I think the root of the problem with the
's perceived weakness is actually the OP-ness of the standard rifle. If you go 1-on-1 with a rifle, you have twenty-five whole rounds that get sprayed at you as you try to approach, and you only need to intersect with five of them to die. There are not always corners to hide behind, and with helmets you stand much less chance even with corners. Now I know you aren't supposed to go 1v1 in general, but on larger maps this is an inevitability. I would like to suggest that the rifle clip be reduced to 25 rounds and that the reload speed be increased by about 1/3rd. (rifle reload is too long even as it is). You can even allow humans to carry more clips to make up for it. Working together, hummies will still be able to get the better of dretches.
I think even just a few hours of dedicated testing would show whether this is the fix or not.
Edit: Sorry I spaced out. Rifle has 30 rounds/clip, I thought it was 25 when I posted this. I have edited the previous paragraphs to reflect this. Should now be reduced 30 > 25 rnds/clipIdea2: The more simple, obvious, and efficacious solution is to lower the value of the dretch from 180 to less than 150. It has been noted that aliens often reach stage 2 sooner than humans (idk if this is true). So, the monetary cost for humans to reach stage 2 should be reduced to reflect the lower income provided by dretches. This is because an s2 human can kill exponentially more dretches than an s1 human, and an s3 human even more than that. What ends up happening is that s2 and s3 humans kill five or so dretches (who don't stand a chance) and they have enough credits to completely rearm and nade spam/etc. Aliens have to work much harder to maintain their evolution level so they don't run dry of evos.
Idea3: While I'm not sure that this would fix any particular problem, I've always thought it would feel right for the dretch to have a stronger strafe (left-right movement) speed. This would increase it's defensive capability without making it more potent as a damage dealer (xcept mebbe at point blank). Plus I think it would even
look cooler. w/e
In an unrelated area, I would like to cite that I think that balance is how it is (however
that is) because of the (how do I say this...momentum of?) skill of pre-existing alien players. If you were to plop a complete newb alien team vs. a complete newb human team, the humans would probably win hands down.
