What Upgrade Should I Get?
MasterShake
Join Date: 2003-04-20 Member: 15699Members
Join Date: 2003-04-20 Member: 15699Members
<div class="IPBDescription">my opinions</div> It's a question that every smart new player asks. What upgrade should I use for each class of aliens. Is carapace or regeneration better for a lerk? Well, I'm going to give you my advice on each of the upgrades, defense, sensory, and motion for each specific class of alien. I'll give my top pick for each alien class and explain why. Let's start with the skulk.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'><b><!--emo&::skulk::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='skulk.gif'><!--endemo--> SKULK</b></span>
<b>Defense</b>
<ul>
<li>Carapace (increased armor) - Carapace is usually your best choice as a skulk. It can mean the difference between a marine's life and yours. Use for general purpose skulking and rushes.
<li>Regeneration (health replenishes) - Regeneration works best before the marines have level 2 weapons. Use this upgrade when you want to parasite and retreat or when attacking an unguarded turret farm.
<li>Redemption (hive rescue) - Pretty much useless as a skulk as you're likely to get killed before rescued. Use if almost all of your fellow aliens are dead and you're playing a large game (~10 per team).
</ul>
<b>Movement</b>
<ul>
<li>Celerity (move faster) - Skulks are fast, very fast. With celerity, they are even faster. You can literally run circles around marines. Not to mention getting from point A to point B is much quicker with this upgrade. This is your general purpose movement upgrade.
<li>Silence (move silently) - This is a great tool for a skulk on a stealth mission. Best suited before the marines get motion tracking, but somewhat useful even after they have MT, especially in dark areas. Keep in mind that the marines still hear you biting, so don't attack until you're right ontop of them.
<li>Adrenaline (more energy) - Adrenaline will turn you into a leaping machine. If you're skilled in the art of leap biting, this upgrade is for you. The upgrade is useless unless you have 2 hives completed, however.
</ul>
<b>Sensory</b>
<ul>
<li>Cloaking (invisible when still) - This is your ultimate surprise attack upgrade. Just hide in the rafters, don't move, and wait for a marine to pass by. When coupled with silence, you'll get 4 good bites before the marine even knows what hit him. Keep in mind that observatories have the ability to uncloak you when you are near them. So, don't get too close to the marine base.
<li>Scent of fear (injured marines appear like parasited) - This is useful if you are given the job of seek and destroy. It is usually best to go with cloaking as a skulk however, as this upgrade is more suited towards the powerful alien classes.
<li>Advanced Hive Sight (a pair of glasses for the hive sight) - Not particularly useful as a skulk as you can move pretty fast and assess the situation first hand.
</ul>
That covers the skulk. I'll come back with the lerk tomorrow.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'><b><!--emo&::skulk::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='skulk.gif'><!--endemo--> SKULK</b></span>
<b>Defense</b>
<ul>
<li>Carapace (increased armor) - Carapace is usually your best choice as a skulk. It can mean the difference between a marine's life and yours. Use for general purpose skulking and rushes.
<li>Regeneration (health replenishes) - Regeneration works best before the marines have level 2 weapons. Use this upgrade when you want to parasite and retreat or when attacking an unguarded turret farm.
<li>Redemption (hive rescue) - Pretty much useless as a skulk as you're likely to get killed before rescued. Use if almost all of your fellow aliens are dead and you're playing a large game (~10 per team).
</ul>
<b>Movement</b>
<ul>
<li>Celerity (move faster) - Skulks are fast, very fast. With celerity, they are even faster. You can literally run circles around marines. Not to mention getting from point A to point B is much quicker with this upgrade. This is your general purpose movement upgrade.
<li>Silence (move silently) - This is a great tool for a skulk on a stealth mission. Best suited before the marines get motion tracking, but somewhat useful even after they have MT, especially in dark areas. Keep in mind that the marines still hear you biting, so don't attack until you're right ontop of them.
