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Off-Topic Discussion => Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: mxlm on July 17, 2010, 02:23:19 am

Title: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on July 17, 2010, 02:23:19 am
Well, Valve have just made it exceedingly unlikely I'll ever bother with Alien Breed, because new game (http://store.steampowered.com/news/4081/). Free. Monday.

Those effects look pretty good.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Liberator on July 17, 2010, 03:16:13 am
indeed!
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Ravenholme on July 17, 2010, 03:37:34 pm
We should maybe get together a list of steam users on the HLP forums, and friendsify each other so we have a large user base to play with.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 17, 2010, 03:43:20 pm
There's an HLP Steam usergroup, already.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Mongoose on July 18, 2010, 11:12:31 pm
I've never heard of this before, but the gameplay video looks exceedingly like Shadowgrounds, which makes me very happy. :D
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Lucika on July 19, 2010, 01:13:11 pm
Just in case if you are interested, I'll be instantly LP-ing this game :)

Teaser video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvxboILp3Iw
Steam forum link: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1367610
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: headdie on July 19, 2010, 02:31:18 pm
I've never heard of this before, but the gameplay video looks exceedingly like Shadowgrounds, which makes me very happy. :D

Alien breed is a lot older than shadow grounds though

Alien Breed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_breed)
Shadowgrounds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowgrounds)

Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Hades on July 19, 2010, 03:04:14 pm
Just one hour! :D

Who wants to play multiplayer with me? :p
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: pecenipicek on July 19, 2010, 03:14:33 pm
one hour, and i'm about to embark on a all-night dnd session. **** yeah on both accounts.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 19, 2010, 11:01:28 pm
Tried out the offline practice mission. Game needs a proper tutorial or manual or something so, I dunno, they'll tell you how to switch weapons and crap. :P

It's a lot of fun though.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 20, 2010, 01:48:11 am
All in all, having played through using the single-player option (via developer console) they don't want to admit exists, it's fun, sure, but only the last level of the mini-episode they gave us is actually impossible to complete without the assistance of another player.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Polpolion on July 20, 2010, 02:03:20 am
All in all, having played through using the single-player option (via developer console) they don't want to admit exists, it's fun, sure, but only the last level of the mini-episode they gave us is actually impossible to complete without the assistance of another player.

Playing this game single-player is like playing Freespace 2 without Bosch.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: qazwsx on July 20, 2010, 03:26:59 am
I can't play online, it won't connect to any servers D:
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 20, 2010, 06:33:26 am
Playing this game single-player is like playing Freespace 2 without Bosch.

You mean it removes a lot of unresolved plot threads that don't necessarily make sense? :P

Hey, I didn't want to play single, it wouldn't connect to anything in a reasonable timeframe. I just find it amusing that the supposedly rudimentary AI will see you that far.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: qazwsx on July 20, 2010, 06:34:58 am
yeah, it takes forever to connect, but once it does, you'll stay in that game for a loooong time.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Lucika on July 20, 2010, 11:12:39 am
Just in case if you are interested, I'll be instantly LP-ing this game :)

Teaser video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvxboILp3Iw
Steam forum link: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1367610

Episode 1 currently uploading.
The LP's Steam community group can be found here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/aliswalp :)
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Flipside on July 20, 2010, 02:15:35 pm
Downloading now :)
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 20, 2010, 05:25:32 pm
We should maybe get together a list of steam users on the HLP forums, and friendsify each other so we have a large user base to play with.

Hey, I tried to play a match with you guys but you booted me. :P

That was the only game I could actually get to connect in a reasonable timeframe too.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: qazwsx on July 20, 2010, 06:44:08 pm
Level 22 ATM, don't know what I'll do one I reach 27...
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 20, 2010, 07:47:27 pm
We should maybe get together a list of steam users on the HLP forums, and friendsify each other so we have a large user base to play with.

Hey, I tried to play a match with you guys but you booted me. :P

Did the same to me.  Bad form, man. Bad form.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Flipside on July 20, 2010, 09:14:40 pm
I've downloaded it, but not really got time to try it tonight, I'll give it a go tomorrow :)
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 20, 2010, 11:30:39 pm
This last game I was in:

Level: Residential Area (I forget the name, first biomass level)
Team: Myself (soldier), Tech, Heavy, & Medic.

The medic was using the pump-action shotgun.  :wtf:
The medic wouldn't heal.  :wtf:
The medic did more DPS to me than the laggy swarms did.  :wtf:

 :wtf:
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Klaustrophobia on July 21, 2010, 01:54:08 am
i did the offline thing.  it was alright, but nothing to write home about so far.  if online isn't significantly better, i'll probably uninstall.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Hades on July 21, 2010, 02:29:54 am
Online is much better, though you need at least two people to play and you need four people to play to have four characters in-game, there are no online NPCs.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on July 21, 2010, 02:48:22 am
There are online NPCs, but by default they're only enabled when a player drops mid-mission.

Made it through on hard--you do need a competent group for that--then tried insanity. It's, um, insane. Maybe three good hits from the melee critters will kill you. Parasites on the first level. Flyers everywhere. Artillery on the cargo elevator. Not enough ammo. Not enough healing. Not enough anything. Horrible, horrible death.

Oh, the parasites. Far too deadly. Infestation is the only thing in this game that actively annoys me. Well, sometimes it annoys me.

The game? Awesome. The mod tools? Apparently awesome.

It has a l4d director, only the sadistic bastard is disabled by default. asw_horde_override 1 boys and girls. Not that I've tried it yet. Apparently there are a bunch of related commands under asw_horde that tweak the director, so have fun.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 21, 2010, 03:47:35 am
Online is much better, though you need at least two people to play and you need four people to play to have four characters in-game, there are no online NPCs.

The only thing at which the players truly excel and the AI doesn't is probably shieldbugs.

I can't confirm that of course since I GOT BOOTED FROM THE ONLY GAME I COULD CONNECT TO BY MY FELLOW HLPERS.

EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: Actually, I can confirm that. And players can have serious problems with squad cohesion the AI doesn't.

On the other hand, players also have cooler toys then the AI ever will. :P
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 21, 2010, 01:59:27 pm
Oh, the parasites. Far too deadly. Infestation is the only thing in this game that actively annoys me. Well, sometimes it annoys me.

Once you reach a certain level, you get electric armor.  It has three charges that last for aprox. 10 seconds (I think), and completely prevents infection.  Not very useful, except on the last level.

--

Online is much better, though you need at least two people to play and you need four people to play to have four characters in-game, there are no online NPCs.

The only thing at which the players truly excel and the AI doesn't is probably shieldbugs.

I can't confirm that of course since I GOT BOOTED FROM THE ONLY GAME I COULD CONNECT TO BY [one of] MY FELLOW HLPERS.

Fixed.  :P
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 21, 2010, 02:02:48 pm
Once you reach a certain level, you get electric armor.  It has three charges that last for aprox. 10 seconds (I think), and completely prevents infection.  Not very useful, except on the last level.

That'd be a godsend doing Residential on insane.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Titan on July 21, 2010, 02:03:13 pm
I was gotta get it, and then it said I needed steam.

I don't want steam.

I just don't.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: General Battuta on July 21, 2010, 02:30:08 pm
I was gotta get it, and then it said I needed steam.

I don't want steam.

I just don't.

Dude, it's free. You have nothing to lose.

Plus, Steam is the #1 way to get PC games for ridiculously low prices.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Ravenholme on July 21, 2010, 03:59:44 pm
I was gotta get it, and then it said I needed steam.

I don't want steam.

I just don't.

Dude, it's free. You have nothing to lose.

Plus, Steam is the #1 way to get PC games for ridiculously low prices.

And I'm beginning to wonder just how much of the steam stigma is hyperbole and bull****, I have nothing but good things to say for steam, including that their technical support is awesome and I will punch anyone who suggests otherwise (They were amazingly prompt in helping me get my account back when it was hacked christmas night, around 2 years ago now. I was playing my games off of it by the 28th). The only downer is that maintenance can occur at the most annoying times, but that really is my only niggle.

Anyways, Alien Swarm is bloody awesome, great with a good 4 man team, and I'm having a blast playing it 2 player with this girl I know - in fact, methinks we're going to try and finish it up tonight
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: headdie on July 21, 2010, 04:12:12 pm
I'v had a few problems with updates going smoothly, which when they launch a 2.5 gig update to CSS (I have a 5gig monthly limit before receiving massive data charges) and the update don't take properly it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.  and that's without mentioning my issues with it from its first launch.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Ravenholme on July 21, 2010, 04:28:32 pm
I'v had a few problems with updates going smoothly, which when they launch a 2.5 gig update to CSS (I have a 5gig monthly limit before receiving massive data charges) and the update don't take properly it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.  and that's without mentioning my issues with it from its first launch.

Weird, I have been with it from it's launch, bought HL2 the day it released, and I have had no issues, save for the maintenance updates and user error on more than one occasion.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: SpardaSon21 on July 21, 2010, 04:52:17 pm
Ooh, Alien Swarm needs two things.  One, a FS Hallfight-style mod, and two, a 40k mod since we don't have enough Space Marines killteams in video games.  A Captain, Apothecary, Techmarine, and Devastator would fill out the slots nicely.  Don't mention the Imperial Guard, since sending them in is an all-you-can-eat-buffet for the aliens, even if they're Stormtroopers. Or, there could be a SST mod based off Terran Ascendancy, which is an RTT game inspired by both book and movie.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 21, 2010, 04:58:53 pm
It hasn't been said yet, so I feel the need to add that this game runs like a freaking dream, and looks good to boot.

Normal Steam BS connection problems aside, of course.

-----------

Side-note:  The flashlight item should be available much earlier than it is.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Ravenholme on July 21, 2010, 04:59:39 pm
Ooh, Alien Swarm needs two things.  One, a FS Hallfight-style mod, and two, a 40k mod since we don't have enough Space Marines killteams in video games.  A Captain, Apothecary, Techmarine, and Devastator would fill out the slots nicely.  Don't mention the Imperial Guard, since sending them in is an all-you-can-eat-buffet for the aliens, even if they're Stormtroopers. Or, there could be a SST mod based off Terran Ascendancy, which is an RTT game inspired by both book and movie.

Completely agree with you on all counts, but an Imperial Guard mod with stormtroopers would have a nice-r against the odds feel. Plus, they get a lot more interesting equipment than Termies.

Oh, it goes without saying though that the 40K mod would have to be Space Hulk (With Terminators)
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: General Battuta on July 21, 2010, 05:01:04 pm
Ooh, Alien Swarm needs two things.  One, a FS Hallfight-style mod, and two, a 40k mod since we don't have enough Space Marines killteams in video games. 

A Space Hulk mod would be awesome.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 21, 2010, 05:02:44 pm
Don't mention the Imperial Guard, since sending them in is an all-you-can-eat-buffet for the aliens, even if they're Stormtroopers.

Hate to break it to you, but Space Hulk at one point actually included IG rules. (And Alien Swarm is nothing if not the love child of Space Hulk and Aliens.) If you'd mastered the termie game, you could curbstomp most people with IG packing heavy bolters. Just get good long firelanes and it's pure murder with no possiblity of jamming to screw you up.


My main problem with the game is that something is seriously wrong with the public matchup system. The only games I've ever successfully connected to were ones I grabbed off my friends/communities list.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Polpolion on July 21, 2010, 05:31:47 pm
Jaeger + Vindicator + Laser tripmines + grenade launcher = everything everywhere is dead

Also, the only thing difficult about residential on Insane is the fact that no one plans out their route and sticks together. Either people get too far apart and die on their own, or they stick together and decide to just sit around in one spot trying to figure out where to go.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 21, 2010, 08:29:37 pm
Jaeger + Vindicator + Laser tripmines + grenade launcher = everything everywhere is dead

Also, the only thing difficult about residential on Insane is the fact that no one plans out their route and sticks together. Either people get too far apart and die on their own, or they stick together and decide to just sit around in one spot trying to figure out where to go.

