Zen And The Tou Of Skulk Fu
40oz_to_Freedom
Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 3997Members
Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 3997Members
<!--emo&::sentry::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/turret.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='turret.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::skulk::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='skulk.gif'><!--endemo-->
<!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='asrifle.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::gorge::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/pudgy.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='pudgy.gif'><!--endemo-->
Alright, first off I'm posting this as a player with consistent success playing the aliens, I'm not a n00b or someone who thinks they know everything, but I do have a strategic mind and fast reflexes, which gives me solid performance in many of the more challenging first person shooters. In almost every game I play I join somewhere in the middle and somewhere towards the end I have the highest score on either team.
Nuff said.
So first off I want to discuss early alien strategies including building, and offense because both are important at the beginning.
<b>Building</b>
Alien team should start with no more than 2 Gorges in a small 12 man server. 1 Gorge needs to be out capping resource nozzels and the other needs to build up the first hive a small bit. The first thing the hive gorge should build is a Defense Chamber. This will provide much needed defense for the skulks who are busy assaulting the marines. The defense comes in two forms, the Carapace/Redemption/Regeneration upgrade, and the Healing the chambers provide for nearby structures and allies. 1 isn't enough, build at least 3. The other Gorge should cap 1 or 2 resource nodes, as you learn the map you'll learn which nodes are good to cap first, they're usually the ones on the fringe or in hard to reach areas. The best defense early on is prevention from detection for buildings. Once defense chambers are up, build them around the resource nodes, then put up some Offense chambers. This will not totally protect the resource nodes, but it will give the enemy a lot to work through in order to get to the resource nodes. If the enemy attacks the chambers then the skulks will have plenty of warning that their resources are under attack, and they need to reach these structures and defend them. Alien structures are not meant to protect themselves, they are meant to support the aliens. If you lose the structures, you lose support, so it is the job of the aliens to protect the structures, not vice versa.
<b>Skulk Fu</b>
Those who are skilled in the art of Skulk Fu should leave the hive and the building to others in the beginning and seek out the Marine base. This is crucial, it is imperative that pressure is put on the humans early in the game, because this is when the skulk is the strongest. If you let the Marines develop their resources and defenses then the skulk cannot assault. If you let the Marines have access to Heavy Machine Guns, Grenade Launchers and Shotguns then the Skulk cannot stand his ground. If you leave the Marines alone in their spawn then they will build turrets. While the Alien turrets are not designed to guard themselves the human defenses are, leaving the humans free to coordinate assaults on your hives. Early clandestine assaults can set the humans back long enough for your hives to be built and resources to be gathered.
<b>The Alpha Skulk</b>
You are probably wondering how a skulk can possibly do so much damage in the beginning. Especially with that meager 10 armor they're wearing. In the very beginning, hit their base hard and take out as many marines as possible before getting killed. A little later your resources might build up to the point where you can evolve to a gorge, plant a Defense Chamber in an obscure location near their base, then evolve back to a skulk. A fortunate Skulk will have a team member with enough on the ball to do this for them. But if that isn't the case, do what you can with what you have. The best skulk on the team should be assaulting the main base with some success, the other skulks should protect the resource nodes and track down any humans leaving the base. If you are the best skulk, you are the Alpha skulk, and your job is to do as much damage to their base and personel as possible. Before you attack however, you should take the time to parasite each marine you see, so it will be easier for the other skulks (and you) to track them down. If you take any damage, fall back to your Defense chamber and heal.
<b>A time for change</b>
At this stage your second hive should be up, the Humans should have some Heavy Machine guns and some turrets up, your deaths should be more frequent and your resources should be built up to some degree. Hopefully your teammates set up a Movement chamber so now you can have some Celerity. Most likely they've set up a Sensor Chamber which means cloaking. There are two approaches at this point. 1: If you have Celerity then there's no reason you can't take some of these turrets out as a Skulk. Hide around a corner from a turret, run in, take one bite, then run out. Do this until your armor is almost gone or you have around 30 HP. If there's only one turret, you can strafe back and forth while taking bites out of it, if you keep moving the turret will have a hard time tracking you in time. But always be ready to fall back to your defense chamber. This is the bold way, the other way is to evolve into a Lerk and use Umbra to take out Turrets and Marines. Umbra is the 3rd ability of the Lerk which absorbs most of the damage of bullets. It only lasts a few seconds during which time your energy will be almost depleted so it's best used before a quick strike, then fall back and wait for enough energy to recover to repeat the process. If you're energy is low, you can't umbra, if you can't umbra, you take full damage from bullets, believe me you don't want to be here. To take out turrets, fly in and land right next to them, umbra, then switch to bite and lay waste. Remember to limit your strikes to only a few seconds, you want to run out and fly away before your umbra wears off. You can always fly back in and continue the assault, but not if you're dead. It helps to have a skulk or a Fade nearby but remember, you will need to bite or slash in order to take out turrets, the ranged attack of both the Lerk and the Fade are practically useless against structures at this point. Remember to stick and move, stick and move like Little Mac.
