General Formula For All Kharaa Games
killswitch
Join Date: 2003-02-05 Member: 13141Members, Constellation
Join Date: 2003-02-05 Member: 13141Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">Standard operating procedures</div> After playing hundreds of Kharaa games, I want to make sure it's obvious how exactly every kharaa game should be played. When you get down to it there is very little room for flexibility:
1. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>2 or 3 skulks should gorge, cap nozzles, and then skulk back.</span> Of course, cap the nozzles closest to your hive. If you try and cap anymore than this you're wasting your res, since capable marine teams will knife them down. 3 or 4 nozzles at the beginning isn't bad at all. You'll expand later.
The other skulks should either be: Saving for DCs, saving for fade, or saving for the hive.
2. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>The skulks now have 3 objectives: Protecting their nozzles, destroying marine nozzles, and ensuring that their 2nd hive doesn't get locked down.</span> This will get increasingly hard as marines start getting their upgrades going. This is one of the crucial points in the game: The early resource battle.
The best start location is the "middle" hive, since you have a choice of either of the fringe hives. However if you get stuck with a fringe hive, you will almost definitely want the middle hive, as the other fringe hive will be hard as hell to hold when it goes up.
3. By now you should have DCs up. BEFORE you plant the 2nd hive, make SURE you have at least one, preferably 2 fades circulating the map. I can't count the times a hive was placed too soon and it was ninja'ed because there weren't any fades to stop the PG-building marines. Other skulks can either fade, put up OCs, or even lerk (very helpful against an early seige).
The primary goal of the fades should be to protect their nozzles, and most importantly <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Protect the building hive.</span> DO NOT go hunting their nozzles at this point, it's far too dangerous and takes too long. Let the skulks do it. Always be on the look out for desparate marines trying to seige your building-hive down from critical locations like keyhole, shipping tunnel, processing, etc.
Games are typically lost at this point because of an organized shotgun push to the building hive that wipes out the fades
4. When the hive is up, you're pretty much in good shape. Marines lose most games where aliens successfully get a hive up. However,<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'> make sure movement chambers are placed in both hives</span> asap. I have lost games because skulks couldn't get to our hive that was getting seiged. If they do try and seige a hive it will be almost impossible. Bilebomb, gas, and leaping skulks rip 2nd-hive seige attempts apart. Unless your team is simply oblivious to your hive getting seiged you shouldn't have any trouble.
Also cap one or two more nozzles close to this 2nd hive.
5. At this point the marines have a few scattered nozzles, and the 3rd hive locked down. The only real threat at this point are heavies. One or two skulks should be <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>saving for onos </span>when the hive goes up. A cara-adren onos is a heavy's worst nightmare, and they'll have a very hard time seiging the hive.
6. Once you crack open the third hive marine mobility will be nill, and now it just comes down to the painfully-long marine start takedown. If it sounds like most games revolve around getting the second hive up, you're right. As long as you have a few nozzles and a second hive, you're in good shape. Just watch for heavies.
<b>Major causes of alien death</b>, in order of frequency
Failure to protect the building-hive
Failure to protect starting nozzles
No fades
No one saving for hive
Failure to prevent 2 hive lockdown
Failure to take down marine nozzles
Heavy train with no onos
No movement when a hive is getting seiged
1. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>2 or 3 skulks should gorge, cap nozzles, and then skulk back.</span> Of course, cap the nozzles closest to your hive. If you try and cap anymore than this you're wasting your res, since capable marine teams will knife them down. 3 or 4 nozzles at the beginning isn't bad at all. You'll expand later.
The other skulks should either be: Saving for DCs, saving for fade, or saving for the hive.
2. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>The skulks now have 3 objectives: Protecting their nozzles, destroying marine nozzles, and ensuring that their 2nd hive doesn't get locked down.</span> This will get increasingly hard as marines start getting their upgrades going. This is one of the crucial points in the game: The early resource battle.
The best start location is the "middle" hive, since you have a choice of either of the fringe hives. However if you get stuck with a fringe hive, you will almost definitely want the middle hive, as the other fringe hive will be hard as hell to hold when it goes up.
3. By now you should have DCs up. BEFORE you plant the 2nd hive, make SURE you have at least one, preferably 2 fades circulating the map. I can't count the times a hive was placed too soon and it was ninja'ed because there weren't any fades to stop the PG-building marines. Other skulks can either fade, put up OCs, or even lerk (very helpful against an early seige).
