Marines suffering massive psychological stress fighting humans makes no sense

[Asperger Berzerker]

I understand going crazy facing the xenomorphs, but in mission 2 you get crazy stress levels shooing cultists armed with hammers and shovels. A marine combat veteran wouldn't bat an eye at shooting a man armed with a gun, though it would be stressful, it wouldn't break his mind.

I have 4 guys with state of the art weaponry crying for mommy after mowing down 10 dudes with shovels and taking zero damage. Was this intentional? Why is fighting crazy people who have no hope of killing you from across the map just as mind-breaking as facing the xenos?

[wei270]

there should be stress fighting human but it probably should be reduced compare to xenos

[Yellow Caribou]

It is pretty annoying, I'm hoping the devs do something to re-balance human encounters. Either nerf the stress gain heavily or maybe make some mechanic to where stress from human encounters decays on its own after the combat is over. It gets very annoying because the humans tend to roam the map in large packs and an encounter with them can quickly turn into such a long firefight that your ammo is spent and your guys are bugging out too much to do much else. This feels punishing beyond what the devs intended.

The human encounters should be more like a palate cleanser, a way for players to feel like ultimate badasses after getting their asses handed to them by cosmic horrors for the last few hours. If anything, fighting a bunch of cultists and demolishing them should give your marines some kind of morale boost.

[DropShot]

Good news! there is a skill that COMPLETELY stops stress gain!! Get a Sergeant (or squad leader or whatever the hell they're called). They get a skill called "reprimand" that blocks all stress for a period of 30s. You can also glitch it out with rests to make it remain for the whole mission, but i'm not sure about timing or whatnot, i just know it happened 4 or 5 times during my first runthrough

Side note: Welding yourself into a room can allow you to rest, reducing stress by 100. For the cost of 1 tool, -100 stress. (assuming you don't pull a dumb and try it in a room that has a bunch of doors.

Side-Side note, creating a "safe room" ceases hunts as well. So if you're trying to keep that horde away, pop into a room and fire up the welder. Save your crew a lot of damage

[Asperger Berzerker]

The problem is that stress builds up so fast that it doesn't matter, the resting and sgt skill help but it still builds up too fast for combat veterans. It would make sense if these were non-combat personnel like the crew of the Sulaco in the first Alien movie, but USCM Marines are supposed to be badass, stone-cold killers.

Killing other humans should have minimal impact on their stress, especially ones armed with *checks notes* shovels when they have *checks notes* pulse rifles and smart guns.

A normal civilian wouldn't be afraid to open fire on 3 or 4 crazies armed with shovels and hammers if he had a smartgun or even an AR-15. Just saying.

[ThatZenoGuy]

Originally posted by DropShot:

Good news! there is a skill that COMPLETELY stops stress gain!! Get a Sergeant (or squad leader or whatever the hell they're called). They get a skill called "reprimand" that blocks all stress for a period of 30s. You can also glitch it out with rests to make it remain for the whole mission, but i'm not sure about timing or whatnot, i just know it happened 4 or 5 times during my first runthrough

Side note: Welding yourself into a room can allow you to rest, reducing stress by 100. For the cost of 1 tool, -100 stress. (assuming you don't pull a dumb and try it in a room that has a bunch of doors.

Side-Side note, creating a "safe room" ceases hunts as well. So if you're trying to keep that horde away, pop into a room and fire up the welder. Save your crew a lot of damage

Getting a SGT is complete RNG, I didn't get one until well into mission 7 or something. Which was very unfortunate.

[StoriesBonesTell]

The point of the game is to not fight things when avoidable.

[Stranger]

Originally posted by StoriesBonesTell:

The point of the game is to not fight things when avoidable.

Yeah, but you are controlling Colonial Marines who are trained for just that purpose. We all get the trauma system and we all accept it, but it needs to be throttled back to something a hell of a lot less goofy than it is. This is one of those aspects of the game that gets in its own way. As it is the system is so overblown it is ridiculous and detracts from the game rather than lends anything to it. The idea is sound, in fact its great, but it could use some fine tuning.

Maybe its because I am prior service but I sort of feel like this ♥♥♥♥ could be handled with a lot more respect. Trauma is complicated and contrary to what you see in movies most of the people who suffer from PTSD never saw combat. It is the stress of being at a constant state of readiness, of always having to worry about being ambushed or injured without ever experiencing the catharsis of actual combat and surviving it that puts people in a place they can't get out of again. That is just one sort of trauma. A good system exploring psychological disturbance could make it relatable, humanize it, make it something meaningful.

Or they could play it for laughs. A light hearted approach could work too. . .But this? I don't think this works for anyone. It trivializes the reality and introduces a mechanic that is unwieldly and ultimately detracts from the experience without offering anything in the way of parity.

