Stepped melee cones were introduced in build 225 (?) and was the end result of the bite cones being changed over the previous 5 - 10 builds I believe it was.
*Build 223 had the lawnmower bite where the bite cone was much too wide and it was near impossible to juke as a marine where previously you could.
*Build 224 had a very narrow cone where it was extremely difficult to land any bites at all if you were a moderately skilled skulk and marines were basically dancing above skulks and could easily take 3 skulks on.
So as a compromise the narrow 75 cone was maintained while two additional cones were introduced to simulate a glancing bite. This would supposedly scale better with skill while making skulks more accessible to new players.
Several times I've posted that I actually dislike stepped melee cones greatly, but what I dislike even more is that I actually cannot find any information on what these bite cones look like. So I have drawn in paint what I think the possible ones are:
![BiteCones_zps6dbff5fd.jpg]()
Generally I thought it was pattern A or C but was recently informed that the it was also stepped in front of the life form, which would mean pattern B or D. Whether the bite cone is curved on its outer surface or not is something that I also do not know. Could anyone confirm this ?
What I hate about stepped cones:
*Cannot count my bites effectively such that I would rather miss the bite than hit with a lower tier cone.
*Lerk bite dot is the same regardless of which melee cone the marine is bitten with. This results in the melee lerk dealing too much damage (60, 40, 20 + 30 dot) while performing unpredictable acrobatics that they themselves cannot control.
*Interp. What the hell am I actually biting ?
*Inconsistent/poorly scaled bite requirements across armour levels. see below
To kill a marine at a0 in 3 or less bites requires the following combinations:
3 x 75
2 x 75 and parasite
2 x 75 and 1 x 50
2 x 75 and 1 x 25
1 x 75 and 2 x 50
1 x 75 and 1 x 50 and 1 x 25 and parasite
3 x 50 and parasite
To kill a marine at a1 in 4 bites or less requires the following combinations:
3 x 75
2 x 75 and 1 x 50
2 x 75 and 2 x 25
1 x 75 and 3 x 50
1 x 75 and 2 x 50 and 1 x 25
4 x 50
So we go from a0 where you can have fairly sloppy bites and still kill marines in 3 bites as long as long as you parasite, to a1 where it's mandatory to get at least 2 x 75 bites in to be able to kill an a1 marine in the traditional 3 bites guarantee when parasited. More importantly, with an equivalent level of biting success against a1 as against a0, the skulk now essentially requires 4 bites at a1 instead of 3 at a0. It used to be just get 3 x 75 bites with a wider 75 bite cone (pre lawnmower) at a0 or a1. Nice scaling there for early game.
With the prevalence of the 50 and 25 damage bite cones, you're also seeing medpack efficiency going up such that the commander can probably med at the same rate that a skulk does 50 and 25 damage bites. So if your commander is good at medpacking jumping marines, it is your duty to jump as much as possible. Also a1 is now the praise jesus of upgrades and significantly more powerful than in the past when it was a parasite guard.
Just for a laugh let's look at a marine with no armor at 100 HP:
2 x 75
1 x 75 and 1 x 50
1 x 75 and 1 x 25
2 x 50
1 x 50 and 2 x 25
And this is considering the overall huge size of the combined 25 + 50 + 75 bite cones. Just hold that m1 as you don't really need to aim.
Anyway I want there to be one wider 75 damage bite cone and no 50 or 25 damage cones. Or at the very least get rid of the stupid 25 one. Stepped bite cones have introduced an array or problems while solving none and just make for unpredictable and inconsistent marines/alien interactions as they're either too powerful or too weak.
So maybe the solution to this issue is the new parasite:
local kBulletSize = 0.12 -> RAILGUN
local kParasiteSize = 0.15
lol?
tl;dr:
*Bite aim requirement too lax at a0 and zero armor when no medpacks
*Bite aim requirement skyrockets at a1 and thus shitty scaling
*Medpack efficiency variable with armor level and bite cone
*Interp is still bad
*Cant count my bites
*Lerk bite dot applied too easily
*Parasite projectile wider than the railgun beam
*inb4 Ironhorse clicks disagree
*UWE please fix
*Build 223 had the lawnmower bite where the bite cone was much too wide and it was near impossible to juke as a marine where previously you could.
