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Recent updates View all (142)

12 August

Update 307 Live on Steam!

Progress! These last couple weeks we have been working towards some of our larger goals for the game. We have had multiple public and private test sessions with the upgraded Luajit changes and it is very close to public release. Dependency on Awesomium has been removed and should help with stability and memory leaks. HIVE 2.0 will be launching in parallel to the existing HIVE sometime over the next week using extensions. This will allow us to test our new system in the public and see how well the algorithms and data collection are working and allow us to make some final tweaks before removing the old version entirely (more detail on this in a separate blog post soon).

Looking to make some changes, update 307 includes a new version of Summit with contributions from Wob and Loki. We have been playing it over the last couple weeks and are excited to see how the public adapts to the new changes. There have been continued debates in multiple Discord channels over balance and a wide range of other subjects lately. These discussions have been very helpful and have lead to some inspired changes that you will see in the log below, so keep em going.

Keep an eye out for a new blog post next week showing our evolving Roadmap for the future of NS2 and some of the exciting updates that we hope to be bringing in the near future.

Skulk on and be happy!

Update 307 Changelog

Tweaks / Improvements

Skulk Changes
- Reverted HP to 70/10 (was 85/10)
- Increased base ground speed to 7.25 to match wall walking speed (was 7.0)
- Increased non-celerity wall jump force to 6.4 to match the celerity force (was 5.2)
- Increased sneak speed to be 66% of max speed (was 50%)
- Made wall jump noises more responsive to your speed to provide better feedback

Although we felt that increasing the Skulk base HP was a necessary step to restore the balance, we agree with the community’s sentiment that it didn’t improve the feel for either side. Our aim going forward is to make it so Skulks feel effective, even while their small health pool can feel punishing. These new changes in conjunction with the melee box increase should make Skulks feel a little bit more maneuverable and able to get a kill, especially during the early game and when planning an ambush.

Removed the Twitter ticker since it is not used much
Added team say console command `tsay` (Thanks Keats!)
Replaced HTML renderer to use Steam APIs instead of Awesomium
- Videos will now play on Linux!

Fixes

Welcome banner was hidden by the load screen (Thanks Brute!)
Fixed that text input fields didn’t consume key events (Thanks Brute!)
Fixed that enemies were still considered in LOS for health bar display when hiding behind structures and other players
Fixed that enemies were not considered in LOS for health bar display when visible through railings
Fixed that Skulks’ celerity bonus was not being reduced while sneaking
Fixed a script error caused by telling a bot to attack a clog
Fixed that higher level tech was not immediately available in Sandbox mode from the Armory/Protolab
Fixed that missing placeholders in a localization could cause clients to crash (occurred with Serbian selected)
Fixed a script issue occurring on ns2_caged caused by achievement handling

Map Changes

Summit
- Atrium – Depth of arched pillars increased, tree added and its tube, raised platform at back of summit added console for additional ground cover, fences now solid.
- Datacore – New pillar added to give partial LOS block on TechPoint when approaching from Pipe Junction
- Reception – Increased height of ceiling and added new pillar
- Flight Control -Duplicated roof truss and added tv for cover
- Computer Lab – Added small pillar increased height of ceiling, route from comp lab to sub now has 2 additional ceiling recesses for hiding skulks etc
- Reactor Core – Slight room alteration + extended angular struts from the reactor prop
Derelict
- Fixed overhead bridge in Biome blocking commander view

SDK

Model Compiler – Fixed a bug that would cause FBX models to use incorrect bones for attachment points.
Model Compiler – Fixed a bug that would cause FBX models to have cameras incorrectly oriented.
Model Compiler – Added a directive to the model compiler “material_path_replace”. Takes an input string, and replaces all occurrences of it with the output string. Useful for maintaining proper Maya workflow/naming conventions.

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29 July

Build 306 LIVE!

Our latest build continues on the path of refinement and stability, and although small there are some nice changes in this patch. Those of you with antivirus woes when opening NS2 should no longer have an issue as all our windows binaries are digitally signed and secure. As stated in the blog post earlier this week, we increased the size of the melee attack on both the skulk and fade and this change is no longer an extension but part of the vanilla code. We have also decided to slightly bump up skulk HP requiring an additional 2 bullets to make contact.

Behind the scenes we are continuing our work on HIVE 2, which is coming along nicely and should see the public soon! Meanwhile FSFOD has not wasted any time on his upgrade of LUAJit and we will be beta testing those changes starting next week. We are very excited to get some of these new features out into the public, but for now, enjoy the update!

