasonable alien ranged attack to complaint inducing capabilities.

I understand that. I've made a few suggestions on shuffling the caste system and changing the Tier 3 aliens to better preserve the that feeling of fear and awe you should get when you see the queen. After killing 2-3 ravengers and a hivelord on the way into the Hive, the queen is just another giant bitch who yells at you for being mean to her kids, not some gruesome killing machine that can rip you in two.

Some of what Xur suggested I brought up as well, and got shot down for reasons. I still stand behind the idea that the Praetorian should take the place of the Ravager sprite, I'm not find of the oversized red freaks to begin with.

Replacing the T3 Sentinel could be something along the lines of the Corroder without the armor melting spit, or make sentinel into a split tier option like the drones: The Spitter is one option, and the other tier is something that focuses more on ambushes or preparation: Making traps or snares that can slow or hamber marines, their neurotoxin spit could induce hallucinations or other (imagine how fucking freaked out you'd be if phantom xenos ran around) or have area denial attacks that would deal toxin or burn damage to marines moving through the noxious liquid, the extreme example of this liquid being that it could destroy the boots if you didn't get out of the area quickly and ramp up the damage considerably for anyone barefoot.

And the Hivelord is just the ugliest possible thing out. Giant purple freak? That's the best we can do? Come on guys.

[apophis775]

Denied and Closed.