So to my surprise, any everyones surprise, UWE(Unknown Worlds Entertainment) is releasing the NS2 Closed Beta tomorrow for everyone that ordered NS2 and for the next 10,000 that order will be in it as well.
Along with that being revealed today, another and personal favorite(absolute favorite) alien(kharra) has been revealed today in its beta glory.
The transition into the beta this early from the alpha is confusing but UWE has shown time and time again that they know what they are doing.
Now the game IS being built entirely on UWE own engine(Spark engine) built from scratch(they DID just implement the Havok engine from Physx for better optimization)
The game isnt near completion, it has about a year left before it will be finished because they are adding some new things not yet seen in video games or uncommon, such as Dynamic Infestation(Think of creep in SC2 but this can block doors, dim lights, stop elevators, trams, and more) 100% dynamic lighting, FPS/RTS hybrid and more(more is explained later in the thread)
Now please, I know this game may look like it has taken a lot of ideas and looks from other games but you need to realize that NS1 came out as a HL1 mod back in 2000, the only game that it has any inspiration from is Starcraft(the main creator has stated this numerous times, and another reason why i think it is so great)
Now Natural Selection one is Free, if you OWN hl1(half life one) and i suggest you download it.
I will be updating this throughout the entire beta.
PLEASE read below to find out more about the game.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Older news below this line.(Alpha news and a general sense of what the game is) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Newest patch 154+153 released http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/
For anyone that has been following NS2 should know that it has recently had a MAJOR 2 patches in the past month.
Patch build 152 has been in the works for 2 months and is massive, it has significantly improved playing on servers dramatically and fixed tons of bugs and added tons of new additions.
Now for people who dont have a clue what NS2 is let me explain.
First off, ns2 is the sequel to one of the best if not the best Half life 1 mod ever to be made(Not even opinion based, more on the insane gameplay changes and innovations) the first being Natural Selection.
Now Natural selection was directly inspired from Starcraft 1, the first videos made to show NS1 even have Starcraft 1 sounds(the creator even said this in a old interview)
Its a FPS/RTS hybrid which personally, is pulled off perfectly.
If you own Half life 1 on steam, i strongly recomend downloading NS1 which is free http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns/download/ But on that note, NS1 is mainly played by veterans and has a major major MAJOR learning curve, its nothing like your average fps, its extremely strategic and teamwork and timing, if you love starcraft you should love this.
Now onto NS2.
NS2 is being made on a new engine created by one of the developers from Scratch called Spark.
The graphics are amazing and its entirely dynamic lighting and you can even change models, maps, textures, scripts(lua), all in real time while in game and it will update(so say you make a map, your in game, put a wall infront of you, it will do so ingame aswell when you run the builder without any re-load)
Now its still in very early alpha which was released for Special Edition buyers only(YOU CANNOT BUY THE Special Edition anymore so you have to wait till beta to play if you havent bought it)
The developers constantly update the twitter feed and forums on progress of the game, aswell with one of the greatest things i have ever seen in my entire life for a game, which is the progress page seen here http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/progress (I think its down atm, it usually resets on the weekends and removes the finished things from the week but keeps everything else)
The progress page updates on real time of what has been worked on, being worked on, and finished into the game, its incredible. It even has finish marks for when the next patch will be released.
The game is very early and right now can turn a lot of people off because it looks so buggy, but remember this, they gave us the Alpha so early so we can find engine bugs so we can get into gameplay testing and fix gameplay bugs, then get into the beta phase and fix balance/gameplay issues, then release(which is most likely a year-year and half away)
The game also will feature some incredible things, one being Dynamic Infestation(the alien organic infestation will slowly consume the level, blocking lights and sealing doors shut and other gameplay effects, think of it as creep in sc2)
Now if you love SC2 and FPS or RTS/FPS, Terran/Zerg(even a bit of protoss with the power nodes for marines) You should really look into this game.
The first was a hit and still played today and even has tournements still, its a huge skill leap unlike most fps today, and the rts aspect is so perfect in the sense it doesnt overstay its welcome, but affects the game enough to make it amazing.
So please check it out, tell people about it, support it, hopefully to make this game a major e-sport later in time as i really think it has major potential in that department.
Wow, the models look great. I remember playing NC1 back when it came out. Was pretty fun. I'll probably keep an eye on this but I don't think I'll pay 40 bucks for a beta.
The game isn't really ready for closed beta at all. The alpha is still virtually unplayable.
The most likely reason for announcing the game is now in beta is to get more people to preorder because they are broke again. For anyone who thinks they are going to be entering the beta of a playable game I would suggest waiting and seeing at this point. They are claiming that a lot of things are fixed, but they've pushed out updates that supposedly fix all the netcode only for the community to discover they didn't test the thing online at all and lo and behold, the netcode was still utterly broken and servers would die if more than six people connected. I am very skeptical that they have some patch that fixes the game that they haven't let the alpha testers try out. It makes no sense. No one even really plays the alpha test because there's just no point, nothing works and it's pretty well documented.
I think they've just bit off more than they can chew with this game. They decided to design their own engine and as far as I know they have exactly one engine programmer (and like 4 employees total). The engine itself probably needs like a year worth of work let alone the majority of game mechanics are not even implemented yet.
I think it's just the result of bad decisions early on (not licensing an engine because of the costs) not enough manpower, and no real direction or management to speak of.
If you still want to preorder it then you should, they definitely need the money if they are even going to complete the game (and at this point it really is starting to sound like 'if' instead of 'when') but do not lay down money expecting a playable game or you'll probably be very disappointed.
The transition into the beta this early from the alpha is confusing but UWE has shown time and time again that they know what they are doing.
I strongly disagree with that statement. Now I have a very deep love for the original NS, it was the first online multiplayer game that I really got into and I was even on a team that won a CAL division playing it (albeit the lesser of the two divisions). While it was never nearly as popular as CS or TF, I don't think I ever had more fun playing an online FPS than with NS.
I've been rooting for this game to be good since it was announced but there's just absolutely nothing there besides hype and cool looking pre-rendered video. What little gameplay we've seen has been laggy and completely unplayable. Flayra made a giant mistake when he decided to design a new engine from scratch for this game, the reality is that with the limited resources and funds they have it just isn't feasible to design a new engine that's going to be good. We've seen the game get delayed time and time again and every new update just seems like a baby step. I have yet to pre-order the game and I won't be doing so until it's clear that there's actually something there which sadly may never come at this rate.
Wow they are finally releasing it. I stopped checking their website for a release date years ago. How long have they been working on NS2? Six years now?
The transition into the beta this early from the alpha is confusing but UWE has shown time and time again that they know what they are doing.
I strongly disagree with that statement. Now I have a very deep love for the original NS, it was the first online multiplayer game that I really got into and I was even on a team that won a CAL division playing it (albeit the lesser of the two divisions). While it was never nearly as popular as CS or TF, I don't think I ever had more fun playing an online FPS than with NS.
I've been rooting for this game to be good since it was announced but there's just absolutely nothing there besides hype and cool looking pre-rendered video. What little gameplay we've seen has been laggy and completely unplayable. Flayra made a giant mistake when he decided to design a new engine from scratch for this game, the reality is that with the limited resources and funds they have it just isn't feasible to design a new engine that's going to be good. We've seen the game get delayed time and time again and every new update just seems like a baby step. I have yet to pre-order the game and I won't be doing so until it's clear that there's actually something there which sadly may never come at this rate.
Haha i im just strongly biased in that quote, but after listening to one of flayras hour long podcast interviews, this is something he has worked his entire life on and wont give up until its finished, ill try and find the podcast, its fairly new and you can tell that he wont give up on it and he is trying to make the game to what he had always dreamed of it being.
That, and im a die hard NS fan and so far every single change they have made i have been for(except the auto bite with leap but that was never and will never be implemented)
And i agree with you 100% for not buying it yet, If i wasnt into NS as much as i am, i wouldnt have bought it, its been a long long wait but its just amazing to finally see some major progress from nothing to something.
Its got a year to a year and a half to be released but im willing to wait.
For others, you dont even need to purchase it, just spread the word about it, keep an eye on it every so often, along with this thread.
(also that trailer isnt pre-rendered, only the original one is, that was all done in the cinematic editor)
For thoose who played the free NS version, giving thoose guys some money now that they are working on NS2 is well spent money for all the fun in the past atleast =)
Having never played/seen the original, what I'm seeing so far is looking EPIC. I remember hearing about an RTS/FPS hybrid in the past, but that kinda flew under the radar and I can't remember the name now (It wasn't NS).
This is looking to become the exact game I've been wanting to play at our local LAN's for ages! (Besides Starcraft of course, but because most of my gamer friends are ridiculously casual and shooter-fans, there isn't much chance of me playing against them and still being challenged.)
Oh my good. Ns1 was soo good, especially after the latest update. So fun to be commander and scream at people what to do. Think i got to preorder this one.
On November 21 2010 22:27 DarQraven wrote: Having never played/seen the original, what I'm seeing so far is looking EPIC. I remember hearing about an RTS/FPS hybrid in the past, but that kinda flew under the radar and I can't remember the name now (It wasn't NS).
Savage or Savage 2 perhaps. Also, if you have HL1, totally try out the original natural selection. Amazing mod.
The transition into the beta this early from the alpha is confusing but UWE has shown time and time again that they know what they are doing.
I strongly disagree with that statement. Now I have a very deep love for the original NS, it was the first online multiplayer game that I really got into and I was even on a team that won a CAL division playing it (albeit the lesser of the two divisions). While it was never nearly as popular as CS or TF, I don't think I ever had more fun playing an online FPS than with NS.
I've been rooting for this game to be good since it was announced but there's just absolutely nothing there besides hype and cool looking pre-rendered video. What little gameplay we've seen has been laggy and completely unplayable. Flayra made a giant mistake when he decided to design a new engine from scratch for this game, the reality is that with the limited resources and funds they have it just isn't feasible to design a new engine that's going to be good. We've seen the game get delayed time and time again and every new update just seems like a baby step. I have yet to pre-order the game and I won't be doing so until it's clear that there's actually something there which sadly may never come at this rate.
This guy is 100% right, my eyes used to be glazed over by the awesomeness that was NS but NS2 is never going to be half as good (if its EVER released). They have time and time again said that they struggle for money and then suddenly try and "relaunch" what little content they have to try and stay out of the red, its pathetic and incredibly decietful. Their new engine runes like crap on even the best PC's and the "game" they've releases closed beta or not plays like shit. I loved NS and I've been part of a NS/TFC community for nearly 10 years now but NS2 is NEVER going to be even 1/10th as good.
Oh and anything after NS 2.0 was generally shitty and Flayra completely fucked his own game up with 3.0+.
The problem is they tried to finance the entire game through pre orders and whatever money they had from Zen of Sudoku sales and NS1 donations. It's just not feasible. They didn't want to take on debt or find investors or anything. It's just a bad way to do business. Not only does it damage your relation with customers it's clearly not feasible as we can see with what's going on.
The result is pretty clear, the game wasn't ready for the "alpha" release in that there just wasn't anything to test, the netcode was a joke, what were we supposed to do with what they gave us? The truth is they didn't give it to us to find bugs, they gave it to us to appease and to justify taking pre orders.
This beta is the same situation. Let's try to do whatever hasty work we can so it's remotely playable and call it an exclusive closed beta and take 10,000 more pre orders. It's now finally pretty close to alpha stage, feature wise it's not done at all, but it's semi playable. It's definitely not a beta by any stretch of the imagination.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out what the next step is going to be: they won't have enough money to continue and they push out a half finished game. It's going to get horrible publicity and the game as a result is just not going to sell. The small NS1 community just isn't going to be able to sustain the game.
It's unfortunate because I loved NS, I played it competitively and helped run one of the most popular servers, but it's really easy to see the problems with their business model and how it has and will continue to damage the game.
But at the same time, reading what they have to say on their site, like they accomplished some huge milestone with beta, guilting fans for being negative on their forum when they are just being honest about the state of things as paying customers, asking them to post on other message boards and quell negativity there. It's kind of getting too much for me. They are in this boat because of their own mistakes, they are lucky people aren't talking about refunds yet.
There's just so much work that needs to be done, I hate to sound pessimistic about it, I wish I was playing NS2 right now and it was an awesome game and worthy sequel. But the reality is I either see it being an unfinished, completely forgettable mess that doesn't attract any new fans, or the entire thing going belly up.
I don't see the closed beta sales getting them over the massive hurdle infront of them. I really don't envy the position they put themselves in.
Should've just stuck to the Source engine. I remember them saying they were having issues with it, but if they/he were/was able to code NS1 for the original HL engine, surely they could get at least the same results on Source.
edit: Playability depends highly on the server you are playing right now. There are many good servers but some servers just can't hold many players and the lag is immense.
They've had VC funding for a while now.... They're not trying to solely fund this thing with game sales. I imagine they have some obligations and they're just trying to figure this stuff out.
This game is going to be awesome, still 4-5 months away form release, but the beta is getting mroe and more fun everyweek. NS1 was great, and I understand why they didnt stick with source engine, The engine they have developed is much prettier, and will allow them to add some Sweet gameplay tweaks.(Dynamic infestation is like zerg creep, except in an fps shooter game)The New Fade blink(old fade blink) is awesome and addicting.
as to this floor exercise guy who posted above, I hope he realizes that they do have investors, and they are making improvments, and they do care about their customers. Just because people post negative things on the forums doesn't mean they wont buy/play the game. Have you seen the sc2 battle.net forums? it is 99% bitching and moaning in their about how crappy this or that is about sc2.....The game isnt even finished and you've written it off, why dotn u go back to black ops.
It's getting there. Without the Onos in game it's not really worth playing though as it's not balanced (obviously). There's quite a few bugs, and either the engine still needs to be optimized or I need to turn my settings down. Overall you should be able to hop in, join a game, and get a taste of it though.
I have been playing NS2 since alpha and it has come a long ways every patch fixes something and adds new things into the game. NS2 is going to be great just like the original was.
The game is definetly not ready for such a large public criticism, the game works for handful of people good enough to really say its playable.
It is most likely to take year or so to make a game fully accessable especially for competitive scene, currect gameplay is very limited to structure spam with no fast decisions or skillful movement.
Not to defend UWE's decisions but to correct few things, engine decision was not spontanious it was something that Max (One of the developers) had been working for a very long time as a solo project. Shortsightness was their bad but it will come along.
Not everything is looking grim though graphics are very well thought and made the engine has seen excellent FPS and server performance boosts. I wish everyone of you could join UWE forums check what going on and check out NS2HD videos (Not completely unbiast tbh) and if you like what you see pre-order.
This game is getting better and better. I love it. The reason why I'm bumping this is because Unknown Worlds just released probably the biggest and best patch to date to the NS2 beta. More news can be read or watched here
I tried it out today after about 2-3 months of not playing it, and it really is a completely different game. Last time I tried it, it was stuttering every couple seconds and was completely unplayable, but today it was as smooth as can be (well, accounting for ping). I'm sure it will get more polished and playable for lower end computers as time goes on, but it's definitely very playable for me now (probably mid-end computer? dual core CPU + ATI 4870 512MB).
I actually played a couple full games with pretty much no gameplay lag and had a ton of fun. Wish there were more servers, but in beta its understandable. I started it just to test if its improved, but I may actually hop on some more tomorrow cuz it was straight up a lot of fun.
I'm on the ABLE.NS server at least every other day. Look for me as "Shiver". I play aliens like 80% of the time and i'm pretty bad, but I am sooo in love with this game.
As for NS2? It's very very very uh... "alpha"? Seriously I don't know why they insisted on remaking the entire game engine. It runs like garbage, even on my new, (and bloody powerful) PC. I can run SC2 and ME2 on max graphics settings with *perfect* framerate. NS2 on low/medium graphics gives me like 10 fps. I don't get it, lol.
I really want NS2 to be a good game, but it's basically unplayable at present.
I feel bad for them, they have spent so much time and money in their approach, it's really an allin.
I bought this back at the start for $40, but it's going to be at least half a year I would imagine before they have a playable game.
The original was never good because of the graphics or cute mechanics. It was great because of the pacing, the feel, and the combat. You don't need a new engine to do that. They should have gone with source, and maybe we would still have a community.
On June 09 2011 19:21 keit wrote: Is the performance still in unplayable state?
It's still kind of a chore to play but it's slowly improving. Performance is still quite bad simply because the engine isn't optimized. The dynamic shadows I think are always going to cripple FPS. Netcode is the same, it's still just plain bad, with 300 entities in the game and 12 players you get like 300+ ms minimum meaning games are still guaranteed to reach unplayable states even with low player numbers. I really don't know if it's ever going to support decent sized pubs the way its going.
The problem is the development has become a bit of a joke, there are unpaid community members who have submitted 20+ optimization patches, that's how much is broken/flawed with the engine. I can't imagine where the devs would be on their own. By the time it gets to a point where the game is fun enjoyable enough to play I am not sure how many people will still care.
I know the game seems to be built for 6v6, however the map feel really small compares to the original NS. Will it ever be fun like the original in a big public server like 12vs12?
On June 22 2011 02:12 furymonkey wrote: I know the game seems to be built for 6v6, however the map feel really small compares to the original NS. Will it ever be fun like the original in a big public server like 12vs12?
Yes - Right now they're just testing the game (and since the engine isn't optimized yet, maps are intentionally not big).
ns_rockdown for example was just going to be a test map but they decided to expand the map a little bit.
I'm sure they'll get bigger once the engine is fully optimized.
I disagree I dont think they are building the game around 6v6, more like 10v10 or 12v12(lot of server admins say they plan on 32 person, 16v16. The current maps are so small due to some bugs in the server optimization that makes the game lag. The newer map ns_summit is pretty large and is very reminiscent of a NS1 Map.
Here is the latest changes video:
The most recent patches 178 and 179, along with the new programmer UWE hired has made DRASTIC and i mean DRASTIC changes to the game. It plays more like ns1 now, and The lag issues have been cut in half. You can actually play a whole game of 6v6 with very little lag on a good server, Anyone who has been waiting to play due to lag might want to try out this patch.
On June 25 2011 07:17 GGTeMpLaR wrote: This game didn't let you invert the mouse buttons when I tried it.
Did they fix that yet?
what do you mean inverse mouse buttons, left button -> right right button -> left? or invert view up-> down etc
edit: cause there is key binding now for all the functions, you can change any action to any button on the keyboard or mouse. Just go to options b4 joining a server.
On June 25 2011 07:17 GGTeMpLaR wrote: This game didn't let you invert the mouse buttons when I tried it.
Did they fix that yet?
what do you mean inverse mouse buttons, left button -> right right button -> left? or invert view up-> down etc
edit: cause there is key binding now for all the functions, you can change any action to any button on the keyboard or mouse. Just go to options b4 joining a server.
No just the mouse buttons (I play left-handed).
It just didn't have that feature a few months ago and I was curious if they ever fixed that junk.
:O Is the new NS any good? I used to play a ridiculous amount of NS with my brother and one of his friends, nothing more awesome than a max upgraded skulk against marines who didn't get the heavy armor.
The new NS still needs some more development time. It's somewhat playable but things aren't optimized yet and not everything is implement into the game.
It's definitely getting better though but I'd say wait a while unless you have extra money to spend since it's still not super playable yet.
It's pretty playable for me, just doesn't feel very balanced or complete. There are a lot of features that are planned but not in yet (including onos!) and as of now there is a lack of map variety (summit is definitely the best map right now, but its pretty much the only one in that regard).
Balance-wise, it seems everything hinges on the aliens second hatch. If they aren't able to get it up quickly, marines will get shotguns which in the hands of even decent marines seem to hard counter all tier 1 alien lifeforms (and there is no armor upgrades on 1 hive to help). In the hands of really good FPSers, its near unstoppable on 1 hive (there was a marine that went like 40-1 in a game I played a week or two ago.)
But if the aliens DO get their second hive up, it becomes a bit of a game for awhile, some back and forth. Definitely in the aliens favor though because the fade is still very strong. If it was an early second hive, those early fades are pretty much game ending in themselves. If it was a later second hive, its pretty close. If marines already have some secured ground and RT nodes, they can turret farm until they literally have hundreds on the map and no glaring holes in their defense. If they don't have much ground at all, they will just get worn down by fades over time.
So yeah they need to switch things up and get in the rest of the features to make the game a bit more dynamic to be really fun. But its definitely playable, and if you own it but haven't tried the beta, its definitely worth popping in to try out all the mechanics that ARE in (including the extremely fun Fade blink!).
On June 25 2011 14:35 geno wrote: It's pretty playable for me, just doesn't feel very balanced or complete. There are a lot of features that are planned but not in yet (including onos!) and as of now there is a lack of map variety (summit is definitely the best map right now, but its pretty much the only one in that regard).
Balance-wise, it seems everything hinges on the aliens second hatch. If they aren't able to get it up quickly, marines will get shotguns which in the hands of even decent marines seem to hard counter all tier 1 alien lifeforms (and there is no armor upgrades on 1 hive to help). In the hands of really good FPSers, its near unstoppable on 1 hive (there was a marine that went like 40-1 in a game I played a week or two ago.)
But if the aliens DO get their second hive up, it becomes a bit of a game for awhile, some back and forth. Definitely in the aliens favor though because the fade is still very strong. If it was an early second hive, those early fades are pretty much game ending in themselves. If it was a later second hive, its pretty close. If marines already have some secured ground and RT nodes, they can turret farm until they literally have hundreds on the map and no glaring holes in their defense. If they don't have much ground at all, they will just get worn down by fades over time.
So yeah they need to switch things up and get in the rest of the features to make the game a bit more dynamic to be really fun. But its definitely playable, and if you own it but haven't tried the beta, its definitely worth popping in to try out all the mechanics that ARE in (including the extremely fun Fade blink!).
Ya I agree with you balance wise, shotguns dominate early game but fades can dominate late game forcing marines to turtle up. But it will be interesting to see how the balance shifts once late game features like jetpacks, heavy armour, and Onos are added. Anyway the game is still pretty fun right now and definitely worth a try if your interested.
NaturalSelection2HD has posted the very first recorded competitive matches of NS2. The balance is off. There are bugs. Big chunks of the tech tree are missing. But I'd be lying if I said these matches weren't exciting! Hugh even added a cool spectator overlay which of course gives us ideas for incorporating it into the game.
the NS2 clan that I'm in will be going against Frelge this weekend. Should be fun
It's definitely come a long way from the start of the alpha/beta, but it still suffers a bit from lag, mostly lag from servers being unable to host games efficiently. When you can find a decent server though, the game is playable.
On July 17 2011 00:06 Haemonculus wrote: Game still just feels so... chunky/sluggish. Even my new PC struggles to run the game smoothly even at low graphics settings. I'm sticking with NS1 for now but I'm hoping it'll be better in the future!
Well since noone officialy hosts ns2 servers - all the servers on the list are standing in peoples homes. And if my single cpu core, 2gb ram geforce4800 computer can run it, i doubt this new computer of yours is vary good.. Try closing all your other programs and host a local server and join from another computer. If your computer is better my piece of shit, It should run NP.
On July 17 2011 00:06 Haemonculus wrote: Game still just feels so... chunky/sluggish. Even my new PC struggles to run the game smoothly even at low graphics settings.
I'm sticking with NS1 for now but I'm hoping it'll be better in the future!
Yeah I don't see it ever not feeling that way with this engine. So much of what made NS1 great was the HL engine. It's just such an incredibly fun engine to play on. NS2 is going to always be a clunky mess I think
I bought in to the beta three days ago and I must say I am incredibly impressed with what they've made so far. I never played NS so I can't compare it to the original but from an outsider perspective I think that this game has ENORMOUS potential, and is already highly playable. When all features are implemented and polished this game is going to be excellent.
Iv also noticed that Unknown Worlds is incredibly open and receptive in regards to updates and patches, as well as listening to player suggestions. I am very pleased with what I paid for, and I can't wait for the full release!
Been playing the beta and alpha on and off. I usually play from Canada during aus hours (on aus servers) and have been highlighted in some of NS2HD's videos (woot lol, he does a great job, kinda feels like a game hd starcraft did of me lol) http://www.youtube.com/user/NaturalSelection2HD#p/u/29/zLqeoIE5pFs for example I pop up in 4 or 5 clips.
Anyways, I played NS1 well before steam was released (probably around cs 1.4/1.5 and then through till well after steam release in 03') and I feel this game definitely has a very nice feel in regards to e-sports, much more so than its predecessor. I think recently in the past month or two Unknown Worlds has seen what is becoming of e-sports and is really going to push to have it as a spotlight for the game (They are tweeting GSL now o_o;. Gameplay is good, but i'm still not particularly sure it will flourish as a spectator game. I feel Unknown Worlds will really have to work hard on devising a solution to the near impossible task of making competitive fps watch able and entertaining. Having played CSS competetively for years, was top in CNC3 for a while after release (quickly stopped after a few months as the game was not challenging), lots of iCCup, and a good amount of SC2 I feel that NS2 gently incorporates the differences between FPS and Strategy, but competetive FPS has never been about reaction time moreso about preparation, and that takes alot of waiting, and playing a very mechanical and decision oriented game, and lets face it that's not interesting to watch and it's hard to spectate 10-12 players at once.
Unit positioning, Securing space, and controlling the map are all concepts that apply to both FPS and RTS, and they are really critical in NS2. As aliens, you dont take SA hive without really barrelling down ventilation and making it your focus for the entire game. Alternatively, as marines, if they are barelling down ventillation, you ignore it and play a more crossroads/heliport focused game. (ns_summit btw as reference).
