Natural Selection II (2)

WhiteZero

WhiteZero

2[H]4U
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Oct 21, 2004
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Teaser apparently came up today for the game. If you liked the original Half-Life MOD, then show the team some support and preorder.
http://www.naturalselection2.com/buy

Teaser video is here.
And in case your wondering about the footage:
NS Website said:
The hallway and alien footage shown in this movie was filmed entirely in-engine and showcases one of the playable classes - the "Onos".
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Onos looks silly with shin guards, but I'll buy this on release fo sure. I'm wondering why they're only charging 20 bucks for the standard version, because to me, NS 1 was definitely a 30 dollar game considering how many years I played the game.
 
The website's FAQ has a bold claim from the team:
With modding, there would have been no Natural Selection, so we're dedicated to providing the community with the most powerful and easy-to-use modding tools possible. We're shipping all our content tools we are using to build Natural Selection 2 along with the game. This includes our level editor, model viewer, cinematic editor. Furthermore, because we are writing 100% of our game in Lua script, you'll be able to add your own weapons, gameplay modes and entirely new games with relative ease. Everyone that buys the game will get the same tools we used to build the game. We're even shipping our commercial script debugger and our own gameplay code with the game. So we expect NS2 to be the most modded game ever!
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Hmmmm, interesting.
 
Special addition here I come. I'd pay $40 just because the first was so fucking good.
 
I'll just get the regular version. I don't really want alpha access. I've been in enough alphas to know better.
 
glad to hear they finally have a release date. I was hardcore into the first NS for a long time after it first came out. A few of the patches, mostly since they added the deathmatch style mode and took away tower stacking on the alien side made me not like it so much. Still i have some of the best multiplayer shooter memories ever from that game. I'm really excited to get the new one.

In for the special edition version.
 
So when's the release date? I'll probably grab the Special Edition once I get some more cash in my pocket ><
 
Going to get it but what is up with games and these 20 buck "special" editions? If they had the combat mode I would get the special but with out it i'm just going to get the normal.
 
Finally! I've been following NS2 for years. I ordered the special edition because they're a small team and deserve it.
 
Crucible1001 said:
I'll just get the regular version. I don't really want alpha access. I've been in enough alphas to know better.
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The World in Conflict alpha was neat. I liked seeing how the game changed with each update. They changed the balance, edited the names of units, rearranged map layouts, and added new features.
 
Ender1183 said:
Going to get it but what is up with games and these 20 buck "special" editions? If they had the combat mode I would get the special but with out it i'm just going to get the normal.
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The 20 dollars extra is for alpha access. I am sure tons of people will pay for it.
 
They said that 90% of people who pre-ordered bought the special edition and said THANKS ABUNCH!!!



i know im looking forward to this game, would be nice to see Valve pick them up and help make their mod or as long as they keep producing more content features ill be happy.
 
Oh hell yeah

NS2 Store to me
show details 11:21 PM (1 hour ago) Reply



Thanks for pre-ordering the Special Edition of NS2!

Listed below is your game key(s), which you will need to play.

NS2 pre-order Special Edition Key bleep bleep bloop

You will be e-mailed at [email protected] when the game is ready for you to download and play. In the meantime, learn more about NS2 and our development process at http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2 .

Thanks for your support!
 
fodder0 said:
i know im looking forward to this game, would be nice to see Valve pick them up and help make their mod or as long as they keep producing more content features ill be happy.
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It's not a "mod" anymore. They aren't even using the Source engine anymore either. Also, they're supplying all of their tools to the community to make new maps, game modes, weapons, etc.
 
I just pre-ordered the Special Edition, I loved the first one and spent countless hours playing so I am sure that I will enjoy the 2nd one.
 
