Silver fox on skulks
Silver_Fox
Spammer Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 34Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
Spammer Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 34Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
<div class="IPBDescription">Need some tips?</div>This is my outline for the alien classes. There are other strategies and other tactics you can use, however some people have been having a hard time with the Kharra, so I figured I’d try to explain my typical alien tactics. First up, is the Skulk.
The first point I want to get across is this;
He is not a tank. Hell, he’s not even a jeep – he’s like a moped. If you find your self in a situation where there’s a single marine, you may be able to take him out if he’s not too far away. However, don’t ever try to rush more then one marine as the Skulk with no upgrades. It Will. Not. Work.
The Skulk is like a guerrilla fighter. You need to use hit and run tactics and attack from places marines would not expect. Such as the roof or on the side of a pipe. The Skulk can literally fit almost anywhere. Try a few places; see which ambush spots work the best. For me, I find the small spots above doorways to be extremely effective, especially now – since the marines are new to the game and don’t look up. Also, don’t always run out and charge the first person you see, there may be a squad instead of a single marine, wait a few seconds for him to pass. I usually wait 3 seconds or so after every person I see pass. For example, if I see a marine run by, I’ll count to 3 and then attack. However if I see a marine and only get to a count of 2 and another marine runs by, I’ll restart my count again. Also, try not to attack until you are as close as you can get to the marines – you need to take them by suprise. It only takes 2 bites to kill a marine, regardless of where you hit them, its easiest if you can sort of line the marines up – that way all you have to do is hold attack and press forward.
That also brings up another point. Someone asked me in a game if I hold attack or press for each attack. I always hold. It takes less effort and it will be just as fast, if not faster, then press it. However, don’t just run around the map holding attack, every bite you use makes a sound – it’s a dead give away to where you are. Save the bite for when you need them.
If you can, try to organize a “Skulk rush”. It may be difficult on pubs, I’ll grant you that, however it’s a very effective tactic.
When rushing as a Skulk, there are pretty much three things you can do. Run into the marine base and try to kill everyone in there, parasite everyone for an easy kill later in the game or a combination of the two. Parasite a few marines and then while they’re all looking around trying to figure out where it came from, attack.
Also, practice with the Skulk. Learn how to use him, if not by me then other players. Ask in game, on the forums and in IRC. You will be playing the Skulk 80% of the game. It’s a pretty effective killing machine if you learn when a good time to attack is, when to parasite, when to rush, when to defend, where to ambush … He can be down right evil.
Using the right weapon at the right time is important as well. Obviously, in the early game, you will be limited. However, in the later game when you have three hives, its important to know which attack is right for which job.
The bite you obviously want to use when you’re close to marines. Two bites are all it takes on a ‘stock’ marine. Parasite is what you want to use when the marines are far far away, hopefully while your hidden in a nice dark spot and not moving around. Parasite as many as you can, they put them marines on the hive mind, making them super easy kills. You can use parasite at any distance, it’s just safer to use at a distance. If you’re attacking and are about to die, a good tactic is to switch to parasite and hit as many things as you can before you die. Leap is effective for moving long distances, but it also can be used to get you extremely close to the marines. It also does a fair bit amount of damage and is very fast. Xenocyide is basically a kamikaze weapon. It’s best used when the marines are weak and about to loose, or on a small group (five or so) before another class comes in and wipes them out, hell, you may even take a few with you. But from what I can remember, a marine at full health/ammo won’t die with one xenocyide. Two however will completely destroy the marines. That’s why it’s best to attack as a team. If you don’t want to play as a team, just simply hang back until someone else comes in, causes a bit of damage and then jump into the middle of the party while the marines are still recovering. It takes a second or two after you use it to ‘warm up’, so try pressing it before you get into the action.
Now that the general info is taken care of – Skulks with upgrades:
The are a number of possibilities and combinations you can come up with when upgrading your Skulk. I’ll try to give you, in my opinion, the best upgrade for each situation.
Defense Chambers,
This is really a person preference later in the game. However in the early game I always, always choose Carapace. It gives you so much more time to take out the marines and their buildings. The Skulk becomes so much more dangerous when it has armor, it’s almost like a new class. This, however, doesn’t mean he’s a tank – he is still a moped. HE IS STILL A MOPED. Got it? Heh, k ..
You still need to use guerrilla tactics when attacking or defending. Carapace just makes it easier to do and gives you more time.