<b>The Third Hive</b>
By now, if your team has anything on the ball, your third hive is going up. When this happens most of your team will want to be Onos and there is of course appeal to being a large rhinocerous like creature with a thunderous attack, this however is not Skulk fu. If I have taught you anything I hope it's that the lightest touch can topple the strongest of human military endeavors. There are a few choices at this point. Remain a Lerk and use your Umbra/Poisonous cloud attacks to lay waste to the humans who are by now, frantically trying to maintain their base defenses. Or become a Fade, and begin the Seige. I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a fall back position at every point of conflict. You will not last long without them, the human weapons are powerful and can dispense damage fast, you must flow like water and take them out where they least expect you. I'll break the roles down at this stage of the game by morph level:
Skulk: Xenocide is a good thing, but only if you've just joined and lack the resources to become anything greater. The best thing you can do for your team at this point is sneak in, take a bite out of any marine you see, make a pass at any of the structures in reach on your way out of the main battle to the fall back point. Skulks are of limited use at this stage, but don't forget who got us here.
Gorge: Maintain the Defense chambers and move up the fall back point. It is crucial to be aware of any seige cannons that might be near, if you start seeing that shockwave destroy your chambers, FALL BACK, and establish another fall back point out of seige cannon range. If at all possible try to keep webs up, as the humans come out of their base the webs will be an unwelcome surprise. By now the humans might have jetpacks so throw a few webs up into the corners and towards the ceiling. Keep your offense chambers firing, remember the structures support the team. Don't block the fall back point with structures, the players are of far more use than whatever you're throwing up in the middle of the hallway. They will have to fall back fast and charge in fast so obstructions can really slow things down. Especially when you consider how big the Onos is, and how important it is this late in the game. Keep that in mind when building your structures.
Lerk: Umbra Umbra Umbra, Keep the umbra up and the Marine heavy machine guns, shotguns, turrets and light machine guns will be next to useless. Throw in your poison clouds every chance you get between umbras, it's a little damage that will go a long way, especially as the Marines come under the constant barrage of Fade Bile Bombs and Onos rushes. Don't neglect your bite skill, it isn't as powerful as a Skulks but it can destroy turrets FAST. Umbra, bite down a turret, one less gun your team has to worry about. Also use your projectile attacks to snipe off any marines hiding in the corner, but again I can't stress enough, the first thing you should do before attacking is Umbra.
Fade: Bile bomb the hell out of them, hit and run, hit and run. Remember to aim somewhat high as your bile bombs travel in a short arc. If Marines rush you, pull out the claws and strafe/claw them to death. Concentrate your attacks on clusters of structures such as turrets or warp in points, and remember to keep your health up by falling back.
Onos: Most people don't understand more than the Charge ability. Primal scream is a damn useful trick before rushing in and destroying everything you see. Do a scream, wait for your energy to pop back up then rush in with your team. Only one Onos really needs to do this so watch your front tusk for the flashing "Primal Scream". Charge is good for taking out the enemies, but don't overlook your bite, it's deadly and will kill just as many people at a fraction of the cost. I've never actually seen stun work but the game is new, it might not function yet. You're a seige tank, but you're also a Seige tank with feelings, get in, kill some people, stomp a turret, and then head back to the fall back point and heal up, it beats waiting for another 70 resources.
<b>Go now Grasshoppa</b>
If you've made it this far into my post I salute your attention span, I admit it's much greater than my own. This is such a great mod that I have felt compelled to take the time and write out all I've learned in such a short time. There is no simple path to victory but I have noticed a pattern of success when my team has followed this basic outline. Go now and end the human menace once and for all my alien Comrades, and remember, as the Skulk who gave birth to us all once said: "CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!"
<!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='asrifle.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::gorge::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/pudgy.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='pudgy.gif'><!--endemo-->
Alright, first off I'm posting this as a player with consistent success playing the aliens, I'm not a n00b or someone who thinks they know everything, but I do have a strategic mind and fast reflexes, which gives me solid performance in many of the more challenging first person shooters. In almost every game I play I join somewhere in the middle and somewhere towards the end I have the highest score on either team.
Nuff said.
So first off I want to discuss early alien strategies including building, and offense because both are important at the beginning.