There are build orders much like in SC2, but they are much more basic. eg marine: Infantry portal, armory, robotics factory, 2nd res = all of your starting res. robo factory means you do not need a marine at home to build. eg alien: Hive + 1 extractor (with extremely efficient "creep spread" you can get second extractor with starting hive energy on most maps)
You are punished early for focusing on upgrades early, rather than focusing on a more economic game (you see marines lose alot of the time because comms prioritise upgrades and just have no income). You are also punished for focusing on the wrong parts of the map and moving across the map stupidly (for example going through contested crossroads as a marine to get to crevice instead of going through the marine secured heliport etc etc). Overall this makes the game a pretty competitive team game. But will it succeed as an e-sport? That will depend on how Unknown Worlds can present the game to potential spectators.
There wasn't all that much "strategy" involved with NS1 and the devs never supported the competitive scene so I can't see NS2 ever being much of an esport.
On July 20 2011 02:03 Kralle333 wrote: I miss playing competetive ns 1. Was so much fun
Quoted for fucking truth man.
NS1 was my favorite competitive game of all time (and I've been playing computer games competitively for like 12 years).
Sick awesome gameplay in clan games. It's a real shame that every FPS being released nowadays is a crappy 'realistic' copy of CoD/BF. Haven't seen any good non-realistic/scifi team FPS games released in awhile (although it's possible I missed them).
Back in 2009, I remember thinking that NS2 and SC2 were going to come out at the same time. Well, SC2 obviously got delayed a little, but it's 2012 now and NS2 doesn't even look nearly ready for release. I already purchased the game ages ago pre-alpha, but my enthusiasm for it couldn't be any lower now.
On January 31 2012 07:15 ShadowDrgn wrote: Back in 2009, I remember thinking that NS2 and SC2 were going to come out at the same time. Well, SC2 obviously got delayed a little, but it's 2012 now and NS2 doesn't even look nearly ready for release. I already purchased the game ages ago pre-alpha, but my enthusiasm for it couldn't be any lower now.
It's taking a very long time but I think it'll be great if everything works out. They've got good ideas and should be able to balance is quite well. I don't know if it'll be out this year though.
Pretty awesome trailer. My only gripe with it is how bad skulks look: for cinematic purposes, they have them walking slowly to be blown up by grenades.
I'm doubting the summer 2012 release date as they're still making substantial changes. Even if they do push it out the door, there will be lots of subsequent patches, so I don't see any hurry in getting excited.
Yeah that trailer almost makes me want to reinstall, but I'm content to wait until release -> more hype -> more people on servers. This game is going to be great. Eventually.
On February 04 2012 00:56 myopia wrote: Yeah that trailer almost makes me want to reinstall, but I'm content to wait until release -> more hype -> more people on servers. This game is going to be great. Eventually.
Is there a way of trying out the beta without pre-ordering?
On February 04 2012 00:56 myopia wrote: Yeah that trailer almost makes me want to reinstall, but I'm content to wait until release -> more hype -> more people on servers. This game is going to be great. Eventually.
Is there a way of trying out the beta without pre-ordering?
I don't think so, though they may have a free trial closer to release. If you own Half-Life, NS1 is a free mod and people still play it. NS2 is the same game on a new engine (like DotA -> Dota 2), so if you like NS1, you'll like NS2.
On February 04 2012 00:56 myopia wrote: Yeah that trailer almost makes me want to reinstall, but I'm content to wait until release -> more hype -> more people on servers. This game is going to be great. Eventually.
Almost my exact attitude. I pre-ordered the special edition way back when they announced it (lol fall09 release date), and slowly realized it wasn't going to be coming any time soon. Never regretted putting my money out there though, if for nothing else than to pay them for the magnificence that was NS1.
That said, I still haven't doubted for one second that when it DOES finally get released, this is going to be a great game. I'm not tremendously hyped right now and I don't think I'm going to redownload the beta to try the recent changes out for now, but I still will be pumped for the actual release. Hope it does very well and there will be a lot of people playing.
On July 20 2011 04:08 carltron wrote: There wasn't all that much "strategy" involved with NS1 and the devs never supported the competitive scene so I can't see NS2 ever being much of an esport.
there was a lot of strategy in scrims/matches
As aliens you had to choose M/D/S which drastically affects the game play early on.
Marines were kinda bland though, it was a fairly linear tech tree.
Either way I loved the game, played a ton of it competitively.
Well I bought it in... 2009 I think? When it was coming in the fall (it didn't). I tried it once they released the alpha or whatever (pretty much a beta, but anyway). Wasn't playable because it didn't perform well enough to give me more than 5-10 FPS.
So basically, anyone played it lately and does it actually perform like you'd expect it to?
On March 23 2012 11:35 HellRoxYa wrote: Well I bought it in... 2009 I think? When it was coming in the fall (it didn't). I tried it once they released the alpha or whatever (pretty much a beta, but anyway). Wasn't playable because it didn't perform well enough to give me more than 5-10 FPS.
So basically, anyone played it lately and does it actually perform like you'd expect it to?
I last played 5 months ago I think? The game was a bit laggy at times but totally playable. It was fun, but I stopped because there weren't enough people online / still missing a bunch of tech for both sides / freakin' fades had stupid amounts of armour and health and would never die.
Yesterday I decided to reinstall and have a look around. Played for an hour and NS2 is looking really good. I think every major feature except marine heavy armor is implemented (jetpacks YEAH), and they've done some great rework on models and effects. The game was running pretty smoothly on a 16 man server, though loading new maps seems to take forever. I think a late summer release is possible at this point.
There are a lot of subtle changes and fixes in this build. Nothing too mind-shattering, but the alien armor changes, Gorge refinements and fixing of sentry "confusion" from Lerk spores should make the game play noticeably better.
We are now starting a two week "sprint" where we are focused on the new main menu, new Shade abilities and the Shift, while the more engine focused guys (Max and Dushan) are working on performance.
Features
Added new Marine Commander ability: Nano construct. Allows the Commander to speed a marine's construction by 4x for a short time (uses Command Station energy).
Balance
Increased Clog health from 200 to 250 (same as an egg).
Clogs have "shock absorbing" property where they can take no more than 50 points of damage in any single attack, making them more resistant to grenades. Will remove this if it feels weird.
Lowered bile bomb splash radius as it was affecting way too big of an area (close to NS1 now)
Increased ARC cost from 10 to 15 tres and upgrade Robotics Fastory cost from 10 to 20. They still need more work but hopefully this will lessen the mega-trains of doom.
Moved some of power point durability from health into armor, to make them more susceptible to Heavy/Door damage (Onos).
"Door" damage now treats armor as 1 point of health (currently only used by Onos).
Number of allowed Hydras, Cysts, Clogs no longer grow with # of Hives.
Changed corrode damage type (bile bomb) to deal heavy damage (double damage to armor), no damage to players unless exosuit, and reduced bile bomb base damage to 35 per second, down from 80.
Increased Whip Bombard damage to 1200 and added custom damage type: it will deal light damage (half to armor) and affect only structures.
Adjusted Gorge spit damage to 30 to compensate for new Marine armor: 6-7-8-10 (was 7-8-9-11)
Rebalanced Marine armor to have an effect at as many levels as feasible. Marines now get 20 armor with each upgrade level (was 15). Puncture damage multiple changed from 1.5 to 1.25. Aliens should now kill Marines with this many attacks (Armor 0/1/2/3):
Change
User settings (name, keybindings, etc.) are now stored on Steam Cloud
Added code to prevent order spam which led to choke.
Changed alien wave spawn. Now it spawns 1, 2 or 3 aliens together, depending on how many are currently dead. 1 alien takes 9 seconds, 2 takes 13 and 3 takes 17 seconds. The idea here is that 1-hive aliens spawn slightly faster than 1-IP marines and slightly slower than 2-IP marines. This is a complicated system and we're still trying things out here.
Hit indication (at crosshair) is not shown anymore when your Hydra hits a target.
Increased Onos base speed slightly to have him feel less like a wounded senior citizen.
Gorges can no longer place a structure once the limit has been reached (Gorge need to manually destroy them before they are allowed to place a new structure)
Aliens are no longer allowed to re-evolve an upgrade when they already had it before and use all upgrade slots.
AI units can no longer follow move orders which leads them onto neutral entities (powerpoint, resourcepoint, techpoint) to block them.
Slightly increased range when doors open for players.
Each chat message is limited to 80 characters now to reduce spam.
Decreased Hydra accuracy and further reduced their ability to track moving targets.
Fade blink is now lag compensated.
Observatory "blips" Fade now by distance for Marines.
Removed sprint penalty on infestation for Marines.
If the parent Gorge for any of his structures dies, and doesn't become Gorge again for 60 seconds, then his structures start dying as if they didn't have infestation.
Whips will no longer auto Bombard players (they would not harm them anyway)
Resource points are no longer selectable.
Fix
Fixed bug which allowed Lerks to shoot bilebombs through glass (mineshaft Marine start)
Fixed bug where Onos smash attack was triggered when targeting friendly structures.
Fixed a rare bug that caused the Onos to remain on fire visually after the fire was put out by a Gorge heal spray.
The Flamethrower will no longer shoot before the reload animation is complete.
Fixed bug where dead enemies would appear detected when near an Observatory.
Fixed bug where locations could be marked as "visited" during round start up (resulted in fore sight could be used in multiple locations from the beginning on)
Fixed Onos charge sound playing for local player when camouflaged.
Fixed Onos crouching speed (was same as walk speed before)
Fixed bug where MACs could repair insanely fast.
Fixed saving and loading of system options.
Fixed problems with sentries not being confused (by spores) at long ranges and short ranges. Fixed playback of sentry confusion sound.
Fixed rare script error caused by displaying the health circles in spectator mode.
Changed console output for the dedicated server to be ASCII.
Fixed script error that occurred sometimes when a Fade died while blinking.
Ragdolls will no longer have a minimap blip displayed.
Fixed a bug where blinking at low energy as Fade would immediately cancel the blink.
Fixed the collision scaling bug.
Chat messages are now limited, this should not be noticeable in most cases but will help to prevent spam.
Fixed the % symbol not working in chat.
Fixed crash if a Lua object did not return a class namke from the __towatch function.
Fixed issue with Stomp where the Stomp animation played but no shock wave was sent.
Fixed but where mouse sensitivity would not properly reset when you die as Onos while charging.
Various crashes related to collision objects being destroyed.
Sound
Fixed playback of sentry confusion sound.
Quieter skulk enemy footsteps
ns2_mineshaft
Increased player clip distance around operations window.
ns2_summit
Fixed several stuck issues
Fixed evolution stuck issue in the corridor between Flight Control and Summit Reception
Smoothed out player movement in curved stairs in Summit Reception and Sub Access
Rotated some Tech Points and Resource Nozzles so the models would be better oriented
Gorges can now fit in Atrium's floor vent
Blocked the Atrium vent a little further back to avoid player confusion
Fixed issue in Glass Hallway where Fades or Marines weren't able to get into the vent
Moved rocks below the platform in Crevice (to prevent alien camping)
Removed clipping faces in some railings that were blocking bullets (not needed anymore)
Removed steam from Sub Access
Removed "Murder Holes" in Computer Lab
SDK
Added Pathing.FindRandomPointAroundCircle.
We hope you're enjoying the beta! We'll have more info and another patch for you soon.
When I last played a month ago there were the same 2-3 active american servers. The game isn't exactly lively but you can get good 16 man games going in the evening.
About activity: The public scene is very active in my opinion at the moment. There are 4 European and 3 US servers and 2 AUS servers, that are constantly full (18/18) during the main times (don't know about the AUS servers, but there seems to be enough activity for pub games). At ensl.org you can join gathers with really good players and play the game in a more competitive environment. You're always welcome there, as long as you follow their rules and listen to your team. European gathers happen almost daily around 10-11 pm CET, and US players join in later usually.
About balance: The whole community is actively involved in addressing balance issues and trying to suggest solutions, and the devs try to satisfy the casual, as well as the competitive sides. It's not always easy, but they are doing a good job at it. There is a steep learning curve atm, but it's rewarding, and you can have lot's of fun, even as a beginner already. There has been a lot of progress in balance, but there are still some more or less significant problems. I for one am confident, that they'll be eased until release, and experience from NS1 shows, that they'll keep addressing balance issues after release.
About performance: Performance has had ups and downs in the progress of the beta, but is steadily improving for the last 2 months. I don't have any major performance issues anymore, you should have a powerful CPU though. I'd say, as long as you have at least 3.2 Ghz core i series processor, you're good to go.
Keep an eye out for Total Biscuits youtube channel!
I love this game, only problem is that I have some issues with performance and am running out of ideas on what to change. It is playable but its not fun in big fights or on some servers.
The game looks ridiculously fun, but 35 dollars is just too steep for me since I didn't play NS1 and I have no idea if I will actually enjoy playing it. The concept though, so awesome.
On August 15 2012 21:42 Corvi wrote: hmm 35 bucks seem quite expensive for a multiplayer only game. i gonna wait for reviews ...
I think it'll be worth it, especially after all the mods will get released.
Take note you need a really good computer to play it (better than BF3) because it's really unoptimized right now (the main problem is nearly everything is written in *lua and lua is not the best scripting language to use for speed).
*Few games are written entirely in lua (if some games do use it, they only use it for part of the games or some aspects rather than the entire game or engine). With NS2, they did this for mod support (it has advantages over C++ or other scripting languages in that regard) but the main disadvantage is performance.
I think the advantage does overweight the disadvantage (at least in the long term - as time passes, everyone will get better computers) but it does have the problem with potentially putting off a lot of buyers as some may not be able to run the game well now.
Two versions of NS2 will ultimately be available on the Steam Store: Standard and Deluxe. The Standard edition will cost $24.99 and gives you the full game. The Deluxe edition costs $39.99 and gives you the full game plus a whole bag of goodies:
Deluxe Edition
NS2 Official Soundtrack (almost 1 hour of music) Digital Art Book (40 pages) Exclusive wallpapers and avatars Exclusive new in-game marine armor
Now for the really cool part: We have some presents for everyone who pre-ordered the game before today's Steam release (anyone who has played in the NS2 beta). You all receive:
A free upgrade to the Deluxe Edition detailed above A free copy of NS2 Standard Edition to give to a friend or stroke lovingly Continued private beta access right up to launch day in October
The free copys come through the gift system in a couple of days. If i wasnt in love with you already i definitely would be by now! UWE have my babys!
I wont get the beta if I pre-purchase it now, will I? I played the old NS sooo much, just remembered this game a few days ago and boy does it look AWESOME
Wish I preordered the game earlier. Didn't realize you could get into beta by preordering, until recently when they closed it.
How hard is it to learn the commander role? Many of my friends love FPS games, while I love RTS much more. I imagine I will suck pretty bad and bring team down for awhile though. I was planning on playing for a few days doing the FPS side and then just jumping into the commander seat and probably getting kicked out and banned from servers for quite a while.
I have been looking for youtube commentaries and other information about playing commander, but have not been able to find much. Casts of higher level teams on the natural selection twitch channel seems like the best way to learn. Although I imagine competitive strategies don't always translate well to pubs.
On September 11 2012 23:03 Bosu wrote: Wish I preordered the game earlier. Didn't realize you could get into beta by preordering, until recently when they closed it.
How hard is it to learn the commander role? Many of my friends love FPS games, while I love RTS much more. I imagine I will suck pretty bad and bring team down for awhile though. I was planning on playing for a few days doing the FPS side and then just jumping into the commander seat and probably getting kicked out and banned from servers for quite a while.
I have been looking for youtube commentaries and other information about playing commander, but have not been able to find much. Casts of higher level teams on the natural selection twitch channel seems like the best way to learn. Although I imagine competitive strategies don't always translate well to pubs.
it's not that difficult, really there are only like 1 or two 'good' build orders and the rest is just interfacing with your team well so that they'll actually listen to you in a pinch. there's a surprising amount of 'micro' in the game, having the constantly be watching your players and their health/ammo levels. in terms of strategical depth, there really isn't any because some of the ups for marines are so blatantly OP in pubs (exosuits..) so basically a common marine commander build order is mines -> weapons ups -> armor ups -> phase gates -> exos.. I haven't really tried out the alien commander as of yet, but i wish they would just remove exos from the game.
Wait, marines actually win in pubs now? When I was playing (pre-exosuit) I think aliens had like 80% winrate unless marines went full-on shotgun rush. IIRC it was the same with NS1, even with the exosuit around. Aliens were just too strong in pubs.
Mind you, it didn't stop the game being tons of fun. And I play marines almost exclusively.
Yea, I figured a few ability builds would probably be pretty OP in pubs. In the competetive matches I watched from a few days ago it seemed like they rarely got to exosuits before the game was over.
The commander role seems to be fun from what little I have seen though. I think the game is awesome to watch from the top down perspective.
On September 11 2012 23:25 myopia wrote: Wait, marines actually win in pubs now? When I was playing (pre-exosuit) I think aliens had like 80% winrate unless marines went full-on shotgun rush. IIRC it was the same with NS1, even with the exosuit around. Aliens were just too strong in pubs.
Mind you, it didn't stop the game being tons of fun. And I play marines almost exclusively.
57% marines vs 42% aliens currently. According to the devs from the twitch stream the stats are a bit closer in their data which encompasses all servers.
So there is definitely seems to be some significant imbalance with a 57% / 42% split, but not so bad that the game is unplayable.
Its fine tbh. Marines always had the easier wins, but winrates could me much more drastically affected in NS1 because of how much difference there was in the skill levels. 1 or 2 good players could heavily swing the game into their teams favor. This effect was even bigger in some cases. A fade on my CAL/ENSL team could win entire 12v12 pubs by himself, and if we stacked marines the outcome was a lot more 1 sided than team stacking in some other games.
I bought the game when it was in alpha state and i still haven't received my free gift copy. I've read other people have received theirs. Any luck for anyone else?
On September 16 2012 04:31 Nebula wrote: I bought the game when it was in alpha state and i still haven't received my free gift copy. I've read other people have received theirs. Any luck for anyone else?
What I love about NS is the difference skill differences and power displays. One great players can be almost unkillable, it really makes you want to become better and better
On September 16 2012 04:31 Nebula wrote: I bought the game when it was in alpha state and i still haven't received my free gift copy. I've read other people have received theirs. Any luck for anyone else?
On September 16 2012 11:57 Sindriss wrote: What I love about NS is the difference skill differences and power displays. One great players can be almost unkillable, it really makes you want to become better and better
Just decided to pop in and say that after trying to play for a bit today, with lowest graphical settings I still get ~20 FPS in combat which is unplayable. I'm using Phenom II x4 965 3,6GHz and GTX 460. So even though the game might look good on a stream with some insane computer specs, the game still needs some serious performance fixes.
On September 16 2012 11:57 Sindriss wrote: What I love about NS is the difference skill differences and power displays. One great players can be almost unkillable, it really makes you want to become better and better
care explain what you meant?
He propably means that FE. a good fade whit blink can easily take out big number of marines overtime (speaking of tens here), and still does not risk to be killed. In competitive play its completely different thing, but in pubs this is completely usual.
Like the original version of natural selection there were league called ENSL which included few players that completely dominated the scoreboards (Tane, Fana) and now when they switch to ns2 we expect them to do the same. We'll see though.
On September 16 2012 11:57 Sindriss wrote: What I love about NS is the difference skill differences and power displays. One great players can be almost unkillable, it really makes you want to become better and better
care explain what you meant?
He propably means that FE. a good fade whit blink can easily take out big number of marines overtime (speaking of tens here), and still does not risk to be killed. In competitive play its completely different thing, but in pubs this is completely usual.
Like the original version of natural selection there were league called ENSL which included few players that completely dominated the scoreboards (Tane, Fana) and now when they switch to ns2 we expect them to do the same. We'll see though.
Haha, do you mean the finnish Tane from clan urd? I also played ns1 at the highest levels in the finnish scene back in the day...
The free copies seem to have not been distributed yet.
@ animol: It's depending on your specific setup. Some Setups work better than others. I have an i5 quad core at 3,4 GHz, 8 GB DDR3 1800 RAM and GTX 260, and i have between 40 and 60 FPS. They are trying to improve performance for all systems, but if you want your specific setup to be looked into, post your problems in the help section of the official Forums. http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showforum=108
The finals of the Cup will be played later today, starting at 11:00 PDT | 2:00 EDT | 18:00 UTC | 20:00 CET. You can also see the VODs of yesterdays games on these channels. There were some really good games imo. http://www.twitch.tv/naturalselection2 http://www.twitch.tv/rwryne
Game is looking really good although I've only seen matches on one map and marines seem to win every time. It looks like marines have an easier time getting resource nodes on the map...or my sample size is too small.
On September 16 2012 11:57 Sindriss wrote: What I love about NS is the difference skill differences and power displays. One great players can be almost unkillable, it really makes you want to become better and better
care explain what you meant?
He propably means that FE. a good fade whit blink can easily take out big number of marines overtime (speaking of tens here), and still does not risk to be killed. In competitive play its completely different thing, but in pubs this is completely usual.
Like the original version of natural selection there were league called ENSL which included few players that completely dominated the scoreboards (Tane, Fana) and now when they switch to ns2 we expect them to do the same. We'll see though.
Haha, do you mean the finnish Tane from clan urd? I also played ns1 at the highest levels in the finnish scene back in the day...
One who have once been (or followed) ENSL does not simply beat tanes FADE (or his SG lol). So yeah
On September 17 2012 03:25 Durak wrote: Game is looking really good although I've only seen matches on one map and marines seem to win every time. It looks like marines have an easier time getting resource nodes on the map...or my sample size is too small.
Edit: Or not? ^_^
Yeah, i don't know why they had the same map for every round either... Hopefully next time they'll mix it up more. Generally marines have the advantage in the early game, and once fades are out, it sometimes swings in alien favor, or is balanced. But aliens don't need as many resources overall, so early game disadvantage pans out overall.
On September 16 2012 11:57 Sindriss wrote: What I love about NS is the difference skill differences and power displays. One great players can be almost unkillable, it really makes you want to become better and better
care explain what you meant?
He propably means that FE. a good fade whit blink can easily take out big number of marines overtime (speaking of tens here), and still does not risk to be killed. In competitive play its completely different thing, but in pubs this is completely usual.
Like the original version of natural selection there were league called ENSL which included few players that completely dominated the scoreboards (Tane, Fana) and now when they switch to ns2 we expect them to do the same. We'll see though.
Haha, do you mean the finnish Tane from clan urd? I also played ns1 at the highest levels in the finnish scene back in the day...
One who have once been (or followed) ENSL does not simply beat tanes FADE (or his SG lol). So yeah
Aww man that brings up memories... I used to play with that guy like eight years ago.
I'm looking forward to this game and the Marine gameplay views look awesome. The aliens are so non-threatening and non-terrifying though. Needs more xenomorphs.
Just FYI, my free copy of NS2 showed up today, so check your steam inventory. Sure took a while. I don't think I've got access to the OST or other things though, they might be locked until release.
Stream going right now! Good commentary / games. Gogogo
Edit: There were a lot of good games. Arc is awesome as usual and most of their games were one-sided, but there was a phenomenal Onos vs Exo game earlier in the tourney. Recommend checking out the VODs if you're interested in NS2 competitive play at all -- which, if you aren't, shame on you.
Wow didn't realize the game is coming out october 31st. Damn i wish I had pre-ordered on september 6'th, then I could have gotten my brother a free copy so we could play together TT.
After years of waiting, Natural Selection 2 will be released in about 7 hours. It is going to be amazing. GET HYPED! Iv watched the game grow since early in the beta and it has come so far and delivered so much innovative and fun gameplay that I am very happy to see all the work come full circle, everyone should give this game a shot.
To those that had beta, how is the game perfomance wise in latest relases? I mean, looking at minimum system required to play it looks not so demanding, but from what i understood there were some quite big problems early in beta with perfomance. Any idea if those problems got solved or if i buy this it will just be a gamble at the moment?
Just bought it today, never played the first one. Played tf2 competitively for many years, a lot of people in that crowd came from ns1. Can't wait to jump in tonight :>
Is there a beta build available anywhere so I can jump in and try to learn the game before release?
On October 31 2012 06:12 KarlKaliente wrote: Just bought it today, never played the first one. Played tf2 competitively for many years, a lot of people in that crowd came from ns1. Can't wait to jump in tonight :>
Is there a beta build available anywhere so I can jump in and try to learn the game before release?
No. You don't get into the beta if you preordered it from Steam. If you had preordered it from their website before they put it on steam to preorder then you would've gotten in the beta along with the sexy Black armor.
A few more hours wont hurt and it was suppose to release on the 31st so they releasing it early.
Being a NS1 vet, it sucks balls that I can't play NS2 until 3 hours after release cuz Imma be raiding in my WoW guild for 3 hours
NS1 vet aswell , pre-ordered it long time ago, went through several builds.
This one, prerelease time is definitely the closest things to NS1 that has been done since the beginning of the beta.
NS2 is going to be a brilliant hit. I do find some feelings back I had back then. Sadly my cfg is on a threshold there, can work the game but it can easily stutter
(i3 2.13ghz, m5650, explains everything.)
Overall it seems that everyone playing the beta now is real satisfied with the direction NS2 is taking.
On October 31 2012 09:28 Fruscainte wrote: Is the game still not unlocked for some people? Do I have to restart steam?
Yeah. When my friend gifted to me, it was called "Natural Selection 2 Pre-order" and I had to restart for it to turn into "Natural Selection 2." Kinda sucks because I wanted to pre-load.
On October 31 2012 09:28 Fruscainte wrote: Is the game still not unlocked for some people? Do I have to restart steam?
Yeah. When my friend gifted to me, it was called "Natural Selection 2 Pre-order" and I had to restart for it to turn into "Natural Selection 2." Kinda sucks because I wanted to pre-load.
