After more playing and really trying to do things the new way...
Teamwork
I see where TJW and Norf are going with this and its okay. Actually, my frustration has been with teammates that refuse to work together. As aliens and humans, if people play specific roles, I can see them winning.
This is hardest for aliens because aliens are melee ranged and cannot see each other on their radar. The alien radar should show what classes are around so you can see find a basilisk (since aliens need them for mobile regeneration). A team of 2-3 marauders or 2 advanced dragoons with a tyrant to defend their retreat forms a good base attacking party. Throw in a basilisk or a forward egg, and you have sustainable attacks. The key is having enough people together. Without it, base attacks just don't work.
I'm going to give run down on the basics
Aliens
Everything from structures to the classes need a boost in hit points. With regeneration drastically decreased, aliens are too susceptible to risk-free 'pot shots' by humans. Its cheap and it delays games. If aliens have to adjust to Unlagged, humans need to something to counter balance it. They need to commit to being aggressive rather than camp and chase down worn out aliens.
FYI: Aliens haven't been getting evolution points for killing structures. I know humans get them.
Dretches
Pros: Dretches are just right at Stage 1. They can get in a human base and take out campers. At Stage 2, a naked or weakly armored human can be instant killed with bite and poison damage (not considering medikits). I had a lot of success with letting humans run the map and sneak attacking them.
Cons: At human Stage 2, helmets make dretches less threaten due to being able to locate them. I think dretches are pretty relative in power with rifle men and that's good.
Basilisks/Advanced Basilisks
Pros: Basilisks are worth the 1-2 evolution points now. They can actually kill something quickly and the gas effect is very helpful.
Cons: Team-killing. It pretty fair considering humans can teamkill each other too but it makes the class less desirable.
Helmets and harassment. Once humans get more experience, they will go after the basilisk first. Maybe that's intended but it also makes playing a basilisk less desirable.
FYI: Basilisks haven't been getting evolution points for grabs.
Suggestion I would like gas if it worked more like a projectile. Something like hive swarm. It wouldn't need long range, just long enough to keep advanced basilisks from getting sniped or hunted as much.
Marauders/Advanced Marauders
Pros: Wider claw range is better. Advanced marauder zap is fun and a lot easier to use.
Cons: Honestly, I'm not impressed with basic marauders. It feels like aliens are going to need 2 or 3 marauders zapping to hurt the human base. I feel zap needs more damage per second. Right now, it looks cool but feels like it isn't hurting structures and that may discourage people from playing the class.
Dragoons/Advanced Dragoons
Pros: Still powerful against stage 1 humans. Advanced dragoons fit stage 2 to me because it takes time to snipe a human base and stage 3 is too long to wait. They add needed pressure to divide the human team between rushing and defending.
Cons: They are bigger and next to basilisks, I feel they are bad for getting picked on. Humans can easily abuse their larger hitbox size. Its balanced because a human can spend a lot of credits and get killed by a poisonous dretch or basilisk.
Suggestion I would give advanced dragoons (not regular dragoon) the old chomp range because they have to defend themselves. Since they can't pounce and regenerate like they used to, at least make so that advanced dragoons can stand their ground better.
Tyrants
Pros: Trample is better now. Its faster to charge and deals more damage. A powerful combination is a basilisk hold a human still while a tyrant tramples them. All in all, tyrants still have their most of their old power despite changes and make the best defender class. They are in line with battlesuit/chaingun or battlesuit/lucifer cannon combination.
Cons: Trample is not all its cracked up to be. In a fast fight, you can be killed trying to charge a trample. It is easy to under charge. The increased view height and decreased maul range makes mauling a challenge. They cost 5 evolutions points and its going to take awhile before players develop the skill to use tyrants well.
By and large, tyrants cannot camp outside the human base because they are so easy to hit and have so much health to regenerate. They have to be moving or close to a source for healing.
Poison/Boosters
Pros: Its deadly and faster. Hands down, I think poison is the best base defense the aliens have because it forces humans use the medikit and defending aliens can keep poison on them while at the base. The regeneration factor makes boosters worth risking a forward egg. I think it is balanced like the medistation.
Cons: The poison buff is lasts a shorter time. I think makes aliens feel like they have to rush to use to before it wears off and it could lead to feeding or breaking away from the team.
Suggestion Aliens need something better than a time duration to control poison. I would suggest aliens can use the medikit button/functionality to trigger when they will have the poison effect. It could be balanced by only having 1 charge. Humans can control when they use their medikit and they can control how much ammo they use. Aliens should be able to control their poison buff better.
Humans
Overall, the human team is more fun to play. The stamina increase is too helpful. Good base building is more rewarding with the new turrets and the need for tesla generators. Before, humans would plop down a bunch of turrets and hope they last. Players would gear up and pray to make it to the alien base. The team feels more controlled.
No comments on the blaster.
