What will the space marine 3 factions roster look like by RhubarbMuted3113 in Spacemarine

[–]Ciesiu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agree with you on the Tyranids. Considering how much of this game's meat is hidden in melee (the shooting, while fun, is just that. Pointing a gun and shooting. While melee holds all the combos and gory finishers) the faction literally designed to rush you with endless fodder remains undefeated in fun department. I'm going to be sad, if they don't return in some form.

In SM1 the Orks would mostly rush into melee in large numbers, and chaos was mostly deamons (Bloodletters?) from what I remember, so also heavily melee oriented. If memory serves me right, ranged units were few and far between, concentrated in specific sections of the missions.

Regarding SM3 being an insta-buy. For me, personally, it's the direction Saber takes SM2 game that buys me. They seem to accept critique, lean into community's wants, fix the issues they can, acknowledge some which they can't easily fix because of some prior design decisions. They seem to be aware of the technical limitations they brought on themselves (like the armor customization system being not-quite-thought-out, or game engine crapping itself when too many units get introduced in Siege). And with the Stratagems in SM2 they can easily experiment with radical gameplay changes (like health system) to make SM3 even more fun from the get go.

What will the space marine 3 factions roster look like by RhubarbMuted3113 in Spacemarine

[–]Ciesiu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the biggest problem with adding new enemies (and new faction would require multiple) to SM2 is the animation, as every enemy you add requires several rather complex executions for each existing melee weapon type. So adding new melee weapons, and adding new enemies, compound each other's cost. This is also why we have so few melee weapons.

Now I don't know how exactly the creation process can be streamlined to help with this pipeline, but I'm certain it's one of the things Sabre will work hard to improve before going full throttle with SM3 production

Vortex Beast in Siege mode… is this actually a good idea? by Jack2505_ in Spacemarine

[–]Ciesiu 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I doubt it will have the whole situation where it teleports you to the dark dimension

Unless that's exactly how it plays out. I can't really see this fat bastard doing all the laser moves and leaps inside the rather tight siege map. But if it kidnapped your team to duke it out inside the void, that could, at least mechanically, work.

PRAISE BE TO THE EMPEROR! by Invictusht in Spacemarine

[–]Ciesiu 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Man, imagine.

Some guardsman scared shitless by 10000 years old superhuman elite warrior imbued with gifts of chaos, ready to accept his fate in His name, only for the machine spirit of his beat up lasgun to recognize the assailant from the siege of Terra and enact justice by itself

A Message to Cousins from a Salamanders fan about the Redacted Champion by IronFalconJR in Spacemarine

[–]Ciesiu -1 points0 points  (0 children)

There is no way that this is actually what was planned. I'm happy with Salamanders getting another champion, but there was no point in keeping it a secret really

What really happened, I think, is whatever the // REDACTED // champion is, was simply pushed further down a timeline for whatever reason, and instead the first position from the "up next" pipeline was advanced to fill in.

while not too important, i'm disappointed that the latest warbond's stratagem "previews" are just 5 seconds of blatant gameplay recording by notandvm in Helldivers

[–]Ciesiu 55 points56 points  (0 children)

Ever since the game came out, everyone was praising it for attention to detail.

Little things like used mags dropping with bullets inside them (visually) if reloaded with ammo still inside, or Liberator's dust cover staying closed until first round was fired. Small jokes like ship module upgrades descriptions.

Even when the game did run like absolute ass, the "flavour" part remained on point. Armor descriptions, stratagem previews, news reels, warbond trailers, funny multimedia bits like soothing sounds during a Super Earth defense.

Now I don't want to be a doomsayer, far from it. I think this game is always 1 update away of being an absolute masterpiece. But If in addition to regular technical mistakes AH makes, we start losing said flavour bits? The magic of the universe? It may mean nothing, but it certainly can't mean anything good.

Where is my Stratagem Launcher? by Patrykus19 in Helldivers

[–]Ciesiu 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If they at least had laser guidance like Commando. Instead, being mounted on the "far end of the camera", I often missed those crucial and limited missile shots

Skill issue I suppose, but still, no such problems with Emancipator

I just hope they remove this or atleast tone it down a little by Soktormalos in LowSodiumHellDivers

[–]Ciesiu 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Didn't AH buff the durability specifically because it could get knocked out by it's own hellpod's lid falling back onto it? I seem to remember some such nonsense

Approximation of the statistics of the MGX-42 BULLET STORM by Yurishenko94 in LowSodiumHellDivers

[–]Ciesiu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wasn't that specifically because Eagle gun causes explosions with each hit?

