Hunters 2 - (by Rodeo Games) - Universal App

[eAdvisory]

does this game have a list of all the equipment to collect?

[K-Dog]

Really into this game, racking up many hours playing it. Am enjoying re-playing the campaign and daily missions, re-speccing Hunters, and trying missions with either fewer Hunters or odd weapon combinations.

However, would really really love to hear about any future updates. Based on the hours I've put in for the price paid, I would happily pay for decent future content.

Here's some rough ideas for updates, sorry if any are mentioned on previous pages or if they are really unfeasible or just plain rubbish :

-Ability to sack a Hunter and sack Caius.
-View of enemy weapons like from Hunters 1.
-Further streamlining of armoury / trade.
-More weapons :
==Melee Weapons like swords, chainsword, power fist / claws, shield
==Laser : long range, penetrates like flamer, does more damage if closer.
==Grenade launcher : high damage, launchers over people
==Thrown grenades (normal, plasma, stun, EMP etc)
==Pistols : laser or magnum-ish or
==Dual-wield options : sword/pistol, dual pistols, sword/shield, sword/sword
==Laserwhip/chain : melee, range is a 2x3 tiles in front
==Attachments/perks for weapons? scopes, indendiary rounds, larger clips
-More campaign (of course!)
-More map variety, more levels, enemy variety (robots? another alien race? etc)
-More modes : some sort of endless / arena mode
-Multiplayer somehow
-And in general, more more more more!!!

Love this game!

[Bullwinkle]

Does anyone know if your hunters have a nonzero base chance to dodge? Or can you only dodge if you put points in the skill?

[C.Hannum]

Originally Posted by Bullwinkle

Does anyone know if your hunters have a nonzero base chance to dodge? Or can you only dodge if you put points in the skill?

Pretty sure you only dodge with the skill. I've played a little too much of this game and the only hunters who I've seen "dodge" come up as the result of an enemy attack were ones that I put the points into.

[Bullwinkle]

Okay, so I've run into the first major problem I've got with this game: the daily contracts are repeated. Not as a slate, but there are definitely identical contracts on different days. This wouldn't be a problem if it were just the maps that were the same; play enough and you're bound to get the same ones. What gets me is the placement and type of enemies is the same, too.

I'm surprised, and rather disappointed. IIRC, the original game often had the same maps, but the location and type of enemies were randomized, even when replaying the same contract on the same day. That was a *much* better choice; you never knew what you were going to face, even on a repeat. I don't know why Rodeo has taken this route, but I think it's a terrible idea. I hope they change this in an update.

[C.Hannum]

Originally Posted by Bullwinkle

Okay, so I've run into the first major problem I've got with this game: the daily contracts are repeated. Not as a slate, but there are definitely identical contracts on different days. This wouldn't be a problem if it were just the maps that were the same; play enough and you're bound to get the same ones. What gets me is the placement and type of enemies is the same, too.

I'm not convinced the maps are 100% identical, e.g. I've seen two "Defend the Reactors" vs. Xenomorphs contracts where the maps were functionally identical, yet, unless my noggin is playing tricks on me, the one section was actually offset by a single tile position between the two days. I remember being unable to cover both choke points from the southwest at once the first day, but on yesterday's iteration I could. Now, maybe they were identical and I'm remembering wrong, but either way I agree there is potentially a replay-ability issue in that spawn points on clearly identical map chunks appear to always be the same. However, I'm going to go with "potentially" as opposed to your take here:

I'm surprised, and rather disappointed. IIRC, the original game often had the same maps, but the location and type of enemies were randomized, even when replaying the same contract on the same day. That was a *much* better choice; you never knew what you were going to face, even on a repeat. I don't know why Rodeo has taken this route, but I think it's a terrible idea. I hope they change this in an update.

I came to absolutely hate the nonsensical spawning of H:E1. Half of a giant map would be empty with seven guys stuck off to the left of a gigantic open area standing around with their thumbs in their backside. It just made for an entirely too random experience that, if not for the ubiquitous scanners (glad they're gone), would have worn my patience down to zero sooner than the original game did. It's clear they've gone for a more deliberate spawn layout with Hunters 2, and while the pendulum may have swung too far in the opposite direction of H:E1, the last thing I want to see is the seemingly pure random spawns that defined the first game.

Admittedly, I don't want the situation we have now where there's one map chunk I already know where the reactor is since it's shown up on different "Destroy the Reactor" missions and the reactor is always there, ditto for another map chunk that's shown up different "Destroy the Hives" missions. The short term play experience is greatly enhanced by the better designed map chunks and spawn point placement, but the long term play experience will be hosed if there isn't more overall variety. Hopefully they can find a way to keep the more deliberate feeling design of Hunters 2 while mixing things up a bit without degenerating into the tedium of H:E1.