Rifles
Pros: Unlagged makes them hit more. The spread isn't as bad, though most players probably wouldn't notice. They may not kill the bigger aliens by they can ward them off. It is what it is, a good way to get credits for other weapons.
Cons: Traditional drawback, no new issues.
Painsaws
Pros: It has a longer range and is actually good at attacking. Aliens are going to have a harder time abusing a painsawer trying to reach their base.
Cons: This isn't a substitute to a long range weapon against good aliens.
FYI Sprint and saw is a powerful combination. Personally, I'm afraid of 'painsaw militias' defending human base. Maybe the increased range is more powerful than people realize.
Suggestion: Maybe the cost of the painsaw should be looked at. Overall, its not a huge issue but it worth keeping tabs on.
Shotguns
Nothing new about them.
Lasguns
Pros: With Unlagged, more stray shots land. Not really a huge benefit to a weapon that is hitscan.
Cons: Honestly, bigger aliens don't fear lasguns and shouldn't. It only going to kill dretches and other stage 1 aliens. Using it when aliens are stage 3 and somewhat at stage 2 will be a liability
FYI: It is more accurate and excellent at pelting aliens from a distance without risk, thus forcing aliens to regenerate more often. Aliens are finding that using a dretch isn't as useful and the dretch is not threatening the whole game (and they shouldn't be).
Mass Driver
Pros: Its accurate, reliable at long range, and powerful. This is becoming a long range shotgun.
Cons: Traditional drawback, no new issues.
FYI: Due to slow alien regeneration, the mass driver has been powerful in combination with the helmet to snipe and chase down attacks. Tabs need to be kept on it because a good mass driver shooter, or worse a pair of shooters, can be brutal. It only takes 3 dretch kills for a helmet, light armor, and mass driver (excluding the battery pack).
Chainguns
I don't understand the changes between the old and the new chaingun. I don't want to comment until I understand the changes better.
Pulse Rifles
Nothing new about them.
Grenades
Nothing new about them.
Flame Throwers
Pros: Longer range and less self damage because the flame moves faster than a human can run. The flame thrower is a lot more fun to use and feels useful instead of suicide.
Cons: Maybe its just me, but the flame spread seems smaller, so it will need to be aimed more accurately.
FYI: It seems unfair to me that dragoons and tyrants get their range reduced but flamers get their range increased. Maybe it is just me.
Lucifer Cannons
Pros: Faster secondary shot is great for ammo consumption. The lucifer cannon isn't such a ammo hog and dretches can't waste your ammo before you get their base.
Cons: 2 second cooldown between primary fire shots. No more spam happy dretch killing fun. This lowers the rapid fire use in the alien base to harass them. Personally, I've played on the SST server when players were forced to charge for 2 seconds before firing the lucifer cannon. It doesn't really affect the damage per second of the weapon and I think it is an improvement. Humans aiming at their feet to kill dretches over and over was lame. Now, players have to pay more attention.
Turrets
Pros: More power and more range. These turrets are very good at discouraging large aliens and forces aliens to do more than rush the base. They add more risk the alien attack and encourages teamwork to overpower the turrets.
Cons: Turrets take longer to start firing on an alien. Some say this allows dretches to run around and get kills in the human base. Humans will not have an run-to savior anymore when staying inside the base. The new turrets force human builders to do more than clump them up and force defenders to take a more active role. I think this is an improvement in the overall gameplay of Tremulous.
Tesla Generators
Pros: These are actually needed now because of the slower turrets. The defensive computer is no longer needed to build them. Tesla Generator have a second lease on life.
Cons: Easy to snipe or swipe.
FYI: I know I had complained about their range but now I think its okay for an stage 3 structure with a slightly higher build cost. They should be good at killing dretches.
Reactor/Defensive Computer
I don't know all the details of this improvement so I could be off a little.
Pros: The reactor can super zap with the defensive computer. Since this is available at stage 2, humans have a version of the telsa generator. The defensive computer also gives alerts when the base is attacked.
Cons: Requires a defensive computer and not that useful past stage 2. At stage 3, humans get tesla generators and they serve the same role with more range due to positioning. As for the alerts, human will probably have a defender in the base anyway.
Past Objections and comments
With the exception of details about damage or ranges, I stand behind what I said in past posts. The only wild card in my opinion is the user interface improvement hinted at by TJW.
With both teams being base dependent, humans will have dedicated alien defenders and more aliens in the base from the need to regeneration when attacking They will have to use teamwork and numbers to attack the alien base. With aliens, they will have to use teamwork and numbers due to the deadliness of the human base and weakened individual power (and because the armory is about twice as strong and can't be killed as easily).
I don't know if that will be more fun. Consider the experience on a public server.
Right now, TJW's server plays mostly standard maps. These maps are smaller than many of the newer maps. When aliens have to fight on a larger battlefield, the loss of regular regeneration and dependence on their base will be a hard transition.
The underlying 'ranged versus melee' issues between humans and aliens will continue to frustrate players. Hit points, Hit points, Hit points. Think of the alien hit points.