I'm personally fond of the Tesla rifle, mainly because if I don't swap out for the medigun correctly it doesn't matter. (I've mucked about with the PDWs too but ammo runs dry too quickly.)

I've yet to play a Residential on any level where somebody didn't manage to pick up a parasite in the ducts. Usually it goes in a semi-counter-clockwise manner.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Ravenholme on July 21, 2010, 08:31:32 pm
Jaeger + Vindicator + Laser tripmines + grenade launcher = everything everywhere is dead

Also, the only thing difficult about residential on Insane is the fact that no one plans out their route and sticks together. Either people get too far apart and die on their own, or they stick together and decide to just sit around in one spot trying to figure out where to go.

I'm personally fond of the Tesla rifle, mainly because if I don't swap out for the medigun correctly it doesn't matter. (I've mucked about with the PDWs too but ammo runs dry too quickly.)

I've yet to play a Residential on any level where somebody didn't manage to pick up a parasite in the ducts. Usually it goes in a semi-counter-clockwise manner.

I've done that, 2 player too, on Normal. It was bad arse, we aced that mission. Only downer was swapping out my flamethrower for fire extinguishers and back again whenever we had to clear a route (2 Players means 1 has to be a medic, 1 has to be a tech, and the tech needs to carry Ammo. I was the tech)
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: pecenipicek on July 21, 2010, 08:37:50 pm
you can extinguish fires with the flamethrower. just press the middle mouse button (aka the scroll wheel), thats how you do alternative fire on many things
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on July 21, 2010, 09:41:38 pm
So one complaint I had about the game was that there was nothing like L4D's tank. Turns out I was wrong (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_XohhTkbMs). Oh, man. Modders, work faster. FASTAR!
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Ravenholme on July 21, 2010, 10:34:33 pm
There were a lot of bugs that weren't used.

Here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2hfqt7ui4s)

Also, I want that music - Path of Borealis remixes ftw.

Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Lucika on July 22, 2010, 10:48:06 am
We've held a session for our LP yesterday night, trying to clinch the Insane difficulty. If we didn't try M2 at least thirty times, then none at all. :D

My recommendation is the Spec Ops (Wolfe) autogun + marksman rifle + freeze grenades.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Polpolion on July 22, 2010, 12:11:39 pm
The thing I don't like about anything that freezes is that someone always seems to be carrying the flamethrower, and that always negates the freeze.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 22, 2010, 03:21:22 pm
Notes on Dev Console Commands

First Person Perspective:
-You shoot just underneath the center of the screen.
-It is impossible to hack without reverting to the original controls.
-Looking up == Major slowdown.
-It turns out that sniper rifles do have a maximum range.
-Freaking Cool.

Director Mode:
-Do not attempt on hard+ difficulty in singleplayer mode.
-Seriously.
-I'm not joking.
-I mean, if Landing Bay was like that, imagine Timbor Station!

Fast Load Under Character:
-Kind of small.
-Might be better than looking away.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Hades on July 23, 2010, 07:52:58 pm
So a day ago I beat the campaign with 3 other people on normal or hard as the heavy weapons guy with a full loadout of stock turrets plus the tesla coil. Twas fun :D.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 23, 2010, 08:57:56 pm
So a day ago I beat the campaign with 3 other people on normal or hard as the heavy weapons guy with a full loadout of stock turrets plus the tesla coil. Twas fun :D.

Hey, tell them about the time we tried insane on the bridge and we all loldie'd, two of us to friendly fire. That was awesome. :P
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Polpolion on July 23, 2010, 09:03:26 pm
I beat the campaign on insane, so I decided to play on easy just for the lulz. I took medic with a medigun, healing beacons, and adrenaline. No one ever died.

I also had the most kills each mission.

EDIT: Speaking of which, we should all try and go for a melee only playthrough.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Hades on July 23, 2010, 09:12:32 pm
Yeah, that and/or an insane play through. I'll bring my turrets
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Ravenholme on July 23, 2010, 09:27:45 pm
you can extinguish fires with the flamethrower. just press the middle mouse button (aka the scroll wheel), thats how you do alternative fire on many things

Yeah, I knew how to Alt fire, I just assumed the flamethrower wouldn't have any, until I actually unlocked it and read it's description. Cue facepalm.

Edit:

Oh, Hades full loadout of turrets was with some friends of mine and myself, it was bloody hilarious. When he says 'beat it', he and our medic died in the last three levels before the end of them :P (Leaving myself as the Tech and our officer to carry on)
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Hades on July 23, 2010, 09:44:14 pm
I've yet to play a Residential on any level where somebody didn't manage to pick up a parasite in the ducts. Usually it goes in a semi-counter-clockwise manner.
Yesterday on normal or hard on that level, my two team members died about 1/3 of the way and I beat it on my own without getting infected in the vents :D
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 23, 2010, 10:18:36 pm
New update, and I feel the need to point one of the fixes out:

Quote
Updates to Alien Swarm have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

The Vindicator’s grenade explosion effect should no longer crash users running a GTX260 graphics card.
Fixed a bug where marines would continue to be buffed by the Damage Amp if they were standing in it when it expired.
Fixed ammo usage on the Tesla Cannon to properly decrease 4 times a second instead of 2 (doubled clip size to account for this).
Rebalanced Tesla Cannon’s damage to encourage it to be used more as a support weapon.
Tesla Cannon will now use ammo slowly even when it isn’t damaging something.
Fixed Unicode text chat

How in the Hell did they miss that one?
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Polpolion on July 23, 2010, 10:29:18 pm
Quote
Rebalanced Tesla Cannon’s damage to encourage it to be used more as a support weapon.

