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Thread: Marine gameplay feeling stale and unrewarding

  1. #1
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    Marine gameplay feeling stale and unrewarding

    I play both marine and xeno, depending on the map and when I show up to a round. Been playing for bit, and ive got to say, marine gameplay is just starting to get boring and downright aggravating, with little reward to counter the bullshit. You could do everything right for a 3 hour hard fight, only to get taken out by a single slug flying through the air, or an OP queen screech/neuro charge, or have a limb instagone from a rav leaping through the dark. Or have CAS bombard the FOB position due to inept PO's or griefers. Then when I play xeno, im having a fucking blast, killing left and right, chopping limbs, getting massive kill streaks. Im 62K/2D, 9 hours, on my xeno and 35K/56D, 75 hours on my marine. Im to the point where its just no longer fun to play as a marine because of the absolute lack of marine IQ and no longer fun to play as a xeno because the only think that kills me is CAS, not shotguns or rifles or mounted MGs, you know, things that should kill me. Current fun balance is off because any small little shitty moment is enough to kill your squishy marine character, taking you you of the fight, and 70% of my marine deaths are from FF that could be entirely avoided in the first place with trigger and sightline discipline. I know the mad cuz bad comments will follow but I just wanted to stir some discussion up on the current fun balance. But perhaps my fun is different than others. I mean, people play as doctors for 3-4 hours straight for christ sake

  2. #2
    Senior Member Outcast Seer's Avatar
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    Im gonna subvert OP's expectations by actually seconding this. Current game design and balance has create a sameness out of my marine experience, and as xeno I rarely die to anything but mortars/CAS which is more frustrating that dying to a skilled unga.
    Luca Jagemann, the cynical colonial with the prescription glasses.

    Ancient Synth Williams, on another rescue mission in Brazil.

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    Most xenos die to specs/CAS/Mortar/LTB tank and not PFC in general. This is because fights happen at chokepoints where the aforementioned roles frag and PFC just watch.

    Just an observation.

    And yes, PFC in general is CBT (both literally and Chokepoint Boiler Torture). It's because any little mistake and the BEST case scenario is you're on your ass with a fracture and permanently gimped unless you take a 20 min vacation.

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    When you're playing PFC, you're sadly just the background NPC meant to die in some horrible and stupid way (though required for other roles to have fun). However, sometimes lady luck allows you to actually have an impact of killing a Xeno and not only killing other marines with FF.

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    The same old problem of putting too much power into the hands of specs/SGs/tank and leaving PFCs with nothing when they're the main bulk of the marine force.

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    Made an account just to put my two cents on this.

    I wouldn't say the marine experience being stale and unrewarding, especially as a PFC, is the fault of balance or gameplay, I think it has more to do with the community as it currently is, and how the game turned from a fun game based on Aliens to a team deathmatch fragfest 90% of the time. Now, I only have about 60 rounds (over the course of about half a year) behind me at this point, so I'm still pretty new, but already I've noticed that marines do well when they play together.

    As was said earlier, PFCs are the bulk of USCM forces, but they also are kind of NPCs that help prop up the higher ranks and that's where the main problem of CM13 comes in, the chain of command.

    If you're anything below a squad leader, your job is to stick to your SL like glue and do what they say, unless someone higher up says otherwise, at which point even the SL should listen to them and all of you should move as a team. And it happens like that, a lot of the time at roundstart, and especially when pushes happen - whenever someone orders a push, you can see marines rushing to the front line. But they're not doing it because it was an order, they're doing it to secure those sweet sweet kills. Same reason why getting marines to retreat is so difficult and a squad usually won't abandon their push unless they're already getting wiped. When there's 10 of you on the front line and you think you're doing well, all you can see is how you're gonna kill the next xeno and if a command comes in to retreat, most of the time you disregard it, because you're there on the ground and you're confident. And what happens next? 9/10 times the squad gets nearly wiped.

    I have a little bit different approach to this. I play exclusively PFC, because I don't really feel confident enough to take on any of the more important roles, and while it's very nice to get a xeno kill, I understand that as a PFC my main role is support. I don't have to kill a xeno to be useful, I'm already being useful by not shooting other marines. If I have a slug shotgun and manage to stun a xeno, I did my job as a PFC. That xeno either dies to other marines, or gets scared for a bit and retreats, that's one less xeno on the front line for a short while. If I can't safely shoot at xenos, I drag corpses or throw flares. Every little bit helps and I think that's what most people tend to forget in their pursuit of a better KD ratio.

    We could also talk about how most rounds are just straight up metarushes nowadays, but I think that's a different discussion entirely.

    TL;DR:
    - Xenos are near unkillable unless you're very lucky, awesome with a shotgun, or have enough buddies around you. That's something we have to live with, otherwise the marines would steamroll xenos by sheer numbers every round.
    - PFCs are support, from dragging bodies and throwing flares, to shooting just enough to scare a xeno, every little bit helps even if it doesn't seem like it. Getting a kill is a bonus.
    - Coordination is key. You can unga off and hunt by your lonesome, but most of the time you only get yourself killed.
    - A lone marine with a shotgun can scare a runner, but a squad that listens to the SL scares the whole hive. Especially when coordinated with other squads that flank the xeno force.

    In conclusion: As a PFC, your strength is in numbers and teamwork. Don't pursue kills, treat them as a bonus, a little surprise reward for doing well. Instead, focus on helping in whatever little way you can at the current moment and hope that your SL and command do their job well. And maybe, just maybe, consider talking to other marines every once in a while. I know the game has more or less turned into an LRP team deathmatch, but I'm sure there's plenty of us here still who play the game because it's fun, not because we want to be the best at it.

  7. #7
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    The solution?
    PFC M37 buckshot only event. No attachies, no medics. Xeno team is just drones, queen, runners and lurkers. We will see who is the biggest IQ team then.

  8. #8
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    I believe one of the posters put it very well.

    Most Marines are there to support each other.

    They are a cog in a machine, while some of us have the ability to kill xenos outright and alone, it's usually at great risk.

    A standard marine is there to be a general supporting element, a jack of all trades but master at none.
    <::The Provost is always watching.::>

    Spoiler Spoiler:

  9. #9
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    PFC's have literally no power anymore except unga.

    Its gotten so bad that you are more useful with a JTAC kit than with a gun.

    As said above its just a bunch of PFC's staring at an orange cloud for 90% of the round till CAS gets a lucky shot or either side gets bored and suicides into each other.

  10. #10
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    Most of the weapons that PFCs can easily acquire have been nerfed into the ground. M39 is a joke again, M41A is useless unless you have quickfire, and then it's just okay. AP Ammo in general is bad, and the shotgun's main way of killing xenos is still buckshot. Slugs are usable, but you can't kill anything with just slugs.

    Also PFCs with jtac kits aren't even that good since it takes forever to laze. Engies, specs, and SOs are the people who should usually have jtac kits.

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