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.
