QUOTE
Weapon tracking would allow marines and commanders easily see where dropped weapons are. This small change would make NS more friendly towards new players, make weapons a possible early investment, make a more diverse shooting experience, and give aliens more ambush possibilities.
Weapons in NS1 pub games:
On public servers weapons are rarely dropped and instead commanders usually opt for upgrades. Weapons are only dropped just before a hive rush or when there's an abundance of res. And this has been generally a reasonable strategy, because when the comm dropped a weapon and the marine died, players didn't make an attempt to look for it, unless it dropped right in front of them. I'd imagine that elite NS teams always communicate about where each weapon is, and when it's dropped they consider retrieving it. I propose to make this part of NS accessible to new players.
Positive gameplay changes
- Commanders should be more willing to buy a shotgun earlier, confident that it might last through the entire game.
- Adds a new rewarding goal to earn a gun.
- W-tracking would give newbs access to better weapons
- Less need to drop good weapons selectively to best player: good players will search and take weapons dropped by newbs
- Generally, this should reduce the trend of marines firing an LMG/pistol 95% of the time
This is not just for marines:
- Dropped guns provide another ambush spot for aliens (since now marines will purposefully get dropped weapons)
- Since the dropped weapon should be unloaded, it will still be balanced (as before)
How W-tracking might work:
- it could be standard or a cheap researchable tech
- For commanders, it would show up as an icon on the map and allow him to give direct orders to marines to retrieve it
- For marine soldiers, it could show up as a tiny icon or dot
- It should also somehow show how long is left before it disappears: it could be a methodical flashing of the icon, flashing at an increased rate when it is about to disappear
-- Solid icon when dropped; slow flashing when 30 seconds left; faster flashing when 15 seconds; and even faster at 5 seconds (or it could fade)
- W-tracking should not clutter the HUD, since there are usually only few dropped weapons and standard LMG and pistol will not show up.
More complex ideas:
- Make weapons a mini character in the game: weapons count number of kills, get more dirty and bloody, and might even get tiny upgrades the longer the more they kill
- Allow heavies to take a second weapon, dropped by his teammates. However, as a second weapon, it loses all ammo and so is only useful to get it back to other teammates.
I apologize in advance, if this has already been discussed at length. In that case, would you kindly show me to the right topic?
Please post your thoughts, ideas, and criticism.
Weapons in NS1 pub games:
On public servers weapons are rarely dropped and instead commanders usually opt for upgrades. Weapons are only dropped just before a hive rush or when there's an abundance of res. And this has been generally a reasonable strategy, because when the comm dropped a weapon and the marine died, players didn't make an attempt to look for it, unless it dropped right in front of them. I'd imagine that elite NS teams always communicate about where each weapon is, and when it's dropped they consider retrieving it. I propose to make this part of NS accessible to new players.
Positive gameplay changes
- Commanders should be more willing to buy a shotgun earlier, confident that it might last through the entire game.
- Adds a new rewarding goal to earn a gun.
- W-tracking would give newbs access to better weapons
- Less need to drop good weapons selectively to best player: good players will search and take weapons dropped by newbs
- Generally, this should reduce the trend of marines firing an LMG/pistol 95% of the time
This is not just for marines:
- Dropped guns provide another ambush spot for aliens (since now marines will purposefully get dropped weapons)
- Since the dropped weapon should be unloaded, it will still be balanced (as before)
How W-tracking might work:
- it could be standard or a cheap researchable tech
- For commanders, it would show up as an icon on the map and allow him to give direct orders to marines to retrieve it
- For marine soldiers, it could show up as a tiny icon or dot
- It should also somehow show how long is left before it disappears: it could be a methodical flashing of the icon, flashing at an increased rate when it is about to disappear
-- Solid icon when dropped; slow flashing when 30 seconds left; faster flashing when 15 seconds; and even faster at 5 seconds (or it could fade)
- W-tracking should not clutter the HUD, since there are usually only few dropped weapons and standard LMG and pistol will not show up.
More complex ideas:
- Make weapons a mini character in the game: weapons count number of kills, get more dirty and bloody, and might even get tiny upgrades the longer the more they kill
- Allow heavies to take a second weapon, dropped by his teammates. However, as a second weapon, it loses all ammo and so is only useful to get it back to other teammates.
I apologize in advance, if this has already been discussed at length. In that case, would you kindly show me to the right topic?
Please post your thoughts, ideas, and criticism.
Link to original post.