Eclipse Pub Strategy
Stoneburg
Join Date: 2002-11-11 Member: 8174Members
Join Date: 2002-11-11 Member: 8174Members
<div class="IPBDescription">capitalising on peoples urge to Rambo</div> Unlike some maps, like hera, nany or nothing, I find there isn't a sole place that is extremely strategically valuable on this map. No Mess Hall or Cargo. Also, for some reason, Marines seem to have problems on it since there aren't many locationally fixed strategies. Usually when I COM I tend to try new things and ideas all the time, and here's a pretty good idea on how to win as Marine on this map.
The Main Objective is to put an insane amount of pressure on the Aliens. Not focused, like on their hive, but all over the map. The idea is to take maximum advantage of two marine strengths in the beginning of the game:
- Marines being more powerful then unupgraded skulks
- Marines being able to control (increase) their spawn-rate.
Using these advantages to surpass the quite staggered alien tech advances, meanin that from beginning to end you will be the stronger team, without leaving any weaknesses or investing too much res into vulnerable 'packages', such as JP/HMG, ProtoLabs etc.
STARTING OUT
Build 2 IP's and an armory, make sure no-one leaves base. Have the majority of the team watch the doors while 2 or 3 build. Once it's done, drop 2-3 packs of mines close to the CC. Don't use them, just wait until everything is built and people have finished humping the armory.
The IP's should be dropped diagonally opposite eachother, close to the base RT, against the walls. The armory 1/3 of the between the IP's and the RT, so that marines automatically move in the right direction from the start AND can cover the doors while humping. This way it is easy to jump out of the CC to kill any solo skulk that are chewing on the IP's without risking yourself, and skulks can't cover both IP's by themself.
MOVING OUT
If there was an initial skulks rush it should be dead, rushing eclipse MB when half the team is watching the doors is suicide. Designate 1 or 2 "cappers" and have the WHOLE team (except for them) rush out and rambo. Yes, acively ASK your team to go rambo, you want them to spread out through the map and just hunt aliens. If you fins one of them camping a Res Node tell him to move, he should be actively seeking and killing aliens - all the time.
GETTING ORGANISED
You should after a minute or so know where the hive and most of the aliens are. Just keep the majority of the team in "Rambo mode" and send the capper(s) to the safest looking Res Node, ie: the one that has the least activity. Before he moves out he should place all the mines but one pack around the base. Base defense should be handled by the Marines that spawn, if they're ALL out Ramboing they should be dying quite regularily.
Have the capper take the Res Node, mine it somewhat, then head back to base for more mines. Drop a third IP and have him build it.
PUTTING THE PRESSURE ON
About now, the Alien Gorge will be looking for a Res Node to build, depending on whether your Rambos have killed a gorge or not this timke may vary. Keep scanning for the gorge, listening and checking your marines. As soon as you know where he is, just select ALL Marines and send them that way. Priority #1 is to kill the Gorge and the RT, if the Gorge runs away, focus on the RT, it's the most important. The RT *must* go down, and as fast as possible, so if your grunts fail, just send them back, again and again. They're spawning 3 at a time so gathering up shouldn't be a problem.
PUTTING SOME DISTANCE BETWEEN YOU AND THEM
As soon as Marines start hitting the Gorge/RT your capper moves out again. The skulks should all be heading home to defend and this is a great opportunity to take over the map. Just have him build as many RT's as possible, as far away from the hive as possible. Once he comes back (after 2-3 RT's), resource should be flowing in and you'll be able to drop:
- Observatory (behind the CC is a good spot)
- ArmsLab
- IP
Drop more mines for base and start researhing. Priority:
- Motion Hacking
- lvl1 Armor
- Lvl 1-3 weapons (when they get D)
Have the capper constantly fill up with mines abd mine your RT's. Drop mines close to the CC, jump out and place them yourself, to defend base. Just make sure you let your team know you're doing it (and don't do this while your marines are in a big fight).
KILLING THE HIVE
Depending on which hive aliens start in you can attack it differently.
MA is the easiest since it allows so many options:
- Jetpacking. Big open room to buzz around in.
- Force. By standing on the ledge overlooking the hive you can easily hit the hive. If you get a couple of HA's (or LA's) with big guns there, just have one or two shoot the hive whil the rest cover. Leave one guy to cover the loong and straight hallway behind you.
