CO / XO "Withdraw & De-orbit" alternative to "Nuke"

Development Ideaguys
1

“Withdraw & De-orbit” - an alternative for “Nuke”

  • What It Does

Instead of ordering a nuke, the CO or XO may formally order the USS Almayer and Marine Forces to “Withdraw” by diverting fuel and other resources specifically to getting the ship prepared to leave orbit as soon as the Dropship(s) return to the hangar. The moment the dropships return to the hangar - the ship pulls away into space for the Marines to lick their wounds, contact command, and “rethink their life choices.”

Once “Withdraw” has been purchased from the tech tree (Or whatever console is operated to ‘get’ this perk / feat / etc) … the Normandy / Alamo are restricted from further launches to the surface of the planet as the Alamo will no longer be within ‘range’ for a dropship to successfully make the flight. In other words …

  • Any marines left behind on the planet surface are “Lost” with no hope of rescue.

  • The xeno morphs cannot hijack the dropships after they depart, nor can they be magically “summoned” back to the surface to helpfully ferry the xenomorphs up to the Almayer - the ship is no longer “in range” for dropships to safely make the trip.

  • The round is effectively over at this point and is considered a draw while allowing command to demonstrate an RP minuscule amount of compassion (or sane strategic thought) in the face of being utterly destroyed.

Why?

  • Speed up end of round. The Marines know when they’re finished. It’s kind of excruciating and humiliating as a Marine player to be like "yup. command / po / whoever fucked up. Time to sit around for another half an hour waiting for the xenos to fly up here and kill all of us or die in drop pods that don’t work.

  • Encourage Xenos to “Push”. Let’s be honest here. If the xenomorphs want to win, they basically need about about eight good players. That’s it. Everyone else on the xenomorph team are sort of incidental - much like non-combat roles for the Marines who RP on the ship. For the Marines to “win” against the Xenomorphs, game play seems oriented towards compelling the Marines to get as close as possible, to ‘push’ into the Xenomorphs, and to take risks - putting them coincidentally into range of all of the xenomorphs special powers and attacks. I can see that. Gameplay as it is right now is designed to make Marines ‘facetank’ the xenomorphs to make it ‘hard’.

It would be kind of nice if the Xenomorphs also - to secure their win - had to also ‘push the marines’ hard in order to get that dropship and score a win. If the xenomorphs take too long or wait around too much - moving the hive around, getting 6 or 7 queens after the marines killed the first 5 - you know exactly what I am talking about - teleporting endlessly around the map with a unit that can turn invisible and burrow magical teleport holes everywhere - it would be ‘nice’ if the xenomorphs had to actually ‘fight’ to get their nice sweet free ride onto the Almayer to ‘finish off’ the Marines.

Otherwise, it’s a draw. You have to fight for your ‘win’. Just like how the Marines have to ‘fight’ for their win.

Cuz if you wait too longer or ‘play games’ with the Marines trying to bait them out and stuff, they just might “withdraw”. Like a sane commander would do. Instead of sacrificing their entire complement of marines completely needlessly. If they choose to withdraw. OR they could just order then nuke and hilariously try to hold both coms towers so that they can nuke 4 remaining xenos because all the xenos killed themselves trying to prevent the Marines from holding the coms towers.

Just an idea.

I’m not trying to sound too bitter - but I have played as xenomorph. I do understand how they play and their tactics. I get that they are suppose to be “the antagonist” and all that. But it’d be nice if they had to get out of their comfort zones as well just like how the Marines are forced to do because “game balance” or something.

And if the CO or XO decide to withdraw, you can “raz” them in Deadchat and OOC about what a ‘coward’ they are – and then we can move on to the next round without having to wait 30 minutes to die on a ship - trying to fight an enemy that benefits tight quarters and narrow hallways. LIke, yeah. You win. We’re dead. This is “fun” right?

If they want to get onto the ship, they have to “hijack” the DS BEFORE the CO / XO can order a “Withdraw” – then hijack and everything works just like normal. But if the CO / XO order a withdrawal – And you don’t managed to capture the DS / rush the LZ – it’s a “draw”. The end. New round.

Seem fair? Balanced? Less needless rage from Marines who did nothing wrong but are screwd-over and forced to to ‘pay for it’ by like 3 people playing on the Marine side? Let’s command “not be suicidal” if they choose to be?

16 Likes
2

I like the idea in concept, but maybe not the explicit implementation you laid out

1 Like
3

Could make it something admins can do, let them set a time to give marines time to evac/xenos a chance to take the DS. Could be a tool to speed up the end-game or to end a round.

1 Like
4

Quitter option. My marines will continue to bleed until there is no more blood left. And then I will buy foxtrot for the 30th time.

