It would be nice if the marines could use more of their structures so they don't just sit there and get welded. The com chair, phase gate, and armory work well, but some others look like they should be used due to the nice control panels they have. Two that come to mind are the Arms Lab and the Prototype Lab.

My idea is this.

What if the marines could use these structures to get free items? I know free welders has been talked about as a replacement for grenades. It does seem unfair for every marine to start with a welder, but what if welders could be purchased from a structure like the armory or even arms lab?

I am not sure about the cost, but I was thinking that a welder that you get yourself from a structure would cost less than the 5 res the commander would spend.

Another way to handle cost could be to give each structure enery just like the obs. The structures could carry different free items that any marine can get without costing the team res. The energy would regenerate at a set rate so when it is too low noone can get any items from the structure. This would prevent overuse, but it might also encourage the building of multiple structures.

You could even add upgrades to the structures to allow other items to be purchased or maybe allow the max energy of the structure to be raised. Some items that could be purchased could be welders, mines and grenades.

The commander will still have to drop weapons and can still drop all of these items. This bascally takes a little pressure off the commander and allows a little more res for upgrades. (especially early on)

It is debatable whether or not HA'a and JP's should be purchasable from the Proto Lab, but I think it is possible. Just make it so that a HA or JP purchase uses all the Proto Labs energy.


These are my ideas. I think it would add much more variety and new strategies to the marine game. The control pannels look so nice.... I want to use them.

Please give suggestions and add to the idea.

dude first of all way to overpowering instead of droping one proto lab and then reserching hevy and dropping 100 res worth youed just build 6 proto labs and get them for free . there would be really no way to balace this in my opinion as the kahara dont get items from structures , and the upgrades cost them 2 points , so energy to items is a really big no.

but you might try having the com pre purchse items that could be recived by the structures and given to marines hiting use key them

even so turning energy into items is still over power and would make turtling that much easyer

think about it your in a hive and have it locked down you start to relocate and an onos rush hits your main base so you drop full base equipment in hive room and then you only have 100 or so res left and you gave these structures the new upgrade to turn energy into items then with the last of your res you place a rt on the node out side of the base only to have a onos chomp it down so now you have no res flow but since your upgrades are in effect every 15 secs a new armro could be produced or a new hmg falls in to the hands of an able body marine.


this would still be to powerfull as a in order to make it worth while it would have to make a new item at the max of 15 secs and there would be no way to really balance it for aliens that i can think of

If you think about it, having a structure that give out items for energy is very powerful. That is why it will have to cost enough res to be worth it, but also be costly enough to not become an exploit. Most rine teams dont have the res to spare for something like this until later as they still have more important things to spend it on.
So if a com builds one of these structures he then must do the upgrades. If the upgrades are welders, mines, and grenades, then each of those must be researched. Each researched item could take at least 1 minute. That is 3 minutes before all the upgrades are available plus the res spent on the upgrades. You can increase the research time if that is too fast. I am thinking 25-30 res for each upgrade.


I know this idea is possible, so please give suggestions to make it better. It is just a work in progress. Don't just tell me it wont work.
<3

What do you think about using energy ->items only for welders, grenades, and mines?
Give me some ideas about how to make it work.

well if it was for mine, welder, nades only it might work as they arnt game breaking items but can add a little help , but you could see my point above if it where for anything else it would be so overpowered ie hmg every 15 seconds

we already have this for grenades and medpacks, and ammo; and welders is already being "considered" for future versions. NO to mines cause it will cause mine spamming. everything else will be overpowered (shotties, hmgs, gls, jp, ha)

I don't think this should affect weapons at all. Just items. It could also open up possibilities to put some new items in without worying about if there is space for it in the commander view.

I was also thinking that the upgrades might need to be linked to a structure that would supply it with energy. Maybe another function of a Turret Factory.(energy factory) If the TF(ef) gets taken out, the team can no longer get items until it is rebuilt.

tel you the truth this recharging items is actualy starting to sound good ( weapons and armors excluded) as in any live battle field there is usualy allways some where to get equipment and it makes sence that the mariens ase something of the sort

i like the idea of free welders and hand nades (once a certain structure is upgraded at such a cost, it makes a dent in ur wallet), this wil also answer the problem of restocking hand nades...

mines = way 2 overpowered, even if they cost x3 more energy to resurrect from thin air...

jp/ha = imagine the end-game camps... and like EmpV said, the marines can litterally 'hang on' because of one striucture, even if all they have left is ip, armoury, and this structure, they could win >_>

overall, make it cost a whopping amount of stuff...... then it will be quite cool...

i initially think that i should do my idea, which has probebly been posted before...

as soon as u drop a HA or JP, they come free with a welder, like a built in welder into the ha suits arm... all it would take is new model and a few adjustments here and there

still, i like the orginal idea...

hmm... lets say.. armory has a max of 100 energy, each welder cost 15 energy, mines and nades also cost 15 res...

i hope that welders will be free one day.

Instead of getting resupplies or costing energy to make welders, or whatever, why not do this:

Max 6 welders from a structure.

4 welders restocked in inventory after x amount of time, or 1 welder restocked after x amount of time.

This would mean that a certain amount can be distributed at any one time. The structure reproduces these items and can hold a max, that way you don't start the game having the structure build up on welders and having ample supply for heavies once they are researched.

Sure we could build more structures to supply more welders, but it would be just as costly.

Welders/whatever item can still be produced by comm, but at a much greater expense to res.

And?

edit: Make the commander make sure that the welders to be built are in cue (remember reavers and their bombs from sc?)

not bad..

how about the # of welders is determined by the team divided by half. This way, not everyone will get welders. so their will be guys that shoot and guys that weld them up.

this is gonna be denied mainly because you are taking some responsibility off the comm's hands.