<li>Adrenaline (more energy) - Adrenaline will turn you into a leaping machine. If you're skilled in the art of leap biting, this upgrade is for you. The upgrade is useless unless you have 2 hives completed, however.
</ul>
<b>Sensory</b>
<ul>
<li>Cloaking (invisible when still) - This is your ultimate surprise attack upgrade. Just hide in the rafters, don't move, and wait for a marine to pass by. When coupled with silence, you'll get 4 good bites before the marine even knows what hit him. Keep in mind that observatories have the ability to uncloak you when you are near them. So, don't get too close to the marine base.
<li>Scent of fear (injured marines appear like parasited) - This is useful if you are given the job of seek and destroy. It is usually best to go with cloaking as a skulk however, as this upgrade is more suited towards the powerful alien classes.
<li>Advanced Hive Sight (a pair of glasses for the hive sight) - Not particularly useful as a skulk as you can move pretty fast and assess the situation first hand.
</ul>
That covers the skulk. I'll come back with the lerk tomorrow.
Comments
<b>Defense</b>
<ul>
<li>Redemption (hive rescue) - Dieing as a gorge can be very costly to your team. Using redemption reduces the risk of all your hard earned resources going to waste through a "gorge kill." Best suited when your team is small and you can not afford a permanent body guard.
<li>Regeneration (health replenishes) - Regeneration is a good upgrade to get before you have an extensive system of defense chambers. Since you can not heal yourself as a gorge, regen can be time saving as you do not need to find a hive or D chamber to heal. Best suited for when you have a skulk escort for protection and early warning.
<li>Carapace (increased armor) - Carapace also works pretty well for a gorge. Best suited for when the game has been going on for a while, and you have a nice network of defense chambers to heal your damage. An escort is also recommended.</ul>
<b>Movement</b>
<ul>
<li>Adrenaline (more energy) - Adrenaline gives you more heal spray and faster webs/babblers. This is the movement upgrade of choice with two or more hives.
<li>Celerity (move faster) - Celerity is best when you are a little behind the marines as far as teching. Your best option if you lose a hive and need to rebuild fast. Although it doesn't increase the build speed of structures, you will get where you need to go much faster.
<li>Silence (move silently) - Gorges make lots of gorgely noises that silence does not mute. Therefore, this upgrade is pretty much useless to a gorge.
</ul>
<b>Sensory</b>
<ul>
<li>Cloaking (invisible when still) - A great gorge upgrade, especially with three hives. Just stand still near some D chambers, wait for a marine to come by, and release babbler hell on his ****. If the game is pretty much won, and you want to embarass a few marines, this is your upgrade.
<li>Advanced Hive Sight (a pair of glasses for the hive sight) - The gorge is kind of the commander for the alien team. Getting a complete overview of the field is important. Therefore, the advanced hive sight upgrade is great for the smart tactician.
<li>Scent of fear (injured marines appear like parasited) - Gorges generally should not actively seek their pray. Nonetheless, scent of fear can help prevent a sneak attack and possibly save your life. A reasonable upgrade for a gorge, but you have better options.
</ul>
<b>Defense</b>
<ul>
<li>Carapace (increased armor) - Carapace provides a very significant boost in the armor of the lerk. You can take nearly double the bullets that the marines will undoubtedly rain on you. Just make sure that there are some nearby defense chambers or a gorge. If not, you may want to choose a different upgrade.
<li>Regeneration (health replenishes) - You should use regen in a way similar to the skulk. Regeneration works best before the marines have level 2 weapons. Use this upgrade when you want to spike and retreat or when attacking an unguarded turret farm.
<li>Redemption (hive rescue) - Redemption is a good idea early in the game when your team can not afford to lose the resources you have invested in going lerk. Once the marines have level 2 weapons however, you are most likely screwed.
