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Natural Selection 2 |OT| You're Squad 5

luka

Loves Robotech S1
Yeah I'm loving the game but the performance is really killing me, literally. I'd turn a corner into a room with lots of fighting and the game will just freeze up for several seconds to load and next thing I see is 'you died!' The constant hitching is really driving me crazy. Framerate isn't usually an issue for me until things get really crazy.
 
Man I'm loving lerks. I loved flying around in ns 1 but I don't remember them being this good at combat. Unfortunately I never see commanders researching umbra, I would think it would be good for charging into bases.

Not a big fan of fade. It seems like by the time you get enough resources to evolve one and your commander has researched blink, the marines already has shotty and if you try to take on more than one you'll end up dead. Meanwhile lerk is available much earlier and provides incredible ranged support while the skulks are distracting the marines. They also don't have that cannon that they had in ns1 which made them good for late game when you are sieging a base.
 

MrBig

Member
Is the GAF community here dead? NS2 is $10 on steam today.

Really interested in the game but no one I know plays it, was hoping some gaffers were active to play with if I were to get it.
 
Just won an hour and a half game as alien commander. Was fucking awesome. I'd consider this my "main game" right now. Enjoying it and definitely don't see myself quitting anytime soon. Not as popular as I expect but that's probably because of the learning curve.
 
Is the GAF community here dead? NS2 is $10 on steam today.

Really interested in the game but no one I know plays it, was hoping some gaffers were active to play with if I were to get it.

Gaffers play it! I am technically ring leader of em all but my comp has been KO for a while. I recommend getting it. I can add you to the GAF NS2 steam group and we can play together when you would like to
 
Couldnt have gotten a worse first impression from this game. Played two matches so far, both as Marines. Both games lasted over an hour and both played out the exact same way. I have no idea what the map names were but in both matches we got two "bases" early and the aliens set up camp in a narrow hallway outside both of them. Then we stood there shooting at eachother in the exact same hallway for 70 minutes until they finally pushed through.

Im kind of bummed matches seems to last so long. I can rarely play uninterupted for an hour so if games usually last this long i guess im done :(
 

Xyber

Member
Couldnt have gotten a worse first impression from this game. Played two matches so far, both as Marines. Both games lasted over an hour and both played out the exact same way. I have no idea what the map names were but in both matches we got two "bases" early and the aliens set up camp in a narrow hallway outside both of them. Then we stood there shooting at eachother in the exact same hallway for 70 minutes until they finally pushed through.

Im kind of bummed matches seems to last so long. I can rarely play uninterupted for an hour so if games usually last this long i guess im done :(

On average the games usually last between 30-40 minutes depending on the skill of the commanders from my experience.
 
On average the games usually last between 30-40 minutes depending on the skill of the commanders from my experience.

Yeah that seems about right. After spending some more time with the game im now sure this is not for me. I absolutely love the idea and everything but the game just doesn't work in my opinion. When both teams get a good commander and the teams are communicating the game is fucking fantastic. The problem though is that it doesn't happen very often. In my 15 or so matches so far it has happened once. The other 14 games has been horrible with either commanders not knowing what to do or teams that just doesnt give a fuck.
 
Yeah that seems about right. After spending some more time with the game im now sure this is not for me. I absolutely love the idea and everything but the game just doesn't work in my opinion. When both teams get a good commander and the teams are communicating the game is fucking fantastic. The problem though is that it doesn't happen very often. In my 15 or so matches so far it has happened once. The other 14 games has been horrible with either commanders not knowing what to do or teams that just doesnt give a fuck.

If you want some help with the game and to have a better time with the game just send me a pm with your steam ID. I can add you to the steam group and we and others could play together when you would like. It is fun to play with people that have mics and good servers.

GL
 

Opiate

Member
So I can now provide an (un)official GAF server.

Mavick's Pub

24 Player server, so prepare for large battles. Rookie friendly. Constantly full, essentially 24/7.

I'm an administrator there, and have gotten the go ahead to make it a GAF focused server -- although the GAF population for this game is low enough that this may not matter. Regardless, please join up and have fun.
 