- Siege. Keyhole offers a great siege spot and is close to MB. Have some Marines run there and put mines down, then build armory (more mines), TF and siege.
CC:
- JetPacking. Really the only *easy* way to take this hive down. If the Aliens haven't closed down the vents, that is an easy approach for Jetpackers.
- Force. Your best bet is to just have the HA*s stand by the resource node and pummel the hive. One guy watches the vent behind you in the roof, the rest concentgrate on Hive and Aliens/structures. If you're behind the imaginary line through the RT, aliens will only spawn infront of you. If you drop an armory there and mine it up, it's even easier.
- Siege. Not really recommended. More often then not, the TF will be bugged.
EC:
- Jetpacking. The hardest hive to JP effectively due to its low ceilings, far from impossible though, but make sure to send at least 3 JP/HMG:ers, they will most likely not stay alive long enough to reload so you need to take it down in one clip.
- Force. Probably the eaiest way to kill it. Once again, the RT is a great platform. Just make sure your marines don't stray.
- Siege. No real problems as long as you build the TF *outside* the hive die to EC's buggy nature.
RESPONDING TO ALIENS THREATS
Depending on wha Aliens do after you kill the first RT you need to be a bit flexible. Usually they will try one of three things:
- Sneaking off with a gorge to get RT's up
If they're sneaking off, just keep the Marines on Rambo-mode, they will find him/them. When they do, just send everyone there again to kill the structures and gorge.
- Turtling/teching a bit by getting D-chambers up in the hive (usually, sometimes they try to hide them instead).
Have all the Marines attacking Alien strutcures. Without a second or third RT aliens will be hard pressed to replace any destroyed structures. If the Aliens do this, it is however *imperative* that you get armor/weps upgrades ASAP. You do NOT want to get into a fight with vanilla marines against carapaced skulks. Foregoe MT and go for arm/weps if they do this, you know where they are anyway.
- Rush your base.
With some mines around the base this shouldn't be a problem, if you get some advance warning. With Rambos all over the map it *should* be impossible for them to organise a base hit without you knowing about it. Most likely any hit you don't see coming will be from a small group of skulks, don't be afraid to jump out and attack them, or use the distress. You should have 3-4 IP's by now so any attack with less then 4-5 skulks can't cover both IP's and the CC, and if you let 4-5 skulks attack your base without advance warning...
NOTES:
This strategy works so well because it exploits the Marine strengths but also because it is so inl ine with PUBLIC players psychology. You won't have any trouble making people go Rambo, and once they have 3-4 IP's they will NOT be afraid of dying. Just make sure to keep the upgrades coming and they will be happy while you're increasing your advantage.
For maximum efficiency you have to forgoe base defense. This means you have to be ready to jump out of the chair, just in case. Most of the time defense will be handled by spawning Marines encountering the base attackers when moving out but if you've built the structures correctly you shouldn't have to worry about jumping out. You will also be planting mines on your 'off' time, ie: when Marines aren't in need of directions or health an dthere are no structures to build.
With such an aggressive and flexible tactic opportunities will arise. Someone will manage to spawn camp or get into a good position to siege or what-not. Don't be afraid to capitalise on it but do NOT go ovgerboard. Don't waste too much resources tryig to do something, you need to fou on upgrades. If you start to buil a siege outpost and you seem to be losing it, just cut your losses, at least you kept the aliens busy for a while. Recycle and get back to teching and hunting the gorge/structures.
I actually stopped doing this because it felt too easy and too 'deathmatchy', but it is very effective. You don't have any strategic goals to worry about, no hard organisation to do, basically nothing to worry about other then sending your Marines in the direction of Alien gorges/structures when you find them. For it to work it is imperative to keep aggression at max thoug, do NOT try to 'fortify' any places or defend anything other then your base. If a RT gets attacked and no-one is close, just recyle it and rebuild it when someone happens to be nearby or your capper gets there.
The Main Objective is to put an insane amount of pressure on the Aliens. Not focused, like on their hive, but all over the map. The idea is to take maximum advantage of two marine strengths in the beginning of the game:
- Marines being more powerful then unupgraded skulks
- Marines being able to control (increase) their spawn-rate.
Using these advantages to surpass the quite staggered alien tech advances, meanin that from beginning to end you will be the stronger team, without leaving any weaknesses or investing too much res into vulnerable 'packages', such as JP/HMG, ProtoLabs etc.
