Winning Dark Maps
Rushakra
Join Date: 2004-03-25 Member: 27523Members
Join Date: 2004-03-25 Member: 27523Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Without Gamma Hax</div> The Flashlight: not just for Marines anymore.
Of course, who used it to begin with? Turning on your flashlight may have enabled you to spot that Lerk in the vent more effectively, but it also told the entirety of the Alien team exactly where you were.. and, let's face it, Lerks don't sit in vents anymore. While the patch notes only mentioned an upgrade to the Alien flashlight, the Marines also received a signifigant boost to their own's usefulness.
"But Wooshakra, you cwazy," some of you are saying. "Flashlight suxx0rz!" Untrue my dim-witted friends. Aliens would need to be mentally handicapped or completely unknowing of their flashlight to not have it on. The benefits are too great, knowing exactly where every Marine is the moment they wander into view. This puts you and your teammates at a disadvantage in darker corridors. The Aliens are keenly aware of your position at every moment, but without a cat's eye or an obscenely high gamma setting, your only clue to their position is the faint illumination caused by your muzzle flash and a spray of blood from your now dead teammates.
Bam, right there -- that's why the Marine flashlight is useful again. The Aliens can see you <b>regardless</b> of your flashlight now. Turning it on in a dark room is not going to alert the Skulk to your presence as long as you're in his LoS to begin with. He knows you're there already. However, the glowing field that surrounds a Marine with an active flashlight is enough to make the Skulks stand out in stark contrast to the now-illuminated ground and walls. While you only receive a slightly laggy dot over your crosshair, it can be sufficient. The benefits howerver are much greater to your teammates, allowing them to more effectively gun down whatever is killing you. Turning your flashlight on in a dark corridor can save your life now, instead of end it.
As well, which is harder to see: a white, transparent Marine against a dark black background.. or that same Marine against a bright white wall? Having your flashlight on actually <i>reduces</i> the effectiveness of the Alien's flashlight while simultaneously allowing you to sight them at a range more quickly and allow your teammates to fire more accurately.
Good places to use your flashlight are in order to allow teammates to assist you more effectively are:
The bottom-right entrance of the Hive on co_angst
Maintenance, Ventilation hive, the back entrance to Delta Core all on ns_hera
And just about everywhere in co_core and ns_bast and _mineshaft (if your server is actually running the map)
Conversely, any place that is bright, where an Alien's flashlight could be turned OFF, is a good place to leave yours on if you wish to make yourself harder to see with those who have them active. Additionally, activating your flashlight makes any Alien running at high gamma BURN. Their eyes IGNITE and they fall out of their chair. There's no reason <i>not</i> to do it!
Keep all of these things in mind next time you play, and should you see me yelling at you to turn on your damn flashlight so I can kill whatever is chewing on your leg.. <b>do it.</b>
Of course, who used it to begin with? Turning on your flashlight may have enabled you to spot that Lerk in the vent more effectively, but it also told the entirety of the Alien team exactly where you were.. and, let's face it, Lerks don't sit in vents anymore. While the patch notes only mentioned an upgrade to the Alien flashlight, the Marines also received a signifigant boost to their own's usefulness.
"But Wooshakra, you cwazy," some of you are saying. "Flashlight suxx0rz!" Untrue my dim-witted friends. Aliens would need to be mentally handicapped or completely unknowing of their flashlight to not have it on. The benefits are too great, knowing exactly where every Marine is the moment they wander into view. This puts you and your teammates at a disadvantage in darker corridors. The Aliens are keenly aware of your position at every moment, but without a cat's eye or an obscenely high gamma setting, your only clue to their position is the faint illumination caused by your muzzle flash and a spray of blood from your now dead teammates.
Bam, right there -- that's why the Marine flashlight is useful again. The Aliens can see you <b>regardless</b> of your flashlight now. Turning it on in a dark room is not going to alert the Skulk to your presence as long as you're in his LoS to begin with. He knows you're there already. However, the glowing field that surrounds a Marine with an active flashlight is enough to make the Skulks stand out in stark contrast to the now-illuminated ground and walls. While you only receive a slightly laggy dot over your crosshair, it can be sufficient. The benefits howerver are much greater to your teammates, allowing them to more effectively gun down whatever is killing you. Turning your flashlight on in a dark corridor can save your life now, instead of end it.
As well, which is harder to see: a white, transparent Marine against a dark black background.. or that same Marine against a bright white wall? Having your flashlight on actually <i>reduces</i> the effectiveness of the Alien's flashlight while simultaneously allowing you to sight them at a range more quickly and allow your teammates to fire more accurately.
Good places to use your flashlight are in order to allow teammates to assist you more effectively are:
The bottom-right entrance of the Hive on co_angst
Maintenance, Ventilation hive, the back entrance to Delta Core all on ns_hera
And just about everywhere in co_core and ns_bast and _mineshaft (if your server is actually running the map)
Conversely, any place that is bright, where an Alien's flashlight could be turned OFF, is a good place to leave yours on if you wish to make yourself harder to see with those who have them active. Additionally, activating your flashlight makes any Alien running at high gamma BURN. Their eyes IGNITE and they fall out of their chair. There's no reason <i>not</i> to do it!
Keep all of these things in mind next time you play, and should you see me yelling at you to turn on your damn flashlight so I can kill whatever is chewing on your leg.. <b>do it.</b>
Comments
Keeping it on all the time can be a major problem, as the skulk can see you before you even turn a corner just by this spotlight on the wall.
Also it makes trying to hide around a corner impossible as this beacon of light just surrounds you.
But, if it's simply for really dark areas, I agree completely. The flashlight is finally getting a purposefull use now.
Keeping it on all the time can be a major problem, as the skulk can see you before you even turn a corner just by this spotlight on the wall.
Also it makes trying to hide around a corner impossible as this beacon of light just surrounds you.
But, if it's simply for really dark areas, I agree completely. The flashlight is finally getting a purposefull use now. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Turn it off in those situations?
Sure if your computers a hunk of crap.
Also, I've been experimenting with this a little more, and I am impressed.
Chances are if a pile of heavies are trudging their way towards a hive, the entire alien teams knows exactly where the hell they are. So why not turn on a little light?
As long as your teammates' computers are worth more than $200 and you aren't walking around corners with the flashlight on, then their FPS will be fine and the aliens won't have any advantage (because they have their flashlight on).
Turning on your marine flashlight has major disadvantages and very few true advantages.
With the built in half-life brightness and gamma settings there should be no need for the marine flashlight.
and yes, the flashlight has horrible fps. Not so much that it causes overall low fps, but the flashlight frquently strobes depending on the player's machine.
To the person who said not to use your flashlight around corners: Skulks dont hide in the center of hallways...come on.
Half-Life2 has the cool flashlight, not Half-Life.
veil, eclipse, hera - always off, they're too bright
nothing, origin, nancy, altair - always on, too dark
metal, ayumi, caged, eon, tanith - depends on room
I think. This is only when I lerk - when I'm skulk or something, I usually don't bother with the flashlight.
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I LOVE that part.
Old trick as of NS 2.0 gg nt