Redemption, I personally think, is a waist on the Skulk. Skulk is the lowest class and the one you always spawn at. You could die, respawn, and get all your upgrades again in about the same amount of time it would take to be redeemed and healed.
Regeneration is a nice one, but I recommend using it later in the game when you have more upgrades from other chambers as well. It can’t really support you by its self, it needs a backup upgrade.
Movement Chambers,
This area is also more of a personal preference. It depends on the tactics you want to use.
I usually pick the adrenaline upgrade. It’s nice when you get two hives up because you can leap around like crazy and get you energy back almost immediately. But in the early game, it will let you bite at full speed until you kill your target or die. It will also let you parasite things like mad.
There is also Celerity. The Skulk is fast, but the Skulk on a speed upgrade is insane. Its simple really, the more you move, the harder you are to hit. The faster you do it, the better your chance of survival.
Silence. I love silence. The old saying is true, Silence is Golden. I like to use silence pretty much anytime I can, but its really nice in the early game. It makes your footsteps silent, and you don’t breath out loud and you don’t make the little idle noises you usually make without it – such as the growls and what not. It’s perfect for ambushing marines. If you use the wait three second tactic I described earlier, the marines will never know you were behind them until one of them drops, hell, sometimes you can kill an entire squad four or five marines strong without a single one noticing what happened.
Sensory Chambers,
Honestly, the only one I ever use is cloaking. Cloaking (if used effectively) can devastate the marine team. At the level three cloak, you can stand right in front of doorways and wait for marines to run into you before attacking. When at lower levels of cloak, you want to use it in ambush spots, such as above doors, in corners and in dark areas. If you don’t have level three cloaking and try to use it in a well-lit area, you’ll stick out like a soar thumb.
Advanced Hive Sight is nice if you’d like the marine team lit up just like your team when you press your flash light key. There’s no real strategy to using it, its either on or off.
Scent of Fear is pretty neat. It will make any marine that’s low on health so up on the hive mind. It can be effective for lowing the numbers of a strong marine group.
This is all assuming the Gorges build all three types of chambers. None of the upgrades are really all effective until you have all three except the cloaking; it can save your butt and give you a very big advantage even at level one.
Some Chamber combos I like to use,
Regen + Silence + Cloaking = Rcon/Spy/Ninja. These guys are scary at full upgrades. You can’t hear them coming, you can’t see them once they are cloaked and if they take damage, they can retreat just a few feet, cloak and get their health back. It’s a very vicious combo.
Adren + Scent + Carapace = Assault class. Jump in with leap, cause a bit of havoc, jump and and go heal. Rinse and repeat.
Cloaking + Carapace + Celerity = Super fast Assault. Run with blazing speed, take out a squad of five marines and get out before anyone – even the commander notices.
Use your Hive Mind. Learn how to use it and when it shows you something, go there. It’s practically a wallhack if you know how to read it. It’s simple really;
White = Friendly/Hives
Yellow = Enemy buildings/players
Red = Friendly buildings/players under attack
When you hear message saying something or someone is under attack, scan the room real quick and look for a red circle, then go to it. Defend your resource towers and defend your Hives. With out those, you will lose.
This is all I can think of to comment on the Skulk. If you have any questions regarding the Skulk and the Skulk only (for now), please, post them here and I will try to help as best I can.
More strategies coming soon, hope to have all aliens and basic strategies covered, as well as a general alien strategy, as opposed to a specific class.
The first point I want to get across is this;
He is not a tank. Hell, he’s not even a jeep – he’s like a moped. If you find your self in a situation where there’s a single marine, you may be able to take him out if he’s not too far away. However, don’t ever try to rush more then one marine as the Skulk with no upgrades. It Will. Not. Work.
The Skulk is like a guerrilla fighter. You need to use hit and run tactics and attack from places marines would not expect. Such as the roof or on the side of a pipe. The Skulk can literally fit almost anywhere. Try a few places; see which ambush spots work the best. For me, I find the small spots above doorways to be extremely effective, especially now – since the marines are new to the game and don’t look up. Also, don’t always run out and charge the first person you see, there may be a squad instead of a single marine, wait a few seconds for him to pass. I usually wait 3 seconds or so after every person I see pass. For example, if I see a marine run by, I’ll count to 3 and then attack. However if I see a marine and only get to a count of 2 and another marine runs by, I’ll restart my count again. Also, try not to attack until you are as close as you can get to the marines – you need to take them by suprise. It only takes 2 bites to kill a marine, regardless of where you hit them, its easiest if you can sort of line the marines up – that way all you have to do is hold attack and press forward.