<b>Building</b>
Alien team should start with no more than 2 Gorges in a small 12 man server. 1 Gorge needs to be out capping resource nozzels and the other needs to build up the first hive a small bit. The first thing the hive gorge should build is a Defense Chamber. This will provide much needed defense for the skulks who are busy assaulting the marines. The defense comes in two forms, the Carapace/Redemption/Regeneration upgrade, and the Healing the chambers provide for nearby structures and allies. 1 isn't enough, build at least 3. The other Gorge should cap 1 or 2 resource nodes, as you learn the map you'll learn which nodes are good to cap first, they're usually the ones on the fringe or in hard to reach areas. The best defense early on is prevention from detection for buildings. Once defense chambers are up, build them around the resource nodes, then put up some Offense chambers. This will not totally protect the resource nodes, but it will give the enemy a lot to work through in order to get to the resource nodes. If the enemy attacks the chambers then the skulks will have plenty of warning that their resources are under attack, and they need to reach these structures and defend them. Alien structures are not meant to protect themselves, they are meant to support the aliens. If you lose the structures, you lose support, so it is the job of the aliens to protect the structures, not vice versa.
<b>Skulk Fu</b>
Those who are skilled in the art of Skulk Fu should leave the hive and the building to others in the beginning and seek out the Marine base. This is crucial, it is imperative that pressure is put on the humans early in the game, because this is when the skulk is the strongest. If you let the Marines develop their resources and defenses then the skulk cannot assault. If you let the Marines have access to Heavy Machine Guns, Grenade Launchers and Shotguns then the Skulk cannot stand his ground. If you leave the Marines alone in their spawn then they will build turrets. While the Alien turrets are not designed to guard themselves the human defenses are, leaving the humans free to coordinate assaults on your hives. Early clandestine assaults can set the humans back long enough for your hives to be built and resources to be gathered.
<b>The Alpha Skulk</b>
You are probably wondering how a skulk can possibly do so much damage in the beginning. Especially with that meager 10 armor they're wearing. In the very beginning, hit their base hard and take out as many marines as possible before getting killed. A little later your resources might build up to the point where you can evolve to a gorge, plant a Defense Chamber in an obscure location near their base, then evolve back to a skulk. A fortunate Skulk will have a team member with enough on the ball to do this for them. But if that isn't the case, do what you can with what you have. The best skulk on the team should be assaulting the main base with some success, the other skulks should protect the resource nodes and track down any humans leaving the base. If you are the best skulk, you are the Alpha skulk, and your job is to do as much damage to their base and personel as possible. Before you attack however, you should take the time to parasite each marine you see, so it will be easier for the other skulks (and you) to track them down. If you take any damage, fall back to your Defense chamber and heal.
<b>A time for change</b>
At this stage your second hive should be up, the Humans should have some Heavy Machine guns and some turrets up, your deaths should be more frequent and your resources should be built up to some degree. Hopefully your teammates set up a Movement chamber so now you can have some Celerity. Most likely they've set up a Sensor Chamber which means cloaking. There are two approaches at this point. 1: If you have Celerity then there's no reason you can't take some of these turrets out as a Skulk. Hide around a corner from a turret, run in, take one bite, then run out. Do this until your armor is almost gone or you have around 30 HP. If there's only one turret, you can strafe back and forth while taking bites out of it, if you keep moving the turret will have a hard time tracking you in time. But always be ready to fall back to your defense chamber. This is the bold way, the other way is to evolve into a Lerk and use Umbra to take out Turrets and Marines. Umbra is the 3rd ability of the Lerk which absorbs most of the damage of bullets. It only lasts a few seconds during which time your energy will be almost depleted so it's best used before a quick strike, then fall back and wait for enough energy to recover to repeat the process. If you're energy is low, you can't umbra, if you can't umbra, you take full damage from bullets, believe me you don't want to be here. To take out turrets, fly in and land right next to them, umbra, then switch to bite and lay waste. Remember to limit your strikes to only a few seconds, you want to run out and fly away before your umbra wears off. You can always fly back in and continue the assault, but not if you're dead. It helps to have a skulk or a Fade nearby but remember, you will need to bite or slash in order to take out turrets, the ranged attack of both the Lerk and the Fade are practically useless against structures at this point. Remember to stick and move, stick and move like Little Mac.
