So this is where you can put your buffs/nerfs and any other "balance" type things, don't talk about ONOS ability changes here, use the other thread.

How about he receives half damage from explosives?

the onos should recieve a bonus deffense agaisnt turrets, becuase its hit boxes are all so easy for HMGs to take down, its hard for the ono to get in there and bust up a base without turrets let alone with them

so I'd like to see terrut deffense bonus

The Onos dies way too fast against 2 or 3 HMGs (45 res to kill a 75 res lifeform).

Maybe the hitbox should be shrunk just slightly to give him a little edge.

Onos already takes half damage from turrets.

Give him better protection against the HMG, so that one single Jetpacking HMG marine can't take him down, but two or three can. It keeps the whole teamwork for the win thing going, and lets onos become more viable then fades when fighting jetpack strats.

He's pretty chubby, perhaps give him high-powered bullet stopping armour or something, so he takes half damage from the Heavy Machine Gun, or something? Since it already takes half damage against turrets...

i like the 'less damage from bullets' idea. It makes the onos strong but in early games mine packs can still stop him.
The onos needs to be powerful, but not newb friendly. The burden of higher life forms should be higher skill. ::goes and plays as a skulk for 3 hours::

Raise cost to 100, raise health to 950/600, make the onos take 2/3 damage from all weapons.

don't raise the costs, christ, it has to be lower to counter HA, [although depending on the map it always can't]

the onos isn't that weak when you get umbra, or can keep them stomped.

i would just keep the res cost at 75, and put in regen overflow, because the fact that turrents that dink for 1 hp cost you regen of 65 or something is pretty annoying

EDIT: Oops wrong thread.

Currently the Onos is just a big hit and run or cover behind corner and devour unit.
But not the massive biotank it should be.

Too improve this you could link the Onos' speed to its stamina.
So at full stamina an Onos would be really fast. Now he hits a marine. Cause the Stamina bar is full it causes 500 Damage. Now that you actually hit a target your stamina should drain by 50%.

This would make it easy for the onos to take out a single rine and force him to fight a whole group if he meets one. Cause he cant just devour one and then retreat.

Make onos do passive damage to marines adjacent to it.

New way of seeing onos: keep your distance and you'll survive. Get too close, and you're dead.

Gives onos an advantage in tight spaces like hallways, so marines will have to be smart to take an onos out, such as luring him into an open space.

The passive damage would be ~10 for each 0.1 second of touch.

Also, this renders charge redundant, so you devs can come up with a new ability for onos.

Charge should be replaced with temporary damage reduction (1/4-3/4), at the cost of energy.

Charge is worthless- it should be the best skill in the game.

Theki11er, this thread isn't about onos abilities, just balance. There's another thread concerning onos abilities.

Anyway, my suggestion is pretty simple: redo the Onos model completely.

The onos still isn't what it used to be, it's still weak as hell and it shouldn't need both a gorge and a lerk to keep it alive vs one or two heavies. With the fixed hitboxes the onos became a joke because of the enormous size of it's model. Redo the model, make it an actual evolution. It doesn't make sense that you go from dog like being, to pig like, to humanoid, to rhino anyway. Make the onos smaller, not as huge, a bit bigger than the fade and perhaps even redo the abilities somewhat, but that's not what the thread is for. The onos is still a joke, and redoing the model would allow that to change completely.

An odd idea that came to mind but one that might help fix the 'die with armor left' problem when an Onos goes carapace. This will also make Onos a little bit stronger, giving them more of a reason to rush base together instead of camping outside, trying to pick off HAs one by one.

Give Onos a passive regen ability, health only, no armor. If possible, calculate it so the hp it regens is something like 10% of the hp it has lost, so if the onos has taken 100 damage, it heals for 10hp per bloop tick, etc. It might seem a lot but when an onos gets stripped of its carapace, it'll take huge amounts of damage in between ticks that the passive regen won't save it. Maybe with this added, a carapace onos won't actually die with like 100 carapace points left.

Onos dosen't need more defense, it needs more power, IMO. If it could kill light marines quickly, it wouldn't have to worry about what weapons they have because they will be dead by the time they do enough damage.

So, how about this:

Hive 1: Gore does enough damage to kill a light marine in one hit with armor 0/1

Hive 2: Gore does enough damage to kill a light marine in one hit with armor 2

Hive 3: Gore does enough damage to kill a light marine in one hit with armor 3

you want to read this thread!

