For this update we wanted to talk about the Crag, the first of four different alien structures the alien commander will be able to build in NS2. It will be available in the next patch update.
Alien tech/upgrade structures are now built by the Commander instead of the Gorge. This means they can do a lot more than those in NS1. Right now every alien structure has three abilities - a "passive" ability that is always active or that players can use, a "triggerable" ability which is an area of effect ability the Commander uses, and a "targeted" ability which the Commander triggers on a target. These structure abilities are designed to allow the Commander to support players on the ground, without taking over the actual combat. Most commander abilities won't deal damage and most will help teammates instead of affecting enemies.
The Crag fills the role of the Defensive Chambers, from NS1, providing Commander-researched, player-purchased, defensive-oriented upgrades. For example, Carapace (late game armor) and Feed for Skulks (health for eating corpses) and Bacteria for Gorges (upgraded health spray). The Crag’s bony shell helps serve as natural protection, making it one of the toughest alien structures to kill.
Unsurprisingly, the Crag's passive ability is Heal. It automatically heals nearby alien players and structures, ala the old DCs from NS1. Its Triggerable ability is Umbra (sound familiar?), which when activated by the commander, creates a particulate cloud of gaseous smoke which pours from the holes in its shell, and fills up the surrounding area. This temporary cloud intercepts and disintegrates bullets, allowing through only half of the shots fired by Marine ballistic weapons (doesn't affect flamethrowers, grenades, MASCs).
The Crag's late-game "targeted" ability is...Babblers! If you played early versions of NS1, you may remember this fun but unrefined feature that allowed Gorges to spew out small creatures (they were scaled down Skulks running the Half-life Snark code!). Well, we are bringing those back, but making sure to give them their own model this time around. In NS2 they are controlled by the alien commander, who will unleash a multitude of these small cat sized critters from the various openings in the Crag’s shell which swarm around Marines, obscuring their sight somewhat, slowing them down and inflicting a small amount of damage.
Below is a sketch page showing a variety of possible designs for the look of these small creatures. We’ve narrowed the choice down to a few favorites, but have yet to decide on the final direction to go in, so we would love to hear your thoughts:
Of course the Crag is still in development and subject to change as we see how it works in-game, but we think we've got a good start. We hope you enjoyed this update and stay tuned for more alien structure reveals!
We are making good progress with physics, animation and networking bugs in the alpha and have many improvements and fixes in our new patch. Here's the complete list:
Technical
- Fixed animation choppiness on player models
- Fixed client-side and server-side memory leaks
- Fixed bug where pressing Enter in the password dialog would append an invalid character to the password
- Fixed bug where the server browser (after starting a game) only listed LAN servers
- Fixed bug where using the subtractive blend mode for effects would somteimes corrupt the rendering
- Fixed bug where binding a server to a specific IP address would fail
- Fixed non-QWERTY or US keyboard layouts not working properly
- Fixed tilde for opening the console on some keyboards
- Fixed num lock not working when typing
- Fixed bug where Decoda would not properly launch a mod that had spaces in the directory name
- Fixed assert/crash when loading levels with certain types of concave faces
- Fixed bug where error messages would be reported incorrectly when a base class for a Lua class was not found
- Fixed timing discrepancies between the server and client when player input was processed (fixes shooting moving enemies)
- Fixed bug where the physics system was not properly reporting the material of hit surfaces
- Fixed bug where the disconnect message was printed multiple times in the log on the client when a server was shutdown
- Fixed bug where the mouse cursor was sometimes hidden in the main menu when a client was disconnected from the server
- Added keyboard repeat rate when typing
- Added additional error messages when a client disconnects from the server
- Added texture quality option to editor's general settings
- Added support for setting string material parameters on RenderModels
- Added the ability to connect to a server with a password from the console
- Added "sound_debug 1" in "dev" mode for finding sound problems (helpful for mod authors)
- Changed the cursor color in Deco/da to be the inverse of the background color
- Synchronized the "fullscreen" check box with the current window state
- Added Overview application for generating minimaps
Game
- Added doors. They open and close for players, but can also be "hacked" by a marine Commander. They can also be locked (locks will be able to be destroyed by alien growth in the future).
- New Commander tooltips that show you cost, requirements, cost, for most upgrades, structures and abilities.
- Fixed many sound problems (ricochets, spawn sounds, etc.).
- Fixed problem with running out of spawn points and falling through the world
- Fixed problem where multiple upgrades of the same type couldn't be performed (ie, more than one advanced armory).
