Natural selection? (The game not the scientific concept) [Archive]

MoelVermillion

2011-09-02, 05:05 AM

Well I followed a link to a youtube video on game theory...

And ended up discovering that one of my all time gaming dreams, a game that is an RTS for one person and an FPS for a whole bunch of others, is in fact there in the form of the half-life 1 mod natural selection.

And the soon to be released natural selection 2.

Site here. (http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns/)

Does anyone here play this game? Is it as fun as it looks?

I have played the game for many years, it is in my experience actually more fun than it looks. The game has a bit of a learning curve on it but as long as you prioritize working with the rest of your team you'll usually be fine. Even though it is a multiplayer game it actually manages to be surprisingly atmospheric a lot of the time, being a lone marine in down a dark corridor and hearing the close foot steps of an alien that could be anywhere (skulks are small and can climb on walls/the roof :smallbiggrin:) can be a downright chilling experience sometimes.

Some more specifics:

Marines:

One player is the commander, he plays the game as a top down RTS. The other players appear as troops and he can left click select them and right click to give them orders, unlike regular RTS games this doesn't send them to a location but instead gives them a marker they can see through walls that tells them where you want them to go. The commander also places down the foundation of structures which the regular marines build by holding the use key. The only player with access to the team's resources is the commander who can use buildings like the arms lab to research upgrades and he can also place down new weapons and items like jet packs for his team to pick up.

The marines lose the game when all of them are dead and there is no infantry portal for them to respawn in. If the command chair is destroyed and the commander has not built a back up one then the marines will no longer be able to build anything though they could theoretically win from this position still.

By default the marines are very squishy dying to the most basic alien in about 3 bites and they move slowly, they are however much more adapt at ranged combat than the aliens.

Late game marines generally wear heavy armour which gives them a lot of health and use weapons that can kill all but the strongest aliens in less than a second of firing.

Aliens:

There is no comamnder for the aliens. Resources are spread out between the whole team and everyone has a max of 100 resource. Aliens right click to bring up a menu that gives them choices including evolving into a new life form and evolving upgraded abilities (faster movement, health regeneration etc.). Your evolutions are reset upon respawning and you can change your life form at any point providing your have the resources. The gorge class of alien can place and build structures at the cost of his own resources however he does this in first person and there is no limit to how many gorges your team can have at a time. Unlike the marine team who respawn at infantry portals the commander can place anywhere the aliens spawn at hives, there are 3 set hive locations in every map and they are the only places that the alien team can build hives. The more hives the aliens have the more upgrade abilities they can research and the more attacks they have. When all hives are destroyed aliens no longer spawn and begin losing health continually, a hive can still be rebuilt from this position providing you survive long enough and have the resources to do it.

The default alien is the Skulk. The Skulk doesn't have very much health however he moves quickly, is small and can stick to walls allowing him to attack the marines in ways reminiscent of Alien. The Skulk's bite attack is fast and can kill basic marines in ~3 hits and a good Skulk can close the distance quickly. An alien player can very quickly evolve from a Skulk to a Gorge who is less mobile and offensive than the Skulk but has more health, better supports moves (including healing) and can build.

End game aliens include the Fade and Onos. The Fade can move at ridiculous speeds, regenerate his health, shoot acid rockets that do splash damage and has very powerful claws. The Onos has a ridiculous amount of health, deals a lot of damage and can devour enemy marines whole with his special "devour" attack. There is also the Lerk who can be accessed a little later into the game than Skulk and Gorge but not as late as Fade or Onos, the Lerk is a low health flying class that can harrass enemies with poison gas and spikes, or protect allies with its bullet proof mist.

Natural Selection is awesome fun and I know a few other people on GiTP play it, we could probably try getting a match going in the Steam thread some time if you were interested.

Natural Selection 2 has a preorder and get the playable beta now thing going on but I wouldn't recommend going for it. The game shows a lot of promise but its currently bogged down with some serious engine problems that make it extremely laggy and unfun to play.