Originally Posted by Chewy

I'm currently hooked on Dystopia, but I hear some rumors that this may be a prett decent game? 2 people have flat out told me I should get it... so I guess I should break down and pay the $10 to get me HL1 so I can download the mod... I was kinda hoping that a source version would come out soon but I guess that's a ways off...

But it over steam, now. I've been playing NS for 3 straight years almost nightly and its the only video game I've EVER stayed playing for that long of time. There is a significant amount of depth that can be explored once you get the basic flow of what's going on, I still learn new strategies about the game I didn't know every once and a while (after 3 years, playing nightly).

The one big reason I don't like dystopia is because there is no real teamwork, there is some, but not ANYTHING like NS. I love NS because the entire gameplay mechanics require on high levels of teamwork on both aliens and marines, everyone is important and not some random class (I hate class games).

Any kind of mod or multiplayer game coming out these days doesn't interest me much unless it has the level of teamwork (especially on this server) that NS has built into the game mechanics (especially commander mode\hive sight).

I wish somebody could make a video of snippets of live TG games in NS to give players of other games here an introduction.

The source version won't be out for at least 2 years seeing as how it appears they havn't gotten any of the meat and potatoes work done yet. The original took them 2 years so I'd imagine this one would take the same or longer. I actually know a few of my friends that said they would play it for sure if it had better graphics, but really this game looks damn good for the HL engine and you don't notice it after a while because your so immersed in the game.

I'm rambling Go buy it its well worth the $10 for HL, and here is a download link to the latest 3.1 version:

http://download.jarhedz.com/ns_beta/...nstall_v31.exe

and the manual if you wanna skim through it while downloading (you will pick stuff up fast, but put "I'm new" in your name like wyz suggested so it helps us out).

http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns/comm...asic/index.htm

EDIT: Figured I'd add some more, I really love the marine vs. aliens concept. The aliens truly are COMPLETELY unique from the marines and really makes playing against them something else especially when their used by other humans. Think of it like playing a ripoff starcraft FPS\RTS, its really good.

Just a reminder, there are two kinds of maps in Natural Selection.

Combat Maps - These start with the co_levelname in the map list in the server browser, in this relatively new game mode you gain points that you spend on upgrades (armor, better weps, etc). There isn't a lot of teamwork and this is more like NS meets deathmatch.

Classic Maps - These start with the ns_levelname in the map list, this is the main game and what NS was designed for. Marines can have one guy that will command (place structures, upgrades tech, plan strategy for the team, help his marines stay alive) and has an overhead view of the level. Aliens ahve something called "hivesight" that is kind of a democratic commander mode between all aliens where you will see when and where things happen on your hud, and as aliens gain more resources they evolve into bigger and better lifeforms (although they are all interdependent on the other lifeforms as well)... pretty neat.

Depending on what time of you day you play on the TG server it might be playing a co_ map until the server gets enough players to play a decent NS game. I'm not really a fan of combat very much but it helps you get an idea of the weapons and lifeforms in a less "urgent" enviroment. Nothing is better than winning or losing with your team after an epic game (power struggles, close calls, sneak attacks, you name it). I've had some really fun games on this server especially when you have those 30min games that go back and forth (occasionally longer but everybody starts getting tired, especially the commander )