Whew, good thing I already finished my insane playthrough.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 24, 2010, 01:44:29 pm
I just got out of a game where the Medic leeroy'd every time we started a level.

Delma Bridge's patented Anti-Leeroy Jenkins bushwhacking ate him alive. Without the medic, the rest of us were soon gribbly bits. Goddammit man, you're L20, act like it!
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Mongoose on July 24, 2010, 01:59:52 pm
I'd attempt trying this out with a few of you guys if it didn't mean having to do the work to get it.  We still have to organize some TF2 rounds, though. :p
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 24, 2010, 03:57:29 pm
Playing the game with only one player (not bots) is quite challenging: on easy.  I can't get past the hacking section on the bridge. :/

Oh, and shieldbugs are really easy to take down if you stun them (either through electricity or freezing), and then take the chainsaw to their backs.  It's practically a one-hit kill on a no-lag game.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 24, 2010, 04:01:16 pm
I'd attempt trying this out with a few of you guys if it didn't mean having to do the work to get it.  We still have to organize some TF2 rounds, though. :p

What work?
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on July 24, 2010, 04:15:14 pm
Pressing the install button is hard.

Anyway, when are you studs usually playing?
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Mongoose on July 24, 2010, 05:03:47 pm
Pressing the install button is hard.
Srsly.  My clicking finger cramps so easily.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 24, 2010, 05:06:36 pm
Pressing the install button is hard.

Anyway, when are you studs usually playing?

We just got done, actually. On weekdays it's usually about now if we want to get done before dinnertime. Or break for dinner.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 24, 2010, 06:16:33 pm
The twin pistols are several times more effective then the twin PDWs for some reason.

I mean seriously, 45-50 kills a mission, three-five rounds to kill with the pistols. 7 kills a mission, 20 rounds to kill with the PDWs. That's...not right.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 24, 2010, 06:24:23 pm
PDWs are less ammo-efficient than the twin pistols, but the twin pistols can't take down 20+ aliens in under three seconds.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 24, 2010, 06:39:07 pm
PDWs are less ammo-efficient than the twin pistols, but the twin pistols can't take down 20+ aliens in under three seconds.

I'm fairly sure the PDWs can't either. They take more rounds to kill a single target. I was just testing that on Easy. Pistols are amazing crowd-clearers; I did most of Residental alone with them after everyone else loldied in the ducts.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: qazwsx on July 24, 2010, 06:44:19 pm
aye, I've noticed that the PDWs will leave you short of ammo extremely quickly, and for a game in which no-one wants to take an ammo crate, that's a pretty useless weapon,
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 24, 2010, 08:06:03 pm
I'll do another test later, but I distinctly recall being able to clear a zerg rush, by myself, with one PDW clip.

aye, I've noticed that the PDWs will leave you short of ammo extremely quickly, and for a game in which no-one wants to take an ammo crate, that's a pretty useless weapon,

You definitely don't want to take them as your only weapon, especially on the longer missions.

-----------

Funny Story:

It was the bridge level, and we'd made it all the way to the end.  The ship descended, and we were crossing.  Then one of my "allies" sidestepped off it it.

Apparently you can fall to your death, on that level.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 24, 2010, 08:33:20 pm
Funny Story:

It was the bridge level, and we'd made it all the way to the end.  The ship descended, and we were crossing.  Then one of my "allies" sidestepped off it it.

Apparently you can fall to your death, on that level.

I had to jump off the cliff because I was bugged and the level wouldn't end once. Fortunately, it was the only level with a cliff to jump off of.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Polpolion on July 24, 2010, 10:08:59 pm
Pressing the install button is hard.

Anyway, when are you studs usually playing?

We just got done, actually. On weekdays it's usually about now if we want to get done before dinnertime. Or break for dinner.

Dang. If Polpolion is ever online when you have a game, invite him.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on July 24, 2010, 10:31:47 pm
Fortunately, it was the only level with a cliff to jump off of.
Actually, it's not. That level where you have shoot a barrel to make a bridge? You can fall off the bridge.

Also, am I reading you correctly? All your buddies loldied on easy?
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 24, 2010, 11:17:05 pm
Also, am I reading you correctly? All your buddies loldied on easy?

Seperate anecdotes should have been seperate. The Pistols bit was on Normal and I'd run out of healing gun juice when everyone else picked up a parasite at once.

The Easy testing was me beating up the offline practice set for the express purpose of testing relative lethality.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Mongoose on July 25, 2010, 02:45:27 am
Okay, so I did go through the "work" of downloading this and trying it out, and my experience with an offline run-through of a single mission was...interesting.  It's probably because I've been playing Shadowgrounds over the past week, but there were a few disparate features between the two that were giving me trouble.  For one, the realistic reloading was absolutely killing me, as every shooter I've ever played requires you to mash down the R button continuously. :p I was really missing some sort of flashlight function beyond the disposable flares; from a plausibility standpoint, it doesn't make much sense that something like that wouldn't be in there.  The squad control setup was just complex enough that I was bothered by the lack of an in-depth tutorial (I had the same complaint about TF2 until Valve finally implemented one in a recent update), and I sort of fumbled my way through the mission.  I was also unclear about whether there was supposed to be some sort of overriding backstory to the game, which would be a plus.  It was reasonably fun, though, and I'd probably be interested in at least giving multiplayer a shot.

Also, I was surprised to exit back to the desktop and find a "Virtual memory too low" warning in my taskbar, especially considering that I have 4 GB of physical RAM between my motherboard and video card.  Maybe this anemic power supply is causing issues after all. :p
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 25, 2010, 09:18:32 am
You unlock the flashlight way down the line.