<b>The Third Hive</b>
By now, if your team has anything on the ball, your third hive is going up. When this happens most of your team will want to be Onos and there is of course appeal to being a large rhinocerous like creature with a thunderous attack, this however is not Skulk fu. If I have taught you anything I hope it's that the lightest touch can topple the strongest of human military endeavors. There are a few choices at this point. Remain a Lerk and use your Umbra/Poisonous cloud attacks to lay waste to the humans who are by now, frantically trying to maintain their base defenses. Or become a Fade, and begin the Seige. I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a fall back position at every point of conflict. You will not last long without them, the human weapons are powerful and can dispense damage fast, you must flow like water and take them out where they least expect you. I'll break the roles down at this stage of the game by morph level:
Skulk: Xenocide is a good thing, but only if you've just joined and lack the resources to become anything greater. The best thing you can do for your team at this point is sneak in, take a bite out of any marine you see, make a pass at any of the structures in reach on your way out of the main battle to the fall back point. Skulks are of limited use at this stage, but don't forget who got us here.
Gorge: Maintain the Defense chambers and move up the fall back point. It is crucial to be aware of any seige cannons that might be near, if you start seeing that shockwave destroy your chambers, FALL BACK, and establish another fall back point out of seige cannon range. If at all possible try to keep webs up, as the humans come out of their base the webs will be an unwelcome surprise. By now the humans might have jetpacks so throw a few webs up into the corners and towards the ceiling. Keep your offense chambers firing, remember the structures support the team. Don't block the fall back point with structures, the players are of far more use than whatever you're throwing up in the middle of the hallway. They will have to fall back fast and charge in fast so obstructions can really slow things down. Especially when you consider how big the Onos is, and how important it is this late in the game. Keep that in mind when building your structures.
Lerk: Umbra Umbra Umbra, Keep the umbra up and the Marine heavy machine guns, shotguns, turrets and light machine guns will be next to useless. Throw in your poison clouds every chance you get between umbras, it's a little damage that will go a long way, especially as the Marines come under the constant barrage of Fade Bile Bombs and Onos rushes. Don't neglect your bite skill, it isn't as powerful as a Skulks but it can destroy turrets FAST. Umbra, bite down a turret, one less gun your team has to worry about. Also use your projectile attacks to snipe off any marines hiding in the corner, but again I can't stress enough, the first thing you should do before attacking is Umbra.
Fade: Bile bomb the hell out of them, hit and run, hit and run. Remember to aim somewhat high as your bile bombs travel in a short arc. If Marines rush you, pull out the claws and strafe/claw them to death. Concentrate your attacks on clusters of structures such as turrets or warp in points, and remember to keep your health up by falling back.
Onos: Most people don't understand more than the Charge ability. Primal scream is a damn useful trick before rushing in and destroying everything you see. Do a scream, wait for your energy to pop back up then rush in with your team. Only one Onos really needs to do this so watch your front tusk for the flashing "Primal Scream". Charge is good for taking out the enemies, but don't overlook your bite, it's deadly and will kill just as many people at a fraction of the cost. I've never actually seen stun work but the game is new, it might not function yet. You're a seige tank, but you're also a Seige tank with feelings, get in, kill some people, stomp a turret, and then head back to the fall back point and heal up, it beats waiting for another 70 resources.
<b>Go now Grasshoppa</b>
If you've made it this far into my post I salute your attention span, I admit it's much greater than my own. This is such a great mod that I have felt compelled to take the time and write out all I've learned in such a short time. There is no simple path to victory but I have noticed a pattern of success when my team has followed this basic outline. Go now and end the human menace once and for all my alien Comrades, and remember, as the Skulk who gave birth to us all once said: "CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!"
Comments
Good!
Well I must say that Zone(resource nodes) Control is still very important though.
Within the 1st 15-30 minutes the Skulks must constantly stalk / harrass the marines so that they will have a hard time setting up expansion outposts.
I'd like to emphasize that early in the game, defense chambers are highly important. Early in the game the aliens should be offensive to keep the marines' weedlike advancement in check, and to prevent them from nailing resources.
This means, you ain't got time to lurk, and cloaking plays a less useful role than a bit of carapace.
On the few recent games I've played on the Kharaa team and won, the Gorges built defense chambers first, and me being the Skulk will upgrade carapace first.
Then I find a good hiding place to prey upon marines, sometimes rushing to save structures under attack, scouting around for any Marine Expansions.
Its all about Zone Control! Control the zones and you win the match!
(of course you must not forget the basic tactics for each type of Kharaa evolution)
As onos this strategy can help your retain a few extra health points when you're taking out a room with several sentrys: strafing around the one you're attacking means thats 1 less sentries worth of damage you're taking and I also find that the other sentries seem to hit you less as they arent amazingly accurate <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
All chambers have weaknesses and strengths.
No one chamber is a bad choice.
-PD
Do you mean you don't have to build one right from the start or?
Are you refering to early game? Mid game? Late game?
I think in the title when you say "Tou" you mean Tao, as in the Tao te Ching.