There was no preload because were still making updates to the game up until the last minute
I can't actually play the game, i dunno if my system specs aren't good enough, but i just get huge delay in playing. Here are my specs:
OS: XP 2.33ghz Quad Core 2gb ram Nvidia 9600 GT
The specs are available here at the bottom, and i do achieve them more or less, but the game is unplayable, not sure why :/ http://www.naturalselection2.com/
I'm really sad about this, because i loved NS1, and i bought NS2 straight away after just feeling that i owed Unknown Worlds for the amount of joy they brought me over the years.
Just got done playing it. Alot of the official servers are struggling at the minute but you can still find games. Last game devolved into a 50 minute stalemate over position requiring alot of backstabs to pull attention, marines seem to be pretty strong when upgraded. Seems like there is alot of potential for team strategy with 5 of us on skype. Commanders job is pretty essential but pretty boring, definitely seems like you would need to take turns to prevent burn out because you take no part in the action what so ever. That sad tho game is mad fun, definitely looking forward to some more
Mhmm played for about 2-3 hours straight now really fun game. Played a 30 minute game where we worked and talked as a team then my next game was 40 minutes with working together but we like didn't talk but somehow everything we wanted done we did lolol :D.
On October 31 2012 10:42 Surili wrote: I can't actually play the game, i dunno if my system specs aren't good enough, but i just get huge delay in playing. Here are my specs:
OS: XP 2.33ghz Quad Core 2gb ram Nvidia 9600 GT
The specs are available here at the bottom, and i do achieve them more or less, but the game is unplayable, not sure why :/ http://www.naturalselection2.com/
I'm really sad about this, because i loved NS1, and i bought NS2 straight away after just feeling that i owed Unknown Worlds for the amount of joy they brought me over the years.
Did you off most of the graphics options? I know, for me, that I get almost twice the FPS from all of them on to all of them off. Other than that, maybe your processor isn't fast enough? NS2 isn't a very multicore program, so that might be the cause of it. You might want to check the game's forums, specifically the technical support one.
I haven't played since alpha, but jumped into a game tonight and had a blast. Everything's kind of a shitshow right now because no one knows how to play, but it was fun anyway.
On October 31 2012 14:12 Torte de Lini wrote: I checked out the trailers, I'm bitch poor right now, but damn; that game looked more fun than I originally thought. Lots of people playing?
Yeah lots of people. I see lots of servers I can choose from with good amount of people on. It's a blast and reminds me of all the fun times I had in NS1 (especially with jetpacks :D)
I just finished a quick game. So far, I'm really impressed. The graphics engine is really cool, the game plays well even on my several-years-old PC, and most importantly (to me, at least) - it's definitely Natural Selection 2.
Really well done, developers. I think I'll have some fun with this for a while. Here's hoping for an active competitive scene, because I really enjoy watching it, too.
I really want to buy this game but im super worried it wont run smoothly, I know it was a real system killer during beta...witht here was a demo or something.
yeah i dont know if its just me but the performance of this game seems sketchy at times. i get this problem where for example i turn around a corner and there happens to be 1-2 enemies/fighting going on i get a mini stutter sometimes and its pretty annoying. Its not like the extra enemies are causing my frame rate to be drastically lower, it just freezes for 1 second and then goes back to smooth.
On October 31 2012 10:42 Surili wrote: I can't actually play the game, i dunno if my system specs aren't good enough, but i just get huge delay in playing. Here are my specs:
OS: XP 2.33ghz Quad Core 2gb ram Nvidia 9600 GT
The specs are available here at the bottom, and i do achieve them more or less, but the game is unplayable, not sure why :/ http://www.naturalselection2.com/
I'm really sad about this, because i loved NS1, and i bought NS2 straight away after just feeling that i owed Unknown Worlds for the amount of joy they brought me over the years.
Looks like you've got pretty much the same specs as me. If you're finding it unplayable, I might hold off buying it.
Lotta fun to play. Only problem I'm seeing is the aliens are quite a lot harder to play than the marines. You're pretty much required to master wall jumping and movement techniques where as marines play just like a standard fps. Still, this game has a ton of potential. I'm hoping they add a match making system or something similar.
On October 31 2012 15:45 Shivaz wrote: yeah i dont know if its just me but the performance of this game seems sketchy at times. i get this problem where for example i turn around a corner and there happens to be 1-2 enemies/fighting going on i get a mini stutter sometimes and its pretty annoying. Its not like the extra enemies are causing my frame rate to be drastically lower, it just freezes for 1 second and then goes back to smooth.
Yeah performance is still an issue but this is a million times better than it was during the majority of beta/alpha.
I'm a little disappointed with aliens, it feels like they haven't changed much but lost so many movement advantages, the general speed seems slower, no bhop, leap seems much weaker, etc. Meanwhile Marines got all these cool new toys. I don't like the alien commander thing nearly as much as gorges. It was kind of the advantage of alien in NS, you didn't need one person calling the shots.
On October 31 2012 10:42 Surili wrote: I can't actually play the game, i dunno if my system specs aren't good enough, but i just get huge delay in playing. Here are my specs:
OS: XP 2.33ghz Quad Core 2gb ram Nvidia 9600 GT
The specs are available here at the bottom, and i do achieve them more or less, but the game is unplayable, not sure why :/ http://www.naturalselection2.com/
I'm really sad about this, because i loved NS1, and i bought NS2 straight away after just feeling that i owed Unknown Worlds for the amount of joy they brought me over the years.
Looks like you've got pretty much the same specs as me. If you're finding it unplayable, I might hold off buying it.
I really wonder if it is something else, because it SHOULD run, but i have tried it on two different internet connections, and i feel like i should be able to run the game. maybe i'll try it again soon and there was a problem going on. maybe i need more ram. Not sure.
I played TF2 competitively for a long time, and a big part of that community came from NS1, so I decided to check out NS2. Put in about 3 hours last night, had a blast but holy shit is this game complicated. Anyone mind giving me and my other tf2 buddies a rundown of how to play well/effectively?
We all know how to DM/communicate/play for objectives (slowly getting skulk movement down, its so much fun) but we have no clue what to prioritize, whats important or how we should go about playing a map
On November 01 2012 00:24 KarlKaliente wrote: I played TF2 competitively for a long time, and a big part of that community came from NS1, so I decided to check out NS2. Put in about 3 hours last night, had a blast but holy shit is this game complicated. Anyone mind giving me and my other tf2 buddies a rundown of how to play well/effectively?
We all know how to DM/communicate/play for objectives (slowly getting skulk movement down, its so much fun) but we have no clue what to prioritize, whats important or how we should go about playing a map
There are a number of viable builds for each faction. You can do rush builds with both sides where you focus on very fast upgrades with little focus on resource gathering, or you can play a more defensive "macro" oriented game where you try and get as many res points as possible while teching up. a decent order for marines is to get out phase gates early to make up for the marines lack of speed and ability to defend res points, and then moving on to weapon and armor upgrades and mines/welder/shotgun before eventually moving on to grenades and jetpacks when you have the res for it. endgame is always exosuit ofcourse. you also want to work in utility buildings like observatories and such in key places on the map. A fun rush you can do with marines is to set up a forward base near the alien hive at the start of the game with 4-5 marines with a phase gate and an armory, if you do this quickly you potentially end the game very fast by having a direct route from your spawn into the enemy base 4 or 5 minutes into the game. This is probably the strongest "rush" build the marines can do.
Aliens can feel a little more vulnerable in the early game because they absolutely have to get their second base up quickly or they have to all-in rush, because a huge chunk of alien tech relies on having a second hive. getting upgrades for skulks and gorges are extremely important because the majority of your team will be made up of them, specifically celerity and camouflage are very good. Carapace is also very good. then you move on to lerk spores (important) and then things like the fades blink and onos' stomp. A huge part of being a good alien commander is good placement of buildings and using all of the commanders abilities to their full potential, for instance a alien commander could put eggs down near a place the aliens are assaulting for faster reinforcements. The aliens need to be very careful about defending their res points because they take much longer to build then the marine res points, so losing a res point is a much larger loss to aliens then it is to marines, so keep that in mind.
If you have any other specific questions il try to answer them.
edit- In terms of movement, a very important feature of this game is that marines move extremely slow backwards. because of this it is impossible for marines to run from skulks until jetpacks are available. This means that all marine movement has to be done in small to large groups otherwise the lone marine is in constant danger.
On October 31 2012 10:42 Surili wrote: I can't actually play the game, i dunno if my system specs aren't good enough, but i just get huge delay in playing. Here are my specs:
OS: XP 2.33ghz Quad Core 2gb ram Nvidia 9600 GT
The specs are available here at the bottom, and i do achieve them more or less, but the game is unplayable, not sure why :/ http://www.naturalselection2.com/
I'm really sad about this, because i loved NS1, and i bought NS2 straight away after just feeling that i owed Unknown Worlds for the amount of joy they brought me over the years.
Looks like you've got pretty much the same specs as me. If you're finding it unplayable, I might hold off buying it.
I really wonder if it is something else, because it SHOULD run, but i have tried it on two different internet connections, and i feel like i should be able to run the game. maybe i'll try it again soon and there was a problem going on. maybe i need more ram. Not sure.
I wouldn't get all paranoid about it being something on your end. This is an indie game after all, and they did build their own engine from the ground up. And it's been in development for an absurd amount of time. I guess I'm saying, don't be too surprised if the game is poorly optimized for now.
Flank. Hit and run. Use vents to get around because the Marines can't. Don't just charge head on, you will probably die.
You won't be able to go toe-to-toe with a Marine unless they can't aim very well.
Each alien has a specific role, if you play to its strengths, you can take out several Marines: As a Skulk, avoid walking along the ground because you will be an easy target. As a Fade, pop in, do some damage, and get out. Gorge it up if you like to play map-control.
any TL'ers have a ns2 group I can play with? Im a noob but running around with other idiots in a pub doesn't help me learn much... looking for a group to play with PM me!
I really like what teams like Archaea and others have been doing with their early Onos play. It can delay your evolutions a tad but it seems like it shouldn't delay when blink fades hit the field. Is there any benefit for competitive teams to not go this route?
It seems to me that an early third hive (not on veil) would be decently vulnerable and even if it did stay up would not be vastly beneficial. It only seems like you would not throw down the early Onos only if you lost early harvesters and are behind. I am nowhere near an expert on NS2, just wondering if a different strategy was equally as beneficial at that high level of play for the aliens.
First time I play a natural selection game. Having lots of fun following orders n such. Game gets pretty choppy at some points ( i5 2500k oc'd @ 4.6ghz, gtx 670) Hard to kill aliens when they are teleporting everywhere and you have to guess where they will be in the next second.
I spent a few more hours pubbing last night, time for noob questions part 2, any help or advice you guys have is much appreciated
Are there any indicators, visual or otherwise, that help me find the right places to be? Its nice when the commander gives me a waypoint and I'm always sure to build something if I see it. I'll also try to defend an area if a warning pops up - but all of these things seem to be 20 - 30% of the time. The rest of the time I'm just wandering around looking for things to kill - and I feel pretty useless.
How to do you take down builds efficiently? On either team it seems to take ages to kill anything besides eggs or creep tumors. Is there a faster way than shooting it? Is there a way to kill a building without wasting all of your ammo?
And finally, how do you deal with Pterodactyls point blank? I can deal with skulks since they have limited movement options, but the damn birds seem able to strafe in 3 dimensions and can do it very quickly. A couple of them embarrassed me last night
On November 01 2012 22:18 KarlKaliente wrote: I spent a few more hours pubbing last night, time for noob questions part 2, any help or advice you guys have is much appreciated
Are there any indicators, visual or otherwise, that help me find the right places to be? Its nice when the commander gives me a waypoint and I'm always sure to build something if I see it. I'll also try to defend an area if a warning pops up - but all of these things seem to be 20 - 30% of the time. The rest of the time I'm just wandering around looking for things to kill - and I feel pretty useless.
How to do you take down builds efficiently? On either team it seems to take ages to kill anything besides eggs or creep tumors. Is there a faster way than shooting it? Is there a way to kill a building without wasting all of your ammo?
And finally, how do you deal with Pterodactyls point blank? I can deal with skulks since they have limited movement options, but the damn birds seem able to strafe in 3 dimensions and can do it very quickly. A couple of them embarrassed me last night
To take out buildings as a marine, use your melee weapon (default hotkey 3). That little hatchet does bonus damage to structures and will take it out faster than your rifle without using any ammo. Just be sure to put your back to a wall and listen for skulks sneaking up on you, otherwise they will run up and bite your ass. As an alien, it takes a while to bite a structure down. Same thing as above, try to find a spot where you can attack the building without being seen/shot at. Pace yourself and don't deplete all of your bite energy right away, otherwise you'll be boned if a Marine shows up.
As far as where to go, that really depends on how well you know the map/your commander's plan. If they want to rush, then stick with everyone else and head to the enemy base. If they want to grab some resources early, head to the nearest node and let them know you are there and ready to build. Communication is much more important in NS than your average shooter. If you see enemies/structures, let your team know where so they can help or take advantage of an empty section of the map.
All this is from my days playing NS1 years ago, so some things may have changed in the new one.
Watch the minimap... you'll see where are your teammates and what is your team presence on the map. Otherwise, try to stay regroup and to kill/build RT's. Ressources as in any other RTS is the key to win !
To destroy buildings, use your hatchet but yeah it takes a bit of a time but this time is needed for the game to be balance... And don't forget you can ask ammo from your commander...
On November 01 2012 22:48 Shellshock1122 wrote: How is Natural Selection 2? I played the first one and I loved it. Would you recommend playing NS2 or is it kind of meh?
I never played the first one but NS2 is so refreshing cause its not another hand holding low skill ceiling shooter, which seems to be rare these days. I'm sure its dumb downed a bit from NS1 but it beats all the battlefields and call of duties thats come out lately.
Also thanks for the tips, wasn't sure if I was missing something or if hatchet and voice comms are the only ways to go. Been tough cause almost every commander I've seen was new as well, but I'm sure it'll get better soon.
On November 01 2012 22:48 Shellshock1122 wrote: How is Natural Selection 2? I played the first one and I loved it. Would you recommend playing NS2 or is it kind of meh?
If you loved the NS1, just go and play NS2
The game is really nice now and Unknown Worlds is doing a hell of a job at improving it patches after patches.
THe feeling is really close the NS1 if you wanna know. You just need a not-to-bad gaming rig.
Alright cool. I'm definitely going to go check it out. I remember hearing about NS2 ages ago but I had no idea it was even past alpha yet haha. Thanks!
On November 01 2012 22:48 Shellshock1122 wrote: How is Natural Selection 2? I played the first one and I loved it. Would you recommend playing NS2 or is it kind of meh?
I never played the first one but NS2 is so refreshing cause its not another hand holding low skill ceiling shooter, which seems to be rare these days. I'm sure its dumb downed a bit from NS1 but it beats all the battlefields and call of duties thats come out lately.
Also thanks for the tips, wasn't sure if I was missing something or if hatchet and voice comms are the only ways to go. Been tough cause almost every commander I've seen was new as well, but I'm sure it'll get better soon.
The game's actually more complex than NS1 as far as I can tell.
This game is game of the year for me, no doubt about it. It'll probably be my long term FPS and RTS for a while.
On November 01 2012 19:23 BrTarolg wrote: How similar is this to tremulous? I was alright at that
I'm surprised no one responded to you.
I think I LANed Tremulous a few times but I can't remember for sure. From what I remember, it's basically a copy of Natural Selection 1 but not quite as well done. It was sort of fun to mess around in but NS is more polished and has good design/strong competitive focus.
While I have not played NS2 yet, it seems from the videos and gameplay that I've seen that it is just as well-designed as the first though not quite as polished yet. The balance and gameplay aren't quite as set in stone yet as they were in NS1 but I feel that the development team is active and dedicated.
So, I can't believe this game just came out. I hope they update the graphical bugs and keep things in order so the genre can stay strong, would really hate to see the only lifeblood of the genre die again.
Also, I realllly want Hostile Intent2 to get finished. I'm all nostalgic about the hl1mod days, and that's the only other mod that was suppose to come out on source that I've been waiting for about as long for.
Holy shit this game is so much fun with a good commander. Had an even better time in pubs last night, lost my rookie flag and learned you have to upgrade yourself when alien (lol)
My question of the day is how in the hell do you deal with fades? I had 3 fights in a row where I landed 3 good shotgun hits before dying. It seems impossible to deal enough damage to them, they are far too mobile to run away from or dodge and they close gaps so quickly. I decided to play one next time I was alien and it just felt too easy. Any tips? Also do they take damage while blinking or only when visible?
Ok so, I've spent a lot of time playing this game over the past few days, and holy shit, its one of the most fun, complex , skill based and team oriented games I have ever played.
It's the first game I have ever pubbed where people are on voice comm's and being co-operative, I spent most of my time learning the alien comm( i play with aussie friends when im in malaysia so its works perfectly for me to be comm) and even when I screwed up hard I've not yet met a single negative person, its always been positive feedback and advice, leading to really really fun games that last over an hour in a lot of cases.
The game to me has so much depth involved in build orders and strategy and is so crucial on communication, the skill ceiling is just so fucking high its mind boggling.
On November 02 2012 23:00 FXOUnstable wrote: Ok so, I've spent a lot of time playing this game over the past few days, and holy shit, its one of the most fun, complex , skill based and team oriented games I have ever played.
It's the first game I have ever pubbed where people are on voice comm's and being co-operative, I spent most of my time learning the alien comm( i play with aussie friends when im in malaysia so its works perfectly for me to be comm) and even when I screwed up hard I've not yet met a single negative person, its always been positive feedback and advice, leading to really really fun games that last over an hour in a lot of cases.
The game to me has so much depth involved in build orders and strategy and is so crucial on communication, the skill ceiling is just so fucking high its mind boggling.
Easily hits my game of the year so far!
Ahaha good to hear.
maybe it is because it's new and shit, but back in NS1, a bad comm would seriously get bashed, kicked out of the CC.
But yeah, this is one thing amazing about NS (1 and 2) everyone is trying to play co-operative and listening to others, using voice comm extensively. Really an awesome team game.
On November 02 2012 23:18 anatase wrote: maybe it is because it's new and shit, but back in NS1, a bad comm would seriously get bashed, kicked out of the CC.
How were you supposed to learn commander then? At some point you have to start learning but can't get better without being kicked out?
It went back and forth nonstop. Marines had majority of the map for 75% of the game and I was on Aliens. No one wanted to Comm at like 15 minutes in so I took over. We had 2 hives and 4-5 extractors. There were several moments where we were about to lose but then I put down 2-3 Onos eggs and my team pushed them back. This happened over and over and over again lol until we finally got the momentum and shut them down at a tech point and destroyed everything and took it over and finally got 3 hives. We were on 2 hives for majority of the game.
God, I missed these kind of games back in NS1. So good to be back :D
On November 02 2012 23:18 anatase wrote: maybe it is because it's new and shit, but back in NS1, a bad comm would seriously get bashed, kicked out of the CC.
How were you supposed to learn commander then? At some point you have to start learning but can't get better without being kicked out?
Join a server with only a couple people(2-3 per team)and go commander. Might need to get a friend to join so you'll have someone to listen to you, but once you've played a couple times, you'll get an idea of what buildings to get in what order. Then you can hop in a larger server and watch the commanders there to learn a bit more before trying in a full server.
On November 02 2012 22:51 KarlKaliente wrote: Holy shit this game is so much fun with a good commander. Had an even better time in pubs last night, lost my rookie flag and learned you have to upgrade yourself when alien (lol)
My question of the day is how in the hell do you deal with fades? I had 3 fights in a row where I landed 3 good shotgun hits before dying. It seems impossible to deal enough damage to them, they are far too mobile to run away from or dodge and they close gaps so quickly. I decided to play one next time I was alien and it just felt too easy. Any tips? Also do they take damage while blinking or only when visible?
If its like NS1, a Marine is not supposed to be able to take down a Fade 1v1 unless he's like really good with a jetpack or something. Marines must always move in numbers.
Man..so many great games coming out. This, Hitman Redemption, Wasteland 2, Planetary Annihilation, Underworld (indie RPG). It doesn't matter if Heart of the Swarm is good/bad, this is amazing. I loved playing this game when it first came out, I'm so happy that some companies are still making quality games like this
My best advice to learning the commander roles is not playing comm, but rather observing what a good comm does, until you have a rather good understanding of what you can do. Also you can test the commander in explore mode, or if you create your own server and type cheats 1 in console. This way you can get familiar with the interface before playing in a game with other players who rely on you.
Here is some rough advise on what is essential: As a marine commander: In the beginning of the game, try to secure as many resource towers as you (your marines) can. Try to get phase tech as soon as possible, to increase the mobility of your marines. Start upgrading in the arms lab. If your marines do good, upgrade weapons 1, if they're dying a lot, upgrade armor 1. You should upgrade armor 1 before fades are on the field. If you haven't done so once you see one, it's your #1 priority to get shotguns and armor 1, so your marines have a chance fighting him.
As alien commander: In the beginning of the game, you should either drop a second hive and try to secure it (tell your players to defend it), and drop 1 rt, so you're on 2 rts. Once the hive is done, research the lifeform ability leap for the skulk in one of the hives. It makes your skulks way way better. :D OR, you can go for early upgrades. Most players prefer carapace or celerity, but you can also get the silence upgrade. Make sure your team knows when the upgrade is done, so they can evolve it right away. If you do this, i recommend securing three resource towers in the beginning, so you can have the second hive faster. As a general rule it is very import that aliens get their second hive and the abilities the hive unlocks, and the evolve upgrades, which you can research when you upgrade a hive to either crag (carapace upgrade), shift (celerity upgrade) or shade (silence upgrade).
On November 01 2012 22:18 KarlKaliente wrote: I spent a few more hours pubbing last night, time for noob questions part 2, any help or advice you guys have is much appreciated
Are there any indicators, visual or otherwise, that help me find the right places to be? Its nice when the commander gives me a waypoint and I'm always sure to build something if I see it. I'll also try to defend an area if a warning pops up - but all of these things seem to be 20 - 30% of the time. The rest of the time I'm just wandering around looking for things to kill - and I feel pretty useless.
How to do you take down builds efficiently? On either team it seems to take ages to kill anything besides eggs or creep tumors. Is there a faster way than shooting it? Is there a way to kill a building without wasting all of your ammo?
And finally, how do you deal with Pterodactyls point blank? I can deal with skulks since they have limited movement options, but the damn birds seem able to strafe in 3 dimensions and can do it very quickly. A couple of them embarrassed me last night
To take out buildings as a marine, use your melee weapon (default hotkey 3). That little hatchet does bonus damage to structures and will take it out faster than your rifle without using any ammo. Just be sure to put your back to a wall and listen for skulks sneaking up on you, otherwise they will run up and bite your ass. As an alien, it takes a while to bite a structure down. Same thing as above, try to find a spot where you can attack the building without being seen/shot at. Pace yourself and don't deplete all of your bite energy right away, otherwise you'll be boned if a Marine shows up.
As far as where to go, that really depends on how well you know the map/your commander's plan. If they want to rush, then stick with everyone else and head to the enemy base. If they want to grab some resources early, head to the nearest node and let them know you are there and ready to build. Communication is much more important in NS than your average shooter. If you see enemies/structures, let your team know where so they can help or take advantage of an empty section of the map.
All this is from my days playing NS1 years ago, so some things may have changed in the new one.
About lerks, my friend last night was playing a lerk with celerity + carapace and he did three strafing runs on a group of three marines on a bridge and took all of them out with his bite. Apparently carapace gives a LOT of armor and celerity doubles movement speed, so yeah...
On November 02 2012 22:51 KarlKaliente wrote: Holy shit this game is so much fun with a good commander. Had an even better time in pubs last night, lost my rookie flag and learned you have to upgrade yourself when alien (lol)
My question of the day is how in the hell do you deal with fades? I had 3 fights in a row where I landed 3 good shotgun hits before dying. It seems impossible to deal enough damage to them, they are far too mobile to run away from or dodge and they close gaps so quickly. I decided to play one next time I was alien and it just felt too easy. Any tips? Also do they take damage while blinking or only when visible?
If its like NS1, a Marine is not supposed to be able to take down a Fade 1v1 unless he's like really good with a jetpack or something. Marines must always move in numbers.
NS1 fades had a serious amount of HP (I think it was 300 hp 150 carapace), so yeah nothing short of a HMG or several good GL shots would allow a marine to solo a fade.
Bile Bombs are disgustingly underrated. You know those games where marines hold on to one base for 30+ minutes? Spam bile bombs. Marines have +3 armor already? Spam bile bombs.
How fantastic, all these newbie comments. Makes me happy! NS (1) is still great but this means there'll be new players! Great!
Also it seems they've made NS2 actually be NS1 with fancier graphics and very little real changes otherwise, which is great because everything else they tried wasn't too good. Sooo I'm probably going to give it a whirl and see if the performance issues of the alpha are finally gone
Hah, what a great game for me! None of my friends are in to Starcraft, but if they get to play an FPS while I play my RTS ... together? I've only played a few hours, but it already feels super fun. I put a few teams through the ordeal of me as a commander, but hopefully it won't be an ordeal for too much longer.
I played this game last night at a LAN party and boy-oh-boy was this game super fun. I feel I am really bad at it, but it's such an awesome game. I'm going to be getting right into this game
On November 01 2012 19:23 BrTarolg wrote: How similar is this to tremulous? I was alright at that
I'm surprised no one responded to you.
I think I LANed Tremulous a few times but I can't remember for sure. From what I remember, it's basically a copy of Natural Selection 1 but not quite as well done. It was sort of fun to mess around in but NS is more polished and has good design/strong competitive focus.
While I have not played NS2 yet, it seems from the videos and gameplay that I've seen that it is just as well-designed as the first though not quite as polished yet. The balance and gameplay aren't quite as set in stone yet as they were in NS1 but I feel that the development team is active and dedicated.
