Well this is why I am suggesting to give protection only after there are people have been nested around the cluster. Thus to get a safe haven from fire support you need to nest people close to the front.
Maybe there are some other ways to FORCE xenos to frontline nest. Maybe we should introduce some kind of a limit. Like you can only nest so many caps around a core/cluster. Maybe make it impossible to nest people around the core whatsoever. Since the amount of clusters is limited and you want to put at least some of them closer to the front, this way xenos would be forced to eventually nest near the front.
This topic is called “brainstorming”, so any idea deserves to be expressed. I am sure there are ways to make xenos nest at places other than hive.
Capping is hands down the worst mechanic in the game. It feels bad and is totally lame. Imo it is the worst part of the CM gameplay loop by far. The fact that you cannot really fight it off if the xeno is halfway competent nor can you resist out of the nest is actually mindblowing.
I guess the solution is just don’t be alone but still. Such a dookie mechanic
yes I get it, the front caps would need damage protection, at least personal as on most maps just firesupport protection would not cut it, as long as marines can get line of sight and just unload ammo with scopes or shit. So it would rather be all but melee damage protection to walls with nested and to the nested humans as that is needed to adress the issues with frontline nests. if pylon with nested gives protection then xenos will just pylon in hive for captures and frontline core (yes there can be fixes to that, jsut saying).
Idea on top of it would be to give portion of the overall larva gain on first nesting of a human after infection, so even if all the captures get recovered xenos have a gain for their afford, that should prevent it from being frustrating for xenos if marines keep recovering captures, if we want to go with two larva per capture then possibly 0.7 larva on nesting 1 + 0.3 on burst. (I feel that 2 is just so much so the numbers like this still look huge but ehhh kinda rather showing idea then values, and such a high value would not be needed as you get more xenos without sending more people to dchat for it necesserly)
That is how I would go about making frontline nesting engaging for both sides, marines have to get up close to melee to free them and xenos have gain for their efford even if captures get recovered.
The hard part is how to enforce “frontline nesting” , I just do not know without major changes to xeno stuns and tackles that would force them to nest super close to the capture itself (also remove the need for pylon to nest, I do not see reason for it with frontline captures being forced). Or you would have to deterimne what counts as “frontline” and I do not see a simple way to do that.
Tbh I would love this, it would help with the larva queue still as you get xenos without throwing more people to deadchat for it, makes being nested more fun as you are still near front and can see and hear what is happening, unlike in hive, as xeno you have some reward for capturing even near crit humans. Marines get close enough targets to push to and xenos can use that as advantage too. You have decent hope for being recovered and xenos do not have absolute loss if you get recovered.
The only way I can envision “frontline nesting” is if the game only allows you to capture/infect Marines who have died within a XX tile distance from an active Cluster/Core/Pylon, AND these marines can only be dragged/infested near that designated Cluster.
This would encourage Xenomorphs to build up Clusters near the frontline, push Marines to fight near them, encourage Marines to search and destroy Clusters to deny cap zones, and make it that anyone who is captured has a fair chance of being rescued since they can’t be dragged too far from where they died.
I would also make it that you cannot infect a Marine until they have been nested on a wall. This would further encourage Xenomorphs to setup frontline nests.
You will need to have a discussion on what happens to people who are infected by facehugger players or traps, perhaps you need to rework these somehow?
I’m fine with capping overall, but screechcapping + sonicspeed dragging has seriously got to go.
It’s the lamest way to die as marine- It’s not remotely fun, and you can’t do anything to stop it besides praying they take someone else. May as well skip the hassle and just roll xeno at that point.
Being capped ought to be your fault to a sizable degree, not a roll of the dice which you have no control over.
Debatable. Xenos need reliable ways to get caps. If you can only cap when a person fucks up, then it’s not reliable. Also, marines is a faction that is supposed to rely on each other. Sure, you can’t do anything to prevent a runner dragging you after a screech. But your teammates can run from the edge of the screen, shoot and nade the runner, etc.
What if they already had those caps? I mean they did ravage the entire colony. Idk maybe something along the lines of having stores hosts from the colony in the caves?
Both the research and cap guarding would have to require some kind of, as you said, bustling ‘shipside’ hive with a bunch of support xenos running about, and caps just being there as you do your support roles, one of which being a research minigame.
It would be interesting though to start on a xeno support system. Like for instance have lessers be able to be a gardener strain that can only plant on a 3 by 3 in range of the hive core, and other lessers have to transport the fruits to the frontline.
It’s more just free without significant effort is the thing. Capping hives were already near guaranteed victories before 2B, and now they’re even stronger. 2B means that screechcapping doesn’t need to exist in any capacity, if xenos want caps then they can easily farm them without screechcapping anyways.
Left4Dead2 had survivors get fucked by special infected, requiring teammates to save them. But here in CM, you literally have 1-2 seconds to react and kill the runner dragging them + have no warning, it just feels awful all around to have it happen and effectively spend 30 minutes of your life prepping just to get zero fun.
Make it so when you are capped you can come back as a shipside only background human role with like 10 hp and severe restrictions on capabilities, basically only existing to say stupid shit and/or die horrifically come hijack - redshirts, if you will.
Have them have an rng chance to hit their head on the hull and die when hijack first starts.
Make it so like 3 mins after being hugged they can be clicked on by ghosts to chestburst as lesser drone
If they try take the dropship groundside they get autogibbed or something idk
I kinda like that idea, but I think it’d be really hard to implement.
Maybe the redshirts could be working on the lower levels of the Almayer, and overseeing ASRS storage, cryo beds, maintenance stuff, that kinda stuff? Idk, it seems like it’d be hard to pull off.
But I also do fuck with the idea of a large group of redshirts all grabbing a pistol and rushing down the hive like a USCM lesser drone swarm; that would be cool as fuck.
leading with “how do we remove capping” is putting the cart before the horse. The concept of getting taken alive by xenomorphs to be implanted and brutally killed is a cornerstone of alien(s) canon, removing it would be like removing pulse rifles.
I never understood why xenos have the power to pull back hugged dead marines. I died and was within recoverable range. Then a fucking xeno main comes out of nowhere and drags me to the tunnel inside of the hive ending my round as a marine bro.
Who the fuck thinks ah, let’s allow dead marines that are revivable to be dragged into hive and become Perma dead. wheres the catch phrase of “why would you even want to touch this?”
@RainbowStalin in this specific incident I permaed in hive without bursting.
Maybe this is an unpopular opinion but I feel like the further we drift from the underlying horror elements of the setting and gameplay, the less fun the game becomes.
One of the main draws of playing an alien to me is being the thing that goes bump in the night, the reason people stick together, and the reason people fear the dark. Patiently stalking someone, planning an ambush, and remaining mobile and unpredictable are some of the core elements of alien gameplay to me, and capturing ties into this perfectly.
I get it. Getting round removed isn’t fun. But might I dare suggest there’s an underlying expectation or dare I say it: “privilege” that marine players expect they will be revived and recovered? Why is getting captured worse than getting killed and going perma because your squad is pushed back? It’s not as if you can’t respawn as a marine later: cryo retrieval and distress signals keep a steady supply of fresh faces coming into the round. It’s why I kinda shake my head when I see people bemoan “fear rp” in dead chat. Playing fast, loose, and risky seems to be the expectation; but suffering lasting consequences from risky behavior doesn’t.
Maybe it’s time people were afraid of the dark again. Removing reasons to be doesn’t seem to be the path forward.
wheres the catch phrase of “why would you even want to touch this?”