STARTING OUT
Build 2 IP's and an armory, make sure no-one leaves base. Have the majority of the team watch the doors while 2 or 3 build. Once it's done, drop 2-3 packs of mines close to the CC. Don't use them, just wait until everything is built and people have finished humping the armory.
The IP's should be dropped diagonally opposite eachother, close to the base RT, against the walls. The armory 1/3 of the between the IP's and the RT, so that marines automatically move in the right direction from the start AND can cover the doors while humping. This way it is easy to jump out of the CC to kill any solo skulk that are chewing on the IP's without risking yourself, and skulks can't cover both IP's by themself.
MOVING OUT
If there was an initial skulks rush it should be dead, rushing eclipse MB when half the team is watching the doors is suicide. Designate 1 or 2 "cappers" and have the WHOLE team (except for them) rush out and rambo. Yes, acively ASK your team to go rambo, you want them to spread out through the map and just hunt aliens. If you fins one of them camping a Res Node tell him to move, he should be actively seeking and killing aliens - all the time.
GETTING ORGANISED
You should after a minute or so know where the hive and most of the aliens are. Just keep the majority of the team in "Rambo mode" and send the capper(s) to the safest looking Res Node, ie: the one that has the least activity. Before he moves out he should place all the mines but one pack around the base. Base defense should be handled by the Marines that spawn, if they're ALL out Ramboing they should be dying quite regularily.
Have the capper take the Res Node, mine it somewhat, then head back to base for more mines. Drop a third IP and have him build it.
PUTTING THE PRESSURE ON
About now, the Alien Gorge will be looking for a Res Node to build, depending on whether your Rambos have killed a gorge or not this timke may vary. Keep scanning for the gorge, listening and checking your marines. As soon as you know where he is, just select ALL Marines and send them that way. Priority #1 is to kill the Gorge and the RT, if the Gorge runs away, focus on the RT, it's the most important. The RT *must* go down, and as fast as possible, so if your grunts fail, just send them back, again and again. They're spawning 3 at a time so gathering up shouldn't be a problem.
PUTTING SOME DISTANCE BETWEEN YOU AND THEM
As soon as Marines start hitting the Gorge/RT your capper moves out again. The skulks should all be heading home to defend and this is a great opportunity to take over the map. Just have him build as many RT's as possible, as far away from the hive as possible. Once he comes back (after 2-3 RT's), resource should be flowing in and you'll be able to drop:
- Observatory (behind the CC is a good spot)
- ArmsLab
- IP
Drop more mines for base and start researhing. Priority:
- Motion Hacking
- lvl1 Armor
- Lvl 1-3 weapons (when they get D)
Have the capper constantly fill up with mines abd mine your RT's. Drop mines close to the CC, jump out and place them yourself, to defend base. Just make sure you let your team know you're doing it (and don't do this while your marines are in a big fight).
KILLING THE HIVE
Depending on which hive aliens start in you can attack it differently.
MA is the easiest since it allows so many options:
- Jetpacking. Big open room to buzz around in.
- Force. By standing on the ledge overlooking the hive you can easily hit the hive. If you get a couple of HA's (or LA's) with big guns there, just have one or two shoot the hive whil the rest cover. Leave one guy to cover the loong and straight hallway behind you.
- Siege. Keyhole offers a great siege spot and is close to MB. Have some Marines run there and put mines down, then build armory (more mines), TF and siege.
CC:
- JetPacking. Really the only *easy* way to take this hive down. If the Aliens haven't closed down the vents, that is an easy approach for Jetpackers.
- Force. Your best bet is to just have the HA*s stand by the resource node and pummel the hive. One guy watches the vent behind you in the roof, the rest concentgrate on Hive and Aliens/structures. If you're behind the imaginary line through the RT, aliens will only spawn infront of you. If you drop an armory there and mine it up, it's even easier.
- Siege. Not really recommended. More often then not, the TF will be bugged.
EC:
- Jetpacking. The hardest hive to JP effectively due to its low ceilings, far from impossible though, but make sure to send at least 3 JP/HMG:ers, they will most likely not stay alive long enough to reload so you need to take it down in one clip.
- Force. Probably the eaiest way to kill it. Once again, the RT is a great platform. Just make sure your marines don't stray.
