Tremulous Forum

General => Feedback => Topic started by: Kattana on June 19, 2006, 08:36:20 am

Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Kattana on June 19, 2006, 08:36:20 am
Can dragoons get direct fire barbs?
Humans doing have to do anything but point and spam why make aliens work harder. Aiming and shooting a weapon is more difficult than directing part of your body, I doubt porcupines have to adjust their quills and aim above their targets, they just think where they want them to go and they go there naturaly.

They should also be a lot faster, I could throw a spike at the humans faster than the barbs move. Even jetpackers with their slow speed can dodge them from a short distance.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: kozak6 on June 19, 2006, 09:22:03 am
Porcupines can't shoot spikes.

I would like to see another alien class that can fire projectiles.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Survivor on June 19, 2006, 11:53:14 am
They used to have direct fire barbs. Way overpowered.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Neo on June 19, 2006, 02:21:22 pm
i'd say maybe just make them a little faster, maybe 25-33%, just so you don't have time to watch an episode of stargate before it hits anything.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Lava Croft on June 19, 2006, 06:22:50 pm
Have you people even used the adv Goon barbs? They are fine, try taking 3 adv Goons to a human base and spray some barbs :P
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: killjoy on June 19, 2006, 06:39:49 pm
lol those are called barbs? i always called it dragoon spit haha
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Neo on June 19, 2006, 07:11:59 pm
yeah, i guess Goon loogies didn't quite sound threatening enough.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Quaoar on June 19, 2006, 11:23:15 pm
Goon barbs are fairly well balanced. They are slow projectiles, so a human dodge them if he's really on his toes, but in most cases he's likely engaged with something else, so he wouldn't have that opportunity. The barbs do massive damage, (seems to be 46 max wearing bsuit, probably instant kill naked) and base defenses take a real beating if an adv dragoon can get into sight range.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Stof on June 19, 2006, 11:31:03 pm
Quote from: "Quaoar"
Goon barbs are fairly well balanced. They are slow projectiles, so a human dodge them if he's really on his toes, but in most cases he's likely engaged with something else, so he wouldn't have that opportunity. The barbs do massive damage, (seems to be 46 max wearing bsuit, probably instant kill naked) and base defenses take a real beating if an adv dragoon can get into sight range.

If the human is enganged with something else, he's probably runnig around like a mad and you'll then have greater chances to hit the thing he's engaged with that the original target :)
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: werepants on June 19, 2006, 11:42:52 pm
i think they are annoying to use, but that is kind of the point afaik.  the defining strength of humans is the ability to cause damage at range, and aliens shouldn't do this too well.  i must say I would rather have lower damage and direct hit, however, because it just seems kind of lame to lob a little spiky blob that kills someone in one hit.  it would be cooler to have something more like the hydralisk barbs in starcraft.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Quaoar on June 19, 2006, 11:43:11 pm
Quote from: "Stof"
Quote from: "Quaoar"
Goon barbs are fairly well balanced. They are slow projectiles, so a human dodge them if he's really on his toes, but in most cases he's likely engaged with something else, so he wouldn't have that opportunity. The barbs do massive damage, (seems to be 46 max wearing bsuit, probably instant kill naked) and base defenses take a real beating if an adv dragoon can get into sight range.

If the human is enganged with something else, he's probably runnig around like a mad and you'll then have greater chances to hit the thing he's engaged with that the original target :)


99% of the time, that thing is a dretch, and if you can snipe a dretch when aiming for a human, you're Jesus Christ. Besides, you essentially need to be facing the adv goon and realize that it's gonna shoot prior to the action. It only takes a split second, and sometimes you cant tell when the goon will pounce or when it will shoot, because it can do both rather deadly-like. I actually feel that adv goons are a really good answer to human base camping.

Something I've noticed is that dretches never really become obsolete. A few dretches is sometimes the difference between victory and defeat. They can stall an upcoming offensive or even break it up completely, and wear down or distract bsuits to allow more advanced aliens to deal with them. A naked human can supply evo points.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Stakhanov on June 19, 2006, 11:56:09 pm
Quote from: "Quaoar"
They can stall an upcoming offensive or even break it up completely, and wear down or distract bsuits to allow more advanced aliens to deal with them.


Excuse me ? What kind of godlike players do you have on your team ? Dretches seem to go down rather fast when pulse guns , flamers and lucifers are around. Distraction may work for sure , but I have yet to kill a battlesuit as a dretch... don't they hit for something like 2 hps ?
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Stof on June 20, 2006, 12:01:25 am
Quote from: "Stakhanov"
Quote from: "Quaoar"
They can stall an upcoming offensive or even break it up completely, and wear down or distract bsuits to allow more advanced aliens to deal with them.