Ok i'll bite i guess haha
Were even the units/buildings the same?
I remember all the wierd little tricks you had to learn (like looking up to headshots with aliens) and learning all the trickjumps and stuff haha
On November 01 2012 19:23 BrTarolg wrote: How similar is this to tremulous? I was alright at that
I'm surprised no one responded to you.
I think I LANed Tremulous a few times but I can't remember for sure. From what I remember, it's basically a copy of Natural Selection 1 but not quite as well done. It was sort of fun to mess around in but NS is more polished and has good design/strong competitive focus.
While I have not played NS2 yet, it seems from the videos and gameplay that I've seen that it is just as well-designed as the first though not quite as polished yet. The balance and gameplay aren't quite as set in stone yet as they were in NS1 but I feel that the development team is active and dedicated.
Ok i'll bite i guess haha
Were even the units/buildings the same?
I remember all the wierd little tricks you had to learn (like looking up to headshots with aliens) and learning all the trickjumps and stuff haha
I honestly haven't played enough Tremulous to give you much more information. Plus, I'm not an expert on NS2. I'll still try to contrast the two based on my cursory knowledge:
1. In Tremulous, I believe that frags give you resources and dictate how far your team can evolve. In NS2, you do not get resources from frags. Both teams get resources from building resource nodes around the map. Frags obviously help you build and hold resource nodes but map-based resource collection results in strategic decisions rather than just tactical ones.
2. In NS2, those resource nodes generate personal as well as team resources. The commanders use team resources to make strategic decisions such as what tech tree your team is going to be locked into and what order you'll get upgrades. Further, there are special spots (technology points) on the map where you can build more command stations/hives which are required to unlock the other tech trees, abilities for the lifeforms (even if an FPS alien can personally afford to evolve into a lifeform, the unit won't have all its skills unlocked), and more evolutions (passive upgrades). This system allows for different possible build orders but forces expansion/map control in order to get all the strongest units.
3. NS2 has some mechanics that make map control more structural and less ethereal, especially for the aliens (Kharaa). Dynamic infestation is very cool aesthetically and also has gameplay implications. Quoting the NS2 wiki:
Strategy
Dynamic Infestation can be seen as a network of interconnected nodes representing the territory control of the Kharra. "Pockets" or small outcroppings of structures cannot exist on their own. In other words, each structure must ultimately be connected to the hive though infestation. Because of this, territory expansion needs to be controlled and actively defended when dealing with control and placement of Harvesters as an alien commander.
Since Marines can place structures anywhere on the map with power, they have the advantage of being able to place structures quickly and in any location immediately. This means that a team of 2-3 Marines can effectively move from room-to-room, establish power, and build Extractors very quickly after the start of a round. This can give the Marines a large advantage very early in the game if not effectively countered. However, this also means that Marine Extractors are usually not as defended or watched as often as Harvesters once the round progresses. The Kharra's guerrilla warfare tactics are very well suited to take out these lone Extractors.
The Kharra do not have this luxury, and must "branch out" from the initial hive towards Resource Nozzles. A common beginner mistake as an alien commander is to create very long "limbs" towards Resource Nozzles far away from the hive. If a Marine severs the connection between the hive and Harvester, the unconnected cysts and Harvester will start to die, and an inattentive commander may not take notice until it is too late. Thus, it is better to grow "organically" from the hive to the closest Nozzles first, and actively defend the territory expansion towards others.
------ I got sidetracked with something else at this point so my organization and numbering isn't going anywhere in comparing/contrasting the two. Basically some of the units are going to be similar (skulk has wall-climbing and jumping) but NS has a lot of unique alien units with certain strengths and weaknesses. Your Tremulous specific skills probably aren't going to carry over but the games are similar conceptually.
I played a few rounds of this game, and i noticed that i am terrible at it. The reason might be that i am usually not that good at FPS. It is a lot of fun, though.
The problem i have as an alien is that i get completely disorientated. As a marine, i have a minimap which shows me stuff, and gives me a rough direction as to where i should go. As an alien, i usually just run circles in my base until i somehow get out and meet some random marine somewhere that kills me, because i have absolutely no idea where anything is. More often then not i notice that i passed the same point three times in a row, but no matter where i go i end up there again. Is there any way to deal with that except just playing marine until i learn the maps?
On November 05 2012 11:56 Simberto wrote: I played a few rounds of this game, and i noticed that i am terrible at it. The reason might be that i am usually not that good at FPS. It is a lot of fun, though.
The problem i have as an alien is that i get completely disorientated. As a marine, i have a minimap which shows me stuff, and gives me a rough direction as to where i should go. As an alien, i usually just run circles in my base until i somehow get out and meet some random marine somewhere that kills me, because i have absolutely no idea where anything is. More often then not i notice that i passed the same point three times in a row, but no matter where i go i end up there again. Is there any way to deal with that except just playing marine until i learn the maps?
you can hit "c" to bring up a full map while playing as aliens or marines, you should use it frequently as it gives detailed information about players locations and tech points, as well as where the combat is.
Ohhh, i tried "m", but that didn't help, so i assumed that there is no full map available. Maybe i should read the keybindings.
Edit: Thanks for that, that was incredibly helpful. Now i at least know where i am going to get killed by random marines.
I just played my first game as commander because after i died 2 times to random marines, i noticed that literally nothing had happened creepwise, and apparently noone else wanted to play commander. So i just jumped in and did random stuff. And we won. Of course this is not really because i am a good commander, but people were pretty accepting of the fact that i had to learn what to do first, meaning for example that i forgot to get speed for a pretty long period of time until someone complained that onos without speed are useless. But apparently as long as you spam creep like crazy, half the marines are busy cleaning that up instead of doing useful stuff, which lead to us getting a second hive uncontested, a clutch attack by my team without any involvement on my part then gave us a third hive. And once i understood what all the stuff does, we simply did not lose territory anymore, since every time we got forward around the next edge i would just place 3-4 whips, a shade and a few healthingies. About 5 minutes before the end of the game someone told me that it is possible to use my ressources on eggs for my guys, leading to about 4 onos at once. All in all a fun experience.
On November 01 2012 19:23 BrTarolg wrote: How similar is this to tremulous? I was alright at that
I'm surprised no one responded to you.
I think I LANed Tremulous a few times but I can't remember for sure. From what I remember, it's basically a copy of Natural Selection 1 but not quite as well done. It was sort of fun to mess around in but NS is more polished and has good design/strong competitive focus.
While I have not played NS2 yet, it seems from the videos and gameplay that I've seen that it is just as well-designed as the first though not quite as polished yet. The balance and gameplay aren't quite as set in stone yet as they were in NS1 but I feel that the development team is active and dedicated.
Ok i'll bite i guess haha
Were even the units/buildings the same?
I remember all the wierd little tricks you had to learn (like looking up to headshots with aliens) and learning all the trickjumps and stuff haha
I honestly haven't played enough Tremulous to give you much more information. Plus, I'm not an expert on NS2. I'll still try to contrast the two based on my cursory knowledge:
1. In Tremulous, I believe that frags give you resources and dictate how far your team can evolve. In NS2, you do not get resources from frags. Both teams get resources from building resource nodes around the map. Frags obviously help you build and hold resource nodes but map-based resource collection results in strategic decisions rather than just tactical ones.
2. In NS2, those resource nodes generate personal as well as team resources. The commanders use team resources to make strategic decisions such as what tech tree your team is going to be locked into and what order you'll get upgrades. Further, there are special spots (technology points) on the map where you can build more command stations/hives which are required to unlock the other tech trees, abilities for the lifeforms (even if an FPS alien can personally afford to evolve into a lifeform, the unit won't have all its skills unlocked), and more evolutions (passive upgrades). This system allows for different possible build orders but forces expansion/map control in order to get all the strongest units.
3. NS2 has some mechanics that make map control more structural and less ethereal, especially for the aliens (Kharaa). Dynamic infestation is very cool aesthetically and also has gameplay implications. Quoting the NS2 wiki:
Dynamic Infestation can be seen as a network of interconnected nodes representing the territory control of the Kharra. "Pockets" or small outcroppings of structures cannot exist on their own. In other words, each structure must ultimately be connected to the hive though infestation. Because of this, territory expansion needs to be controlled and actively defended when dealing with control and placement of Harvesters as an alien commander.
Since Marines can place structures anywhere on the map with power, they have the advantage of being able to place structures quickly and in any location immediately. This means that a team of 2-3 Marines can effectively move from room-to-room, establish power, and build Extractors very quickly after the start of a round. This can give the Marines a large advantage very early in the game if not effectively countered. However, this also means that Marine Extractors are usually not as defended or watched as often as Harvesters once the round progresses. The Kharra's guerrilla warfare tactics are very well suited to take out these lone Extractors.
The Kharra do not have this luxury, and must "branch out" from the initial hive towards Resource Nozzles. A common beginner mistake as an alien commander is to create very long "limbs" towards Resource Nozzles far away from the hive. If a Marine severs the connection between the hive and Harvester, the unconnected cysts and Harvester will start to die, and an inattentive commander may not take notice until it is too late. Thus, it is better to grow "organically" from the hive to the closest Nozzles first, and actively defend the territory expansion towards others.
------ I got sidetracked with something else at this point so my organization and numbering isn't going anywhere in comparing/contrasting the two. Basically some of the units are going to be similar (skulk has wall-climbing and jumping) but NS has a lot of unique alien units with certain strengths and weaknesses. Your Tremulous specific skills probably aren't going to carry over but the games are similar conceptually.
are there head/bodyshots in this game?
Just checking whether i need to aim "up" as alienns or licking their feet is fine
On November 01 2012 19:23 BrTarolg wrote: How similar is this to tremulous? I was alright at that
I'm surprised no one responded to you.
I think I LANed Tremulous a few times but I can't remember for sure. From what I remember, it's basically a copy of Natural Selection 1 but not quite as well done. It was sort of fun to mess around in but NS is more polished and has good design/strong competitive focus.
While I have not played NS2 yet, it seems from the videos and gameplay that I've seen that it is just as well-designed as the first though not quite as polished yet. The balance and gameplay aren't quite as set in stone yet as they were in NS1 but I feel that the development team is active and dedicated.
Ok i'll bite i guess haha
Were even the units/buildings the same?
I remember all the wierd little tricks you had to learn (like looking up to headshots with aliens) and learning all the trickjumps and stuff haha
I honestly haven't played enough Tremulous to give you much more information. Plus, I'm not an expert on NS2. I'll still try to contrast the two based on my cursory knowledge:
1. In Tremulous, I believe that frags give you resources and dictate how far your team can evolve. In NS2, you do not get resources from frags. Both teams get resources from building resource nodes around the map. Frags obviously help you build and hold resource nodes but map-based resource collection results in strategic decisions rather than just tactical ones.
2. In NS2, those resource nodes generate personal as well as team resources. The commanders use team resources to make strategic decisions such as what tech tree your team is going to be locked into and what order you'll get upgrades. Further, there are special spots (technology points) on the map where you can build more command stations/hives which are required to unlock the other tech trees, abilities for the lifeforms (even if an FPS alien can personally afford to evolve into a lifeform, the unit won't have all its skills unlocked), and more evolutions (passive upgrades). This system allows for different possible build orders but forces expansion/map control in order to get all the strongest units.
3. NS2 has some mechanics that make map control more structural and less ethereal, especially for the aliens (Kharaa). Dynamic infestation is very cool aesthetically and also has gameplay implications. Quoting the NS2 wiki:
Strategy
Dynamic Infestation can be seen as a network of interconnected nodes representing the territory control of the Kharra. "Pockets" or small outcroppings of structures cannot exist on their own. In other words, each structure must ultimately be connected to the hive though infestation. Because of this, territory expansion needs to be controlled and actively defended when dealing with control and placement of Harvesters as an alien commander.
Since Marines can place structures anywhere on the map with power, they have the advantage of being able to place structures quickly and in any location immediately. This means that a team of 2-3 Marines can effectively move from room-to-room, establish power, and build Extractors very quickly after the start of a round. This can give the Marines a large advantage very early in the game if not effectively countered. However, this also means that Marine Extractors are usually not as defended or watched as often as Harvesters once the round progresses. The Kharra's guerrilla warfare tactics are very well suited to take out these lone Extractors.
The Kharra do not have this luxury, and must "branch out" from the initial hive towards Resource Nozzles. A common beginner mistake as an alien commander is to create very long "limbs" towards Resource Nozzles far away from the hive. If a Marine severs the connection between the hive and Harvester, the unconnected cysts and Harvester will start to die, and an inattentive commander may not take notice until it is too late. Thus, it is better to grow "organically" from the hive to the closest Nozzles first, and actively defend the territory expansion towards others.
------ I got sidetracked with something else at this point so my organization and numbering isn't going anywhere in comparing/contrasting the two. Basically some of the units are going to be similar (skulk has wall-climbing and jumping) but NS has a lot of unique alien units with certain strengths and weaknesses. Your Tremulous specific skills probably aren't going to carry over but the games are similar conceptually.
are there head/bodyshots in this game?
Just checking whether i need to aim "up" as alienns or licking their feet is fine
Just 1 hitbox, although your damage varies depending on how far away the target is from the center of your screen for biting.
I preordered this game when it was in alpha, was skeptical throughout the development but it's finally here and it's fucking great. My steam name is lolpfhor, add me if you wanna play.
Just advice all around: this game has a high learning curve, but once you really get into it, the team mechanic and necessary communication simply gives you a rocking experience. Always loved NS1 and now am getting pulled right back in. It is amazing.
Playing this is like a timewarp to NS 1.04 when aliens had fuck all and couldn't even end games. I don't think there's a single part of alien that isn't a massive regression. Every unit is a weaker version of what it was, including the onos which they are now completely reliant on, and has never been a fun unit. Meanwhile marines are pretty significantly improved in this.
The original was tenuously balanced on having good fades and focus but just making fades garbage and requiring like 8 bites to kill an armor 3 marine is such a ridiculous swing in the opposite direction. There's just so many little things that confuse the hell out of me, like why marines get sprint and skulks can leap like a quarter the distance they could in NS1. It makes me wonder what terrible NS1 players must be giving playtesting advice.
In all I think they've done an okay job but it's very hard for me to see it as anything but a worse version of NS with some not particularly fleshed out gameplay mechanics like cysts and power nodes. Cysts especially, why do they cost res and slow down taking nodes so fast, and die so easy, compared to power nodes? They should at least convey some sort of advantage to the aliens, like hive sight with a certain radius, movement speed like creep, anything. It just seems like not a single idea for the alien team has been given half the thought of marines.
Apparently they're going to continue to improve the game for a long time, and a new feature patch will be out soon. I'm looking forward to some of the mods people are going to be able to make with this game.
On November 06 2012 04:29 floor exercise wrote: Playing this is like a timewarp to NS 1.04 when aliens had fuck all and couldn't even end games. I don't think there's a single part of alien that isn't a massive regression. Every unit is a weaker version of what it was, including the onos which they are now completely reliant on, and has never been a fun unit. Meanwhile marines are pretty significantly improved in this.
The original was tenuously balanced on having good fades and focus but just making fades garbage and requiring like 8 bites to kill an armor 3 marine is such a ridiculous swing in the opposite direction. There's just so many little things that confuse the hell out of me, like why marines get sprint and skulks can leap like a quarter the distance they could in NS1. It makes me wonder what terrible NS1 players must be giving playtesting advice.
In all I think they've done an okay job but it's very hard for me to see it as anything but a worse version of NS with some not particularly fleshed out gameplay mechanics like cysts and power nodes. Cysts especially, why do they cost res and slow down taking nodes so fast, and die so easy, compared to power nodes? They should at least convey some sort of advantage to the aliens, like hive sight with a certain radius, movement speed like creep, anything. It just seems like not a single idea for the alien team has been given half the thought of marines.
Wait, really? I think aliens win most of the games I play. I can only rebut with anecdotes, so I'll keep it short: I play a pretty good Skulk and I think they do okay in combat, Fades still just eat 1-2 people no problem, and while I agree the Onos has never been a particularly fun unit to play, there's always people on your team willing to field them. They also just don't die.
In my experience, the team that wins is the team that plays well on the field, takes resource nodes, and prevents the other team from doing the same -- and that's just as often the aliens as it is the marines.
If you're talking balance in terms of competitive play, then I can point to Arc and say that they seem to win using alien no matter who they're playing against, mostly because they actually know how to play alien.
I guess I'm just not seeing your argument right now. Maybe once things even out a bit and people start learning NS2 better we can get a good indication of balance, but for right now and as far as I know, Aliens actually do have the highest win percentage. By about 1%.
They did a pretty good job on NS2 as far as I can tell.
Infestation has some advantage for gorges, they can belly slide and hydras grow faster, but I think thats it. I think adding a speed advantage for all alien units and/or vision would be good. Who cares if its the same as Starcraft II. I think being like starcraft is an advantage.
awesome game, and just adding to the alien discussion i remember in the in game client bottom that often has messages and tweets ~2 days after the game was released it mentioned aliens had higher win rate of 51.3%~ to human's 48.69%~..
It's too early for me to talk about balance but, having never played NS1, the game is a blast. Got a 4-pack with some friends and I've put about 12 hours into it. My aim with both marines and aliens is still terrible at best and I feel like I can still affect battles in very tangible ways. I do hope they make commander more accessible in general, because it seems like pub games are won or lost in the first minute by whichever side didn't have a player immediately willing to play commander.
The meta game right now in "pro" or actual clan games, almost always Aliens>Marines.
If aliens can keep 2-3 res nodes up while harassing the marines at 2-3, they can save up enough res to get an onos egg way before marines can get jetpacks or exos.
Without that the aliens can proceed to choke marines of res nodes around the map and slowly gain advantage till its GG.
There also is the patent Zerg rush where pretty much the whole team just bum rushes the command chair at the very beginning and if all the marines are out putting up res nodes and such its GG as well.
So no the aliens are not underpowered compared to the marines. At least thats the meta right now.
On November 06 2012 11:02 ChiknAdobo wrote: Infestation has some advantage for gorges, they can belly slide and hydras grow faster, but I think thats it. I think adding a speed advantage for all alien units and/or vision would be good. Who cares if its the same as Starcraft II. I think being like starcraft is an advantage.
Gorges can belly slide? :D Actually, I think gorges are lots of fun, similar to the Engineer in TF2 but they are so difficult to play in an actual battle :/
On November 07 2012 01:33 gTank wrote: Gorges can belly slide? :D Actually, I think gorges are lots of fun, similar to the Engineer in TF2 but they are so difficult to play in an actual battle :/
Yeah gorges can be tough, you really have to use all of their abilities for them to be good. remember that you can block doorways with clots and that when you place hydras on the inside of a doorway, they can shoot marines on the other side while still having partial cover. you also of course have your heal spray which is very useful for pushing with smart players because they will simply dive in and out of combat while you heal constantly, which creates a huge amount of pressure. You will also get bile bomb at some point which absolutely WRECKS marine armor, and marine structure, and exosuits.
And ya, you can slide on your belly with shift for much faster movement at the cost of maneuverability :p
Gorges are awesome, especially in NS1, so no there's nothing wrong with that, unless you're going to go all brony mode and start masturbating to them, then we have a problem. Or you do, anyway.
Preorder when it was in alpha and I must say, I am proud I did so! Turned out as a great game and gives me some nice nostalgic moments while playing :D
On November 08 2012 00:34 floor exercise wrote: Gorges are awesome, especially in NS1, so no there's nothing wrong with that, unless you're going to go all brony mode and start masturbating to them, then we have a problem. Or you do, anyway.
There was a guy on the NS forums that used to make gorge porn...
Anyways, I thought it was an interesting design choice to make every marine base depend on an artosis pylon ... I kind of feel like that's likely to change at some point when kharra start realizing how counterattacking works.
"All that said, Natural Selection 2 is filled with promise if you can put in the hours of grinding necessary to learn the units, maps, controls, and balance, and figure out what the heck is happening around you at a given moment"
"All that said, Natural Selection 2 is filled with promise if you can put in the hours of grinding necessary to learn the units, maps, controls, and balance, and figure out what the heck is happening around you at a given moment"
Hours of grinding? What? Seriously, this guy has no idea what hes talking about. He gives the game a 6 because its "too hard" and yet Dark Souls gets a great score? Even IGN gave NS2 a good score. Now thats when you know that this guy has no idea. IGN usually couldn't figure out a good game if it bit them in the ass and for once, they did.
NS1 was one of my favorite games and seeing NS2 doing well is nice .
NS2 is definitely not finished yet. They had to meet a deadline (Fall 2009 sadly wasn't met >.>) so October 2012 sounds great.
As for NS2's optimization - The problem is because everything is done in Lua (at least, that's what I heard the problem is).
Some games do use Lua but only partially. NS2 is coded mostly through Lua (one of the main reasons is mod support + preventing mods from being able to do stuff outside of the game, or so I heard because IDK about much regarding this >.>).
You definitely need a beefy machine to play NS2 with good FPS.
"All that said, Natural Selection 2 is filled with promise if you can put in the hours of grinding necessary to learn the units, maps, controls, and balance, and figure out what the heck is happening around you at a given moment"
Hours of grinding? What? Seriously, this guy has no idea what hes talking about. He gives the game a 6 because its "too hard" and yet Dark Souls gets a great score? Even IGN gave NS2 a good score. Now thats when you know that this guy has no idea. IGN usually couldn't figure out a good game if it bit them in the ass and for once, they did.
I havnt played Dark Souls so I cant say but sometimes there are games that are fun when still being hard and some that arnt so much while being hard.
For them i guess NS2 was the latter. Which is understandable when its multiplayer. You have a much heavier desire to do better than the other person in a multiplayer game.
It took me a few games (especially as a kharaa) but now im biting and shooting with the best of em!
On November 08 2012 09:43 Torte de Lini wrote: Fuck it, buying this game. REGRET NOTHING
Do it, I bought it on impulse not knowing anything about it. Have 30 hours on it after 4 days. (which is a lot for me with work and school t.t) Game is FUN
"All that said, Natural Selection 2 is filled with promise if you can put in the hours of grinding necessary to learn the units, maps, controls, and balance, and figure out what the heck is happening around you at a given moment"
It's just a number, people should stop putting so much weight on individual scores. If you are a gamer that enjoys learning units, maps, controls and have a reasonable complex gaming experience, you'll probably be get interested in the game from the review regardless of the score. The "go to metacritic and look at a number" way of judging games that so many people seems to be doing is shooting themselves in the foot considering how arbitrary gaming journalism is atm.
"All that said, Natural Selection 2 is filled with promise if you can put in the hours of grinding necessary to learn the units, maps, controls, and balance, and figure out what the heck is happening around you at a given moment"
Hours of grinding? What? Seriously, this guy has no idea what hes talking about. He gives the game a 6 because its "too hard" and yet Dark Souls gets a great score? Even IGN gave NS2 a good score. Now thats when you know that this guy has no idea. IGN usually couldn't figure out a good game if it bit them in the ass and for once, they did.
I've never played an NS game in my life and I picked up on everything I needed to know in about 30 minutes of gameplay.
This guy is absolutely retarded.
On a brighter note, played my first -real- Alien game today with a friend. Oh my god man, oh my fucking god that was intense. Playing Skulk with a partner is just hilarious. And once I got a Fade, the rape train began. Nothing, NOTHING is quite more satisfying than in a room without power teleporting around a group of 4 marines and an exo, rapidly picking them off before teleporting around the exo and killing him.
I'm really happy for the company, the game seems to be a huge success so far, I remember playing the mod many years ago, these guys worked their asses off to make this a stand alone game, with a good, original idea in the FPS genre. The final product is extremely good, minus a few bugs and frustrations here and there.
I got bored with the marines really quick I gotta admit, I don't think there's enough possible playstyles offered by the current items, it's all very straightforward and having an Exosuit is tedious as hell. But Aliens are so much fun to play, I love every second of it.
By the way, I was wondering, what would be the best way to make a come back in pubs? Regularly, the game is pretty much hopeless, with the other team controlling basically the whole map. In any strategy game, this should be an instant gg but it often drags out for half an hour because of their newb commander and their lack of coordination. I usually try to sneak by and kill their ressource towers far away, just to mess things up as much as possible (just like I usually did in SC when I was behind), but it seems there's only so much one player can accomplish.
Very very appealing game. Only played 2 hours though, but thats because I am watching Halo 4 playthroughs(I dont own a xbox) and trading my ass off in dota 2.
Its so f***ing nice, gives the same good vibes(that i like) as mass effect and avp.
On November 08 2012 17:21 lepape wrote: I'm really happy for the company, the game seems to be a huge success so far, I remember playing the mod many years ago, these guys worked their asses off to make this a stand alone game, with a good, original idea in the FPS genre. The final product is extremely good, minus a few bugs and frustrations here and there.
I got bored with the marines really quick I gotta admit, I don't think there's enough possible playstyles offered by the current items, it's all very straightforward and having an Exosuit is tedious as hell. But Aliens are so much fun to play, I love every second of it.
By the way, I was wondering, what would be the best way to make a come back in pubs? Regularly, the game is pretty much hopeless, with the other team controlling basically the whole map. In any strategy game, this should be an instant gg but it often drags out for half an hour because of their newb commander and their lack of coordination. I usually try to sneak by and kill their ressource towers far away, just to mess things up as much as possible (just like I usually did in SC when I was behind), but it seems there's only so much one player can accomplish.
Yeah you have to go kind of solo to start to make a comeback by attacking RT/power, you can even go to get some phase at some hive place. At one moment though, when marines will come to kill you, you better join the big fight and help your mate push.
Basically it's all about diverting and dividing. Much more harder when you're on marine side.
