Vengeance's Commander Guide
DFAVengeance
Join Date: 2003-09-23 Member: 21145Members
Join Date: 2003-09-23 Member: 21145Members
<div class="IPBDescription">A guide for comm's</div> I'm not gonna tell u specific strategies, this is just a general overview to let you think over your commanding style by pointing out things you must do and get, also this is assuming your team is good vs a good alien team, and that you know the map well, and that the game is 5v5 or more
So ok this isn't really a guide just some pointers and reminders on what and how u should do certain things(If your going for win in 5 minute rush disregard everything in this post say)
- Res Towers: Obviously... RTs, res towers give your team supplies, also any res towers you have the aliens don't have, get as many as u can hold onto
- Structure placement: Nothing makes it ezier for a skulk to wreak havoc in a base than horribly placed structures, never use stuff like armories and proto labs for walls (skulks lerk and fade go over em, gorges and onos go thru em). Also nothing is more aggravating for a soldier than trying to navagate thru a maze of buildings while skulks jump over all of them.
- Turret placement: When you place your turrets... dont make a wall, it makes it ezier for aliens to clear out being as they're all next to each other. Its better to keep your turrets spread among your base so there are no blind spots, also make sure every turret is capable of being covered by at least one other turret. Also a note to several comms who'm i regret serving, turrets don't shoot through buildings... Also the #1 problem i see with turrets is building too many... I mean, what good are turrets other than keeping single aliens from killing something. If the aliens wanted to clear out turrets then they would clear out all the turrets in no time (adding 50 more wont make it take more than a minute)
- Defense: If your team never dies, you can't lose. Offense is not always the best defense, as getting killed gives aliens res (having a team of rambo's can give a gorge who knows how to set up real defenses all the res they'll ever need). Make sure you have defenses, its no good getting 9 res towers in the beggining if you are going to lose 8 of them. This does NOT mean turret farming.
- Expansion: remember, enough is never enough, but don't go to fast. It is very good to get many rts in the start but don't go overboard, a resource tower with no defense won't last long. Also if you lose some territory (rts, hives, etc) take it back as soon as possible. Do not expand too fast as you will have no defenses, and do not waste time in the start, the sooner you grab res towers the sooner you gain technologies and an edge over the kharaa.
-Where to expand: Expanding isn't as simple as "OH those are the closest res towers! i'll go for those!". You have to look at positions, choke points, res towers, hives. Obviously you want to expand enough to get at least one hive. Expanding down the edge (left or right) leaves it so that the aliens have only one front to lay assaults, making defense ez, (works well with veil, doing this gives u 4 rts and a hive), don't set your strategy for building a line towards the center hive unless you are an offensive commander (you'll be hit from two sides unless u lock a 2nd hive down, also if the aliens start in the center hive and your going for it you need to be ready to take it down and fast)
- Shotguns: Staff of life
- Phase gates: You won't have to waste as many soldiers on defense if you have phase gates, also it allows for faster reinforcements, get phase gates at all important locations (hives, double res, main base)
- Motion tracking: I shouldn't even have to point this one out. Motion tracking will help marines know where and when the enemy is coming. Get this technology asap (not before you have 3-4 rts tho)
- Scanning: knowledge is power, knowing what your enemies have and what they are doing is helpful, make sure you have 2-3 observatories minimum (try to make them in diff locations even tho its not very convient), make a habit of keeping an eye on the enemy and scanning ahead of any large attack force about to be ambushed by cloaked skulks
- Upgrades: every attack upgrade gives 10% attack, which may not seem much but believe me it makes all the difference when you have light machine guns doint 13 instead of 10 damage, (150 extra damage per full clip). Armor upgrades, more armor means longer life span for marines, so don't grab all attack then all armor. Also don't make the mistake of grabbing adv armory in start, there is nothing worse than having hmgs, heavies, and jetpacks without ups, it's just wasting time and res
- Combined arms: Having all ha/hmg is bad, onos is the perfect counter to ha (stomp, devour, charge vs slow moving targets...) Mixing jetpacks, heavies, welders and pistols, shotguns, heavy machine guns and grenades makes a deadly force. My advice is to give all the heavies welders, and leave all the jetpackers with pistols (if they're main gun runs out they don't last long enough to reload in constricted areas) Also mixing of shotties and hmgs is very good. Another note, when making one of these forces try to keep a 3ha/2jp ratio and if a guy is better wiht a shotgun than an hmg give him a shotgun (they're cheaper anyway and probably will do more damage than with ha)
- Nade launchers: Grenades are mobile, fast, and destructive, and much much cheaper than a siege. Anyone skilled with grenades as I am will know that no matter how the structures are set up a grenade launcher can destroy them just as fast as a siege cannon. However do not load up your attack forces with too many grenade launchers and do not send them alone. At least keep one guy with a grenade gun. Also remember that a grenade guy can operate anywhere, he does not need a turret factory to work
- Supplies: Medspam = bad, if your having to waste 30 res to keep a single marine alive so a skulk wont kill a res tower, your wasting time. That skulk will want to enact its vengeance on that rine and will come back to the rt and kill the marine unless you waste more res. So if the marine (unless doing an important mission), is losing hp at the rate where u drop 3 meds a second he's probably gonna die anyway. Another thing is not to go overboard (Unless its a pub and you've won, no matter what happened) with ammo and hp, if a marine is 43 hp give hima s ingle medpack, not 2 or 50. And if a marine requests ammo give him a pack or two (3-5 for nade launchers) because if he dies before he uses all that you wasted more res
Ok i babbled on enough (even tho it says i used 6650 out of 1024000 chars <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->), ill shut up now (i could go on forever with this stuff...), i feel like im from adultswim tho (with the overuse of parenthesis <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->)
So ok this isn't really a guide just some pointers and reminders on what and how u should do certain things(If your going for win in 5 minute rush disregard everything in this post say)
- Res Towers: Obviously... RTs, res towers give your team supplies, also any res towers you have the aliens don't have, get as many as u can hold onto
- Structure placement: Nothing makes it ezier for a skulk to wreak havoc in a base than horribly placed structures, never use stuff like armories and proto labs for walls (skulks lerk and fade go over em, gorges and onos go thru em). Also nothing is more aggravating for a soldier than trying to navagate thru a maze of buildings while skulks jump over all of them.