- Siege. No real problems as long as you build the TF *outside* the hive die to EC's buggy nature.
RESPONDING TO ALIENS THREATS
Depending on wha Aliens do after you kill the first RT you need to be a bit flexible. Usually they will try one of three things:
- Sneaking off with a gorge to get RT's up
If they're sneaking off, just keep the Marines on Rambo-mode, they will find him/them. When they do, just send everyone there again to kill the structures and gorge.
- Turtling/teching a bit by getting D-chambers up in the hive (usually, sometimes they try to hide them instead).
Have all the Marines attacking Alien strutcures. Without a second or third RT aliens will be hard pressed to replace any destroyed structures. If the Aliens do this, it is however *imperative* that you get armor/weps upgrades ASAP. You do NOT want to get into a fight with vanilla marines against carapaced skulks. Foregoe MT and go for arm/weps if they do this, you know where they are anyway.
- Rush your base.
With some mines around the base this shouldn't be a problem, if you get some advance warning. With Rambos all over the map it *should* be impossible for them to organise a base hit without you knowing about it. Most likely any hit you don't see coming will be from a small group of skulks, don't be afraid to jump out and attack them, or use the distress. You should have 3-4 IP's by now so any attack with less then 4-5 skulks can't cover both IP's and the CC, and if you let 4-5 skulks attack your base without advance warning...
NOTES:
This strategy works so well because it exploits the Marine strengths but also because it is so inl ine with PUBLIC players psychology. You won't have any trouble making people go Rambo, and once they have 3-4 IP's they will NOT be afraid of dying. Just make sure to keep the upgrades coming and they will be happy while you're increasing your advantage.
For maximum efficiency you have to forgoe base defense. This means you have to be ready to jump out of the chair, just in case. Most of the time defense will be handled by spawning Marines encountering the base attackers when moving out but if you've built the structures correctly you shouldn't have to worry about jumping out. You will also be planting mines on your 'off' time, ie: when Marines aren't in need of directions or health an dthere are no structures to build.
With such an aggressive and flexible tactic opportunities will arise. Someone will manage to spawn camp or get into a good position to siege or what-not. Don't be afraid to capitalise on it but do NOT go ovgerboard. Don't waste too much resources tryig to do something, you need to fou on upgrades. If you start to buil a siege outpost and you seem to be losing it, just cut your losses, at least you kept the aliens busy for a while. Recycle and get back to teching and hunting the gorge/structures.
I actually stopped doing this because it felt too easy and too 'deathmatchy', but it is very effective. You don't have any strategic goals to worry about, no hard organisation to do, basically nothing to worry about other then sending your Marines in the direction of Alien gorges/structures when you find them. For it to work it is imperative to keep aggression at max thoug, do NOT try to 'fortify' any places or defend anything other then your base. If a RT gets attacked and no-one is close, just recyle it and rebuild it when someone happens to be nearby or your capper gets there.
Comments
One, there ARE good strategic places to hold on Eclipse, that give marines a nice advantage. Namely:
-Computer Core Hive. Of all hives in the entire game os NS, this is the one I would most recommend actively trying to take if it's open. It's a lot closer to the marine base than people think, and people who know their way aroudn the map can get there quite quickly. Once set up, it's just a great place to be on the map, cause it's smack in the middle, and allows you to dominate the main passageways between the two far hives. WHen you have CC, and aliens have Maint/Eclipse, the aliens' only real option is to try to grab Horseshoe/Triad Node respectfully, then try to transport a gorge allllll the way across the map. And once they do that, they have to defend him long enough from the marines, who have the distance advantage when it comes to spawning and getting to the empty hive. When you take computer core, though, you have to watch out for the ever-popular defense-chamber-in-vent strategy. Getting a siege up quickly takes care of that, and often get sthe aliens to waste their very limited resoruces on some ill-placed defnse chamebrs to boot =).
-South Loop. Getting South Loop, when the aliens start in CC or EC hives, allows you to control three resources: south loop, maintenence hive, and usually horseshoe as well (since it's so close to spawn). If you can secure Station Access and Power Subjunction, all the better. Getting South Loop also allows for a very good position for harassing CC and EC hives.