Also I prefer to play marine, i feel like the teamplay is much more important since one marine can't do really much by it's own if the kharaa know their shit.
On November 08 2012 17:21 lepape wrote: I'm really happy for the company, the game seems to be a huge success so far, I remember playing the mod many years ago, these guys worked their asses off to make this a stand alone game, with a good, original idea in the FPS genre. The final product is extremely good, minus a few bugs and frustrations here and there.
I got bored with the marines really quick I gotta admit, I don't think there's enough possible playstyles offered by the current items, it's all very straightforward and having an Exosuit is tedious as hell. But Aliens are so much fun to play, I love every second of it.
By the way, I was wondering, what would be the best way to make a come back in pubs? Regularly, the game is pretty much hopeless, with the other team controlling basically the whole map. In any strategy game, this should be an instant gg but it often drags out for half an hour because of their newb commander and their lack of coordination. I usually try to sneak by and kill their ressource towers far away, just to mess things up as much as possible (just like I usually did in SC when I was behind), but it seems there's only so much one player can accomplish.
For marines the best way is to bank enough resources to put together a force of a half dozen marines with exos and jetpacks + welders that can move out and take resource nodes and tech points while not being torn to shreds instantly in an ambush. If you can just take and hold two techpoints and some resource points while defending them with phasegates then you are back in the game.
Aliens can do something similar but it is harder because onos are more expensive so if you're behind you may not be able to afford enough to break a hole in the marines line. Going around to unpoulated areas of the map and killing marine extractors is a really good idea because it forces them to split their attention (much like zerg in starcraft :p), and can take the pressure off of one of your bases being assaulted or open up enough of a hole in the marines line that the aliens can break through and take part of the map.
"All that said, Natural Selection 2 is filled with promise if you can put in the hours of grinding necessary to learn the units, maps, controls, and balance, and figure out what the heck is happening around you at a given moment"
The review just got pulled. Unexpectedly noble of Gamespot.
"All that said, Natural Selection 2 is filled with promise if you can put in the hours of grinding necessary to learn the units, maps, controls, and balance, and figure out what the heck is happening around you at a given moment"
The review just got pulled. Unexpectedly noble of Gamespot.
I honestly only read/watch them because it's humorous to see how piss poor the writing quality is and how obviously corrupt it all is. It's like watching a car crash, you don't want it to happen but if it's going to happen anyways you might as well.
"All that said, Natural Selection 2 is filled with promise if you can put in the hours of grinding necessary to learn the units, maps, controls, and balance, and figure out what the heck is happening around you at a given moment"
The review just got pulled. Unexpectedly noble of Gamespot.
Probably, but it might be reaaaaaally awkward for some of the aliens movement abilities (Lerk and Skulk movement comes to mind). I wouldn't recommend it.
On November 09 2012 14:06 Torte de Lini wrote: I'm asking because my girlfriend suffers from a disability called: Controllerexia
I strongly suggest she stay away from skulk (zergling), lerk (flying defiler), and fade (Zeratul), then. AR/shotgun wouldn't be ideal either, though things like grenade launchers wouldn't be as bad.
it seems like a lot of servers have people using voice chat and cooperating. there are some servers that blow, but the ratio of good servers with teamwork to bad servers is surprisingly high. makes the game that much more fun
On November 09 2012 18:10 shindigs wrote: it seems like a lot of servers have people using voice chat and cooperating. there are some servers that blow, but the ratio of good servers with teamwork to bad servers is surprisingly high. makes the game that much more fun
I tend to agree -- at least if you step into Custom Servers Land. The official UWE servers, on the other hand, are one hell of a mixed bag. One game you've got most of the team furiously discussing optimal Ankebiting Strategies, and the next you're fending off the entire alien invasion with a pistol while your team is celebrating the existence of beer bongs at the local armory.
On November 09 2012 18:10 shindigs wrote: it seems like a lot of servers have people using voice chat and cooperating. there are some servers that blow, but the ratio of good servers with teamwork to bad servers is surprisingly high. makes the game that much more fun
I played NS1 for a long time, then stopped with almost every FPS and only played MOBA and RTS. Coming back to NS with NS2 I was kinda shocked: There still are people on the internet with brains and manners. Tho the community is kinda small people in general are really mannered and nice. Sure you will have sometimes a guy flaming others but no where near as when i log on to SC2 or HoN.
If you want intense teamplay I suggest you try to join some servers from Clans. In general there are more people continuesly playing on that server and you will get to known to the names and the players. The officials are as allready been said pretty random in terms of skills.
Btw. going to start to get some video material ready for youtube. If anyone can get me some infos on competitve play and where to maybe get contacts infos, please leave it here or PM me Would like to cast some NS2 and show the folks (especially sc2 folks) how awesome and strategic a FPS can be.
If anybody wants to play in a competitive setting, you should make an account at ensl and participate in a gather. You'll see that the game plays a little different with only 6 players per side and everyone working together. http://www.ensl.org/ If you already have a team, you can register it to this site to participate in the first ensl NS2 Season. Will start in 2 weeks i believe. If you want to practice, try #ns2.search @ irc.quakenet.org to find some opponents.
If you'd like to cast, you can also go there and tell people to add you on Steam if they want their game streamed, and also look into this irc channel: #ns2.search @ irc.quakenet.org
On November 09 2012 18:10 shindigs wrote: it seems like a lot of servers have people using voice chat and cooperating. there are some servers that blow, but the ratio of good servers with teamwork to bad servers is surprisingly high. makes the game that much more fun
I played NS1 for a long time, then stopped with almost every FPS and only played MOBA and RTS. Coming back to NS with NS2 I was kinda shocked: There still are people on the internet with brains and manners. Tho the community is kinda small people in general are really mannered and nice. Sure you will have sometimes a guy flaming others but no where near as when i log on to SC2 or HoN.
This is very true. i have yet to connect to a server where people have raged at each other amazingly as that sounds. It is either a server where nobody uses voice and those are a bit messy, or allot of people that use voice and are friendly and cooperate very well.
On November 09 2012 22:31 3del wrote: If anybody wants to play in a competitive setting, you should make an account at ensl and participate in a gather. You'll see that the game plays a little different with only 6 players per side and everyone working together. http://www.ensl.org/ If you already have a team, you can register it to this site to participate in the first ensl NS2 Season. Will start in 2 weeks i believe. If you want to practice, try #ns2.search @ irc.quakenet.org to find some opponents.
If you'd like to cast, you can also go there and tell people to add you on Steam if they want their game streamed, and also look into this irc channel: #ns2.search @ irc.quakenet.org
Sounds like a lot of fun but me and all my mates are in Australia TT Does anyone know of any NS2 leagues or competitions in Australia?
What I like the most about NS2 is that it's community seems to be really mature. You can actually use the voice chat and communicate with people like a human being. Buy it! It's not expensive, requires about the same specs as SC2, and is overall a great game so far. If you don't know anyone playing it, get a team together asap through forums or whatever because it's one hell of an experience playing organized in a team.
On November 09 2012 22:31 3del wrote: If anybody wants to play in a competitive setting, you should make an account at ensl and participate in a gather. You'll see that the game plays a little different with only 6 players per side and everyone working together. http://www.ensl.org/ If you already have a team, you can register it to this site to participate in the first ensl NS2 Season. Will start in 2 weeks i believe. If you want to practice, try #ns2.search @ irc.quakenet.org to find some opponents.
If you'd like to cast, you can also go there and tell people to add you on Steam if they want their game streamed, and also look into this irc channel: #ns2.search @ irc.quakenet.org
Jesus i totally.forgot about IRC. Now a lot of.good old memories are coming back :D For all the newer guys. Ill Start by recording pub Games and Talk about whats going on. For sc2 players this game is the right fps to apply General rts concept to a lot faster paced game
ESL Tournament today! Live from Cologne, Germany, Exertus and Archaea are going to duke it out for all the glory. It's starting at 2000CET, 1400EST, 1100PST, 1900UTC. http://www.twitch.tv/esltv
i missed that esl thing, there are no vods at http://www.twitch.tv/esltv/videos are there english vods anywhere? that guy on youtube i was watching isnt doing any new vids for a few days T_T
I just managed to win two games in a row as rine comm. That shit is so stressful. Had quite a few helpful people talking with me and giving me tips or pointing out things I missed, which was great and probably made the difference; the second game lasted around 45 minutes and consisted of so much back-and-forth. At one point in time the alien team had four or five onoses and I was pretty sure we were going to lose, but they overextended and we managed to kill them through attrition and come back in the game.
@dronebabo: teamplay is the biggest problem at the moment because there are so many new players. Just talk with them over voice chat thats helps a lot in most cases.
If someone needs help or wants to play my steam name is "Sicion". I will gladly help/teach you if im online. Which i do most of the time anyway. :D
Yeah, the community is pretty good for the most part. Occasionally you get people complaining about shitty comms or players, but if you vocalize stuff, generally everyone else is forgiving.
On November 11 2012 13:04 carraway wrote: Yeah, the community is pretty good for the most part. Occasionally you get people complaining about shitty comms or players, but if you vocalize stuff, generally everyone else is forgiving.
Yeah thats a problem. People call out coms or especially new players really quick which is really bad and scares people away from these positions. Everyone has to start somewhere and if you cant let them gain experience they WONT get better or nobody wants to go com at some point. So i encourage people to go com and guide them as much as possible when i play.
I think its just a problem with the mindset at the moment. Teamplay and tatics is everything and you lose as a team not because of a single person !
On November 11 2012 13:04 carraway wrote: Yeah, the community is pretty good for the most part. Occasionally you get people complaining about shitty comms or players, but if you vocalize stuff, generally everyone else is forgiving.
Yeah thats a problem. People call out coms or especially new players really quick which is really bad and scares people away from these positions. Everyone has to start somewhere and if you cant let them gain experience they WONT get better or nobody wants to go com at some point. So i encourage people to go com and guide them as much as possible when i play.
I think its just a problem with the mindset at the moment. Teamplay and tatics is everything and you lose as a team not because of a single person !
On the other hand, there is a Training mode in which anyone can familiarize himself with the basic commander controls, there's even tutorial videos in-game.
I've never seen anyone get angry at a commander who does mistakes, but then again, if it takes you 10 minutes to build a single extractor, there are other options to learn the basics without ruining the game for your team.
On November 12 2012 01:29 lepape wrote: On the other hand, there is a Training mode in which anyone can familiarize himself with the basic commander controls, there's even tutorial videos in-game.
I've never seen anyone get angry at a commander who does mistakes, but then again, if it takes you 10 minutes to build a single extractor, there are other options to learn the basics without ruining the game for your team.
Im not talking about basics here but more about coordinating a team: guys attack this point, defend the base, build expansion, executing tactics or overall strategic goals.
Training videos or modes dont really teach guiding a team!
Dont get me wrong people dont get angry often and are not running around rage flaming that one guy. Most of the time they just say "Stay away from com you suck. Go rookie!" but after that people will stay away from going Com and maybe dont come back in the future. Playing as a com is stressful enough without getting flamed.
On November 12 2012 02:19 Snuggles wrote: This game looks interesting. How well developed is the RTS side of the game? Will being a good SC2 player help at all?
Having good multitasking which you get from sc will be helpful. Instead of making workers you just have to place resource nodes as your players secure them. When your not doing that, you split your time between ordering and helping your marines with various abilities and base building and getting upgrades.
Haha, sim city in NS2. I might just pre-order this game. It looks like a pretty good package deal for $40, the game, an artbook (really?), soundtrack, in-game model, it's not bad. Do you get instant access to the beta if you pre-order like in WarZ?
On November 12 2012 02:43 Snuggles wrote: Haha, sim city in NS2. I might just pre-order this game. It looks like a pretty good package deal for $40, the game, an artbook (really?), soundtrack, in-game model, it's not bad. Do you get instant access to the beta if you pre-order like in WarZ?
??? The game is not in beta, its released. and its only $25 for the game alone.
On November 12 2012 02:19 Snuggles wrote: This game looks interesting. How well developed is the RTS side of the game? Will being a good SC2 player help at all?
Yea higher APM than most FPS guys and overall a better rounded strategic thought process will help you a lot. And as someone said: multitasking + hotkeying.
From time to time i have some people getting excited because I'm pretty fast with dropping medpacks&ammo and stuff xD
On November 12 2012 02:19 Snuggles wrote: This game looks interesting. How well developed is the RTS side of the game? Will being a good SC2 player help at all?
[...] Overall its much less demanding then sc2.
I can't agree here tho, I find it from time to time more tiring than Sc2 if you play 3-4 games in row as commander with a good team. Since your "units" are not "waiting" for your commands, they rather demand them, it gets more stressed. You need to evaluate the priority of your teammates demands with the things you see on map and have planned out as your BO. I wouldn't say its less or more stressful, just in different types of stress.
NS2 relies upon mostly the same skillsets as SC2, but as bluQ said, it's a very different type of stress. Multitasking is supremely important; the comm UI helps you less than SC2's UI does. Both macro and micro are also vital. I can't speak much about the alien comm side of things, but for rines, with a decent team your comm should never ever be idle, even in a lategame stalemate situation (or perhaps, even less so in that situation). Building MACs, rebuilding turret nests, commanding arcs, dropping medpacks and ammo, buffing nanoshield, placing scans, and all the while directing your rine team who all have brains of their own (some better than others, and some with better shooting skills than others) -- it all keeps you very busy.
An interesting dimension that doesn't exist in SC2 is the fact that sometimes you kind of have to adjust your BO based on the relative skill of your team. You can't play an aggressive early game with fast weapon ups if your rines can't actually hit skulks, for example.
On November 12 2012 06:39 carraway wrote: NS2 relies upon mostly the same skillsets as SC2, but as bluQ said, it's a very different type of stress. Multitasking is supremely important; the comm UI helps you less than SC2's UI does. Both macro and micro are also vital. I can't speak much about the alien comm side of things, but for rines, with a decent team your comm should never ever be idle, even in a lategame stalemate situation (or perhaps, even less so in that situation). Building MACs, rebuilding turret nests, commanding arcs, dropping medpacks and ammo, buffing nanoshield, placing scans, and all the while directing your rine team who all have brains of their own (some better than others, and some with better shooting skills than others) -- it all keeps you very busy.
An interesting dimension that doesn't exist in SC2 is the fact that sometimes you kind of have to adjust your BO based on the relative skill of your team. You can't play an aggressive early game with fast weapon ups if your rines can't actually hit skulks, for example.
To share some alien insight (which I always call Zerg bymistake xD) the comm is less dependant on the teammates in terms of building stuff. Tho a good alien comm will cordinate where to harass, attack and defend. You can imagine it as controlling 3 packs of speed reapears in a 3v3 to harass the enemys. Just that you plan the harasses instead of really executing it. The executing part of an alien commander lies more in spreading creep (yes dear Zerg players, you can spread creep in an RTS, isnt that what we all wanted? :D) keep your infestation(/creep) network intact (if one cyst(creeptumor) is destroyed and the connection to a hive via creep is lost your buildings and creep will start to degenerate (wouldn't that what T's want? destroy one creep tumor and the others infront of it start to die off). Tho in lategame I always struggle more as alien commander than as marine commander. For aliens there is almost never a real "stalemate" where your team camps one/two places. You always want your skulks out on the map destroying and harassing RTs and Techpoints. Tho it can happen that you will see a group of 6+ marines evantually will rush a hive and that's where the stress and fun as alien comm comes in. Coordinate your team to fallback to a hive and threaten that rush. But somehow make it work that you break the push AND do damage on some other side.
So to put it in a nutshell: Rine Comm in lategame; pretty focused on a few locations, multitasking only in terms of coordinating a big rush or a defensive wise. Alin Comm in lategame; needs to be all over the map in terms of focus, keep high attention to possible rushes, multitask a lot to keep creep intact and build defensive structures to support constant attacks or defend.
Edit: when im again fully into the game I'll try to make some tutorial vids especially for SC2 players.
On November 14 2012 10:53 ChiknAdobo wrote: Are there control groups and/or camera location hotkeys? I can't seem to find them.
Control groups are like sc2: hit ctrl+number to bind and call with hitting the number you bound to. (ctrl+1 -> 1) About camera hotkeys, I don't think so, but since you have constant on-top view it is pretty easy to jump from location to location to hear and watch if something is going on.
Before most online games kept track of stats, you showed you were good by just playing good consistently (it helps to play on the same server though, so people know you're gosu of course).
Of course, it doesn't make sense in 1v1 games (like going into random custom 1v1 games in BW and destroying people or getting destroyed easily) but in a team game it really shines.
NS1 was one of those games where I played for fun and I didn't worry about stat tracking or anything because I can easily prove to be good by just being good (even in situations where your team is doing bad, unlike MOBAs).
I'm glad that NS2 doesn't have any stat tracking. Maybe they can do achievements or how many welder kills against onos you have (just for fun) but it makes it so people are more nice towards others (and also people stat pad less).
That's actually a positive point for most FPS team games in general (as opposed to MMOs and or MOBAs for example, where you can't really do much to differentiate yourself a lot of the times). The problem with FPS stat tracking is the issue of stat padding (like say someone in BF2 or BF3 just doing something to keep raking up kills than actually doing the objectives or something for example) but since there aren't any stat recording or automatic match making, the problem doesn't exist in NS2.
This can lead to a better community because people don't care about winning or losing because it affects their "MMR" or stat padding because they want that nice K:D ratio in their stat screen. You can always show how good you are by just being good.
(Again, this applies to team based games. Solo games, obviously things like MMR and stat tracking work better like in SC2.)
Of course, again, I wouldn't mind mindless achievements like 1000 welder kills or leveling up to get rewards like customization for your marine or something like that but I'm glad that there isn't any like leaderboards or stat tracking in NS2 as I feel like NS1 and NS2 are both games where you can easily show you're good by just being good.
In NS1, I used to frequent 1-2 servers and the people that were good became well known quickly because either consistently got top score or (if they were a com) they consistently (I say partly thanks to morale from being commanded by a vet) won games if they commanded. ______________________ Speaking of not caring about winning or losing - + Show Spoiler +
NS1 was one of those rare games where I actually had fun playing regardless of winning or losing. One of my favorite things to do (that actually got out of hand on a server I frequented >.>) was to build a defense chamber gorge fort after losing the game. Now, I only did it when we were about to lose. I wasn't the only one who did it, I actually joined someone else doing it. One game, it got out of hand so bad that like 5 of us from the server built a gorge fort before we actually lost and we screwed our entire team (though the server was really close and most people knew each other... also we had an admin join us too, so that meant no one got banned or warned for not playing srsly >.>). Anyway, that only totally happened for a few games (back to playing to win for us after that).
Yep, NS1 is a game where you just played for fun (and you could show you were good at the game too), regardless of winning or losing. Hopefully, NS2 continues that tradition. Unlike "party games" (which "can" be serious business at times), NS isn't a mindless casual game but despite that, the game somehow doesn't promote too many jerks or snobs or srs business players. Besides maybe *"combat mode sux" people. NS1 has a great community and hopefully NS2 continues that trends.
*Which only really exists on forums. Anyway, it goes that combat divided NS1 community in half but IMO, it helped keep NS1 alive. I used to play mostly classic, then sometimes combat, then back to classic. Overall, I played a mix of both to keep things refreshing. If combat wasn't introduced, then NS1 would have had a smaller community because people would move onto other games instead (like the whole SC2 is dying posts on these forums, the competition is fierce now so the games have to step it up).
Also, Combat totally requires team work. I frequented a combat server and there was always team work (/xmenu and combat buildings adds a lot). I'm not going to say (just take my word for it, it's possible, it's like when you join a Dota 2 game and everyone talks and works together except it happens all the time).
If anyone doesn't know what combat is, it was a game mode in NS1 that made it sort of like a MOBA or Dota game in a way. You gained levels instead of harvesting resources and there is one simple objective to take out their main structure. The mods like combat buildings (which added phase gates and other stuff) added more teamplay and support elements to the mode. It definitely isn't just a mindless casual game mode (it can get that way if no one is talking though).
There were lots of fun neat strategies you can do in the game mode too (like everyone rush mines at level 2 or everyone goes gorge at level 2 and heal spray rush the opposing team). (Actually gorge rush was viable and more powerful in ns classic than combat, it's actually one of the more common "cheeses" or "all in strategies" in NS1).
Ok guys, I've got 14 hours of gameplay under my belt, green NS player here.
First of all, I'm REALLY surprised at how nice everyone is. Like holy shit, people actually said "It's okay, we all have to start somewhere" on my first few tries at commander. Sure some people were disgruntled, but NOT ONE single person lashed out at me like people would when I was learning Dota 2. Omfg, this community is filled saints, I almost think that there's something wrong with it because it's too nice.
Playing Commander. This shit is fun. Especially for an RTS player like myself. Once I learned the ropes, I began formulating BO's for myself and thinking up different ways to tech up. I don't know if it just my way of thinking being a Zerg player, but it seems to me that Aliens follow a lot of the same principles that an opening BO for Zerg would have. It seemed most effective to me to spread my cyst out to the closest expo, tagging the resource nodes along the way, getting Hive first and then planting the harvestors down. From there on I just wing it and people seem to love it. There's no micro involved so I'm basically left to sit there to spread creep like a madman, upgrade, and fortify, you really feel like a commander and not just an RTS player.
Then when I'm too tired to play commander I can just run out and shoot bitches or chomp people's asses which is some nice mindless fun. It's a really good casual game, not sure how it works it competitively but I'm having a lot of fun with it.
I do have a question for you guys as well, I don't play Marine comm as much as Alien so when it gets to late game and my teammates can't seem to push through 2 - 3 Onos with 2 - 3 exos, what should I do? Are arc tanks the answer?
Remember that your buildings, as commander, aren't just to be placed anywhere, there is a lot of strategy for building placement. My favorite is the armory wall on Cavern when Marines are at Operations (You place a wall of buildings that Onos can't jump over, just in front of the power node, over to the platform where your command chair sits. Your marines are safe from Onos and they can fire at attacking Onos), although having to use walls like this at any stage is either from desperation, or you just have the resource points to screw around with.
On November 15 2012 12:51 Snuggles wrote: First of all, I'm REALLY surprised at how nice everyone is. Like holy shit, people actually said "It's okay, we all have to start somewhere" on my first few tries at commander. Sure some people were disgruntled, but NOT ONE single person lashed out at me like people would when I was learning Dota 2. Omfg, this community is filled saints, I almost think that there's something wrong with it because it's too nice.
I haven't played NS2 yet but I am surprised and impressed that this is the case. My hypothesis is that the experienced players who decide to play on open community servers are nice and those who are really competitive just stick to locked private servers. The new players who get this welcoming reception from the skilled players then repeat that for other new players. Good job however you did it NS2 community.
On November 15 2012 12:51 Snuggles wrote: First of all, I'm REALLY surprised at how nice everyone is. Like holy shit, people actually said "It's okay, we all have to start somewhere" on my first few tries at commander. Sure some people were disgruntled, but NOT ONE single person lashed out at me like people would when I was learning Dota 2. Omfg, this community is filled saints, I almost think that there's something wrong with it because it's too nice.
I haven't played NS2 yet but I am surprised and impressed that this is the case. My hypothesis is that the experienced players who decide to play on open community servers are nice and those who are really competitive just stick to locked private servers. The new players who get this welcoming reception from the skilled players then repeat that for other new players. Good job however you did it NS2 community.
I gotta agree. Just got done playing commander for the first time and both rounds the team was very very very helpful and patient. Explaining why I'm building what i'm building and where I'm building it. It's nice to see a community that's not full of jerkoffs that seem to plague every other game. Actually makes you want to go and try new stuff just to see if it'll work since there's no fear of the whole team blasting you for it.
Man, I have had absolutely no time to play this game for the past week, and it's pretty much my favorite pastime right now. After this weekend's projects have concluded I'll definitely get back into it.
Has there been any mention of upcoming patch notes or whatever? I know they intend to keep updating it.
Anyone know how to get a USB webcam to work as a mike for the game? As i have a really nice mike on my webcam but i can't use it in NS2 afaik (am a noob in such things)
On November 15 2012 12:51 Snuggles wrote: First of all, I'm REALLY surprised at how nice everyone is. Like holy shit, people actually said "It's okay, we all have to start somewhere" on my first few tries at commander. Sure some people were disgruntled, but NOT ONE single person lashed out at me like people would when I was learning Dota 2. Omfg, this community is filled saints, I almost think that there's something wrong with it because it's too nice.
I haven't played NS2 yet but I am surprised and impressed that this is the case. My hypothesis is that the experienced players who decide to play on open community servers are nice and those who are really competitive just stick to locked private servers. The new players who get this welcoming reception from the skilled players then repeat that for other new players. Good job however you did it NS2 community.
I gotta agree. Just got done playing commander for the first time and both rounds the team was very very very helpful and patient. Explaining why I'm building what i'm building and where I'm building it. It's nice to see a community that's not full of jerkoffs that seem to plague every other game. Actually makes you want to go and try new stuff just to see if it'll work since there's no fear of the whole team blasting you for it.
i think other people have touched a little bit on this but i think the big reason people are nicer in NS is because you can generally have fun playing somewhat in a solo situation.
In other games you HAVE to be part of the team or you will get owned and its not fun to be owned in Dota since you have like literally no chance to do anything good.
In NS even if your down 1 base against 4, have no res to buy anything, etc. you can still score a few kills and have a good time.
Also you actually have to BUY the game right now so the general age range is higher than something you can get for free (Dota, HoN, LOL) i think.
On November 15 2012 12:51 Snuggles wrote: First of all, I'm REALLY surprised at how nice everyone is. Like holy shit, people actually said "It's okay, we all have to start somewhere" on my first few tries at commander. Sure some people were disgruntled, but NOT ONE single person lashed out at me like people would when I was learning Dota 2. Omfg, this community is filled saints, I almost think that there's something wrong with it because it's too nice.
