The only really useful time i've found to electrify rts is to protect a phasegate or to lock down rts far from any support during a 2 hive lockdown. At that point, sure a fade could attack it, but i would rather have a fade slapping an rt than trying to clear a hive at that point. It is especially demoralizing, since skulks literally have nothing to do, but that may be a bad thing if you don't want an f4 win. (i speak of pubs of course) then again i'm a bad comm.
ChurchMeatshield grunt-fodder // Has pre-ordered NS2Join Date: 2002-12-31Member: 11646Members, Constellation
30 res is 3 shotguns. Shotgunners protect hives very well too. It's important to have a team that does what you tell them to. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother comming.
Electrification can help in a stalemate. Last week I used it to great effect during a very long game (the game was long before I even started electrifying). We had one hive locked down tight, double res and good map coverage. But the aliens had oni and fades (good ones too) so we kept failing on rushes. Meanwhile their skulks kept taking out my RTs, making it hard to save for that one big push. I eventually electrified 3 of my outer nodes and they didn't get taken out for the remaining 15 mins of the game. That res enabled me to do a JP/HMG/seige rush and finally win it.
Because they were literally killing my nodes as soon as I was dropping them, and I couldn't afford to have a single soldier away from double/hive/base it certainly paid off.
<!--quoteo(post=1612239:date=Mar 7 2007, 01:43 PM:name=MrBen)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MrBen @ Mar 7 2007, 01:43 PM) [snapback]1612239[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Actually the only real viable strategy isn't an option anymore. Simply rushing your marines out and dropping every node on the map was surprisingly effective. If your marines can speed build the ones aliens tried to drop and electrify straight away then aliens are forced to drop other nodes, which are also blocked. Any node they chomp down continue to redrop until your marines appear. A highly roffles way of keeping aliens on 1 RT all game, because their rate of tech would be have been equally slow but you'd have a strangle hold on the resources, it'd be GG if carried out effectively. Only requires 2 minutes of marine dominance early game versus unupgraded skulks and before lerks. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I've done it before successfully... It's hard, but it can work. It really requires your marines to be on board though, so it's somewhere between too difficult to pull off in pubs and too risky to try in a clan game. If you cash in on the fact that aliens don't expect your RT's to be electrified in the early game it can really keep them reeling, since your marines don't have to do anything but kill and build RTS.
It's countered by a quick second hive, which a good alien team should do anyways though.
TheAdjHe demanded a cool forum title of some type.Join Date: 2004-05-03Member: 28436Members, NS1 Playtester, Constellation
Electrification stalls the game, much like turret farming. It is a crutch for commanders with poor skills who need the structures to do the work for them. Hell in 3.2 its even easier, marines can see nodes under attack without the comm even telling them to go there. Resnodes are not worth 45 res, 3 minutes is an extremely long time to recoup loses in a game designed to last 15-20 minutes. I know people can bring up example after example of resnodes winning prolonged games, etc, whatever. I'm sure for Bad Commander A in situation B, that works just fine. The only time I would even consider electrifying a node is when I'm trying to hold a hive in a sensory first game and expected a cloaked hive +movement rush, and even then I'd probably drop 2 packs of mines and end up better off. Much like people who play 50 level combat all day then seem shocked when they get LMG solo'd as fade on a real NS server, doing things like electrifying every node in the game is simply cheating yourself out of learning the gameplay mechanics of NS, and you will be a worse player for it.
<!--quoteo(post=1622651:date=Apr 23 2007, 05:52 PM:name=TheAdj)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TheAdj @ Apr 23 2007, 05:52 PM) [snapback]1622651[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Electrification stalls the game, much like turret farming. It is a crutch for commanders with poor skills who need the structures to do the work for them. Hell in 3.2 its even easier, marines can see nodes under attack without the comm even telling them to go there. Resnodes are not worth 45 res, 3 minutes is an extremely long time to recoup loses in a game designed to last 15-20 minutes. I know people can bring up example after example of resnodes winning prolonged games, etc, whatever. I'm sure for Bad Commander A in situation B, that works just fine. The only time I would even consider electrifying a node is when I'm trying to hold a hive in a sensory first game and expected a cloaked hive +movement rush, and even then I'd probably drop 2 packs of mines and end up better off. Much like people who play 50 level combat all day then seem shocked when they get LMG solo'd as fade on a real NS server, doing things like electrifying every node in the game is simply cheating yourself out of learning the gameplay mechanics of NS, and you will be a worse player for it. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I'd argue that blanking any strategy completely outright is cheating yourself as a player... Ultimately this is a game, it might be fun to do things differently then the believed established optimum every once in a while. Rushed upgrades are generally effective, but they aren't always fun...
