Balancing and Alien attacks

[tuxator]

Hi,

I played a few rounds of this interesting game and I've come to the conclusion that the Alien race is completely unbalanced.

1. Problem is how you attack someone: by touching them. That should be removed, if you want to attack something in an Ego-Shooter it has always been the left mouse button that has been used, why change that? Also it seems to me that if you stay in contact with the enemy, you don't attack again. You've to run away and close in again.

2. The attack seems to deal no damage at all. The human enemy survived ₈ touches, while my little alien died after 3 or 4 hits(!). How is that balanced? A ranged weapon must always be weaker than a meelee attack. ESPECIALLY if the enemy only has a meelee attack type.

[janev]

Aim for the head, get into range, stay in range. Profit.

1) The dretch has a autobite function, as soon as you are in range and looking at an enemy it bites. This actually helps you since you only have to coordinate the getting into range and aiming parts. In fast-paced action, especially when wall-walking, getting the timing on the bite right is difficult.

2) The attack is almost sufficient but you have to do your part. Biting a human in the toes will not do. Biting them in the chest will take time. Biting them in the head will yield the best results. The damage multiplier increases as you go up the body, armor reduces damage by a percentage. Back in the days of tremulous one headbite dealt 96 damage and that was considered by some to be horribly unbalanced. Now it does less.

[tuxator]

well, the problem is that you can't get close to a human player. As soon as he spots you, you are dead since the only thing he has to do is put down his index finger and roughly aim in the alien's direction. While the alien has to somehow get to the player.

As soon as humans have helmets, only a bad human player (like me) would get bitten. IMO it was kind of good how trem did it, but even there the alien race was horribly imbalanced. (at start, the aliens were still too weak and as soon as the aliens evolved, they were barely killable)

It's kind of that here but even worse. At start the aliens are even weaker than in trem but after they evolve, they're barely killable.

[janev]

well, the problem is that you can't get close to a human player.

I agree, the problem is that you can't get close to a human player. :p

The damage values and health points of stuff will change as new features and variables get thrown into the mix. So while I do agree that the dretch is pretty weak there is not much point it balancing it in isolation. In the short term my advice is to practice and then practice some more. Poison and distance make up for some of the shortcomings on large maps. On small maps you have to rely on mad skills and not being a dretch. :)

[PaN61]

It's just that you aren't as good as the more professional players here. I reckon it's quite balanced as you can deal (for example), stage 1 humans vs dretch, you can kill the human in 2 bites. With stage 2 human with Helmet and Light Armor vs dretch, you can kill the human in 3 bites. And yes, the damage multiplier does decrease with armor and decreases the further you go down to the feet of the human.

[ViruS]

With stage 2 human with Helmet and Light Armor vs dretch, you can kill the human in 3 bites.

0.3 [helmet mod] * 1.5 [headbite multiplier] * 36 [bite dmg] isn't a 3 hit kill.
My windows calculator is uninstalled so i'll take a guess.
16ish dmg?
= ~ 7 hits

[PaN61]

If you aim at the head Virus, and you have seen me countless number of times killing humans with Helmet and Light Armor in 3 bites. Essentially one bite to the head with Helmet on deals 48 damage from a dretch. Therefore equals 2 bites to the head + 1 bite anywhere else and human is killed.

EDIT: I don't know if it has changed in Unvanquished, but that's what it was in 1.1.

[tuxator]

If you aim at the head Virus, and you have seen me countless number of times killing humans with Helmet and Light Armor in 3 bites. Essentially one bite to the head with Helmet on deals 48 damage from a dretch. Therefore equals 2 bites to the head + 1 bite anywhere else and human is killed.

EDIT: I don't know if it has changed in Unvanquished, but that's what it was in 1.1.

hmm, I needed at least 4 to 5 jumps to kill a human with a helmet on. Maybe I didn't get the head.

As for balancing: I played multiple matches yesterday evening on the official servers. Sometimes on human sometimes on alien side.

To make it short: In all matches that I participated in, humans won and aliens lost. Regardless of which side I chose. Also human players consistently had much more points than alien players.

[ViruS]

EDIT: I don't know if it has changed in Unvanquished, but that's what it was in 1.1.

I don't remember speccing or seeing you kill helmet/larmour'd humans in 3 hits. That was probably because he wasn't wearing light armour on, or maybe because he was previously damaged.

Correct: That was 1.1.
1.1 rules are as follows:

0.3[helm mod]48[dmg]2.0[headbite]
= 21.6 dmg (round up to 29, only accepts intergers)
~ 5 bites.

hmm, I needed at least 4 to 5 jumps to kill a human with a helmet on. Maybe I didn't get the head.

Let me tell you a *secret...:
It is easier to stay on the ground and aim slightly above the head. This makes you bite the head, not the torso or legs. It's to do with the dretch's bite range (it's not actually a touch, ignore the tutorials)
*It's not a secret. Most players already know this.

EDIT: Got the maths wrong, pan why didn't you correct me? :/

[PaN61]

I don't remember speccing or seeing you kill helmet/larmour'd humans in 3 hits. That was probably because he wasn't wearing light armour on, or maybe because he was previously damaged.

Nope. It was with full health. Headshots dealt 48 damage each hit on the human. So 2 headshots = 96 damage to the human wearing Helmet. Plus, the Light Armor doesn't effect headshot damage at all. It only protects the torso area.