Yeah, I have seen it, but this would be a much bigger boost. And would only apply to the Onos.

n my opinion, I think that would make the game totally unbalanced. Everyone would save up to Onos and just murder the marines, while one saves for the hive. This also forces the marines to tech up to armor 2 as soon as possible since they will need to counter the inevitable, instead of having alternatives like going MT first, PG rush, etc.

I don't see any problems with the Onos, except for the carapace armor left over bug. No unit is suppose to be a solo, murderer, able to kill everything by himself

How could it make the game totaly unbalanced? If everyone would save up for an Onos and one for the hive, that means you would have bunch of skulks running around for...eight minutes? I'm sure the marines could take down a hive in that time. You would still need the five minute Fade, so a six on six, one person would be a gorge, and one a fade. That leaves six res ****.

But if you have six res ****, no one is going to be able to drop chambers, so you won't be able to get any benefits, you will still basically be an unupgraded Onos.

So take a res **** out and let there only be three res ****, one fade, one gorge building a hive, and another building chambers.

Now by the time the aliens would get the second hive after the res whoring (probaly limited RTs) marines would have HA (which wouldn't get killed in one hit by the Onos) and the JP (which can out maneuver the Onos).

The Onos wouldn't be any stronger physically, and would still die just as fast. However, if he is able to get close to the marines, he could easily kill them.

You wouldn't have to rush armor two, at least not any faster than now; by the time the Aliens get an Onos marines would probaly have an upgraded armory with HMGs, ext.

All this would do is make the Onos more of a base breaker at two hives, and more of a game ender at hive three.

I agree that in a competitive six-on-six game, this will make the Onos a little stronger but not totally unbalancing it. It would definately serve as an end game, even now in competitive play, an Onos is really hard to counter.

However, from my experience in public play and I've had a lot of public play experience, #cri being my first clan, I can tell this won't work already. That is because a lot of marine commanders don't use the A1, W1, W2, AA, HA/JP tech tree as the bible to marine commanders. Instead I see a lot building TFs at hives, electrifying nodes, this puts a major delay on getting to HA and higher weapon upgrades. On average, from personal experience, I say you can get fade/hive res (50) in about 4-5 minutes. That means at the 7-8 minute mark, you would get Onos. On public play, on average, I've seen marines tech up advance armory at the 10 minute mark, be able to dish out HA with lvl2/3 weapon upgrade by the 15 minute mark if they survive that long. By that time, a couple of Onos would have already rampaged their base or killed all their nodes.

Let him take 5 or/to 10 less damage from each bullet (weakens lmg, but still allows hmgs and shotties to do their thing.)

Quick idea: As an Onos is being shot at by more than one marine, each marine firing at the Onos (as in has hit the Onos with a bullet/grenade in the last 1.5 seconds) will reduce the damage done by all the marines.

For example:

With 2 marines, each marine does 92% damage. This totals to 184% of the damage caused by 1 marine.
With 3 marines, each marine does 84% damage. This totals to 252% of the damage caused by 1 marine.
With 4 marines, each marine does 76% damage. This totals to 304% of the damage caused by 1 marine.
With 5 marines, each marine does 70% damage. This totals to 350% of the damage caused by 1 marine.
With 6 or more marines, each marine does 65% damage.

So you see, this way the Onos can take lots of damage from 5 marines, without increasing regeneration power, decreasing turret power, etc. Also, 10 marines with this would equal the power of 6.5 marines shooting at an Onos as of now. The Onos is still going to die, but just not as quickly. Maybe it could take out a marine or 2 in the process.

that ones kinda complicated and not very realistic forsay...

Im all for a general damage reduction, cause I know they absorb ALOT of bullets. But nothing drastic, reducing to like 2/3 or 3/4 is like adding 300 HP, im talking about mayb 90% or so damage taken from all weapons, then the added bonus for turrets still.

And in league play with only 5 rines shooting him (6 in ms)?

when i look at an onos i see this huge white armor looking thing on his front side, why not make that take half dmg or so from bullets and let the rest of his mushy body take full dmg?

b/c now u cant kill a stomp onos? And fyi the hitboxes for an onos face is prolly the worst 1's in the game...

I don't think the problem is with the onos itself I think its with the HMG, considering one HMG can kill hive 3 cara lvl3 onos.