-It's a little weird, but there's this overlook just south of Station Access that looks straight into Power-subjunction. Controlling this area allows you to keep both Station Access and Power Sub-Junction res nodes relatively easily, especially because you have a height advantage. The area also allwos for easy and quick passage to Triad, Computer Core, and South Loop. If the aliens start in Eclipse, they'll have a hard time getting any resources outside of CC proper and Maintenence proper. If they start in CC, they'll have a hard time getting anything outside Maintenence proper (and will be verrrrry preoccupied trying to kill your forces, as well). If they Start in Maintenence, they'll have a hard time getting any resources outside of horseshoe, and they'll even have trouble holdign that if you get a patrol to go from your Main Base to that area every once in awhile.
Also, rather than dropping three IP's, I like to rush level two weaponry. Especially in Eclipse, the extra power just gives the marines an incredilbe advantage when hunting gorges and taking out skulks. The kill death of the entire team almsot always ends up being like 24/3 when you do this, especially in a server with decent shots. As soon as that is done, THEN I drop the extra IP's for the extra kick. Just a matter of preferance, I guess.
On a completely different note, where ya been Stoney? I haven't seen you in the CoFR server in ages. Maybe I'm just coming on at he wrong times. But I also heard some news that made me very sad - CoFR is going to go down at the end of the month! Is this true? And if so, can we organize a mass exodus amongst the regs? I don't want to have to go and extablish regularity on another server all by myself <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
power sub junction and south loop are pretty powerful choke points, especially if you control both at the same time. Not only do they restrict alien movements, thereby letting you get "free" unguarded res nodes, but they also can be used to easily control good siege positions on maintenance and comp core (psj is not good for sieging maintenance obviously). If comp core was not bugged, it would easily be the hera processing of this map.
that said, the ramboing strategy is quite good. I would say eclipse is the number 1 A+ rambo map. because it is very shallow. that is the marines can get anywhere from marine start quite fast.
When alot of marines rambo, it effectively renders power sub junction , triad, station, and horseshoe off limits to the gorge, because he knows that even if it is clear now, it is only a few seconds from marine start, and it will not last.
The most effective alien technique against this will be to group up, since marines are all spread out you can kill them one by one. They will come back of course but the aliens must create a bubble of safety around the gorge at computer core and/or south loop. But when aliens group up, it leaves alot of the map open to marines, so marine advantage even if the aliens do keep the gorge/res node alive.
So, I would suggest that once you get adv armory/arms lab, drop a G-launcher and have people guard base with it on alternating shifts: ie player one has G-launcher, player two spawns, player one drops G-launcher, player two picks it up, and player one runs off w/ player two's lmg. This may seem overly elaborate, but it ensures that the base guard will NOT go out and rambo because he is waiting for his relief.
That being said, there are some locations that are good to hold, but maybe not fortify, depending on the hive. Say they have Maintenance, then you send your pressuring Marines to South Loop and Keyhole, probably build the node in South Loop. As long as you have a presence in South Loop, the Aliens are going to be antsy about getting out of their hive.
To me, Eclipse seems the easiest map to pressure on, and I guess that strat kinda hinges on it.
So, I would suggest that once you get adv armory/arms lab, drop a G-launcher and have people guard base with it on alternating shifts: ie player one has G-launcher, player two spawns, player one drops G-launcher, player two picks it up, and player one runs off w/ player two's lmg. This may seem overly elaborate, but it ensures that the base guard will NOT go out and rambo because he is waiting for his relief. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
How about this:
I've done this strat 5+ times and it has worked exactly as I said every time. Your theory that a skulk rush will beat it is, in a word, wrong. Rambos make sure that they can NOT get organised without you knowing it. I don't know how you figure that marines will Not die, that would mean they either don't find any aliens or kill them all, or how aliens can manage to both NOT kill your marines AND get to your base en masse without you noticing them.
You can try your "keep a GL in base thing" on a pub, I'll do my strat and we'll see which works best and takes the least effort. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
Moving on...
Yes, South Loop is a valuable spot. Actually in my opinion the most valuable, it's practically a dual-siege spot with a resource that controls the main entrance to a hive. If you hold South Loop and Horse Shoe you have 4 RT's and can siege CC and MA. But that takes effort and teamwork. It's a quite confined space, close to two hives and has three entrances, this means:
- Aliens will respawn/heal close
- Aliens can attack you from three directions
- You don't have much time to shoot them before it's melee time
This makes South Loop kind of "hard" to control and use properly and the point of the strategy I described is that it is *easy* and you don't have to worry about things like this.
