The Two Point Oh Comm Guide
n4s7y
Join Date: 2003-04-18 Member: 15627Members
Join Date: 2003-04-18 Member: 15627Members
<div class="IPBDescription">How I Win Games</div> [this is a huge huge huge post, so stick with me folks. Competent comms should skip the general comming tips and move on to 2.0 comming]
In most pub 2.0 games, comms are simply not competent enough to win, or even compete in a game. I think it's about time to spread the knowledge of how to win Kharaa games. Before I start, here's a few general comming tips.
-=GENERAL COMMING TIPS=-
I posted this already, but a good comm requires patience. Tell your people where to go, describe the corridor they're supposed to enter, where that lerk is, and help them out throughout the game. In other games, this would be called micro. Although I refer to it as good comming. It also requires a good microphone.
Watch your language. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind people who start cussing everytime they get killed -- trust me, I understand the feeling. However, mild language helps to improve moral and give respect to the commander, leading to more teamwork.
When you need something done, use the player's name. Saying 1 person come to base to build this arms lab is quite useless, as what will happen is either no one will come or everybody will rush in. Saying, "last, build the arms lab at base" will have him running to base as fast as possible just to feel important.
Don't neglect multiple fronts. If a res tower is going down, order a few people to save it. Give them a welder to weld that res tower. Don't let it happen again, secure or electrify the rt.
Don't spam health unless neccessary (i.e. HAs or the last few people securing a vital area, like RTs). Do NOT heal people at base even when they are at 1 health, unless they're the most "elite" fighter you have.
Starting build order goes as: 2 IP, armory. common knowledge, but I still see a lot of 1 IP people. 2 IPs are essential, as they get your men back twice as fast. w/o em people might have to stay out of the game for more than a minute.
Mines are good. Mine your base up with two or so mine packs. More importantly, MINE OUTPOSTS. In 2.0 people don't expect this, and it can't be destroyed so easily anymore with a fade.
Turret placement is important. Place one <!--emo&::sentry::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/turret.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='turret.gif'><!--endemo--> on each side of the TF at least (oftentimes, comms will create blindspots where turrets can't get through and a skulk could easily take down the TF. Generally, 3 <!--emo&::sentry::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/turret.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='turret.gif'><!--endemo--> are not enough. Try higher numbers, 5 for RT, 10 for a hive. Yes, I said ten. Make sure to spread them out. Make sure they can all provide cover fire for each other. Make sure they can take out pesky lerks in range (important in maps like tanith with HUGE hive rooms etc.) Don't build them right next to the TF either, I see this done a lot. Build them some distance from it.
Don't spam expensive equipment. Tell the more experienced playres on your team (or more importantly, the better listeners) to stand still so you can drop them stuff. Get the LMG people to support the expensive marines as well as you can.
Upgrades are important. Although I prefer armor first, I've seen some very good comms go 3 weapons first. It's a debatable topic really.
Tell your marine to have only one person build. THe rest should provide cover fire.
<b>Tell your marines to spread out to different corners. Make this VERY clear. I've made another post about how effective spreading your marines out is. I've yet to see a comm do this. Just "spreading" (omgomg look @ my "elite" pun lolololol) the knowledge <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->.</b>
Use squads. Eh... not much to say here... I don't use them, but if I actually did, I'd be a much better comm.
Pay attention to the icons. If someone needs an order... give it to them. Inform players to use the popup command to request stuff.
Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints
Scroll around to outposts as often as possible. Sometimes you'll miss the base is under attack sound.
That's all for general tips, time to get started on 2.0 theory.
-=TWO POINT OH THEORY=-
This is just a primer for seasoned 1.04 comms just entering 2.0. Beginning comms should read this as well.
1.04 was centered on one thing, getting two hives. This applies for either team. A two hive lockdown almost always guarantees a win (75% i'd say). Res points could be ignored if you had two hives.
2.0 is based on res. Aliens actually USE res this time. In 1.04, if they had only one hive, they had nothing to use the res on, except maybe WOLs, a useless expense at any rate. Don't try to go past a res tower and to a more secure area. That res tower is not only very important in slowing down onos and fade production, it is providing a secure area for skulks to cloak.
--
The latest and most dangerous threat in 2.0 are sensories. Rising from the most useless chamber in 1.04 to the most powerful SOB on the planet, sensories wreck hell for marines. Solution? Observatories. Although it could be a problem if the aliens have built sensories before you've managed to aquire an observatory (another reason to make these guys before arms lab). If your marines report cloaks, scan for them. If you suspect cloaks, scan for them. However, due to a limited amount of scan energy, make sure to build more then one observatories, preferably at outposts so they may automatically uncloak nearby aliens.
