Survivors are an interesting concept, a classic, perhaps. But its also one of the most problematic roles in the game.
Survivors are in this ‘‘Limbo’’ of development where no one entirely knows what they are meant to be. Are they props for xenos and marines to take down/rescue to gain extra larva/riflemen? Are they a roleplay heavy role for those who seek little intervention with the round?
No one really knows! And it shows. There have been a lot of changes and mecanics in the general game just to address things caused directly or indirectly by survivors, yet they remain in this limbo.
Because its an overall niche role that no one really cares about until something big happens and they have to moderate or change survs to make sure that thing never happens again. Loot, spawns, mapping, everything has to be done with survivors in mind but at the same time not, because why care about a role 5 guys can play at most and might not do much more than another rifleman?
And this is thinking in the nomal survivors, hostile survs are an entirely different breed, entirely, a very problematic archetype of survivor that exists to gun down random IOs/PFCs or more realistically sit in a brig cell whole round doing nothing.
But what can be changed about this? How do you differ the guy who wants to roleplay from the one who wants to roam and gun down as many xenos/marines as possible before dying? What do you think, can be done?
Make them hardcore, but make them go back to the menu so they can still go for marine roles(also happens when they get nested). That way they can still do silly shit, tryhard shit, or similar startegies without having the MUST survive thing.
Outside of a total overhaul of the survivor gameplay loop, I’d suggest the following.
Survivors are entitled to a Marine respawn upon death/cryo.
Add a ‘bunker survivor’ role that spawns in a special area that is locked off from xenos and other survs until the marine’s land. Basically, a role for someone who wants a guaranteed chance to engage in survivor roleplay with the marines.
Personally, i don’t want to give survs a way to get a respawn without them being on hardcore. Because I LOATHE the casual metagaming information you get from being dead. Especially so if they can respawn into command roles, or any role at all.
Ngl dude if you let survs respawn as marines they’re going to ape rush and not give a fuck even more.
You’d at best need a 30min timer before they could go marine and even then they’d still be spawning as marine only just after 1st drop.
Bunker role is insanely lame and I hope is never implemented, the whole point of surv is earning your ability to play the game as:
Not a marine
With cooler/more unique gear (gamer gear)
This is what makes surv fun, and if you get gamer gear and a respawn you’re going to lose the gamer gear which means you’re losing a big part of why surv is fun.
If you want surv to be cooler add more asymmetrical shit like traps. Funny doors is the epitome of surv shenanigans, we should get more stuff like that.
Tl;Dr make surv harder but give them cool/unique tools to make the role fun. You are at the same time free manpower for either side, a prop super murdered on the ground, and the funny bartender not engaging with the main gameplay loop.
I’ll repost what I posted on my original thread response to a similar topic. Some of those ideas seem to have been popular, given the discussion above.
Survivors have been in dire need of an identity rework for quite some time (like a decade). I think that it would be privy to underscore what a survivor’s purpose in the round actually is:
Is the survivor simply a prop for the marines and xenos alike? Is their purpose to die for one sides’ enjoyment? If so, the nerfs are sensible, but haven’t gone far enough. If survivors are intended to die for the xenos/ marines, the amount of survivors on the map should be increased, their loot and skills should be further restricted, and dying as a survivor should automatically lobby you so that you can participate in the round as a marine if you so wish. Surviving could then be a true anomaly.
Is the survivor a high roleplay role? If the survivor is a high roleplay role and their purpose is to survive and add atmosphere to the game, then their skills should be massively reduced but their survival should be guaranteed. They should be locked in a bunker somewhere, untouchable by the xenomorphs, until the marines land to rescue them.
Is the survivor the main character? If the survivor is the main character then their skills should be increased, loot should be made more plentiful, but their numbers should be culled. Xenomorphs should be given fewer survivors to chase, and more small hosts to capture.
The survivor, like a few other roles, has been in an identity crisis for several years. Survivor players likely have widely different perceptions of the role, likely spanning between the second and third options, while marine and xeno players probably believe them to be the first.
You can look at my track record as one of the biggest supporters of removing protag surv and increasing numbers back in 2022 along with adding in radios for coordination, I also supported Pals group spawn nightmare inserts for similar reasons. Thank you for that though
Wider context to saying you’re a protag surv supporter btw, look back at 2021 surv or certain individuals back in 2022 trying their best to ruin the role with that buzzword as their rallying cry
Ok. I wasn’t here in 2021-2022. It’s not inherently wrong to think the survivor could be the main character; from a story perspective in the Alien universe, it makes the most sense anyway.
I’ve seen survivors who played with the sole purpose to frag xenos and were willing to suicide/trade their own lives to get a xeno kill. I don’t think we should give survivors a free marine spawn.
To me survivors are problematic cause if they do manage to survive and get many xeno kills, the match is decided. As lame as the gas changes are, I’ve seen plenty of survivor holds at the LZ to essentially take advantage of the 45 min non weeding.
I would only agree for the removal of the lz gas if they removed the 45 minute timelock on weeds on LZ. With the lz sentries I think it could be doable to remove the 45 minute timelock.
It all just depends on what the community decides the role of the survivor is. I, truly, have no opinion on this topic, I just recognize the markedly different schools of thoughts that seem to change perceptions on what constitutes a positive survivor change.
Holding sucks now anyways, since the only way you are actually making it, is if you make a hold so borked, xenos will just not bother with you (like island), or they don’t bother with you in the first place. Or you just die, and it feels like an utter waste of a roll and time.
I’d much rather the survivor bunker idea at this point. I prefer survivor as an RP role anyhow.
If you spawn as surv researcher, you get free level 4 clearance if you survive, a potentially very good vial (maybe even egg plasma!!) and more freedom in how you play researcher compared to the shipside role. You can for example deploy to field study xenomorphs unlike regular researchers which are strictly forbidden by OOC rules.
In short, researcher surv is the best survivor role and we should have more like it