That also brings up another point. Someone asked me in a game if I hold attack or press for each attack. I always hold. It takes less effort and it will be just as fast, if not faster, then press it. However, don’t just run around the map holding attack, every bite you use makes a sound – it’s a dead give away to where you are. Save the bite for when you need them.
If you can, try to organize a “Skulk rush”. It may be difficult on pubs, I’ll grant you that, however it’s a very effective tactic.
When rushing as a Skulk, there are pretty much three things you can do. Run into the marine base and try to kill everyone in there, parasite everyone for an easy kill later in the game or a combination of the two. Parasite a few marines and then while they’re all looking around trying to figure out where it came from, attack.
Also, practice with the Skulk. Learn how to use him, if not by me then other players. Ask in game, on the forums and in IRC. You will be playing the Skulk 80% of the game. It’s a pretty effective killing machine if you learn when a good time to attack is, when to parasite, when to rush, when to defend, where to ambush … He can be down right evil.
Using the right weapon at the right time is important as well. Obviously, in the early game, you will be limited. However, in the later game when you have three hives, its important to know which attack is right for which job.
The bite you obviously want to use when you’re close to marines. Two bites are all it takes on a ‘stock’ marine. Parasite is what you want to use when the marines are far far away, hopefully while your hidden in a nice dark spot and not moving around. Parasite as many as you can, they put them marines on the hive mind, making them super easy kills. You can use parasite at any distance, it’s just safer to use at a distance. If you’re attacking and are about to die, a good tactic is to switch to parasite and hit as many things as you can before you die. Leap is effective for moving long distances, but it also can be used to get you extremely close to the marines. It also does a fair bit amount of damage and is very fast. Xenocyide is basically a kamikaze weapon. It’s best used when the marines are weak and about to loose, or on a small group (five or so) before another class comes in and wipes them out, hell, you may even take a few with you. But from what I can remember, a marine at full health/ammo won’t die with one xenocyide. Two however will completely destroy the marines. That’s why it’s best to attack as a team. If you don’t want to play as a team, just simply hang back until someone else comes in, causes a bit of damage and then jump into the middle of the party while the marines are still recovering. It takes a second or two after you use it to ‘warm up’, so try pressing it before you get into the action.
Now that the general info is taken care of – Skulks with upgrades:
The are a number of possibilities and combinations you can come up with when upgrading your Skulk. I’ll try to give you, in my opinion, the best upgrade for each situation.
Defense Chambers,
This is really a person preference later in the game. However in the early game I always, always choose Carapace. It gives you so much more time to take out the marines and their buildings. The Skulk becomes so much more dangerous when it has armor, it’s almost like a new class. This, however, doesn’t mean he’s a tank – he is still a moped. HE IS STILL A MOPED. Got it? Heh, k ..
You still need to use guerrilla tactics when attacking or defending. Carapace just makes it easier to do and gives you more time.
Redemption, I personally think, is a waist on the Skulk. Skulk is the lowest class and the one you always spawn at. You could die, respawn, and get all your upgrades again in about the same amount of time it would take to be redeemed and healed.
Regeneration is a nice one, but I recommend using it later in the game when you have more upgrades from other chambers as well. It can’t really support you by its self, it needs a backup upgrade.
Movement Chambers,
This area is also more of a personal preference. It depends on the tactics you want to use.
I usually pick the adrenaline upgrade. It’s nice when you get two hives up because you can leap around like crazy and get you energy back almost immediately. But in the early game, it will let you bite at full speed until you kill your target or die. It will also let you parasite things like mad.
There is also Celerity. The Skulk is fast, but the Skulk on a speed upgrade is insane. Its simple really, the more you move, the harder you are to hit. The faster you do it, the better your chance of survival.
Silence. I love silence. The old saying is true, Silence is Golden. I like to use silence pretty much anytime I can, but its really nice in the early game. It makes your footsteps silent, and you don’t breath out loud and you don’t make the little idle noises you usually make without it – such as the growls and what not. It’s perfect for ambushing marines. If you use the wait three second tactic I described earlier, the marines will never know you were behind them until one of them drops, hell, sometimes you can kill an entire squad four or five marines strong without a single one noticing what happened.
