Noob Commander!
DrNick
Join Date: 2003-05-04 Member: 16064Members
Join Date: 2003-05-04 Member: 16064Members
<div class="IPBDescription">I want to be a Commander!</div> Hey <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
I'm new to NS, and I like the commander mode of play. I play warcraft and Command and Conquer loads, and I was wondering what the best way to learn 'commandering' was? Any suggestions?
Dr Nick
I'm new to NS, and I like the commander mode of play. I play warcraft and Command and Conquer loads, and I was wondering what the best way to learn 'commandering' was? Any suggestions?
Dr Nick
Comments
i don`t comm much but i got a rough idea of stuff to do.
ip > armoury > few packs of mines. i think thats just about standard now, now u can branch off into choices, the usuall 2 at this point would be, an obseratory giveing you pahse gate access (always usefull) and the motion tracking (costly but will keep ur marines alive longer, MUCH longer) or pop down a arms lab right now and get teching the marines ASAP!
whatever you do after then, you gotta start capping some res nodes or even a hive.
use your birds eye view to ur advantage, lisetien to the hive to determine which one is theirs, and if u got voice comm then warn ur group when skulk incomming.
i would say, going after res or hive that is most far away from their starting, so thus they have to run a considerble more lengh where as we got phase gates <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
for e.g.
they are in waste in tanith, so we go for sat. keeping on the offence we don`t even need to defend our res nodes, because the skulks are so busy defending their hive <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
if we stop the skulks are gonna run around everywhere killing everything that isn`t turret farmed or has a brain and a lmg.
hmmmmmm, well that kinda sums it up a bit, look at what other comms do and their are other comm strats and things around the forums, adapting to ur situation u also gotta do, played a game ounce, we were the ones with clan memebers and comm, but he just order us again and again into a deadly ambush area, with high tall roofs and dark areas, needless to say we got eaten every time untill we saw fades. becasue he wouldn`t realise that this wasn`t working and he had to do something else! bad comm <!--emo&:angry:--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif'><!--endemo-->
p.s. relocating is nice <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> to atmos in bast is the best.
farewell, and just remember, jp hmg wont work every time, if they got 2 hives up already i`d say HA, jp will fly right into webs and then die <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
2. Get to know the interface. Start up a lan game with or without bots to get a feel for it.
3. Realise that it is <b>people</b> you are dealing with and no matter how good you are at warcraft it won't mean anything unless you can get people to do what you want.
4. Plug in your mic, jump on a server, ask if it is ok that you COM, and start pulling your hair out. I'm bald, fortunately. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
its always a good idea to play as marine/grunt for a few weeks to get a feel for the game and the ideas that others have in play and if they work or not. you get to know the good/bad tactics when they work/fail. take note when you have a good comm that talks to the team, lets them know what is happening and what the plan is and knows what he/she is doing as i found it easier to learn by others successes/mistakes. make sure you have a mic and play late at night as servers tend to be a bit less populated and people are either tired or drunk and generally less abusive to noob comms. in fact when i was a noob player i mentioned id never commed b4 and the comm let me in the chair and guided me through the whole game and then done the same on the next map. one thing is certain, you should have an idea of the layout of the map ur comm on and playing as aliens once in a while keeps you aware of thier strategies so you can counter them and see them coming as comm. (personally i like alien just as much as marine...takes more getting used to but great wen u know wot ur doin)
well hope that helps, dont let arrogant "oh my god the comms a frickin noob" comments put you off...theres allways someone who thinks they know better or is totally against leting you comm, just remind those peeps that everyone was a noob once.
Noob Member NOT Noob Player <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Then I recommend finding a good server your already a reguler in and trying to comm there. make sure you practice some things in a lan by yourself. then just practice and learn. Trust me it's hard but...take time...don't get down with a couple loses and the ineveitable lack of teamwork you'll get.
-The key to winning is your resource flow. I basically mold my commanding around the taking and holding of resources. If you do this you can easily hold off 2-hive aliens and even knock down hives like mad.
-To make waypoints highlight your marines and right click on your destination.
-Get a microphone and talk to your team. If they know what you're thinking it helps dramatically. Also, you can warn them of flanking skulks.
-Keep trying. We were all rookie commanders at one point. Don't let a few (dozen) losses get you down.
-Remember that there are always the "veteran we roxor with jpzor" players that will eject you for not doing it their way. These guys are the same ones that F4 when the first JP rush is beaten. Really sad. <!--emo&:angry:--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif'><!--endemo-->
-Practice, practice, practice.
-OldManRipper
Before or after you started comming for NS???
Do not be afriad to send marines to attack in the beginning, pressuring the aliens is key, and if you can get your marines to kill the gorge at least 2-3 times, the aliens are screwed over, especially if they have no RTs or DCs up yet.