14 Likes
5

The problem with that steel is that then it would never be used. I really like this Idea and I do not understand why we would not implement as this would take an hour or even 30 minutes to prepare. Starting at 1 hour and 30 or that. It would save us from starting a war and getting court marshaled for using a nuke as the USCM does not like using nukes and that. I also never understood why we could not just leave when we evacuated as no sane commander would stay in obit even with not knowing the xenos can fly. They would get the marines on the ship and head to the nearest station for ammo repairs etc

6

If you make it a Xeno major, I’d consider it an option. Otherwise it’s just a “you don’t get to win” button that’s gonna be used (as it’s a guaranteed victory for xenoes as long as they press the funny hijack button).

Plus it would be thematically appropriate as the marines are literary retreating full speed, leaving the xenoes to fester and spread more.

4 Likes
7

I agree with this, if you force the Marines off the planet and then they evacuate so the Xenos cannot hijack then they should get a major. Evacuating the planet is a marine loss unless you either land again and somehow win or you clean up the Xenos on your ship cleaning up your failure from the first landing which is a minor at best.

1 Like
8

Something like this is always being suggested, and everyone wants it. I think all we need is someone to code it.

9

It is literally just a case of ‘when you code it’.

1 Like
10

Not really, I could easily see this getting denied.

11

I’m all down for alternative ways to end a round and to give players more control over the flow of things. The older intent was for rounds to last for 1.5 to 2 hours, so I believe so long as you add safeguards to prevent abuse the mechanic may be accepted? You’d need to ask the power’s that be instead of just guessing.

1 Like
12

do people really care that much about a word or two in the end of the round menu?

2 Likes
13

If there is even only one PVT that wakes up after evac from FOB, I’m gonna fight hijack with him. I’m never ever being the CO that’s gonna use that withdraw option and tell the Marines that still live we already lost.

If you dont wanna play CM anymore, play candycrush or something for the next half hour. Before somebody says that they cant stay another hour, well, we dont always have our way but I’m not prioritising dchat players over living Marines.

Also what maniac said, quitter option.

1 Like
14

It’s not over until it’s over!!!:fire::fire::speaking_head::speaking_head:

15

Trust me whether I’m alive or dead or marine or xeno I want you to skip hijack.

1 Like
16

I’d rather skip most hijacks then let them happen, since half the time marines are over preparing for it (all those rounds where I had to go through metal foam lakes, cade hell, 3 extra foxtrot marines call ins, ERT with busted spec weapons and stims) and all the reward you get is “and then marines launched the pods safely since you didn’t rush fuel objectives in 4 minutes”.

It’s like winning a race, but the guy in last gets the podium and medals for some reason.

1 Like
17

I’m all for skipping hijack but it should be a xeno minor/major instead of a draw

3 Likes
18

i dunno, I like spamming MARINE MAJORRRRRRRRRRRR when like one guy manages to evac alone and seeing xenos mald.

19

I believe it should be a draw / minor Xeno victory at best. And I’ll explain–

If the Marines are allowed to withdraw - and the xenos do not manage to capture the dropship in that time - I believe the “aftermath” of the incident could very much be left open to interpretation.

TRUE - the xenomorph infestation on the planet is left to fester and spread across the planet. In the eyes of the xenomorphs, this is very much a win. They pushed the Marines off their planet and defended their hive.

BUT anything could happen post incident. For example …-

  • The Marines could re-engage and in that hypothetical situation, ‘lose’ and provide transit of the xenomorphs off the planet deliberately or accidentally. Some human ships could come down to the planet to ‘investigate’ and accidentally spread the xenomorphs. Long term “Xeno Win”

  • The Fleet could just bring in orbital craft with nuclear arms and “Exterminatus” the surface of the planet – knowing full well that if they allow the xenomorph infestation to continue to fester, that could be bad. That would be a long-term “Marine Win”

The point is - it is entirely open to interpretation. Anything could happen. But the following circumstances are this for this outcome:

  • The Marine Force survived and enough of them lived to inform command that the xenomorphs are still a threat on the planet.

  • Despite the ferocious, highly biologically advanced nature of the xenomophs which are undoubtly and indisputably the most dangerous species to ever exist in the known universe - the ultimate killing machines - the xenomorphs do not have access to nuclear weapons nor do they possess hive ships like the Tyranids from WH40K do. The Marines do have that tech.

What ever happens after that is speculation. It’s not a “win” for the Marines at all. But it’s not a complete loss either.

2 Likes
20

I count it as a win for Xenos, since they are the defender in the situation, and the marines are the attackers. In a likewise situation, if you are singing a city, which you couldn’t break and the leave, that is an objectively good victory for the city, and a deftigste loss for the army sieging it. You might speculate that the sieging army is coming back with more forces or will use better tech to get it next time, but that doesn’t matter for the previous battle as it’s still a defeat.

And to add to it, if the defenders manage to charge out the gates and kill the attackers, that is also a victory, albeit greater then just surviving.

1 Like