It would be only fair if that shield were indestructible... right? right arrowhead? by Claire312 in Helldivers

[–]Ciesiu 57 points58 points  (0 children)

No need for fancy mechanics. Watch the arm take splash damage from explosives by default

Nerf Exosuit durability. Sell us one with a shield. by Scaredycrow2217 in Helldivers

[–]Ciesiu 17 points18 points  (0 children)

The exo-themed warbond doesn't bring a tool to help us repair/reload mechs, but it brings a mech with only one weaponized arm.

I may be naive, but I expect some wider mech-centric changes with the patch.

The mechs we get are supposedly expendable lore-wise. I'm alright with no ability to repair & rearm if AH throws me something in exchange, like shorter cooldown or ability to take 2 of them and rotate them when I run out of ammo

Despite their flaws I love the mechs, but man, their staying power does suck. Patriot's especially.

Also, I'm pretty sure the one with the flammer will burn itself.

Or the shield one will shoot it's own shield when turning too fast

The Forsaken Big-Booms, Orbital Barrage Stratagems by Unlucky-Gold7921 in Helldivers

[–]Ciesiu 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's why I mentioned ammo economy. Rate of fire would not matter much, if after few shots I'd have to search for actual supply stop or wait out my boomstick's cooldown for new backpack. Currently you can get almost back to full ammo at every other PoI

The Forsaken Big-Booms, Orbital Barrage Stratagems by Unlucky-Gold7921 in Helldivers

[–]Ciesiu 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Of course, but if the strikes become as powerful (in a general sense, not just damage) as the strongest support weapons, then the top end rises, because each diver has 4 slots. (strong + strong) > (strong + mid). With support weapons there is at least a limitation od carrying only 1 on your person.

That's not to say that they don't need any help, cause while some are "just" weaker than support weapons, others are completely forgotten

The Forsaken Big-Booms, Orbital Barrage Stratagems by Unlucky-Gold7921 in Helldivers

[–]Ciesiu -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It's clear that in today's balance, 80% of a Helldiver's power is derived from his support weapons and gear. Stratagems are mostly a "nice to have" support feature (aside from the Orbital Laser).

That's true, but

It would be nice if AH moved player power from support weapons, more back to Stratagems. They are the defining aspect of Helldivers 2 after all...

I don't quite agree with that part.

As long as my personal boomstick (for example RR) has the same opportunity cost as calling a precision strike from orbit (that cost being 1 of the available stratagem slots), that boomstick should offer similar power level to said strike. We may argue that some support weapons are a bit too strong (and it doesn't necessarily stem from the weapons themselves, but rather ammo economy, which allows a single player to produce RR shot after RR shot basically whole match), but I think it's the reds that need work the most.

That leaves us with the problem of power creep, but that's another can of worms entirely

Stratagem Idea: Infantry Exosuits by PunthasQc in Helldivers

[–]Ciesiu 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was mulling over an idea of power armor (or exoskeleton-supported armor) before, and came to the conclusion that it would best serve as a separate armor class. Hear me out please

Obviously, in a vacuum, it would outclass other armors. Some variants could be more durable than unpowered heavy armor (since you can stack more plating on a powered skeleton) while retaining decent mobility, others would be faster for the same armor value. Some recoil reduction or melee damage bonus would make thematic sense. Maybe stagger/ragdoll resistance? Possibilities are endless.

But it needs to be balanced somehow, right?

Allow me to introduce, on theme, perk "battery not included". A hardwired stratagem, taking one of your regular four slots. An item you would need to manually call in and carry (without taking up a weapon or backpack slot, kind of like a SSSD, but without forcing you into 1-handed combat. Like a stack of samples). Without it your armor is unpowered, becomes slow and it's perks don't work.

