Precisely. The opportunity for either offensive or defensive play here by both sides turns a formality into something actually meaningful. Might not be the most complex shell game ever, but it’s there.
Initially I was of the opinion that this should make the Xenos crash back groundside, with some lifeboats-style explosions to really sell the experience. But ultimately I don’t think that’s enough considering the Queen can just mosey over to the other LZ and call the other dropship down. I do not think they should get a second shot at it.
Frankly, I find the idea that the Marines couldn’t somehow lock down the other dropship once the first one gets abducted to be preeeeetty asinine. If a Queen could do it, so could CLF, so I see it as more of a case of a PO/CIC leaving the proverbial keys in the car and underestimating the Queen rather than being completely helpless to stop anyone from pushing the big red button planetside for a free joyride.
Good PR, after it gets merged we can add something similiar for xenos to lower chance for hijack even more, if marines choose wrong LZ they all get blown up and DS stops working and the round ends with marine minor.
Making the concept of AA Interception far more impactful might be a positive change if you are so inclined to accept it. As it stands, AA only exists to act as as buffer for the lifeboat hold. If the AA was changed such that if the xenos are struck by it they are hit with a major penalty then it creates a sorta meta-game of CIC and the Queen having to game-theory out their options where there is a meaningful consequence to your action.
You really oversell it. No matter how you sugar coat it, it’s basically nothing more than rock-paper-scissors, and I don’t think a single round of RPS should have such impact.
AA gun already has some effect, if you guess right you get a bit more time to prepare for hijack. This is not much and I agree it should be more meaningful, but again instant round end with no pre-requirements (for example, if you needed to research an upgrade) is way too much. Also, worth pointing out, unlike RPS there is no punishment for missing AA, obviously. You either win, or you don’t. So balance-wise this is really silly.
My dude, the RPS comparison does not hold water in the slightest. In a vacuum, the marines do not have a 33% of winning and 33% chance of drawing, with only a 33% chance of actually losing. They have a 16.7ish% chance of winning, and an 83.3ish% chance of losing. The odds are entirely stacked against them.
Also, you do not have secondary considerations in RPS. As a Xeno do you go for lower engie to cripple their power? Medbay to make sure they don’t rez? Go for the throat and hit lifeboats? Hit somewhere else to make certain you land successfully? As a marine, do you count on them trying to hit lifeboats, or try to preserve an important area? Or do you go insane-o mode and roll a die to play the odds?
Denial of secondary objectives changes the game a lot. It gives your decisions more stakes and results in unique strategic approaches. Ultimately, the secondary factors make this not an arbitrary decision. I would absolutely share your hesitation if it were RPS, but the depth of consideration and the slim odds in abstract make it feel much less arbitrary.
With this PR in place, the punishment for missing AA is having the Xeno Xpress punch a hole into your ship and board it. I’d say that’s pretty significant.
Oh this is really a big difference. My comparison to RPS is completely destroyed (not really).
I mean, to a degree you can have some strategy in RPS as well, unless you are playing against computer, but it doesn’t matter. Essentially, there is no real difference.
Compared to the current state of affairs and even compared to not setting AA at all, it’s clear who’s losing from this PR. And regardless, having a hole in your ship isn’t even comparable to instagib of a side lol. Can’t believe someone seriously arguing this.
Command decides they want AA to protect whole ship (and one region like it is now, so there is atleast one safe spot for sure). All it does in addition is slowing down hijacked DS slightly no matter what.
Command decides they want AA to protect one of the two decks. If queen decided to land there, then DS slows down, crashes on the unprotected deck and gets few explosions at the later stage of flight simillarly to pipe rupture on Almayer. This will slow down both xenos arriving and then exiting DS for hunt, since they will most likely need to rest a bit to heal. Unlikely to kill a xeno unless it hits larvae, or runner and they got unluckey (just as marine can get unluckey gib from crashed ship, fair).
Command sets AA to protect two regions (either next to eachother, or completly separated), multiple explosions on DS, doors get opened, xenos pushed by explosions (or they get randomly choosed to be ejected) come back similarly how they will in a step that will be described below.
Command decides to protect one region with AA, if DS is hit, xenos are teleported out from DS (DS disappears completly) into a safe void from which they are pushed out randomly in a span of 2-3 minutes where they get teleported to external entry points of Almayer, which is shuttle landing pads, umbilical in hangar, OB and AA room etc, stuff that makes sense. Xenos who can ventcrawl have a chance to spawn next to vents, or inside if possible.
All xenos get radomly hurt between 10-60% missing health and 75-95% plasma.
They have no base, they are disorganised. They have a fighting chance if they menage to connect as a main force, marines can try to catch few singled out xenos.
If AA doesn’t hit, everything goes as per usual.
Might change two regions AA effect with one region AA effect and one region effect be just xeno wipe/back to colony.
Now there is an element of strategy to it, instead of just additional effect when CO orders to hold something different than lifeboats.
RPS implies symmetry – both players make the same choice with the same odds and attempt to anticipate one another. The game you’re thinking of is “pick a number.” It’s a different game with an asymmetric power dynamic. The guesser is at an increasing disadvantage the further you go beyond two choices. AA vs DS has six.
If your point is the arbitrariness of the choice, well, see below.
There is a real difference in strategy. Relative value matters, and these degrees within your decisionmaking matter when it comes to anticipating your opponent.
Say someone presents you with six labeled briefcases containing different amounts of cash. You get to choose one to keep, but they get to guess which you’ve chosen – if they succeed, you get nothing. Would the relative value of money listed on the briefcases factor into your decision at all? If the empty briefcase was chosen by a random number generator instead, would that change your decisionmaking?
Yeah, and 1/6 and 5/6 chances are similarly disparate. Which is why I don’t think tying it to research would do much. Why bother devoting time and resources to it when the chance of it even mattering is so vanishingly low?
I think if research is to be involved for actually blowing up the DS, then the default behavior of AA connecting should be crashing them back to the planet and ending in a Xeno Minor. But that could create some really metagame-y situations with stealthy hijacks and early round ends.
This kiiinda feels like overkill as far as the decisionmaking it adds. The worst outcome doesn’t seem THAT bad. Step forward from the current iteration though.
Its a bad RPS matchup, since the xenoes don’t actually get to “win” it. They already won the actual game (forced marines to evac, taking the planet/station in the process), and are now forced to play “Guess a number. If you win, nothing happens, if you lose, you get your entire hive deleted”. Like, its either a draw, or a marine victory. There is no winning for xenoes in that scenario.