And good luck finding a game where you can take the time to read those messages.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 25, 2010, 01:03:27 pm
There is a backstory for the campaign, and you can read it if you have a slow or considerate host (or you play single-player via the dev console to switch levels). The character backstories and commentary in in-game logs hint at an overarching backstory (and there's more of that than there is for L4D), the broad strokes of which I present here:

The Swarm are probably just short of sentient, and they are fairly old foes for humanity by the time the game starts. An intial Swarm onslaught destroyed a lot of human colonies, mainly because inadequate precautions were taken to contain them. They do not appear to have independent spaceflight. The current policy is one of the containment. Certain corporations continue to try and pull a Weyland-Yutani like in the Aliens-verse, and to combat that the IAF has regulators and inspectors with very broad powers.

Unfortunately, the regulators don't always catch things in time. You're here to clean up after someone's mistakes.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Ghostavo on July 25, 2010, 01:53:21 pm
Just managed to finish the last part of Timor Station on hard, solo after all of my team died from infection.  ;)

Speaking of Timor Station, anyone else feels horrified by doors? I died once because a flying bug pushed me into a falling door.

Regarding pistols vs PDWs, while the pistols have double the damage per shot, the PDW has almost x4 the ammo per clip. So I don't see why PDWs are somehow bad. As long as you don't press continuous fire you'll be ok.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 25, 2010, 02:00:57 pm
I dunno man, I was dominating the game on Cargo Elevator with pistols. :P 67 kills vs. 30-something each for the two guns with miniguns.

Maybe I'm just really awesome with pistols. I dunno. You definitely expend your ammo too quickly to finish a later mission without reloads packing PDWs.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on July 25, 2010, 04:12:57 pm
What difficulty were you playing on?
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 25, 2010, 05:35:15 pm
What difficulty were you playing on?

Normal. I'm fairly sure a lot of it had to do with my being a smarter player; none of them brought a sentry for the elevator and I only had tripmines to deploy since I had just promoted and I'm the medic. The two big zerg rushes of the level, just as you pass through the opening and in the labs were split between me and the tech with pistols. They really do work well as crowd-clearers.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 25, 2010, 05:45:24 pm
Personally, I'm amazed at how poorly some of the random people play the game.  Like a technician taking along a sentry turret on Landing Bay.  Or running up the middle of the bridge level.  Or not taking flamethrowers on the residential level.  :/

Or trying Timbor Station without a medic.  :wtf:

----

DISCOVERY:

On the first un/weldable door at the bridge level, if you stand all the way in the alley, enemies will fail to notice your existence.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Mongoose on July 25, 2010, 06:35:12 pm
Personally, I'm amazed at how poorly some of the random people play the game.  Like a technician taking along a sentry turret on Landing Bay.  Or running up the middle of the bridge level.  Or not taking flamethrowers on the residential level.  :/

Or trying Timbor Station without a medic.  :wtf:
Maybe they're like me and don't know what the hell they're doing yet because there's no comprehensive tutorial. :p
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Ghostavo on July 25, 2010, 07:09:45 pm
What's wrong with taking a sentry turret on Landing Bay? On Hard and especially Insane you really need some sort of fortification if you wish to survive the last portion. Besides, the game actually encourages you to use a sentry turret at that point.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on July 25, 2010, 07:10:22 pm
They really do work well as crowd-clearers.
Admittedly, I've not tried with them, but I'd be shocked if they maintain their utility on hard and insane. I love the prototype rifle on normal; on hard it's significantly less useful; on impossible I never bother with it.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 25, 2010, 07:45:41 pm
Admittedly, I've not tried with them, but I'd be shocked if they maintain their utility on hard and insane. I love the prototype rifle on normal; on hard it's significantly less useful; on impossible I never bother with it.

I carried them for the only two hard missions I've tried so far. They did okay, but not as good as they were. They're probably useless on insane, but then a lot of the stuff is.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 25, 2010, 11:27:02 pm
What's wrong with taking a sentry turret on Landing Bay? On Hard and especially Insane you really need some sort of fortification if you wish to survive the last portion. Besides, the game actually encourages you to use a sentry turret at that point.

There's a sentry turret in the last welded room, so you're wasting inventory space.  And doing Landing Bay without welding behind you is silly.  It's like shooting yourself in the foot before running a marathon.

And with a good team, you don't even need the turret on hard difficulty. :/

--

The PDWs are still effective crowd clearers on hard.  I haven't tried them on insane.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Polpolion on July 25, 2010, 11:28:46 pm
What's wrong with taking a sentry turret on Landing Bay? On Hard and especially Insane you really need some sort of fortification if you wish to survive the last portion. Besides, the game actually encourages you to use a sentry turret at that point.

There's a sentry turret in the last welded room, so you're wasting inventory space.  And doing Landing Bay without welding behind you is silly.  It's like shooting yourself in the foot before running a marathon.

And with a good team, you don't even need the turret on hard difficulty. :/


I knew about the sentry and the welding, but wtf is this "good team"? Where do you find it?
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Scourge of Ages on July 26, 2010, 12:00:45 am
Well, I just played a SP game last night to learn the ropes. What do you suggest for a total noob who barely knows how to reload and switch weapons?
EDIT: P.S. On Steam, my name is Typhoid. Like the fever.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on July 26, 2010, 12:10:36 am
I knew about the sentry and the welding, but wtf is this "good team"? Where do you find it?

Easy, you round up the group with which you play l4d on a nightly basis and go play swarm instead.

Quote
And with a good team, you don't even need the turret on hard difficulty. :/

How...how many ammo crates do you carry?
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Ghostavo on July 26, 2010, 02:49:37 am
What's wrong with taking a sentry turret on Landing Bay? On Hard and especially Insane you really need some sort of fortification if you wish to survive the last portion. Besides, the game actually encourages you to use a sentry turret at that point.

There's a sentry turret in the last welded room, so you're wasting inventory space.  And doing Landing Bay without welding behind you is silly.  It's like shooting yourself in the foot before running a marathon.