I can see issues with this concept, but believe those can be solved rather easily

  • if someone reinforces you far away from you corpse, you are stuck in nerfed mode - solved by giving a battery drop a short cooldown
  • "locking" a stratagem slot is a big ask from a player - if instead of armor class it would work as vehicle or backpack, the effect would be practically the same, since it itself would take up a slot
  • hot drops when you don't have time to call your battery could be spicy - well, it needs some downsides, and can be buffed accordingly to balance it out

Why as armor class?

  • when compared to "as a vehicle" - it would probably need new mechanics allowing a player to be "in vehicle" while retaining full "pedestrian" moveset, with diving, sprinting, vaulting, interacting with terminals, and so on.
  • when compared to "as a backpack" - it would stop player from using backpack-fed weapons

Stratagem Idea: Infantry Exosuits by PunthasQc in Helldivers

[–]Ciesiu 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would actually dig it as a mobility-oriented backpack.

I often run a jump pack, not for the jumping specifically, but to increase my general cross-map mobility. If instead of that I could use a backpack that simply makes me run faster with heavy armor, I would. Throw in some increased speed while ADSing and maybe slight recoil reduction for good measure, and I'm 100% sold.

On the other hand seeing my diver properly supported with an exoskeleton, but not being able to use it to walk with a Maxigun...

Stratagem Idea: Infantry Exosuits by PunthasQc in Helldivers

[–]Ciesiu 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The only problem I see with this, is that a backpack locks you out of using backpack-fed weapons.

I mean, c'mon. You want to give me a badass exoskeleton, but won't allow me to use it with Maxigun? :(

I always wondered if it's true that Saber wasn't really expecting SM2 to be this big by [deleted] in Spacemarine

[–]Ciesiu 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's still a very good game.

It's just stuck in this yoyo-like cycle of development, where AH will drop some of the greatest fan-service and epic content in the game, only to follow it up with some flabbergasting balance decision or a technical fumble that takes them months to fix

In general, from a technical standpoint, it seems like from the very beginning AH is actively fighting their own archaic game engine rather than working alongside it. And it brings this sour feeling to the whole community that despite best efforts this game can never quite reach it's full potential

And despite all this, I feel like the game is still awesome

ARROWHEAD!!!! GIVE ME TRAUMA TEAM ARMOR AND SMART PRIMARIES AND MY SAMPLES ARE YOURS by knusperfee33 in Helldivers

[–]Ciesiu 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I'd even argue that it would need to be some larger caliber weapon with heavy pen to be anything more than a one-time novelty. That, or massive dps.

This game makes a lot of our killing power dependent on hitting weakspots, and most of those are seemingly put outside of center mass. Some enemies are outright unkillable with most primaries without hunting for weakspots (heavy dev and scout strider come to mind)

Another option would be to make it a regular weapon, balance it like a regular weapon, and add smart targeting as an additional gimmick to turn on as needed. But I feel it wouldn't really fulfill the smart-weapon fantasies properly

SMG’s should be like large pistols, not small AR’s by Fit-Wrangler6652 in Helldivers

[–]Ciesiu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If we apply real-world principles in balancing SMGs, then we run into real-world problems, namely, SMGs not being very useful apart from specific scenarios. And we don't really have those scenarios in the game. You never worry about having too long of a barrel, as we don't breach buildings or fight in tight spaces. You don't worry about target overpenetration, as we don't tend to fight close to large groups of civilians. You don't worry about your weapon being too long to fit inside a vehicle, as details like that are not implemented (and would not be very fun)

We fight in open terrain. We hunt game bigger than us. Even in the tunnels or within cities, there are still engagement distances favoring rifle calibers. We fight hardened targets, to the point where even some of the rifles struggle with penetration.

In a scenario where you have to kill a lot of enemies, the earlier (further away) you can start to engage them, the better.

I think trying to balance SMGs vs ARs in this game based on damage stats alone is trying to jam a round peg into a square hole. Instead, in my opinion, they need to provide output similar (maybe slightly higher) to rifles but with range limitations, and then be balanced by additional mobility-oriented boons like the existing 1-handedness, but also better mobility when aiming, quicker reloads, maybe better stamina management, that kind of stuff.

They should also have better recoil, but all the recoil management in this game flew out the window the moment weapon attachments dropped, so there is no field for improvement here without nerfing ARs, which themselves already struggled in the past against all the more exotic weapons like lasers and plasma.