Excuse me ? What kind of godlike players do you have on your team ? Dretches seem to go down rather fast when pulse guns , flamers and lucifers are around. Distraction may work for sure , but I have yet to kill a battlesuit as a dretch... don't they hit for something like 2 hps ?

Dretch is the best alien to kill lone battlesuit+chaingun humans. Aim for the head, the chaingun has a lousy spread so you have good chances of surviving. And even if you die, respawn and continue the fight. You are guarateed 3 evo points for such kill ( alone ).
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Quaoar on June 20, 2006, 12:28:23 am
Quote from: "Stakhanov"

Excuse me ? What kind of godlike players do you have on your team ? Dretches seem to go down rather fast when pulse guns , flamers and lucifers are around. Distraction may work for sure , but I have yet to kill a battlesuit as a dretch... don't they hit for something like 2 hps ?


I've never seen it either, but they can break up a perfectly good formation and cause enough chaos that larger aliens can come in for the kill. They may even be as integral to the fight as those larger ones. Of course, good players know when to ignore dretches, but they can't be completely disregarded. Good dretch players know how to get in your way and almost force you to react. And if a bsuit doesn't react, a few dretches can drop him enough HP to make it quite necessary for him to take notice. They can break up raids if the human squad gets sufficiently knocked around and damaged prior to going to the alien base; close enough to home, they'd go back to refuel and heal, wasting time and essentially stopping an excursion before it really gets anywhere.

Actually, I think mostly of Tremor when I think of dretches ruining a perfectly good time. The front way to the default alien base typically had a few dretches lining the walls, causing the fight to stall in front of the base instead of inside it.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: werepants on June 20, 2006, 12:39:34 am
i have seen more than a few battlesuits fall to dretches.  The great thing about BSuits is that they often think they are invincible, and so it is really easy to sit and chew on them for 50% health or so if they don't see you while they are shooting an acid tube or something.

also, most players will get caught up killing dretches rather than killing your OM, so there is certainly a delay factor if nothing more.

lastly, alien defences are extremely dependent on active alien players, so I would rather have a half-decent dretch than an extra acid tube any day.

you don't have to be a god to be useful with a dretch, you just have to be aware of your various advantages and weaknesses and use them.  - wallwalking, aimed biting, and wise target choice for starters -  :wink:
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: chompers on June 20, 2006, 05:51:02 am
I like the arc, speed and damage of barbs just the way they are, but they would be easier to use if they had a larger, or more prominent graphic effect when they impact.

As they are, if you're sniping buildings from a distance and you miss the first shot, it can be impossible to tell if the barb fell short or overshot the target.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: killjoy on June 20, 2006, 08:46:14 am
dretches can be great when used well, i've often seen dretches try and lure me around corners where larger aliens are waiting.

but about the damage stats with dragoon "spit" it does:

1 shot light armor
1 shot light + helmet (with booster poison)
2 shot light + helmet
11 damage to Bsuit.. so 10 shots.. assuming he doesnt use a medkit
2 shot any turret
3 shot armory
kills reactor in about 10 shots
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Neo on June 20, 2006, 05:30:44 pm
damage on humans varies, i've hit a naked human on the torso with a barb before and he survived.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Paradox on June 20, 2006, 05:37:46 pm
The barbs are fine, if you know basic physics. Just calculate the ingame distance from the target to you, and then your elevation to the target's elevation, then adjust appropriately, and fire.

If that is to hard, just fire where you think it will hit, the human mind is quite good at picking spots. If you are short, or far, adjust again, and fire. Then adjusts, and fire, hopefully by then you will have reached your target. Then memorize a landmark to aim at, like a pipe, and go hide till your barbs recharge.

Also, what is good for a laugh is sniping a tesla to damage, then waiting for a builder to come reapair it. One barb in the toe, no more builder, and an easy tesla.

