Speeding up the evolution ticker in long rounds

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Moohahaha
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Speeding up the evolution ticker in long rounds

Post by Moohahaha » 17 Oct 2016, 06:32

Summary (a quick, 2-3 sentence summary):
Games where there are many Larvae that are not controlled late in the game could use some means of speeding up the evolution ticker, as a means to speed up the waiting phase where Xenos best strategy is to hold position and wait for evolution.

Benefits (How this will benefit the server and game as a whole):
Low population games where the Xenos are doing well, but there are great numbers of autoturrets, will be sped up greatly, as Xenos will be at fighting power before twenty minutes passes.
Creates an incentive to capture Marines rather than kill them toward the end.
Incentivizes marines to assault the planet rather than hole up, as the Xeno attack will grow in power faster than the defenses.

Details (Description of how you think this would work, the benefits, etc):
This type of problem occurs primarily at night, but there really isn't a good way for the Xenos to overcome autoturrets during low-pop. Often times the Xenos can have captured numerous marines throughout the round, but that's all for naught if there are 13 evolved Aliens and they all get wiped out by non-player defenses. This leads to the Xenos staying on planet for a long period of time so they can evolve and upgrade fully. Waiting around can get pretty boring, for both sides. Some solution along these lines would at the very least speed things up.

If, alternatively there were some limit on the number of non-player defenses that could be placed during low-population, then I imagine that would solve the problem, or alternatively. if there were something constructive Xenos could do on planet that didn't involve laying fields of eggs, or constructing complex mazes that likely won't come into play.

Implementation (Optional, if you have an idea how to implement it):
Perhaps, upon reaching a certain time, say 2+ hours, and a certain number of larvae, additional larvae increase the speed by which the Evolution ticker increases, perhaps by some logarithmic or linear scale. If scaling linearly it definitely should be scaled down so the marines have a decent amount of time to prepare.

Alternative suggestions welcome.

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slc97
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Re: Speeding up the evolution ticker in long rounds

Post by slc97 » 17 Oct 2016, 07:48

I don't know how I feel about this. We just ran the winrates in a meeting the other day, and xenos are definitely stomping marines, which I as a marine main think is good, but I'm not sure about adding a buff like this. I like the current evolution timer as it stands because if the hive gets wrecked, it has to work to get back to power or be eliminated.
I feel like, under the system you're suggesting, if the hive gets absolutely destroyed and there's some larva and a few xenos left, instead of just fighting a couple runners and sentinels, maybe a few spitters and hunters too, marines will wind up destroying the hive late game and wind up facing a ton of crushers and ravagers because of the evolution speed up.
Right now I'm gonna go neutral on this suggestion, but I'm leaning to -1.

Moohahaha
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Re: Speeding up the evolution ticker in long rounds

Post by Moohahaha » 17 Oct 2016, 07:59

While I do think you have a fair point, I would like to mention that the current caps on tier 2 and tier 3 do pretty well at preventing an overwhelming number high tier Xenos.

I guess ultimately what I REALLY want is some alternative to the waiting that is so common when Xenos have cleared the planet, and Marines have complete control over the Sulaco. I'm totally fine if this doesn't get accepted.

Perhaps a valid alternative would be making it more difficult to acquire large numbers of auto turrets, that would have the same ultimate affect as what I desire; less need for the Xenos to wait for power.

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Bloxerbot
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Re: Speeding up the evolution ticker in long rounds

Post by Bloxerbot » 17 Oct 2016, 08:21

-1 While it certainly is a pain when you're waiting around to upgrade or evolve after driving Marines off the planet, the Aliens really do not need this buff.

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Neray
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Re: Speeding up the evolution ticker in long rounds

Post by Neray » 17 Oct 2016, 09:17

-1 It's fine as it is, if you'll ask me. Aliens are already evolving quite fast and jelly no longer required for it. OP mentioned turrets, but those are easily countered by boilers and crushers (damn, even young runners are good at this, given how badly folks usually place those).
Sigismund Lintz says, "Desperation breeds ingenuity and bravado in fantastic ways."

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Gentlefood
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Re: Speeding up the evolution ticker in long rounds

Post by Gentlefood » 17 Oct 2016, 12:44

You're going to get a massive -1 from me for the point that longer rounds are typically caused by elite+ xenomorphs kiting the remaining marines and attritioning them to death for another 2-3 hours after the 2 hour mark.

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Toroic
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Re: Speeding up the evolution ticker in long rounds

Post by Toroic » 17 Oct 2016, 12:54

Xenos do not need a buff at this time.

-1 from me.
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forwardslashN
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Re: Speeding up the evolution ticker in long rounds

Post by forwardslashN » 17 Oct 2016, 13:30

This isn't necessary at the moment. Denied.
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