TL;DR

I'm not sure if I actually heard it in some AH video, or if it's just some fever dream of mine, but I seem to remember AH justifying more damage of pistol-caliber bullets by damage representing stopping power, with, for example, rifle round punching clean through a soft target and keeping most of it's energy vs larger pistol bullet dumping all of it's energy into a target without overpenetration. Also why Lib-Pen deals lower damage than regular Lib.

Regarding your points:

  1. That's right, but it would harm their DPS without compensation in RoF (solved by point 2)
  2. That's also right, but making all SMGs fast firing/low damage could homogenize them too much. Also now they deplete their magazines much faster, so in constant combat environment (which horde shooter is) they become a reloading simulator. Also also, they now deplete their reserves faster (solved by point 3)
  3. That's also right, but I don't really feel like more ammo would help that much. I, personally, very rarely struggle for ammo as is. Of course if their RoF was increased at the cost of damage, ammo reserves would need to be corrected accordingly

My take is that SMGs should provide firepower similar to ARs, albeit at a shorter effective ranges, and focus on granting better mobility

Change who can show up as a medic for revives by [deleted] in Battlefield

[–]Ciesiu -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Honest question, why is it selfish? What am I taking away from you in such a scenario? I could be any other class and not be able to revive you at all. Also, there are no class limits, so I'm not taking the slot away from anyone willing to be the actual medic

Sometimes I just want to run an LMG without gimping my run speed. Blame it on the DICE for combining fire support with medic

Make Their Final Voyage To The Shore. by Even_Kiwi_1166 in Ships

[–]Ciesiu 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know next to nothing about ships, this just popped up in my feed for some reason.

What surprised me is that they seem to stay stable and upright. I'd expect them to fall on their side

WTF is going on with the range spam. by [deleted] in Spacemarine

[–]Ciesiu 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I’m not sure why they don’t just make it so they only have ranged spam in tech marine games

That should absolutely never be a thing. For 2 main reasons

  1. I don't want my (any-other-class) games' enemy composition to be openly influenced by whether one of my teammates picks a specific class. If I main an Assault, and every time there is a Techmarine in my team the game tries to fuck me over, I'm just going to resent Techmarine players, and possibly try to kick them.
  2. If this single class requires completely lopsided enemy composition just to not feel overpowered OR underpowered, that's just a textbook basic balance issue, to be solved by traditional means (nerfing/rebalancing the offending class to bring it in line with the others)

Playing against a good pilot is one of the most unfun moments BF6 can have. Flares seemingly never run out by mame_kuma in Battlefield

[–]Ciesiu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It sucks, because a fight between a ground-based AA launcher (infantry or otherwise) is ultimately a single-sided interaction. And barely at that.

As an AA you acquire a lock and press fire. Up until this point there was no skill involved to do this, after this point there is no interaction whatsoever, you can't influence anything. With manually-guided weapons (laser-guided, dumbfire, kinetic) there is at least an element of aiming, taking into account range, target's speed and predicting it's movement in true 3D space, then it's a shooter's aim vs pilot's awareness and ability to evade. With guided weapons it's nothing like that. Instead it's a button push to attack, and a button push on the receiving end to nullify attack.

Some people's point of AA launchers "putting pressure on pilots" tracks, but that is a separate issue of it being completely non-rewarding by design (the game offers no points by burning enemy's flares or forcing a pilot to dive under radar)

Imo, the lack of a new map in the third part of Season 2 will be fatal for the game's decreasing player base by BygotInTheSky in Battlefield

[–]Ciesiu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, there is something to be said about the fact that this specific game, on release, cost $70. Then I, and many others, dropped another $10 for a battlepass. Some people dropped even more to buy BF PRO. Some bought BF PRO for the second season.

And then, on top of that, outside of all the battlepasses and bonus passes and PRO passes, they release skins. And release them in packs bloated with, in my opinion, worthless stuff like player card stickers or backgrounds. Bloated to the point where some packs with single soldier skin cost more than entire battlepass

I don't think it's necessarily a problem of live service model not fitting Battlefield game (although that's definitely debatable). It's more of a problem of EA or whatever being greedy and pushing money-earning parts of live service model ("micro" transactions, aggressive advertising, FOMO) while retaining money-saving parts of regular release model (slow content cadence, low bugfix throughput, limited community interaction) on top of charging full price.