official Natural Selection 2

[eviljedi]

I just pre-ordered this, looks pretty good (I've never played the first one).

I'm loving the avatar viper :yes:

[ViperAFK]

Uploading the NS2 Alpha Steam depot to Valve... all 1 GB of it, wish we had a faster upload speed

2 minutes ago via web

http://twitter.com/ns2

[Evolution]

http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/news/2010/7/ns2_alpha_tonight

We won't be able to play the game until 9 PM EDT (6 PM PDT), since that's when they're mailing "activation" codes for the alpha. However you may be able to download the alpha before then, just not play it.

[Dashel]

Update available, still no keys.

[Nagisan]

Update available, still no keys.

Bout time, I'm on a crappy 90KB/s connection (max, typical is around 80KB/s) and its going to take according to my math around 6 hours to download (though Steam is saying less than 2 hours....).

Hope Steam is right and I can play it tonight otherwise I will be stuck unable to play until tomorrow night.

EDIT: Also, don't expect a great game with the Alpha, many things are missing (such as Marine Jetpacks, Exoskeletons, Flamethrower, and the entire Alien Fade and Onos classes, as well as many other things), this is the Alpha, we are here to bug-find, but they did say they want to push out updates every week or two, all the way through to final, and they also said the Jetpack and "Crag" (some alien structure that nobody outside UWE knows anything about yet) were pulled last-minute and will be returning once they work out a few more issues with them, so expect the Alpha to improve over time all the way up to the release.

[ViperAFK]

How do I even dl it, I don't see it on steam store?

[Nagisan]

How do I even dl it, I don't see it on steam store?

You have to own the Special Edition from here.

Then you add that code to Steam and it will download. Then you have to wait another 2 hours for them to mail the Alpha activation codes to play it.

[ViperAFK]

Yeah I forgot to activate the code. dling now.

[ViperAFK]

Yeah I definitely expect the alpha to be super buggy (probably better than the moh beta though LOL) but the game looks really cool and I want to get a taste of what the gameplay is like as I never played the first. And I like testing software and reporting bugs ;). I like the model they are using for the alpha testing, updates every couple of weeks sounds great and they seem really intent on listening to all user feedback.

edit: timers been up for 10 mins and no code :(

[Nagisan]

Yeah I definitely expect the alpha to be super buggy (probably better than the moh beta though LOL) but the game looks really cool and I want to get a taste of what the gameplay is like as I never played the first. And I like testing software and reporting bugs ;). I like the model they are using for the alpha testing, updates every couple of weeks sounds great and they seem really intent on listening to all user feedback.

edit: timers been up for 10 mins and no code :(

http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/retrieve

Go there, enter your email, and it will send you the email. Use the Black Armor key to activate your Alpha.

[MindTrickz]

I came into this thread from the front page thinking that it was about Evolution. I am disappointed.

[Evolution]

Whenever I join a server with three green bars for ping, it changes to one red dot when I'm actually playing on it. The game is a little laggy.... and sometimes I get stuck on connecting to the server. I think I'll try again tomorrow.

[Nagisan]

Yeah it seems quite buggy right now, anyone else have a super laggy mouse? My friend and I both have horrible mouse lag which makes it virtually unplayable (and hard to test).

[ViperAFK]

Yeah its basically unplayable right now. Massive mouse/movement lag. Also loading into servers takes like 5 minutes.

[Xilo]

Another FPS.

How original. :rolleyes:

[Nagisan]

Another FPS.

How original. :rolleyes:

It is quite original, one team uses a class-based system (each class is completely different) while another team uses a weapon-based system (same health and abilities for each person, but different weapons and armor). Its like a cross between TF2 and CS in terms of gameplay, but its balanced very well (or at least, the original was, so I expect the sequel to be equally balanced).

Not to mention it also has a few RTS elements.

Its far from "another FPS" compared to every other FPS thats out there.

[Evolution]

I didn't realize that they added an "alien commander" to the game, restricting what gorges can build to hydras alone. I guess the game is trying to get rid of the idea of mass gorging ;)

[Nagisan]

I didn't realize that they added an "alien commander" to the game, restricting what gorges can build to hydras alone. I guess the game is trying to get rid of the idea of mass gorging ;)

Gorges will be able to build Hydras (offensive tower), "Crags" (defensive tower?), and Shades (Cloak Tower) and possibly others. Only the Hydras are implemented at the mooment though. The alien commander from what I understand drops Resource Towers, and sends small units out to build those resource towers. Those small units (there some kind of small flying bug thing or something) can also apparently turn into eggs that aliens can spawn out of (if I understand the full concept behind them, that is).

