Sorry if this is in the wrong place, but the devs are my main audience here. If this should go elsewhere, feel free to move it.
PROBLEM: Progress is too sudden and has no depth
The "stage" system offers no depth or variety to games, and currently serves only as a way to make sure that a team that is behind has some tangible disadvantage. Advantages can be completely nullified by camping for a few minutes.
POTENTIAL SOLUTION: A new evolution system (and more!)
Player progress could be made through leveling, team progress would rely on the progress of individual players.
Players would have certain specifications to put points into to advance their character in the manner they think would best suit the map they're on and the specifications of the team they're playing against.
Some examples:
Aliens could have three types of body specs, light frame, medium frame, and heavy frame. Each body spec has five levels, which exaggerate the effect of the specification. Certain levels may offer additional perks. Light frame offers increased speed and jump height with each level, but offers little to no bonus health. Medium frame offers some bonus health a little bit of move speed, but will not make you particularly tanky or quick. Large frame would offer a great deal of health, but would lower movespeed and jump height.
Abilities like pounce, wall-crawl, wall-jump, and trample could all be evolved with any level-up, but you only get one choice on it.
Evolution points would still exist, but be used more as currency. Players could trade in say, 15 evolution points for a "Hivemind Enhancement" that gives them a weak healing aura to increase the regenerative abilities of themselves and thier teammates. Players can hold a limited number of these items to decide whether they want to play a tanky healer who buffs teammates with auras and soaks up bullets, or a fast and marauding glass cannon who you can't seem to hit.
The idea is relatively similar for humans. They could spec into unarmored, light armor, or heavy armored. Scout would give the player huge speed and stamina boosts, but would decrease the effectiveness of armor on them; at higher levels, it could offer an unlimited stamina perk at the cost of being able to equip armorand heavy weapons as well as a health reduction. Soldier would slightly increase health, stamina, and reduce gun spread. Juggernaut would allow the equipping of heavy armors and battlesuits and increase health by a good deal, but would greatly slow the player and increase stamina usage. Level 5 Juggernaut could eliminate heavy weapon recoil.
Humans would also have a currency, allowing them to buy items from the armory. Weapons would be bought once to be unlocked, and could be swapped freely at the armory once bought. The shotgun may have an upgrade like "Uranium Slug", which gives shotguns single-slug shots instead of having pellets. The slug would greatly reduce the effect of alien armor, as the armor would only apply once.
The switch from one-life upgrades to permanent upgrades would allow teams to snowball an advantage if they're playing better, and eventually lead to a victory or loss without the need of a timer or sudden death to intervene.
Alien and human structures would be made stronger to make the early game safer and to match the new-found strength of the players. Build points would be static though; once something has been destroyed, you don't get it back.
The sum of these changes is a more deliberate game, with concequences for actions and true advantages for a winning team, as well as a game with greater depth for players who want to theorycraft or try something out of the ordinary.
Anyone's thoughts?