One, there ARE good strategic places to hold on Eclipse, that give marines a nice advantage.
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Érrr... how is that disagreeing with me?
anyhoo, another one of a quintengazillionumpteenmillion server plugs
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admins on almost always.
....why?
The vast majority of games I've played on nancy focus entirely on capping hives. Mess hall is nice but it's easy for either team to avoid, and it's not like it gives you control of much more than a single resource node.
I would have to SERIOUSLY question any commander who stressed controlling mess hall.
anyways back on topic... I agree that eclipse does have some key points...I think south loop is the most important. It basically shuts down any chance the aliens have at getting to maintenance hive (or out of as the case may be) which basically gives you 2 resource nodes. And I think we all know by now that all it takes for marines to win with a JP/HMG rush is controlling at least 3 RT's consistently. Anything more just means they have even better upgrades and more marines will have JP's... but eclipse is one of those maps where JP/HMG = alien death, plain and simple.
I'll see if I can give a few reasons first:
1) It's easy to do so (just put your armory there)
2) You get 3 resnodes (base, right outside of base, mess hall)
3) It's easy to take subspace once you take mess, so 2 more nodes (unless they have sub, then you can either siege, or take chem and noname
4) From there it's a simple matter of using your >5 resnodes to lay the siege or super tech in no time at all. GG second hive isn't up
The only time I have trouble is when my marines are too incompetent to hold mess hall (i.e. 5 marines go in and get chewed by one skulk). Doesn't happen that much though, mines usually do the trick.
Rhuadin
....why?
The vast majority of games I've played on nancy focus entirely on capping hives. Mess hall is nice but it's easy for either team to avoid, and it's not like it gives you control of much more than a single resource node.
I would have to SERIOUSLY question any commander who stressed controlling mess hall.
anyways back on topic... I agree that eclipse does have some key points...I think south loop is the most important. It basically shuts down any chance the aliens have at getting to maintenance hive (or out of as the case may be) which basically gives you 2 resource nodes. And I think we all know by now that all it takes for marines to win with a JP/HMG rush is controlling at least 3 RT's consistently. Anything more just means they have even better upgrades and more marines will have JP's... but eclipse is one of those maps where JP/HMG = alien death, plain and simple. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
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Errr... ok. I think you're about the only one who DOESN'T think Nancy revolves around Mess Hall though, so you'll have to seriously question most good COM's.
Dave, yeah, I agree, SL should be a lot more important then it is (popularily). It's no Mess Hall though and never will be! <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
Okay Stone, lets think of it this way. Your marine team is good enough to let you know most alien movement. They are all spread out around the map, and are destroying skulks 1v1. Now, assuming that the Alien team is as talented as your team (As your strat would not work with a group of newbie marines vs. any decent alien team) then you can also assume that they can organize. Lets say for argument sake they organize AT THEIR HIVE, and lets also assume you dont have somone in there spawn camping ;p.
How do think marines would be able to respond if they just ran through in one strait line to your base? Your rambos would either go kill alien RT/Hive or if you shouted at them enough then they would come back to base. Skulks having the advantage of speed would make it to your base faster (dispatching any poor marine who is on the way) and then tear straight in. The alien team could also enhance their success rate by parasiting, NOT killing the enemies unless they attacked hive. Then they would know the right place to, where marine risistance is *weakest*.
Granted my counter is rather elaborate, it is also a rather effective one. Coupled with a few gorges it would destroy your strat. Scissors through paper.
PS: Yes your strat will work most of the time, but if aliens catch wind of it at all, and they are intelligent, they might be able to beat it. Granted its rather effective, it is also counterable.
and also, assuming these people have some clue how to listen to orders, you can tell them either to all rush the hive (I'm guessing there are 6+ marines on this team) and shoot it to death, or you can tell them that all the action is in marine spawn and they better get their butts back there if they want any kills <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
Mines and the commander can kill 2-4 smart skulks, and any number of dumb ones.
Also, like he said, it's very hard for an organized attack to go unnoticed before it reaches the base when there are marines all over the place rambo'ing. murphy's law would very much be in effect for any alien team trying to organize a massive attack on marine base against this strategy.
....why?
