Natural Selection 2 (NS2) - FPS/RTS with depth

[james888]

Two Unique Sides
Whether you play as one of the elite marine Frontiersmen or the vicious alien Kharaa, you must use unique strategies and your abilities to win. Marines form persistent squads to find and destroy alien hives. Aliens can choose a wall-running Skulk, pudgy Gorge, flying Lerk, murderous Fade or gigantic Onos that can smash through doors.

Real Time Stratagy
Commanders play from overhead to lead their team to victory. Build structures anywhere, collect resources and research upgrades. Marines buy weapons at an Armory or build sentry turrets and siege cannons to assault the enemy. Aliens build upgrade chambers, evolve special abilities and plant traps.

Dynamic Environments
Spreading alien infestation deforms hallways and causes space station power failure, turning off lights and shutting down marine powered structures. Use a flamethrower to clear infestation or weld a bulkhead shut for a last defense. Every game is different.

Unlimited Variations
WYSIWYG graphical tools and powerful scripting allow you to create new weapons, scenarios or entirely new games. You’ll get all our tools (level editor, cinematic tool and more) as well as the full Lua source code to Natural Selection 2. Version 1.0 is just the beginning – ongoing automatic updates keep the game fresh by adding new maps, weapons and abilities. Steam Workshop support and auto-downloading makes playing and distributing mods automatic.







Check out NS2's Official Website.
Ns2HD has tutorials to competitive matches.
Natural Selection 2 twitch.tv channel.
L2P Ns2 twitch channel by Ns2 competitive player nzxl.Locklear. Mostly competitive scrims and gathers.


This is a game for someone who wants an fps with more depth. Ns2 is primarily an fps but with rts elements that give that depth. The game is very team oriented with a commander with real people, not ai, all having to work together. The asymmetry is very unique and I find that very fun. The game can be quite challenging to new players so watching some tutorials and playing in explore mode is something I would recommend. There is just a ton of stuff to learn because of the way an fps/rts works. The game is very fun and I have trouble getting board, but when I don't feel like playing the base game, there are several mods already made and more in the making. There is Combat which takes out the rts element, Marine vs Marine takes which takes out the asymmetric, there is some scary mode like sanity, and even a remake of the hidden source mod but with ns2's style. It is unbelievable how much this game has for such a small team of 9 developers. They have been told to of made Ns2 free to play but the did not want that. Instead they hope that the game being easily to mod and that if they support it with free dlc like the gorgeous update, the sales will continue. The most recent free weekend, march 21-24 2013 put ns2 at steams #5 top seller. All said and done, the game is just awesome and happens to be my favorite game with 570 hours played currently.


Minimum:
OS:Windows 7 32/64-bit / Vista 32/64 / XP Processor:Core 2 Duo 2.6 ghz Memory: 1GB for XP / 2GB for Vista/7Graphics directX 9 compatible video card with 1GB, Shader model 2.0 ATI X800, NVidia 8600 or better
The developer that focus's on optimization uses a system with these specs.

Recommended:
OS:Windows 7 32/64-bit / Vista 32/64 / XP Processor:Core 2 Duo 3.0 ghz Memory:2GB for XP / 4GB for Vista/7Graphics directX 9 compatible video card with 1GB, Shader model 2.0 AMD 5770, NVidia GTX 450 or better.

My recommended:
OS:Windows 7 32/64-bit / Vista 32/64 / XP Processor: Sandy Bridge 3ghz, 4+ghz preferred. Memory: 2GB for XP / 4GB for Vista/7 Graphic: DirectX 9 compatible video card with 2GB vram, Shader model 2.0 AMD 5830, NVidia GTX 460 or better.
The game uses 2.2 cores and very much like single threaded performance. Also, it can use almost 2gb vram.

[f22a4bandit]

Originally Posted by james888

I just started the other day. I have played about 13 hours. Its a super fun game. Tons of strategy needed. I think its one of the best games I have ever played. Right up there with the stalker series in my book. That is with it still being in beta. It is set for release this summer.

http://www.naturalselection2.com/

Edit: Surprised I have been thanked. It is that great of a game though

Looks like something I could definitely get into! Thanks for the heads up!

[Flibolito]

Looks really awesome wow I might check this out next week.

[james888]

Get it while it is still cheap. They say they will retail for $50 in mid summer. Right now it is in beta for $35.00 and seem pretty polished. Have some weapons/features to roll out still. Some balance issues still. All in all it could be done now and still be a great game.

If we get enough people maybe we could get a TPU server

[james888]

I had an 7 hour match on this game last night. And yes. My team won.