- Alien morphing is no longer instant - you turn into an egg and go third-person for a time.
- Can no longer recycle occupied Command Stations.
- Commanders never collide with anything.
- Gorge spit and spray now fire instantly (you don't have to switch "modes").
- Added parasite ability to Skulk! Hive sight isn't currently enabled though.
- Marines no longer start with an infantry portal - they must build one. Infantry Portals must be built near a Command Station.
- Hives start with 3 Drifters and Command Stations start with 2 MACs.
- Marines can now help build structures like in NS1 (needs audio/visual effects still).
- Scoreboard now shows colored numbers instead of colored bars.
- Fixed problem where new hives didn't visually smash through tech point.
- Added commander hotkeys (but only working for alien Commander at the moment).
- Fixed problem where non-Commanding marines didn't get killed when closed in a Command Station.
- Added death animations and ragdolls to most structures and players.
- Fixed many commander icons.
Assets
- Many updated sound effects and updated reverb settings.
- ns2_tram updates.
- Many new MAC voiceovers and tuned him to be less repetitive.
- Added rifle sound variations.
- More sci-fi rifle reload, better sounding shotgun fire.
- Added sound variations and improvements to Gorge and Lerk.
Thanks for helping report issues!
A few days ago we released the Natural Selection 2 alpha to the almost 16,000 players who pre-ordered the Special Edition. This is quite a rare event in the games industry. In fact we couldn't think of a single game that had a non-"friends and family" alpha, let alone one with such a large group.
Making the jump from 40 internal testers to 16,000 external ones generates an overwhelming amount of feedback and bug reports, not to mention customer support and other logistics. We've been busy triaging reports and fixing them as fast as we can and today we're releasing a patch with the first group of these. This patch is available on Steam and should automatically download. Here's the complete list of changes in the patch:
Technical
- Fixed bug where a client would continue to try and connect after the server reported that it was full or the client was using the wrong protocol
- Fixed bug where clients could only connect to servers on the default port
- Fixed bug where the port was removed when connecting via console command
- Fixed bug on multi-monitor systems that resulted in a graphics reset loop
- Fixed window border when switching from fullscreen to windowed
- Fixed bug where key events outside of the game's focus window would sometimes be processed by the game
- Fixed bug where the dedicated server could not be run without Steam running
- Fixed duplicate attack/fire key bindings that caused mismatches
- Fixed voice chat to use in-game sound volume on playback
- Fixed bug where where clients could timeout while alt-tabbed from the game in fullscreen mode
- Fixed bug where binding a game server to an IP would cause it to not be displayed in the server browser
- Added client-side timeouts when attempting to connect to a server
- Added support for closing a dedicated server by pressing ctrl+break
- Added alt-enter to toggle between fullscreen and windowed mode
- Added dedicated server files to the Steam release
- Added Toggle Console binding to UI settings
Game
- Fixed bug where MACs were free (now they cost 2 plasma)
- Fixed bug with armory playing extra sounds when players were nearby
- Added rally points for Hives and Command Stations
- Fixed many vent physics objects so they can be entered
- Fixed hitching animation problems while sprinting as marine
- Logging into a Command Station no longer freezes you but it will open again if the logging in player leaves
- When the Command Station closes, anyone inside besides the Commander is killed
- Aliens become Commander instantly when +using the hive
- Fixed bug where Extractors or Harvesters couldn't be built on a nozzle that had one previously
- Added welding effect to MAC
- Added new marine commander icon artwork
- Improve marine running and jumping animations
- Updated shell ejection effect for the rifle, pistol, and grenade launcher
- New docking_walltech environment props
Our priority in this patch was addressing the issues that are preventing people from connecting to servers. The next order of business is addressing any issues running or maintaining dedicated servers along with issues that make the game feel "laggy" or otherwise unplayable.
In addition to the critical engine fixes in this patch, there are also some gameplay changes. Sometimes people who are experiencing technical problems feel frustrated by these changes; they believe those changes are taking priority over other issues that feel more important to them. We'd like to assure you this is not the the case. Our programming team is made up of people with different specialties, and just like you wouldn't take a car to a doctor to repair, it doesn't make sense to give a gameplay programmer an engine-related task.
The best way to help us fix bugs is to provide good reports of what you're experiencing. We've been using Get Satisfaction to help with this process. This is a new system to us, so we're still figuring out the best way to take advantage of it. Get Satisfaction has a search feature which allows you to easily find out if other people have reported the same issue, but using this, you'll help us find and address the most common problems first.