A Tentative Guide To 2.0
Gadzuko
Join Date: 2002-12-26 Member: 11556Members, Constellation
Join Date: 2002-12-26 Member: 11556Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">...sorta.</div> This is the end result of about 14+ hours of playing 2.0 since release, most of it as aliens (yes, I have a job and a life, I just chose to obsess briefly). If you've got something you'd like to comment on, feel free - but please don't post just to say "That was too long. <whatever> sucks."
I've already started to see aliens kind of doing this in most of the servers I've been in, and I've been trying to play around a bit to get a feel for what works. Here's what I've found to be a good starter-upper:
1. At game start, the majority of skulks run and find a nice safe node, and put it up.
2. Another skulk drops a chamber (usually sensory) at the hive.
3. Yet another skulk, who intentionally dropped neither a node nor a chamber, racks up as many kills as possible and drops the second hive after reaching 45 res.
4. Marines should be suppressed as well as possible, and additional nodes and chambers dropped as skulks reach 25 or 20 res, respectively.
5. At this point, strategy varies wildly and becomes very responsive to what the marines are doing. If the third hive is clear, a skulk should be designated as hive-builder and save up 45 res for the third hive.
6. Employ advanced evolutions and abilities to wipe out the marines (naw, really?).
A few notes on how to most effectively use the various evolutions:
<b>Skulk</b>
Hit and run, hit and run. With sensory chambers, use Scent of Fear to track marine movements and ambush from invisibility. Silence or celerity is also highly effective, and carapace is still the recommended defense upgrade. Beware shotguns.
<b>Gorge</b>
Yes, you can actually fight with a Gorge now! Utilize ambushes with spit to rapidly take down solo stock marines, or hide in sensory cloak and try to keep away. Scent of Fear is extraordinarily useful for staying alive, and don't forget the wonders of bile bomb!
<b>Lerk</b>
With bite gone, Lerks have become long-range hit and runners. Use spores (and umbra if possible) to wear down enemies and finish them off with spikes. With 3 hives, don't forget to Primal Scream, and remember that heavy armor is totally immune to spores. Stay far away from shotguns, as they utterly decimate lerks.
<b>Fade</b>
The Fade has been unfortunately reduced to something of a bigger, faster skulk. Use Blink wisely to dart in and out of combat, and Metabolize outside of fights to regain lost HP. Adrenaline/Carapace/Scent of Fear is HIGHLY recommended as an upgrade setup, as Metabolize makes Regen redundant. With 3 hives, don't forget about those acid rockets.
<b>Onos</b>
Stomp, stomp, stomp. 3/4 of all Onos deaths are due to bad or no usage of Stomp (if you're a one hive onos, disregard that). Use Devour to nail the most expensive marine you see, and Gore the rest while Stomping. Charge seems rather unwieldy in comparison, but I need to test it more. As for upgrades, Redemption is useful if your resources are limited, while Regen edges out Carapace in usefulness due to not having to wander around looking for a gorge or DC to heal. I have found that a Celerity onos is generally more powerful than an Adrenaline onos due to the low energy cost of most abilities, and as always I recommend Scent of Fear as your Sensory upgrade. If you choose Regen or Carapace, always flee before you think you need it; Shotguns can nail a whole lot of pellets into your fat body, and HMGs can do a lot in a couple of seconds.
So, that's it. Constructive criticism is more than welcome, as this will be constantly refined for a long time.
I've already started to see aliens kind of doing this in most of the servers I've been in, and I've been trying to play around a bit to get a feel for what works. Here's what I've found to be a good starter-upper:
1. At game start, the majority of skulks run and find a nice safe node, and put it up.
2. Another skulk drops a chamber (usually sensory) at the hive.
3. Yet another skulk, who intentionally dropped neither a node nor a chamber, racks up as many kills as possible and drops the second hive after reaching 45 res.
4. Marines should be suppressed as well as possible, and additional nodes and chambers dropped as skulks reach 25 or 20 res, respectively.
