Tremulous Forum

General => Feedback => Topic started by: |Nex|TrEmMa on August 31, 2006, 05:27:44 am

Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: |Nex|TrEmMa on August 31, 2006, 05:27:44 am
Well atm, dragoons can charge up their pounce forever if they so choose (there is a damage limit, however).
This is opposite the humans' lucifer cannon, which has a nice overcharge - explode feature.
Now I know nothing of imaginary aliens and how they work, but I imagine a very long pounce charge up/hold would wear that alien down a little in some way.
Possible changes could be:
-Having dragoons make a pounce charge up moan/sound
-A way to control limit of charge time, either an auto release after X seconds, an auto-cancel of an "overcharged" pounce, self-damage for overcharging or any combination of these
-Self damage could work a few ways: a set amt dmg after X seconds charging or a slow/gradual decline in health after X seconds charge (pounce would still do max damage in this case).
I'm pretty sure I've never seen this discussed before, so discuss (and flame).
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: kevlarman on August 31, 2006, 05:46:56 am
there are already enough reasons not to keep pounce charged forever (you move slower, you can't jump, you can't chomp anything). you can't keep a luci charged forever because you could take out most s3 aliens with a fully charged shot (only a tyrant is safe), a goon pounce is about annoying as a dretch to an s3 human.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: kozak6 on August 31, 2006, 07:34:52 am
The current goon pounce seems fine to me.

Charging the pounce slows goons down, and I haven't played as a goon for a little while here, but I think kevlarman is correct in not being able to chomp while charging.

Besides, there don't seem to be any gameplay issues caused by goons holding down pounce, so why change it?
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: PHREAK on August 31, 2006, 08:02:48 am
The current pounce is completly fucked up, if u ask me. Since the new R1CH? fix, it's impossibe to play with....quite a pain in the arse.

As far as overcharging the goon, well see above posts about why it wouldn't matter. Slower speed, slower turns, can't chomp, etc.


P.S.
Where have you been Tremma? Nex misses you.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Basilisco on August 31, 2006, 08:13:33 am
If you are going to compare the lcannon with anything, do it with the tyrant. Which, for what it concerns, can't charge the trample forever.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: ^Black on August 31, 2006, 10:35:53 am
Tremulous is perfect as is excluding balance issues concerning the actual skill of the people on the teams. Why can't you just leave it alone?
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: KorJax on August 31, 2006, 12:01:23 pm
I belive goons should only be able to charge pounce for 10 seconds, any more the goon will make a screaming sound and instantly explode.

The meat chunks hitting you do 50 damage in a Bsuit, and instantly kill unarmroed.  Kinda like a time bomb ^_^
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Henners on August 31, 2006, 12:40:45 pm
Of all the articifial reasons for wanting to change something.

"The completely unrelated weapon has an overcharge punishment - lets change the dragoon pounce!"

If you continue down this line of arguement I'll be forced into an objection
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: [db@]Megabite on August 31, 2006, 12:54:07 pm
Quote from: "PHREAK"
The current pounce is completly fucked up, if u ask me. Since the new R1CH? fix, it's impossibe to play with....quite a pain in the arse.


Pounce just works the way it was meant to work again. That fix is just that... a fix for an exploit. If it is impossible for you to play without exploiting bugs you should just fire up Quake3 SP and type "/god" in console.

Danny
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Juno on August 31, 2006, 12:59:57 pm
Quote from: "^Black"
Tremulous is perfect as is excluding balance issues concerning the actual skill of the people on the teams. Why can't you just leave it alone?



what he said
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Stof on August 31, 2006, 03:24:24 pm
Quote from: "Juno"
Quote from: "^Black"
Tremulous is perfect as is excluding balance issues concerning the actual skill of the people on the teams. Why can't you just leave it alone?



what he said

Loads of crap. Trem is not perfect, is not perfectly balanced and anyway, balance is NOT a valid argument against changing things in the game : you CAN change things while keeping the game balanced.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Vector_Matt on August 31, 2006, 03:50:15 pm
Leave the goon pounce the way it is, there is no logical reason it should be otherwise.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: PHREAK on August 31, 2006, 06:39:16 pm
Quote from: "[db@
Megabite"]

Pounce just works the way it was meant to work again. That fix is just that... a fix for an exploit. If it is impossible for you to play without exploiting bugs you should just fire up Quake3 SP and type "/god" in console.

Danny


Hm, great suggestion.
Anyway, I have never used the rapid goon pounce in game so I really could give 2 shitts about it. I'm talking about the new "feel" of the goon. It really has gone from nice to a completly new animal. I also know for a fact that I'm not the only one with this opinion.

Mega, don't insult my intelegence by suggesting god mode, etc. I'm not your 14 year old CS/NS moron. m'kay
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Juno on August 31, 2006, 08:57:30 pm
well tbh ive noticed the goon being a bit werid




feels like my movement is restricted and i have no idea what the hell is going on, apart from it being nerfed a bit. feels worse imo , so i agree with phreak


rapid pouncing was only useful for fleeing really, and getting from A- B fast





the game was fine imo before hand, but this new goon does rape my skill a bit



maybe it just takes getting used to
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: PHREAK on August 31, 2006, 10:44:28 pm
Juno, you can still do getaway pounces.
Find a long corrdor and ponce far, before you lad press jump (space bar).....keep repeating. You'll see what I mean.