</ul>
<b>Movement</b>
<ul>
<li>Adrenaline (more energy) - With two hives and adrenaline, the lerk becomes an umbra machine. This is a great tool for giving crucial support to fades, onos, gorges, even skulks. The marines get **** as the only weapons that can stand up to an umbra supported attack are the grenade launcher and the knife. The knife usually won't do much. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> You should almost always use adrenaline as a lerk at two hives.
<li>Silence (move silently) - Lerk attacks are usually very quiet because spikes barely make a sound. Add silence to the equation and you'll be "super ninja flying lerk." If you're down to one hive, use this.
<li>Celerity (move faster) - Lerks are already so fast when flying that they're sometimes difficult to control. You really don't need this upgrade, especially if you are new to the art of lerking.
</ul>
<b>Sensory</b>
<ul>
<li>Scent of fear (injured marines appear like parasited) - With three hives, get this upgrade and send some spores into the marine base. Spores are really more of an annoyance than a deadly attack, but they'll cause some damage to everyone. With scent of fear, the resultant effect is that you'll see almost every marine on your hive sight at all times. Very useful, especially when some punk marine goes off and hides after his base is destroyed.
<li>Advanced Hive Sight (a pair of glasses for the hive sight) - Lerks are already given the task of "support" later in the game, so why not be even more helpful with advanced hive sight? You'll turn into a great scout for the alien team. Of course, you need voice.
<li>Cloaking (invisible when still) - Lerks should rarely be standing still. Therefore, cloaking is not much use to them.
</ul>
That concludes the lerk. Tomorrow I'll do some fading.
<b>Defense</b>
<ul>
<li>Regeneration (health replenishes) - If you have more than two hives, regen is your upgrade of choice. Once you take some damage, simply blink yourself to safety and heal. Then come back with a storm of acid rockets or bile bombs.
<li>Redemption (hive rescue) - The death of a fade can sometimes hinder your team. If your team is really strapped for resources, or you know that you may only have one hive in the near future, it is best to play it safe and get redemption
<li>Carapace (increased armor) - Extra armor always comes in handy. If you know for certain that you are going to attack as a pack of fades, and you will have a gorge with you to provide healing, get carapace.
</ul>
<b>Movement</b>
<ul>
<li>Adrenaline (more energy) - Adrenaline is amost compulsory for fades. The fade uses a lot of energy showering acid rockets and blinking. Therefore, you should almost always go with adrenaline and the extra energy it gives you.
<li>Silence (move silently) - Marines have trouble spotting fades in dark areas. Silence will aide you in your evil sneak attacks when hiding in dark corners. However, you're going to have to get close, because without adrenaline you usually won't have enough acid rockets to garuantee a kill.
<li>Celerity (move faster) - Fades already have the blink ability (which will be even more useful when 2.0 comes out.) Therefore, celerity is useless unless you are down to one hive. Even then, I would still recommend adrenaline.
</ul>
<b>Sensory</b>
<ul>
<li>Scent of fear (injured marines appear like parasited) - There's nothing that an injured marine fears more than a fade. Well, they also don't like onos but you get the point..... Use scent of fear to obliterate "sneak" attacks and kill the weak marines who have wondered off. Very benificial to your kill count. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
<li>Cloaking (invisible when still) - What can I say, cloaking is cloaking no matter what class you are. As a fade however, you should be on the offense, not lerking in the shadows.
<li>Advanced Hive Sight (a pair of glasses for the hive sight) - Hive sight isn't really useful to the fade. Just blink wherever you need to go and destroy everything in your way.
</ul>
IMO the best sensory upgrade for a skulk at any time is SOF, except if you purely xenociding. At this point enhanced hive sight becomes your best friend, it makes marines transparent, and makes them stand out against most backgrounds.
Fades:
Celerity is by no means useless for a fade. While you won't be well designed for using acid rockets, you can run around a marine in a similar way to a skulk. This can be very useful for taking out HA, and for areas where blink is more likely to fail than not.
