The new Marine Commander's guide
Davil
Florida, USA Join Date: 2012-08-14 Member: 155602Members, Constellation
Florida, USA Join Date: 2012-08-14 Member: 155602Members, Constellation
So I see a lot of people complaining about commanders but not offering much in terms of help. So I figured a nice consolidated topic from knowledgeable and proven commanders would help. To start I'll put my general strategy up and you can all add in what you think is correct. Try to also say why you do something not just doing it just because. So without further ado here goes.
<b>Initial Buildings (the first 5 minutes)</b> - <i>Cover Ground</i> - You want to start by having 1 marine or yourself building an armory and observatory in base and the rest of the team going out to get towers elsewhere. If you have to build them yourself make sure to drop nodes in the adjacent areas so your marines aren't sitting there waiting.
<b>Why</b> - The armory allows your marines to run back and get ammo and health if necessary so it cuts down on med pack and ammo drops and thus saves resources. It also opens up the observatory building and allows you to research shotguns. The observatory allows you to beacon your players back in case of an early base rush, and also provides motion tracking and access to phase tech. Getting a large number of initial res towers is important for the obvious reason that you need res.
<b>First 5 - 15 minutes</b> - <i>Picking a secondary tech point</i> - Your marines or scans will let you know where the alien hive is. You want to pick a second tech point that is close to your own. Mine shaft for example, has repair, deposit, and operations close together. You'll want to continue capturing resource nodes, a good number is 4 or 5, but more won't hurt. You'll now want an arms lab, shotguns, welders, mines, and phase tech if you don't already have them. You should put a phase gate and armory at each tech point you own, or areas of high value such as nano grid in Veil. As far as what is better between armor and weapons, it depends on your team, if they shoot well and aren't dying, weapons is the best choice. Also a second IP in your main and one in the expansion will help tremendously. Marines should be pressuring a hive.
<b>Why</b> - A secondary tech point opens up the prototype lab once you have an upgraded armory, and it also prevents a hive from being dropped in it's location. You want it to be a short run from your main base so that in case the phase gate goes down, your marines can still save it. 5 resource nodes means that you can build most buildings and upgrades within 5 or 6 ticks and phase gates within 3, higher weapon and armor upgrades are what give marines a huge advantage a should be started fairly quickly. If you own 6 or more towers it's not a bad idea to drop in a second arms lab in your secondary tech point. That will let you get research done twice as fast, and in case one base goes down your marines won't lose their upgrades. Mines are great for thwarting solo skulks or even large rushes so encourage your marines to buy some and place them around the phase gate or res nodes. A second IP means faster spawns, an ip in the expansion makes it more likely that a spawning marine can stop a solo sulk from killing the expansion. Pressure on the hive is key to maintaining momentum, this doesn't mean rushing into the hive and dying but standing outside of it and drawing the alien's attention with a few shots into the hive from time to time will cause a lot of confusion and panic for the alien team.
<b>15 minutes until the end</b> - <i>Tech and Res</i> - For the last part of the game you'll want to ensure you get an advanced armory, grenade launchers, a prototype lab, exo's, jp's, and weapons and armor 3. A robotics lab is optional but the mac's can be very useful for repairing structures in base and keeping your exo's alive. Consider placing phase gates near hives so that your marines can easily attack and retreat as necessary.
<b>Why</b> - Advanced armory is required for the prototype lab and grenade launchers. Prototype lab is needed for exo's and jp's, and those are needed to finish off the hive and give your marines a better chance at survival. Weapons and armor 3 will help out all of your units regardless of what they are using so it goes without saying why they're useful. Mac's and the robotics lab can wait because they aren't particularly important, a marine is generally better at repairing or building than a mac, however having more guns in the fight is key and macs are useful for back capping res and repairs.
<b>Why no turrets?</b> - OK, this will be a subject of debate from the new players, but it needs to be covered. Turrets are not good for base defense. Where turrets are useful is for things like covering the rear in a hallway where your marines are set up, or covering the phase gate on an advanced position while your marines are assaulting forward. For that reason they are best being left to very end game, or when you have tons of res or are just bored. If aliens want to kill the turrets a skulk can kill 1 turret or the whole battery in about 6-8 bites.