BTW, what you described is exactly what I meant. It just feels restricted and weird and I can't really put my finger on what it really is.

Right now I have trouble killing ONE decent s2 hummie, where before it wasn't an issue (I not a pro but i'm better with the goon the your avarage bear). If there is a group, I don't live long enough to count them.

Goon is intended to be stronger and more dangerous then the classes bellow him, yet currently thats not the case.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Odin on August 31, 2006, 11:50:41 pm
Why not just make the dragoon's pounce fatigue-based, like the human jumps and sprint?
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Stof on September 01, 2006, 12:18:30 am
Quote from: "PHREAK"
Juno, you can still do getaway pounces.
Find a long corrdor and ponce far, before you lad press jump (space bar).....keep repeating. You'll see what I mean.

BTW, what you described is exactly what I meant. It just feels restricted and weird and I can't really put my finger on what it really is.

Right now I have trouble killing ONE decent s2 hummie, where before it wasn't an issue (I not a pro but i'm better with the goon the your avarage bear). If there is a group, I don't live long enough to count them.

Goon is intended to be stronger and more dangerous then the classes bellow him, yet currently thats not the case.

Why does it matter? Pounce isn't that useful to kill humans is it? Myself I never use it as a damage dealer tool and I haven't too much difficulties killing stage 2 humans. Well, not much more than usual :/
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Paradox on September 01, 2006, 12:19:21 am
Ahh another "LETS NERF AN ALIEN BECAUSE IM NO GOOD WITH THEM AND ALL THE OTHER BOYS AND GIRLS ARE! WAAH" thread.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Juno on September 01, 2006, 10:10:52 am
Quote from: "Stof"

Why does it matter? Pounce isn't that useful to kill humans is it? Myself I never use it as a damage dealer tool and I haven't too much difficulties killing stage 2 humans. Well, not much more than usual :/



i do tho


id much rather be able to pounce as a bsuit and do a bit of damage as a goon first

noob story here

yesterday on ATCS i managed to bind the chomp key, so all my goon could do was pounce ( without nerfed pounce)

got a luci bsuit down to 10hp, just by pouncing into him

i dont fancy the only way to kill humans being chomping., i like to take a bit of damage, line up where i think theyll go and pounce AND chomp, so that i do more damage
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Norfenstein on September 09, 2006, 03:38:59 am
Quote from: "Stof"
Quote from: "PHREAK"
Right now I have trouble killing ONE decent s2 hummie, where before it wasn't an issue (I not a pro but i'm better with the goon the your avarage bear). If there is a group, I don't live long enough to count them.

Goon is intended to be stronger and more dangerous then the classes bellow him, yet currently thats not the case.

Why does it matter? Pounce isn't that useful to kill humans is it? Myself I never use it as a damage dealer tool and I haven't too much difficulties killing stage 2 humans. Well, not much more than usual :/

The bite only does more damage than the pounce with a headshot, and was never meant to be useful mid-pounce (that would make the pounce useless as an attack). Pouncing is almost a long range weapon and can be used to own any human that doesn't have support. Don't try using the pounce to close in for a bite; there's a delay on it after landing. It really is the goon's main attack.

Quote from: "Juno"
i dont fancy the only way to kill humans being chomping., i like to take a bit of damage, line up where i think theyll go and pounce AND chomp, so that i do more damage

You can't bite and chomp. Before the change biting mid-pounce canceled the pounce damage and after the change you just can't bite while pouncing (a client-side change is required so that the bite sound doesn't play, but even though you hear it you're not biting and no one else hears it). That was another reason for the change, no one actually understood what was going on and now it's simpler: pounce when you're far away and bite when you're not because they can't be used together.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Lava Croft on September 09, 2006, 04:59:41 am
Amen.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: |Nex|TrEmMa on September 09, 2006, 09:10:06 am
Pouncing short range is like zapping (in most cases), it's just not as effective.

But the original intent was to propose one of those changes that's realistic and helps slightly tweak game balance.  Dragoons dominate most stage 1 human teams.  Any changes would need to ensure that the aliens s2 disadvantage were not made any bigger.

And I may be going out on a limb, but I far from suck with aliens Paradox ;).

And tyrants cant stand around a corner with trample charged :P.  And since when does anyone use trample as their only means of attack?

Making it so you can't infinitely charge pounce shouldn't nerf your pouncing of humans anyway.  You'll still deal the same damage.  You'll still be able to pounce people to death.  It's just more realistic and a slight change that could help balance.

Oh, and if you have pounce charged, slowed walking doesn't matter... at all... when you can release pounce and go a lot further faster.

If I were savvy with modding, I'd write up a mod for this to let it be tested out.  But just ask yourself how much of your playing as a goon relies on sitting still with pounce charged and realise it wouldn't be the end of the world :/.