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fodder0 said:
They said that 90% of people who pre-ordered bought the special edition and said THANKS ABUNCH!!!



i know im looking forward to this game, would be nice to see Valve pick them up and help make their mod or as long as they keep producing more content features ill be happy.
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EA gobbling up small companies, bad
Valve gobbling up small companies, good

Valve would take every shred of complexity out of Natural Selection to make it more casual. Not sure if you played the first one, but Unknown Worlds is great about keeping their game up to date and adding new features, not to mention NS1 was probably the best looking goldsrc game/mod out there. Valve wouldn't pick this up anyways seeing as UW ditched using the source engine because it couldn't do a lot of the shit they wanted it to and they didn't want to use the archaic SDK and mapping tool that comes with source.
 
Reminds me of the Gloom mod. Is it based off it? I played Gloom a bit in the Q2 days but haven't tried Natural Selection.
 
Could someone describe the gameplay to me? I've never played the first and I'm not sure what I'm in for. If it sounds good I'm in for the $20 version, nothing wrong will helping out the little guys.
 
PornoSatan said:
Reminds me of the Gloom mod. Is it based off it? I played Gloom a bit in the Q2 days but haven't tried Natural Selection.
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It's pretty much just like gloom but the gameplay is different in a good way. If you have half life download ns and give it a try it's pretty fun.
 
SixtyWattMan said:
I'm pretty sure NS came out a little before Gloom.
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Nope, just checked. Gloom came out in early 1999 and NS in late 2002. And reading further they do appear similar, not sure why I asked when I could have just checked, but anyway. :D

S0m30n3 said:
It's pretty much just like gloom but the gameplay is different in a good way. If you have half life download ns and give it a try it's pretty fun.
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Yeah, I think I might.
 
MetalX said:
Could someone describe the gameplay to me? I've never played the first and I'm not sure what I'm in for. If it sounds good I'm in for the $20 version, nothing wrong will helping out the little guys.
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Classic is the original Natural Selection game, mixing action and strategy elements.

In this mode, one member of the marine team must enter the "command chair" to lead the team. From here, he can purchase upgrades, issue movement orders and drop supplies - all from an overhead perspective, as in many RTS games. The commander can also place buildings, although these are inactive until built by players in the field. The role is somewhat similar to the Intelligence Officer of Global Operations in that it is provided an overview of the map, though the ability to place objects and control is much more extensive. A similar 'commander' mode can also be seen in Battlefield 2 and the Empires modification for Half life 2.

The alien team has no defined leader, and so must communicate and co-operate to ensure different roles are fulfilled as needed. They too extend their control by building, to do this they must first gestate into the Gorge evolution. Kharaa "Hive Sight" reveals teammates through the walls and structures of the map, this was originally their answer to the commander with his top-down overview of the game. However in later versions both teams have gained substantial advantage from the addition of a map hotkey. This overlays the whole level, showing teammates and friendly structures; plus enemies and structures currently in view of comrades, and areas under attack.

The aliens start with one active hive, randomly chosen from the 3 hive spots of the map. Active hives heal damaged aliens and respawn dead players. Marines initially spawn in a set location on the map, and after that spawn from Infantry Portals, which can be built in a set radius of the Command Chair. Healing and ammunition can be dropped by the commander in 'packs' (at a cost) or obtained free from an Armoury.

The teams compete for territory, and critically for the resources ('res') it offers. The currency for both sides, resources are obtained by building resource towers to tap the nozzles sited around the map. This is another area where the teams have a key difference - while marines draw on a common pool of resources, each alien accumulates a personal store. This further increases the requirement for teamwork on the alien side, to achieve the right balance of hives, lifeforms, resource towers and chambers.

The game ends when one side has destroyed the other's ability to survive. For the Frontiersmen (marine) side, this usually entails destroying all alien hives, ensuring no further alien players may respawn, and then hunting the rest down. For the Kharaa (alien) side, winning requires destroying all marine "Infantry Portals", ensuring that they do not respawn, and then eliminating the rest of the marines. Other possibilities exist such as destroying the command chair, or destroying all finished hives, and killing the whole alien team before the remaining hive is fully grown.

Game duration has varied through the game's development. In v1, games were slower and often measured in hours. One of the stated aims of v2 was to address this, by introducing a broad range of changes to abilities, structures, etc. In current releases (v3), a typical game lasts 15-30 minutes, but can run over an hour, with both sides vying for control over strategically important Hive Rooms and Resource Nodes.

