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