Can we talk real quick about how people are starting to call predators Jamaicans?
Can we talk real quick about how people are starting to call predators Jamaicans?
Unless given a reason to treat them otherwise, I try the friendly approach to at least give Pred players a shot at RP. When playing as Wanda I've been able to get into some interesting RP situations with Preds, but that's always been dependent on how many marines are around and whether or not I've heard about then being hostile. I wish there was another way to interact more often without the usual instant marine dogpile on Preds.
They have dreadsOriginally Posted by Cobraman
Tom Dinkle/ImHeretoHelp finds predators on the battlefield, gets kidnapped by preds, challenges one to a duel on the pred ship and defeats it solidifying a peace treaty with preds - Everyone loses their mind
Jordan "Survivor Main" Cross kills two benos in front of a predator, predator challenges him to kill more and they go hunting together - Everyone loses their mind
Three marines kill a group of xenos in front of a predator, predator RPs with them, and two xenos behind a closed podlock talk shit. Predator blows up podlocks and tells the marines happy hunting - Everyone loses their minds.
I've always roleplayed as the Nether Enemy nor Friend predator. I'm all for predators being a thorn in both sides as a side antagonist instead of a HURF I KILL UNGAS AND TAKE THEIR SKINS, but then we hear "Predators aren't tricksters!"
People don't fight preds because preds are OP by default but follow honor code rules that dictate only fighting in specific ways, which essentially amounts to "If you ignore a predator and pretend he doesn't exist, you won't get gibbed by a predator". Predators are just all-around poorly implemented. They should have free reign to murderbone all marines in any way they feel like, and the fallout from that will be much weaker predators who have to actually stalk and carefully manage who they fight and when.
There isn't any other way to solve this. Predators are too powerful with stupid restrictions for "RP" which leads to everyone ignoring them because you have more to lose than gain by fighting a predator player.
How to fix predators:
1. Make them much weaker than they are
2 (maybe). Get rid of their RP restrictions
I think something a lot of people are retards about is acting like every player is 1337 proskill. Always I hear examples of, "well this one guy who regularly gets 4+ xeno kills every round killed a predator by doing this thing 95% of the playerbase can't do, so predators are balanced". Most of the playerbase doesn't even kill 1 xeno per round. Fighting a predator is just an autolose for them. Predators are not balanced for marines to realistically fight. Even your average xeno player avoids predators for the same reason.
If you want to fix the dumb low roleplay that the ironically role-play restricted predators enable, you have to make them realistically killable. Which means no more 'roflmao soloing the entire hive lol'.
As people have said, the current situation is clear. Fighting a predator has no real benefit to either side because predaliens are virtually impossible to get and if you even manage to steal pred gear without them self-destructing up to 3 other Predators will go apeshit to take them back. The Pred Code is restrictive to the point where, if you DON'T fight a predator, they pretty much can't do shit to you, and everyone knows it. So, Xenos never fight them because the Queen will inevitably order the hive not to engage, and marines don't fight them except occasionally for shits and giggles because they don't want to get gibbed and have to sit out the rest of the round.
The reason for this is: Pred gear is good and when allowed to play as loose as they want preds can totally dictate the course of a round, and for whatever reason preds are supposed to have as little impact on the round as possible. So, the honor code. This is kind of a silly thing, though: why put in a feature and make it very powerful if it's not supposed to have an impact on the round? What sense does that make? At this point there are only two solutions I can see: First, loosen up the honor code and nerf the hell out of predators. This will make them more reasonable to deal with and probably make them more fun to play because, while they won't be as strong, they'll have more leeway to cut loose. Hell, this could open up a lot of RP angles for them, too. Second: Loosen up the honor code, accept that predators are going to make noticeable impacts on the course of rounds, but make predator rounds a lot less common so that this doesn't turn into AVP: Colonial Marines. That way, predators would be a proper consideration that people couldn't just ignore, but you'd only see them occasionally so they wouldn't steal the spotlight very often.
How to make Predators relatable to the round:
1. Make them much weaker (less bullet resistance, keep bone break thresholds but armor is weaker, have their cannons be a bit weaker, explosive canon stays, spike launcher downgraded to do less damage so its not a bone break on first shot, cloak lasts for 10 seconds at best or cloak is unlimited but is more noticeable so you have to hide on certain tiles for it to be effective, etc).
2. Remove honor code; let them do whatever they want in return for being much weaker. Basically they'd be at Elder Lurker level with some get out of jail free cards (their instant heal crystals and their HPC) but balanced around still being killable (bone breaks, limited healed amount, light cloak). They'd be true antagonists of the round that way.
3. Slowly phase out the whitelist and make it something similar to Survivor; something you can allow in your preferences when a Predator round is up.
4. Limit them to a maximum of 3.
There, they are now viable. And 3 is probably really controversial but the only reason its whitelisted is because the role can completely change the round right now and is only held in check by RP restrictions; you won't need a whitelist if you severely downgrade it but in return let them do what they want.
I understand that. But is it really the best RP? I get things aren't as strict as they used to be, but we gotta maintain at least a little quality.
I'm calling them "Mutants", or "Tribals", but really... How would you call a big humanoid wearing a mask, kinky "body mesh" and dreadlocks? Stereotypical Jamaican. What other name is "more RP"? Nobody calls then "Predators", or "Yautja", because nobody knows shit about them if they won't tell it themselfs. Isn't that atleast MRP in itself? Knowledge restricted to what character knows?
Especially in our Penal Batallion full of grunts that can't be even trusted with pill bottles.
How would you call them to "maintain at least a little quality"?
Marines are calling Benos names like "Lizards", "Bugs", or "Xenos". We should maintain quality and call them as I do. "Scrin". Perfectly matches my view, so it's superior in any way and shape, obviously, without doubts.
And now not relating to quoted post:
Preds aren't that powerfull, really. If you are a worthy prey, they can't use ranged weaponry, so nearly any kind of weapon will fuck them up if shoots connect. Especially slug shotgun.
Prize for fighting preds is a fight itself. Proof that despite his superior armor, superior speed, superior health and superior weapon, he wasn't able to defeat you honorably. Taking even more power from preds would just make them a wet nuddle. Benos and Marines should be afraid of predators, they should constantly plot a plan to eliminate that threat. Tactics of luring preds into a warzone, so that they will also engage opposite side would be cool to have. Make them proper antags, nearly equal in terms of messing with sides (a bit bias for marines for obvious reasons).
Predator's aren't very powerful at all. If only 5% of the server can go on harm intent, load buckshot, and click the Predator two times to slow it down, then I don't know what to say about the playerbase. Predator players aren't baldies with one day of experience, why would your average bald Alpha have a chance against a competent player? A bald xeno gets dunked on by a robust marine, a bald marine gets dunked on by a xeno, a bald Predator gets dunked on by both a marine and a xeno. You haven't fought Predators seriously if you think they're the strongest thing in the server.
Your average player should not be able to comfortably defeat a Predator. If they suck at aiming and clicking, then they'll lose regardless if Predators are nerfed or not. Nobody's using any exploits or '1337 elite tricks' to kill a Predator. All they're doing is clicking on them. They are very, very killable.
Removing a Predator's RP restrictions will do more harm than good, because Predators will now be able to out right use any cheesy tactics in a fair scenario (eg turning on and off SD to scare away people, HPCing when low, cloak killing, etc etc). That isn't the fix.
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