The primary goal of the fades should be to protect their nozzles, and most importantly <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Protect the building hive.</span> DO NOT go hunting their nozzles at this point, it's far too dangerous and takes too long. Let the skulks do it. Always be on the look out for desparate marines trying to seige your building-hive down from critical locations like keyhole, shipping tunnel, processing, etc.
Games are typically lost at this point because of an organized shotgun push to the building hive that wipes out the fades
4. When the hive is up, you're pretty much in good shape. Marines lose most games where aliens successfully get a hive up. However,<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'> make sure movement chambers are placed in both hives</span> asap. I have lost games because skulks couldn't get to our hive that was getting seiged. If they do try and seige a hive it will be almost impossible. Bilebomb, gas, and leaping skulks rip 2nd-hive seige attempts apart. Unless your team is simply oblivious to your hive getting seiged you shouldn't have any trouble.
Also cap one or two more nozzles close to this 2nd hive.
5. At this point the marines have a few scattered nozzles, and the 3rd hive locked down. The only real threat at this point are heavies. One or two skulks should be <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>saving for onos </span>when the hive goes up. A cara-adren onos is a heavy's worst nightmare, and they'll have a very hard time seiging the hive.
6. Once you crack open the third hive marine mobility will be nill, and now it just comes down to the painfully-long marine start takedown. If it sounds like most games revolve around getting the second hive up, you're right. As long as you have a few nozzles and a second hive, you're in good shape. Just watch for heavies.
<b>Major causes of alien death</b>, in order of frequency
Failure to protect the building-hive
Failure to protect starting nozzles
No fades
No one saving for hive
Failure to prevent 2 hive lockdown
Failure to take down marine nozzles
Heavy train with no onos
No movement when a hive is getting seiged
Comments
Also, I always feel that as soon as one can be afforded, a second hive should be built. Fades take a mere 30 seconds to evolve, and normally two players wil hit 50 res at once.
I agree with <b>CMaster</b>. The 2nd hive should be put down asap. If the aliens have even a semblance of teamwork, fades and dcs will be ready by the time you need them. Once in a game of ns_nothing, we started with cargo hive. Around 60% of my team dropped an rt, and I ambushed a group of marines and luckily got 4 kills before dying. I respawned and dropped via at 2:15. We got leap just after armor1 finished and won extremely easily. I'd say it was much better to drop the hive then, than to fade or drop DCs or wait for a fade.
The first person that can drop the hive should do it, because if you do it fast enough, the hive will be almost finished before phase gates are done (unless they rushed phase). Without a phase, skulks are fast enough to have an excellent chance of reaching a hive under attack, and saving it, even against several marines.
Also, I always feel that as soon as one can be afforded, a second hive should be built. Fades take a mere 30 seconds to evolve, and normally two players wil hit 50 res at once.
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Marines will almost always try and lockdown the centre hive, if it's available. Usually they'll lockdown one of the fringe hives, but not both.
Since dropping a second hive and fading both cost 50 res, they could be done at about the same time. However I find it far better to wait the extra 30s for a completed fade. Phase tech is usually the first or second researched item, after armor1.
theclam: If you are able to kill 4 marines at one life you are far better off fading. Anyone can drop a hive, but good fades are hard to come by.
Again, I've seen countless hives get waxed due to ninjas. It's the number one cause of alien-loss. There's no challenge ninjaing a building hive.
also u assumed DC should always be first..try MC once in a while
edit: good strat + tips tho <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Fades > Lockdowns, pure and simple. Skulks > 0 upgrade marines. These two factors together > Aliens win if they're decent aliens.
Good marine commanders don't lockdown hives, sometimes they treat the hive as another RT to cap for more res while focusing on armor and weapon upgrades, shotties for the soon to be gestated fade. Phase gates for the SG rush on the soon to be dropped hive.
Skulks ultimate victory strategy. Kill as many RTs as you can, ambush marines and kill them, if you can't, PARASITE THEM so you can keep track of them at all times. Aliens need to do anything they can to make marines waste res and delay res, which in-turn delays their advancement in technology, allowing the aliens to evolve before the marines can tech up enough to counter.