Introducing Hiveskill 3.0: Per-Team and Commander Hiveskill (Thank you, Moultano!)

Posted by amanda 4 years ago

Community Developer Moultano, the creator of the original HiveSkill rating system that NS2 uses to approximate player skill levels and balance teams when shuffled, has been quietly tinkering and working hard on one of the longest requested features for Natural Selection 2… an expanded HiveSkill rating system that will now include four separate skill ratings! One for the Kharaa, one for the Frontiersman, and one for each of their respective commander roles.

Now, how exactly does this HiveSkill 3.0 system work? Moultano has been kind enough to write up an extensive FAQ about it which you will see below. If you have further questions, you are welcome to join us on our Discord where Moultano and the rest of the …

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Patch 332 Balance Patch Notes

Posted by amanda 4 years ago

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Here is a snippet of what’s in store for build 332, which is coming soon! This changelog contains the Balance Patch Notes, there is much more in the full changelog which will be released when the build goes live.

General

● The health and armor status (hp bar) has been removed from enemy players in combat (We recommend enabling damage numbers)
● Re-drop block times for commanders placing cysts and resource towers is now 1 second (down from 5-7 seconds)
● Fixed cysts sometimes dying when placed (From Katzenfleisch)
● Fixed commanders forced to repress the grid key for dual action items (From Katzenfleisch)
● Fixed scan not having a visual range displayed (From Katzenfleisch)
● Fixed structures being …

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News from our friends at the NSL!

Posted by amanda 5 years ago

We’re coming at you with news and tournaments being run by our friends at the Natural Selection League!

    ENSL.org Grand Open Tournament, Season 15 and Staff required!

    Grand Open Tournament

The most exciting event of 2019 is coming soon! A Grand Open Tournament, run by the Natural Selection League (NSL or ENSL.org) in collaboration with UWE, will take place December 7-8, and feature a prize of $600 for first place winners and t-shirts for the runner-ups! Mark the dates, and get ready for some challenging games! This event will show which team is truly the top dog in 2019!

    Short Season Announced!

The NSL has also opened the signups for its new season format! Beware that

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NSL Newcomer Tournament

Posted by amanda 5 years ago

A Message from our friends at the Natural Selection League:

Are you bored by the chaos of public games?
Have you ever wondered how this game plays in a 6 man team willing to speak and work together? Ready to try something new?

Join the Newcomer Tournament!

Bring your friends, or find new ones, and fight in a competitive 6v6 environment against other newcomer-teams to be crowned the best new NS2 team of 2019. All of this will be streamed by our experienced shoutcasters!

When is the Newcomer Tournament?

The tournament will be played on Saturday, June 1 and Sunday, June 2.

But the fun starts when you are ready!
We strongly advise that all players who wish to …

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Build 327 Balance Patch Notes

Posted by amanda 5 years ago

In 327 we’re introducing some big changes to Gorge Tunnels, Alien PvE, Marine weapons and more. Below you will find extensive explanations and reasoning behind these changes- One common theme we want to emphasize however is that the goal of these changes is not to achieve a 50/50 balance for the game, but to balance for fun. By making changes to alien early game strategy and the intense reliance on PvE, we hope to lay the foundations for an overall healthier, more fun game for both teams. A secondary effect of this (but not the point) is simply shaking up the gameplay to keep the meta evolving. Additionally worth noting, as of this patch, official Ranked Server Status is …

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What if…?

Posted by amanda 5 years ago

Ever since NS2 was first announced, one thing I have always looked forward to is the hope of a new lifeform. We sadly weren’t able to get this – but I never gave up hope. Even now, I still dream of a sixth lifeform. Something totally new! And when I say this to people I hear something along the lines of … “What would it do though? the aliens already have most niches filled” …And to that my friends, I say: Hold my beer.

Below you will find 6 rough concepts of what I believe a new lifeform could look like and some examples of how it would play. I hope you all enjoy theorizing about these as much …

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NSL hosted – Newcomer’s Draft Tournament!

Posted by amanda 8 years ago

 

Calling all rookies and veterans! Further your knowledge of Natural Selection and gain a sense of accomplishment and camaraderie by joining the newcomer draft tournament! New to competitive? Play on a team, get coached, make risky plays! Veteran player? Profess your love for smashing in your opponent’s teeth by teaching players how to ‘git gud.

The NSL is hosting a brand new Newcomer’s Draft tournament! Read more about it by clicking the link. This is a great opportunity for new players and veterans alike to come together and share knowledge, come up with sneaky gorge tunnel strats, exo rush your way to victory, but most importantly have fun! The tournament begins on June 18th at 12pm EST/ 6pm …

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On Mods, Community and Communication

Posted by amanda 8 years ago

Greetings fellow chompers and frontiersmen,

I didn’t want this to be a very lengthy blog post, I’m a fan of short and sweet. However we at UWE wanted to address the following in detail and give the community the response you deserve.

A lot has been happening in the past week or two for NS2. You have the development team excitedly swirling with discussion, statistics and ideas as we conclude our 3 month experimental trial and become renewed for another 3 months. But as we celebrate the success we’ve had in achieving some of our goals from the past 3 months, another cloud entirely began to cast a shadow early last week and it’s thunderous voice from the community has

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[TSF]::MEMO:14246::priority:low [RESPONSE REQUIRED]

Posted by amanda 8 years ago

!!–ATTENTION TSF SERVICEMEN AND WOMEN–!!

[START][MEMO:14246::priority:low]

Due to an unexpected error in manufacturing our latest deployment of [TSF::COMBAT:ARMOR::batch:9934] we are unable to import the standard issue TSF template. One of you will be facing disciplinary actions and IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF ALL RECREATIONAL TIME CARDS AND PRIVILEGES when we find out who did it. And don’t be mistaken, you will be found.

As a result of this manufacturing “glitch” we are only able to choose from 10 foreign templates. In light of the situation, we will be accepting surveys as to the preference of which template to use.

—> Please complete TSF SURVEY:350-UF3 Immediately <—

Pick only 3.

[TSF::INTERNAL:LOGISTICS:DIVISION:TR-4560]

[END][MEMO:14246::priority:low]

!!–ATTENTION TSF SERVICEMEN AND WOMEN–!!

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Simplifying NS2 – Thoughts on Gameplay (feedback wanted!)

Posted by amanda 8 years ago

Heyo all.

Since the renewal of NS2 development there’s been a lot of talk about systems, engine and tool changes, and a lot of “under the hood” things that, while important, you might not notice them changing the actual gameplay experience a whole lot.  One of the core directives of the NS2 dev team is new player retention- which really got me thinking- Are there any changes we could make to the gameplay of NS2 to make it less hectic, complex, and confusing to the average newbie?

Now I’m not referring to anything like the sweeping and complex changes made in B250- those were aimed purely at game balance. These ‘simplifying’ ideas would aim for something different, which is to …

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