Commanding Guide To Ns_altair

WildChicken · October 2004

<div class="IPBDescription">A look at a disliked map</div> Map: Ns_altair
Point of View: Commander

Most people look upon Ns_Altair as an alien biased map, mainly because of the long underground passageways and general lack of bright zones. However, what the marines lose in visibility/actual control, they gain in strategic positioning.

Map Overview:
<img src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/WildChicken/Natural%20Selection/Ns_altair/Ns_AltairOverview.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Colour codes:
Red: Siege Spot
Yellow: Choke Point
Green: Relocate

Life Support: This hive is big and open, with a hole in the top of the front wall protecting the hive, allowing JPs to fly in, mine the place up and kill the hive rather quickly.

Omega Site: This hive has a huge trigger_hurt hole protecting the hive, making JP rushes extremely hasardous.

Consistency Monitoring: This hive is long and straight, making it the easiest to spawncamp. The high but uneven ceiling makes it hard to JP rush, without circling the hive itself.

Choke Points:
Unlike ns_lost, it is not possible to control all the choke points on this map without already grossly dominating the aliens. However, the two shown here are the two most important choke points, as they allow easy access to two hives each (And they come equipped with one resource nozzle).

Phi Test Site:
<img src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/WildChicken/Natural%20Selection/Ns_altair/PhiTestSite.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

This choke point allows easy access to Consistency siege point 1 and Omega siege point 2 in less than 10 seconds. Either do a elec-RT+PG or lock it down using the turret placement shown above. Spice it up a bit with mines.

Parts Room:
<img src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/WildChicken/Natural%20Selection/Ns_altair/PartsRoom.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

This choke point allows easy access to Omega siege point 2 and Life siege point 1/2. There are 2 options, doing elec RT+PG at the RT or TF+Turrets at Sigma Test Site/Parts Room overlap, as shown above.

Siege Spots:

Life Support hive siege spot 1:
<img src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/WildChicken/Natural%20Selection/Ns_altair/Lifehivesiegespot1.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

This siege spot is very dark and has a big wall that makes it easier for aliens to ambush and overwhelm marines. Also, if aliens are against the wall closest to the hive, they're in range of hivehealing, making them that much harder to kill.

Life Support hive siege spot 2:
<img src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/WildChicken/Natural%20Selection/Ns_altair/Lifehivesiegespot2.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

This siege spot is on a higher level than the rest of the hive. Putting mines around the ladder is a great help, but don't forget to put a few in the doorway as well. This siege spot is much easier to defend than siege spot 1.

Life support hive siege spot 3:
<img src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/WildChicken/Natural%20Selection/Ns_altair/Lifehivesiegespot3.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

The final Life Support siege spot is perhaps the easiest to defend, with one straight corridor leading to the hive and one long corridor behind the siege spot. There are 2 decent TF placements, 1 being the tricky one on the pipes, which is rather hasardous, and 1 being the safe one on the floor (The yellow circle).

Omega Site hive siege spot 1:
<img src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/WildChicken/Natural%20Selection/Ns_altair/Omegahivesiegespot1.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

The first siege spot is incredibly easy to defend, with one long, straight corridor leading from hive to siege spot. On the other side is a doorway, which can be mined up to effectively block off ramboing aliens.

Omega Site hive siege spot 2
<img src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/WildChicken/Natural%20Selection/Ns_altair/Omegahivesiegespot2.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Same as the first siege spot. Incredibly easy to defend. This siege spot has 2 good setups, shown on the overview.

Consistency Regulation hive siege spot 1:
<img src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/WildChicken/Natural%20Selection/Ns_altair/Consistencyhivesiegespot1.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
This siege spot is not very easy to defend, with the hive room being just few metres away. However the hive room itself makes spawncamping easy. This should be (ab)used, putting a couple of marines at the RT to fend off any skulks (More if fades/onosses are on the loose) works wonders. Mines makes those spawncampers live longer, don't forget to hand them out.

Consistency Regulation hive siege spot 2:
<img src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/WildChicken/Natural%20Selection/Ns_altair/Consistencyhivesiegespot2.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

This siege spot is easier to defend than siege spot 1, making it the best choice unless of course you have a good outpost at Phi Test Site. Keep an eye on the vent above the TF.