And with a good team, you don't even need the turret on hard difficulty. :/

Welding in Landing Bay is unnecessary. You are wasting the only secondary equipment slot you have. And if you don't want to waste that slot and and still get that turret, you'll need to make 3 trips instead of one through the in between rooms to get a welder and keep what secondary equipment you wanted. Then you'll have to make again 3 trips instead of one between the room where you wanted the turret from and the final part of the level. All those trips are very very annoying, especially on Insane where you don't want to be anywhere near an alien. Instead of wasting all that time, it's better to bring your own sentry and be done with it. It's not like the anyone but the Medic and some guy bringing ammo have anything better to bring along.

To me good play is about minimizing mistakes, if that involves bringing a damn turret along (and if my experiences in Insane tell me anything, make that two turrets) so be it.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: TrashMan on July 26, 2010, 07:38:00 am
we should totally play together as a group. Us HLP-ers.

There's a severe lack of teamwork.
The last map is difficult without a good team. Twice I had all organization fall apart when the bomb is activated. The idiots ran around, taking the long way, not sticking together and running headlong into parasites. Naturally, I was the only one to reach the shuttle.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 26, 2010, 10:17:47 am
Quote
And with a good team, you don't even need the turret on hard difficulty. :/
How...how many ammo crates do you carry?

On Landing Bay?  None.  So long as you don't take the pump-action shotgun or tesla cannon, you should be able to hold them off at the choke point.

--
What's wrong with taking a sentry turret on Landing Bay? On Hard and especially Insane you really need some sort of fortification if you wish to survive the last portion. Besides, the game actually encourages you to use a sentry turret at that point.

There's a sentry turret in the last welded room, so you're wasting inventory space.  And doing Landing Bay without welding behind you is silly.  It's like shooting yourself in the foot before running a marathon.

And with a good team, you don't even need the turret on hard difficulty. :/

Welding in Landing Bay is unnecessary. You are wasting the only secondary equipment slot you have. And if you don't want to waste that slot and and still get that turret, you'll need to make 3 trips instead of one through the in between rooms to get a welder and keep what secondary equipment you wanted. Then you'll have to make again 3 trips instead of one between the room where you wanted the turret from and the final part of the level. All those trips are very very annoying, especially on Insane where you don't want to be anywhere near an alien. Instead of wasting all that time, it's better to bring your own sentry and be done with it. It's not like the anyone but the Medic and some guy bringing ammo have anything better to bring along.

To me good play is about minimizing mistakes, if that involves bringing a damn turret along (and if my experiences in Insane tell me anything, make that two turrets) so be it.

Running back and forth between areas is suicidal (though not necessarily fatal), on any difficulty.  The best strategy is to move quickly, and seal off the passages behind you.  In areas where that isn't possible, it's still best to move quickly and get out of the spawn-trigger areas (which is why going up the middle of the bridge level is silly, you hit all of the triggers).

The welder is unnecessary on Landing Bay (it's a 'must have' on Cargo Bay and the bridge level, though), but it makes the zerg rushes a lot easier to deal with.

--
DISCOVERY:
The Technician adds his engineering bonus on to welding tasks done by other players.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 26, 2010, 12:58:30 pm
Well, I just played a SP game last night to learn the ropes. What do you suggest for a total noob who barely knows how to reload and switch weapons?
EDIT: P.S. On Steam, my name is Typhoid. Like the fever.

If you're part of the HLP steam group you can probably just drop in to a game one of us is part of.

The key points are to stay with your squadmates and be prepared to run like frak when they do. Shooting accuracy better than 50% is optional but welcome. :P
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on July 26, 2010, 01:25:28 pm
Also try to avoid murdering your squad.

Although that time when I killed two of my buddies with my vindicator, we still managed to complete the map on hard. Yay.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Scourge of Ages on July 26, 2010, 02:30:15 pm
Also try to avoid murdering your squad.
Lol, I played a few games with a pick-up group, and on the level where everyone has access to the flamer (residential?) the high-level leader told us all to take it. And I accidentally friendly-fire'd him to death. Then we all died.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on July 26, 2010, 04:08:02 pm
I presume you have since learned that the alt-fire on the flamethrower is an extinguisher?
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Scourge of Ages on July 26, 2010, 06:18:53 pm
I presume you have since learned that the alt-fire on the flamethrower is an extinguisher?
Well, I knew that at the time, I just didn't do it enough. For some reason I expected to be like the pyro's airblast, with a one-puff-extinguishment.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Droid803 on July 26, 2010, 08:04:57 pm
Can't you...roll to stop yourself from burning?
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Hades on July 26, 2010, 08:33:13 pm
No, that actually does not work, but you can use the extinguisher on yourself, though it is kinda difficult (I've done it myself).
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 26, 2010, 08:35:42 pm
God, I miss having a competent team. I'm trying to get that Outstanding Execution by playing on Normal, but the quality of players there is bad. Really bad.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Hades on July 26, 2010, 09:08:32 pm
I'll play with you! :D
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on July 26, 2010, 10:04:32 pm
I tried joining you (at least, I'm assuming you're Night, Mr. Mayor), but you had noes slots.

Oh, sure, I could have tried messaging you, but who does that?
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 27, 2010, 12:11:13 am
I tried joining you (at least, I'm assuming you're Night, Mr. Mayor), but you had noes slots.

I'm usually in pickup games anyways. I can start hosting HLP games if somebody wants. Or somebody else with a nicer computer can. :P
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on July 27, 2010, 12:28:35 am
Not it. It's not so much my computer as my roomates' propensity to start downloading horse porn without warning.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Mongoose on July 27, 2010, 01:43:43 am
If someone does start hosting HLP-only games, I'll totally jump in and be a lead weight around the necks of the team. :p
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 27, 2010, 02:12:58 am
If someone does start hosting HLP-only games, I'll totally jump in and be a lead weight around the necks of the team. :p

Can't be any worse than the effectively two-person run I just did of Timor Station. :P And we survived!
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: TrashMan on July 27, 2010, 03:20:55 am
HLP steam group eh?