And the 11 damage to bsuit seems small, but it seems like a lot in the game. One game, we had the entire team adv goons. We sniped down everything on the humans defense, and they were all camping inside with bsuits. One came running out, and all 7 goons fired a barb into him. Then another. No more bsuit. We just did that for the whole game, and when the humans were out of points, attacked.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Quaoar on June 20, 2006, 08:16:41 pm
Quote from: "killjoy"
dretches can be great when used well, i've often seen dretches try and lure me around corners where larger aliens are waiting.

but about the damage stats with dragoon "spit" it does:

1 shot light armor
1 shot light + helmet (with booster poison)
2 shot light + helmet
11 damage to Bsuit.. so 10 shots.. assuming he doesnt use a medkit
2 shot any turret
3 shot armory
kills reactor in about 10 shots


I have most definitely taken 46 damage from a barb wearing bsuit. Maybe it was in the head.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: PHREAK on June 20, 2006, 08:36:41 pm
3 adv goons can take any base that is spitable in less then 30 secs.
All 3 goons have to hit the reactor with the 3 barbs, which makes it 9 barbs to reactor. Only one of them has to jump into it and bite it 2 more times....TaDa, reactor down, aliens storm in, game over. Whos got time to wait for SD anyway ;)
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Survivor on June 20, 2006, 10:15:58 pm
You know what it is with tactics, they're so wonderful until you encounter some opposition.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Kattana on June 22, 2006, 01:21:14 am
Quote from: "Stakhanov"
Quote from: "Quaoar"
They can stall an upcoming offensive or even break it up completely, and wear down or distract bsuits to allow more advanced aliens to deal with them.


Excuse me ? What kind of godlike players do you have on your team ? Dretches seem to go down rather fast when pulse guns , flamers and lucifers are around. Distraction may work for sure , but I have yet to kill a battlesuit as a dretch... don't they hit for something like 2 hps ?


Me perhaps, He is right especialy about tremor, humans moved to camp the crate room once and I got 30 kills as dretch in s3 52 total, many of them BSuits either by droping behind them or chasing them chasing tyrants.

Of course none of that matters because aliens still lost because you dont have to be 1337 to spam, thats my whole point, humans dont have to calculate their shots, and they dont only get 3 at a time.
I Like putting the effort in to be that much better than them that it doesnt matter but this is a team game and the rest of my team often isnt any better than the n00bs spaming on humans and about as helpful.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Paradox on June 22, 2006, 02:20:21 am
I would like the barb respawn time to be upped from 10 sec to 5 sec.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Quaoar on June 22, 2006, 02:53:21 am
Kat, you keep saying it, but spamming is NOT helpful. As general cover fire, sure, and yes, spamming humans are bound to hit somebody eventually, but so are variably bouncing maras and rollercoaster wallwalking dretches. Aiming, positioning, and strafing/movement, as well as teamwork, are integral to a human victory. You can't just run blindly into a hallway with the chaingun blazing away and expect to win. You MIGHT kill a dretch, but I see that as part of the gameplay. Same way a goon who doesnt know wtf he's doing will probably still nab a naked human.

Humans who rely on spray and pray only harm themselves, because they don't learn it properly. Though, to be fair, pray and spray is sort of necessary in most cases, especially for dretches, because you can't shoot where something is, you're trying to shoot where something ought to be. It's a game of probabilities (kind of like gun kata), so some generalized fire is inevitable. Either way, the game is a fair bit balanced despite the "fire spam" cries.

Not to mention that whole theory goes right out the window on FF servers, which I think should be all of them. And spammed fire in a base tends to be more harmful than the mara that's bouncing on your armory.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Kattana on June 22, 2006, 03:24:08 am
If spaming was not helpful there would not be so much of it.
Now take this somewhere else, it is off topic and irrelevant, whatever excuses you come up with the fact remains that a n00b alien running at a n00b human spaming will die alot more often that not, if they do manage to get to adv.drag there is no reason to make it any harder for them.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Outcast on June 22, 2006, 04:53:25 am
Quote from: "Quaoar"
Goon barbs are fairly well balanced. They are slow projectiles, so a human dodge them if he's really on his toes, but in most cases he's likely engaged with something else, so he wouldn't have that opportunity. The barbs do massive damage, (seems to be 46 max wearing bsuit, probably instant kill naked) and base defenses take a real beating if an adv dragoon can get into sight range.



4% health left if the humans naked. Me and my friend did test to see what aliens take out what on humans with different armor. I have a paper with all the results some where in my room (like im ever going to find it now), but i do remember that one inparticulary.


Quote from: "Stakhanov"
Quote from: "Quaoar"
They can stall an upcoming offensive or even break it up completely, and wear down or distract bsuits to allow more advanced aliens to deal with them.


Excuse me ? What kind of godlike players do you have on your team ? Dretches seem to go down rather fast when pulse guns , flamers and lucifers are around. Distraction may work for sure , but I have yet to kill a battlesuit as a dretch... don't they hit for something like 2 hps ?