I haven't played NS2 yet but I am surprised and impressed that this is the case. My hypothesis is that the experienced players who decide to play on open community servers are nice and those who are really competitive just stick to locked private servers. The new players who get this welcoming reception from the skilled players then repeat that for other new players. Good job however you did it NS2 community.
I gotta agree. Just got done playing commander for the first time and both rounds the team was very very very helpful and patient. Explaining why I'm building what i'm building and where I'm building it. It's nice to see a community that's not full of jerkoffs that seem to plague every other game. Actually makes you want to go and try new stuff just to see if it'll work since there's no fear of the whole team blasting you for it.
i think other people have touched a little bit on this but i think the big reason people are nicer in NS is because you can generally have fun playing somewhat in a solo situation.
In other games you HAVE to be part of the team or you will get owned and its not fun to be owned in Dota since you have like literally no chance to do anything good.
In NS even if your down 1 base against 4, have no res to buy anything, etc. you can still score a few kills and have a good time.
Also you actually have to BUY the game right now so the general age range is higher than something you can get for free (Dota, HoN, LOL) i think.
Tho the elite players ARE complaining about the "rookie" ones But that is kept between the elite players and not brought up on publics while in game.
In general people who aren't able to socialize and work as a team will get sorted out pretty quickly since this game is NO FUN if you don't act as a team in the general game time. (not opposing that you can't have fun solo, but the game in general won't make fun if you can't listen to someone giving you orders )
And I'm kinda touched by you guys saying my (old) community is the nicest you have yet seen <3 <3 <3
For you rookies out there, if you want to expierence "better" play try to join Clanservers. Since I am german I use to play a lot on Hamburger Ballerbude and SGEF Clan server (tho they seem to me not updated yet to the new version which came out yesterday)
edit: and yesterday I played some combatmode ... the "skill"level was A LOT lower than on the normal servers, which I appreciate a lot But CO was always a good way to practice aiming on different weapons/aliens and stuff.
So I played a few games during the beta but could never get into it because it was really unstable and I got aweful pings. So I thought I would give it another chance now that it has hit retail and man it is epic.
30 minute game of back and forth action as the aliens wearing down the marines :D Onus seems so overpowered but I guess they have to be against those suit things.
On November 16 2012 07:57 TheMooseHeed wrote: So I played a few games during the beta but could never get into it because it was really unstable and I got aweful pings. So I thought I would give it another chance now that it has hit retail and man it is epic.
30 minute game of back and forth action as the aliens wearing down the marines :D Onus seems so overpowered but I guess they have to be against those suit things.
Definitley going to play alot more!
Onos with stomp and exo suits with dual machine gun both feel "OP". But they are only "OP" with good teamwork. An exo without welding support can easly be killed by two good skulks. Same goes for onos if he faces too many marines which spread out and use the terrain if he doesn't have 1-2 gorges perm heal them. And you have to remember that those could be considered Tier 3 where Tier1 would be: +0 /+1 rifle/shotty, skulk/lerk(1up), Tier2: +1/+2 rifle/shotty/jetpack/(gl), skulk/lerk/fade(2ups), and finally Tier3: onos/exo/gl(+jp) with each full ups.
Hey bluQ could you give any good examples of Marine commander build orders? I've been struggling with Marine commander at all points in the game, early, mid and late I just feel like I'm in the dark as to what I should get first. Also when it's Onos vs Exos I just don't know what else I can do for my team as comm to help them come out on top...
On November 16 2012 09:31 oscar62 wrote: I have a 4 year old system, and upon joining my first server it was taking like an hour to do the first load so I just quit.
I can't imagine the game running well if it takes that long to load shaders and shit.
It takes a long time to load the first game. As does every game.
On November 16 2012 09:02 Snuggles wrote: Hey bluQ could you give any good examples of Marine commander build orders? I've been struggling with Marine commander at all points in the game, early, mid and late I just feel like I'm in the dark as to what I should get first. Also when it's Onos vs Exos I just don't know what else I can do for my team as comm to help them come out on top...
in public games, where the teams are larger and the players less organized, it's better to shoot for obs first as it helps against random base rushes, and lets you tech phase gates, which helps immensely in getting people to where they need to be.
arms labs upgrades are better as well, because more people and more random dying means less actual shotguns/jps/etc means more vanilla marines.
late is the standard jp/exo. use nanoshield liberally when pushing objectives. double health exos tank everything.
I don't know if it's overpowered yet, but new innate alien regen speed and defense chamber heal is really damn good. Really improves skulks survivability between encounters without having to go back to the hive. I think it's ok for it to be better than it was in ns1 since lack of focus makes it really hard to kill upgraded marines now.
On November 16 2012 12:56 Pfhor wrote: I don't know if it's overpowered yet, but new innate alien regen speed and defense chamber heal is really damn good. Really improves skulks survivability between encounters without having to go back to the hive.
Dunno if anyone has faced this yet but I just got gorge rushed. Literally every single alien went gorge, rushed into our base and just walled/hydra'd. We ended up moving to another room but by then they had the entire map and just all got Onos' and fucked us up.
I played NS1 and really enjoyed it. Although I have a few personal quibbles here and there about NS2, there's nothing drastic and I'm really pleased that the community has remained the same bunch of lovely people it was back then. NS2 is fun so far and I'm enjoying myself. In a lot of ways I'm learning to play all over again.
The game seems rather broken at the moment, craig regen is way too fast to the point where a hive takes an absurd expenditure of resources to kill. Alien win rate has skyrocketed since the latest patch, apparently they are gonna tone it down soon.
On November 16 2012 09:02 Snuggles wrote: Hey bluQ could you give any good examples of Marine commander build orders? I've been struggling with Marine commander at all points in the game, early, mid and late I just feel like I'm in the dark as to what I should get first. Also when it's Onos vs Exos I just don't know what else I can do for my team as comm to help them come out on top...
in public games, where the teams are larger and the players less organized, it's better to shoot for obs first as it helps against random base rushes, and lets you tech phase gates, which helps immensely in getting people to where they need to be.
arms labs upgrades are better as well, because more people and more random dying means less actual shotguns/jps/etc means more vanilla marines.
late is the standard jp/exo. use nanoshield liberally when pushing objectives. double health exos tank everything.
^ this for public games, for more detailed guides, I will post in this thread when I have done subbing and cutting my vids which will give a broad overview about both races, FPS and RTS(Comm) side. Otherwise browse the offical forums. (currently trending strat: Shift/Egg rush)
On November 16 2012 17:25 Pfhor wrote: The game seems rather broken at the moment, craig regen is way too fast to the point where a hive takes an absurd expenditure of resources to kill. Alien win rate has skyrocketed since the latest patch, apparently they are gonna tone it down soon.
Finally got around to playing this and pretty impressed with the progress they've managed to make in a year. Stalemate situations seem to drag on for too long at times. Had a feature length battle the just the other day
- Evolving Onos eggs now requires three Hives instead of two. Onos eggs are a complex matter, and are a work in progress! - Reduced Onos armor by 100 (-8%, effectiveness vs. Exos and heavy weapons impacted less because armor). - Welder research time increased from 10 to 15. - Exo armor changed from to 300/390/480/570 to 400/460/520/580. - Welder rate reduced from 125/sec to 90/sec. - Reduced shadow step cost from 15 to 10. - Increased blink momentum to be close to build 220. - Increase start blink energy cost from 8 to 12. - Shift Hatch now creates 2 eggs, but costs 5 resources and has a 5 second cool down (was 1 tres per egg, no cooldown). - Increased trait structure (Shell, Spur, Veil) mature health by ~20%. Also increased their base health to be closer to their previous mature health. - Reduced spore research time from 90 to 60. - Hive build time increased from 150 seconds to 180 seconds. - Reduced Onos Gore range by 0.5 meters. - Added cooldown to shift hatch ability. - Lowered max healing on Crag. - Added minimum healing from Hives. - Changed combat timeout to 4 seconds. - Reduced mega regeneration (max regeneration is now 10 per second instead of 120). - Doubled ARC rate of fire (halved damage)
Fix
- Fixed bug where the server would leak memory under some circumstances. - The ghost Power Node no longer takes damage, fixes a problem where the Power Node could not be rebuilt after being destroyed in some cases. - Fixed rare bug where a Hive could become invulnerable if it was killed in the same frame as it finishes building. - Fixed sound bug causing ambient sounds in the world to not play correctly. - Fixed unbuilt shifts being able to generate eggs. - Fixed Exo and Mine tooltips. - Fixed regeneration effect showing up in combat. - Fixed the "filter modded servers" option not always working correctly in the server browser. - Fixed ARC targeting issues. - Fixed already recycled units still taking damage. - Added protection against speed hacking.
Improvement
- Added more loading screen tooltips. - Added a display to the server browser to show the number of servers in the list.
Sdk
- Added the ability to specify "passes" for build rules in the Builder to setup simple dependency relationships. - Added SoundEffectInstance:SetCoords() function.
Two hive Onos egg w/ regen at 6 minutes was kinda broken.
However, I have discovered something: MAC EMP is hilarious. Without energy, aliens can't attack, or use any abilities. Onos attacking your base? Suddenly EMP chained together three times, and he can't hit anything. It stops attacks cold, run MACs behind the Onos and EMP the gorge, random EMPs on skulks, they can't do anything. Get 5 MAC's and they are invincible, combined with repairs, their actual amount of HP, and chain EMP's. But it kinda sucks that it's 15 res, should be 10 I think.
Won a game as marine today, was pretty good to actually win as marine, used MAC EMP twice to stop a double Onos attack at a tertiary base. Aliens didn't phone it in for the entire game either
On November 21 2012 09:54 PanN wrote: I really want to like this game, and be happy that I bought it, but I haven't seen a game with this many server finding issues in ten fucking years.
Is it so hard for them to make like a history tab or something for servers.
On December 24 2012 08:06 Torte de Lini wrote: Bitches, I just bought this game. Not very well optimized, I can't even stream it ):
I like being on the mic and pretending I'm a marine bwahah
Played about 10 hours in 72. Fun game, very interesting though there is a fair curve.
I have to say that I think the reviews should have been much harsher. It feels a bit half-baked at this time. My new comp running a 640 LE has some difficulties staying at a good frame rate. That's surprising for game that frankly could be a bit prettier. That said pretty good so far. By in large there haven't been any idiots over comm.
ok so just bought the game... i was a very good competivite player back in ns1 ^^ anyone wanna play together on european servers? pm me your steam name
On December 28 2012 01:18 Torte de Lini wrote: Yes, very unoptimized game, cant even stream it ):
First few games I sucked balls, now I do alright. Very good game (:
Aw man I haven't watched your stream in a year. It was so witty last time I watched it, I loved the people commenting in chat as well, they were hilarious . I'm going to keep tabs next time you stream...Maybe I'll even play against you on the server you join!!
All hail the leaning tower of ...Torte de lini?? Man I even forgot the catchphrase.
The sale makes a convincing case; but is there and active TL community playing this? It looks fun but I don't think I'd touch it unless I had some people to play it with, looks like it's a game that could be ruined by non-cooperative or griefing teammate.
Oh and the game looks pretty graphically intensive, does the game support Crossfire? Oh and the minimum processor on the steam page says duo core 2.6GHz, how would a 2.8 GH Quad core run this?
On December 28 2012 08:44 CrazyF1r3f0x wrote: The sale makes a convincing case; but is there and active TL community playing this? It looks fun but I don't think I'd touch it unless I had some people to play it with, looks like it's a game that could be ruined by non-cooperative or griefing teammate.
Oh and the game looks pretty graphically intensive, does the game support Crossfire? Oh and the minimum processor on the steam page says duo core 2.6GHz, how would a 2.8 GH Quad core run this?
I have CF'd 6850's and run the game fine. 99% of games are filled with people with mics. I've yet to have a silent team or anything even close. Everyone is always strategizing outloud and making callouts of what's going on and where. Overall a very good game.
I've had silent teams, but I've never seen a person being stupid just for the fun of it. Honestly there's not much you can do to do that, there's no friendly fire (from teammates). Worst thing you can do is take an exoskeleton or onos that the commander built and die outright. Though that's usually from inexperience and not malice.
Personally I've had a lot of fun and not too many bad experiences. I much prefer the FPS part of the game though.
I'd just like to say that if you don't play in rookie designated servers, do not try to command for a while. It's much better to sit back and observe what a knowledgeable marine/alien commander does and ask them why. There's no point in commanding if you do not know how the game works.
It just irritates me when some noob hops to the chair and starts building turrets everywhere (happens quite often). It just ruins the game for everybody else in servers where people somewhat know how to play.
On December 30 2012 23:45 herMan wrote: Hi guys, ns1 vet here.
I'd just like to say that if you don't play in rookie designated servers, do not try to command for a while. It's much better to sit back and observe what a knowledgeable marine/alien commander does and ask them why. There's no point in commanding if you do not know how the game works.
It just irritates me when some noob hops to the chair and starts building turrets everywhere (happens quite often). It just ruins the game for everybody else in servers where people somewhat know how to play.
Yeah, far too many people rush into commanding when they are first starting. I think it's a good thing to want to try all the game has to offer, and to see if you like commanding, but the order you should do it in is:
1. Learn+play FPS mode. You can't command without knowing how the most important part of the game is played.
2. Learn all about commanding. I recommend using explore mode so you can mess around all you want and get used to the interface. It may also involve playing games and asking your commander questions or watching NS2HD videos.
3. Try commanding on a rookie server
Basically, don't just join a non-rookie server and try commanding without having done it before. You might end up wasting everyone's time by ruining the game and making herMan upset.
On December 31 2012 02:01 BrTarolg wrote: If you're looking for people to play with you should play gathers, thats where i play 90% of my NS2 these days
On December 31 2012 03:08 dellesh1ruH wrote: I'm trying again. For some reasono my computer cant play the game proberly, dont know why, but one of my friends says i need to change a mod?
Sadly the only information you give here is that the game does not work and you dont know why. Any error message, anything?
On December 31 2012 03:08 dellesh1ruH wrote: I'm trying again. For some reasono my computer cant play the game proberly, dont know why, but one of my friends says i need to change a mod?
Sadly the only information you give here is that the game does not work and you dont know why. Any error message, anything?
No, its kind of lagging in-game. And i put all the settings to low!
my specs is:
amd phenom x4 945 3,00 ghz 4gb ddr 3 ram 500gb hd radeon gfx card (suspect its to bad for this game) :/
Posting out of curiosity: What do you guys usually do when playing as Alien?
I for example save resources for a quick fade almost every game and then begin dominating by picking the stray noob marines and destroying enemy phase gates when no one's around.
On January 04 2013 19:00 herMan wrote: Posting out of curiosity: What do you guys usually do when playing as Alien?
I for example save resources for a quick fade almost every game and then begin dominating by picking the stray noob marines and destroying enemy phase gates when no one's around.
Highly depends on the kind of game you're playing, the quality of your team, whos comming etc.
In pubs i like to run around the ceiling of topographical and then camp it the whole game as a skulk lol
On January 04 2013 19:00 herMan wrote: Posting out of curiosity: What do you guys usually do when playing as Alien?
I for example save resources for a quick fade almost every game and then begin dominating by picking the stray noob marines and destroying enemy phase gates when no one's around.
That's what I usually do.
It's usually pretty effective. I'm usually a skulk, fade, or onos. I'm not very good as the gorge or lerk. Always seem to die so quickly as the lerk.
On January 04 2013 19:00 herMan wrote: Posting out of curiosity: What do you guys usually do when playing as Alien?
I for example save resources for a quick fade almost every game and then begin dominating by picking the stray noob marines and destroying enemy phase gates when no one's around.
That's what I usually do.
It's usually pretty effective. I'm usually a skulk, fade, or onos. I'm not very good as the gorge or lerk. Always seem to die so quickly as the lerk.
The art of good lerking is still unknown to me and I feel in ns2 it's more rewarding. So fragile but so deadly with all of the attack options. I almost never gorge because I am worth so much more playing as skulk/fade/onos.
I play by the nickname yingyang in public so holler if you guys see me.
This game is awesome. In the beginning i preferred to play marines, but now aliens is my small favorite. I skulks for their speed, gorges for their goofy cuteness and fades for their blinkness.
On January 10 2013 11:57 Mambo wrote: This game is awesome. In the beginning i preferred to play marines, but now aliens is my small favorite. I skulks for their speed, gorges for their goofy cuteness and fades for their blinkness.
I find that I die really quickly with almost every alien organism (except gorge), so I just wait till I get onos. I'm just too darned slow and clumsy. Like a marine can jump around me and avoid most of my swipes as a fade, and I die in a really embarrassing way .
At least as gorge I can serve a semi-useful function. But that usually means I'll never be an onos.
I also heard a funny joke online. They called the onos the "OH NOES". For some reason I really liked that
On January 04 2013 19:00 herMan wrote: Posting out of curiosity: What do you guys usually do when playing as Alien?
I for example save resources for a quick fade almost every game and then begin dominating by picking the stray noob marines and destroying enemy phase gates when no one's around.
That's what I usually do.
It's usually pretty effective. I'm usually a skulk, fade, or onos. I'm not very good as the gorge or lerk. Always seem to die so quickly as the lerk.
The art of good lerking is still unknown to me and I feel in ns2 it's more rewarding. So fragile but so deadly with all of the attack options. I almost never gorge because I am worth so much more playing as skulk/fade/onos.
I play by the nickname yingyang in public so holler if you guys see me.
Being good at lerk is really hard
Tbh, theres so much skill in aiming/positioning/dodging, it makes you feel like that your aiming must suck all the time or that your movement must be really bad lol
The problem is that theres a HUGE skillgap between competetive and gathers, then another HUGE gap between gathers and pubs, and i lie somewhere between that.
edit: "I also heard a funny joke online. They called the onos the "OH NOES". For some reason I really liked that"
That's not a joke, its actually in the manual. Its where the name comes from ahahaha
I command most of the time and most pubs get screwed by going fast camo. i stream my games and i still have a habit of comparing ns1 aliens to ns2 aliens.
On February 25 2013 06:29 czylu wrote: any1 know what's op in this game? I remember in the original it was always Lvl 3 Shotgun + jetpack and Focus + Celerity Blink Fade.
On February 25 2013 06:29 czylu wrote: any1 know what's op in this game? I remember in the original it was always Lvl 3 Shotgun + jetpack and Focus + Celerity Blink Fade.
It's still level 3 shotgun with a jetpack. Fade with adrenaline and carapace is solid.
edit: celerity gets disabled when you take damage so avoid it
On February 25 2013 06:29 czylu wrote: any1 know what's op in this game? I remember in the original it was always Lvl 3 Shotgun + jetpack and Focus + Celerity Blink Fade.
Gorge rushes. But that's a super cheesy build.
o snap i played against that today. What our com did was rush grenade launchers and we just cleaned house lol
On February 25 2013 06:29 czylu wrote: any1 know what's op in this game? I remember in the original it was always Lvl 3 Shotgun + jetpack and Focus + Celerity Blink Fade.
On February 25 2013 06:29 czylu wrote: any1 know what's op in this game? I remember in the original it was always Lvl 3 Shotgun + jetpack and Focus + Celerity Blink Fade.
Gorge rushes. But that's a super cheesy build.
o snap i played against that today. What our com did was rush grenade launchers and we just cleaned house lol
Even if you rush GL which is the appropriate response the aliens should have pretty much the entire map and the players should just be holding resources for Onos.
On March 01 2013 08:23 decemberscalm wrote: Natural Selection 2 is about to be 50%. Also, Gorgeous update is coming for free. If you want to grab it, grab it soon.
Yeah, here's the trailer for the new content update:
Babblers used to be in NS1 (1.0X versions), and they used to spawn weaker versions of skulks. They're back (though this time as a completely new alien instead of just a skulk) and they were one of the most requested features for the Gorges!
Railgun Exosuit now available at Prototype Lab. Explodes things. Gorges may now spawn Babbler eggs, which hatch into Babblers! Gorges may now create Gorge Tunnels Bait Balls – Direct babblers by flinging it at enemies of friendlies New map: Descent New contextual help system, ‘TipVids.’ Insight Spectator System Mk 2 – Redesign and interface overhaul. First Person Spectating Damage decals Reflections Refraction effects New alien cloaking effects New main menu background scene
Change
Disabled wall walking on Command Stations. Added one second cool-down between Gorge structure drops Claw damage increased to 75. Claw range increased by 10% Rifles will now get destroyed when purchasing a new weapon at the armory to prevent a pile of Weapons in big games (manually dropping or picking weapons up is unchanged) Removed foresight from Alien Commander. Increased frequency of alert message when a base power node is under attack. Whips no longer hit multiple targets with their melee attack. Doors are no longer usable. Removed exo backwards speed scalar. Updated personal resource icon in Alien buy menu. Reduced phase gate rate from 0.5 to 0.2 seconds. Exosuit movement speed depends now on weapons weight (minigun heaviest, railgun lightest) Slightly increased Axe range to prevent situations where you could not hit an enemy below you even when crouching. Skulk movement adjustments – Movement code now makes them slightly less erratic when dancing in your sights. Cloaking system is now analog rather than binary – Allows for more nuanced use of cloaking trait Decreased the amount of time it takes for the game to start once both teams have a Commander. Doubled the rate that the “Game will not start until both teams have a Commander” banner message appears on the screen. Enemy players are now damaged while near the enemy Command Structure before the game starts. Bile bomb can now destroy dropped weapons. Reduced Bile bomb single target damage by ~20% (and reduced force from 13 to 11, so shorter effective range)
Editor
Added the ability for death triggers to do damage over time instead of instantly killing the entity. Max distance that initial Cyst spawn points can be from the Hive increased by 50% Changed the texture list in the Editor to “and” all of the search terms together by default (old “or” behavior can be reproduced by using ? in front of a search term) Changed the texture list box to allow selection of materials in any directory (not just the materials directory)
Feature
Added ‘-logdir <path>’ command line option to let server admins override the location of log.txt. Added pagination to the mod browser in the dedicated server web admin. Added search capability to the mod page of the dedicated server web admin. Added resource graph in Insight (Press Q) Added commander research bars in Insight, replaces monolithic research block Added player energy/ammunition indicators in Insight
Fix
Fixed bug causing Skulk hitbox and worldmodel to be misaligned on some vertical surfaces (Makes the buggers easier to hit). Fixed bug where emissive only surfaces would not be properly bloomed (caused cloaked Alien structures to be somewhat visible) Fixed issue where enabling double or triple buffering while in fullscreen windowed mode would cause the display to not update Fixed swipe not triggering effects / draining energy when quickly tapping primary attack button. Fixed script error when firing a Rifle that had been previously fired and dropped on the ground. Fixed holo Marine model being visible for a few frames for the already respawned Marine. The unban button now works in the server web interface. Fixed health bars showing up in ready room. Fixed bug where caps lock couldn’t be bound in the input settings. Fixed bug where tapping primary attack key with Skulk bite selected wont deduct energy / trigger sound. Fixed clogs appearing for one frame at world origin. Fixed bug where Marine Commander could select cloaked Alien units. Fixed bug where the “retry” console command would not attempt to reconnect to the last server joined using the “connect” console command. Fixed health/armor not being properly predicted for growing Alien structures. Fixed bug where tech point remains smashed after the Hive got replaced by a Command Station. Fixed camera hitch when crouch jumping as Onos. Fixed sentry battery destruction effects. Fixed unsocketed power nodes not considering LOS properly. Fixed bug where units recloak when Marine who touched them is still in close proximity. Text chat now displays above the “Fade to black” death screen. Fixed Alien structures playing metallic sound when attacked by Skulks. Ghost structures disappear now immediately when killed. Commander no longer triggers a ping during entering a chat message. Fixed Aliens losing abilities when a Hive gets destroyed and they evolve an upgrade without changing life form. Fixed issue where chat text would sometimes be displayed escaped in the web server admin console. Players can now damage each other after the round ends. Changed behavior of Gorge build menu: You no longer need to re-select things to build more of them. Fixed bug where hitting alt-enter would not cause the options menu to be updated based on the current windowed/fullscreen status. Fixed bug where the microphone would be stuck on if the server changed maps while a player was recording. Fixed infestation decal not showing up for Hydras. Fixed bilebomb effect not showing up on MAC model. When a team surrenders, everyone will be notified. Fixed prediction error when jumping in rapid succession. Fixed clogs blocking phase gates. Fixed bug where Aliens could barely see cloaked units when dark vision is enabled. Fixed welder ignoring the deploy animation. Fixed bug where Commanders could drop structures when help mode is enabled. Fixed Marine structures showing Alien blood when hit by flame throwers. Fixed adrenaline / camouflage banner not being displayed. All team members will be notified when someone votes to concede or to eject the Commander. Robotics Factory can’t cancel research. Fixed bug which gave Aliens abilities which are not researched. Fixed Editor bug that would occasionally cause a vertex to be created a large distance away from its intended location. Fixed issue where a change to a shader template file would not necessarily trigger shaders to be rebuilt. Fixed hitch when first encountering Infestation after the shaders have been updated. Fixed issue where dynamic props wouldn’t be animated on the dedicated server due to missing animation graphs. Spectator Mouse Hover no longer misses. Recycled/Refunded structures are no longer added to total team resource gathered. Fixed exploit in server web admin (Thanks confused!) Fixed issue where mods that specified a specific version build was required would not mount the file system in the proper order. Fixed bug causing pre-placed Cysts to sometimes die at the start of the round. Fixed bug where HTTP requests did not follow 301 redirects (fixes the mods list in the web admin) Fixed bug where Aliens were able to evolve both upgrades from one Hive type. Fixed exploit where selecting multiple shifts allowed it to bypass the global cool down for hatch ability.
