Essential Strategic Structural Placement
Error404
Join Date: 2002-11-19 Member: 9353Members
Join Date: 2002-11-19 Member: 9353Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Phase Gate Placement (+other structures)</div> <u><b>Essential Strategic Structural Placement</b></u>
<i>Phase Gate Location (+other structures)</i>
The phase gate usually determines whether a hive is won or lost by the marines, and therefore its placement is of utmost importance. Most commanders in a hurry to drop a phase gate usually do so without thinking of the consequences of it's location. This guide, I hope will make future commanders think more carefully about where they decide to place the phase gate and other structures of importance to the marines.
<u>Learning from Turret Factories</u>
Since most commanders realize the importance of the turret factory, they make it as hard as possible to attack. They do so, by building the turret factory <i>into</i> the walls in a corner of a room, immediately reducing the amount of surfaces that are vulnerable to attack on the structure. Not only is the turret factory harder to attack, it means that any hostile attacking the structure will be facing the wall and leaving themselves open to attack, and prevents any chance of a place for a hostile to hide.
So why not apply the same method of placement to other structures? <b>If the phase gate were to be built as close as possible into the corner of a room</b>, it would prevent any alien from strafing around the structure to dodge gunfire, also since the alien's back is towards the marine, it would be unwary of approaching soldiers as it was damaging the structure; making it an easier target.
Like the turret factory, it would also be easier to defend, as half the side of the phase gate would already be protected by the site walls, it would mean that turrets would only be required on one side of it.
<u>Other Structures</u>
This method of using the natural cover to make marine structures less vulnerable to attack can be used on most other marine buildings depending on the situation. Apart from the amory and sentries, which are more effective within an open space, all the other marine structures could benefit from this technique.
Not only existing walls can be used, but other structures themselves can be used, placing them within a heirarchy, one can assess which structures should be more revealed than others. This way, alot of resources could be saved in defence, making the job of the marines and yourself much easier.
<i>For example</i>, the observatory is the weakest marine structure, yet at the same time it is one of the most important. It could be placed deep into the corner of a room. Stronger structures that are not often first priority for alien attack could be placed right next to it (as close as possible), like the arms lab, prototype lab, seige, etc. Use your imagination. If aliens want to kill the observatory, then they have to get through the other structures first, or stand on top of the observatory as an open and easy target.
The fewer structures you have in the open, the less havoc a single skulk can cause as there are fewer places to hide and use for shielding. The less places a marine needs to defend.
<u>Summary</u>
Basically, the idea is to reduce the surface area that is open to attack of all your structures. Ideally, this would be done by placing important but weak structures at the centre of this arrangement, and less important structures on the outer rim. The structures would be placed in close contact, if not touching, so that no alien could squeeze between the gaps of them. It would create a compact unit that would be really easy for marines to defend.
I play skulk alot, and from experience, the tighter the arrangement of structures, the harder it is to penetrate. Dodging gunfire requires space, taking away that part of the equation, means less dodging and less biting. I also don't like having my back to the enemy.
<u>The Possibilities</u>
I have brought the main concept to you, now its up to you to come up with all the various possibilities and solutions that this strategy can provide. Even turrets in a corner will last longer than turrets in the open, as there is no room to turret strafe as most skulks do, it means they are harder to take down.
I hope this strategy will increase the durability of your phasegates, as it has for turret factories. <b>As soon as a phase gate is dropped tightly into the corner of a room, putting a turret factory side-by-side to it, increases that phase gate's chances of survival by over 75% already.</b> That Phase Gate will be tightly boxed in, with an exit point for marines, skulks can only attack a small proportion of it, with little space to manouvre from bullets.
You have to use your imagination, the possiblities are endless.