--
Fades and onos can be taken with one hive now. How early they get them depends how well you stop their res collection and if they have one "elite" player who keeps killing. (I've seen this happen... just one REALLY good player would go onos 10 minutes before the others, ending the game quickly.) However, there are a few ramboing onos and fades coming from one hive nubs that can be taken down easily. There is no real way to counter these threats, other than the skill of your marines (and the skill of the aliens). Perhaps a few tips to your marines on how to defeat the **** could help.
-=THE TWO POINT OH ARSENAL=-
Here I'll go over nearly every building and weapon in the game.
-=STRATEGIES=-
The shotgun rush.
1 IP, ARMORY, SG (1 ip IMHO, but if you wanna go two, i aint stopping ya.)
Get a few res. Pass out shotguns. Attack. Get insulting messages from aliens or send insulting messages yourself if they have a good lerk. Simple nuff. Do this if you're feeling cheap. This is theory though, as I haven't tried this ingame yet. BTW, get your marines to pickup dead shotguns.
==
The double Res Node.
2 IP, ARMORY, MINES, OBS
A lot of the maps now have a double res node area, similar to reactor room in tanith or holoroom in hera. [something that might work-in-theory is to tell a marine to mine up the double res area, but most rines will start using mines on the base as soon as they get them.] They are important beyond all fing hell. What happens there is somewhat random. Occasionally I run into a groge or a lone skulk, but for the most part, it's usually empty when my marines get there. Tell them to SPREAD OUT. Have one person build one res tower, then place the TF in the middle. Spread turrets out so that they cover the tf in all directions, but are not clumped together. Refer to turret placing in General Comming strats. If the aliens are smart, they will hit this area HARD. Hold it at all costs. After a few turrets are up, get an observatory up as well, to keep the cloakies from wooping you. Build around 10 turrets here, and leave marine guard (or not, depending on the amount of marines and the situation). If you have HMGs or SGs, build an armory there as well (cheaper then spamming all tat ammo, not to mention easier).
From here, depending on the map, I will try to either secure more res or a hive. Try doing both at the same time. Depending on where the res tower is, you might want to secure it with 5 or so turrets. Leave marine guard if you wish. Also, send people to possible enemy res points and take them down. Res hunting as it's called. Scan and provide backup if needed. In cases where you've just taken out a res tower, secure first, and provide backup. Most likely, aliens will come and pwnage some.
If you've just taken out a Hive, follow same procedure as the double res. By the time you get the hive, you should have teched a good amount, and either have high upgrades or proto ready (nub comms will have to work on this part, as multitasking both the base and an outpost is difficult to do w/o some practice.)
The next step would be the HA train. With any luck, you've got enough reses to support a big one. Drop welders, shotguns, HMG, and GL. Give GL to the MOST competent player on the team, and describe to him his job, which is taking out buildings and scaring enemies away. Make sure everybody fully stocks on ammo. If the enemy have some onnos (they shouldn't have more than 1 or two if you have control of at least half the res nodes.) bring a few JPs with shotgun. REMIND THEM TO WELD, and tell the the JPers to stay alive at all costs. Have the jpers welded on occassion as well, and h spam them. The HAs with any luck should chew through the enemy territory easily. At this point, you might be under attack at an outpost. If you have no possible way to defend the outpost at the moment, lose it (unless it's your base, at which point you should recall your attack). The taking down of the next hive is more important. Scan for the HA/JP train as well as ammo and health spam. they should make short work of the hive. At this point, you should save the attacked outpost with 1/2 your men if it was an essential area (i.e. double res.) If it was a simple res node or a hive, forget it (you're gonna be taking down another hive anyhow). Build the hive you've just taken down, dropping an armory (cheaper and easier then ammo spam), phase (btw, you should build phase at all major outposts) and several turrets. As soon as your HA train is stocked, move down to the next hive. Rinse and repeat. Game over.
A few things to keep in mind with this strategy (and others), you will get attacked. You don't have to lose outposts however. Keep in mind that you have marines. Inform them through voice chat that so and so is going down. Tell them to walk/phase. GIVE WAYPOINTS! You must not lose outposts. If you lose it, the aliens gain momentum and will start knocking out each outpost, one by one by one...
Another threat involves base attacks. You must NOT allowe these to succeed. All of your tech is at base, and in 2.0, once an arms lab etc is destroyed, all the upgrades disappear. This is a HUGE loss for your team. Like I said before, use mines and order your marines back to base through waypoints. This is actually easier to do as most marines know where "base" is. If neccessary, turret up the base, but not heavily. Never leave base undefended btw. Finally, mine the vents to base. Weld them if possible. Never leave the comm chair.