I like playing devil's advocate though ;).  (I've also always wanted to here more goon related sounds :) )
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: PHREAK on September 09, 2006, 10:27:17 am
On a side note:

Why does the swipe cancel the pounce and why does the ponce kill the swipe (new tjw build)?

How's this "natural" for the goon?

How does one go about jumping over a bsuit, head chomp him then finish him from the back, when one has to wait a set number of seconds for the swipe to work again?

That's like preventing hummies from shooting when the duck or preventing jettards from firing when they fly!
I see no logic.

If a lion can jump on you and bite your neck at the same time, so should a goon :P
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: temple on September 09, 2006, 06:42:44 pm
Quote from: "|Nex|TrEmMa"
Making it so you can't infinitely charge pounce shouldn't nerf your pouncing of humans anyway.  You'll still deal the same damage.  You'll still be able to pounce people to death.  It's just more realistic and a slight change that could help balance.

Realism don't do anything for game balance.  What is the real reason for wanting to nerf pouncing?

The only advantage to nerfing the charging of pounce would be to make goons have to charge the pounce on the fly.  Most (good) people already do that.  

This change is more of annoyance than balance.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Norfenstein on September 10, 2006, 03:01:49 am
Quote from: "PHREAK"
Why does the swipe cancel the pounce and why does the ponce kill the swipe (new tjw build)?

How's this "natural" for the goon?

The former was unintended and that latter was implemented because 1) a flying 160 damage attack is unbalanced and 2) it makes the pounce useless as a weapon (because allowing both together would be even more unbalanced and allowing either one alone is a false choice; you would never have a good reason to go for 100 damage instead of 160)

Quote from: "PHREAK"
How does one go about jumping over a bsuit, head chomp him then finish him from the back, when one has to wait a set number of seconds for the swipe to work again?

One doesn't. Instead, you pounce over a bsuit, aim at his head like you would for a bite and damage him with the pounce (it's easier because you don't have to time it), then wait the 0.4 seconds for the bite to become usable again. Or even better, don't chomp at all and do repeated fly-by pounces (you don't actually have to run into someone to damage them, just aim, you can fly right past their hitbox).

Quote from: "PHREAK"
That's like preventing hummies from shooting when the duck or preventing jettards from firing when they fly!
I see no logic.

It's not like either of those because ducking and flying are not attacks.

Quote
If a lion can jump on you and bite your neck at the same time, so should a goon :P

If a lion could harm someone by jumping on them without biting them then maybe you'd have a point.


Apologies to Tremma for being offtopic. I don't see how removing charge holding would really change much of anything. I suppose it's mostly a convenience for when you don't quite land in-position for a second pounce after a first. If you're thinking about goons camping behind doors or corners (like tyrants used to do with the trample) well... at stage 1 they can just head chomp instead for a guaranteed kill. Goons really are balanced weirdly because they have to cover stage 2 without being unfair at stage 1; I think once the issues with stage 2 aliens are sorted out we can go back and do something meaningful with the goon.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Undeference on September 10, 2006, 04:45:57 am
Quote
If a lion could harm someone by jumping on them without biting them then maybe you'd have a point.

One word: crunch
Seriously, if a lion pounced on you without biting or clawing, do you think you'd even be half-alive to thank them?
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Rippy on September 10, 2006, 09:49:54 pm
Some fairly harmless changes to the pounce:

1. Make it so that you can only charge a pounce while on the ground. Right now you can pounce, charge the next pounce while in the air, release the pounce as soon as you land, and repeat. The result is a dragoon (or even worse, adv dragoon) that bounces around at mach 3 (new "sonic boom" attack mb?). I believe SATGNU has that fixed, but it should be standard, because it makes a good goon player several times faster than he should be.

2. Pouncing dragoons should knock back any humans they hit. A half ton alien traveling at high speed should be able to knock a human quite a long way backward. The knockback distance would depend on how fast the goon was traveling when it hit the hummie, and the damage would also depend on the speed of the goon (not sure if it already does?). And finally, bsuits would be knocked back very little.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: temple on September 11, 2006, 01:32:49 am
Quote from: "Rippy"
Some fairly harmless changes to the pounce:

1. Make it so that you can only charge a pounce while on the ground. Right now you can pounce, charge the next pounce while in the air, release the pounce as soon as you land, and repeat. The result is a dragoon (or even worse, adv dragoon) that bounces around at mach 3 (new "sonic boom" attack mb?). I believe SATGNU has that fixed, but it should be standard, because it makes a good goon player several times faster than he should be.

2. Pouncing dragoons should knock back any humans they hit. A half ton alien traveling at high speed should be able to knock a human quite a long way backward. The knockback distance would depend on how fast the goon was traveling when it hit the hummie, and the damage would also depend on the speed of the goon (not sure if it already does?). And finally, bsuits would be knocked back very little.


1. I disagree with that totally.  You have never played a goon versus good humans.  A goons only defense is its agility.  When humans are packing shotguns, pulse rifles, or a lucy; they can just circle strafe + auto fire you death.  Goons are big targets, humans don't have to really aim at close range.  Being able to pounce repeatedly is the only thing that keeps a goon from being swiss cheese.  When you have 2 or more (good) humans, a goon doesn't stand a chance unless he can kill them in seconds or pounce around.

