For those of you not frantically refreshing our NS2 megalist, here’s a quick rundown of all the new additions or revisions that have been made to it this week:

• Nymphs are the floaty things in these concept pieces (thanks Trayder for the tip):
  
• “It’s very likely we will have a non-Steam version that you can get directly from us in addition to a Steam version.” -Max
• Some NS2 music samples on myspace.
• NS2 menz “will be happy soon“! Hooray!
• Flamethrower, motherfuckers! [1]
• Nymphs are part of a new spawn system (Thanks again Trayder):
  • Nymphs randomly float down an form an egg.
  • Alien players can choose which egg from 10-15 on the floor to spawn from, so marines don’t know which egg a player will come from.
  • When the number of eggs drops below a critical number, a new nymph will float down to spawn an egg on a random surface around the hive.
• Plans to have “steam and mist” emit from the gills on the back of the new hive model:
  
  Also plans to have the yellow center glow and be semitransparent:
  

Make sure you check out the full megalist to see all the other info about NS2 we’ve managed to scrape together.

Don’t forget to discuss the list on our forums!

Welcome to the weekly AusNS Top 10!

Each week we’ll poll the forums on random subjects, posting the results on the weekend. Users who contribute the most entertaining posts will be featured on the front page and will also receive a custom title of their choosing.

This week’s topic: Who is the greatest Australasian NS1 player?

An easy enough question to ask, but not as easy to answer. Can you remember any names from the old days of regular competitive play? Let’s hear them.

THE RULES

1. There are no rules
2. There is one rule, the above rule

Obviously you cannot select yourself. What we do want from you is to give a short description of why you chose your candidates, no dissertations, half a paragraph per person (categories such as individual skill, ability with either race, superlative teamwork, exceptionally friendly etc. would be great) would easily suffice.

Feel free to discuss other peoples entries, we will tally the results at the end of the week and announce the winners.

Discuss this article in our forums!

Flayra has updated the official NS2 development blog, detailing the recently tweetted (twittered? twattered? twote?) about “Power Grid” system. The basic idea should be familiar to anyone who has played Company of Heroes:

The power grid is like the concept of “territory” in Company of Heroes. It keeps marine structures functional. It means that structures are only powered if they connect back to a built, active Command Station. The purpose of the power grid is to cause different areas of the map to have different strategic value at different times, to enable comebacks and to give the aliens an ability to win even when the situation looks hopeless.

Essentially you can knock out an entire arm of the map for the marines if you manage to take down a critical RT near the top of the chain. This should make for some cool strategic options for the Kharra. Also of note is this tid bit on “tech points”:

One more thing – in NS2 there are no hive rooms per se and the marines can’t build their Command Stations anywhere. Both teams must build their Hives or Command Stations at special points on the map called “tech points”. Building here lets the team have the ability to have another commander, and also is needed for “teching up” to tier 2 or tier 3.

It sounds like the days of relocating to random points on the map are gone. Also, multiple commanders?! Flayra said a little bit more about them in the official discussion thread. Warning – lots of awesome info:

You can still relocate if you want, but you are limited to any place with a tech point.

I’ll go into multiple commanders at some point but the takeaway is that the commander on both sides will be less about being a total authority and more about being a different character “class”. I loved the leadership qualities of an authoritarian Commander in NS, but I believe that the overall game will be better if the role is designed to allow multiples to function together with stepping on each other’s toes.

We would love [to allow people to build hives anywhere] but getting the audio/visuals right for a dynamic hive room is very tricky. Ie, we would have to programmatically make a hive room feel totally alieny with code. That’s a big challenge and one we might save for after v1.0.

Fyi, Commanders don’t drop weapons for players any more. Players on the ground buy their own weapons at an armory. The commander is responsible for researching weapons though. Also, there is no requirement for a 2nd Commander, ever. You can build a second Command Station and build in that room normally. They don’t have to be linked either. Rooms with a built Command Station in them are always powered (until that Command Station is destroyed).

It certainly sounds like the game is coming together and will definitely be a departure from the NS gameplay we’re all used to. Hopefully we get to see these gameplay changes in action sooner rather than later.

The NS2 megalist has been updated with the new info. Make sure you check it out.

Discuss this news post on the forums!