[Bullwinkle]

Originally Posted by C.Hannum

The short term play experience is greatly enhanced by the better designed map chunks and spawn point placement, but the long term play experience will be hosed if there isn't more overall variety. Hopefully they can find a way to keep the more deliberate feeling design of Hunters 2 while mixing things up a bit without degenerating into the tedium of H:E1.

I think a reasonable solution would be to have approximate spawn points--say, within a couple of tiles--and just as important, differently spawned troops. Then you can't really plan for a specific situation, but you also don't get the problems you describe.

That brings up a different point. The AI needs to be better about responding to threats. I like the element of stealth (i.e. enemies won't necessarily see you as soon as you pop into their line of sight) but they way they sometimes refuse to recognize your presence is a detriment to the game. They need to be forced to see you if a) you shoot at them, whether you hit them or not, and b) if their comrades die within a certain radius, even if it's small. Several times now I've been able to pick enemies off one by one at medium-long distance with a sniper rifle while they just stand around. At least twice I did it with a flamethrower. This should be an easy fix, and I'm surprised they haven't patched this problem.

[C.Hannum]

Originally Posted by Bullwinkle

That brings up a different point. The AI needs to be better about responding to threats. I like the element of stealth (i.e. enemies won't necessarily see you as soon as you pop into their line of sight) but they way they sometimes refuse to recognize your presence is a detriment to the game. They need to be forced to see you if a) you shoot at them, whether you hit them or not, and b) if their comrades die within a certain radius, even if it's small. Several times now I've been able to pick enemies off one by one at medium-long distance with a sniper rifle while they just stand around. At least twice I did it with a flamethrower. This should be an easy fix, and I'm surprised they haven't patched this problem.

Some enemies seem to spawn as "sentries" and don't move from their position unless you end the turn right in their LOS, others hunt you down even when you duck back behind cover, and the pure seeming randomness of which is which, at least so far, hasn't bothered me as much as yourself. However, it probably should be tweaked. As you say, if you fire on an enemy, that enemy and all enemies in within a certain range (which could be adjusted by difficulty) should be alerted to your presence regardless of whether you seek cover or not. Then again, that's also easily exploited with your own hunters on guard, so, I guess they should consider how to handle it since it is their game

Seems like another reaction to the way things worked in H:E1 - to go back to my giant map with everybody clustered in one spot for no particular reason, enemies would swarm with a bit too much enthusiasm there. Many were the times I cursed as once I finally found where the missing 90% of the enemies were, my forwards guys were mowed down since the enemy outnumbered me 4 to 1 and they were all there in the same place. The "flaws" of Hunters 2 are so minor compared to H:E1 I'm still amazed based on my caution before the game launched.

At any rate, we're a week later and the game is still sitting in the top 200 paid and grossing, so hopefully they'll be able to give H2 the love they could never give to H:E1.

[dalbertson]

Originally Posted by K-Dog

Really into this game, racking up many hours playing it. Am enjoying re-playing the campaign and daily missions, re-speccing Hunters, and trying missions with either fewer Hunters or odd weapon combinations.

However, would really really love to hear about any future updates. Based on the hours I've put in for the price paid, I would happily pay for decent future content.

Here's some rough ideas for updates, sorry if any are mentioned on previous pages or if they are really unfeasible or just plain rubbish :

-Ability to sack a Hunter and sack Caius.
-View of enemy weapons like from Hunters 1.
-Further streamlining of armoury / trade.
-More weapons :
==Melee Weapons like swords, chainsword, power fist / claws, shield
==Laser : long range, penetrates like flamer, does more damage if closer.
==Grenade launcher : high damage, launchers over people
==Thrown grenades (normal, plasma, stun, EMP etc)
==Pistols : laser or magnum-ish or
==Dual-wield options : sword/pistol, dual pistols, sword/shield, sword/sword
==Laserwhip/chain : melee, range is a 2x3 tiles in front
==Attachments/perks for weapons? scopes, indendiary rounds, larger clips
-More campaign (of course!)
-More map variety, more levels, enemy variety (robots? another alien race? etc)
-More modes : some sort of endless / arena mode
-Multiplayer somehow
-And in general, more more more more!!!

Love this game!

All of these are great, would love to see a level cap increase!

[Brrobotix]

I hope they don't increase the level cap. I like the system right now, it forces you to make tough decisions on point allocations, since you can't just max all of them out. And about how enemies react to your hunters, I kinda miss the days when they would always follow your guys once you entered their line of sight. It made it a lot easier to set up traps with guys on guard, and nothing's more satisfying than wiping out a whole wave of enemies with strategic guarding. but one thing i hate about guarding now is that if an enemy enters an area guarded by 2 guys, both fire on said enemy at the same time. This just wastes action points on guard, and leaves you open to more attacks.