*Build 224 had a very narrow cone where it was extremely difficult to land any bites at all if you were a moderately skilled skulk and marines were basically dancing above skulks and could easily take 3 skulks on.
So as a compromise the narrow 75 cone was maintained while two additional cones were introduced to simulate a glancing bite. This would supposedly scale better with skill while making skulks more accessible to new players.
Several times I've posted that I actually dislike stepped melee cones greatly, but what I dislike even more is that I actually cannot find any information on what these bite cones look like. So I have drawn in paint what I think the possible ones are:
Generally I thought it was pattern A or C but was recently informed that the it was also stepped in front of the life form, which would mean pattern B or D. Whether the bite cone is curved on its outer surface or not is something that I also do not know. Could anyone confirm this ?
What I hate about stepped cones:
*Cannot count my bites effectively such that I would rather miss the bite than hit with a lower tier cone.
*Lerk bite dot is the same regardless of which melee cone the marine is bitten with. This results in the melee lerk dealing too much damage (60, 40, 20 + 30 dot) while performing unpredictable acrobatics that they themselves cannot control.
*Interp. What the hell am I actually biting ?
*Inconsistent/poorly scaled bite requirements across armour levels. see below
To kill a marine at a0 in 3 or less bites requires the following combinations:
3 x 75
2 x 75 and parasite
2 x 75 and 1 x 50
2 x 75 and 1 x 25
1 x 75 and 2 x 50
1 x 75 and 1 x 50 and 1 x 25 and parasite
3 x 50 and parasite
To kill a marine at a1 in 4 bites or less requires the following combinations:
3 x 75
2 x 75 and 1 x 50
2 x 75 and 2 x 25
1 x 75 and 3 x 50
1 x 75 and 2 x 50 and 1 x 25
4 x 50
So we go from a0 where you can have fairly sloppy bites and still kill marines in 3 bites as long as long as you parasite, to a1 where it's mandatory to get at least 2 x 75 bites in to be able to kill an a1 marine in the traditional 3 bites guarantee when parasited. More importantly, with an equivalent level of biting success against a1 as against a0, the skulk now essentially requires 4 bites at a1 instead of 3 at a0. It used to be just get 3 x 75 bites with a wider 75 bite cone (pre lawnmower) at a0 or a1. Nice scaling there for early game.
With the prevalence of the 50 and 25 damage bite cones, you're also seeing medpack efficiency going up such that the commander can probably med at the same rate that a skulk does 50 and 25 damage bites. So if your commander is good at medpacking jumping marines, it is your duty to jump as much as possible. Also a1 is now the praise jesus of upgrades and significantly more powerful than in the past when it was a parasite guard.
Just for a laugh let's look at a marine with no armor at 100 HP:
2 x 75
1 x 75 and 1 x 50
1 x 75 and 1 x 25
2 x 50
1 x 50 and 2 x 25
And this is considering the overall huge size of the combined 25 + 50 + 75 bite cones. Just hold that m1 as you don't really need to aim.
Anyway I want there to be one wider 75 damage bite cone and no 50 or 25 damage cones. Or at the very least get rid of the stupid 25 one. Stepped bite cones have introduced an array or problems while solving none and just make for unpredictable and inconsistent marines/alien interactions as they're either too powerful or too weak.
So maybe the solution to this issue is the new parasite:
local kBulletSize = 0.12 -> RAILGUN
local kParasiteSize = 0.15
lol?
tl;dr:
*Bite aim requirement too lax at a0 and zero armor when no medpacks
*Bite aim requirement skyrockets at a1 and thus shitty scaling
*Medpack efficiency variable with armor level and bite cone
*Interp is still bad
*Cant count my bites
*Lerk bite dot applied too easily
*Parasite projectile wider than the railgun beam
*inb4 Ironhorse clicks disagree
*UWE please fix