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as the others have said, controlling mess hall is crucial to nancy. Just because if the aliens secure it, they have pretty much have the advantage. They can continually hit the rt outside the marine base, and run back to mess to heal up. The marines will have to take a long hazardous route to noname just to get to the other areas of the map. Assuming an alien team is competent enough to hold down mess, the gorge can rush over to the noname entrance(in the little room outside with the rt) and seal off that doorway with some ocs and dcs. Then marines would be confined in a small area. They would have to build sieges to advance, and with the res they waste on building sieges(with 1-2 rts), by that time, the gorge should have moved on and be ready to put up 2nd hive(with 3-5 rts up). With the skulks able to harass the marines, they might be able to get noname, but by the time they could a second hive would be started. With no upgrades(remember the res went into tf/siege, if they happen to have any upgrades it might be one L1 upgrade), the marines will lose quickly.
Everytime I have played nancy as a marine, and lost horribly, it was because the aliens took and were able to hold mess.
Aliens rushing MB on Eclipse, if only against two Marines (figuring that none of the other Marines happen to be there or have travelled back) and a mined up base is going to be painful for them. Very much so.
I don't think a MB rush is possible againt this strat, to counter it I would rather try to slip a skulk or two through to kill the capper(s) and RT's if possible, rush 3 D's and move around the map *together*. Since Marines have an extreme spawn speed in this scenario key is to *not* die as alien. You should focus on killing RT's, killing Marines is useless, and if you do a good enough job the COM will usually start trying to defend the RT's, which basically makes a mess of the whole strat. If you can get Marines on the defense you can get the upper hand (some RT's and healing stations) and turn it around.
In my opinion some extremely sneaky and effective RT-hunting while the rest of the team tries to handle the rambos or defend the hive is the best shot.
The plan seems pretty foolproof to me.
Besides with most of the marines rambo-ing it would be more difficult to take down resource towers without getting shot halfway through it.
It's about initiative. If done right, the strat keeps Aliens on constant defense. That is what makes it hard for them to take down Marine RT's. They're constantly defending their own structures and gorge(s), not to mention worrying about the hive. While they're trying to keep their stuff and themself alive, the COM is dropping RT's for the lone capper on the other side of the map. In order to take them down you have to sneak past all the Rambos and ignore the calls for help from their team, not to mention the hivesight. And odds are that once they start chomping on the RT, a rambo (or the capper) will be close enough to save it.
This is why the strat fails if the COM starts defending. All RT's going down should be write-offs, the important thing is to just keep attacking and attacking. If you start defending, you give up the initiative.
Maybe I should say everything I said again so you understand <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
I DEFENDED your strategy. Please read more carefully dude.
In my last post I was responding to what caiman said about aliens not being willing to knock out RT's in general, that's all.
Caiman, I only play on 2 servers, and I only play the second like 1% of the time. But it can't be THAT hard to find a server with a decent amount of regulars who are pretty good. Heck, there's one listed in the n-s.org news right now <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
All clear now?...
EDIT: Grammar/spelling
When your marines are spread out, alone, the aliens are going to try to go after all of them. And it won't work if the marines have any idea how to combat skulks (especially on eclipse with those nice straight hallways) and then when the marines DO organize to knock out a gorge, it'll take the aliens by surprise and they likely won't have enough skulks defending the gorge (if any). I think what makes this work is more psychological than anything else... aliens don't like marines wandering around. If there are marines wandering around in 4 different places, the skulks will most likely split up in at least 3 different ways. and given the range advantage 1 marine should be able to take out AT LEAST 1 skulk each time he goes out rambo'ing.
I have found, however, that if the aliens start in either EC or CC, TFing and phasing south loop is usually a really good move. Pressure in that area usually keeps the aliens off of the upper left part of the map, and it's really easy to set up considering you've got RTs at MB, horseshoe, south loop, maintenance, and station access.
Once, I used this tactic and got EVERY resnode on the map, including the one in the alien's main hive. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> Of course, by this time we were clearly winning and I just built a phase in their hive and told the marines to just fill the hive with lead.
heck we even won when i had a buncha less than avg pubbers against a buncha aliens with various clan tags on. it was a sweeet victory. i think particularly cuz the aliens were complaining before how "this is a pub, and aliens always own on pubs".
it only takes one or two really long spawn cues to get the momentum going <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->