Originally Posted by
Master Havoc
Just so you know, I am a xeno main and am probably biased towards xenos.
That said, my first thought on FOBs is that I agree that the cades themselves don't seem to do enough. Marines often have to back up a few squares from the actual barricades, along with as mentioned, trappers pound cades to oblivion. Now you can constantly snipe the trapper, but it can still get some hits in and retreat to heal and repeat. Honestly, outside of cade sieges, trapper sucks too. I would rather just not have a trapper class. Boiler does a good enough job creating a period of smoke that if the marines don't use explosives, overreaction with bullets, etc the wall can break. More teamwork oriented at least. Second, I think brute, and ONLY brute attacks should be blocked by the barricades. Give marines a break from bleed, fractures, etc. Xenos still need to be able to fight and chase marines away from the wall or disable turrets that are too up front, so that's where spitters, boilers, and spitting prae can shine.
My second thought is the troubles that come with giving marines too much turtle power is also very, very harmful to the balance of the game. It might be easier to understand by going to the extremes so let me start with that. Let's say marines have max possible defense. They are invulnerable inside the FOB and the walls just about can never break. The machine guns/turrets are at least dangerous for xenos to be around. The aliens are currently strong, and the marines are refusing to leave the FOB. In this scenario, some of the things that are going on in my mind:
-Xenos are going to lose some silly sisters to machine gun fire, turrets, stun weapons, or camping specs. On the other hand marines are highly unlikely (or in this case impossible) to lose any marines. The longer this siege goes on, the more xenos than marines will die.
-The battlefield is no longer fluid, and so mortars, CAS, and OBs have way better understanding of where to fire to be as close to the front lines without hurting the marines. All of a sudden all support becomes way more effective at killing xenos. Again, longer the siege goes on, the more xenos than marines will die.
-As time goes on, marines who have permad before the siege will leave, and new marines will show up to the server. Slowly the marines will be replenished. Xeno larva passively remains unchanged.
-As time goes on, marines supplies will both be higher and lower depending on the items. More rockets from OT will show up, more OB will come, more specialist ammo will be bought, and yet medical (or not in this case, but generally yes) and normal ammo will slowly drain. Those high explosive/spec ammo pieces will surely lead to more xeno deaths, but at the same time if it got long enough the marines would lose all ability to use normal guns. Maybe supply can keep up, hard to say. Adjusting the scenario to have less defenses, and what this bullet point is trying to get at: I am actually not sure if marines will...for lack of words, be richer or poorer for taking on defensive tactics. Longer games might lead to new discoveries on this front.
-Marines have research while the xenos don't. At some point stims will come out and marines will all be the super marines with super speed and cannot be stunned. If lucky automatic bone mending too.
All the above on the second thought to conclude: xenos are on a timer. Marines are not. Extending that timer puts more pressure on the xenos, and so how defensive you want marines to be able to be should be carefully considered.
Final thought: in general squad engineer is pretty boring, same with CT. It would be great if marines started with a really basic FOB and can choose to do side projects around the map or reinforce the base, or maybe some points on the map where marines can hold and grab material from like a mine to send back up to shipside for credits/materials. Cool things to do that if not done won't doom the marines. Sorry CTs, I don't have any ideas for you.
EDIT:
I would like to add that for about 20 minutes after marines retreat the xenos do get more powerful and it is beneficial for marines to resupply and go out again before that. Queen will get a chance to re-ovi and max evo on all xenos, maxing out in like 15 minutes. Drones/hivelords will build up the map and more around FOB. Emergency tunnels will be constructed. Pylons erected. Then the queen will re-join the fight and xenos will get creative in poking your base. After that point is when the shananagans start and xenos are really on a timer.