Update 306 Details:

Tweaks / Improvements

All Windows binaries are now digitally signed, which should make AV & Security programs consider NS2 as a validated program. There are some AV programs that will not take this into consideration however (such as Avast Hardened-mode enabled).
Warmup Mode Improvements
- Enemies will slowly take damage while in the other team’s spawn location and will receive a notification to retreat
- Bots will no longer buy tech or evolve, to prevent overwhelming the enemy team with Onos
Filler bots will be disabled for listen servers
Disabled many rookie-only checks in listen servers
Boosted Skulk starting health by 15hp to 85/10
Size of Skulk melee has been increased to 1.2, 1.2 (was 0.7, 1)
Size of Fade melee has increased vertically to 0.7,1.2 (was 0.7,1)

Fixes

Fixed that filler bots stayed longer in the teams than they should which could lead to uneven teams
The player list now updates properly in the server details window
Mod names now update properly in the server details window
Fixed that the sv_forceeventeams command wasn’t working
Fixed that the “start commanding” text showed up at unbuild hives (thanks NoM)
Fixed that commander dropped weapons caused phantom item bubbles

SDK

Texture lock has been further improved.
Added a new command to the model compiler, “material_path_replace”. See model tools manual for details. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ELyjisMUh6TCDubkp5IZTC7SsVrx41j-OdHpHPs4_uU/edit?usp=sharing

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Digital Deluxe Edition

Official Soundtrack - 1 hour of tribal, industrial music composed by David John and Simon Chylinski

Digital Art Book - 40+ pages of art by Cory Strader, including environments, creatures, weapons and more

Exclusive in-game marine model - Exclusive in-game marine model - A new marine model with custom visor and armor plating

Exclusive Wallpapers and Avatars - Unique views of the NS2 universe by Amanda Diaz

System Requirements

Minimum:

OS:Windows Vista 32-bit
Processor:Core 2 Duo E6700 (2.66 GHz) or better
Memory:3 GB RAM
Graphics:DirectX 9 compatible video card with 1 GB VRAM and support for Shader Model 3 (e.g. AMD X800, NVidia 8600 or better)
DirectX®:9.0
Hard Drive:12 GB HD space

Recommended:

OS:Windows 7 64-bit or newer
Processor:Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4 GHz) or better
Memory:4 GB RAM
Graphics:DirectX 9 compatible video card with 1.5 - 2 GB VRAM (AMD 5770, NVidia GTX 450 or better)
DirectX®:9.0
Hard Drive:12 GB HD space
Other Requirements:Broadband Internet connection

User reviews:

Recent:

Very Positive (82 reviews) - 81% of the 82 user reviews in the last 30 days are positive.

Overall:

Very Positive (7,827 reviews) - 84% of the 7,827 user reviews for this game are positive.

Customer reviews

Customer Review system updated! Learn more

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Most Helpful

Recent

Positive (6,622)

Negative (1,205)

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Very Positive (82 reviews)

Very Positive (7,827 reviews)

Recently Posted

Posted: 16 August

For the price you cant get a better game. I would be willing to pay $60 yet you can get if for less than $10. There is a steep learning curve and moving from the rookie servers to the vet servers can be pretty rough. learning the basics is enough to get your KD up but once you truly understand the game and all the mechanics it becomes a truly rewarding experience. The game is still being updated well after its release and i can only hope the community continues to grow and learn.

This has to be one of the most underrated games i've come across

Helpful? Yes No Funny

Amazing game, gave me thousands of hours of entertainment.

Posted: 15 August

This game is good because of lag but i still recommend it because i know other people has better computer than mines that does not cause lots of lag to decrease the lag is to lower the screen area(safe area) it does not fully solve it but will not solve the lag problem if your computer set is not good.

hey, that's pretty good.

Posted: 14 August

terrible community, one sided games, generally not fun

Posted: 13 August

It is a great game and deserves more credit then given.

Posted: 12 August

Real fun. I bought it because I really liked the movie Aliens and this is the closest ill ever get to being a badass marine gunning aliens in a mech suit. Games a little bit dead but the servers that are still up are great. Playing as a team will never get better than this game as you have a commander putting out orders and dropping in ammo and health allowing the marines to get through and takeover the map. Same goes with aliens as the dirfferent types are needed to win having one that puts up barricades, another one that prowles through airducts, picking off marines, making way for the player that saved up for the tank alien (dont remember the names of each type) that decimates everything in its path. This game has real teamwork and everyone is a gear in the machine, helping their team annihilate the opposition.