2. A knockback would be a buff to humans because humans are ranged attackers.  You basically would be knocking them out your range and back into their kill zone.  The only way a knockback would work is if it was a knock DOWN.  LOL, I would LOOOOOVE to see that.  Otherwise a knockback sucks for goons.

Just leave goons alone.  I would like to see more counters for circle strafing (lag strafing) but I just hope my ping is as high as their and pounce around until I can finish them.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: kozak6 on September 11, 2006, 02:50:24 am
Quote from: "Rippy"
Some fairly harmless changes to the pounce:

1. Make it so that you can only charge a pounce while on the ground. Right now you can pounce, charge the next pounce while in the air, release the pounce as soon as you land, and repeat. The result is a dragoon (or even worse, adv dragoon) that bounces around at mach 3 (new "sonic boom" attack mb?). I believe SATGNU has that fixed, but it should be standard, because it makes a good goon player several times faster than he should be.

2. Pouncing dragoons should knock back any humans they hit. A half ton alien traveling at high speed should be able to knock a human quite a long way backward. The knockback distance would depend on how fast the goon was traveling when it hit the hummie, and the damage would also depend on the speed of the goon (not sure if it already does?). And finally, bsuits would be knocked back very little.


Actually, even if you can't charge a pounce in midair (and I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to), you can still jump and jump and jump as soon as you land and this allows you to keep all of your speed.

Suggestion 2 is interesting.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: next_ghost on September 11, 2006, 09:33:10 am
Quote from: "kozak6"
Actually, even if you can't charge a pounce in midair (and I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to), you can still jump and jump and jump as soon as you land and this allows you to keep all of your speed.

Suggestion 2 is interesting.


Bunnyhopping won't solve anything because you can't change directions fast enough to avoid being hit and you can't use it to get into high safety (ie. on niveus to the big window above door leading to long/4 door room crossroad).

And as temple said earlier, knockback is a big NO for goon.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Rippy on September 11, 2006, 11:57:56 pm
@temple

Um, unfair assumption mb? I've been playing for a couple months now, and dragoons are my weapon of choice. (well, evo of choice I guess?) Also, you don't seem to understand what charging in midair does: it's like marauder bunnyhopping, it allows you to gain tons of speed but it's near impossible to turn. THAT'S what I think is unfair. It allows goons to gain a huge amount of speed in straight hallways when, imo, they shouldn't be able to. Stopping midair charging wouldn't in any way affect a goon's agility during combat, because during combat you aren't hopping in a straight line. You're turning after every pounce, and there's a delay on that regardless of whether or not you already charged a pounce.

So, removing the midair chargeup would just prevent goons from gaining rediculous speed in straight lines. They'd still perform just as well when fighting or escaping.

Good point for #2 though, never thought of that. An actual knockdown would be cool, assuming the human gets up fairly quickly, put that would require more anims and game mechanics that wouldn't be priority for quite a while. I suppose it could cause a sort of 1 second disorientation ala adv basi (with the drugged up crosshair). Either way, I just find it looks odd when goons run into hummies as though the humans were brick walls o_O

Anyway, I'd just appreciate that you don't immediately assume that I'm a newbie who never plays aliens. When I play as dragoon I rank in the top 1/4 of the game fairly consistently; I mean, I still get owned by the pros/semi-pros, but doesn't everyone? Just reminding you that I do have the dragoon's best interest at heart, I'm not some human who can't fight off a goon and so thinks it must be nerfed :P
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: temple on September 12, 2006, 06:09:39 am
Quote from: "Rippy"
@temple

Um, unfair assumption mb? I've been playing for a couple months now, and dragoons are my weapon of choice. (well, evo of choice I guess?) Also, you don't seem to understand what charging in midair does: it's like marauder bunnyhopping, it allows you to gain tons of speed but it's near impossible to turn. THAT'S what I think is unfair. It allows goons to gain a huge amount of speed in straight hallways when, imo, they shouldn't be able to. Stopping midair charging wouldn't in any way affect a goon's agility during combat, because during combat you aren't hopping in a straight line. You're turning after every pounce, and there's a delay on that regardless of whether or not you already charged a pounce.

I don't see what wrong with goons having speed on straight halls.  

What I see is goons getting lagged between landing and pouncing and not being able to move around.  Goons are already huge, without quick reflexes, they will shot to pieces in close fights.  Basically, once they get close they have to kill or pray there is no delay between pounces if they have to land to charge.  

Changing pounce would be a decrease in goon speed.  I've played with you but I think you need to get close with some chainguns or pulse rifles and see if goons can afford to move slower.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: next_ghost on September 12, 2006, 08:25:34 am
Quote from: "Rippy"
@temple

Um, unfair assumption mb? I've been playing for a couple months now, and dragoons are my weapon of choice. (well, evo of choice I guess?) Also, you don't seem to understand what charging in midair does: it's like marauder bunnyhopping, it allows you to gain tons of speed but it's near impossible to turn. THAT'S what I think is unfair. It allows goons to gain a huge amount of speed in straight hallways when, imo, they shouldn't be able to. Stopping midair charging wouldn't in any way affect a goon's agility during combat, because during combat you aren't hopping in a straight line. You're turning after every pounce, and there's a delay on that regardless of whether or not you already charged a pounce.