- Turret placement: When you place your turrets... dont make a wall, it makes it ezier for aliens to clear out being as they're all next to each other. Its better to keep your turrets spread among your base so there are no blind spots, also make sure every turret is capable of being covered by at least one other turret. Also a note to several comms who'm i regret serving, turrets don't shoot through buildings... Also the #1 problem i see with turrets is building too many... I mean, what good are turrets other than keeping single aliens from killing something. If the aliens wanted to clear out turrets then they would clear out all the turrets in no time (adding 50 more wont make it take more than a minute)
- Defense: If your team never dies, you can't lose. Offense is not always the best defense, as getting killed gives aliens res (having a team of rambo's can give a gorge who knows how to set up real defenses all the res they'll ever need). Make sure you have defenses, its no good getting 9 res towers in the beggining if you are going to lose 8 of them. This does NOT mean turret farming.
- Expansion: remember, enough is never enough, but don't go to fast. It is very good to get many rts in the start but don't go overboard, a resource tower with no defense won't last long. Also if you lose some territory (rts, hives, etc) take it back as soon as possible. Do not expand too fast as you will have no defenses, and do not waste time in the start, the sooner you grab res towers the sooner you gain technologies and an edge over the kharaa.
-Where to expand: Expanding isn't as simple as "OH those are the closest res towers! i'll go for those!". You have to look at positions, choke points, res towers, hives. Obviously you want to expand enough to get at least one hive. Expanding down the edge (left or right) leaves it so that the aliens have only one front to lay assaults, making defense ez, (works well with veil, doing this gives u 4 rts and a hive), don't set your strategy for building a line towards the center hive unless you are an offensive commander (you'll be hit from two sides unless u lock a 2nd hive down, also if the aliens start in the center hive and your going for it you need to be ready to take it down and fast)
- Shotguns: Staff of life
- Phase gates: You won't have to waste as many soldiers on defense if you have phase gates, also it allows for faster reinforcements, get phase gates at all important locations (hives, double res, main base)
- Motion tracking: I shouldn't even have to point this one out. Motion tracking will help marines know where and when the enemy is coming. Get this technology asap (not before you have 3-4 rts tho)
- Scanning: knowledge is power, knowing what your enemies have and what they are doing is helpful, make sure you have 2-3 observatories minimum (try to make them in diff locations even tho its not very convient), make a habit of keeping an eye on the enemy and scanning ahead of any large attack force about to be ambushed by cloaked skulks
- Upgrades: every attack upgrade gives 10% attack, which may not seem much but believe me it makes all the difference when you have light machine guns doint 13 instead of 10 damage, (150 extra damage per full clip). Armor upgrades, more armor means longer life span for marines, so don't grab all attack then all armor. Also don't make the mistake of grabbing adv armory in start, there is nothing worse than having hmgs, heavies, and jetpacks without ups, it's just wasting time and res
- Combined arms: Having all ha/hmg is bad, onos is the perfect counter to ha (stomp, devour, charge vs slow moving targets...) Mixing jetpacks, heavies, welders and pistols, shotguns, heavy machine guns and grenades makes a deadly force. My advice is to give all the heavies welders, and leave all the jetpackers with pistols (if they're main gun runs out they don't last long enough to reload in constricted areas) Also mixing of shotties and hmgs is very good. Another note, when making one of these forces try to keep a 3ha/2jp ratio and if a guy is better wiht a shotgun than an hmg give him a shotgun (they're cheaper anyway and probably will do more damage than with ha)
- Nade launchers: Grenades are mobile, fast, and destructive, and much much cheaper than a siege. Anyone skilled with grenades as I am will know that no matter how the structures are set up a grenade launcher can destroy them just as fast as a siege cannon. However do not load up your attack forces with too many grenade launchers and do not send them alone. At least keep one guy with a grenade gun. Also remember that a grenade guy can operate anywhere, he does not need a turret factory to work
- Supplies: Medspam = bad, if your having to waste 30 res to keep a single marine alive so a skulk wont kill a res tower, your wasting time. That skulk will want to enact its vengeance on that rine and will come back to the rt and kill the marine unless you waste more res. So if the marine (unless doing an important mission), is losing hp at the rate where u drop 3 meds a second he's probably gonna die anyway. Another thing is not to go overboard (Unless its a pub and you've won, no matter what happened) with ammo and hp, if a marine is 43 hp give hima s ingle medpack, not 2 or 50. And if a marine requests ammo give him a pack or two (3-5 for nade launchers) because if he dies before he uses all that you wasted more res
Ok i babbled on enough (even tho it says i used 6650 out of 1024000 chars <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->), ill shut up now (i could go on forever with this stuff...), i feel like im from adultswim tho (with the overuse of parenthesis <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->)