Alpha 6.38 - Apothecary VS Biovore

[ChromeAngel]

After Action Report for Alpha 6.33

This one ran long and at one point I couldn't join my own server because their were so many testers.  Combined with the feisty new map from Nqss I am left with a good feeling about this build.

Bugs

• Active melta weapons don't shutdown their effects when dropped.
• Carnifex and Biovore class selection icons are both corrupted (fex is stealing part of the vore).
• Delay when healing for the first time with the medic tool, may need a deploy animation.
• Delay when firing the stormbolter for the first time, may need a deploy animation.
• The reactor room door in ex_orbital was still tripping me up as a fex.
• Bolt weapon muzzle flashes not being visible to other players.
• Homing in on a client crash caused by player ragdolls....

Balance

• Medic class feels more useful than previously, but still not worth a 2nd tier position.  He may become more useful in larger games.  I am still loathed to make him more offensive, but he need buffing.  Some kind of personal forcefield to buff his survival maybe?
• Again biovore feels better than in previous tests, but not up to the level of his piers (closer than the medic though).  The ballistic aiming is a pain, players have been asking  me to improve his aim.  I'd like to buff the damage he does to 50HP from 40, but just for the deployed (R key ) mines.
• Lots of talk about balancing the fex, not all one way.  The consensus seems to be he's OP.  No clear decision on if he should be Nerfed some more or buffed up to 3rd tier.  I would like to discourage the "Fex Train" effect when multiple fexes have to queue up to charge the marines.  Can anyone suggest a good mechanic to nerf fexes in this situation (or buff the marines).
• Killed a couple of stealers with the powerfist, but got killed by a couple of times too.  The range upgrade is not significantly noticeable.  May buff the PF range a little further for the next alpha.

Tweaks

• Make mines detonate from being shot.  maybe just the explode on impact variety?

I'm tired but happy.  I'm really interested to hear what the other testers made of it all.

[Stahlhagel]

bugs

• all the cswords are all held in an unnatural and weird way ( to hide the lack of the chainsword teeth i know) which is very irritating
• plasma pistol view model is also tilted and held in an unnatural way for whatever reason, its irritating.
• melta fx bug still not fixed.
• still no smoketratrails on the bolt weapons (its possible, after all vman told me, even Firearms source has smoke trails and their weapons are hitscan if i remember correctly.)
• Bolt impact FX not appearing in 3rd person
• plasma/csword combo, apoth csword have bugged hit miss sound, the only working combo is the inferno pistol/csword combo.
• grenade fx still not working properly, it spawns the particles relative to the GRENADE , and not always upwards like you tried to make it.
• stealer view model has some bone/horn textures in the wrong place. ++ Reversion bug, this was fixed, known to be OK in 6.25++
• fex talons are bugged, the hit detection doesnt work at all or rarely ( seeing the hit fx on the marine but not doing any damage while he melts you to death is frustrating
• lictor talons hit detection not working properly in the same way, people need to know where they will hit with the talons. give them the standard nid crosshair please
• spore mines are invincible
• vmans plasma bolt and rocket trails arent in yet, both can be found in the rocket pcf

Balance

• biovore needs an accuracy buff, and a damage buff to around 50
• stealers could use a slight claw range buff , leap cooldown buff and maybe a small speed buff
• deathspitter could use more accuracy, but slightly less damage to compensate. luck shoulnt be a factor in this game, a players skill should determine the effectiveness of a class.
• meltas could use more ammo, 1 mag more would do i guess
• rocket launchers need 10 more ammo, ( a good player wont waste his krak missiles ), buff frag missile damage
• plasma pistol needs a total revamp. its still useless compared to the good old bolter ( youll ignore this one anyway, but i i thought id still write it down).
• termie powerfist range needs to be buffed to 120 range, maybe a small damage buff for a 2 hit kill on lowtier nids

anybody got something to add ? i might have forgot something :v

[Nqss]

Balance

Medic class feels more useful than previously, but still not worth a 2nd tier position.  He may become more useful in larger games.  I am still loathed to make him more offensive, but he need buffing.  Some kind of personal forcefield to buff his survival maybe?