However, if I were to choose I would say buff the onos 300HP or so and up the res cost to 80. Increase the cara(per level added for armour) amount as well by a meger 15%.

Not only would it take 2-3 hmgs to kill it, but now it could take out those bases that like to turrent farm near the end of the game with uber gls and hmgers.

replace stomp + effects with old 1.04 paralyze + effects

The main problem with the onos atleast as I see it is his role. I always saw the onos as more of a tank then a hit and run alien like the other 4. Through the years the onos became less tank and more hit-and-run and I think going back to what he was is more of a answer then what else does he need.

Personally and I know this will never happen but I say get rid of devour. Since its a automatic kill they have to keep the onos somewhat weak to balance this. I would increase all his stats and give him a new ability to make him more of a tank. This way he can take more of a beating, take more damage like a real tank unit does and with the new ability and I'm not sure what it could be but as it is now with devour/stomp you can't really make his stats high because it would destroy the balance hence, making him a hit-and-run unit and not a tank. Perhaps the new ability could be a damage asorbing ability that gradually drains adren. but lowers the amount of damage he takes while its in effect? just an idea.

Just give my Onos a defence increase against hmg.. thats all..

HMG kills the beast too easily... 1 clip from a 15 res gun.. come on thats a bit much...

Just 1.5 clips to kill onos would be better i don't really care as long as it takes more than 1 clip to kill the onos..

tbh i have no use for stomp rarely use it infact.. i use charge the most as running marines over is so satisfying and fun, i have no problems using charge to kill things unless its HA for ha i need to stay running into him for far too long to run him over but i suppose devour ha and run the la's over and gore jp's.

Just make it more resistant to hmg and you have a winner

But then he would be to overpowered and would pretty much never die since the hmg is about the only thing that does kill the onos and, if hes really good its not a easy task to do. Especially with all the ablities it has now.

I cant really see why the onos paralyse was disabled. Stomp is alright, but it was a better with paralyse., what is really the true JP counter. Its very hard for a lerk to catch up with a JP'er and a fade usually runs out of energy blinking trying to hit it. Just a suggestion for the onos attack order

1: Standard Gore
2: Charge with lowered damage.
3: Devour
4: Paralyse.

Not my idea originally, but it needs to be repeated here.

It's doubtful that locational damage will make it in, but the Onos needs to have a way higher absorbtion rate on its face. After all, there's a huge slab of carapace there. It would make sense if the Onos's armor absorbed, let's say, 55% more damage when hit in the front. The Onos would once again become a tank, taking lots more damage for the little guys and becoming decidedly anti-Heavy, and it would actually discourage the hit-and-run Onos playstyle, as turning your back to the Marines would mean death comes a lot faster. This would add another tactical consideration to playing the Onos, something I feel it is sorely lacking amongst the other combat classes who all have at least one unique ability or trait that takes some practice to master, and add a bit higher skill requirement; you'd have to make sure you kept your face to the Marines or you'd be cut up at the same terrible rate you are now. Jetpackers could still easily fly around your side and spray into your flank with their HMGs if you don't have OC or Lerk cover, but this is not a bad thing. Jetpacks are meant to be the counter to the Onos, unless you've got the (arguably) best anti-JP unit, the Lerk, at your side (I've seen Onoses do the impossible when they have good Lerks at their side; they don't have to fear JPs and the umbra helps with HMG'ers). Don't forget that NS is a teamplay mod, even for the aliens. This change should coincide with some other tweaks to the charge ability, but those go in the other topic.

Here's what i propose:

"It's doubtful that locational damage will make it in, but the Onos needs to have a way higher absorbtion rate on its face. After all, there's a huge slab of carapace there. It would make sense if the Onos's armor absorbed, let's say, 55% more damage when hit in the front. The Onos would once again become a tank, taking lots more damage for the little guys and becoming decidedly anti-Heavy, and it would actually discourage the hit-and-run Onos playstyle, as turning your back to the Marines would mean death comes a lot faster. This would add another tactical consideration to playing the Onos, something I feel it is sorely lacking amongst the other combat classes who all have at least one unique ability or trait that takes some practice to master, and add a bit higher skill requirement; you'd have to make sure you kept your face to the Marines or you'd be cut up at the same terrible rate you are now. Jetpackers could still easily fly around your side and spray into your flank with their HMGs if you don't have OC or Lerk cover, but this is not a bad thing. Jetpacks are meant to be the counter to the Onos, unless you've got the (arguably) best anti-JP unit, the Lerk, at your side (I've seen Onoses do the impossible when they have good Lerks at their side; they don't have to fear JPs and the umbra helps with HMG'ers). Don't forget that NS is a teamplay mod, even for the aliens. This change should coincide with some other tweaks to the charge ability, but those go in the other topic. "

That is a really good idea, but of course the abilities would have to be tweaked and I think this like you said would give the onos the role he should have, a tank.

