Keeping things short and sweet. Here are a few radical ideas for Khaara. This is to address issues I perceive of the alien tech tree being overly cumbersome and complex in b250 as a means of community members trying to make it more "interesting".
- Eliminate Khaara commander. All building structures goes back to Gorge. Gorges use team res to build structures. Structures must be built by Gorges using "+Use" key, like in NS1
- Remove Drifters
- Remove spur, shell, veil. All trait upgrades are tied to shift, crag, shade (max level of 3, as per current implementation)
- Create a new buildable structure that increases the health of all players and structures. Would require some tinkering to determine the specifics, but perhaps it would cost the same as a Hive (40 TRes). They stack +5% health per each structure built.
- Remove Biomass. All class-specific abilities (Blink, Spores, Bile Bomb, etc.) are immediately available to all lifeforms
- The number of hives determines how many abilities a specific class can have at one time. For instance, at Hive 1, a Fade has one ability slot available. The player can choose one of three options -- Blink, Shadow Step, or Vortex. At Hive 2, another ability slot is unlocked. The player can now choose two of three options. This is true for all classes except for Skulk, which does not get an ability slot until Hive 2 (since it is the base class and is free).
I think that this system removes a lot of the redundant overhead currently (b250) associated with the Khaara while also allowing for diverse gameplay. There is more emphasis on getting a second hive than the current build, but also, Khaara can still be successful and mount comebacks from just one hive. Also, it returns the individualistic principles of the species that was present in the original game, making the two sides more asymmetrical, which is a core tenet of the game.
- Eliminate Khaara commander. All building structures goes back to Gorge. Gorges use team res to build structures. Structures must be built by Gorges using "+Use" key, like in NS1
- Remove Drifters
- Remove spur, shell, veil. All trait upgrades are tied to shift, crag, shade (max level of 3, as per current implementation)
- Create a new buildable structure that increases the health of all players and structures. Would require some tinkering to determine the specifics, but perhaps it would cost the same as a Hive (40 TRes). They stack +5% health per each structure built.
- Remove Biomass. All class-specific abilities (Blink, Spores, Bile Bomb, etc.) are immediately available to all lifeforms
- The number of hives determines how many abilities a specific class can have at one time. For instance, at Hive 1, a Fade has one ability slot available. The player can choose one of three options -- Blink, Shadow Step, or Vortex. At Hive 2, another ability slot is unlocked. The player can now choose two of three options. This is true for all classes except for Skulk, which does not get an ability slot until Hive 2 (since it is the base class and is free).
I think that this system removes a lot of the redundant overhead currently (b250) associated with the Khaara while also allowing for diverse gameplay. There is more emphasis on getting a second hive than the current build, but also, Khaara can still be successful and mount comebacks from just one hive. Also, it returns the individualistic principles of the species that was present in the original game, making the two sides more asymmetrical, which is a core tenet of the game.