So, removing the midair chargeup would just prevent goons from gaining rediculous speed in straight lines. They'd still perform just as well when fighting or escaping.

Good point for #2 though, never thought of that. An actual knockdown would be cool, assuming the human gets up fairly quickly, put that would require more anims and game mechanics that wouldn't be priority for quite a while. I suppose it could cause a sort of 1 second disorientation ala adv basi (with the drugged up crosshair). Either way, I just find it looks odd when goons run into hummies as though the humans were brick walls o_O

Anyway, I'd just appreciate that you don't immediately assume that I'm a newbie who never plays aliens. When I play as dragoon I rank in the top 1/4 of the game fairly consistently; I mean, I still get owned by the pros/semi-pros, but doesn't everyone? Just reminding you that I do have the dragoon's best interest at heart, I'm not some human who can't fight off a goon and so thinks it must be nerfed :P


Do you realize that goons have only 200hp? That's exactly 1 1/3 RIFLE magazine! Put 2 riflemen that can shoot in a long corridor and no goon will ever go through in one piece without using midair-charged pounce.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: MadMan2k on September 13, 2006, 04:26:13 pm
Quote from: "Norfenstein"

You can't bite and chomp. Before the change biting mid-pounce canceled the pounce damage and after the change you just can't bite while pouncing (a client-side change is required so that the bite sound doesn't play, but even though you hear it you're not biting and no one else hears it). That was another reason for the change, no one actually understood what was going on and now it's simpler: pounce when you're far away and bite when you're not because they can't be used together.

this explains why I suck so much with goon latly. I always used to pounce and then keep chomping.
I think its a bad idea to prevent this from working, since chomping while flying feels natural and is also the behaviuor of all the other alien classes. (ok tyrant actually cant really fly)
If you feel that the chomp-pounce sued to be imbalanced, I think you should find another solution.
But I would say it was ok, since it required quite some skill to take advantage of it...
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Rippy on September 13, 2006, 10:08:29 pm
Quote from: "next_ghost"
Do you realize that goons have only 200hp? That's exactly 1 1/3 RIFLE magazine! Put 2 riflemen that can shoot in a long corridor and no goon will ever go through in one piece without using midair-charged pounce.

Well, in my experience goons are strong, if not overpowered. What's 1 and 1/3 rifle clips when you can one-hit kill from a good 8 or 10 meters away? Only difference is that the rifle takes a good 5 and a half seconds, 1.5 seconds of which is complete helplessness, and that's only when you're good enough to make nearly every shot hit a pouncing goon.* The goon just needs to aim a pounce at the human's head and boom, instagib.

As for escaping, you just do the usual alien strategy of running away when you're at half hp. After your first pounce, you're far enough to be safe from everything exept the rifle, lasgun and mass driver. And if a pursuing lasgunner gets you, it's not because you aren't allowed to run away fast enough, it's because you either waited too long before escaping, or someone laid a sudden shotgun/flame/pulse/luci on you, and then it's only fair that you not get out alive.

Besides, temple, you've ignored what I said last post: that removing the midair chargeup in no way changes a goon's effectiveness in close combat (which I think was the whole argument of your last post). In close combat, your pounces are short and so there's simply no time to charge one in midair. Besides, midair chargeups only help you when travelling in a straight line: if you turn significantly to either side, there's a delay before you can pounce, regardless of whether or not you charged up. So the only situation this would prevent is that of a goon soaring down a straight area at rediculous speed. Even without a mid-air chargeup, a goon can still pounce fast enough in a straight space to avoid any human simply because the goon gets the full pounce value of his 1 second chargeup (no obstacles, doors or corners to cut it short). A lasgun might get 50 damage in, but then the goon is around the corner, leaving the human with no hope of catching up.

Of course, goons are less effective in s2 due to helmets and heavier weapons, but a headpounce+headchomp kills most anything and can be done in a couple seconds. I dunno, I just find that pounce-and-run tactics boost my score a ton, and it's not hard to guard a whole entrance to the hummie base if you just change where you're pouncing from every time.


*If those figures are innacurate please don't hold it against me. I don't have the stats thread bookmarked on my Ubuntu machine and the stupid search function is useless, so those stats are from the best of my memory.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: temple on September 14, 2006, 12:26:22 am
Quote from: "Rippy"
Quote from: "next_ghost"
Do you realize that goons have only 200hp? That's exactly 1 1/3 RIFLE magazine! Put 2 riflemen that can shoot in a long corridor and no goon will ever go through in one piece without using midair-charged pounce.

Well, in my experience goons are strong, if not overpowered. What's 1 and 1/3 rifle clips when you can one-hit kill from a good 8 or 10 meters away? Only difference is that the rifle takes a good 5 and a half seconds, 1.5 seconds of which is complete helplessness, and that's only when you're good enough to make nearly every shot hit a pouncing goon.* The goon just needs to aim a pounce at the human's head and boom, instagib.