You know what the Onos really needs? A smaller hitbox.

I remember in 2.01 days, a skilled Onos could defeat surprisingly large amounts of enemy firepower, while a less skilled Onos could be taken down by a handful of marines if they were very good themselves.

Now, the Onos seems to have much more of a threshold effect---below a certain level of firepower, nothing the marines do will matter, they will just all die. Above that level of firepower, nothing the Onos does will matter, he will just die. This has a lot to do with the fact that it is virtually impossible to miss an Onos, so the amount of damage he takes really doesn't change much from one encoutner to another. So Onos need smaller hit boxes.


In answer to the calls for paralyse to come back--paralyse was designed as a counter to JPs. Stomp was designed to aid fighting HAs (and LAs too), while being ineffective vs JPs. JPs are officially supposed to be the counter for Onos today, while Onos are counters for HAs, so it is highly unlikely that we will see Stomp switch out for a Paralyse-like ability.

Now paralisis is a counter to all three, but requires timing, skill, and a keen eye to use

Not really--paralysis is largely useless against HA and LAs.

An Onos faces entirely different problems vs HAs and JPs. Vs JPs, the Onos has a lot of trouble reaching the marine to hurt him at all. Therefore, Paralysis is very useful to stop him from running away from you.

Vs HAs, the Onos has no problems with reaching the marine to bite him. The problem is just that by the time the Onos does 700 damage to kill the HA, the HA might have killed him first (moreso with friends to help). LA can cause the same situation, if there are a lot of them. Again, the Onos can kill the LAs easily--he just might die himself first. In this case, Paralysis does nothing, as it doesn't stop them from shooting at you.

Only things I want is 1.04 onos back. The old onos use to be really strong, but didnt **** you off with charging-stomp-devour-run-away tactics that I've learned to hate. Or at the least bring back paralize/make marines able to shoot and make it so a onos can not attack while charging, its made me quit the game a few times before because the onos makes me so mad.

Seems NS just keeps replacing good stuff with new things that make me mad every time I fight against it :/

Cxwf... that's the fricking point! Now the onos can't be a **** little "OH EM GEE A GUN RUN AWAY!" kind of alien... you go in there, eat one, beat the living tar paper out of the others, paralyze the JP, and then chow down...

only when you run into HMG's do you have a problem, and GL's make you quiver in fear! Not only does it stop the "tank" from being a "Heavy Sniper" but it gives the GL another purpose!

what was the paralyze anyway

Paralyze was a hitscan ranged attack the Onos had that would instantly freeze any Marine hit with it in place and cause jetpackers to fall to the ground, often resulting in a hilarious death. The effect lasted for about 5 seconds, and I'm not sure whether or not it also kept you from looking around, though you could still fire.

as DR.FUZZY said i used to play as onos only when the game needed a end to the 5 hour sequence i used to play on the old teamkindred serv. the old 1.0x onos could take relativly andything before dying and it had less hp and less armor than it does now.

No, paralyze is NOT any better vs JP's than it is vs HA / LA

Reason being?

It's a faster, farther away target to hit!

And the paralyse I'm suggesting is NOT hitscan

The key reason paralyze was removed and stomp was added is the fact that you can freeze multiple marines at once. If you face one marine you simply gore him or digest him. If you face more than one HMGr paralyse will be of little use to you.

If paralyse (proectile) does "splash paralysis" then it may be viable, but that's then obsurd. Onos would paralyse marines in MS from a distance, whilst fades/skulks mop up. Sieging would be nigh on impossible, as the onos can criple the team from a distance.

100 damage gore?! That's 200 damage focussed...
One hit kill for A1. :|
2 hits for any other LA
4 for a HA. :|

The only thing about the onos that needs changing IMO is charge, stomp fits the onos and works effectively.