<b>Arcs are useful in some situations </b>- If the aliens decide to block up a room with hydras whips or other buildings like crags. You can easily clear them relatively safely with arcs. However, this is another one of those things that should only be considered once everything else is taken care of.
<i><b>General Tips</b></i>
- Spread buildings out where possible, bile bomb can tear up buildings quickly and marines can't dodge efficiently in tight spots if you group everything closely
- Place Phase Gates sparingly but smartly, phase gates should be close to a wall and facing out so marines know that the enemy is somewhere in front of them and not
behind them. Also for forward bases good spots are generally higher up and in long corridors
- Listen to your team, you can't see everything at once so listening to your guys on the ground will give you a lot of help in determining where to direct people.
- Be vocal, letting your team know what is going on and what they're doing right is very helpful and will keep people engaged, confident, and in good spirits. Try to keep
negativity down, it tends to ruin people's motivation and can take the fun out of the game.
- Learn the hot keys, being able to quickly zip around the map and place buildings without clicking the buttons speeds things up and makes everything much smoother.
- Drop ammo and med packs sparingly, 1 ammo container will fully load any weapon, 3 med packs will fully heal anyone, don't go overboard. Sometimes it's obvious a
marine will die and it's best to just let it happen.
So there's my guide, as I said feel free to add other strategies or tips.
<b>Initial Buildings (the first 5 minutes)</b> - <i>Cover Ground</i> - You want to start by having 1 marine or yourself building an armory and observatory in base and the rest of the team going out to get towers elsewhere. If you have to build them yourself make sure to drop nodes in the adjacent areas so your marines aren't sitting there waiting.
<b>Why</b> - The armory allows your marines to run back and get ammo and health if necessary so it cuts down on med pack and ammo drops and thus saves resources. It also opens up the observatory building and allows you to research shotguns. The observatory allows you to beacon your players back in case of an early base rush, and also provides motion tracking and access to phase tech. Getting a large number of initial res towers is important for the obvious reason that you need res.
<b>First 5 - 15 minutes</b> - <i>Picking a secondary tech point</i> - Your marines or scans will let you know where the alien hive is. You want to pick a second tech point that is close to your own. Mine shaft for example, has repair, deposit, and operations close together. You'll want to continue capturing resource nodes, a good number is 4 or 5, but more won't hurt. You'll now want an arms lab, shotguns, welders, mines, and phase tech if you don't already have them. You should put a phase gate and armory at each tech point you own, or areas of high value such as nano grid in Veil. As far as what is better between armor and weapons, it depends on your team, if they shoot well and aren't dying, weapons is the best choice. Also a second IP in your main and one in the expansion will help tremendously. Marines should be pressuring a hive.
<b>Why</b> - A secondary tech point opens up the prototype lab once you have an upgraded armory, and it also prevents a hive from being dropped in it's location. You want it to be a short run from your main base so that in case the phase gate goes down, your marines can still save it. 5 resource nodes means that you can build most buildings and upgrades within 5 or 6 ticks and phase gates within 3, higher weapon and armor upgrades are what give marines a huge advantage a should be started fairly quickly. If you own 6 or more towers it's not a bad idea to drop in a second arms lab in your secondary tech point. That will let you get research done twice as fast, and in case one base goes down your marines won't lose their upgrades. Mines are great for thwarting solo skulks or even large rushes so encourage your marines to buy some and place them around the phase gate or res nodes. A second IP means faster spawns, an ip in the expansion makes it more likely that a spawning marine can stop a solo sulk from killing the expansion. Pressure on the hive is key to maintaining momentum, this doesn't mean rushing into the hive and dying but standing outside of it and drawing the alien's attention with a few shots into the hive from time to time will cause a lot of confusion and panic for the alien team.
<b>15 minutes until the end</b> - <i>Tech and Res</i> - For the last part of the game you'll want to ensure you get an advanced armory, grenade launchers, a prototype lab, exo's, jp's, and weapons and armor 3. A robotics lab is optional but the mac's can be very useful for repairing structures in base and keeping your exo's alive. Consider placing phase gates near hives so that your marines can easily attack and retreat as necessary.