health regeration and combinationed chansword with bolt-pistol might do the job

Again biovore feels better than in previous tests, but not up to the level of his piers (closer than the medic though).  The ballistic aiming is a pain, players have been asking  me to improve his aim.  I'd like to buff the damage he does to 50HP from 40, but just for the deployed (R key ) mines.

the accuracy , as i suggested earlier
would be better , the damage increasing is possible only after making spore mines destroyable
either way , it would be a mess

Lots of talk about balancing the fex, not all one way.  The consensus seems to be he's OP.  No clear decision on if he should be Nerfed some more or buffed up to 3rd tier.  I would like to discourage the "Fex Train" effect when multiple fexes have to queue up to charge the marines.  Can anyone suggest a good mechanic to nerf fexes in this situation (or buff the marines).

fex to the 3d tier
why?
so we can see him rarely - fex train not only have the devastating effects , it is also blocking the way
quet unconfortable at some maps
buff and tier 3 , that what i think

Killed a couple of stealers with the powerfist, but got killed by a couple of times too.  The range upgrade is not significantly noticeable.  May buff the PF range a little further for the next alpha.

good
also , there is something wrong with hitboxes of tyranids VS range of marine close combat weapon , seems that chainswords and powerfist can miss some tyranids , like carnifex and warrior
Not sure , but i cant hear that im hitting them , while im pressing W and using meele

Tweaks

• Make mines detonate from being shot.  maybe just the explode on impact variety?

if you can make it destroyable on the explotion impact , can you do the same with bullet impact?
if you can , you may increase the damage to 45

can we search for free surgine sound? or free injection sound? to put it in the healing gun of apothecary
also , he can wave with this thing like a maniac , looks wierd

and another thing , does the plasma gun avoiding armor? would be nice if so

[Stahlhagel]

forgot some stuff... bolt explosion xf arent visible in 3rd person :C

im strongly against "fantasy " wargear for the apoth. no forcefields please, thats something reserved for captains.

unless you restrict the maximum available classes ingame, i dont see much possibilities to fix fex rushes... however, if we get new special weapons in soon that might change soon

[ChromeAngel]

health regeration and combinationed chansword with bolt-pistol might do the job

The medic tool's idle mode acts as health regeneration for the medic too.

im strongly against "fantasy " wargear for the apoth. no forcefields please, thats something reserved for captains.

unless you restrict the maximum available classes ingame, i dont see much possibilities to fix fex rushes... however, if we get new special weapons in soon that might change soon

Since I don't have an up to date SM codex I thought i'd ask, I wasn't sure if medics had access to officer gear being an HQ type unit.

How about giving Veterans a modified bolter that can fire through fexes? Penetrator rounds maybe?  IE you shoot the 1st fex and it hits him, the one behind him and the one behind that... until it hits a wall.

[Nqss]

How about giving Veterans a modified bolter that can fire through fexes? Penetrator rounds maybe?  IE you shoot the 1st fex and it hits him, the one behind him and the one behind that... until it hits a wall.

that makes no sence
boltpistol > plasma pistol?

and about health regeration , i ment regerating health all the time , not just idle

[ChromeAngel]

How about giving Veterans a modified bolter that can fire through fexes? Penetrator rounds maybe?  IE you shoot the 1st fex and it hits him, the one behind him and the one behind that... until it hits a wall.

that makes no sence
boltpistol > plasma pistol?

and about health regeration , i ment regerating health all the time , not just idle

Modified (Veterans only) Boltgun, not Bolt Pistol. 

Do we have any references for other penetrating marine weapons?