Improvement
Exos display now the thruster duration / cooldown in their HUD. Added smoke effect for Spike attacks. Added missing minimap icons for shift, shell, spur, veil. Insight text now much more legible
Optimization
Reduced the number of bits used for network fields. Optimized determination of whether or not Orders should be relevant to a client (improves server performance) Optimized querying the world for entities. Infestation blob coordinates are now saved after being generated once (Thanks Mats!) Sped up the compiling shaders process. Reduced memory usage by compressing animations – also reduces load times. Tweaked texture streaming – reduces load times.
Docking
Cafe is now now a random marine spawn again Lockers is now a random spawn for both aliens and marines Redesigned how Cafe connects to Bar Redesigned Central Access so it now connects to cafe Redesigned Back Alley Moved Bar further west to prevent sieging of Lockers Moved Cafe RT to the lower level to prevent LOS issues Some changes to courtyard to fit the Central Access changes Some cosmetic changes to Ball Court Some cosmetic changes to Bar Reflection Probes added
Refinery
Made Smelting a marine spawn. Removed route from Smelting to Conduit. Added new route from Smelting to Routing. Bug fixes including building placement and power grid issues.
Summit
Improved Atrium RT location (less claustrophobic) Added more cover and flanking options for aliens in Flight Control Added missing lights in Crevice vent
SDK
Moved all processing of input into script. Fixed visualization of the emissive map in the Viewer. Added the ability to make an external cinematic loop in the Cinematic Editor. Improved error reporting when a material as assigned in a model with an absolute path. Increased the timeout for HTTP requests. Fixed issue where defining a class on the server but not on the client would cause crashes and other bugs. Added the ability to materials layered on models to inherit parameter values from the underlying material. Fixed bug where the Ok/Cancel buttons in “Create Mod” window of Launch Pad would not be visible if the Window’s font size was set to large. Added animatable shader parameters for objects in the Cinematic Editor. Added support for vertex colors in .model files. Fixed bug where specifying a float2, float3 or float4 value for a surface shader input would corrupt the value. Added the ability specify float2, float3 and float4 parameters in a .material file. Added support for optional commas in SJSON files. Added “LocalPlayerChanged” engine event when the local player on the Client changes. Added ServerClient:GetSpectatingPlayer() and ServerClient:GetPlayer() methods. Added Client.VoiceRecordStart and Client.VoiceRecordStop functions.
I'm literally getting turned off by this game right now because I was getting my ass kicked lol. I can tolerate a lot, but running into some ridiculously good player going 27 - 3 on his skulk makes losing a bad experience. But it's pretty crazy how players can be that good at the game, or maybe my teammates and I just aren't very good at killing skulks lol.
How long have you been playing the game for? You can filter for just rookie servers. Even though people of all skill levels tend to join them you're likely to have a higher percentage of rookies on it.
On March 03 2013 03:30 Snuggles wrote: I'm literally getting turned off by this game right now because I was getting my ass kicked lol. I can tolerate a lot, but running into some ridiculously good player going 27 - 3 on his skulk makes losing a bad experience. But it's pretty crazy how players can be that good at the game, or maybe my teammates and I just aren't very good at killing skulks lol.
This game has a steep learning curve, just try the com chair once as a newb and you realized just how much crap you don't know about this game.
A good tip for new players, position yourself like you are a marine or zergling in starcraft. This game is basically an rts, and the golden rule for a good rts is defensive advantage. Don't just blindly zerg into the enemy base, you're just gonna get slaughtered. It's a lot easier to kill skulks when they need to approach you, rather then when you need to go after them. Long corridors and choke points are where you want to engage as a marine, close corridors and corners are where you want to be as a skulk.
Shoulda came back and told you guys what I found out about those players with ridiculous scores. They were blatantly aimbotting, like not the kind of "Omfg i'm so mad from losing so much, he must be aimbotting" but the one where I'm calmly joining spec and watching this mofo twerk his xhairs all over the place and nodding- "uh-huh, this guy is aimbotting, pce out guys"
The skill ceiling in this game is definitely high enough for it to be possible to get high KDs. Making every bite count, good tracking/aim, good understanding of the movement physics, etc.
On March 04 2013 09:32 LoLAdriankat wrote: The skill ceiling in this game is definitely high enough for it to be possible to get high KDs. Making every bite count, good tracking/aim, good understanding of the movement physics, etc.
Lol i've played against this guy, he's an obvious hacker. Usually tho the hackers play marines, b/c 1 clip will kill 4 skulks if you have aimbot. It only takes 11 bullets to kill a skulk and you have 50.
On March 04 2013 11:03 Durak wrote: I've played 150 hours and I'm pretty sure I've never played a hacker.
I've played over 200 hours. I've played against a single obvious hacker. The rest of the guys who would be claimed during matches "OMG HE HAX GUYS WHAT THE DUCK WHY, THIS GUY NEEDS TO GET BANNED" are active clanners who scrim all the time. You can't get away with that in such a tiny competitive community.
First person view is finally out which is essentially required. If you see a legit hacker, just move server. They reallllly don't pop often. Usually you get the quake effect, really good players are so good at this twitch shooter they utterly dominate a team of mediocre players. I love games with a high skill cap though.
On March 04 2013 11:03 Durak wrote: I've played 150 hours and I'm pretty sure I've never played a hacker.
I've played over 200 hours. I've played against a single obvious hacker. The rest of the guys who would be claimed during matches "OMG HE HAX GUYS WHAT THE DUCK WHY, THIS GUY NEEDS TO GET BANNED" are active clanners who scrim all the time. You can't get away with that in such a tiny competitive community.
First person view is finally out which is essentially required. If you see a legit hacker, just move server. They reallllly don't pop often. Usually you get the quake effect, really good players are so good at this twitch shooter they utterly dominate a team of mediocre players. I love games with a high skill cap though.
There are definitely hackers out there for sure, we aren't boys just crying wolf. But I did run into a legit beast the other day, there's a distinct difference between good players and hackers. First of all the dude's score was 27 - 7 on a skulk, which absolutely wrecked us. I was skeptical so I hopped in spec and found out that he just had excellent tracking with his bites. Plus the fact that he died 7 times made him more credible from the start.
I've been playing a lot of Quake Live and I don't think that all our skills transfer over to NS2 too well... Skulks are really freaking erratic and I have the worse time trying to kill them when they catch me by surprise and start dancing in circles around me, you necessary have that in Quake. This only applies to the Rifle though, since I basically treat it the same as the machine gun or the lightning gun from Quake, where you basically want to just make small adjustments to your aim with your mouse and have the keyboard strafing do most of the work. Only in situations where I see the Skulk coming do I feel like my LG accuracy shining through to NS2. Railing with the Exo suit is hilariously fun btw haha.
Well I gotta say, the gorgeous DLC is pretty gorgeous! As if Gorges weren't cute enough, now they got babblers!! Awwww so cuuuuute! :D
On the topic of being shit-stomped though, I have to say one of the things I enjoy about this game is that it actually is IMO pretty noob friendly compared to other twitch shooters. What I mean by that of course is that K/D isn't everything. If you can't kill a skulk to save your life you can still suicide into alien territory killing harvesters and go 5-25 and do good by your team. Likewise if you are terrible at killing marines, going gorge and clogging hallways/healing shit/building structures is a huge boon to your team.
This is of course excluding the situations where theres simply one or 2 amazing players on the same team just dominating everybody. But if you make sure to heart your favorite servers and get involved with the regulars you'll generally see much better team balance and a very enjoyable sporting attitude. This game alone has tripled the size of my steam friends list from people who frequent the same server as me. Definitely the best multiplayer shooter I've played in a looooong time!
Also I'd like to throw out props to this community for being one of the most noob friendly communities I've seen. I don't think I've ever seen someone actually be berated for being bad at the game unless they hop in the chair for the first time not knowing what they are doing, and even then players seem amazingly helpful to new commanders unless you absolutely refuse to take advice/communicate.
Old news but if somebody is wondering why natural selection 2 vanished from his steam libary its probably because of this scam. Besides that the new dlc update is great! Killing stuff with the Railgun Exo is so much fun.
I think Natural Selection 2 needs a free weekend in an attempt to get more people to hopefully buy and play it. I say this because everytime I look at the "Top Games by Player Count" on steam I see that War Z has more people playing it then Natural Selection 2 and its so disgusting
On March 17 2013 06:28 Disengaged wrote: I think Natural Selection 2 needs a free weekend in an attempt to get more people to hopefully buy and play it. I say this because everytime I look at the "Top Games by Player Count" on steam I see that War Z has more people playing it then Natural Selection 2 and its so disgusting
I really hope they do a free weekend together with their apperance on pax east that should increase playernumbers alot. But most of them will probably stop playing after that because of the high skill ceiling/entrance of the game itself.
btw they want to stream from pax and hold an event that everyone can participate in. Details about the event are released tomorrow. http://unknownworlds.com/ns2/pax-east-2013/
So theres a free weekend coming up, and im really thinking of picking this game up... any advice for a noob?
Sure. Long time ns1 vet here.
Rule number 1: Always try to stick together, at least move in pairs. If you wander alone you will be most certainly killed.
As a marine, always try to engage aliens with as much room between them as possible. You have the gun, they only have claws/teeth to kill ya in the earlygame.
As a skulk, try to negate the marine tip: Hide in the ceiling and wait for the enemy to come into bite range so you can engage immediately without taking damage.
If your commander gives advice/orders listen to him, because he has knowledge what's going on. When playing aliens, feel free to try the different trait combos to understand yourself which are the best ones.
The biggest thing you need to understand from this game is that it's a team game and winning needs teamwork. Go play cod if you just want to rack up those kills so your score looks good.
And yesterday was ninja patch day! Release of build 242 most of the improvements are aimed at worst-case fps ! FPS improvements of 30-50 % in lategame for average rigs.
Fixed issue where video cards with small amounts of off-board memory would unload textures unnecessarily. Optimized lighting shaders. Optimized occlusion culling rasterization using SIMD. Infestation is no longer derived from entity and produces less network traffic. Multi-threaded effect updating. Infestation updates less often when it is “stable” Smoother velocity input for player animations. Flinches are updated less often on the Client. Optimized lighting. Removed need to constantly check if a unit should be deselected based on LOS. The code that determines what effects to trigger now has a memory. Disabled unnecessary C++ features.
Change
Units appear now red on minimap when under attack. Score board will now reset on round start (instead on round end) Babbler Bait is now hit scan when the target is close enough. When building more than 3 babbler eggs, the first babblers will get destroyed (same as Clogs and Hydras) Babblers now follow more disciplined the Gorges orders and will cling onto an Alien until told to leave. Increased Babbler lifetime to 5 minutes, up from 2.
Feature
Added “FollowAndWeld” order for the MAC. The MAC will follow a target and attempt to weld/construct anything in range.
Fix
Fixed bug where “Removing old version of mod” would not actually remove the mod from disk. Fixed issue where HUD and other important textures would take a long time to load on some Machines. Decreased the number of performance samples stored on the server to prevent hitches while the admin is using web admin. Fixed rounding error for damage numbers. Fixed script error caused by a render model not being initialized in some cases. Fixed potential crash when dequeuing a texture for loading. Fixed crash when docking windows in the Editor. Don’t show the game needs a restart message on computers with no input and/or output devices. Fixed Flamethrower showing flame effect during deploying. Fixed death messages being incorrect when multiples of the same unit die in the same server tick. Fixed LOS not being reset when viewer dies. Fixed certain Marine structures not ragdolling. Fixed crash when calling Server.GetClientAddress with a nil value. Fixed script error caused by a Commander being ejected. Fixed bug where cached shader files would not always be rebuilt when necessary.
Editor
Added ambient_sound_player entity, useful for making a button play nearby ambient sounds for a jukebox as an example.
Sdk
Added Entity:AddTimedCallback() API, replaces the old TimedCallbackMixin. Increased the maximum number of entities to 4096.
Refinery
Reduced travel time from Flow Control by moving Smelting & Transit further west. Tracked down and deleted some prop entities that had invalid file references. Made cosmetic improvements to Flow Control and Exchange
Has anybody read something about the event that UWE is doing at PAX that everyone can participate in?
On March 22 2013 03:18 BrTarolg wrote: Ive never played a hacker in NS2, though i've played against some really REALLY good players in gathers
Aimbot/Wallhacker are rare but they do exist in ns2 but since they introduced first person spectating you can spot them alot easier. Mostly im encountering pistol scripts these day but its just a matter of time until that is solved from UWE. They will probably increase the hard cap inbetween shots for the pistol so it will resolve itself. Edit: Just go to 1:00 to see pistol script in action.
Hmm I need to try again with the new patch to see if my old rig can hold NS2. It's really too bad. I played so much NS1, I like NS2 a whole lot but can't play it :|
After looking around for it bit more its seems the free weekends is what they were talking about. I hoped there would be a event for the pax icons like last time.
On March 22 2013 11:31 anatase wrote: Hmm I need to try again with the new patch to see if my old rig can hold NS2. It's really too bad. I played so much NS1, I like NS2 a whole lot but can't play it :|
In beta it was a nightmare 20 fps for a power rig! Hardware dying left and right under the pressure! Lots of bluescreens! It was horrendous. When they released the game on steam this was the smoothest playable build since beta and still fps was terrrible! :D Nowday i can finaly play with everthing on max without droping into slidesshow mode. UWE is working on optimisation all the time and in my opinion they have done a good job until now but still more performance is always good for everyone.
I have a question: Are these long loadingtimes normal? I have a new PC and set everything to high but loading a map takes up to 50sec/1min. Maybe I am just too spoiled by other games...
On March 23 2013 01:03 gTank wrote: I have a question: Are these long loadingtimes normal? I have a new PC and set everything to high but loading a map takes up to 50sec/1min. Maybe I am just too spoiled by other games...
I got the same loading times as you. I have the game installed on a Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 7200rpm, 64MB Cache, SATA III. Personally i dont mind the waiting in the meantime i get something to drink/eat or browse TL. Enabling texture streaming in your options menu can decrease loadingtime at about 10 seconds but in return can hurt your fps ingame. Usally people that have it installed on ssd get around 15-20 seconds between mapchanges from what i have read in the past.
On March 23 2013 01:03 gTank wrote: I have a question: Are these long loadingtimes normal? I have a new PC and set everything to high but loading a map takes up to 50sec/1min. Maybe I am just too spoiled by other games...
I got the same loading times as you. I have the game installed on a Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 7200rpm, 64MB Cache, SATA III. Personally i dont mind the waiting in the meantime i get something to drink/eat or browse TL. Enabling texture streaming in your options menu can decrease loadingtime at about 10 seconds but in return can hurt your fps ingame. Usally people that have it installed on ssd get around 15-20 seconds between mapchanges from what i have read in the past.
The SSD I have mine on seems to help a ton. When I first got the game I kept asking, "What do you mean long load times?"
I don't have a fantastic rig, and people with better specs get longer times, so I think the SSD is the way to go. Also, amazing boot times for everything,
On March 23 2013 01:03 gTank wrote: I have a question: Are these long loadingtimes normal? I have a new PC and set everything to high but loading a map takes up to 50sec/1min. Maybe I am just too spoiled by other games...
I got the same loading times as you. I have the game installed on a Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 7200rpm, 64MB Cache, SATA III. Personally i dont mind the waiting in the meantime i get something to drink/eat or browse TL. Enabling texture streaming in your options menu can decrease loadingtime at about 10 seconds but in return can hurt your fps ingame. Usally people that have it installed on ssd get around 15-20 seconds between mapchanges from what i have read in the past.
The SSD I have mine on seems to help a ton. When I first got the game I kept asking, "What do you mean long load times?"
I don't have a fantastic rig, and people with better specs get longer times, so I think the SSD is the way to go. Also, amazing boot times for everything,
I don't know how big the game is but a ramdisk may be viable for this game (I use softperfect ramdisk) if you have enough ram to spare that is.
On March 23 2013 01:03 gTank wrote: I have a question: Are these long loadingtimes normal? I have a new PC and set everything to high but loading a map takes up to 50sec/1min. Maybe I am just too spoiled by other games...
Is it all maps, each time?
I have a normal disk hard drive, and loading does take 1-2 minutes the first time, but it's fast after that (loads like 10 seconds or less).
So it might be just preloading a lot of stuff the first time you load a map (after that, at least for me, it loads really fast, even if I switch servers or switch maps).
Also I just tried playing 32 player server and it was fun (performance was also really good actually).
I know people frown upon it but I really liked playing on servers like G4B2S or (in the later life of NS1), BAD servers, which was 28-30 player servers. There were lots of team work and fun stuff.
(Too bad both communities disbanded before NS2 .)
Also I kind of miss R4K (though in NS2, it probably wouldn't work as good and it could cause a lot of snowballing). I wonder how NS classic mod is going (I wouldn't mind playing good old NS1 gameplay).
The best thing about NS2 is probably the Lerk having both Bite and Spikes now (which only existed in NS1, 1.0x versions, 2.0 lerk had only spikes, 3.0 it had only bite unless it was a modded server but few used it). I always fought for Lerks having both Bite and Spikes in the same version (in NS1 that is)... and it's nice to see it has happened, in NS2!!!!
Also I like being able to stick to walls as Lerk by holding shift.
So far, the free weekend is really fun. I'm glad to see Unknown Worlds and NS2 going well (NS2 alpha on 2010 was really bad, at least in terms of performance and amount of bugs, and I was worried that they might not be able to make the deadline for 2012 but I'm glad they managed to and it worked out).
The free weekend is great for people to try the game out but it's dreadful for me and my friends. I can't find a server without 75%+ of it being rookies. Makes for boring games.
I like all the rofl stomping I can do solo thanks to the free weekend. I can go like 30/2 with no effort. And if I get banned from servers (already banned from plenty cuz lol dumb admins) I can just make a new account and keep playing.
On March 23 2013 00:27 Sicion wrote: After looking around for it bit more its seems the free weekends is what they were talking about. I hoped there would be a event for the pax icons like last time.
On March 22 2013 11:31 anatase wrote: Hmm I need to try again with the new patch to see if my old rig can hold NS2. It's really too bad. I played so much NS1, I like NS2 a whole lot but can't play it :|
In beta it was a nightmare 20 fps for a power rig! Hardware dying left and right under the pressure! Lots of bluescreens! It was horrendous. When they released the game on steam this was the smoothest playable build since beta and still fps was terrrible! :D Nowday i can finaly play with everthing on max without droping into slidesshow mode. UWE is working on optimisation all the time and in my opinion they have done a good job until now but still more performance is always good for everyone.
Yeah I know, i had beta access too and it was barely playable.
Now with the new up it's really nice, even on my old rig. I would not mind a new comp nonetheless but they made a huge work on optimizing this game, it's incredible.
Btw, anyone has his game crashing when changing map ? just happened to me, first time. Did not check the UWE forums yet
Trying this out. I knew the classic NS and it never kicked off like CS activity-wise. As a newbie, just play on green servers (rookie) with large players bases. Classic FPS skills still matter. Make familiar with the keyboard layout and inform yourself about the concepts for half an hour. Also do some support. I had no problems, though I certainly can't carry a team.
So far, I didn't recognize a severe drawback in NS2.
On March 23 2013 01:03 gTank wrote: I have a question: Are these long loadingtimes normal? I have a new PC and set everything to high but loading a map takes up to 50sec/1min. Maybe I am just too spoiled by other games...
Pre-loading takes ages, even on machines with >100 FPS.
+ Creep tumours are also in NS2. + Aliens are so sneaky. Sometimes you hear them but can't spot them (doesn't apply to these bullish freaks stomping everything). + Though it is stressful at times (the Alien effect), the gameplay is relatively calm, in a sense that you don't shoot permanently. Instead it's more varied. + Graphics are solid, while the performance is good. + Menus and controls are in good order. - Too many videos, too few manuals Really, please emphasize content and not eye-candy. I know an object, if you name it. - Server overview could be better. Somehow it scrolls too fast. Page Up and Down keys not usable. - Weird places on some maps, where you can climb rocks. Didn't make much sense. - Hacking possible. Anti-hacking measures still stuck in the 90s.
NS2 is good but playing it has made me really miss some aspects of NS1 that were really done well IMO.
NS2 is (in many cases) drastically different than NS1. It's similar to the difference between SC1BW and SC2.
It does have potential and to be fair, I'm comparing it with NS1 3.2 (and that version took like 3-4 years after the original NS1 came out), so it got really polished. (NS2 has just been out only a few months ago, and UWE still plans to continue to update it and add as many content patches as possible like the recent "Gorgeous" update.)
At least from a pub, 16-32 player perspective (and not the 6v6 competitive games) but I feel that NS2's strategy element is drastically reduced in pub 16-32 player servers environment.
NS1 was mostly the same regardless of player size (yes, despite people who hated on 32 player servers on the UWE forums, it's mostly the same regardless of player size). I've been playing NS1 since it came out, 1.0x version until one of the last remaining US server for NS3.2, the BAD servers, died out, and from my totally veteran experience (yep, been playing since NS1.0X), NS1 was really an excellent team based game regardless of player size (even 32, I have countless memories of crazy strategies and crazy 2-3+ hour games where comebacks were possible). I've probably played thousands of hours of NS1, and they were all fun.
The main problem with NS2 is the fact that it's a bit more "straight forward" due to the infestation and tech point mechanic.
Infestation basically makes it impossible for marines to do "ninja phase gates" (like in NS1) and do crazy sneak attacks (this is akin to doing drops in Starcraft).
Not only that, on the alien side, there is a lack of teleportation between hives that was present in NS1 (there are Gorge Tunneling which comes way late in the game and isn't as fast).
There were many fun strategies and fun team coordinated attacks where the marines had a hive fully locked down with siege cannons, marines, etc (in fact, it was probably their main base and they were turtling in it), for someone (usually a few gorges and an onos) to try to run in, drop a hive... then everyone teleports to the hive (since in NS1, you can teleport between hives).
(This is similar to Nydus Worms in SC2, except they don't suck and are actually fun to pull off.) (And this is my experiences from playing on 30 player servers. Yes, despite what people say, team work is very possible on 30 player servers. You just need to find a good server with regulars.)
Finally, the alien commander mechanic is limiting for the aliens (most noticeably the gorge).
In NS1, any player can contribute to research or upgrades or expansion by going gorge and dropping tech structures like chambers, or dropping resource towers.
In NS2, it's all done by the commander (the role of the gorge is reduced to just being a support class instead of a hybrid commander class/support class).
So NS1 to NS2's downside all comes down to those two points (besides that, I say the game is a great sequel, especially since it's a standalone game now instead of just a mod): 1. The lack of ninja PGs... that and ninja hive rushes from the aliens to watch out for (which were fun). (Actually JPs kind of are bad in NS2 compared to NS1. That's another downside I'll list. In NS1, there were fun crazy "air battles" between fades and JPs for example which can be done in NS2 too but since JPs run out of fuel really fast and the movement isn't as good, it's not as good as it was in NS1 .)
2. On aliens, it's the fact that the gorge is reduced to a support class and the fact that you can't (unless your the commander) contribute to technology or upgrades. It reduces the customization and variety of the alien side IMO. I made, I would be fine with the commander role but I wouldn't mind if the gorge could use his own resources to build some of the structures the commander can build (like shift, crag, shade, and the upgrade stuff like the shell, veil, spur).
Besides those two points, NS2 has the foundations to succeed and definitely be better in every way than NS1 was.
Actually one more thing I miss from NS1 - how the alien flash light worked. In NS1, it simply just made aliens and marines transparent a bit and lit up (it didn't change the look of anything else). However in NS2, it changes the entire look of everything (sort of like a heat vision/highlight everything view) and it's not as pleasant to look. The thing about the alien vision, it seems like there is almost no reason "not to use it" (because it's more useful being kept on than off most of the time). So when playing as aliens, the game isn't as pleasant to look at as it was in NS1. Personally I wouldn't mind if they just made it a simple, marines and aliens glow, and nothing else changes (though the "highlight everything view" does help you see the map itself better I admit, which can be helpful over just only marines and aliens glow).
Okay one more final thing about NS1 - I miss the NS1 combat mode "with" /xmenu and combatbuildings. + Show Spoiler +
It added a ton of depth and variety to the game mode (NS2 does have a combat mode but it lacks the /xmenu and combatbuildings parts, which were popular mods for NS1 combat).
Some people like to be negative about combat mode (like it's a mindless death match mode and splits the community) but that's not true. Combat (especially with the combat buildings and /xmenu) required team work and lots of strategy too. There were phase gates, sneak rushes, etc.
As a player, you wanted (especially on aliens, since in combat mode with combat buildings, gorges can build a number of support structures anywhere for the team) to pick a role that your team needed the most. That, the amount of variety of upgrades the game had meant that it rarely got boring. For example, it's possible to go "battle gorge" (a true battle gorge that can probably 1v1 any marine, even ones fully upgraded with shotguns or HMGs with JPs and resupply) late game by maxing out a heal spray upgrade, acidic death, and hunger upgrades (plus the usual like carapace, regen, etc). It was really fun.
Anyway, just some NS1 nostalgia (NS1 lasted a while actually, it was alive with at least one decent US community, the BAD servers which had both classic and combat modes, until less than a year ago where the server admins sadly disbanded).
Besides a few things (which some are debatable like whether people like the alien commander vs aliens worked in NS1; personally I wouldn't mind if they let gorges spend their resources on tech structures in NS2), NS2 is a great sequel to NS1.
Edit - I looked at the wiki and they removed some upgrades from the game (The Whip used to allow 2 upgrades too, along with the other 3 structure types apparently?). I know they're also working on the alien tech tree (I wouldn't mind if they really expanded it some more). Of course again, alien gorges being able to help would be a bonus .