<i>Hope this strategy is useful, it's based on enough experience of playing NS to support it. Your comments are welcome.. </i>
<!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
<i>Phase Gate Location (+other structures)</i>
The phase gate usually determines whether a hive is won or lost by the marines, and therefore its placement is of utmost importance. Most commanders in a hurry to drop a phase gate usually do so without thinking of the consequences of it's location. This guide, I hope will make future commanders think more carefully about where they decide to place the phase gate and other structures of importance to the marines.
<u>Learning from Turret Factories</u>
Since most commanders realize the importance of the turret factory, they make it as hard as possible to attack. They do so, by building the turret factory <i>into</i> the walls in a corner of a room, immediately reducing the amount of surfaces that are vulnerable to attack on the structure. Not only is the turret factory harder to attack, it means that any hostile attacking the structure will be facing the wall and leaving themselves open to attack, and prevents any chance of a place for a hostile to hide.
So why not apply the same method of placement to other structures? <b>If the phase gate were to be built as close as possible into the corner of a room</b>, it would prevent any alien from strafing around the structure to dodge gunfire, also since the alien's back is towards the marine, it would be unwary of approaching soldiers as it was damaging the structure; making it an easier target.
Like the turret factory, it would also be easier to defend, as half the side of the phase gate would already be protected by the site walls, it would mean that turrets would only be required on one side of it.
<u>Other Structures</u>
This method of using the natural cover to make marine structures less vulnerable to attack can be used on most other marine buildings depending on the situation. Apart from the amory and sentries, which are more effective within an open space, all the other marine structures could benefit from this technique.
Not only existing walls can be used, but other structures themselves can be used, placing them within a heirarchy, one can assess which structures should be more revealed than others. This way, alot of resources could be saved in defence, making the job of the marines and yourself much easier.
<i>For example</i>, the observatory is the weakest marine structure, yet at the same time it is one of the most important. It could be placed deep into the corner of a room. Stronger structures that are not often first priority for alien attack could be placed right next to it (as close as possible), like the arms lab, prototype lab, seige, etc. Use your imagination. If aliens want to kill the observatory, then they have to get through the other structures first, or stand on top of the observatory as an open and easy target.
The fewer structures you have in the open, the less havoc a single skulk can cause as there are fewer places to hide and use for shielding. The less places a marine needs to defend.
<u>Summary</u>
Basically, the idea is to reduce the surface area that is open to attack of all your structures. Ideally, this would be done by placing important but weak structures at the centre of this arrangement, and less important structures on the outer rim. The structures would be placed in close contact, if not touching, so that no alien could squeeze between the gaps of them. It would create a compact unit that would be really easy for marines to defend.
I play skulk alot, and from experience, the tighter the arrangement of structures, the harder it is to penetrate. Dodging gunfire requires space, taking away that part of the equation, means less dodging and less biting. I also don't like having my back to the enemy.
<u>The Possibilities</u>
I have brought the main concept to you, now its up to you to come up with all the various possibilities and solutions that this strategy can provide. Even turrets in a corner will last longer than turrets in the open, as there is no room to turret strafe as most skulks do, it means they are harder to take down.
I hope this strategy will increase the durability of your phasegates, as it has for turret factories. <b>As soon as a phase gate is dropped tightly into the corner of a room, putting a turret factory side-by-side to it, increases that phase gate's chances of survival by over 75% already.</b> That Phase Gate will be tightly boxed in, with an exit point for marines, skulks can only attack a small proportion of it, with little space to manouvre from bullets.
You have to use your imagination, the possiblities are endless.
<i>Hope this strategy is useful, it's based on enough experience of playing NS to support it. Your comments are welcome.. </i>
<!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Comments
What does this mean? If you step through a gate facing north, and your comm has placed the north side of the terminating gate against a wall, you'll end up facing the wall. This is not a good idea. Take a moment to turn around before gating so that you're facing in the right direction before getting into combat.
Good advice, I didn't think about that.
If the roof is too small - or has sloping (marine spawn - ns_nothing) your marines can get stuck. The center of the phase gate should not be in walls either, as also can get the marines stuck. The outside rims are fine.
