Basicly lets say Marines decided to relocate from Marine Start. The Aliens would then be able to choose to put up a hive in Marine Start Area. Still have the Max of 3 hives but it just gives the Aliens a choice on where to drop the hives. Cause on some maps when Marines decide to relocate the Aliens end up taking up that res cap and no one ever goes back to that room. Since the action is now more toward the middle of the map.
I remember reading that Instant Recall might be a moveable area for comm to choose where, like near the relocated comm chair. So this will make it more likely that after Marines relocate that Marine Start will never be revisited.

Too bad. What kharaa wouldn't love a bacon delivery straight to the hive?

There's also been discussion on whether or not to allow Emergency Beacon to re-target the new comm chair's area.

The problem is currently the system takes advantage of the pre-placed spawn locations in MS. So, to setup a more dynamic system, you would have to dynamically generate new spawn locations in the map.

Probably a simpler solution is an entity that within it people can spawn (check that you don't clip hitboxes or the map) and when you activate Emergency Beacon this re-centers over the CC and you spawn in. Of course, this doesn't work too well if the CC is against a wall to another room. Although Emergency Beaconing through walls into a Hive would be hilariously awesome. Another one is to instantly force respawn through the IPs and have knock back like the PGs. Of course, two Oni perma stunning the whole team as they come out of IPs is not good, but it's probably easier to get setup properly without weird gimmicks.

Only allow this if the Emergency Beacon follows the new command Chair.

Basically a hive reloc is a high risk-high payout move. I'd rather make the marine turtling a little more difficult so that the marines can't just hang in the game without any real offensive action or solid income. The basic idea is that even 1 hive aliens should be able to breach a lockdown if given the resoucres. At that point we could have quite a few viable tactics and still keep the lockdown from a game decider.

I think that this is trying to apply even for simple relocations, such as double or System Waypointing in Veil.

The thing is hanging in there is the key and is what makes it fun. Relocating to double res sets you back, but map control and 2 controlled RTs is, sometimes, worth it.

While I admit 1 Hive is pretty weak most of the time, 2 Hive lockdowns should spell the end for Aliens because it is usually accompanied with other map control. If the Marines have only the Hives and MS (3 RTs, maybe 4) then it should be very contested with Marines holding Aliens to 1 Hive Abilities, but Aliens able to dish out a couple of Fades and Lerks, if not Oni after a while. I have seen capable Aliens teams tear apart 2 Hive locks. I've also seen not-so capable Alien teams get 2 Hives, but a timely and cheap shotgun rush ends the game.

Just like any relocation, there are great risks that much be weighed against their rewards. That's where the anxious fun starts! Will you succeed? Will you incur an epic fail? Only time can reveal your team's destiny.




I would expect not all teams would do it due to the risk, the same way how marines don't typically relocate. (unless GMC or x5 is commanding in your game, heh) Yet having it as a viable tactic is going to make the game far more interesting for everybody. No more lame turret farm hive lock downs like we saw without end in NS v2.01 (and kind of still can today, only with PG + Electrification). Both teams must control the whole map. Explore the whole map. And best of all, that creative control is in the hands of the mappers and the players that play in them.

It really comes down to player skill and that is hard to balance. We have all seen marines in jps get chewed up by skulks and we have seen a jp marine get devored by a onos because of a bad move on his part. And one can't forget luck (good and bad ) that's what makes a multiplayer game so hard to balance.

1.) Sneak marine into hive
2.) Build Comm chair
3.) Beacon it to death

Impressive you pointed out the ultimate way for this idea to be game ender before it's 3 minutes into the game good job.