Another important thing to remember is that people are not always gonna listen to you. People do rambo about, the best way to deal with them is to select that person, and put a waypoint on their face by right clicking that person.
2 things will happen
A)that person will leave the server
B)that person will listen to you and follow the order to the best of their ability.
neither do many humans <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
i wouldnt get to used to commanding atm the next version is meant to come out soon and has many new features for commanders.
and seeing as the whole stratergy side of play looks like its gonna change loads next version. ull have to relearn lots and lots...
but so do all of us
Does that put a "Guard this soldier" wp above their head? If so, then that = hilarious!
Does that put a "Guard this soldier" wp above their head? If so, then that = hilarious! <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
you are correct sir.
1) Get crucial binds taken care of, by crucial I'm talking about your
a) Basic Build Menu
b) Advanced Build Menu
c) Equipment Menu
d) Health drop
e) Ammo drop
These are vital to ALL commanders, if you dont have a way of getting equipment and structures to your troops fast, you will have a far more difficult time.
2) Learn the maps by heart and know all the locations. Failing that, keep one eye on the minimap at all times, I'd bet that almost 9 times outta 10 that loud mouth asking for health and ammo is that estranged rambo, but hey, it shuts em up.
3) Have a strategy in mind.(Or at least pretend to have one) It doesnt have to make sense, but you have to be able to convince your marines it makes sense. Most marines don't want to stop and think about the big picture, they just want to win, so if your able to pawn off your idea as a game winning strategy, you can convince them to do anything.
what seems to help other commanders is if people in-game tell them what they need to build.
but you can't always count on your team to be right.
Remember to upgrade your Marines' weapons and armor.
Stay away from turret factories in base, mines work as well if not better and are less expensive.
Expand and control resource nozzles.
Keep pressure on the Aliens' resources and Gorge.
Make binds for ammo and health dropping.
Listen to your soldiers suggestions, unless they're wildly stupid.
That's all I can think of at the moment. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
ie
lock 2 hives down
Res Rush
locking 2 hives is good as u will limit the aliens access to the higher levels of their tech tree, but the trade off to this is it requires an organised team whos gonna work to gether to get both hives, this nowa days usually means a relcation to 1 of the hives at the start of the game. the problems with this are u have a limited number of res nozzles until u have both hives locked down correctly (in small - medium games anyway, in big games u can get 1 person to run round capping res for you).
with res rushing u capp as many nodes as possible allowing aliens access to hives, im strating to prefer this way as u save a huge heap of res that u would spend on PG X 2, TF X 2, sentries X 6-10, possible siege X 2-4, which equates to some where around 350 - 400+ res + all the welders ull have to dish out. for the same cost in res u could have give out a few shotties have a few marines go to hives and stop aliens from getting em and research everything else. then as long as u have the res u can start with a few mins of ppl using JP/hmgs JP/GLs and JP/shotties - then if u dont win with that just go for a big group of HA advance with them and destroy everything and just chuck an armory down everynow and again for them. but u have to keep ur res nozzles this way
the thing is the only thing that will teach u how to comm is probbaly gonna be a couple of losses so u know what not to do. but from my experiance 90% of the time when a marine team loses it because of the marines not the commander
I'm new to NS, and I like the commander mode of play. I play warcraft and Command and Conquer loads, and I was wondering what the best way to learn 'commandering' was? Any suggestions?
Dr Nick <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well hello and welcome to the game. Its good to see new players come along <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
I would suggest first practicing in a LAN against yourself by just getting the basics down of dropping things and what not.
Second, I would set up some Medpack and Ammo Pack Binds to make dropping them alot easier. If something is under attack and you need to know what it is, press the space bar to bring you there.
Watch how a few comms do things before trying it out (and make sure those comms win, or at least bring you close to, some comms may be good even if they loose, but you want to know for sure that they are good before you copy tactics <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->)
Hope this helped a little bit.
Oh and announce to the people that it is your first time comming, and if they give you grief, just tell them you'll try it another time, some times people may be frustrated from a long days work and school and may not want to have a first time comm in the chair lol.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
First of all, res is ur best friend but also ur worst enemy, use it wise, building too much trrts and stuff does not work
The start is very important, dont waste any res, invest it, but also remember that investing requires a higher res flow.
The most important thing is ur team, they are free, so everything that they can do should not be done by using res ( building TF's that are not neccesary to win )
Also keep in mind that everything u build should be builded on the right spot, like building in corners, building ips/pgs on the highest level as possible (rines can get down easier then goin up :doh: ) , building in big rooms but still leaving a big open space so rines can easily camp, buildings should not block rines or make aliens movement easier.
with making aliens movement easier I mean stuff like building IPs in a corner, this very very stupid, think about it, skulks have wallclimb, they just go on the wall and start biting from above, this will be a instakill for skulks when the rines respawn while they are killing the ip.