Sensory Chambers,
Honestly, the only one I ever use is cloaking. Cloaking (if used effectively) can devastate the marine team. At the level three cloak, you can stand right in front of doorways and wait for marines to run into you before attacking. When at lower levels of cloak, you want to use it in ambush spots, such as above doors, in corners and in dark areas. If you don’t have level three cloaking and try to use it in a well-lit area, you’ll stick out like a soar thumb.
Advanced Hive Sight is nice if you’d like the marine team lit up just like your team when you press your flash light key. There’s no real strategy to using it, its either on or off.
Scent of Fear is pretty neat. It will make any marine that’s low on health so up on the hive mind. It can be effective for lowing the numbers of a strong marine group.
This is all assuming the Gorges build all three types of chambers. None of the upgrades are really all effective until you have all three except the cloaking; it can save your butt and give you a very big advantage even at level one.
Some Chamber combos I like to use,
Regen + Silence + Cloaking = Rcon/Spy/Ninja. These guys are scary at full upgrades. You can’t hear them coming, you can’t see them once they are cloaked and if they take damage, they can retreat just a few feet, cloak and get their health back. It’s a very vicious combo.
Adren + Scent + Carapace = Assault class. Jump in with leap, cause a bit of havoc, jump and and go heal. Rinse and repeat.
Cloaking + Carapace + Celerity = Super fast Assault. Run with blazing speed, take out a squad of five marines and get out before anyone – even the commander notices.
Use your Hive Mind. Learn how to use it and when it shows you something, go there. It’s practically a wallhack if you know how to read it. It’s simple really;
White = Friendly/Hives
Yellow = Enemy buildings/players
Red = Friendly buildings/players under attack
When you hear message saying something or someone is under attack, scan the room real quick and look for a red circle, then go to it. Defend your resource towers and defend your Hives. With out those, you will lose.
This is all I can think of to comment on the Skulk. If you have any questions regarding the Skulk and the Skulk only (for now), please, post them here and I will try to help as best I can.
More strategies coming soon, hope to have all aliens and basic strategies covered, as well as a general alien strategy, as opposed to a specific class.
Comments
<!--emo&::skulk::--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/skulk.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='::skulk::'><!--endemo--> <- skulk
Upgrades cost about 2 ...
For some reason, the other teams marines NEVER look at the ceiling or high on the walls.... they are ALWAYS concentrating on the ground. So scuttle your cute little armour plated carapace to the ceiling, drop behind them with some friends and have a feast! I've cut down 3 or 4 marines single handedly like this. Its quite ocnfusing to have a skulk drop into the middle of your squad, let alone having 5 or 6 drop into the middle of your Frontiersmen base.
I cant believe I'm the only marine to check the ceilings...
Another nice thing to do as a Skulk is draw turret and marine fire, because your one fast bugger! turrets will have a hard time hitting you, and most of the marines are too retarded to aim their machineguns... So while your drawing fire, Onos and a few of those flying dealies are spitting spines at marines and turrets, ripping apart the base! graet fun, innit?
And I gotta agree with silverfox about the EP thing... I mean, instead of wasting 50ish points of resources to be a fully upgraded Lerk, why not simply take 20 and become a fully upgraded Skulk? Can be even more deadly if you know how to use the attacks...
<!--emo&::skulk::--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/skulk.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='::skulk::'><!--endemo--> <- skulk<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
And imho skulk is my second favorite alien. Skulk rushes if your lucky anough to have you hive start close to the marine start are devistating and if done quickly can win the game. And not to mention in the late game how usefull leap is to get into those heavly guarded areas to get at resource nodes and cc's.
<!--EDIT|humbaba|Nov. 02 2002,03:45-->
Last game I played I ran up to a heavy armor guy making an armory. He had his back to me and I started bitting him...he turned around...looked at me and turned right back around and started working again the armory!! I kept bitting him but he wouldn't die and when he finished making the armory he turned back around and turned me into alien pudding with his hmg. The skulk is pretty good but not that much in the late game. Once they get hmgs and motion tracking your ambushes turn to crap.
Great post though. Damn I've played this game for 12 hours already and its only been out for 2 days!
I guess skulks can also make decent work of turrets if protected by 1 or 2 lerk spore clouds.
Till you get the hang of the Skulk, avoid the HA's. The least you could do is parasite them for your stronger teammates to attack later.
If you get into a situation like that, put as much damage as you can into him and then when he turns around to kill you - run like hell.