Also, IMHO carapace is the best defense upgrade for a fade. Granted you need a nearby healing station, but as you say blink grants you great movement speed meaning a quick getaway to a hive is easier, and the ability to absorb more bullets under direct fire is very useful for base assaults. I'd only ever take regen in cases where you can't get to a healing station (e.g. you are attacking from a vent).
And again, enhanced hive sight is useful for fades, as marines become more easily visible in their base, and in any background. Although I agree that SOF is much better.
Nice and easy language for newbies
Cheers
Alright, onos is going up tonight. It should be much easier to write since an onos will dominate with pretty much any upgrade. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
About blink, the things necessary to do it are too much for combat. It is worth using for long, empty hallways, but not much else unless you get a lot of practice.
<b>Defense</b>
<ul>
<li>Regeneration (health replenishes) - Unless you get 4 marines with jetpacks and hmgs in a very open area specifically targeting you, it is extremely hard to die as an onos with regen. With the onos' high health, you get a couple hundred health points every couple of seconds.
<li>Carapace (increased armor) - If your gorge has build defense chambers everywhere (which he probably has if there's 3 hives,) then carapace is definitely an option. Just remember to keep an eye on your health. if you're running low, primal scream and get your **** out of there.
<li>Redemption (hive rescue) - If it is unlikely that your team will be able to keep 3 hives for long, you may want to consider getting redemption. The death of an onos can be devastating if the marines are on the offensive.
</ul>
<b>Movement</b>
<ul>
<li>Adrenaline (more energy) - With such energy eating abilities as primal scream and charge, adrenaline is your upgrade of choice as an onos.
<li>Celerity (move faster) - An onos will typically be able to destroy everthing in his path, but a little extra speed can help when staring down the barrel of a paralyzed HMGer from across the hall. Recommended for the more skilled onos.
<li>Silence (move silently) - You're already 50 tons and about two stories tall. Although the marines won't be able to hear you with silence, they sure as hell will see you. Not a recommended upgrade for onos.
</ul>
<b>Sensory</b>
<ul>
<li>Advanced Hive Sight (a pair of glasses for the hive sight) - Turn your "flashlight" on and the marines start glowing bright, just like all your alien structures. Very useful when trying to paralyze a pesky jetpacker.
<li>Scent of fear (injured marines appear like parasited) - Unfortunately, the large gerth of the onos prevents him from exploring most of the vents where marines are likely to hide. However, he can still find that pesky injured runaway and unleash mayhem on his pitiful soul. Don't forget to primal scream right beforehand. That makes the marine extra crispy. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
<li>Cloaking (invisible when still) - As a marine, there is nothing more scary than a cloaked onos suddenly becoming.....uncloaked....right behind you. Great for some humiliation/laughs.
</ul>
i'm lost: I put in sensory upgrades to be consistent in including everything. The typical reader of this thread probably is not interested in asking why his gorge chose the upgrade, just which upgrade he should get. I agree that sensory chambers royally suck as a first hive upgrade except in extreme circumstances.
As for the blinking, it does take a lot of practice. I happen to be fairly good at it, and it's saved my life several times as a fade. That's why I recommend the adrenaline upgrade. Celerity is also good too, as I stated in my earlier post.
<b>Defense</b>
<ul>
<li>Regeneration (health replenishes) - If you have more than two hives, regen is your upgrade of choice. Once you take some damage, simply blink yourself to safety and heal. Then come back with a storm of acid rockets or bile bombs.
<li>Redemption (hive rescue) - The death of a fade can sometimes hinder your team. If your team is really strapped for resources, or you know that you may only have one hive in the near future, it is best to play it safe and get redemption
<li>Carapace (increased armor) - Extra armor always comes in handy. If you know for certain that you are going to attack as a pack of fades, and you will have a gorge with you to provide healing, get carapace.
</ul><!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Personally, I find regeneration fades extremely easy to kill, because they only take about half an LMG clip. I always take carapace as a Fade, because carapaced Fades are more than twice as strong as uncarapaced fades, and with blink, the nearest healing station is rarely more than 15 seconds away.