[POLL] What hive/upgrade do you pick first as alien commander?

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Comments

  • pendelum5pendelum5 Join Date: 2012-10-29 Member: 164317Members
    edited December 2012
    I think there is a lot of positive sentiment for the standard NS1 opening of Celerity + Carapace. Much of it is deserved, as the utility of Celerity and Carapace benefits all life forms and abilities. Regeneration and Adrenaline have a more utility role in prolonged harassment and base demolition. However, the utility of both Camouflage and Silence cannot be understated. Camouflage not only forces the Marine commander to build Observatories, which cost 15 res and only cover 1 room/area, but also to use Scans, which cost 3 res and only lasts a few seconds. The point of Shade first is to hide your 4-minute Hive drop and kill every Extractor and Marine who steps outside Observatory range. It can be very effective at shutting down the Marine economy and preventing Harvester harassment if used correctly. Camouflage is notably less effective in the mid-to-late game when Marines take 5 bites or more to completely kill.

    Silence is also a utility upgrade for roles such as flanking and scouting.
  • KajirouKajirou Join Date: 2012-11-28 Member: 173541Members
    Love shade myself, although I'm perfectly happy with shift too. Mostly because shade is very effective at first, lets your skulks start engagements on their own terms most of the time. I don't feel shift is too special, although it does give a very nice boost. You should really only use it when you have to, or when your skulks out skill the enemy and work together properly.

    But shade also comes with a fun psychological attack on the enemy, because suddenly they have no idea what you are or when they're going to get jumped. You could have 4 skulks around you at any given moment, just waiting for you to start building that extractor before they take you and it out. Then the commander has to spend more res on scans and putting up observatories, res they have very little of because of the ambushes on nodes they want, and sneaky aliens slipping behind the lines to take out the RTs they thought were safe. And by that time the aliens are just swimming in res. As long as they're not being too awful, you shouldn't end up getting egg locked either.

    Not to mention that cammo and silence tend to be a lot less effective late game, when they have observatories and turrets up all over, and spare res to scan with. Unless you've shut them down anyways.
  • LofungLofung Join Date: 2004-08-21 Member: 30757Members
  • PaniohitusPaniohitus Join Date: 2012-11-09 Member: 168790Members
    edited December 2012
    Shade hive has many disadvantages. THe only advatage in the beginning is silence. Camo is losing the game in pubs most of the time, because aliens are playing to slow. Yes, noobs kills this way also some marines, but thats the only advantage....
    The first beginning when you have camo as alien-side you have some direct kills. But those kills come from sneaking the enemy and is slow. Most of the time you can better have players who kills 1/2 marines, respawn and kill those again then 1 alien that kills 1/2 marines in the same time

    The huge turn-side effect is that Noob-marines who goes normally alone, are now staying in groups, because those players can now not only be killed by skilled-alien-players, but even by noobs because they have cloaking. As alien-commander you give those marine-loners a gift, because they are better performing now.
  • xen32xen32 Join Date: 2012-10-18 Member: 162676Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    edited December 2012
    I really don't know why so many khamms prefer shift. I always get shift last. My build order is:
    Camo
    Regen + Cara (both at the same time, if I have res)
    Celerity + adrenaline (both at the same time, if I have res)

    Silence might be anywhere after camo, depending of how much spare res we have.
    I drop second hive fast (again, situation might vary), so we usually get camo + crag upgrades really fast.

    Can't imagine a match without crags and shades.