[I've been writing for more then an hour now, so I'll finish this later. Some more strategies and the TWO POINT OH ARSENAL section will be completed tomorrow]
In most pub 2.0 games, comms are simply not competent enough to win, or even compete in a game. I think it's about time to spread the knowledge of how to win Kharaa games. Before I start, here's a few general comming tips.
-=GENERAL COMMING TIPS=-
I posted this already, but a good comm requires patience. Tell your people where to go, describe the corridor they're supposed to enter, where that lerk is, and help them out throughout the game. In other games, this would be called micro. Although I refer to it as good comming. It also requires a good microphone.
Watch your language. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind people who start cussing everytime they get killed -- trust me, I understand the feeling. However, mild language helps to improve moral and give respect to the commander, leading to more teamwork.
When you need something done, use the player's name. Saying 1 person come to base to build this arms lab is quite useless, as what will happen is either no one will come or everybody will rush in. Saying, "last, build the arms lab at base" will have him running to base as fast as possible just to feel important.
Don't neglect multiple fronts. If a res tower is going down, order a few people to save it. Give them a welder to weld that res tower. Don't let it happen again, secure or electrify the rt.
Don't spam health unless neccessary (i.e. HAs or the last few people securing a vital area, like RTs). Do NOT heal people at base even when they are at 1 health, unless they're the most "elite" fighter you have.
Starting build order goes as: 2 IP, armory. common knowledge, but I still see a lot of 1 IP people. 2 IPs are essential, as they get your men back twice as fast. w/o em people might have to stay out of the game for more than a minute.
Mines are good. Mine your base up with two or so mine packs. More importantly, MINE OUTPOSTS. In 2.0 people don't expect this, and it can't be destroyed so easily anymore with a fade.
Turret placement is important. Place one <!--emo&::sentry::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/turret.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='turret.gif'><!--endemo--> on each side of the TF at least (oftentimes, comms will create blindspots where turrets can't get through and a skulk could easily take down the TF. Generally, 3 <!--emo&::sentry::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/turret.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='turret.gif'><!--endemo--> are not enough. Try higher numbers, 5 for RT, 10 for a hive. Yes, I said ten. Make sure to spread them out. Make sure they can all provide cover fire for each other. Make sure they can take out pesky lerks in range (important in maps like tanith with HUGE hive rooms etc.) Don't build them right next to the TF either, I see this done a lot. Build them some distance from it.
Don't spam expensive equipment. Tell the more experienced playres on your team (or more importantly, the better listeners) to stand still so you can drop them stuff. Get the LMG people to support the expensive marines as well as you can.
Upgrades are important. Although I prefer armor first, I've seen some very good comms go 3 weapons first. It's a debatable topic really.
Tell your marine to have only one person build. THe rest should provide cover fire.
<b>Tell your marines to spread out to different corners. Make this VERY clear. I've made another post about how effective spreading your marines out is. I've yet to see a comm do this. Just "spreading" (omgomg look @ my "elite" pun lolololol) the knowledge <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->.</b>
Use squads. Eh... not much to say here... I don't use them, but if I actually did, I'd be a much better comm.
Pay attention to the icons. If someone needs an order... give it to them. Inform players to use the popup command to request stuff.
Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints Give waypoints give waypoints
Scroll around to outposts as often as possible. Sometimes you'll miss the base is under attack sound.
That's all for general tips, time to get started on 2.0 theory.
-=TWO POINT OH THEORY=-
This is just a primer for seasoned 1.04 comms just entering 2.0. Beginning comms should read this as well.
1.04 was centered on one thing, getting two hives. This applies for either team. A two hive lockdown almost always guarantees a win (75% i'd say). Res points could be ignored if you had two hives.
2.0 is based on res. Aliens actually USE res this time. In 1.04, if they had only one hive, they had nothing to use the res on, except maybe WOLs, a useless expense at any rate. Don't try to go past a res tower and to a more secure area. That res tower is not only very important in slowing down onos and fade production, it is providing a secure area for skulks to cloak.
--
The latest and most dangerous threat in 2.0 are sensories. Rising from the most useless chamber in 1.04 to the most powerful SOB on the planet, sensories wreck hell for marines. Solution? Observatories. Although it could be a problem if the aliens have built sensories before you've managed to aquire an observatory (another reason to make these guys before arms lab). If your marines report cloaks, scan for them. If you suspect cloaks, scan for them. However, due to a limited amount of scan energy, make sure to build more then one observatories, preferably at outposts so they may automatically uncloak nearby aliens.