They wanted to normalize the resource model, which is why they added the alien commander, the commander will basically handle the resources so you do not have everyone going gorge at the beginning of the game to help build (and therefore having much lowered offensive). Now that Marines do not build the buildings (the commanders builder bot does), they needed to change aliens in a way that the marines could not easily just rush and dominate the group of gorges trying to get set up.

[Nagisan]

Yeah its basically unplayable right now. Massive mouse/movement lag.

Try forcing vsync off in your settings if its not already. I did that and I went from being unable to look at the map as skulk, to being able to aim enough to get around pretty good.

In short, huge difference. Still feels a bit slow, but not nearly as bad.

[SoapyHamHocks Member]

Try forcing vsync off in your settings if its not already. I did that and I went from being unable to look at the map as skulk, to being able to aim enough to get around pretty good.

In short, huge difference. Still feels a bit slow, but not nearly as bad.

Wow thanks for the tip! Getting 30-40fps :D

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

So, any alpha impressions? How's the performance/image quality and gameplay (compared to NS1)?

[Evolution]

Well it's definitely alpha... right now there are too many lag/network issues to give an accurate picture of the game. Graphics-wise it's decent. Many of the features haven't been added, so it's more about getting the engine working rather then the game.

[Nagisan]

Well it's definitely alpha... right now there are too many lag/network issues to give an accurate picture of the game. Graphics-wise it's decent. Many of the features haven't been added, so it's more about getting the engine working rather then the game.

Yeah, crazy mouse lag for some of us, to the point that its virtually impossible to play right now. Then there are major connection issues and latency issues (these two are fixed for the most part in the latest patch that they are testing and hope to have out for us today, not sure if they fixed the mouse lag or not). Graphics-wise it is awesome, much improved over NS1 (which isn't hard to do, though). But they definitely compare to newer games coming out.

From the little bit of gameplay I have played (not much given the mouse lag) it definitely has the classic feel of NS, but with many good changes. Skulks are slower, but they start with Leap. Lerks have been changed to more of a support role, flying currently is extremely crappy though, but they shoot spikes from a distance which is cool. I always felt Lerks were a bit fragile to be getting close up to marines, now you can shoot them with spikes from afar.

[Dashel]

Showing lots of promise.

[SoapyHamHocks Member]

First patch is out. Changelog:

Technical

• Fixed bug where a client would continue to try and connect after the server reported that it was full or the client was using the wrong protocol
  
• Fixed bug where clients could only connect to servers on the default port
  
• Fixed bug where the port was removed when connecting via console command
  
• Fixed bug on multi-monitor systems that resulted in a graphics reset loop
  
• Fixed window border when switching from fullscreen to windowed
  
• Fixed bug where key events outside of the game's focus window would sometimes be processed by the game
  
• Fixed bug where the dedicated server could not be run without Steam running
  
• Fixed duplicate attack/fire key bindings that caused mismatches
  
• Fixed voice chat to use in-game sound volume on playback
  
• Fixed bug where where clients could timeout while alt-tabbed from the game in fullscreen mode
  
• Fixed bug where binding a game server to an IP would cause it to not be displayed in the server browser
  
• Added client-side timeouts when attempting to connect to a server
  
• Added support for closing a dedicated server by pressing ctrl+break
  
• Added alt-enter to toggle between fullscreen and windowed mode
  
• Added dedicated server files to the Steam release
  
• Added Toggle Console binding to UI settings
  

Game

• Fixed bug where MACs were free (now they cost 2 plasma)
  
• Fixed bug with armory playing extra sounds when players were nearby
  
• Added rally points for Hives and Command Stations
  
• Fixed many vent physics objects so they can be entered
  
• Fixed hitching animation problems while sprinting as marine
  
• Logging into a Command Station no longer freezes you but it will open again if the logging in player leaves
  
• When the Command Station closes, anyone inside besides the Commander is killed
  
• Aliens become Commander instantly when +using the hive
  
• Fixed bug where Extractors or Harvesters couldn't be built on a nozzle that had one previously
  
• Added welding effect to MAC
  
• Added new marine commander icon artwork
  
• Improve marine running and jumping animations
  
• Updated shell ejection effect for the rifle, pistol, and grenade launcher
  
• New docking_walltech environment props
  

http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/news/2010/7/ns2_alpha_patch_released