As for escaping, you just do the usual alien strategy of running away when you're at half hp. After your first pounce, you're far enough to be safe from everything exept the rifle, lasgun and mass driver. And if a pursuing lasgunner gets you, it's not because you aren't allowed to run away fast enough, it's because you either waited too long before escaping, or someone laid a sudden shotgun/flame/pulse/luci on you, and then it's only fair that you not get out alive.

Besides, temple, you've ignored what I said last post: that removing the midair chargeup in no way changes a goon's effectiveness in close combat (which I think was the whole argument of your last post). In close combat, your pounces are short and so there's simply no time to charge one in midair. Besides, midair chargeups only help you when travelling in a straight line: if you turn significantly to either side, there's a delay before you can pounce, regardless of whether or not you charged up. So the only situation this would prevent is that of a goon soaring down a straight area at rediculous speed. Even without a mid-air chargeup, a goon can still pounce fast enough in a straight space to avoid any human simply because the goon gets the full pounce value of his 1 second chargeup (no obstacles, doors or corners to cut it short). A lasgun might get 50 damage in, but then the goon is around the corner, leaving the human with no hope of catching up.

Of course, goons are less effective in s2 due to helmets and heavier weapons, but a headpounce+headchomp kills most anything and can be done in a couple seconds. I dunno, I just find that pounce-and-run tactics boost my score a ton, and it's not hard to guard a whole entrance to the hummie base if you just change where you're pouncing from every time.


*If those figures are innacurate please don't hold it against me. I don't have the stats thread bookmarked on my Ubuntu machine and the stupid search function is useless, so those stats are from the best of my memory.

In the time it takes for you to land and charge a long pounce, you can be dead.

Do you know when most goons die?  Its trying to escape.  I'm sorry, I know its a small change.  But it would slow goons down and goons need speed.

I play human and aliens a lot and I can kill goons or chase them away if they don't kill me out right.  Most of the time when I'm playing a goon, its the pounce, turn, pounce combo that helps.  Every second you are in line of sight or still is time the other guy can kill you.  It takes a 1-2 seconds to get a full pounce (I learned this the hard way) and you can't afford that when you are fleeing.  Likewise for humans, getting of that last cycle of chaingun fire or couple of pulse rifle blasts will be easier.

As for close range fighting, you have to have your attack/escape plan mapped out mentally.  Aerial charging just helps with not getting killed, not some much for killing.  Just use your tactic, if you kill something, fine. If not, you are still alive.  But that pounce, land, charge, pounce will get goons killed.

Human can kill goons already if you know how to engage them.  Its not like you can just pounce long range and get out long range.  Its usually some turns or structures to get past.  I just see a lot of goons in small places getting cut to shreds by the time they lift off to run. I see goons getting kiilled right as that escape pounce lifts off or when they hit a turn.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: hodge on September 14, 2006, 04:30:09 am
Bah, like most things in tremulous the goon pounce is fine how it is. Causing damage for holding down a jump ability is a bad idea and just doesn't make sense. Almost every goon player is aware that they can easily be taken down by a human team that works together (and that is without the help of any turrets), and that the humans are putting themselves in a bad situation if they camp poorly (something that seems to occur alot in this game). I find that the most experience goon players are the ones not that try to use the non-existent pounce-chomp combo (thanks Norfenstein for busting this myth.) but the ones that master the goon basic chomp for close combat use and use the pounch for mid-range attack. Changing the pounce would just annoy the game's players.

I would also like to say is that I find the biggest mistake most humans make on s1 is that often a whole team will camp and give the map entire to the alien just because someone spotted a single goon. I find that a good way to kill a goon is to work together with you team and lure the goon to an open area on the map putting him in a very bad situation where he is likely to be killed before he escapes (if the human team can hit a big moving target).
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: holyknight on September 14, 2006, 05:56:12 am
you also can kill a dragoon sometimes easily  :D
I fought with this dragoon (I won't tell you the name, I don't know why...) with a rifle, and I think he was pretty wounded by the turrets he attacked. But in Nexus six, in the right hallway, I shot at him always and when he tried to pounce at me, I just moved sideways, moved back, and shot at him again. I did that thing few more times and he soon died. I got a lot of money  :D
but of course, if there are better goon players (I suck with goons  :-? ) then they WILL be able to stop that trick. But I'm just saying that it IS sometimes possible with help of turrets and other teammates.
And I do agree that camping is a bad idea when you see a goon, even though I'm the first person to just rush back to base when I see a goon and yell out "GOON!"  :oops: . But the other players keep attacking and dying until it dies. And sometimes I help too  :) . But the point is, that one goon couldn't be able to take few humans (unless they are noobs) and all humans have to do is keep moving around, or doing math to figure out when to dodge  :wink:

PS, you can charge while you already pounced on the ground and is in midair?
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: kozak6 on September 14, 2006, 07:13:11 am
Yep, you can charge up the pounce while you are in midair.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: hodge on September 14, 2006, 06:40:14 pm
Quote from: "holyknight"
And I do agree that camping is a bad idea when you see a goon, even though I'm the first person to just rush back to base when I see a goon and yell out "GOON!"  :oops: . But the other players keep attacking and dying until it dies. And sometimes I help too  :) . But the point is, that one goon couldn't be able to take few humans (unless they are noobs) and all humans have to do is keep moving around, or doing math to figure out when to dodge  :wink:

PS, you can charge while you already pounced on the ground and is in midair?

