advice time.

[SwiftSpear]

I came back to play this game from an era where 1 hive DC fades were the way to go, and upgrades cost skulks money so noone in their right minds bought them. At the time I found the game to be VERY balanced in terms of win percentages. Back then it was very easy to solo against skulks due to the upgrade cost and no inate regen but now it requires some CPL++ aim to take on one of them if not groups that make use of the chambers. Many marines have no caught on to this for some reason and still insist they can rack up kills by wandering the map. This version has been out for weeks now and you'd think that people would get themselves up to speed, and still most haven't .

In my mind, marines USED to have the advantage early game, lost it in the middle to fades and chambers (right around the 2 hive mark) and gained it back slightly towards the end if HMG/HA trains made their appearance. It was all about the resources; strategy and teamwork I found was minimal. Now with the free upgrades **** really got stirred and marines really need to work together to make it to a hive intact. Comms can't force anything and it really comes down to the players to take the initiative most times. 4-5+ rines rushing to lockdown a hive is very tough to stop without a fade and yet you rarely see it happen.

With aliens, MC seems to be the chamber of choice in at least 70% of the games I play in. I try to opt for SC to make it interesting once in a while but that tends to get voted out in most cases. So when I DO play as marines (comm or not), I just auto assume its MC until further notice and I think many other comms do as well. That alone should tell you to stick in groups!

On a side note: what I've noticed in the new version is that no matter where I play (server to server) and no matter what the skill base; Aliens win the majority of games. This is not a small majority either, it's like a 4:1 ratio almost! I'd hate to chalk that up to game imbalance, but all things equal evidence seems to point in that direction The only other thing I can think of is that with new players, they tend to want to get some bearings in the game and go for marines because it's "CS" like. That alone would make the game very one sided, but usually the game is full of regulars (or maybe that random booting script is lying to me) so that should only slighly skew the stats.

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If I rambo, generally I will take down 1-2 skulk before they get me, and that is only improved if I work with a group/buddy.  Granted my K/D as alien is generally WAY better then my K/D as marine in 3.0f...

Around when the newborn elec strat first came out the marine win loss on LM was about 50%, but aliens have since learned to counter it and we are back around 1:4 these days.

[edit] oh, and any less then 5 lockdown rushers is easy to stop if you know they are coming.  Ninja lockdowns are far more effective then marches (although it is very possible to have 2-3 players ninja together)

[Necrosis]

Marine game hits a brick wall when it comes to killing a hive.

PG goes up, tfac might go up, then it hits the fan. Marching in does more damage now. Of course marching in is suicide if they have MC (bite the hive, MC rush, dead marine team plus weapons) and its verging on the idiotic if they dropped SC first and you're walking into a cloaknest full of focus everything.

We must be missing something.

[RangerAlpha]

Ya. marines need a way to kill hives being healed by gorges. i daresay let sieges damage gorges healing the building under attack.  The biggest problem in my opinion is the fact that they fixed the phase gate bug that let 201421 people go thru at once.   Only one other thing i want. i want catpacks to cost two.  Wasting time on the arms lab should be darned well worth it.

(then again. story time.
My brothers (the uberlerk, you never see him, hes probably better than quarter, but they are both so good that distinction is silly)
His comm strat, which worked well:
1: Arms lab A1, obs, pg, catpacks, w1
2: put a phase gate near an alien hive.
3: drop all but 30 res in shotguns.
4: tell marines to get 8 bullets from the armory
5: rush hive with catpacks
6: i beleive the numbers were 6 marines, 4 shotguns, weapons 1, hive down in 15(or 13) seconds.
Keep in mind, catpacks cost 4 res then.  I really want to see this on LM, where people are better shots.

No one ever believes me when i say catpacks > onos, skulks, gorges.

Marines really need to practice the alien tactic of destroying upgrade buildings. i mean. that chamber, when destroyed, costs them a lot of effort to rebuild.  If you have 2 marines outside the hive, with no hope of a phase gate, tell them to rush in and kill as many chambers as they can. with free upgrades for skulks, id equate one chamber to be worth 1/2 of an arms lab.

[Legionnaired]

Anyone tried rushing AA, getting 4 GLs and 2 HMGs on the hive?

4gls = 16 'nades in 1.5 seconds... 800/ per? Plus weapons, say, 2? 15360 damage in 1.5 seconds.

Not half bad. Even if it's only 400/per, that's still 7680... leaving a meager 320 HP.

Welcome to the age of combined arms, gentlemen.

[RangerAlpha]

Anyone tried rushing AA, getting 4 GLs and 2 HMGs on the hive?

4gls = 16 'nades in 1.5 seconds... 800/ per? Plus weapons, say, 2? 15360 damage in 1.5 seconds.

Not half bad. Even if it's only 400/per, that's still 7680... leaving a meager 320 HP.

Welcome to the age of combined arms, gentlemen.

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i believe grenades are 220/per.  i know a grenade doesnt kill a cara skulk, and does double damage to buildings.  hence, the grenade does less than 130 damage.
Hmgs shouldnt even shoot the hive. they do half damage to buildings.  1 hmg clip = 1250 damage.
Of course, this is weapons 0.  Weapons 3 greandes do about around 290 damage.

Hives have 10000 hp, and i THINK heal 100 hp a click.

However, i agree combined arms.  Marines will all hmgs, all shotguns, or all gls suck.  Marines with gls, hmgs, and shotguns are a wrecking crew.

shotguns = shoot anything nearby
hmgs = shoot anything that moves especially fades/onoses.
gls = shoot anything that doesnt move, and large groups of skulks.