--
Fades and onos can be taken with one hive now. How early they get them depends how well you stop their res collection and if they have one "elite" player who keeps killing. (I've seen this happen... just one REALLY good player would go onos 10 minutes before the others, ending the game quickly.) However, there are a few ramboing onos and fades coming from one hive nubs that can be taken down easily. There is no real way to counter these threats, other than the skill of your marines (and the skill of the aliens). Perhaps a few tips to your marines on how to defeat the **** could help.
-=THE TWO POINT OH ARSENAL=-
Here I'll go over nearly every building and weapon in the game.
-=STRATEGIES=-
The shotgun rush.
1 IP, ARMORY, SG (1 ip IMHO, but if you wanna go two, i aint stopping ya.)
Get a few res. Pass out shotguns. Attack. Get insulting messages from aliens or send insulting messages yourself if they have a good lerk. Simple nuff. Do this if you're feeling cheap. This is theory though, as I haven't tried this ingame yet. BTW, get your marines to pickup dead shotguns.
==
The double Res Node.
2 IP, ARMORY, MINES, OBS
A lot of the maps now have a double res node area, similar to reactor room in tanith or holoroom in hera. [something that might work-in-theory is to tell a marine to mine up the double res area, but most rines will start using mines on the base as soon as they get them.] They are important beyond all fing hell. What happens there is somewhat random. Occasionally I run into a groge or a lone skulk, but for the most part, it's usually empty when my marines get there. Tell them to SPREAD OUT. Have one person build one res tower, then place the TF in the middle. Spread turrets out so that they cover the tf in all directions, but are not clumped together. Refer to turret placing in General Comming strats. If the aliens are smart, they will hit this area HARD. Hold it at all costs. After a few turrets are up, get an observatory up as well, to keep the cloakies from wooping you. Build around 10 turrets here, and leave marine guard (or not, depending on the amount of marines and the situation). If you have HMGs or SGs, build an armory there as well (cheaper then spamming all tat ammo, not to mention easier).
From here, depending on the map, I will try to either secure more res or a hive. Try doing both at the same time. Depending on where the res tower is, you might want to secure it with 5 or so turrets. Leave marine guard if you wish. Also, send people to possible enemy res points and take them down. Res hunting as it's called. Scan and provide backup if needed. In cases where you've just taken out a res tower, secure first, and provide backup. Most likely, aliens will come and pwnage some.
If you've just taken out a Hive, follow same procedure as the double res. By the time you get the hive, you should have teched a good amount, and either have high upgrades or proto ready (nub comms will have to work on this part, as multitasking both the base and an outpost is difficult to do w/o some practice.)
The next step would be the HA train. With any luck, you've got enough reses to support a big one. Drop welders, shotguns, HMG, and GL. Give GL to the MOST competent player on the team, and describe to him his job, which is taking out buildings and scaring enemies away. Make sure everybody fully stocks on ammo. If the enemy have some onnos (they shouldn't have more than 1 or two if you have control of at least half the res nodes.) bring a few JPs with shotgun. REMIND THEM TO WELD, and tell the the JPers to stay alive at all costs. Have the jpers welded on occassion as well, and h spam them. The HAs with any luck should chew through the enemy territory easily. At this point, you might be under attack at an outpost. If you have no possible way to defend the outpost at the moment, lose it (unless it's your base, at which point you should recall your attack). The taking down of the next hive is more important. Scan for the HA/JP train as well as ammo and health spam. they should make short work of the hive. At this point, you should save the attacked outpost with 1/2 your men if it was an essential area (i.e. double res.) If it was a simple res node or a hive, forget it (you're gonna be taking down another hive anyhow). Build the hive you've just taken down, dropping an armory (cheaper and easier then ammo spam), phase (btw, you should build phase at all major outposts) and several turrets. As soon as your HA train is stocked, move down to the next hive. Rinse and repeat. Game over.
A few things to keep in mind with this strategy (and others), you will get attacked. You don't have to lose outposts however. Keep in mind that you have marines. Inform them through voice chat that so and so is going down. Tell them to walk/phase. GIVE WAYPOINTS! You must not lose outposts. If you lose it, the aliens gain momentum and will start knocking out each outpost, one by one by one...
Another threat involves base attacks. You must NOT allowe these to succeed. All of your tech is at base, and in 2.0, once an arms lab etc is destroyed, all the upgrades disappear. This is a HUGE loss for your team. Like I said before, use mines and order your marines back to base through waypoints. This is actually easier to do as most marines know where "base" is. If neccessary, turret up the base, but not heavily. Never leave base undefended btw. Finally, mine the vents to base. Weld them if possible. Never leave the comm chair.