BurningNad

Member
Just got this game, and interested in joining the Steam group! I'll add that server to my favorites and try to play there when possible. I'm pretty new to the game but loving it enough to keep at it and get better. :D Steam name is BurningNad.
 
Ok brothers!#
Game is real cheap again 60% off. That is about $10. Everyone buy it for your friends and family!

Also thanks for the server link man. How does it perform in 24man settings and what are the server specs? I usally enjoy 18 man servers myself due to the game scaling better with smaller player groups.

Also I will add those to the steam group right now who requested.

I just got this tonight over Chivalry due to a friend convincing me it was the right choice. I hope it was! So far I'm lost, which I was expecting. I hope the community is good, because I'm not really in the mood to get yelled at Dota-style for not knowing what's going on.
Probably one of the best and friendliest game communities to ever exist
 

Cystm

Member
So I can now provide an (un)official GAF server.

Mavick's Pub

24 Player server, so prepare for large battles. Rookie friendly. Constantly full, essentially 24/7.

I'm an administrator there, and have gotten the go ahead to make it a GAF focused server -- although the GAF population for this game is low enough that this may not matter. Regardless, please join up and have fun.

Yes! Just came searching for this. Attempting to hop on now.
 
Apparently $10 was my breaking point. Picked this game up yesterday. I have a couple friends that play this game quite a bit, so that was added incentive.

Probably one of the best and friendliest game communities to ever exist

This is amazingly true. There were people on comm's last night that were helping out complete noobies, to the likes I've never seen before in a competitive online game. It was almost surreal.
 
I put in a couple hours after posting, and so far this is absolutely true! In two different games on different servers the commanders introduced themselves to the server and guided everything along wonderfully. If my first game had that level of communication, I wouldn't have been worried in the first place. I learned a ton asking questions and following orders.

I'd like an invite to the group. :) same name as here.

added. :D
 
Love the new patch that was released. Been playing a bunch!

Also, a content patch is coming out within the month which will add a ton of stuff like babblers, gorge tunnels, bone carapace thing for onos and railguns for exos!

And a new map: Descent. Shaping up to be an awesome patch.

Additionally I am considering writing a graphics shader for the game given its open .fx files. I think with some time I could get some interesting stuff in game.

That is all. Hope everyone is enjoying the game.
 

vidcons

Banned
Love the new patch that was released. Been playing a bunch!

Also, a content patch is coming out within the month which will add a ton of stuff like babblers, gorge tunnels, bone carapace thing for onos and railguns for exos!

And a new map: Descent. Shaping up to be an awesome patch.

Additionally I am considering writing a graphics shader for the game given its open .fx files. I think with some time I could get some interesting stuff in game.

That is all. Hope everyone is enjoying the game.

Awesome! I hope they add some more early game stuff. My biggest complaint is that every match turns into a rush for phase gates and trying to shut those down.
 

KScorp

Member
I'm playing almost exclusively on Mavick's Pub since it seems to be one of the few servers that don't give me much lag and the players seem great. Only learned that it's an unofficial GAF server today when I joined in the middle of both teams preparing to make an Onos/Exo tower.

Anyway, game is incredibly fun to play, even if I suffer from frame rate issues under some conditions. At least, that's my excuse for having 5 marines in front of me to bite and missing them all for 10 seconds straight. Is low/unstable frame rate still an issue for most players, or is it because of my aging Q6600/GTX570 setup?
 

Xyber

Member
I'm playing almost exclusively on Mavick's Pub since it seems to be one of the few servers that don't give me much lag and the players seem great. Only learned that it's an unofficial GAF server today when I joined in the middle of both teams preparing to make an Onos/Exo tower.

Anyway, game is incredibly fun to play, even if I suffer from frame rate issues under some conditions. At least, that's my excuse for having 5 marines in front of me to bite and missing them all for 10 seconds straight. Is low/unstable frame rate still an issue for most players, or is it because of my aging Q6600/GTX570 setup?