Also put an armry in a openspace, not against a wall or piled up with other buildings, becuz when rines are humping (dont say they shoudnt do this becuz they always will) they should have room to jump away from attacking aliens while their gun gets ready to shoot, try to put the armry on a place far from doors and if possible on a place where rines can watch all entrance's while getting ammo
ok so back to the tech stuff, u should keep in mind that guns upgrades are the most important becuz they are the counter against carapace (and most of the time redemption, depends on wich gun u use tho and how good u can aim), armor upgrades can be important but killing the cause is better then avoiding it...
U should always have the full tech tree in mind, about what are u goin to do next when u get the cash and what ur goin to do after that, and what to upgrade when 'this' happens or when 'that' fails, but never show ur team that ur nervous or that u dont have any hope, they can think for themselfs about whats goin on and by giving them bad ideas they might stop doing their best and just fool around till the next round
building orders and tech orders are things u should learn by playing a lot, there is no 'best' build order or 'best' tech order, it all depends on the players and on the situation, also a 'winning' build order and tech order alone will not make u win, it takes more...
Another thing, be nice to ur rines, give them medpacks (its a game, nobody wants to wait in spawnque, and the comm has the priviledge to sit in his safe cc so make it worth their while or something...) and answer their question, always let them think/know that even if their objective fails that u have everything under control, they can judge for themselves (or wait maybe I already said this...)
sry for my english, I hope this helps u.
ps. ammo does more then trrts
I agree with a lot of what you say, but must make some comments on this quoted part:
I think that going for Armour upgrade Level 1 works better initially. It allows you to take an extra Skulk bite which comes in extraordinarily useful in those early stages of this game.
And geta voice/radio set (essential for a comm) but don't spam!
I agree with a lot of what you say, but must make some comments on this quoted part:
I think that going for Armour upgrade Level 1 works better initially. It allows you to take an extra Skulk bite which comes in extraordinarily useful in those early stages of this game.
And geta voice/radio set (essential for a comm) but don't spam! <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah it really depends on the situation, but I self prefer gunupgrades, since the best counter against bite is stayin the f*ck away fromt the skulk <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->, and as far as I know there isnt really a different counter against cara except gunupgrades, also if u get armor upgrades u will slow down ur gunupgrades, thus letting carapace be effective longer.
But then again it also depends on ur tactic, if ur goin for a 2 hive lockdown (boring but k <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> ) u could better take armor upgrade since ppl have to stay alive (more then killing the enemy, mines and/or trrts are what make the lockdown so they can make the kills)
and im sure u know more tactics where armorupgrades work best with, plz share them here <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> ( I love tactics )
[edit] owyeah I wanted to add also that when ur comm, never show ur mistakes and stuff, players will just blame u or eject u even if it aint ur fualt of losing, keep ur honour <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> [/edit]
Res nozzles, although important, are not worth spending too much time and res defending. A mine pack is the most res you will want to spend on it, and don't even do that unless you have a marine posted nearby. A skulk can dodge mines, and sometimes bullets, but will have a hard time doing both at the same time. Just consider this: If your res nozzles stays alive for more than a whole minute, it was probably worth getting. So, if you can keep it that long, by all means do so. The best way to keep your res alive is to keep the fighting on the enemy turf, so they can't wander around and munch your nodes (unless they want to lose a hive).
As for upgrades: Armor level one is good if your marines keep getting ambushed, weapons one will help them more if they know what they are doing. Get the other one soon after. The first level of each upgrade is too cheap and cost effective to pass up. Weapons 2 should generally come next, then either weapons 3 or armor 2 depending on whether you are fighting fades/lerks, which eat the armor something serious. Armor 3 is not generally cost effective except if you plan on getting HA.
Also, don't drop a building you don't plan on using for a while yet. If you don't think you'll be able to actually equip your marines with jetpacks for another 8 minutes because you want to upgrade stuff first, don't even drop the protolab. It's just gonna sit there and do nothing anyway, the res could be spent on getting upgrades faster, and it provides one more expensive thing for the skulks to eat. Drop the proto about 2 minutes before you're ready to attack, so that you have just enough time to research jetpacks. Allow 3-4 for HA, and about 3 minutes to upgrade the armory.
Yes, voice comms are very important to a commander in 1.04, but if they fix all the places that you can't put waypoints in 1.1 it shouldn't be such a big issue.
Search the forums for commanding scripts (I don't think they've all been purged off the bottom of the list yet) and set one up to your preferences. If you can't find one, pm me and I'll make a new thread for it. Use the search button at the bottom of the page though, cuz I'm pretty sure the one at the top still doesn't work.
Edit: Oh right, I forgot. Practice using your commanding binds with bots. They're much more patient then humans are, so you can take your time and get used to the interface. Once you feel comfortable with the interface and your binds, then it's time to try playing on a public server.