TheAdjHe demanded a cool forum title of some type.Join Date: 2004-05-03Member: 28436Members, NS1 Playtester, Constellation
...and facing 8 electrified RTs and 200 turrets as an alien is fun? People have this totally backwards, competitive players enjoy being able to actually move around the map and not get killed by structures just so marines can win by default. Turrets and electrification are mighty boring, that's why I say to exclude them as a strategy.
<!--quoteo(post=1622683:date=Apr 23 2007, 08:32 PM:name=TheAdj)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TheAdj @ Apr 23 2007, 08:32 PM) [snapback]1622683[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> ...and facing 8 electrified RTs and 200 turrets as an alien is fun? People have this totally backwards, competitive players enjoy being able to actually move around the map and not get killed by structures just so marines can win by default. Turrets and electrification are mighty boring, that's why I say to exclude them as a strategy. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Losing the game is never that much fun. We don't play to let the enemy win though, do we? Either way, it might be kind of freeing to play against a team that has no real competitive spirit, that just sort of play the game on rails with no real aggressive edge, but that defys the point. Play against the enemy team to the top of your ability unless agreed upon that you won't before hand. It's a waste of both of your time to go easy on them out of vague sense of fairness. If that fairness was part of the game flayra would have coded it in.
The competitive standard "Play to win, play to learn, play to adapt". I go back to my old claim. Nothing should be off limits every once in a while, especially if it works.
Comments
then again i'm a bad comm.
Because they were literally killing my nodes as soon as I was dropping them, and I couldn't afford to have a single soldier away from double/hive/base it certainly paid off.
Actually the only real viable strategy isn't an option anymore. Simply rushing your marines out and dropping every node on the map was surprisingly effective. If your marines can speed build the ones aliens tried to drop and electrify straight away then aliens are forced to drop other nodes, which are also blocked. Any node they chomp down continue to redrop until your marines appear. A highly roffles way of keeping aliens on 1 RT all game, because their rate of tech would be have been equally slow but you'd have a strangle hold on the resources, it'd be GG if carried out effectively. Only requires 2 minutes of marine dominance early game versus unupgraded skulks and before lerks.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I've done it before successfully... It's hard, but it can work. It really requires your marines to be on board though, so it's somewhere between too difficult to pull off in pubs and too risky to try in a clan game. If you cash in on the fact that aliens don't expect your RT's to be electrified in the early game it can really keep them reeling, since your marines don't have to do anything but kill and build RTS.
It's countered by a quick second hive, which a good alien team should do anyways though.
Electrification stalls the game, much like turret farming. It is a crutch for commanders with poor skills who need the structures to do the work for them. Hell in 3.2 its even easier, marines can see nodes under attack without the comm even telling them to go there. Resnodes are not worth 45 res, 3 minutes is an extremely long time to recoup loses in a game designed to last 15-20 minutes. I know people can bring up example after example of resnodes winning prolonged games, etc, whatever. I'm sure for Bad Commander A in situation B, that works just fine. The only time I would even consider electrifying a node is when I'm trying to hold a hive in a sensory first game and expected a cloaked hive +movement rush, and even then I'd probably drop 2 packs of mines and end up better off. Much like people who play 50 level combat all day then seem shocked when they get LMG solo'd as fade on a real NS server, doing things like electrifying every node in the game is simply cheating yourself out of learning the gameplay mechanics of NS, and you will be a worse player for it.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'd argue that blanking any strategy completely outright is cheating yourself as a player... Ultimately this is a game, it might be fun to do things differently then the believed established optimum every once in a while. Rushed upgrades are generally effective, but they aren't always fun...
I think turrets and electrification are useless in the vast majority of cases. No decent commander should ever drop them. Drop shotguns instead.
...and facing 8 electrified RTs and 200 turrets as an alien is fun? People have this totally backwards, competitive players enjoy being able to actually move around the map and not get killed by structures just so marines can win by default. Turrets and electrification are mighty boring, that's why I say to exclude them as a strategy.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Losing the game is never that much fun. We don't play to let the enemy win though, do we? Either way, it might be kind of freeing to play against a team that has no real competitive spirit, that just sort of play the game on rails with no real aggressive edge, but that defys the point. Play against the enemy team to the top of your ability unless agreed upon that you won't before hand. It's a waste of both of your time to go easy on them out of vague sense of fairness. If that fairness was part of the game flayra would have coded it in.
The competitive standard "Play to win, play to learn, play to adapt". I go back to my old claim. Nothing should be off limits every once in a while, especially if it works.