It's the CPU that is holding you back. Either overclock that one or save up for a new mobo and a 3570K. I'm getting ~90FPS right now with my i5 2500K@4,6GHz and HD6950 with some settings lowered or turned off.

Disable bloom, atmospheric and ambient occlusion if you haven't already, that will improve your fps by about 30fps (does for me at least).
 

Opiate

Member
I'm playing almost exclusively on Mavick's Pub since it seems to be one of the few servers that don't give me much lag and the players seem great. Only learned that it's an unofficial GAF server today when I joined in the middle of both teams preparing to make an Onos/Exo tower.

Anyway, game is incredibly fun to play, even if I suffer from frame rate issues under some conditions. At least, that's my excuse for having 5 marines in front of me to bite and missing them all for 10 seconds straight. Is low/unstable frame rate still an issue for most players, or is it because of my aging Q6600/GTX570 setup?

I'm Little Ball of Hate, KScorp.

We're getting some good cross pollination from Mavick's to here and vice versa. A few Mavick's members signed up for NeoGAF today. Hopefully it will help create a stable community.

Cannot get into the unofficial GAF server. People play there 247. :(

We're looking in to getting a second server, Cyst. As you say, it's full essentially 24/7 and any spaces are immediately filled even at 5AM EST.
 

KScorp

Member
I'm Little Ball of Hate, KScorp.

We're getting some good cross pollination from Mavick's to here and vice versa. A few Mavick's members signed up for NeoGAF today. Hopefully it will help create a stable community.



We're looking in to getting a second server, Cyst. As you say, it's full essentially 24/7 and any spaces are immediately filled even at 5AM EST.

Yeah I learned from you that it was the unofficial GAF server haha.

Good to hear a second server is on the way. I sometimes wait half an hour in the queue to get in.
 

KScorp

Member
It's the CPU that is holding you back. Either overclock that one or save up for a new mobo and a 3570K. I'm getting ~90FPS right now with my i5 2500K@4,6GHz and HD6950 with some settings lowered or turned off.

Disable bloom, atmospheric and ambient occlusion if you haven't already, that will improve your fps by about 30fps (does for me at least).

I had everything off except bloom, since it didn't seem to make much of a difference in the main menu. But after turning off bloom, it's running a LOT better. (I am unsure if this is because of the recent patch though). Anyway, thanks. I have no more excuses for my terrible aim.
 

Opiate

Member
We have some NeoGAF members playing on Mavick's; now some Mavick's regulars are joining NeoGAF. Hopefully we can get enough cross pollination to create a stable and friendly community.
 

Opiate

Member
What's the name of the server? Guessing it is east coast located.

Central US. Mavick's Pub. It's large -- 24 person -- so prepare for large battles. Very little lag issues (outside of obvious lag if you're in the EU or Asia or something). If that's not your thing, that's fine.

Good news: it's always busy. You can get 24 person games at 5:30AM on a Tuesday. Bad news: it's so busy that it can be hard to get in sometimes.

We're looking at getting a second server, but servers cost money, so we'll see. Regardless, it's now the unofficial GAF server. KScorp, Cystm, Doombass and I all play there, and now some of the other regulars from the server are signing up for GAF.
 

thelonious_m0nk

Neo Member
Central US. Mavick's Pub. It's large -- 24 person -- so prepare for large battles. Very little lag issues (outside of obvious lag if you're in the EU or Asia or something). If that's not your thing, that's fine.

Good news: it's always busy. You can get 24 person games at 5:30AM on a Tuesday. Bad news: it's so busy that it can be hard to get in sometimes.

We're looking at getting a second server, but servers cost money, so we'll see. Regardless, it's now the unofficial GAF server. KScorp, Cystm, Doombass and I all play there, and now some of the other regulars from the server are signing up for GAF.

Little Ball, thanks for the invite into the community.