    And don't forget that veil and camo are cheaper res wise. (5+10 I think, as opposed to 10+15 cara)
  • NeokenNeoken Bruges, Belgium Join Date: 2004-03-20 Member: 27447Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Playtester
    Imo, camo is only really useful in the early game. Mid and late game it's pretty much a gimmick. While cara and adren are arguably the most important upgrades late game. That's why I still go with shift and crag for first and second hive. Cause if you go camo first, you better win the game in the first 5 minutes, or at least gain enough map control to get a 3rd hive up.
  • xen32xen32 Join Date: 2012-10-18 Member: 162676Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    <!--quoteo(post=2038314:date=Dec 1 2012, 04:05 AM:name=Neoken)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Neoken @ Dec 1 2012, 04:05 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2038314"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Imo, camo is only really useful in the early game.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    That's the point. It gives you huge advantage in early game, more than any other upgrade, and with it's help you get yourself res, 2nd and sometimes 3rd hive with upgrades essential for late game.
  • RoobubbaRoobubba Who you gonna call? Join Date: 2003-01-06 Member: 11930Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    <!--quoteo(post=2038333:date=Dec 1 2012, 09:09 AM:name=xen32)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (xen32 @ Dec 1 2012, 09:09 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2038333"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->That's the point. It gives you huge advantage in early game, more than any other upgrade, and with it's help you get yourself res, 2nd and sometimes 3rd hive with upgrades essential for late game.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    And there in turn lies its weakness: if you <i>don't</i> get that third hive up, you struggle against highly teched marines without a crag or shift hive. At least with early celerity (to some extent with silence, but NEVER with camo...) your skulks can move about the map and respond to threats/attack marines more quickly. Assuming you have a coordinated team (I'm always on the mic, for example), this is far more important than being able to hold one room for a while until the commander scans it, which is all camo *really* gives you.
  • turtsmcgurtturtsmcgurt Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165456Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    I don't play the game competitively due to performance issues and I also don't play in public servers without friends. With that said, when I do play I drop one of them a Lerk egg then evolve Crag hive and get them early regen.
  • Angry ChildAngry Child Join Date: 2012-12-05 Member: 174256Members
    I think every opening is viable in some way or another, its up to the players to take the advantage of what you are providing to them.
  • AurOn2AurOn2 COOKIES&#33; FREEDOM, AND BISCUITS&#33; Australia Join Date: 2012-01-13 Member: 140224Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Forum staff
    i find carapace firsts are the best to go nowadays, people die less (or rather, take longer to die, and scathe off that killing bullet as they escape), can regenerate faster, and indirectly affects eggs, less deaths -> more eggs -> more respawns.
    shift is only good for celerity atm, as shifts themselves suck, 2 eggs for 5 res? Noty. maybe if it was 4 eggs, or 2 eggs for 3 res would that be even worth spending money on.
  • _Necro__Necro_ Join Date: 2011-02-15 Member: 81895Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    <!--quoteo(post=2038363:date=Dec 1 2012, 05:05 PM:name=Roobubba)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Roobubba @ Dec 1 2012, 05:05 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2038363"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->And there in turn lies its weakness: if you <i>don't</i> get that third hive up, you struggle against highly teched marines without a crag or shift hive. At least with early celerity (to some extent with silence, but NEVER with camo...) your skulks can move about the map and respond to threats/attack marines more quickly. Assuming you have a coordinated team (I'm always on the mic, for example), this is far more important than being able to hold one room for a while until the commander scans it, which is all camo *really* gives you.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Nah, you are using camo wrong. You know you can deactivate it by jumping? You only cloak when you can hear marines. You use camo to engage not to camp. If you want to camp and make ambushes, you don't need camo, you can just hide on the ceiling. Camo is good to engage the marines. Without camo, you can't engage them through a long hallway. You need to wait, that they change position or move around them to get from behind. This makes you overall slower. (You lose more time) With camo you can attack them simply everywhere. (obs excluded) Just walljump through the map. See marines? Retreat around the next corner, cloak, get in, Profit! The network delay does the rest. You got 2 bites in before the marine can even react.

    The people are right, that it is only really useful in the early game. And that it is more powerful in the early game than cara or cele. The people are also right, that you are pretty much screwed, when you don't get a 2nd hive, because camo isn't useful for fades and lerks. If marines can establish enough bases (=pg + obs) on the tech nodes and keep enough RTs, camo is completely negated.

    But think of it this way. If camo is the most powerful option in the early game and you lose the early game. Are you sure, you would have won the early game with cele or cara?
    Also because camo is only useful in the early game, you don't push its use in the future. You completely scrap it, because camo as 3rd hive does nearly nothing. Either you have already won this game with 3 hives or camo won't make the difference at this point.

    So practical it is a solution of use camo (= get it as soon as possible) or don't use it.
  • ViajeroViajero Join Date: 2012-09-21 Member: 160238Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited December 2012
    <!--quoteo(post=2040952:date=Dec 6 2012, 01:14 PM:name=_Necro_)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (_Necro_ @ Dec 6 2012, 01:14 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2040952"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->But think of it this way. If camo is the most powerful option in the early game and you lose the early game. Are you sure, you would have won the early game with cele or cara?
    Also because camo is only useful in the early game, you don't push its use in the future. You completely scrap it, because camo as 3rd hive does nearly nothing. Either you have already won this game with 3 hives or camo won't make the difference at this point.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Seems logic enough. And as a skulk player this is the way I ve always used camo in the game: to engage and get a couple bites in, not to camp.

    As a noob Alien commander I also always started using Shade hive first. As the noob I still am lost a good share of those. But I had attributed the losses to wrong 1st hive seletcion and started selecting either shift or crag leaving camo for late game.