5. At this point, strategy varies wildly and becomes very responsive to what the marines are doing. If the third hive is clear, a skulk should be designated as hive-builder and save up 45 res for the third hive.
6. Employ advanced evolutions and abilities to wipe out the marines (naw, really?).
A few notes on how to most effectively use the various evolutions:
<b>Skulk</b>
Hit and run, hit and run. With sensory chambers, use Scent of Fear to track marine movements and ambush from invisibility. Silence or celerity is also highly effective, and carapace is still the recommended defense upgrade. Beware shotguns.
<b>Gorge</b>
Yes, you can actually fight with a Gorge now! Utilize ambushes with spit to rapidly take down solo stock marines, or hide in sensory cloak and try to keep away. Scent of Fear is extraordinarily useful for staying alive, and don't forget the wonders of bile bomb!
<b>Lerk</b>
With bite gone, Lerks have become long-range hit and runners. Use spores (and umbra if possible) to wear down enemies and finish them off with spikes. With 3 hives, don't forget to Primal Scream, and remember that heavy armor is totally immune to spores. Stay far away from shotguns, as they utterly decimate lerks.
<b>Fade</b>
The Fade has been unfortunately reduced to something of a bigger, faster skulk. Use Blink wisely to dart in and out of combat, and Metabolize outside of fights to regain lost HP. Adrenaline/Carapace/Scent of Fear is HIGHLY recommended as an upgrade setup, as Metabolize makes Regen redundant. With 3 hives, don't forget about those acid rockets.
<b>Onos</b>
Stomp, stomp, stomp. 3/4 of all Onos deaths are due to bad or no usage of Stomp (if you're a one hive onos, disregard that). Use Devour to nail the most expensive marine you see, and Gore the rest while Stomping. Charge seems rather unwieldy in comparison, but I need to test it more. As for upgrades, Redemption is useful if your resources are limited, while Regen edges out Carapace in usefulness due to not having to wander around looking for a gorge or DC to heal. I have found that a Celerity onos is generally more powerful than an Adrenaline onos due to the low energy cost of most abilities, and as always I recommend Scent of Fear as your Sensory upgrade. If you choose Regen or Carapace, always flee before you think you need it; Shotguns can nail a whole lot of pellets into your fat body, and HMGs can do a lot in a couple of seconds.
So, that's it. Constructive criticism is more than welcome, as this will be constantly refined for a long time.
Comments
Firstly, sensory is very common nowadays. What most people don't realise is that sensory should not be placed to hide nodes- rather it should be placed in places close to or in hotspots to aid skulks. I feel that it is a big mistake to place an sc in the starting hive, where it could have better been placed near a node close to marine start to allow skulks to camp. Sensories in desolate spots are next to useless. Ideally, you should get a line of sensories that lead up to one place, allowing safe transportation and making an area completly unsafe for the marines. With its extraordinary tange, that is not hard to do.
Secondly, D Chambers do work well as a second hive chamber, since it is during this stage that the oni come into play. At 100res, it is a hefty investment to protect, and with teh devour combo becomes very useful against HAs. Do remember that the onos is about the only effective counter to the Ha train that the aliens possess, and faliure to posses oni when the HA train arrives will ultamitely result in defeat.
Third, I would suggest that any forward rts (for example, horseshoe) be protected by an oc or an sc. This will ensure that skulks can make life difficult for incoming marines, or that they would not have the time of their lives destroying a 10res investment. Or you could place ocs near rts that the marines have just electrified and neglected to defend. Both will attract marine attention (good for skulks) and will slow down their expansion. take note that the marine expansion cna happen miuch faster than the alien equivalent, since their tech can be acquired faster and more efficently.
Finally, remember that once you get bilebomb as a gorge, don't attack their base straight away (remember, this is the second hive stage where oni and fades have just come into play). This is suicide, and will result in the loss of 10 res. Rather, aim for their rts. With bilebomb, those rts will fall quickly and this will deny the marines any chance of amassing HAs, which you want to prevent at all costs.