[E-Fonzarelli]

I can definitely agree with HD that people don't read text as much as they should.

And it really does bother those of us who make an effort to communicate to people via text and mic to make sure everyone gets the message.

[pardzh]

I don't think people intentionally ignore text chat though. As a comm, you get inundated by people yelling over voicecomm enough as it is. It's hard to cope with that in addition to text chat, and someone yelling in your ear is obviously more prominent.

[CryForMe]

to add to this, even though ive said it before...
My microphone sucks. Dont know why, but its 99.99% inaudible, so i always use text. On rines, people seem to pay attention more. On aliens, with the exception of a few people who i've seen to be good about paying attention to text, it generally gets ignored. I can be the lone gorge in a hive being rushed by 3-4 rines, yelling RINES IN HIVE repeatedly and spitting the hive and people still dont come. Matter of fact, yesterday it got so bad that on altair, i left the server. I was in the life support hive alone. It was our starting hive, but we had another. 4 rines with shotguns come in. I yell "rines in top hive" in caps at least 4 times. Nobody comes. I spit the hive repeatedly, nobody comes. Then one of the other aliens, a RSer but i wont say who because finger pointing isnt necessary, told me not to TA the hive and quit messing around over voicecomm. Needless to say, I died, and the hive went down to 4 SGers with 0 resistance. Immediately after the hive goes down, people are yelling at me "you were in the hive, why didnt you say anything?!?!" and i responded in text with "I did! Spammed it in fact AND spit the hive!" The response I got from the same RSer who told me not to TA the hive was "well I dont pay attention to text, so use your mic next time."
Excuse me?
Txt was in the game LONG before mics were. People need to start paying attention to that. Especially since not everyone has a mic, and some of us that do cant use em. Also recall that if you mute people, their text goes away too.

[Niteowl]

Damage Calculator, for all your damage calculating needs http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns/comm_manual/basic/damageCalculator.htm

[DarkScythe]

i know most of you have played with me, but i really dunno what u guys think of me cuz i never get any comments

anyway, i know the rines can do it if they tried, and whenever i'm on rines (or aliens, whichever side i go to) i try to help everyone out as much as I can

on rines, when i'm not a comm people will always hear me on the mic telling the comm possible chambers and hive locations, and all the rines the (near exact) locations of enemies and what type of enemies if i can judge from the sound, or the general area if I can only see them
I'm not sure if any of u comms would call me a "backseat comm", but I will often suggest possible countermeasures to anything I see on the on the field, but if you feel annoyed just say don't worry about it, or just tell me to go somewhere else and i'll move on

when i'm a comm, i try to give the rines a general overview of the plan but my flaw is i rely too much on my rines to think for themselves
(example, i set a waypoint for biodome and i expect everyone to make their way there in a group countering everything in their way and having maybe 2 guys split off to cap xenoform) i'm workin on it though

but yes, i agree that the rines have to be a lot more aggressive now than they have ever been
rines have to move in a group, they must know when to skip the armory even for an extra 25 bullets whenever a PG is in danger, and most rines need to get off the armory after maybe 100 bullets

(normally, i will always leave after 150/20 unless i'm told to defend base and can afford the extra time, but when a critical spot is under attack, i spawn and go)

as for the aliens.. it's pretty self explanatory

[Legionnaired]

Ok, yeah, 24 grenades at weapons 2. Weapons 3 only drops it to 22, and Weapons 1 takes it up to 26. 28, base.

3 marines, 2 clips = gg hive. HMGs are there to provide support, note that I did not include them in the damage calculation.

Furthermore, 2 shotguns and 2 GLs will rip through a hive in less that 10 seconds. The splash damage will also kill gorges, chambers, and make things all kind of hell for the aliens.

[Necrosis]

GLs > hivehealing gorges.

[TheAdj]

Don't be afraid to get in the chair. You'll probably lose anyway, since aliens have got it together these days, but at least you can judge how fast you lose.


Currently I'm comming more, and going combat lerk/fade more. I'll tell you what, its certainly worth it, and a celer cara lerk is a joy to play as, reminds me of TIE Fighter (actually moreso in the previous version, which had spikes).

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I think of an A10 actually, much the same effect.  You fly in any everything on the ground scatters away as fast as possible.  Muhahaha.

[That Annoying Kid]

LISTEN TO TEXT CHAT. some people don't have voice/can't use it at the time. so pay attentino to text as well as voice. i'm guilty of ignoring it from time to time myself, but if its something important i'll repeat it over voice comms. i suggest others do this as well. alien team work = communication.

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^^

much love HD

[Goldy]

GLs > hivehealing gorges.

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teamkill > GLs. It's hard enough not blowing yourself up by standing too close to a structure you're hitting point blank.. but with tk on and a big hive rush.. eeks. I wonder if they do more harm than good.

[Necrosis]

TBH the trick there is not to let morons near them.

[SwiftSpear]

Don't be afraid to get in the chair. You'll probably lose anyway, since aliens have got it together these days, but at least you can judge how fast you lose.


Currently I'm comming more, and going combat lerk/fade more. I'll tell you what, its certainly worth it, and a celer cara lerk is a joy to play as, reminds me of TIE Fighter (actually moreso in the previous version, which had spikes).

[snapback]44387[/snapback]

I think of an A10 actually, much the same effect.  You fly in any everything on the ground scatters away as fast as possible.  Muhahaha.

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And that's just the spores!