My first experience of NS2 was in Mavick's Pub when you happened to be commanding. I've been hooked on the game and on the server with almost all of my 90 hours there.

I'm sure I speak for others as well when I say we appreciate your patience and mentorship of new/inexperienced players. Your positive attitude affects the server climate and promotes a healthy community.

Even as an NS1 vet I've learned a lot from you and some of the other skilled regulars. Keep it up!
 

Facism

Member
I'm a Euro so if i'm ever on Mavick's i'll be commanding or abusing the shitty 100ms interp and prediction as it favours high pings over low :D
 

vidcons

Banned
Central US. Mavick's Pub. It's large -- 24 person -- so prepare for large battles. Very little lag issues (outside of obvious lag if you're in the EU or Asia or something). If that's not your thing, that's fine.

Good news: it's always busy. You can get 24 person games at 5:30AM on a Tuesday. Bad news: it's so busy that it can be hard to get in sometimes.

We're looking at getting a second server, but servers cost money, so we'll see. Regardless, it's now the unofficial GAF server. KScorp, Cystm, Doombass and I all play there, and now some of the other regulars from the server are signing up for GAF.

Dope!

I had Rookie servers filtered which is why I never saw the server up.

Sitting in line to murk right now.
 

Cystm

Member
Even as an NS1 vet I've learned a lot from you and some of the other skilled regulars. Keep it up!

Did you play on Guns 4 back 2 School or Jiggly Puffs Jiggly Room by any chance?
 

Cystm

Member
I did play at G4B2S back in high school -- my in game name at the time was Pinky. ZombieSupaStar also played there.

I played primarily on Jiggly's. I used the names Detic and Katana on both servers. I vaguely remember people on the G4B2S server impressing me with map tactics that I never thought of, or Gorge hold out locations I never knew existed.

The community on both servers were pretty tight nit and that's what really made the first game great for me.

I'm looking forward to getting into more matches on Mavick's.
 

Cystm

Member
The last stand tonight, was so good. /swoon at not destroying the Comm Chair and instead hunting down the last Rine. Took me back.

Makes me miss defense chamber hideouts.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Central US. Mavick's Pub. It's large -- 24 person -- so prepare for large battles. Very little lag issues (outside of obvious lag if you're in the EU or Asia or something). If that's not your thing, that's fine.

Good news: it's always busy. You can get 24 person games at 5:30AM on a Tuesday. Bad news: it's so busy that it can be hard to get in sometimes.

We're looking at getting a second server, but servers cost money, so we'll see. Regardless, it's now the unofficial GAF server. KScorp, Cystm, Doombass and I all play there, and now some of the other regulars from the server are signing up for GAF.

Nice, didn't realize we had a GAF server. I haven't played much NS2 yet, but I'll definitely make a point of dropping in.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Well, I really need to get things into gear...I was pretty clueless as aliens. In any case, I have to say I love the server. Lots of teamwork going on, and also the connection is fantastic.
 

jediyoshi

Member

jediyoshi

Member
Update 238 highlights video up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09Q72rJToY8

Changelog up
http://unknownworlds.com/ns2/natural_selection_2_build_238/

Change

Shotgun uses now a symmetrical bullet spread pattern.
reduced grenade launcher damage radius from 8 down to 6.
reduced spit projectile speed by 12%
arc menu will now always show both deploy and undeploy button.
Removed celerity sound and screen effects.
reduced Gorge spit damage from 40 to 30.
It is no longer possible to damage anything during the pre-game.

Optimization

Fixed bug where some objects would be unnecessarily rendered using material techniques that had no effect.
Reduced the memory usage from keeping level data in memory.
Reduced the memory usage pathing information.
Improved Infestation performance on the client (thanks Matso!)
Improved loading times when vsync is enabled by limiting the loading screen frame rate to 30 FPS.

Feature

In-game audio device selection.