Relocates:

Station Monitoring - Power

This relocate holds 2 RTs, with easy access to all hive siege spots. All in all a decent relocate, positioned centrally.

Station Monitoring Annex:

This relocate is positioned close to two RTs, with a choke point just a few seconds walk away from the base itself. With this relocate, welding the door quickly is essential, so you can seize the RT behind it, and capture Consistency and Omega hive RTs as well (Or siege out the hive quickly, if need be). I personally prefer using this relocate, because:
1) It is hard to skulk rush early game (Non-welded door)
2) Close to choke point, 2 hive siege spots.
3) Still centrally located, making it easier to hold larger areas of the map.

Phi Test Site:

This relocate allows marines to control Consistency Regulation and Omega Site hives, along with the RTs there. However, as it is located in a corner of the map, marines will have a hard time holding more RTs than those 3.

Parts Room:

This relocate allows easy access to Omega Site siege spot 1 as well as Life Support hive. The distance to the nearest RTs, however, make it difficult for marines to hold more than 2.

All in all, the middle areas of this map are big, open rooms, with plenty of space for JPs. However, 2 of the hive locations are best suited for HAs, making HAs the best outfit for this map. Also, the distance between each hive is in favour of HAs.

Lofung · October 2004

this map....omg
just a bit better than new bast

if the pics are made smaller, it would be a lot appreciated
thx anyway

KungFuDiscoMonkey · October 2004

Good read although some of it will probally have to be revised when the b6 version of Altair comes out <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

BlueNovember · October 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (KungFuDiscoMonkey @ Oct 3 2004, 12:26 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Good read although some of it will probally have to be revised when the b6 version of Altair comes out  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
Any sneak previews KFDM? <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' />
--
WC,
I would stress the ease of defence of Sat monit as a relocate. (One big campathon at the huge entrance.) Also tone down life support. Phi/stats mon controls 2 hives, Parts (life support relocate,) controls 1. If you relocate to either of your lower spots, you can beacon to ms and walk to life support pretty easily. It's not an easy hive for aliens to defend due to the abundant railings and ledges. The other two hives would be a priority target for a lock down I feel. You also control more rts with them, so you should have no problem teching to a3w3, cats, MT with the aliens stuck in Life support.

The whole right side of map can be ignored as it's hardly used by aliens in the first few minutes. The first RTs they try to cap will be the ones your marines pass on the way to relocate. This has the advantage of some serious egg scrambling, but the disadvantage of blown cover; another reason to choose Stat mon over Phi. (Easier to defend with that one big entrance)

Show the vent system on the minimap.

That's it really. GJ mate. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' />

You know this anyway, as we just discussed it, but hey. For the bennifit of others. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

WildChicken · October 2004

Ty Blue. I'll add if I feel like it.
KFDM, do you have to change it? I like it just the way it is <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

KungFuDiscoMonkey · October 2004

Yeah, I'm trying to fix most of the items people complained about (a lot of those were just visual) and fixing a few gameplay issues like LOS in a few areas, spawn camping in consistance, and reducing the strenght of Phi as a relocate/double siege.

Niteowl · October 2004

added to sticky, nice work.

Sky · October 2004

For the record, I <3 altair <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /> .

ninja-gorging up the locked-down consistance hive from the underground sewer system, 2 onos and a fade take an mc in.....priceless. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' />

MistenTH · October 2004

I like altair actually...big, dark, slightly complicated. An excellent sewer/vent system that allows skulks to get in close. A tinge of fear for marines. Everything a NS map should be.

Bast and Lost used to be like that, but they've been made smaller since (in terms of travel time). Them and a lot of other maps have limited vents and depth, letting rines have a turkey shoot out of the kharaa.

SaltzBad · October 2004

@Misten :
Have you played altair at all? The vent system is a linear connection between the 3 hives without any branches, or god forbid a hint of cover. Very similiar to every other piece of the map - functional alien cover is fairly rare. Altairs only redeeming quality gameplay wise is the cover inside the Hives.

Which ends up being overkill though, seeing as how the Hives are the biggest FPS droppers and darkest areas of the map anyway.

Commanding Guide To Ns_altair

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