[I've been writing for more then an hour now, so I'll finish this later. Some more strategies and the TWO POINT OH ARSENAL section will be completed tomorrow]
Comments
but then again, all the 2.0 games I've been in marines won, they had to be turret heavy. How else to counter the now early onos and such?
One thing I would say... 10 turrets? Wow. I've never seen anyone seriously build more than 6 in a game. I'd rather move on to another RT and TF that, at slightly more cost, than to defend that heavly one outpost. Or perhaps better yet, get some PG action going. PGs are even more essential in 2.0 than they were in 1.4, as your turret farms need to be able to recieve marines very quickly or be shattered by bilebombers or onos.
All in all though, I agree with most of what you said.
Especially if you're playing with newbs, the first few times you order them places, call them by name. It makes em feel like you have your eye on them, which keeps them going to your waypoints and not ramboing off.
Positive reinforcement goes a LONG way for morale. If an offense is blunted, say you had a few good kills, lets divert to another area while they're all concentrated. Don't yell and scream at your marines, unless a phase is going down and they're all getting ammo. This happened earlyer today, and simply by saying "Guys, while your'e getting ammo, your buddies are dying," Got EVERYONE to the phase gate.
Which brings me to my next point. Once the aliens have hive 2, it becomes possible for bases to fall quickly without support. Keep a guy (usually hotkey 4 for me) as a rapid response, give him a shotgun, and if you get a base under attack message, jump to it, then scan the area to see if a threat exists. (You DO have your obs bound to group 5, right?) If warranted, send the marine in, telling him what he is up against.
Mixed weaponry is great in 2.0, sicne weapons pay for themselves after a few kills. I suggest a ratio of:
<ul>
<li>2 shotguns
<li>1 HMGer
<li>1 Grenade Launcher
<li>OPTIONAL: 1-2 LMGs for point support.
</ul>
What's that? LMGs? Heck yeah. They reload fast, pack a decent punch at most ranges, and can pick up a better weapon if one is dropped. They're good to keep around.
Also, exploit the fact that aliens have no ranged game at the Hive 1 stage, and in fact, little in other stages of the game. Turrets at long hallways can do wonders, especially if it forces them to take the long way around. Most players only know one or two routes to get to any location, taking out a primary junction means slow response time.
If you can't drop a waypoint or if you're doing something important and are just going to mic them with "Go help at comp core everyone now" its handy to say some sort of description - eg for "Fusion" you could say "Two resource room" since we can all see it on the map.
Waypoints are much more preferred, but I understand what its like to be juggling orders so just a tip <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
"Tell your marine to have only one person build. THe rest should provide cover fire."
Imperative! I've participated in situations where three are building the TF only to get ripped by one skulk.
"Tell the more experienced playres on your team (or more importantly, the better listeners) to stand still so you can drop them stuff"
Also watch for rambos or people who don't stick to their waypoints. Many times now have I seen an HA/HMG sprint off into the night and three seconds later watch his name appear on the end of a onos devour sprite or skulk bite.
Comms, if you have a player who you *trust* and they say "I think there's a cloaked hive up here" or they're saying things are coming out of nowhere, try pinging the area for sensories. Yes I know some new guys will scream that skulks are coming from nowhere when they're really just hiding cleverly, but good players know the difference and rely on you to help out. In fact, consider *experienced* underlings as good lieutenants and if you're delegating squads, have people follow their lead. If you have a lieutenant and 2 people on RT cap duty then it saves you watching them if the Lieutenant keeps them mostly straight and tells you when the real poop is hitting the fan. If like me you're on public servers, try and get a feel for your new buddies. You'll know who to trust and who not to.
I know Lieutenants work because in one of our commless games i ended up asking a guy to follow me and do what I do as we took out a cloaked RT and offensive nest. When a comm got in the chair he only had to keep us moderately ammo'd up since he knew I like Gorge and wasn't a rambo - He was confident of my lead at that level.
This will pay back in consecutive games - if you can inspire confidence in the team you'll hear less "constructive criticism" as they will be certain you know what you're doing and get round to them.
I haven't tried to implement Lieutenants myself but I'd suggest that perhaps you tell your men to TYPE to their lieutenants and tell lieutenants to TALK to you. Certainly save you having to read everything.
Oh, and on an unrelated note - its evil when someone changes their name to NSplayer and deliberately uses say instead of teamsay. Great disinformation, mwahah.