I also played NS1, though probably not as much as you did, so I appreciate your perspective. I'll address some of your points just to provide a different view on contrasting NS1 and NS2.
1. Gorges reduced to support class from a commander/support class
I actually see the radical changes to gorges as making them more of a combat/support class as opposed to a support class. That is to say, they tactically support the team on the front lines rather than strategically by making over-arching decisions for the team. Gorges are best suited for the front lines where they can spit (30 dmg/hit with a partial blind effect at long range and rapid fire is so good), heal up allies, bile bomb, and use babblers to add armor or attack. Since they are so useful and should be busy in combat, it makes sense to give strategic choices to someone who has an overview of the entire map. It makes it easier for new players to play a class besides commander without making tech choices that ruin the game for your entire team.
2. JPs are bad in comparison to NS1
Maybe worse. They're still stupidly good and don't need a buff though. They don't run out of fuel very quickly with an AR/Shotgun and you're still agile. I've never seen a shotgun/jetpack marine lose to a fade in competitive play.
3. Ninja PGs
You can still ninja PG. It takes quite a bit of resources to cover entire tech points with cysts and that's if a commander remembers to do it. The investment isn't really worth it in lower player number games (10v10 or less) but I can see it being harder in big player number games against good commanders, where you're more at a stalemate and headbutting. A bigger concern for ninja PGers should be drifters because they can see you coming and building.
4. Combat mode
There are already mods for it. I haven't played it yet, and I've heard from some people that they changed it from NS1 for no reason, but that can be changed easily.
5. Team balance changing with number of players in game
I'll take your word on it about NS1 but I agree that it matters in NS2. The game certainly plays differently if you have 6v6 as opposed to 12v12. I think marines are stronger in higher player number games. The thing is, it's just pubbing so it really just depends moreso on playerskill.
Regarding combat /xmenu I havent found a recent statement from the developer of the mod. Only this quote on the forum.
ZEROibis: I have requested the same thing a few months back when in one of the beta tests. From what they told me then right now they are focusing on the core mod for now and when that is fully polished they can start to explorer restoring options like that.
sewleks balance mod For those who are intrested some of the changes of this mod seem quite promosing for ns2 gameplay. Its a balance test mod from one of the ns2 developers. Especially the biomass and upgrade system for aliens. + Show Spoiler +
- added bio mass, upgrade at hive. each hive can provide 3 bio mass (1 default, 25 + 50 res for upgrading 2 times) - each bio mass level increases the base health of all life forms and is requirement for ability researches - scaleable upgrades (for example build a maximum of 3 shells to get maximum efficiency for carapace, regeneration), 20 res per structure
On March 25 2013 06:06 Sicion wrote: Regarding combat /xmenu I havent found a recent statement from the developer of the mod. Only this quote on the forum.
ZEROibis: I have requested the same thing a few months back when in one of the beta tests. From what they told me then right now they are focusing on the core mod for now and when that is fully polished they can start to explorer restoring options like that.
sewleks balance mod For those who are intrested some of the changes of this mod seem quite promosing for ns2 gameplay. Its a balance test mod from one of the ns2 developers. Especially the biomass and upgrade system for aliens. + Show Spoiler +
- added bio mass, upgrade at hive. each hive can provide 3 bio mass (1 default, 25 + 50 res for upgrading 2 times) - each bio mass level increases the base health of all life forms and is requirement for ability researches - scaleable upgrades (for example build a maximum of 3 shells to get maximum efficiency for carapace, regeneration), 20 res per structure
On March 25 2013 19:19 gTank wrote: Why is sprinting for marines such a problem? (just curious)
Since beta it doesnt feel right with me. Its a broken gamemechanic in my opinion! Marines already have enough movement with phasegates,jetpacks and beacons. For me marines are about tactic and firepower and aliens about movement with hit and run attacks.
It breaks asymmetric gameplay!
Without sprint we probably wont have the problem that people always run back to armories to rep (this wont stop coms dropping them everywhere) because they are forced to stick together (welding?). No alone marines running off to the other side of the map (too vulnerable to skulks,other lifeforms / jetpacks are for these tasks) More thought out movement around the map (placement for shooting / how to move around corners,etc)
I know that it will never be removed because why should they? It was in the whole beta until now! Maybe i just prefer the old movement mechanics but bunnyhopping was broken and shouldnt be in. I just want the gameplay to be a bit slower, more thoughtful and not so fast moving on both sides (not the actual combat). In general longer games and slower techprogress on both sides (whats earlygame?). The most fun ive had are rounds with back and forth action for at least an hour or two but those are spare. Concede ftw?! + Show Spoiler +
Some information about marine speeds.
For reference, the skulk's base movement speed = 7.00
Default Rifle movement speed 5.06 sprint 6.07 pistol hold - 5.13 Axe - 5.31
If you want to test it for yourself, just start your own server, type cheats 1 in the console, and then type debugspeed in the console to get the speed bars.
On March 26 2013 02:53 Sicion wrote: I just want the gameplay to be a bit slower, more thoughtful and not so fast moving on both sides (not the actual combat). ... + Show Spoiler +
Some information about marine speeds.
For reference, the skulk's base movement speed = 7.00
Default Rifle movement speed 5.06 sprint 6.07 pistol hold - 5.13 Axe - 5.31
If you want to test it for yourself, just start your own server, type cheats 1 in the console, and then type debugspeed in the console to get the speed bars.
Unfortunately I don't have the spare time to write a review of my first 4 hours of testing last weekend, but this is definitely something which caught my attention in this altogether well-made mod successor. It's really too fast-moving, or is that a rookie-syndrome? I expected it to be more like the original Ridley Scott films. Bloated marines moving with a lot of equipment through dark corridors, listening to every sound and trying to grasp every movement. Instead there's often not enough time to listen.
I also found it hard to comprehend the movements. The animations are quite wooden and many anatomies don't fit the capabilities. These skulks with their boni can almost run like cheetas, but it looks surreal. Neither is there any inertia.
On a first glance, distress beacons seem to be way over-the-top and give too much power, but I'm not experienced enough to judge it.
On March 26 2013 02:53 Sicion wrote: I just want the gameplay to be a bit slower, more thoughtful and not so fast moving on both sides (not the actual combat). ... + Show Spoiler +
Some information about marine speeds.
For reference, the skulk's base movement speed = 7.00
Default Rifle movement speed 5.06 sprint 6.07 pistol hold - 5.13 Axe - 5.31
If you want to test it for yourself, just start your own server, type cheats 1 in the console, and then type debugspeed in the console to get the speed bars.
Unfortunately I don't have the spare time to write a review of my first 4 hours of testing last weekend, but this is definitely something which caught my attention in this altogether well-made mod successor. It's really too fast-moving, or is that a rookie-syndrome? I expected it to be more like the original Ridley Scott films. Bloated marines moving with a lot of equipment through dark corridors, listening to every sound and trying to grasp every movement. Instead there's often not enough time to listen.
I also found it hard to comprehend the movements. The animations are quite wooden and many anatomies don't fit the capabilities. These skulks with their boni can almost run like cheetas, but it looks surreal. Neither is there any inertia.
On a first glance, distress beacons seem to be way over-the-top and give too much power, but I'm not experienced enough to judge it.
Distress beacons are extremely resource intensive even in the late game. Good aliens will simply make you recall and run out after it goes through making it a waste. I don't see an issue with marine move speed even with the sprint. If you lose a phase gate and don't have sprint you basically lose that entire section of the map. Aliens already move faster and then there's vents and other things that give them a massive amount of shortcuts.
On March 26 2013 17:14 Perscienter wrote: On a first glance, distress beacons seem to be way over-the-top and give too much power, but I'm not experienced enough to judge it.
distress beacons are ok not to cheap not to expansive. I only wish there would be an option to cancel a incoming distress beacon to juke aliens or to stop it when you pressed it on accident.
On March 26 2013 17:22 Infernal_dream wrote: I don't see an issue with marine move speed even with the sprint. If you lose a phase gate and don't have sprint you basically lose that entire section of the map. Aliens already move faster and then there's vents and other things that give them a massive amount of shortcuts.
I just dont like it! If you drop all weapons you can outrun a basic skulk! In case marines lose the ability to run additional balancing has to be done that is for sure. More health for phasegates for example but regardless UWE doesnt have the manpower to balance such a major change. It was wishful thinking from my side. So dont get me wrong i still like this game alot. I have fun playing it and interacting with everyone. The community is so awesome! I just think some things could have been handled better thats all and im still sad that they removed powerpacks. Setting up ninja phasegates in vents was so much fun! I hope they come back sometime maybe in some of the next content patches that are coming.
On March 28 2013 02:02 Sicion wrote: I just dont like it! If you drop all weapons you can outrun a basic skulk
That's not true. You can catch them fairly easily with the boost from wall-jumping.
Basic movementspeed of a skulk is 7 and a marine without his main and sideweapon has a movementspeed of 7.5. But youre true with walljump you can catch up to the marine but it takes a while!
On March 28 2013 02:02 Sicion wrote: I just dont like it! If you drop all weapons you can outrun a basic skulk
That's not true. You can catch them fairly easily with the boost from wall-jumping.
Basic movementspeed of a skulk is 7 and a marine without his main and sideweapon has a movementspeed of 7.5. But youre true with walljump you can catch up to the marine but it takes a while!
Considering you can take shortcuts around terrain and wall-jump constantly with some skill, you can catch up to them easily. They aren't holding any weapons so there isn't even any threat.
On March 28 2013 08:25 Durak wrote: Considering you can take shortcuts around terrain and wall-jump constantly with some skill, you can catch up to them easily. They aren't holding any weapons so there isn't even any threat.
Dont underestimate the switchaxe! Beside its my opinion its ok if you dont agree with it. Edit: Btw i have found some of the old NS1 music casts Link
I loved the gameplay on the free weekend but my mics (multiple, all 3 of the mics in my house are USB) didn't work so I didn't purchase. Hopefully by the next free beta weekend the mic problem will be fixed.
Natural Selection 2: The Fighting Edition (you can skip to 3 minutes for the actual gameplay):
Actually this is part of the ModJam series they had which is to display/test out the capabilities of modding in the Spark Engine. (And the official name for the mod is just "Fighter".)
Here is Heist (a co-op game "The Heist" game where you try to steal a suitcase): (I set the video to skip to 4 minutes 35 seconds, since most of it before was just them just setting up the game on Hugh's computer.)
The actual game begins 9 minutes into the video. You could skip to 17 minutes and 50 seconds to see Hugh finally succeed on the first part of the map.
And here is the "The Last Stand" which is potentially an extra game mode for NS2:
(Basically marines try to defend/survive for a certain time while they only have 1 life.)
They will release all the mods (open source) to the community for them to work on (they just worked on the base part of the game, after that they'll keep working on updating NS2).
I wouldn't mind if they (or someone) tried to make a single player version of NS2 (maybe similar to SC, where you have a campaign with marines, then one with aliens (that starts off after the end of the marine campaign, storywise), and of course we might as well throw in a third race... the protozz!... which is totally not a rip off from Protoss in StarCraft since it's spelled differently of course).
Build 250 has been released for NS 2 Its a huge balance rework. Almost everything got changed and you have to relearn the game. Btw build 249 improvement the performance in general and in endgame situations by alot. I got +20 fps! Its kind of unreal how smooth it plays now and for everyone that is intrested and havent bought it yet. Its on a sale on steam for 66% off.
No longer benefits from weapon upgrades Increase flame thrower magazine size to 50 Removed flame thrower damage ramp up Reduced flamethrower weight Flamethrower can now burn up bile/whip bombs and disables enemy structure functions Flamethrower can now burn up drifter clouds
Grenade Launcher
Increased base damage No longer benefits from weapon upgrades Reduced grenade launcher cost to 15 Increased grenade launcher reserve ammo to 28 Whips no longer whack grenades
Shotgun
Increased shotgun rate of fire by 18% Reduced base damage to 170 Adjusted shotgun spread
ARC
Reduced ARC build time from 10 to 7 Reduced robotics factory upgrade time from 40 to 20 Reduced ARC movement speed by 33% Reduced ARC movement speed by 70% when in combat or on infestation ARCs are now properly affected by shades ink cloud Reduced ARC splash radius to 7, down from 10
Marine General
Marines can now build on infestation (25% slower) All marine structures take damage to armor while on infestation Reduced health/armor of Phase Gates to 2500/300 (down from 2700/450) Marines can now always sprint (no more fatigue) Added ability for marine commander to temporary power individual structures Amories no longer heal armor Increased jetpack cost to 15 (was 10) Removed MAC EMP Extractors and command stations can now be parasited Increased spawn time to 8 seconds (was 7)
Alien Spawn
Each alien has individual spawn timer (10 seconds) An egg is generated every 13 seconds (6.5 seconds for 12 player) Each hive can have max of 3 eggs (6 for 12 players) Hives have now the hatch ability (2 eggs for 5 t.res)
Whip
Increased whip bomb splash radius to 6 meters (was 3) and reduced damage by 50% (down to 600) Whips can automatically bombard once they are matured Reduced whip cost to 10 (was 15) Whips will now root and unroot automatically
Alien Tech Tree
Personal upgrades scale now cost depending on life form (0 for skulk, 2 gorge, 3 lerk, 5 fade, 8 onos) Reduced life form cost to compensate with new upgrade cost (5 gorge, 25 lerk, 40 fade, 60 onos) Add bio mass: every structure grants bio mass which increases the health of life forms Scaleable upgrades (for example build a maximum of 3 shells to get maximum efficiency for carapace, regeneration), 20 res per structure Celerity works now in combat and increases max speed by 1.5 m/s Regeneration works now in combat Adrenaline increases max energy and regeneration rate by 10% per level Added new shade upgrade which shows enemies and their health (Aura) Merged silence and camouflage (Phantom)
Fade
Swipe damage down by 16% Fades are a bit easier to see during blink Blink is now always researched Shadowstep does not add any momentum anymore and can be researched with biomass level 5 Increased range / accuracy of fade vortex ability Disabled fade double jump
Lerk
Spores are now tier 3 and bigger / cheaper to use. Umbra is now available at bio mass 3 (was 3 hies before) and damage reduction has been reduced Fixed weapon switch delays (umbra to bite and spores to bite)
Onos
Changed stomp to affect marines in a radius rather than being a shockwave Onos movement won’t be blocked by skulks, gorges and lerks anymore Reduced gore range Reduced gore damage to 100
Gorge
Hydras are now flamable Increased gorge build rate
Skulk
Skulk moves now faster on walls Xenocide cant be cancelled anymore When dying by xenocide, skulk respawn time is reduce by 6 seconds
Infestation
Cysts will block recreation in the area when destroyed for 4 seconds Cysts will autobuild once their parent is contructed Increased cyst build time to 4 seconds, removed cool down Increased cyst range and infestation radius Infestation receding is now twice as fast than growing Gorge tunnel entrances create now infestation when the other side is infested
Drifter
Drifters can now be created during the hive is researching Reduced drifter cloud costs to 1 (was 2) Drifters unlock triggered abilities (shade hive: hallucinate, shift hive: storm cloud/movement speed, crag hive: mucous membrane/heals armor) Moved hallucinations from shade to drifters: every alien in effect range generates a hallucination, controllable by the alien commander
Alien General
Crag, shift and shade can now always be build and can move Chamber triggered abilities require now the correct hive type Allow aliens to change upgrades (min gestation time 5 seconds) Alien structures auto build rate is reduced by 70%, drifters speed up build time to normal rate Cloaked players are always slightly visible Regeneration works now in combat (5% of max health every 2 seconds) Rupture can now be cast directly on infestation, like bonewall Added echo harvester to shift Added echo gorge tunnel to shift (only on infestation) Enemies are outlined with parasite only (damage will no longer trigger it) The normal gestation time is applied when using a pre-evolved egg instead of just 2 seconds Shift echo ability no longer requires maturity Adjusted shade ink ability duration and cool down to allow arcs to fire once between successive use of ink clouds Fixes Fixed bug allowing the scoreboard button to be used while text chatting Fixed bug causing Babblers to sometimes freeze mid-jump while they are trying to cling to an Alien that has no more free cling points The Onos player can now move their camera up and down while charging Fixed medpacks being picked up by dead marines Fixed bug causing player ghost models (Clog, Mine, etc) to freeze in place when placed in certain invalid areas SDK Fixed Lua io lib readline functions sometimes crashing if the line was too long Changed Shared.GetSystemTime() back to unix time Added Client.SetMouseSensitivityScalarX() and Client.SetMouseSensitivityScalarY() functions to adjust mouse sensitivity independently on the 2 axes The modding framework is automatically included again (this is so the modding entry system is auto-loaded)
I have never seen such a significant change to a game in one patch. I thought the game was fun from the perspective of someone who played pubs semi-frequently and stomped in them but I can see why they would do this. There were not a lot of different strategies so it was probably getting stale, particularly in competitive play. The changes look good but it will certainly take time for the dev team to balance the "new game".
The changes are quite big, I used to command alot and now its like a whole new game. The alien commander is totally different since now its biomass. The strategies are totally different but the main fight over res nodes and trying to early harass the marine econ seems to be the same.
A big pre-patch update hit today in preparation for Friday when we get all the new stuff. The current pre-patch download is 900MB or so and contains all of the assets and a lot of the changes, but there is no changelog currently (only a few leaked notes).
The game right now is functional at best. There is a significant amount of lag on all servers, especially those running any kinds of mods. Some times, a dead center meatshot with the shotgun will only do 30 damage, and bites and swipes regularly fails to properly connect. It's hard to hit anything right now.
There's also a problem with cached assets. Earlier today I had a game where a hive died in the Crossroads, and my screen summarily froze for several seconds, ostensibly because it was loading the asset that until now had not been used.
Until this stuff gets fixed I probably won't be playing much. The big new patch will be released on Friday, so hopefully they'll squeeze in some bug fixes.
The reason this patch went out in this state is that we have a lot of promotional things happening the second half of this week, to advertise the patch, promote the game, and hopefully bring in a lot of new players. We realized that with the immensity of the rendering changes that had to be made to the game in order to support DX11, OpenGL, and Linux, and due to those changes taking much longer to implement then first anticipated, we felt it was going to be too risky to just wait until the final release when all that promotion had kicked in. We needed to get this out to a wider testing audience, in order to get a better sense of all the issues that the new rendering changes are causing, so that we could fix them up before the final patch release. It is certainly not an ideal way of doing things, but we had hoped that our community would be understanding of this and help us to track down issues and fix them up, to get this huge Reinforced update in good shape for later this week.
Using the Beta release on steam has been tried in the past, and just does not bring in enough people playing on the beta version, to give us adequate testing, so we just had to go with a full release here.
We did not release a changelog as this shouldn't even really be considered the Reinforced patch, we just needed to get it out to test the rendering changes. If we could have released a version with just the rendering changes and not any of the balance changes and new features, we would have, but that stuff had to go out along with the release as well.
Regarding the Skulk change, yes, I was wrong that there was nothing changed, as we did discover a bug that has since been fixed, but I meant to convey that nothing INTENTIONALLY was changed with Skulk movement.
We are reading through all your feedback, but at the moment we are mainly focused on the major issues with the rendering changes.
Perhaps someone can keep reposting this post, since undoubtedly there will still be pages and pages of people who continue to ask why did we change Skulk movement and why did we release the patch so early?
Not good timing for their free weekend I really just jump on now for some CO since a few of my regular servers arent there anymore. If anyone has a good server they frequent, it would be awesome to play some NS2 together with some TL members.
its going to be glorious to stomp all these free weekend noobs. And yeah the new patch broke combat, only IBIS is up and that server is dog shit. Seriously, don't play on IBIS. They're so bad that you literally warp into the previous room you were in sometimes :/
The new patch is becoming somewhat less disastrous. Regular NS2 servers are running just fine, and I had several good games tonight. If you haven't played NS2 yet, pick it up for the weekend. There's tons more servers than usual with hundreds of rookies running around at the same skill level as you, so it's a good time to give it a shot.
So I still play NS2, although not as much as I used to. If you haven't played it yet or you're on the fence about it, the above video might be a worthwhile watch. I talk a lot about the game and some of its mechanics while I play and show off Skulk and Fade gameplay.
The game itself feels a lot better now. It's a lot more responsive; the input lag is gone and the servers seem stable. It's also much better optimized than it was at release, although I have heard that the Biodome map still kills the framerate on some computers. I can always find a server to play on, and I think cross-region gameplay is absolutely fine as I play with friends in the US a fair bit. Cross-Atlantic pings aren't a problem, at least for public play.
Edit: I forgot about this, but someone made a "Natural Selection II in 1 minute" video that explains the basics. Might want to put this in the OP.
On December 12 2013 21:28 3772 wrote: The game is on Humble Bundle at the moment. How finished is the game now? Is there a developed competitive scene?
The win rate for aliens versus marine is acceptable now, there are still balance issues but you no longer have things like immortal fades and 4 min Onos. I don't recognize the game from what it was before I started up again. They changed so many mechanics and things that I had to relearn the game when I started playing again. The competitive scene is basically a few severs with people with a large amount of hours. Right now though the game is full of rookies who think the game is COD and get pissed when you try and ask them to help out. They even swarm the white servers and always stack marines with noobs.
So how long has the skill/ranking been in? I dont even remember that. Anyways its pretty easy to hit top 100 as in a few games my friend already got in it. I just command games and I am starting to relearn the openings for each race now, the map changes aren't too bad to get used to, I do like that they still rework the maps when they see problems for each race for different rooms.
competitive NS is nice to watch. Tho many things can happen at the same time and it maybe be difficult to follow from time to time, will definitely tune in.
The game is now really nice to play, a few serv (UK/NL) are really nice to play on with a great atmosphere and community with close, long yet fast (jp fairly early, or onos vs exo) games.
We could do a TL group for NS2, that would be great wouldn't it?!
in the middle of the graphic =P twitch.tv/naturalselection2
the 'muricans and lone canadian are in the air now, this is gonna be so good. high level play is such a treat to watch. The caster/commentators are gonna be more geared towards casual viewers (more tasteless, less artosis) so even if you've never seen the game before it'll still be cool.
in the middle of the graphic =P twitch.tv/naturalselection2
the 'muricans and lone canadian are in the air now, this is gonna be so good. high level play is such a treat to watch. The caster/commentators are gonna be more geared towards casual viewers (more tasteless, less artosis) so even if you've never seen the game before it'll still be cool.
Thx :p Iam blind... was searching for a link in the text...
I haven't played this game now for many months. What's the scene like now? Is there still room for noobs to play, or will i get my ass handed to me by many pros?
There are plenty of rookie serv to play on, the non rookie serv usually have a threshold (hours played, etc...)
doesn't mean you're not gotta get pub stomp on some rookie serv but overall, if you find a good Uk/NL/DE serv you can learn pretty fast on rookie serv and enjoy the game
otherwise, there is a UK serv "no rookie" but rookies are able to join, if you do what's asked by comm/teammates you're gonna learn quick and enjoy the game nicely, don't walk alone, no matter you're kharaa/marines.
Also there are a few big serv (30 slots) which usually is fun to play
On February 22 2014 21:25 anatase wrote: There are plenty of rookie serv to play on, the non rookie serv usually have a threshold (hours played, etc...)
doesn't mean you're not gotta get pub stomp on some rookie serv but overall, if you find a good Uk/NL/DE serv you can learn pretty fast on rookie serv and enjoy the game
otherwise, there is a UK serv "no rookie" but rookies are able to join, if you do what's asked by comm/teammates you're gonna learn quick and enjoy the game nicely, don't walk alone, no matter you're kharaa/marines.
Also there are a few big serv (30 slots) which usually is fun to play
OK thanks for the info
ps watching these tournament games is really really fun.
Spectating this game seems to suffer from the same problem as CS GO. Action on multiple places at the same time, lasts a few seconds at most. Might be fun to play, but it doesn't seem all that much fun to watch.
tbh, this is a problem with the casters not being at a high enough level to predict gameflow and follow action. The best casters/camera control are the people who are on the teams playing the game.
its like if a platinum or gold level player was casting.
no offense meant to the casters, but neither of them have played at a competitive level, so thier understanding and knowledge is not up to par.
Its disappointing they didn't use some of the players themselves for analysis. Blind used to play at a mid-high level but has been out of the scene for too long. Most of the ppl in the NA scene I've talked to were worried about this. The casting has turned people off before and now I'm sad to hear that its difficult for people to understand and get into yet again.
does this game have the alternate game mode that was so popular in NS1? It was the game mode where there was no commander and instead you had a skill tree and would gain XP from kills/assists? that was the best jump-in mode that game had.
Sadly, not really... the Mod still exist as I know. But like 1 year ago, the creator decided to go standalone. Now... both exist, but both has no players as I know. You can go to www.ensl.org for proper infos. Its the main page for esports etc
EPT
I was commanding the marines.
. Gameplay is good, but i'm still not particularly sure it will flourish as a spectator game. I feel Unknown Worlds will really have to work hard on devising a solution to the near impossible task of making competitive fps watch able and entertaining. Having played CSS competetively for years, was top in CNC3 for a while after release (quickly stopped after a few months as the game was not challenging), lots of iCCup, and a good amount of SC2 I feel that NS2 gently incorporates the differences between FPS and Strategy, but competetive FPS has never been about reaction time moreso about preparation, and that takes alot of waiting, and playing a very mechanical and decision oriented game, and lets face it that's not interesting to watch and it's hard to spectate 10-12 players at once.![[image loading]](http://www.unknownworlds.com/cache/thumbnails/SpecialArmor_Render2_800x450.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/cdxA5.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.unknownworlds.com/cache/thumbnails/PostLaunchStatsRelease_800x450.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://unknownworlds.com/ns2/files/2014/01/win_bracket1-596x363.png)
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