Yes, goons can be very easy to kill especially if they are lagging or if the goon is trying to act like a mara. Goons have the highest hp at s1 and s2 but they are also the biggest alien and I find them much easier to kill then maras.

One thing that I think more players should be aware of is that goons and maras are great for taking down a base and once your team starts camping the aliens will most likely camp directly outside your base waiting for any easy kill that might try to sneak out. killing evolved aliens can be very tricky for humans at s1 since you don't have helmets, but I find that most times you should try tame the aliens and take control of the map's hotspots to your advantage so your team will have more control at s2.  

As holyknight said the a good way to make yourself a hard target is to dance :-).
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Luskan on September 14, 2006, 07:07:54 pm
Quote from: "holyknight"
you also can kill a dragoon sometimes easily  :D
I fought with this dragoon (I won't tell you the name, I don't know why...) with a rifle, and I think he was pretty wounded by the turrets he attacked. But in Nexus six, in the right hallway, I shot at him always and when he tried to pounce at me, I just moved sideways, moved back, and shot at him again. I did that thing few more times and he soon died.


Aye, I love being a Dragoon and it definatly doesn't need its pounce changed.. you can own with them but if your having a sucky day or are not that skilled you can get owned or.. if they are good at twisting and turning >_<...

I've been taken down by a bunch of humans so fast i've wondered what the hell happened. (Just shows a team really is needed in a team game =p )
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Rippy on September 15, 2006, 11:10:46 pm
@temple: I told you that a dragoon's maneuverability is unaffected, and that any alien should run when reduced to 1/2 hp, but you just go on about how goons get shot when fleeing and they need to be maneuverable. If you're going to selectively ignore things like that, there's really no point in arguing.

I mean, not that it's a critical issue or anything, I just don't think goons should be able to soar down corridors. If this were corrected a year from now, when tons of other stuff has been added, I'd be happy.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: temple on September 16, 2006, 01:27:04 am
Quote from: "Rippy"
@temple: I told you that a dragoon's maneuverability is unaffected, and that any alien should run when reduced to 1/2 hp, but you just go on about how goons get shot when fleeing and they need to be maneuverable. If you're going to selectively ignore things like that, there's really no point in arguing.

I mean, not that it's a critical issue or anything, I just don't think goons should be able to soar down corridors. If this were corrected a year from now, when tons of other stuff has been added, I'd be happy.

I guess we just disagree.  I think goon speed is critical, you think its too powerful.  If anything, I think goons (not advanced goons) do too much damage pre-s3.  But the speed is too important to me right now.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Rippy on September 16, 2006, 02:45:28 am
Quote from: "temple"
Quote from: "Rippy"
@temple: I told you that a dragoon's maneuverability is unaffected, and that any alien should run when reduced to 1/2 hp, but you just go on about how goons get shot when fleeing and they need to be maneuverable. If you're going to selectively ignore things like that, there's really no point in arguing.

I mean, not that it's a critical issue or anything, I just don't think goons should be able to soar down corridors. If this were corrected a year from now, when tons of other stuff has been added, I'd be happy.

I guess we just disagree.  I think goon speed is critical, you think its too powerful.  If anything, I think goons (not advanced goons) do too much damage pre-s3.  But the speed is too important to me right now.

I noticed that too. Headpounces 1hit kill ANY s1 human, and that's deadly if you can do it consistently. Meanwhile, the s1 hummie weapons take at least several seconds to kill a goon, and by that time you've headpounced and ran.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: kevlarman on September 16, 2006, 04:01:40 am
Quote from: "Rippy"
I noticed that too. Headpounces 1hit kill ANY s1 human, and that's deadly if you can do it consistently. Meanwhile, the s1 hummie weapons take at least several seconds to kill a goon, and by that time you've headpounced and ran.
there is no such thing as a headpounce:
Code: [Select]

qboolean CheckPounceAttack( gentity_t *ent )
{
//snip
G_Damage( traceEnt, ent, ent, forward, tr.endpos, damage,
      DAMAGE_NO_KNOCKBACK|DAMAGE_NO_LOCDAMAGE, MOD_LEVEL3_POUNCE );
//snip
}
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Stof on September 16, 2006, 09:49:52 am
Quote from: "kevlarman"
Quote from: "Rippy"
I noticed that too. Headpounces 1hit kill ANY s1 human, and that's deadly if you can do it consistently. Meanwhile, the s1 hummie weapons take at least several seconds to kill a goon, and by that time you've headpounced and ran.
there is no such thing as a headpounce:
Code: [Select]

qboolean CheckPounceAttack( gentity_t *ent )
{
//snip
G_Damage( traceEnt, ent, ent, forward, tr.endpos, damage,
      DAMAGE_NO_KNOCKBACK|DAMAGE_NO_LOCDAMAGE, MOD_LEVEL3_POUNCE );
//snip
}

That's the worse, you can onehitkill with a leg hit pounce.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Survivor on September 16, 2006, 09:53:51 am
Doesn't pounce do 99 max damage and no damage multipliers thus making onehit kills impossible? Headchomps are a different thing though.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Stof on September 16, 2006, 10:39:33 am
Quote from: "Survivor"
Doesn't pounce do 99 max damage and no damage multipliers thus making onehit kills impossible? Headchomps are a different thing though.