    But I guess once you become a little experienced as comm a Shade hive first could make a lot of sense! As long as you are reasonably certain your team will use camo correctly.

    I presume it is all still quite circunstantial and every hive will alwways have a solid reason to be first anyways, depending on map, team experience etc. Good commanders will know which one to call for first.
  • MestaritonttuMestaritonttu Join Date: 2004-07-29 Member: 30229Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold
    Camo.

    Because I haven't lost a single game with it yet. (+10 khammed games and counting...)

    Although pub marines are still rather poor. Still not nearly aggressive enough nor having much map awareness. (Either defending too much or not defending at all.) It is getting better, but there's still work to be done. I'm optimistic.

    (I still think camo is OP tho lol.)
  • MaximumSquidMaximumSquid Join Date: 2010-07-20 Member: 72593Members
    <u><b>buhehe:</b></u>

    Doesn't NS2stats.org already track the opening evolution so you don't need to do this?
  • _Necro__Necro_ Join Date: 2011-02-15 Member: 81895Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    I also think Camo is OP right now. It needs at least a delay of 0.5 or 1 second after uncloaking before you can attack. This should account the network delay. It should give marines the option to counter it if they constantly looking around. And it would make it more demanding and interesting to use for aliens.
  • grazrgrazr Join Date: 2012-10-12 Member: 162195Members
    edited December 2012
    <!--quoteo(post=2037628:date=Nov 30 2012, 02:27 AM:name=flyjum)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (flyjum @ Nov 30 2012, 02:27 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2037628"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->fast 2nd hive assuming we have a few players who go gorge to defend/spray
    Get leap up
    After that get crag/shade or maybe shift if we are doing good on res but they have 3rd locked down<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Pretty much this.

    economy>second hive drop>upgrade 2 hives shift and crag.

    If the marine team is pushing strong sometimes i go shade because camo really stops the marine team from spreading out and grabbing territory at the start. So it's either economy and 2 hives, or shade for camo and map control.

    I've never seen a player who hasn't complained about a crag hive opening and the same could be said for shade, although performance always seems to be better when they have silence and camo. Generally anyone complaining about a shade opening doesn't know what they're talking about, especially since it cripples a marine economy if they decide to rush as they need to scan all your ######.

    If it's the map with nanogrid or lava falls, sometimes it pays to open shift so you can spawn eggs in those key locations, then you can back peddle to your second hive relatively safely.
  • maD maXmaD maX Join Date: 2010-01-28 Member: 70347Members
    edited December 2012
    Since a basic upgrade costs about the same as a hive(45 for cara) I always wait till I have 30ish res, then it is a matter of determining need.

    Situation 1--- team is doing well without first upgrade
    Strategy- Drop second hive and go cara->leap-->celer

    Situation 2---- team is struggling unable to secure second hive location
    Strategy- evolve shift hive get celerity then get a shift in or near second hive location to help secure then save for second hive.

    You do not need to pace getting an upgrade, getting an upgrade takes about a minute, there is no need to evolve a shift hive in the first 30 seconds of the game if your not going to get celerity up until the 4 minute mark.... Save that early res for harvesters and don't lock yourself into a strategy until you see how the game is playing out.

    If you realize you need an upgrade you can rush it by:
    step 1 evolve Craig hive and go gorge same time,
    Step 2 drop shell get out and build it
    Step 3 evolve cara
    Or shift hive... But the point is it dosnt take long to get an upgrade so don't do it unil you need it.





    There is an exception and that is shade.... Shade should be gotten ASAP even at the expense of harvesters since cloak/silence lose effectiveness as the game progresses... If you go cloak you go all in on harassment and containment...
  • buhehebuhehe Join Date: 2012-05-15 Member: 152140Members
    <!--quoteo(post=2040981:date=Dec 6 2012, 02:31 PM:name=MaximumSquid)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MaximumSquid @ Dec 6 2012, 02:31 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2040981"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><u><b>buhehe:</b></u>

    Doesn't NS2stats.org already track the opening evolution so you don't need to do this?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Oh it does? I sometimes look up that site but never found that info.
    If that's the case, I apologize

    Still can't find it, though :\
  • Shrike3OShrike3O Join Date: 2002-11-03 Member: 6678Members, Constellation
    edited December 2012
    I poll the server I'm on, and if nobody has a strong opinion I usually go late shift. I'll leave the hive unupgraded unless my team is dying a lot (egg crunch) or I'm about to drop the second hive, at which point I'll put a shift in my new hive location, letting the gorges build it up quickly and letting me spawn eggs there if the hive starts getting shot up. Waiting that long to do anything related to upgrades means I usually have 4-6 harvesters running, which results in a tech explosion where cele and adren go up during the hive gestation, leap comes immediately after hive gestation, and the next couple of minutes bring all of the T2 lifeform upgrades, carapace and regeneration. As Clinton said once, "It's the economy, stupid." This strat varies a bit for map specific reasons (such as dropping an early shift into Nano on Veil) but generally seems to work if your players are half-organized.

