What would you think about a re-nest timer?

[Adjective]

Honestly I feel aliens have been nerfed a lot lately. Marines shouldn't be able to break out alone. It would entice marines to actually raid the hive and vice versa. To counteract this, it could take a good 10-15 second to actually nest someone and make it so nests are one time use.

[GGgobbleCC]

Honestly I feel aliens have been nerfed a lot lately. Marines shouldn't be able to break out alone. It would entice marines to actually raid the hive and vice versa. To counteract this, it could take a good 10-15 second to actually nest someone and make it so nests are one time use.

And in that 10-15 seconds you were murdered by the guy with the mag-strap because adding that was a good idea as well as making aliens out of wet paper because lolbalance? The only way to stop baby-sitting would be to make nests unbreakable from without help

[coroneljones]

And in that 10-15 seconds you were murdered by the guy with the mag-strap because adding that was a good idea as well as making aliens out of wet paper because lolbalance? The only way to stop baby-sitting would be to make nests unbreakable from without help

Lorewise that would be accurate
Gameplay wise...it would be boring and incite ghosting or such once they know that their buddies arent coming to rescue them,and they dont want to stay in a nest waiting to burst

It would also remove the main use of the sentinek caste,wich is based around guarding hosts and protecting the hive,only having any real use if the marines attack.

[ZDashe]

Hmm... Apop wants to curb the 'hovering' behavior and get aliens out to do their jobs instead, instead of babysitting hosts. How about having the sentinel caste have a new ability to extend a nested marine's timer? Maybe call it "Re-secure host" or whatever is lore-friendly.

Have some drawbacks such that while the alien is using the ability, it can't move for about X seconds, which adds Y seconds to the marine's escape timer. Then maybe have Z seconds cooldown on that same marine, to prevent stacking and spamming of the ability, which eliminates the possibility of escaping being impossible.

So X, Y and Z are just variables that you can play with for balancing. X would be how long the alien has to 'babysit' the host before he can be free to go out to do their job. Naturally, the ability has benefits that outweigh the drawback (Y > X). Yet at the same time, hosts still have the possibility of escape because (Z >> Y) and (Z-Y = duration host can make progress towards escape).

For example, it takes 120 secs in total to escape from a nest. Spitter sees host attempting to struggle to escape. Spitter "Re-secures host" and adds 30 secs (Y) to that timer, while being forced to remain stationary for 10 secs. Cooldown is 60 secs (Z), which makes it pointless for the Spitter to watch over the host for the next minute, so it can resume its duties in the meantime until it decides to revisit the host later.

Just an idea that spans between the extremes of inescapable nests or the current Xeno Babysitter behavior.

[Derpislav]

It would also remove the main use of the sentinek caste,wich is based around guarding hosts and protecting the hive

Which is boring for the alien in question and frustrating/depressing for the marine.

[forwardslashN]

Guarding hosts is boring as hell, and a lot of people already ghost if they get captured early (since your chances of cloning or rescue are very, very slim). I really wouldn't mind nests that you can't escape from without outside help, since that would eliminate boredom on both sides. But it's way too easy to hug and nest someone right now so that can't work without other changes.

Honestly I feel aliens have been nerfed a lot lately. Marines shouldn't be able to break out alone. It would entice marines to actually raid the hive and vice versa. To counteract this, it could take a good 10-15 second to actually nest someone and make it so nests are one time use.

This is a great suggestion, but the only problem is that it's impossible to keep a marine down for even 5 seconds without spam tackling them, and even then it's not guaranteed. If aliens had a grab intent to incapacitate marines, instead of carrying huggers, then had to drag marines back to the hive, infect there, and place into a nest. I think that would be fairly balanced. The marine can still escape before they are hugged and nested, and the aliens don't need to worry about the marine if they do manage to nest them. It would also punish combat nesting, forcing aliens to drag bodies to more secure locations, and allowing other marines to rescue their friends.

[Nubs]

I would say making nesting no longer instant on a downed marine would be a better change. For me at least, the main reason i sit on hosts like a jerk is because they can easily suicide by putting a gun in their mouth. This takes such little time that you practically have to be standing on them to stop them in time.