This is not how it feels when you play on the Alien Wrath server.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: kevlarman on September 16, 2006, 06:20:30 pm
pounce does 100 damage (fully charged) on a regular goon, and 115 on an adv goon, since there is no location damage, wearing any armor will save your life. this is why you always go for armor before a weapon unless you seriously know what you are doing, otherwise a goon can instantly kill you.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Norfenstein on September 16, 2006, 08:13:33 pm
Quote from: "kevlarman"
and 115 on an adv goon
Hundred damage on both actually, advanced just flies a little faster.

Quote from: "kevlarman"
Code: [Select]
Code:

qboolean CheckPounceAttack( gentity_t *ent )
{
//snip
G_Damage( traceEnt, ent, ent, forward, tr.endpos, damage,
      DAMAGE_NO_KNOCKBACK|DAMAGE_NO_LOCDAMAGE, MOD_LEVEL3_POUNCE );
//snip
}
That's interesting because the pounce was supposed to have knockback. Extra knockback even:
Code: [Select]

void G_Damage( gentity_t *targ, gentity_t *inflictor, gentity_t *attacker,
         vec3_t dir, vec3_t point, int damage, int dflags, int mod )
{
  ...
  // ...and for goon pouncing
  if( mod == MOD_LEVEL3_POUNCE )
    knockback *= 3;
  ...
}
That was so you don't bounce off a painsaw wielding battlesuit and get bisected because you're still in range but can't react fast enough to save yourself. I guess if I never noticed the nonchange it wasn't that important (or I just haven't fought as many good painsawers lately).
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: kevlarman on September 16, 2006, 08:42:21 pm
Quote from: "Norfenstein"
Quote from: "kevlarman"
and 115 on an adv goon
Hundred damage on both actually, advanced just flies a little faster.
hm, looks like you're right, i could have sworn i saw a 115 in there somwhere.
edit: about the painsaw thing, i ussually just abuse the rediculous range goons have when backing up, if i'm pouncing someone, i'm not sure i want to push them closer to the turrets, though the ability to knock a human into a corner would be interesting.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: |Nex|TrEmMa on September 16, 2006, 09:04:05 pm
Quote from: "Norfenstein"
I guess if I never noticed the nonchange it wasn't that important (or I just haven't fought as many good painsawers lately).

You aren't playing on AKKA enough <3.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Rippy on September 17, 2006, 03:38:14 am
Hahah, that's even worse, you don't even have to aim your pounce. Even with armour, it's usually easy enough to get another chomp in right after the pounce.

I disagree with the "armour before weapon" thing. I wait until I have enough for armour and  moderately good weapon (usually shotgun, occasionally painsaw or lasgun) at once. Armour is nearly useless without a good weapon, and vice-versa. Unless you're pretty skilled at humans, I find it's best to save up for both.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: kevlarman on September 17, 2006, 03:43:38 am
armor is useful to keep goons from singling you out in a group for a pounce, and to drastically extend your life against noob dretches. saving for weapons and armor at the same time is also fine (though it makes it really easy to feed), my point was that you should never get a weapon without armor unless you seriously know what you are doing.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: PHREAK on September 17, 2006, 04:01:26 am
While I generaly agree with you kevlarman, It all depends who your opponents are.
If I'm playing against very good players, I don't botter with the armor at s1 since it wont do any good against them.
S2 is a whole different animal, yet i'd opt out for helmet anythime before grabbing larmor( if funds become scarse) and my trusty shotty.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: kevlarman on September 17, 2006, 04:32:04 am
Quote from: "PHREAK"
While I generaly agree with you kevlarman, It all depends who your opponents are.
If I'm playing against very good players, I don't botter with the armor at s1 since it wont do any good against them.
S2 is a whole different animal, yet i'd opt out for helmet anythime before grabbing larmor( if funds become scarse) and my trusty shotty.
i completely agree about getting helmet before armor, and since helmet is enough to save you from a pounce, i can see the logic in getting a gun before armor (i would chose to get armor before a shotty, but that has more to do with my (lack of) aim), i still prefer to go out with armor s1, because it is really easy to pounce a naked human, but i have skipped armor in favor of a shotgun before against skilled players.
Title: Dragoon Pounce
Post by: Stof on September 17, 2006, 09:14:02 am
I always take armory at s1 if possible : attacking an alien base without is nearly impossible because acid tubes just do too much damage.

Also, Dretches are far less dangerous when you have armor and you are standing on somethings above the ground. For example, stand on a egg and dretches will have a much more difficult time hitting you in the head :) Then armor because very useful.