    Getting harvesters up in large numbers and early, on pubs, seems key to me, and I'm surprised at how often I see a Khammander spending his starting res on upgrades. If you're sitting on 2 res nodes, it takes twice as long to do anything as if you're sitting on 4, including expanding your res-gathering capabilities. If your players *require* upgrades on a basic skulk in order to be competitive with A0/W0 marines, you're likely playing a losing game; going for large resource pools early means you spend the first 5 or so minutes of the game without any real upgrades, but your players have a large pres pool and by minute 6-7 you've got a TON of options. I start hearing "5 mins and no upgrades, wtf?" sometimes, and it's always amusing to spend the next couple of minutes saying "X upgrade is available" every 15 seconds.

    The most frequent alternate strategy is people asking for Shade hive first, in which case I'll grab my 2-3 nearest harvesters and then upgrade for Camo. Everything after that is dependent on my players being aggressive enough to suppress marine expansion while I grab a couple more harvesters and a second hive so we can actually get into a stand-up fight; if they're following directions, sneaking past marines to chew up rear res nodes and ambushing them when they try to expand, the comm isn't able to seed the map with observatories and it goes well. This is a strat that requires more player organization than my primary "be better at killing everything" strategy, but it's a lot of fun to play when it works. If you're really lucky, the Commander will be using scans left and right, and ruining his economy in the process.
  • includeinclude aka RpTheHotrod Dallas, TX Join Date: 2003-01-08 Member: 12027Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    If the marines are aggressive, I go shift to prevent egg locks. Otherwise, I go crag as dropping crags really helps in many situations, especially bad situations where you end up having an onos and he needs a safe point to fall back to.
  • ninjabusdriverninjabusdriver Join Date: 2003-09-03 Member: 20534Members
    I think it's a good sign that there isn't a completely dominant (in terms of being picked) hive to go for first. I wish all hives were beneficial for all lifeforms (fade/lerk esp), but for skulks it's all useful presently. My success with any of the hives (both as khammander and skulk) has largely depended on the skill of my group more than the hive chosen.
  • grazrgrazr Join Date: 2012-10-12 Member: 162195Members
    edited December 2012
    <!--quoteo(post=2041074:date=Dec 6 2012, 05:21 PM:name=include)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (include @ Dec 6 2012, 05:21 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2041074"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->If the marines are aggressive, I go shift to prevent egg locks. Otherwise, I go crag as dropping crags really helps in many situations, especially bad situations where you end up having an onos and he needs a safe point to fall back to.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    I've always found that unless you drop 4 crags (the same price as a hive), healing up as an onos on the frontlines just leaves you vulnerable, i survive a lot more and do a lot more sustained damage by running between a hive and the combat (granted i always run celerity). Healing up at crags just leaves you open to being sniped. Though crags are more useful for fades and lerks who heal up fully much faster.

    Conclusion: crag nests are only useful when it becomes late game siege vs seige and you're not relying on onos.
  • Champlo0Champlo0 Join Date: 2012-04-17 Member: 150617Members
    If I have non bad skulks camo
    If I have bad skulks cara
    If the rine team is good cara
  • ViajeroViajero Join Date: 2012-09-21 Member: 160238Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited December 2012
    <!--quoteo(post=2041084:date=Dec 6 2012, 06:40 PM:name=Champlo0)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Champlo0 @ Dec 6 2012, 06:40 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2041084"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->If I have non bad skulks camo
    If I have bad skulks cara
    If the rine team is good cara<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    How do you know all that off the bat in a random pub game?
  • TimariusTimarius Join Date: 2012-11-15 Member: 171220Members
    I always go shift hive first and get Celerity around 3 minutes in after focusing up map control, unless I see that my teammates are dominating, in which case, I'll upgrade the hive and go for Celerity just as I hit 3 harvesters so they can either seal the deal or keep up the pressure.

    I don't like going shade first because I don't like giving incentive for players to play defense too hard too early.

    And I don't like going Crag first because it keeps me from having a Gorge heal the second hive forever with a Shift.

    Of course, none of this matters because I try not to Khamm too much anymore. Tired of hogging the hive.

    But if you do see me in the chair, prepare for a big chance at loss as I play around with new ideas.
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