Fix

Damage arrows are now more accurate when multiple players are attacked by a Whip at the same time (Thanks to Joop for pointing this out!)
Fixed bug where request menu was not opening when your team has no Commander.
Fixed bug where grenades were not dealing full damage on direct hits.
fixed Whips being able to whack grenades through walls.
Fixed issue were client side and server side selection status are sometimes out of sync.
Drifters now uncloak when an enemy unit touch them.
Fixed bug causing Celerity effects to remain on when the Skulk was walking or standing still in some cases.
Fixed random number generator issue that caused inconsistencies in the bullet spread between the client and server.
Fixed “Couldn’t open ”” error messages appearing in the log.
Fixed Gorge build menu not getting immediately cleaned up upon death.
Fixed bug which allowed more than 3 Sentries to be built next to a Sentry Battery in some cases.
fixed melee attacks not triggering effects when hitting world geometry.
Fixed bug where the main menu music would play over the tutorial videos.
The server will now reload the map if 10 hours have passed and no game is currently being played (Thanks Mats!)
Fixed bug preventing the MAC from attacking Hives.
Fixed crash on exit if the rendering thread was still processing a frame during the shutdown process.
Gorge Bile Bomb will no longer interrupt the Gorge’s Celerity speed boost after shooting the bomb.
Fixed the “speed” console command not affecting player movement.
Aliens may now evolve new traits if an existing trait is lost due to the upgrade structure being destroyed.
Fixed bug where alt-tabbing out of the game would cause the Exosuit to become opaque.
Chat will now display correctly in the dedicated server web interface (Thanks Sherman!)

Improvement

cyst min range check will now pass when the vertical distance between cysts is too high, to prevent situations were Commanders could sometimes not infest resource nodes.
selection and hotgroup creation works now without any delays.
Commanders can now select enemy units.
increased number of allowed hotgroup to 9.
hot key icons blink up red if a unit in this group is under attack.
added shift+click for manipulating selection (add/remove units)
Cysts now “redeploy” instead of enforcing a minimum placement distance between existing Cysts.
phase gates now show a connection line between each other on the minimap.
phase gates show now the destination in their name.

Sdk

Added support for distortion effects (like refraction) in surface shaders.
Added Client.GetMusicVolume.

Veil

Blocked small vents in Topographical
Added cover to vents in Nanogrid
 

Cystm

Member
Oh, hell yes! The Commander player hot groups improvements are great.

Edit: The PG map links are also nice. Very, very solid patch.
 

Cystm

Member
The game does not want to let me Auto-Join Mavick's. Getting in is now not possible.

Edit: lol, finally get a spot and the server is outdated, bah.
 

thelonious_m0nk

Neo Member
Did you play on Guns 4 back 2 School or Jiggly Puffs Jiggly Room by any chance?

Yep. I played on all the various G4B2S ns_ and co_ servers. They were my favorite large population servers. I believe they even had a siege map server that I frequented.

I also played on the NSArmslab servers exclusively for a while and joined [NSA]. They were working on an original sci-fi Source mod too. I wonder what happened to them...

I spelled my name Thelonious_Monk back then. I may go back to that actually, lol.
 

thelonious_m0nk

Neo Member
The last stand tonight, was so good. /swoon at not destroying the Comm Chair and instead hunting down the last Rine. Took me back.

Makes me miss defense chamber hideouts.

Fuck yea. Boxing in a tall, isolated vent with OCs and DCs, maybe an SC and MC if you're lucky! I can visualize my favorite hideouts but cannot remember specifically which maps they belong to. I wanna say bast, caged, origin maybe. So many incredible maps to be remade!

I miss the ambient soundtrack of the original too. How the hell did Charlie get Jeremy Soule to write music for a 3rd party HL1 mod anyway??
 

jediyoshi

Member
New Descent teaser. Map still dropping later this month
http://unknownworlds.com/ns2/natural-selection-2-maps-descent-shuttle-bay/

2013-02-01_00001.jpg

rofl, hugh really needs an editor. dude's thoughts are all over the place
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Mavicks' been having some serious performance issues last few times I've joined. Is that par for the course for the server, or NS2 in general, or just a fluke?
 
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