[happita]

Holy shit, a 7 hour match? Say goodbye to your social life if this game becomes competitive on the level that COD is and you join/make a team.

[james888]

The games in that build were quiet long. Now they are about 30 minute matches. I couldn't sleep that night anyways.

[Chryonn]

i bought the pre-order Collector's Edition and played the alpha. i've been a long time fan of the original so this was a natural move. it's great. needs more people to spread the word to get it out the door.

[james888]

I just reworked the whole OP to show you the game. Prior it was me asking if anyone else played the game.

[james888]

This is a live stream of a competitive game with two really good teams. 8 free steam codes for the game are going to be givin away during the livestream. So tune in and catch some codes.
https://www.twitch.tv/naturalselecti...selection2.com
__________________
Edit: Its over. Hopefully someone got some game keys.

[james888]

Do any of you have half life? The original natural selection was a half life mod. You can still play it too. I bought half life just to try ns1.

Instructions and download here

[xenocide]

The NS1 community has shrank a ton in the last couple years. I remember playing around 05-07 and there were dozens of active servers. When I tried playing like 2 years ago there was like 1-2, and they were always full or when another server popped up it was half-way around the world.

[james888]

Originally Posted by xenocide

The NS1 community has shrank a ton in the last couple years. I remember playing around 05-07 and there were dozens of active servers. When I tried playing like 2 years ago there was like 1-2, and they were always full or when another server popped up it was half-way around the world.

Ns2 is bringing some people back to ns1. There were 5 servers when I tried ns1. I prefer ns2 because I have been playing it longer, and the much improved graphics. They made their own engine called spark.

[alucard13mmfmj]

ive played NS1 for like 10 years, on and off.

superb game. ^^

[pantherx12]

Looks awesome, but I'd get so frustrated and angry playing a game like this ha ha

[james888]

Originally Posted by pantherx12

Looks awesome, but I'd get so frustrated and angry playing a game like this ha ha

How so?
Edit: I know it looks and is awesome but how would you get frustrated? I play at least every other day myself

[purecain]

looks good... will give it a try...

[james888]

I play as james888. If you see me, say hi.

[pantherx12]

Originally Posted by james888

How so?
Edit: I know it looks and is awesome but how would you get frustrated? I play at least every other day myself

Looks like a game were I would frequently die, and if I was on the marine team those aliens bouncing everywhere would make me swear every missed shot

[techtard]

IS NS2 actually coming out? I thought it was vapourware just like Duke Nukem used to be.

[james888]

Originally Posted by techtard

IS NS2 actually coming out? I thought it was vapourware just like Duke Nukem used to be.

Yes, hence this thread. This august/september it is coming out. Honestly, I hope they push the date a little because I am not sure they can finish. They only have an 8 man team and a month left. I have had this thread on here for a couple of months too. It is finally getting some attention.

Originally Posted by pantherx12

Looks like a game were I would frequently die, and if I was on the marine team those aliens bouncing everywhere would make me swear every missed shot

Shooting the little aliens can be tough if they have a good player. I am not a bad shot in most fps but I am terrible in ns2. It has partially to do with a little target, and the hit reg issues they are still working on. It is not as hard as you might think, they have low health.

I am pretty good at aliens, not at all at marines.

[alucard13mmfmj]

i wonder if fades are invincible still.. swear the fade's hitboxes in NS1 was broekn half the time lol

[james888]

Originally Posted by alucard13mmfmj

i wonder if fades are invincible still.. swear the fade's hitboxes in NS1 was broekn half the time lol

Fade is not invincible in ns2. They do die, just not often. They blink away before you can kill them. Fade is called god mode for a reason. It will be nerfed sooner or later.

[pantherx12]

Originally Posted by james888

Fade is not invincible in ns2. They do die, just not often. They blink away before you can kill them. Fade is called god mode for a reason. It will be nerfed sooner or later.

At the very least they should give the marines a way of dealing with Alien that can teleport with a intelligent human controlling it

[james888]

Originally Posted by pantherx12

At the very least they should give the marines a way of dealing with Alien that can teleport with a intelligent human controlling it

They do. Its called teamwork with shotguns and flamethrowers. As a fade, if I see a flamethrower I run and I am a good fade. Fade is uber fun to play. He is meant to be a hit and run guy. Who blinks and takes one guy and is gone before they relize it. You can shoot him while in blink, it still does damage.

Here is the fade reveal. Its a cool video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U98Tbr5P2bs

Next build there is going to be exos (ns1 heavy). Its the marine equivalent of the onos (gorilla rhino thing). Ns2 is about teamwork. You must use teamwork or you lose. No COD ramboing or 360 headshots here.