<b>Why</b> - Advanced armory is required for the prototype lab and grenade launchers. Prototype lab is needed for exo's and jp's, and those are needed to finish off the hive and give your marines a better chance at survival. Weapons and armor 3 will help out all of your units regardless of what they are using so it goes without saying why they're useful. Mac's and the robotics lab can wait because they aren't particularly important, a marine is generally better at repairing or building than a mac, however having more guns in the fight is key and macs are useful for back capping res and repairs.
<b>Why no turrets?</b> - OK, this will be a subject of debate from the new players, but it needs to be covered. Turrets are not good for base defense. Where turrets are useful is for things like covering the rear in a hallway where your marines are set up, or covering the phase gate on an advanced position while your marines are assaulting forward. For that reason they are best being left to very end game, or when you have tons of res or are just bored. If aliens want to kill the turrets a skulk can kill 1 turret or the whole battery in about 6-8 bites.
<b>Arcs are useful in some situations </b>- If the aliens decide to block up a room with hydras whips or other buildings like crags. You can easily clear them relatively safely with arcs. However, this is another one of those things that should only be considered once everything else is taken care of.
<i><b>General Tips</b></i>
- Spread buildings out where possible, bile bomb can tear up buildings quickly and marines can't dodge efficiently in tight spots if you group everything closely
- Place Phase Gates sparingly but smartly, phase gates should be close to a wall and facing out so marines know that the enemy is somewhere in front of them and not
behind them. Also for forward bases good spots are generally higher up and in long corridors
- Listen to your team, you can't see everything at once so listening to your guys on the ground will give you a lot of help in determining where to direct people.
- Be vocal, letting your team know what is going on and what they're doing right is very helpful and will keep people engaged, confident, and in good spirits. Try to keep
negativity down, it tends to ruin people's motivation and can take the fun out of the game.
- Learn the hot keys, being able to quickly zip around the map and place buildings without clicking the buttons speeds things up and makes everything much smoother.
- Drop ammo and med packs sparingly, 1 ammo container will fully load any weapon, 3 med packs will fully heal anyone, don't go overboard. Sometimes it's obvious a
marine will die and it's best to just let it happen.
So there's my guide, as I said feel free to add other strategies or tips.
Comments
Why would anyone bother commanding if they're entire game is predetermined by what map they're playing? In what universe would you describe that as "strategy"?
Make one decision that deviates from what everyone "knows" is the right way and you're voted out.
Why would anyone bother commanding if they're entire game is predetermined by what map they're playing? In what universe would you describe that as "strategy"?
Make one decision that deviates from what everyone "knows" is the right way and you're voted out.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thought I left things pretty open ended on a lot of spots. There are always going to be things you HAVE to do. It's your ability to get them done and direct players that makes commanding interesting. Sorry to tell you this but yea, the strategy for every game is pretty much the same. Some maps have special cases, Veil and Refinery for example have those nice double res nodes. But as far as your opening buildings and tech'ing up it's the same. And hey I'll even run this by you, Chess, the original strategy game, has many predefined opening and strategies as well.
And another quick note, I did say this is MY preferred strategy. Not THE ONLY strategy.
There may be warm and fuzzies for the first few months but, more than likely, after that the general response to comms will be "conform or get out".
There may be warm and fuzzies for the first few months but, more than likely, after that the general response to comms will be "conform or get out".<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
They'll get that already, anyone who tries to put down turrets before res towers gets quite a yelling. But there are also nonsensical people who insist aliens have level 3 bite.
After you get phase tech up, you should place an aggressive gate that is going to put pressure on Alien RTs and second hive drop. You are much better off putting pressure on aliens, forcing them to defend, this well help keep your nodes up and their nodes down.
After you get phase tech up, you should place an aggressive gate that is going to put pressure on Alien RTs and second hive drop. You are much better off putting pressure on aliens, forcing them to defend, this well help keep your nodes up and their nodes down.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Different approach, I do say to pressure them also though. Getting a tech point is what I do within the first 15 minutes which is a lot of time gone by. And on maps like Veil where there are only 4 tech points, having 2 limits the aliens to 2.
There may be warm and fuzzies for the first few months but, more than likely, after that the general response to comms will be "conform or get out".<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I present democracy!
Commanding is more of a dictatorship though, so doesn't quite work.