New mode?

[JackCnKing]

What is this! I want to join too..

[Cirno]

This is a new game.

[JackCnKing]

  Derp...

[Dave]

Natural Selection 2 server:

HyperionGaming.org | NS2 | West Coast
IP: 66.151.138.182:27086

We put it up a few days ago.

[Plasma]

Natural Selection was a free mod for the original Half Life, like Counter-Strike. It was one of my favorite mods with CS and Team Fortress Classic. I loved the game so much, I wanted to run my own dedicated server. That's how I started learning about servers. My very first server

The team behind NS then decided they wanted to do their own game, not just a mod. So a long time ago, they started working on NS2 as an original game. I think they tried using the Source engine, but at the end, tey decided to make their own. Development has been taking forever, and now the game is in its final betas. It is stable enough, so we've decided to run our own server again.

The game will be released on steam in 3 weeks I believe, and since then we've been playing the beta, and it's a lot of fun. There's more teamwork involved than in TF2. Each team has a commander, who plays the game RTS style (think Starcraft). Everybody else plays the game as a FPS, except the Alien team don't have guns. They play more like Aliens crawling on walls and using melee attacks. There's a lot of strategy involved, resource management, some neat gameplay mechanics like aliens being able to cut power to rooms and alien infestation growing organically on walls.

The game costs $20, and I hope they'll have a free weekend or something to allow people to try it.

[JackCnKing]

Holy~ 

[missa]

I have NS and could never grasp the game. Too many controls to worry about and I never was interested enough to learn it. I love tf2 because it's simple and easy to play. I'm not too big on RTS games.   

[Plasma]

Well, the cool thing about NS2 is you never have to worry about the RTS part of the game. Only the commander does. Theoretically, you can play NS2 without ever getting into the Commander's chair, and it would play pretty much like an online FPS, especially on the marines side.

You can just follow your commander's orders, go there, build this tower, proceed carefully, etc... attack the hive. The commander then researches better weapons like shotguns, mines, flamethrowers, grenade launchers up to exoskeletons with dual miniguns (or jetpacks). If you've ever played Aliens vs Predator 2 online, playing Marines in NS2 gets really close to the same claustrophobic and tense gameplay. When you move close to an alien hive, infestation is everywhere, it's really dark, and you can only use your flashlight, the commander scans the room, and you hear radar pings everywhere. Really cool.

On the Aliens side, it's just awesome because you can crawl and hide on walls and ceilings or vents. Some upgrades allow you to cloak if you're not moving (a bit like the Spy). You see the marines get close and when one decides to turn left and separates himself from the group, you follow him and when he doesn't expect it, you eat his head. So fun.

Sure, it's more complicated than TF2. There are more mechanics (like resources), upgrades, and you have to know the maps to play well. However, I feel like there's a lot more strategy, teamwork and fun to be had than TF2. I like both games for different reasons. TF2 is mindless fun, with very different classes and new weapons every 2 weeks. NS2 combines strategy, skills and suspense.

One more thing. So far, in NS2, we haven't had to deal with trolls and idiots like in TF2. Since the game isn't F2P, players are a lot more careful not to get banned. That's cool.

[Cirno]

That sounds exactly like Nuclear Dawn minus the head eating.

[Plasma]

I haven't played Nuclear Dawn, but I've watched videos and followed its development a bit when it was released because I wanted to play a game like the Natural Selection mod. From what I've seen though, it's not as fun. What I really enjoy in NS2 is the complete gameplay experience between marines and aliens.

When you play on the marines side, it's like you're in Starcraft. You've got your commander, giving you orders and you have to work together as a squad to succeed. There's also a lot of tension, going in these dark corridors, watching scanner pings.
When you play as aliens, it's very much like Aliens vs Predator 2 multiplayer (as the Aliens obviously). You have to remain hidden, sneak close to marines. Wait for one idiot to separate from the squad to attack him. When you unlock the cloaking ability, you can get really close to the marines and they can't see you. Then, when they least expect it,  you bite their head off. It's so fun.

They've just announced the official release date October 31st. Our NS2 server is already quite popular. We're slowly seeing the same players coming back in the evening. I'm hoping that the game is successful, because I think it's a great mix of FPS and strategy. I love TF2, but it's nice to play a shooter with a bit more tactical elements from time to time.

[{GP}GosuPros]

I've played a bit on NS1 back in like 2oo4 when it was released, i was hooked on CS1.5 at the time had a little clan etc...won a few local tourneys.

As back at the time i was in my experimental stage of recreational drugs i had no clue what i was up to as a commander and feed the marines as the aliens looked cool and moved ultra fast, it was a totally different experience from CS Never got into the game but you say this game is run off its own engine rather than a source engine? Now that would be worth looking into for new physics. I'm going to look into this game via youtube, check out the various differences.

How is the population on NS2 anyway, servers packed? plenty to choose from? I notice you can't play single player, from what the steam store tells me. Remember Christmas and new years have just been, my pockets are full of shrapnel atm lolz xD

[Plasma]

Natural Selection 2 has a lot of different elements from NS1, so if you've played a lot of NS1, it will feel familiar yet strange. Overall, I really love NS2. I find the game requires a lot more teamwork and strategy than TF2 (blasphemy!) and "on average" players are more mature and work together (you always have your fair share of trolls obviously, but since the game actually costs money, players are a bit more cautious to follow server rules).

NS2 population is very good. Our server is pretty much packed, sometimes more popular than our TF2 servers. The main problem right now is the lack of reserved slots. It's very difficult to get on the servers at times. I know the NS2 dev team is working on implementing a way to allow admins/donors to get in when the server is full. Hopefully, that will encourage our NS2 regulars to come by our forums and become a bit more invested

NS2 is a multiplayer game only, and there isn't any bots (to my knowledge). But it's a great game, and I really recommend everyone that enjoys their online FPS with a bit more brains/teamwork to give it a try. It takes a bit more time to learn than TF2, but once you do understand the gameplay it is very rewarding. I guess the only problem is there's no mann-conomy... sadface.

Oh, and we'll probably have 1-2 NS2 copies to giveaway soon for our donors. Maybe in 2-3 weeks.

[JackCnKing]

Glad NS2 is doing well, hehe.