I get it, its just a video game, but the greatest artistic expressions are those which aspire to transcend their mediums.

[StoriesBonesTell]

Originally posted by Mountain Dew Camacho:

Originally posted by StoriesBonesTell:

The point of the game is to not fight things when avoidable.

Yeah, but you are controlling Colonial Marines who are trained for just that purpose. We all get the trauma system and we all accept it, but it needs to be throttled back to something a hell of a lot less goofy than it is. This is one of those aspects of the game that gets in its own way. As it is the system is so overblown it is ridiculous and detracts from the game rather than lends anything to it. The idea is sound, in fact its great, but it could use some fine tuning.

Maybe its because I am prior service but I sort of feel like this ♥♥♥♥ could be handled with a lot more respect. Trauma is complicated and contrary to what you see in movies most of the people who suffer from PTSD never saw combat. It is the stress of being at a constant state of readiness, of always having to worry about being ambushed or injured without ever experiencing the catharsis of actual combat and surviving it that puts people in a place they can't get out of again. That is just one sort of trauma. A good system exploring psychological disturbance could make it relatable, humanize it, make it something meaningful.

Or they could play it for laughs. A light hearted approach could work too. . .But this? I don't think this works for anyone. It trivializes the reality and introduces a mechanic that is unwieldly and ultimately detracts from the experience without offering anything in the way of parity.

I get it, its just a video game, but the greatest artistic expressions are those which aspire to transcend their mediums.

You would succeed only in teaching learning players to play the game wrong and create a point of frustration when they start running and gunning with aliens

[Stranger]

Originally posted by StoriesBonesTell:

You would succeed only in teaching learning players to play the game wrong and create a point of frustration when they start running and gunning with aliens

Play is experimental in its very essence. It is a developmental instinct which allows people to learn through simulation. Right and wrong do not enter into it, there are only effective and ineffective strategies. Players can be trusted to create their own experiences, a good developer provides quality tools to that end.

[Jesus_Guy]

My favorite was stress from fighting aliens, complied with a trauma that increases stress, for the entire team. I don't remember the map but it was during one of the "you cant stop missions, no place to rest." i was getting 1-2% stress a second.

My biggest complaint about this game was enemy spawn and pathing. Getting spotted 3 times at the end of a hunt/horde/hunt/hunt combo is kinda lame.

[alex010300]

Didn't get much for Mercs, but weird Aliens human hybrids....

[Maj."King" Kong]

This is the "Dark Descent" element

[Jack Sparrow]

Originally posted by Mountain Dew Camacho:

Originally posted by StoriesBonesTell:

The point of the game is to not fight things when avoidable.

Yeah, but you are controlling Colonial Marines who are trained for just that purpose. We all get the trauma system and we all accept it, but it needs to be throttled back to something a hell of a lot less goofy than it is. This is one of those aspects of the game that gets in its own way. As it is the system is so overblown it is ridiculous and detracts from the game rather than lends anything to it. The idea is sound, in fact its great, but it could use some fine tuning.

Maybe its because I am prior service but I sort of feel like this ♥♥♥♥ could be handled with a lot more respect. Trauma is complicated and contrary to what you see in movies most of the people who suffer from PTSD never saw combat. It is the stress of being at a constant state of readiness, of always having to worry about being ambushed or injured without ever experiencing the catharsis of actual combat and surviving it that puts people in a place they can't get out of again. That is just one sort of trauma. A good system exploring psychological disturbance could make it relatable, humanize it, make it something meaningful.

Or they could play it for laughs. A light hearted approach could work too. . .But this? I don't think this works for anyone. It trivializes the reality and introduces a mechanic that is unwieldly and ultimately detracts from the experience without offering anything in the way of parity.

I get it, its just a video game, but the greatest artistic expressions are those which aspire to transcend their mediums.

What the ♥♥♥♥ are you even talking about? The trauma system is a gameplay layer that adds depth and consequences to the way you proceed through each level, I've found it works quite well, no idea what you're doing trying to conflate this with REAL LIFE ACTUAL TRAUMA. The game is about using tactics to kill aliens, maybe you need Trauma simulator 2023? Maybe someone on fiver will make it for you if you ask.

[ThatZenoGuy]

The trauma system is pretty easy to ignore, there's a perk which removes trauma after three days.

[StoriesBonesTell]

Originally posted by Mountain Dew Camacho:

Originally posted by StoriesBonesTell:

You would succeed only in teaching learning players to play the game wrong and create a point of frustration when they start running and gunning with aliens

Play is experimental in its very essence. It is a developmental instinct which allows people to learn through simulation. Right and wrong do not enter into it, there are only effective and ineffective strategies. Players can be trusted to create their own experiences, a good developer provides quality tools to that end.

Yes you're getting philosophical. Im talking about actual game design.