Marines and rock climbing

[echo torrent]

There is nothing worse than being in a quarry and I have to walk a long way out to get where I wanna go. Would be nice if marines could scale rocks like crabs albeit at a slower pace. The ledge vault is pretty unreliable as it exists right now.

[half tendon]

No

[frank vale]

Its already possible to go up cliffs as infantry. You just need to plan your route up and not use cliffs perpendicular to the ground. Get some practice. You'll get better at it.

[echo torrent]

Completely aware it's possible. The point is that it takes an egregiously long time to the point where it's hardly a feasible tactic. You would waste a higher portion of the match fighting the unreliable vaulting system. It's not an issue of practice.

[minor valve]

The Hover Bike and changes in TP will help in traversing the terrain. Now, Dram wishes the terrain to be an obstacle to humans. That's why jet packs and "grapple guns" may not be added to the game, unless they are meant for a unit.
Now, Dram is thinking in "rapel" functionality though. We'll need to wait and see.

[echo torrent]

Thanks for participating but it would be helpful to provide reasons why you disagree.

[minor valve]

Look at his nick name 😄

[frank vale]

Well, first I should say that cliffs are supposed to be an obstacle for humans. A nigh impenetrable obstacle thus giving aliens a total advantage on them,

Second, I think the way it works right now is fine. I can scale the cliff with enough time. My cliff scaling is normally related to some sort of stealth attack where I am trying to open up a TP spam for my allies. Not recommended if you are in intense combat.

[frank vale]

Just.... just don't. Its his MO. Asking for him to elaborate is a mistake.

[frank vale]

Rapel function would be cool.

Little less cool in real life. Did it once as a kid. It all looks fine until you have to lean back and trust some rope. The urge to obey gravity is strong.

[echo torrent]

To each their own, I had the opportunity to rappel down a 20-some-odd-story building; it was a blast.

[frank vale]

Sounds cool.

First time I rappeled was when I was 11. First wall was a 90 foot drop and was terrifying.

Second wall was a 120 foot drop. Was a lot less intimidating because I had already gone once.

Not as bad once you step through the fire. But boy did I have to fight my own instincts to go through with it.

[minor valve]

I did sky diving. Man.... balls went to my throat in 0.1 seconds 😄

[echo torrent]

want to do it, but simultaneously don't want to do it. I am pretty sure I would enjoy it more after-the-fact.

[half tendon]

I also realize it’s the future but rappelling takes forever to get up and running.

I had to rappel down a frozen cliff at CWOC. By the time we were done you could’ve played an entire match of HvA. And we were running it pretty efficient too.

[echo torrent]

Take the Rainbow 6 series as an example. realism isn't a huge concern. What is fun that maintains balance should be at the forefront.

[half tendon]

R6 also sucks.

If you implement Rappeling or climbing in any meaningful way you’re just erasing one of the major advantages the aliens have over humans and screwing with the checks and balances of the factions.

[echo torrent]

No fall damage is already a massive advantage. I'm not asking for marines to move up and down cliffs anywhere nearly as quickly as aliens, but I don't think making cliffs virtually impassable is balanced either.

[minor valve]

I would like a grappling gun but only for the marksman, so as to get to good sniping positions. But oh well... parkour it is.

[frank vale]

Humans will get flying dropships. Well, the dopship is already in game but troop transports need to be made useful for AI soldiers.

But i nthe long run, I don't see this as a major issue. Humans have the means to go around cliffs. Troop transports and teleports.

Getting into the whole rock climbing and rappeling aspect seems overly complicated for me. Cliffs and rocks are supposed to stop human movement. But they have legitimate ways around them. Fast vehicles or flying vehicles.

Then there are the more illegitimate ways to get around cliffs, such as my mountain goat jumping skills. I'd say the game is fine as is.

Maybe some specialized climbing gear as weapon/gear options, but only for certain classes. And I'm hesitant to agree to that.

[thin island]

I think one of the most expensive infantry like commandos and sneaky and stealthy marksman should have spikes that can go into rocks to get more grip on cliffs to climb them, this would be a good way to buff infantry and give infantry some use mid game or late game other than having armed and unarmed transports, but it would be used very rarely on rift basin and other flat maps, the only scenario where i can find this very common is the new map, munument valley

[pale beacon]

What about a foldable hoverbike that is part-vehicle, faster than the unit, can semi-hover and shoot back, but way weaker than what the unit standardly fires

Like the stap

Single troop aerial platform

[minor valve]

Well, a Hover Bike will be introduced and TP will change.

[pale beacon]

I feel like a personal mini hover bike would be suitable for every unit stuck on the desert

[minor valve]

it is planned. However, only for FPS players, not for AI.

[pale beacon]

Yeah that's perfect

[half tendon]

Still disagree with this solution.

[minor valve]

My guess is that it will not only be the hover bike and spawning in orbit. I think we'll see more ways. Probably as portals in between structures and/or TP beacons. Because if it still feels slow, Dram will add whatever is needed.

[frank vale]

Odd question, but is the Hover Bike meant to be a form of equip-able gear? Is it something automatically attached to every FPS?

If the hover bike is equip-able, can something else be equipped in its place?

[frank vale]

You wouldnt happen to know more about this, would you?^

[minor valve]

Apparently you'll be able to open a UI wheel where you request a Hover Bike and it will "materialize" in front of you, just like vehicles at the factories.

[frank vale]

Ok. Any idea what else will go in that UI wheel?

[minor valve]

It wouldn't be as fast as the Light Quad though.
It would not have weapons
You would be able to jump I think.

[minor valve]

No, but I wouldn't be surprised if more things get added.

[frank vale]

I'd imagine you can put stuff in there like buildable/deployable emplacements like machine guns and sand bag barriers.

Could also serve as the means to deliver specialized pings. So you open the UI wheel, select a ping type, and release the wheel that sends out the desired ping (attack that target, beware a dangerous enemy, etc)

If the hover bike was an equipable thing in the UI wheel, alternatives could be a jet pack for a controlled descent when jumping out of a dropship from high altitude.

Idk, just throwing out ideas

[minor valve]

Yea, probably for squad commands? Truly we don't know how it will look like. But surely opens up for tons of ideas.
Squad commands
Items
Information pings
you name it 🙂

[minor valve]

IIRC Dram would make that automatic? Needs to work with AI too. How an hypothetical landing jetpack will work is TBD.

[frank vale]

true