This game is relatively cheap for what is has to offer and you will be able to find a low but mature player base that will make you see most of the other communities like castrated kids who sold part of their brain on ebay for some skins by sms. The learning curve is deep for sure but anything learned is worse the effort and will be rewarded for every single round played next. Do your best and you will see yourself getting better and better. Graphisme are pretty good taking into account it has more than 4 years old and started with NS1 as a mod, but that's really a long time ago. I can't really give you a complete overview there is just too much ground to cover, go around and check it by yourself that's the best you could do. At last if something is really wrong (which I doubt) you can discuss it and get things fixed.

---------------------

Pros:
* It's a good game you can spend times on.
* The gameplay: you won't find anything even close to what you will enjoy here. Ask yourself how players can put 3400+ hours on a game (and I am far from the only one around here)
* The skill ceilling is really high, you can only get better.
* The community: mature, loving and caring about the game they love almost religiously (worship the babbler king some will say). They also contain a load of mapper/modder/dev/etc... actively working on making the game what it is today on most of the free time they have.
* Because scaring the ♥♥♥♥ out of the marines as an alien after a well done ambush is always worse the try.

Cons:
* You need to use your brain to be effective, being smart (not for everyone) is much more usefull than aiming well
* Learning curve, if you are a brainless kid with your dad's ebay account, get back to your homework or you will get the lesson you deserve.
* You will forget to sleep
* You will lose your social life
* You will die (a lot)

One last thing: if you are not sure about purchasing that game I suggest you go on youtube and search for some of "NS2 Super Effective" videos. It will give you in a really few amount of time a clean and good overview of what the game has to offer (gameplay) once you get used to it.

Ps: Um, I guess it's okay, this game isn't addicted like everyone say, I could stop it any time I want.

It's a great game, lots of fun gameplay.
But for f*cks sake IT'S NOT DEAD.
PLZ STOP ASKING, THIS GAME IS NOT DEAD
THIS GAME IS NOT DEAD
THIS GAME IS NOT DEAD
THIS GAME IS NOT DEAD
THIS GAME IS NOT DEAD
There that should be enough to get through your rediculously thick cranium.

Played a lot of mods from half-life including natural selection. Only a few mods became a stand alone game and even less of them are good enough to be still playing now. This is one of those.

Most Helpful Reviews In the past 30 days

ziremonger

72 products in account

22 reviews

Posted: 20 July

So i bought this game like a year ago and i played 10 hours over the course of a few weeks before deciding it just wasnt fun. Yesterday i decided to reinstall and give it another shot. After taking a few hours to get to grips with the mechanics and feel of the game i was totally hooked. Been playing solidly ever since.

I was kind of worried that upon leaving the rookie servers everything would just feel cheap like in chivalry and id lose interest, but the exact opposite happened. Everyone works together really well and victorys feel hard fought and satisfying. Everytime i died it felt fair, and the large variety of weapons and playstyles avaiable in marines alone lends a ton of replayability.

Its just so satisfying suiting up in a jetpack and having your manouverability increase by like 500 percent. Zipping around like an angel of death blasting away with a machinegun or getting up close and dirty with a shotgun. Or if the situation calls for it whip out a flamethrower or grenade launcher. Maybe just dedicate yourself to accompanying the players decked out in giant mech suits repairing them on the go, while you save up for your own giant mech suit.

This game is just insanely fun and the community isnt nearly as bad as some of the reviews here make it out to be. So far i havnt seen anyone get kicked let alone unfairy and the people using voice chat are fairly relaxed and possesing great teamwork. Theres always 2-3 full servers and at least one full rookie server. Maps are well designed and have decent if not overwhelming variety.

I can easily see myself playing hundreds of hours of this game over the next few months, if this game cost 20 euro id say it was fair. For 10 euro its a freakin steal.

Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny

Mawd

329 products in account

2 reviews

Posted: 1 August

I loved this game. But it's dead now. Truly dead.
These late gameplay reworks and balance changes are just haphazard attempts to eek out a few more months of life.
At least the rookie servers seem to have populations. I wouldn't know. The fact that there is more life on segregated servers for rooks than vet servers keeps it that way.
The story might be different if you're EU or NA.
But if you're an Aus/NZ player you are well and truly screwed.
Essentially you either play on the one or two non rookie servers that give you 250+ms but don't auto kick high pings -while still being chewed out for a high ping- or you luck out for the 2-3 hours of one night a week where the Aus server sees more than 10 concurrent players.
This game was fantastic.
Rest in Peace, GG No Re.

Carter1215

60 products in account

8 reviews

Posted: 9 August

The game is a mix of a First Person Shooter and RTS (of sorts), but in a good way. The teams consist of a single commander on both sides that will build structures whilst also, taking advatage of his top down perspective, trying to instruct and organize his Ground Troops. Of course the playstyle is diffrent depending on which team for the marine commander needs the Ground Troops to build the structures he placed whilsed the alien commander doesn't need his Ground Troops to do so. The objective is to take out all of the opposing team's Command Stations (Marine) or Hives (Alien).

Because there is only a single commander per team you will likely be spending a large majority of yoru time being apart of your team's Ground Troops.

-As the Marine Ground Troops you will have to communicate with your team to build structures set down by your commander and try to not be killed by the Aliens by trying to engage them at a distance.

-As the Alien Ground Troops you will try to slow and prevent Marine progression and explansion by destroying Marine Structures and killing them yourself. The Marines have Machine guns that are very effective at killing Aliens at range, and as the Alien you do not have range a large majority of the time. This leads to creative ways to try and get to them, from Crawling into the vents to try and flank them to crawling on the walls to ambush them.

*Keep in Mind that the things I just described are the very basics of both sides and the game has much more to it.

Something really nice about the game I would like to note is that there are rookie servers that only new players can join where you can only play with other players that are also realitivly new to the game. So you will never really have this pressure in these servers. Yet when you start feeling comfotable enough to start playing on normal servers you will find many servers will have vey organized teams that create amazing games! It's a very nice system having freindly rookie servers and amazingly organized normal servers.

The only issue I have with this game is trying to practice with commander. When I started becoming proficient with playing commander (online) I was locked out of the rookie servers. Normally this would be a good thing as the game deemed me with enough expirience to start playing on normal servers. Now in these servers you play with a large amount of veteran players, and this left me very little room to practice playing commander. Of course I'm not saying it's impossible to play commander because every once in a while you with find a team with no commander that is very supportive of you being a new commander and will help you do so. But most of the time on the normal severs I was contemplating either: "A. Taking command and being inexperienced and slower and more than likely lose the game for our team because of this." or "B. Letting someone else take command that is faster and more expirienced whilst be part of the Ground forces where I have the most experience in playing."

Either Way I find this game to be overall fantastic and a lot of fun to play. I would recomend this game to anyone who enjoys playing with orginized teams to create amazing strategies and extensive engagments.

BirdWithAHat©

27 products in account

6 reviews

Posted: 7 August

Pros:
+Actual team play
+A few modes
+Some mods
+Offline Play
+Relatively balanced
+Exo Suits
+Crush filthy aliens
Cons:
-Load time takes 5-10 minutes when the "matches" are usually 30-50 minutes long
-Lag more in offline mode with bots than when playing online multiplayer
-Skin mods were removed so that they could sell their own skins

KillaKiwi666

28 products in account

12 reviews

Posted: 11 August

Mint as game well worth the purchase , its a whole new sort of experience and I highly recommend it but its gunna take a bit to learn to play fluidly but it will be worth it

drkntity10

16 products in account

1 review

Posted: 21 July

If you want a FPS/RTS hybrid game you should pick this game, you definitely need a mic and headset in order to play better. It is challenging to beginners especially the alien side. Which mostly requires you to have someone with you when attacking. When taking up this game you should start as the basic unit and not go commander and learn first what is good. So that when you go for commander you know what to do and will lead you and your team to victory

Katzenfleisch

8 products in account

Dr.BLUE...123

36 products in account

This game is so beautiful and amazing looking. I found this game and instantly put it on my wishlist. It was a rts and fps. I loved the gameplay and everything. I quickly bought a copy for me and my brother. So happy to finally play it. Until I did. It was so hard. As alien I could not kill or do anything. As human I could not even shoot one bullet without missing. You need wicked reflexes and insane skills. I tryed to practice and look at my hours playing. I still can't even win one round. I recommend it to expert players, not the simple player like me.

My score is 80%.