<!--emo&:p--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'><!--endemo-->
But the HA to a Skulk is like the Onos to a marine. It's do-able, but its not easy ...
Bam!
With proper practice,
<!--emo&::skulk::--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/skulk.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='::skulk::'><!--endemo--> + <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/asrifle.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='::asrifle::'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/asrifle.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='::asrifle::'><!--endemo--> == <!--emo&::skulk::--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/skulk.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='::skulk::'><!--endemo-->
Just keep working on it.
- M4H
It isn't so hard actually.
Oh and, I heavily disagree that Advanced Hive Sight is a waste of resource for slurk! It make killing a <b>lot</b> more easyer really ! Slurk is fast as hell, and that is also sometimes a disadvantage when taking marines out. Lets just say that you have a great hide and few marines are walking by. They walk pass you and you strike. You hold down your attack key and run like hell towards marines. Next you realize that the guys are behind you and you're dead meat...
I can say in experience that the AHS really helps you keep
marines in your front. When I realized AHS, I felt like a superslurk when I was taking out pack of marines easily <!--emo&:p--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'><!--endemo-->
*Bump*
The important thing is you nead to get to the marine base before they get the sgs up. If they have them up wait outside and pick them off when they are out of sg range (make sure they can't retreat back easly too)
Don't forget to get the resource structrues if you have a chance. With out resources they will never be able to reserch the more advanced wepons and armor
Still no luck with those dammed heavy hmg users tho... Oh well... <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='confused.gif'><!--endemo-->
-PD
I love killing marines while they're busy welding something. Usually you'll see 2-3 of them huddled around a turret fac or resourcer, nobody paying attention or even having their weaon out. If more people built movement chambers as their first upgrade (for silence), I'ld probably be able to kill the entire group before they figured out what was going on. Never mind if I've got some competent partners involved.
And Skulk rushing (possibly the most important tactic) requires absolutely zero patience. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Chuckle
you can turn almost any jar head into a nervous heap through creative use of chuckle. Sure you probably won't kill him, but by scaring him, you have reduced his effectivness. A good chuckler should first parasite his indended victim then let the victim see him. As soon as the jar head has started chasing, run away around the corner and cloak on the nearest ceiling. Now watch him walk below you, (whatever you do, do not attack, because we're assuming that this jar head is a walking tank) as soon as he's at least one leap away, let out a sinster chuckle. Now rinse and repeat or just run away while he isn't looking <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
I have never tried it in the way you speak of but instead i use it to lure the mearines out of their turretguarded expansions. It works good just hide above a door or in another place where you arent spotted so easiley. Then chuckle a few times, and if you are lucky he will come out of the base to investigate the sounds, or in the hope of an easy kill. And when he have passed you, strike, and you will have a easy kill.
try faking them out by growling (the attack comm) but not appearing until moments after. let's keep those lugheads guessing, after all, this should be <b>our</b> galaxy
** Bump **
<b>Losing:</b> Guerrilla warfare all the way. A nice example of being a single active skulk and tearing up the marines is on hera - the glass walled walkway out of the marine base. Walk near their base and listen for the sounds of spawning. Pop out and parasite. Try to get them to chase you. Then run all the way back and hide (cloak if possible) on the pipes opposite the lift. They'll run past (you'll be able to time it perfectly due to the parasite) and instantly assume you went up the liftshaft. Attack from behind. I racked up about 10 kills like this before, but I didnt get regen and eventually my health just ran out.
If you get skulks doing this when your losing, around the marine spawn and the exists to their other bases, you can cause some serious damage in a game gone awry.
<b>Standoff:</b> Use the assault/fast assault configs that Silver Fox outlined. Get in, do as much damage as possible, get out. Stop them expanding. Eventually they'll break. Just dont die often.
<b>Winning:</b> In the late game, when you've got three hives, def chambers everywhere and the marines are holed up, use your expendability. Marines likely have a very slow trickle of income (assuming they've only got the node thats in their base) so try to force them to buy things. (this is a good tactic all game long but moreso now). Sometimes you need not bother with any upgrades, and just use your expendability. Run in, xenocide the crap out of them, respawn, do it again. Their commander will be forced to either waste alot of cash on welders and health packs or they'll crumble instantly when the Onos come.
Alien vs predator players. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> They check celings and walls for any motion, and sometimes shoot at dark places randomly. Watch out for them.
- M4H