I've killed one before. It was quite hard. Took me the best of ten minutes. i was playing a one on one game with y friend. He's mainly aliens and im mainly humans though. He wasnt that good as a human. And i do believe your right about the 2-hp hits. Im guna go to my friends house and get a copy of the results, just to make sure though.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Henners on June 22, 2006, 11:40:56 am
I kill BSuits as a dretch regularly.

Headshots people

headshots
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Paradox on June 22, 2006, 06:16:20 pm
I actually prefer adv. goons to tyrants, simply because of the awesome damage from ranged attack. The only problem i can think of is that the 250 health goes down awful fast, could we possibly get a boost to 300?
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Kattana on June 22, 2006, 11:53:54 pm
If you boost it to 300 why go tyrant? they would need a boost as well.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Paradox on June 23, 2006, 07:28:16 pm
Tyrants have 400
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Henners on June 23, 2006, 10:46:04 pm
See kat, this is perfect evidence for that fact you dont really understand what you are talking about. The tyrant and goon are fundamentally different classes, and are used for different things.

go and learn to play the damn game before making any more suggestion posts!
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Paradox on June 24, 2006, 01:14:31 am
At least read the manual and confirm your facts.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Stof on June 24, 2006, 10:26:27 am
Actually, Paradox saying : "I prefer the Adv Goon to the Tyrant. But the Adv Goon needs more health !" Sats a lot. I mean, you consider it to be better than a Tyrant, yet it isn't strong enouth for you. Saying that is like saying the Tyrant should be made much stronger too :)
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Kattana on June 24, 2006, 06:01:43 pm
Tyrants are strong and tough, but they are so huge that any attack on the base, as long as its defended, will likely kill them, they are such a huge target so attract a lot more damage and can not escape as easily because they can not jump and get boxed in because again, they are a huge target, maybe if their trample damage was always on without the speed boost it would prevent them getting boxed in, 5 tons should be able to walk right over a human.
In open human bases this is not as much of a problem but with more compact ones you see alot of tyrants circling outside untill they can build up points before they suicide rush, as it will inevitably be as aliens behind them or humans will trap them.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: rasz_pl on June 24, 2006, 09:32:07 pm
Quote from: "Henners"
I kill BSuits as a dretch regularly.

Headshots people

headshots


/me too. It is simple, takes time but is simple. It is S3 so you dont have to care if you die or not, you just HAVE to get that evo to help the team. Just stay away from jetpackers (those have hats for sure) and attack 2-3 person packs of humans, the most lame of them will follow you instead of hunting eggs/om/bigger target. Then its time for headshots and lots of wallcrawling.
Avoid Flamer BSuits tho :)


Quote from: "Paradox"
I actually prefer adv. goons to tyrants, simply because of the awesome damage from ranged attack. The only problem i can think of is that the 250 health goes down awful fast, could we possibly get a boost to 300?


thats why goons need tyrants cover. Goons snipe 3 times, go arround the corner, some BSed chaingunner comes along to finish crying from pain goon and BAM, kisses with fresh tyrrant.
Title: Direct fire barbs?
Post by: Henners on June 25, 2006, 10:55:31 am
Quote from: "rasz_pl"


/me too. It is simple, takes time but is simple. It is S3 so you dont have to care if you die or not, you just HAVE to get that evo to help the team. Just stay away from jetpackers (those have hats for sure) and attack 2-3 person packs of humans, the most lame of them will follow you instead of hunting eggs/om/bigger target.


Thats not quite true. Theres nothing more annoying then playing tyrant and trying to credit starve the humans you so you can attack their base without running headlong into 3 chaingunning BSuits, when for every BS with a big gun you kill, 3 dretches feed them back up again. If you have no chance whatsoever, you still shouldnt run in - feeding isnt just about stage kills.

One thing I have noticed quite a bit is that at stage 3 the game can hit a kind of cycle or credits and evo points. Usually only one side has lots at once - so e.g. the humans may start with a load of credits, then  few big aliens start rampaging, humans die lots and fall back to their turrets and teslas with no money. The Aliens all get evo points from the few humans that have no money but still wander about, and so the alien attack stage begins. The aliens then lose their evo points on the human base, giving humans credits, and we are back to the beginning of the cycle again (with a few dretches grubbing together the evo points in the way Rasz describes, until they can tyrant and kill a load of bsuits again).

Godknows what the means - its more of an observation rather than a rant or suggestion for anything :S

But yeah, dont dretch feed when i'm credit starving. It makes me cry!