Sounds goo. B.t.w. - my steam name is Phoenix (with an appropriate avatar). See you guys in-game ;)
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: qazwsx on July 27, 2010, 04:34:01 am
I should be OK to host tonight (GMT) steam name is qazwsxal
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 28, 2010, 11:02:25 pm
Just did Residential on Insane.

....

Yeah.  Hell wishes it could be that bad.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: SpardaSon21 on July 29, 2010, 11:17:14 am
I would be busy playing this game if I hadn't just bought Starcraft 2.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 29, 2010, 10:52:22 pm
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Just beat Timor Station on insane, on the first try.  :D

-----------EDIT

This jerk of a tech on the bridge level decided (despite the fact that I had a sentry and the welder) to run right into the building (while he was being chased by a horde that he foolishly attracted by running up the middle of the map) and start the hack immediately.  :ick:

I set him on fire while he wasn't looking, and the medic never noticed.  :D
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on July 31, 2010, 02:59:14 am
I was wrong; the pistols are decent on insane. Though they go through ammo far too quickly.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 31, 2010, 03:17:01 am
Fun discovery: if you set a Tesla trap such that it's directly behind the first shield bug on Delma bridge when it's done with the scripted smashing through the barricade bit, the shield bug will fall through the floor.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on July 31, 2010, 04:25:43 am
Fun discovery: if you set a Tesla trap such that it's directly behind the first shield bug on Delma bridge when it's done with the scripted smashing through the barricade bit, the shield bug will fall through the floor.

I cracked up when I saw that.  :lol:

----------

I saw a guy get knocked over the railing on the reactor level, once.  He survived, and was cursed to remain in that spot for all eternity.  Shame was that he was our only tech.  :P
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on August 01, 2010, 05:01:07 pm
Is the pump shotgun good for anything? Every time I see somebody carrying it I cringe because it doesn't seem to be effective at all.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on August 01, 2010, 05:20:10 pm
Suicide by bug.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on August 01, 2010, 05:36:22 pm
Is the pump shotgun good for anything? Every time I see somebody carrying it I cringe because it doesn't seem to be effective at all.

Pump shotgun can take out 3+/-2 of the swarm in one shot, depending on the range.

It's certainly not the best weapon, and I only used it for the achievement, but it does have a use on the shorter levels (or levels where you plan to swap weapons).
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: qazwsx on August 01, 2010, 06:27:15 pm
turns out, I friendly fire like a mother*****
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on August 01, 2010, 09:38:09 pm
Alright children, what have we learned about incendiary mines?
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on August 01, 2010, 11:08:17 pm
Alright children, what have we learned about incendiary mines?

That your teammates don't know well enough to stay the [EFF] away from walls of fire?  :P
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Scourge of Ages on August 02, 2010, 01:16:21 am
That was fun, beat the whole campaign on Hard yesterday with my brother and various pick-ups.

It was hilarious. On the freight elevator level, this noob sets up a turret right in front of the button to set the lift moving. My brother the tech can't get it to go, so he picks up the turret so that he can hit the button. This noob then proceeds to FF him, me, and the other guy (who leaves).
We try to kick him, but can't get the final vote because the new fourth player doesn't know what's going on. My bro and the noob exchange words, but he won't leave, so I say, "Whatever, just don't kill us this time," and I start the mission. Guess what happens?
Right away, he kills me and my brother, the fourth guy whacks him, but is now alone at the beginning of a mission on hard. He doesn't last long, but fortunately the noob leaves.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: TrashMan on August 02, 2010, 01:27:15 am
Apparently, if you only have free games on your steam account, you can't add firends..... :mad:
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on August 02, 2010, 02:40:31 am
I have no sympathy for a man who doesn't own a single Valve game.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on August 02, 2010, 03:26:18 am
Alright children, what have we learned about incendiary mines?

That my game breaks when you use them?
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on August 02, 2010, 06:36:41 am
No points for partial answers, Mr. Mayor; your game breaks when we use them, so we should use them all the time.

Also, don't walk through fire.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on August 03, 2010, 03:57:35 am
No points for partial answers, Mr. Mayor; your game breaks when we use them, so we should use them all the time.

No, actually it's just you. Lots of other people use them and things go just fine.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on August 03, 2010, 04:52:41 am
I wasn't the one who used them.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on August 03, 2010, 04:57:10 am
I wasn't the one who used them.

Well, I'm arbtrarily blaming you anyways. Or something.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on August 03, 2010, 10:10:58 am
I think you guys are forgetting the key point, here.

Alright children, what have we learned about incendiary mines?

That your teammates don't know well enough to stay the [EFF] away from walls of fire?  :P
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: TrashMan on August 04, 2010, 01:40:17 am
I have no sympathy for a man who doesn't own a single Valve game.

Yees...I am EVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIL.

Seriously. What's the point of not allowing adding friends?
 I can still play with those people, only it's far more of a chore to track them down and organize a game.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on August 04, 2010, 01:47:43 am
Some random person on the internet claims it's a barrier to entry for spammers. And come to think of it, I've never had a problem with spam on Steam.

But still: you don't own any Valve games? What the hell is wrong with you?
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: TrashMan on August 04, 2010, 01:56:46 am
Dunno. Could be that I'm SANE.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: qazwsx on August 04, 2010, 03:43:05 pm
I could accept freind requests after I got the nvidia package...
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on August 04, 2010, 05:12:02 pm
Dunno. Could be that I'm SANE.

I think the rest of reality would dispute that. Particularly since Portal was free for awhile.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Klaustrophobia on August 04, 2010, 05:13:57 pm
I agree with Trashman.  I personally haven't found any valve game worthy of purchase.  I did enjoy the first playthrough of Portal that I got for free though.  Not much replay in it though.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Ghostavo on August 04, 2010, 07:14:50 pm
Dunno. Could be that I'm SANE.

I think the rest of reality would dispute that. Particularly since Portal was free for awhile.

