pls use your gorge tunnel to infest RTs
turtsmcgurt
Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165456Members, Reinforced - Supporter
I have been playing this game far too much the past week and I have been kind of shocked as to how many people didn't know (what I thought) basic mechanics of both gorge and alien commander.
Gorge tunnels produce infestation. Works exactly like a cyst except that you can only build from it, not cyst. The typical way to use this is to put a sneaky gorge tunnel somewhere on the map and place a shade on it, but something I don't see anyone do is use it to cyst a RT. If you're fighting over a sought after room, marines are going to break the cyst chain to it in attempt to starve/annoy you, so place the tunnel relatively close (even on the other side of a wall) to the RT. First example I can think of is Nano on Veil. http://imgur.com/a/agdAq
Next up, alien commander. I don't think I have actually seen a alien commander spread the upgrades out between hives. Stop insisting that you put all of your shells at your crag hive, spurs at shift, ect. If you lose that hive (and marines take the room), you just lost your shells and ability to make them assuming you couldn't echo them out for some reason. Place at least one shell at your shift/shade hive when possible, echo only costs 2 res if needed. Ideally when both hives are up and you have a little spare res, you could just echo all of your upgrades to the opposite hive. Did your Crag hive go down? No need to fret because all of your shells are at the other hive, but you've lose your spurs (which can be rebuilt instantly if not already echoed out).
http://imgur.com/37puWrN
thx
*Edited your title so its more clear than 3 letters -Ironhorse*
Gorge tunnels produce infestation. Works exactly like a cyst except that you can only build from it, not cyst. The typical way to use this is to put a sneaky gorge tunnel somewhere on the map and place a shade on it, but something I don't see anyone do is use it to cyst a RT. If you're fighting over a sought after room, marines are going to break the cyst chain to it in attempt to starve/annoy you, so place the tunnel relatively close (even on the other side of a wall) to the RT. First example I can think of is Nano on Veil. http://imgur.com/a/agdAq
Next up, alien commander. I don't think I have actually seen a alien commander spread the upgrades out between hives. Stop insisting that you put all of your shells at your crag hive, spurs at shift, ect. If you lose that hive (and marines take the room), you just lost your shells and ability to make them assuming you couldn't echo them out for some reason. Place at least one shell at your shift/shade hive when possible, echo only costs 2 res if needed. Ideally when both hives are up and you have a little spare res, you could just echo all of your upgrades to the opposite hive. Did your Crag hive go down? No need to fret because all of your shells are at the other hive, but you've lose your spurs (which can be rebuilt instantly if not already echoed out).
http://imgur.com/37puWrN
thx
*Edited your title so its more clear than 3 letters -Ironhorse*
Comments
Also I forget which clan it was, maybe Saunamen? Or maybe it was in the summer cup... hmm anyway someone did the nanogrid gorge tunnel tactic, but it proved less useful than you'd imagine: as soon as marines have found it, they only need to take down that 1 structure and you lose:
a) means to get to nanogrid quickly
b) infestation to both harvesters very quickly
c) ability to recyst the harvesters, or to echo structures nearby the dying harvesters (as it takes less time for the infestation to recede when it's only a gorge tunnel than if it's the whole room cysted up).
d) pres on the gorge who placed the tunnel
Overall I'd say it's less useful than might be imagined, specifically for key map points.
On the other hand, gorge tunnels to sneaky healing stations can be incredibly useful to support the attack of more remote marine bases while allowing you to respond to counter attacks quickly: for example, sneaky gorge tunnels in topo/sky on Veil or silo/obs on Descent.
Alien Khamms please start using the shift, you can save a lot of tres using it e.g. if marines rush into a base with all upgrades "echo" them into another base with the shift.
clearly you don't not cyst to nano, it's just a backup.
seeing as how I didn't post this in the Competitive section (I don't watch nor play, so I wouldn't), I didn't expect I would need to say that this isn't focused or even viable in 6's. thanks for the post.
On these forums you always have to expect that anything and everything you post will be viewed from a 6v6 comp perspective from a certain percentage of the members, unless you specify otherwise.
Doesn't matter that you don't play 6v6. It could be viable in 6s how do you know if you don't play pugs or other 6v6 games?
edit: worded a wee bit better
An example would be the back corner of Ballcourt with a shade, drifter and shift. (assuming you are holding locker and Generator) If one falls just start echoing everything to the surviving hive. The drifter is valuable to scout ninja phase gate anyway so now it gets double duty to justify it's new 8 Res cost.
I wouldn't put a drifter under a shades protection. Their cloak is slightly different than the structures so they stand out and are easy to spot.
Good to know thanks. Maybe a Drifter set to patrol a wider area Ballcourt through generator for example, sometimes in Pubs I have trouble trusting my players to occasionally scout our rear.
If you keep them in your hive room, people will know where they are, but if anyone goes to try to destroy them they'll likely only manage to get 1, if any at all, before someone spawns/responds and clears them out.
Also the tunnel to nano is pretty decent in pubs in my experience. Saves a lot of res since a lot of pub rines suicide in y junction and system killing cysts. Can also backup your team quickly in nano. which is nice, since alien comm is so damn boring now.
I think it is about managing risk. Honestly having all your upgrades in one place is a bit of a risk anyway. If it is area between your hives you are more likely to have time to respond from either. Locker rooms to Ballcourt for example is a short walk. On top of that this Strategy will only be effective so long as it is uncommon. If everyone starts hiding upgrades around the map it will become common place to scout the map for hidden upgrades.
Until then, the chances that Ballcourt is scanned/someone bumps into an upgrade hidden in a corner are pretty slim. If they do, chances are it is because they are in combat which should give you enough time to echo them away.
I have used this strategy a few times on various maps. Only once were they discovered (Bottom left corner of maintenance not Ballcourt) and I have never lost any of the upgrades.
And if I do put them in base, I try and split them up. Putting all upgrades in a nice little row is like Christmas to a JP Flamer Marine.
Its on the todo list, but ya know.. playing ns2 is much more interesting then writing borin guides.
-Gorge Tunnels will now always spawn Infestation (other side doesn’t need to be infested)
From the reinforced changelog.
As for upgrades, on pubs just abuse F4-F2 gorge and stack a pile of clogs on your hydra guarded upgrades. Gg. :P
Pipe is 1000x better than sub.
Yea the only problem with that is that you end up in the wrong tunnel with alien vision on lol or at least I do
Yes system is way easier for marines to lock down than dome (early anyway) and since dome now goes to nano...
I just watched that game it was funny how long it could stand but if the cyst chain worked for aliens they would not only infest gravity more but also secure dronebay meaning the marines would be pushed back to observation and occupied with getting back drone rather than backstabbing gravity. Gravity harvester would maby be flanked and taken out then that marine could backstab drone bay again instead of pushing in where the upgrades was. Im not saying it was the best location or safe to have them there just that it COULD work with a little luck and they was all out of luck! Nicely played btw
Wow, just got a blast to the past with that one
In case you didn't know (if you do know forgive me), Mendasp changed Veil around a few months ago, making it easier to cyst into nano from pipeline. Pipe is now generally considered to be better than cargo and as good/better than sub as a spawn point.