[Sadokist]

sounds legit, and also it's "ayyliumz" not "aliums" fooken skrub

[Wickedtemp]

"Adding a timer will reduce the need for aliens babysitting hosts."

No it won't. Aliens will still babysit hosts, this won't really change anything.

"What if a host can't be re-nested after being freed?"

This is already a thing, and would increase the xeno presence in the hive because ONE nest-resistant marine is a nightmare to deal with.

"What if nests were destroyed when a marine gets out? What if they could only be nested by a super special xeno caste?"

... Right. And while we're at it, let's also allow only the hunters to attack marines. Let's make drones the only xenos able to put a hugger on someone. Why don't we make boilers the only xeno able to use any form of acid? Because it's a fuckin' stupid idea and is nothing more than a shotgun slug to the kneecap of every xeno player. You can't just slap nerf after nerf onto xenos just because marines are upset that xenos are watching them while they're nested. They HAVE to be watched, because the game is so imbalanced that if xenos don't watch nested marines, they'll break free and wipe out the hive.

"Something something it's boring for marines to be nested for a long time."

And it's boring for the xeno who has to watch them. Want to know how I got to spend half an hour of my time once? Watching a SINGLE MARINE because they filled their bag with pistols. They'd break free, pull a gun out, shoot once or twice, I'd use neuro spit to knock them down, re-nest, drag away the gun, dissolve it, and so it went.

You can't let a single host get out because one marine can REALLY fuck your shit up. That's why we have checker nests, to keep the marines enclosed and separated. That's why xenos have to babysit the nested marines.

If you want to get aliens out of the hive, make it more difficult for marines to break free, or greatly reduce the damage marines are able to dish out so that one or two marines isn't a threat.

[Boltersam]

"Adding a timer will reduce the need for aliens babysitting hosts."

No it won't. Aliens will still babysit hosts, this won't really change anything.

"What if a host can't be re-nested after being freed?"

This is already a thing, and would increase the xeno presence in the hive because ONE nest-resistant marine is a nightmare to deal with.

"What if nests were destroyed when a marine gets out? What if they could only be nested by a super special xeno caste?"

... Right. And while we're at it, let's also allow only the hunters to attack marines. Let's make drones the only xenos able to put a hugger on someone. Why don't we make boilers the only xeno able to use any form of acid? Because it's a fuckin' stupid idea and is nothing more than a shotgun slug to the kneecap of every xeno player. You can't just slap nerf after nerf onto xenos just because marines are upset that xenos are watching them while they're nested. They HAVE to be watched, because the game is so imbalanced that if xenos don't watch nested marines, they'll break free and wipe out the hive.

"Something something it's boring for marines to be nested for a long time."

And it's boring for the xeno who has to watch them. Want to know how I got to spend half an hour of my time once? Watching a SINGLE MARINE because they filled their bag with pistols. They'd break free, pull a gun out, shoot once or twice, I'd use neuro spit to knock them down, re-nest, drag away the gun, dissolve it, and so it went.

You can't let a single host get out because one marine can REALLY fuck your shit up. That's why we have checker nests, to keep the marines enclosed and separated. That's why xenos have to babysit the nested marines.

If you want to get aliens out of the hive, make it more difficult for marines to break free, or greatly reduce the damage marines are able to dish out so that one or two marines isn't a threat.

Why don't we make it so you need a welder to get people out of nests? that would be MUCH more lore-adherent!

[Gentlefood]

Why don't we make it so you need a welder to get people out of nests? that would be MUCH more lore-adherent!

Then give every marine an emergency welder that doesn't require eye protection to use.

[Boltersam]

Then give every marine an emergency welder that doesn't require eye protection to use.

This would make Engineers more redundant.

[Gentlefood]

This would make Engineers more redundant.

Sure, but its lore friendly.

[Wickedtemp]

Sure, but its lore friendly.

So are huggers that kill you when you take them off.

Just because something is lore-friendly doesn't mean it's something that should be added.

[Gentlefood]

So are huggers that kill you when you take them off.

Just because something is lore-friendly doesn't mean it's something that should be added.

That's my entire point.

[Boltersam]

That's my entire point.

I'd be fine if every Marine had a much less usable welder than an Engineer, like a single-use disposable welder. And if you wanted to bring more, you have to sacrifice other, more useful things.