The stark asymmetry between the two sides makes "balancing" Natural Selection a difficult and perpetually contentious issue. Almost every release includes some balance changes, most via tweaking of numerical values - e.g. damage inflicted by a certain attack, or time taken to complete a certain building. The difficulty of balancing the game is complicated by the need to address varying levels of skill and numbers of players. Competitive games are normally played 6v6, whereas it is not uncommon for public Internet servers to have 20 slots (allowing 10v10) or more. Skill is more difficult to quantify, but one can regularly observe members of top clans achieving high kill:death ratios against experienced non-competitive players.

from wiki
 
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I don't get why this sort of concept has stayed on the indie scene for so long, to me it's the most fun way of playing a team deathmatch type game. conventional tdm is so damn boring to me, adding class based combat and strategy makes it so much more interesting. tremulous is still alive and kicking, and the closest thing to this (so I've heard) that is still being worked on, better yet open source and free. I always heard people comparing trem to ns but never played it, if this is really an updated and fleshed out version of this type of game then I'm gonna be all over it.

the only thing I don't like about this is the idea of a "commander", so many others toy with this concept and it never really works out. reading about that is what kept me from looking at the original ns mod. trem gets around this by keeping credit/evolution points for each player, and having a seperate builder class for each side that anyone can spawn as at any time, then there is a pool of build points for each team that stays the same based on server settings. here your team is screwed if your builders suck, so I don't see how it could work well if there's no way for someone else to take their place.
 
mas said:
I don't get why this sort of concept has stayed on the indie scene for so long, to me it's the most fun way of playing a team deathmatch type game. conventional tdm is so damn boring to me, adding class based combat and strategy makes it so much more interesting. tremulous is still alive and kicking, and the closest thing to this (so I've heard) that is still being worked on, better yet open source and free. I always heard people comparing trem to ns but never played it, if this is really an updated and fleshed out version of this type of game then I'm gonna be all over it.

the only thing I don't like about this is the idea of a "commander", so many others toy with this concept and it never really works out. reading about that is what kept me from looking at the original ns mod. trem gets around this by keeping credit/evolution points for each player, and having a seperate builder class for each side that anyone can spawn as at any time, then there is a pool of build points for each team that stays the same based on server settings. here your team is screwed if your builders suck, so I don't see how it could work well if there's no way for someone else to take their place.
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commander is for marine side only
what you mentioned about trem pretty much describe alien side minus pool of build points that stays the same
 
man I can't wait. I'll definitely be getting this. I played Gloom and then Natural Selection and have been anxiously awaiting NS2.
 
mas said:
I don't get why this sort of concept has stayed on the indie scene for so long, to me it's the most fun way of playing a team deathmatch type game. conventional tdm is so damn boring to me, adding class based combat and strategy makes it so much more interesting. tremulous is still alive and kicking, and the closest thing to this (so I've heard) that is still being worked on, better yet open source and free. I always heard people comparing trem to ns but never played it, if this is really an updated and fleshed out version of this type of game then I'm gonna be all over it.

the only thing I don't like about this is the idea of a "commander", so many others toy with this concept and it never really works out. reading about that is what kept me from looking at the original ns mod. trem gets around this by keeping credit/evolution points for each player, and having a seperate builder class for each side that anyone can spawn as at any time, then there is a pool of build points for each team that stays the same based on server settings. here your team is screwed if your builders suck, so I don't see how it could work well if there's no way for someone else to take their place.
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its been a while since i've gamed on PC, and i haven't played NS since it first came out, but you could vote out the commander, who would then be unable to enter the chair for the remainder of the match. the beauty of it was that a team who works well together thrives, even if they're not as good skill-wise as the hive.
 
I wonder if i'll still be a constellation member in NS2?
I am very excited about this game.
I spent years playing NS and only stopped playing it becasue It became tired after all that time. I had some of the best gamming ever back in V1.0 playing the same map for 2 hours or so. As a result NS holds a place in my heart and I am glad to see NS 2 coming to us soon.
Pre-Order done!
 
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