[Nqss]

to be honest , i still wish for veteran to be only with combinated weapons and some team buffing ability
you know , so he will be a real sergant

as i remember , sergants gives a bonus of iniative , which allows....to survive in CC i guess or sometging like that

[Stahlhagel]

"to be honest , i still wish for veteran to be only with combinated weapons and some team buffing ability
you know , so he will be a real sergant

as i remember , sergants gives a bonus of iniative , which allows....to survive in CC i guess or sometging like that"

i feel for you man, still wish veteran to be finally the sarge he should be.

as for the kraken-penetrator bolts, those are sterngueard veteran equipment only. however, the sergeant has a wide array of combi weapons, and cc/pistol combos.

yeah, some high penetration weapons should ignore armor imho.

[ChromeAngel]

Alpha 6.34 After Action Report
That was fun    The balance felt surprisingly good considering the tier swap for the Thrope and Fex.  

Tarsis Ultra seems to favour the tyranids, winning 3 out of 3 games.  

It seems a bit extreme to have a one shot kill like the Thrope in the 2nd tier, I'm tempted to nerf the damage and increase the rate of fire of the warp blast (BAMF).  

I'm currently preferring the Thrope over the Biovore because of the additional control he gives.  Mines dying when the Vore does rather limits him from laying down a solid defence.  The mines also bounce off more often than I would like.  

Medic still feels pretty useless when he's not surrounded by patients.... not sure anyone actually cares  

Bugs

• Plasma pistol combo is very slow to play it's "draw" animation.
• The Narcathium idle behaviour seems to be broken.
• The Narcathium becomes unavailable if it runs out of ammo.
• Mines still cannot be shot to detonate them.
• Not everyone is seeing all the FX (I shall have to include all the FX in the next patch).
• Melta beam sometimes stays on when dropped.  Only when dropped out of PVS?( test! ).

[Nqss]

Tarsis Ultra seems to favour the tyranids, winning 3 out of 3 games.   

not a bit
we have pushed you to the second spawn once and after that i had heavy , but lost it due to explaining that you can swing around the map
at that point we would win
also , final point of marines well defended , there must just someone to protect it , as i remember , most of games it was captured by lictor
rarely marines used the cliffs to be on the better position and unable to be killed in close combat
since tyranid got lictor , there must be someone to hold the point in case of ninja sneak and cap
we will wait for scouts

and there is nothing in map to be changed more for balance , i cant see anything

[Nqss]

Alpha 6.34 After Action Report

Medic still feels pretty useless when he's not surrounded by patients.... not sure anyone actually cares 

combo weapons were suggested already
and also , apothecary gets 200 health
also , idle healing is not working ,or buged ,or you might be turned it off

also , i would suggest to move veteran to the first tier of marines and take away his grenades and bolter
i dont remember seeing anyone using those

[ChromeAngel]

Alpha 6.34 After Action Report
Medic still feels pretty useless when he's not surrounded by patients.... not sure anyone actually cares 

combo weapons were suggested already
and also , apothecary gets 200 health
also , idle healing is not working ,or buged ,or you might be turned it off

also , i would suggest to move veteran to the first tier of marines and take away his grenades and bolter
i dont remember seeing anyone using those

Ah, I had forgotten to mention the health buff in the change log.  I wanted to test if buffing his survival and him significantly more useful before creating some kind of Rosarius effect.  IMHO, no he died just as easily.

Yes that reminds me the idle behaviour didn't seem to be working all the time.

[ChromeAngel]

Alpha 6.35 After Action Report
Thank you to everyone that turned out.  Not much gaming happened, but all the bug fixes got tested (and passed) and I received some more balance suggestions.

Tweaks

• Buff Plasma pistol damage to 45 per shot from 30.
• Buff Sporemine damage again.
• Reduce the ROF of the Biovore talon attack.

Bugs

• Plasma pistol is missing it's impact effect.

[Nqss]

Alpha 6.35 After Action Report
Thank you to everyone that turned out.  Not much gaming happened, but all the bug fixes got tested (and passed) and I received some more balance suggestions.

Tweaks

• Buff Plasma pistol damage to 45 per shot from 30.
• Buff Sporemine damage again.
• Reduce the ROF of the Biovore talon attack.

Bugs

• Plasma pistol is missing it's impact effect.

here is the sound for nact
i hope it fits
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/23824139/surg.wav
from free source sounds