But as the above poster said you can't be as aggressive when placing PGs in the corner. I once had a PG which was a stuck-trap because of a miniscule wall mounted light fitting -- it was the size of a matchbox! Pretty hard to spot as commander.
But as the above poster said you can't be as aggressive when placing PGs in the corner. I once had a PG which was a stuck-trap because of a miniscule wall mounted light fitting -- it was the size of a matchbox! Pretty hard to spot as commander. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Agreed, I've played on servers where the Phase gate was so tightly hemmed in by turrets that if you didn't jump onto the turrets and out of the way in time, you would be killed by the next player that phased in. Having said that, that phase gate didn't get a single bit of damage throughout the game!!
Of course, the commander is the one to make the decisions, and he/she has to decide the compromise between phase gate longevity and ease of movement of troops. I've played in games where the marine team were so good and the alien team so incompetent, that the commander could drop a single phase gate in the middle of the open, and be confident that it was safe.
To tightly build a phasegate into the corner of a room, and then drop a turret factory right next door to it, is an extreme example to ensure that it doesn't go down too quickly. Like I said, there are many ways to use the existing surroundings to provide cover for the structures, its up to the commanders to be imaginative for how these can be used.
Otherwise, by all means cluster/cover via walls. Just be wary of placing the cluster or things like the armory in places where fades can rocket.
A lot of newer commanders seem to be forgetting about what Error404 brings up here when I've been playing lately. If you want your tech rush to work, don't make it easy for me and my merry band of suicidal skulks to rush your advanced armory and send you back to the stone ages.
One other aspect that I didn't see in this article was the importance of shadows. Placing your Observatory in a far, protected corner is great. If you have 2 corners to choose from, and one is darker and more shadowed, go with the dark one. Many aliens will never even see it as they rush past to knaw on something else, giving you the few extra seconds you need to beacon or call in PG reinforcemenst to save the day. It seems like common sense when you read it here, but play a few rounds on ns_eclipse and see how many commanders leave stuff out in the light when there are plenty of dark corners to drop structures in...
Well spoken, Error404.
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Yes, I've found tight phase placement to be more of a problem for marines, frankly. Once it's surrounded by a couple of structures, you have less chance of getting out of the phase once it starts being attacked. I've seen a fair few times where it was such an obstacle course to get out of the phase, that a single fade was able to kill any marine phasing in with acid rockets before he managed to climb over the turrets etc surrounding it.
I'd agree that corner placement is a good idea, but please don't hem the phase in with anything else - leave plenty of room for a rapid exit.
I dunno, tough call really <!--emo&::sentry::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/turret.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='turret.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::sentry::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/turret.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='turret.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::sentry::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/turret.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='turret.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::sentry::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/turret.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='turret.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::sentry::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/turret.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='turret.gif'><!--endemo-->
Sifo
Phase is generally best out from the turret factory (that is in the corner) with 2 turrets each side of the phase covering each other. More turrets can be applied later - but 2 is enough early on.
Being primarily a skulker (I have skipped fading for the past 2 months - even in clan wars) I know that this placement hampers me the most - I resort to taking out turrets in the case that a commander is smart enough to do this against me.
Another thing to note is using the top balcony on ns_nothing to hide your observatory. It will skip all but expert skulks attention.
<!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Sifo
Thats not a bad idea you know.
I'm fairly certain that the rotation of the TF is only a cosmetic change, and that the actual clipping box is always square to the world. As long as the corner you push it up against is also aligned to the horizontal/vertical of the comm screen/world, then there should never be a gap.
I don't know whether the hitbox for attacks is related to the rotation of the model or just corresponds to the clipping hull of the TF, but the way that marine RT's are would suggest the latter to me. Anybody with proper knowledge of the HL engine wanna clarify/poke holes in this?(I'm used to the quake 1 engine...)
I try to surround CC with IPs, placed at least 2 skulk seconds away from CC, since newly spawned marines are easy skulk food.