Free games don't count since that was the point of the discussion. You have to have paid for something in order to add friends to your steam account.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on August 04, 2010, 08:17:38 pm
Free games don't count since that was the point of the discussion. You have to have paid for something in order to add friends to your steam account.

I suppose he'll crap all over his beloved SotS too? That's available off Steam. Along with a crapload of other stuff that wasn't made by Valve. I haven't used it to purchase a single Valve product myself.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Lucika on August 04, 2010, 08:38:16 pm
Goowoo. I have reached the third promotion, lvl 27. Still waiting to finish on Insane with my dedicated team for the LP. Until then, achevement whoring, chainsaw soloing (nerf the chainsaw!) and killing fellow marines for the lulz.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on August 04, 2010, 10:01:11 pm
I haven't used it to purchase a single Valve product myself.
You wouldn't need to, of course. Buy the game in retail, install it, voila, it's on steam, you can add friends. It wouldn't even need to be a Valve game; Dawn of War II, Supreme Commander 2, whatever.

Of course that'll be more expensive than buying it off steam, but, you know.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: StarSlayer on August 04, 2010, 10:23:18 pm
I haven't used it to purchase a single Valve product myself.
You wouldn't need to, of course. Buy the game in retail, install it, voila, it's on steam, you can add friends. It wouldn't even need to be a Valve game; Dawn of War II, Supreme Commander 2, whatever.

Of course that'll be more expensive than buying it off steam, but, you know.

Yeah but you can't lick the packaging and go "mmmmmMMMM  Tastes Gooooood" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F80XIv-ieYs&feature=related) if you download it.


Not that I've done it but I'd like to think in the right circumstance I could be that kinda jackass
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on August 04, 2010, 11:49:53 pm
I take back everything bad I ever said about the PDW.

Well, nearly. It still eats ammo too fast.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: qazwsx on August 05, 2010, 04:56:46 am
Aye, 26.somthing rounds per second
:jaw:
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Mongoose on August 08, 2010, 12:24:25 am
Free games don't count since that was the point of the discussion. You have to have paid for something in order to add friends to your steam account.
Portal would have counted, though, since it's a retail game, and the free promotion was only for a limited time.

And I concur with the consensus: if there's nothing on Steam that interests you, you have no place calling yourself a gamer. :p
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: headdie on August 08, 2010, 07:48:44 am
Free games don't count since that was the point of the discussion. You have to have paid for something in order to add friends to your steam account.
Portal would have counted, though, since it's a retail game, and the free promotion was only for a limited time.

And I concur with the consensus: if there's nothing on Steam that interests you, you have no place calling yourself a gamer. :p

but that dont mean its the best way to get those games ;)
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: sigtau on August 08, 2010, 12:45:46 pm
Portal didn't count.  My brother got a steam account with free Portal as well as HL2: Deathmatch and HL2: Lost Coast.  He still can't add friends to his friends list or join Steam groups, he has to pay for something first.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on August 08, 2010, 01:31:30 pm
but that dont mean its the best way to get those games ;)

Yes, because you're so likely to get it for discount anywhere else. Like the whole Summer Stay Indoors sale that discounted practically everything on Steam.

...oh wait.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: BloodEagle on August 15, 2010, 12:01:05 am
Finally just decided to force (redid Cargo Bay over and over on singleplayer) the Tesla Cannon Achievement.  Ridiculous, expecting anyone to get it otherwise.

Oh, and:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/GenoStar/kingmelevelone.png)

Solo perfected Landing Bay on hard difficulty using the flamethrower and tesla cannon.  :D
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on August 15, 2010, 12:04:24 am
Finally just decided to force (redid Cargo Bay over and over on singleplayer) the Tesla Cannon Achievement.  Ridiculous, expecting anyone to get it otherwise.

I had it long before that. :P I think I did it before the other weapon achievements.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Lucika on August 15, 2010, 05:26:43 am
Finally just decided to force (redid Cargo Bay over and over on singleplayer) the Tesla Cannon Achievement.  Ridiculous, expecting anyone to get it otherwise.

I had it long before that. :P I think I did it before the other weapon achievements.

Back before it was nerfed? :P
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on August 16, 2010, 02:59:39 am
Back before it was nerfed? :P

I don't think the Tesla cannon was nerfed, just the trap.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Lucika on August 16, 2010, 04:44:53 am
Back before it was nerfed? :P

I don't think the Tesla cannon was nerfed, just the trap.

Quote from: Alien Swarm News
The major changes include:
Fixed ammo usage on the Tesla Cannon to properly decrease 4 times a second instead of 2 (doubled clip size to account for this).
Rebalanced Tesla Cannon’s damage to encourage it to be used more as a support weapon.
Tesla Cannon will now use ammo slowly even when it isn’t damaging something.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: NGTM-1R on August 21, 2010, 05:51:34 pm
I nearly one-manned the cargo elevator on Hard with the PDWs. Right as it parked, though, I ran out of ammo.

And there's one more wave while the side bridge drops.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: mxlm on August 25, 2010, 01:49:44 am
Onslaught is fun. Liberally peppers the levels with parasites and shield bugs, at least on hard, and then throws in enormohordes every so often for good measure.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: TrashMan on August 25, 2010, 05:29:13 am
Dunno. Could be that I'm SANE.

I think the rest of reality would dispute that. Particularly since Portal was free for awhile.

Never tried Portal. Don't have the time or inclination.. Prolly should tough.


Quote
I suppose he'll crap all over his beloved SotS too? That's available off Steam. Along with a crapload of other stuff that wasn't made by Valve. I haven't used it to purchase a single Valve product myself.

I do have the SOTS complete collection...bought off gamersgate. F'course I don't play multi much.
Title: Re: Alien Swarm free on Monday
Post by: Lucika on September 06, 2010, 10:34:32 am
Onslaught is fun. Liberally peppers the levels with parasites and shield bugs, at least on hard, and then throws in enormohordes every so often for good measure.

Apparently no one has finished the campaign on Brutal Onslaught yet. Can't say I'm surprised :D