Skulks

JackPoT_OwNeR · November 2002

<div class="IPBDescription">Read this..</div> I can't actually perfect my skills with skulks even though I've played for weeks now. I don't know why, but I can rarely kill the marines with it. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='sad.gif'> So Can you guys suggest what to do and what to watch for to get better at it..Any help would be appreciated.

Injury · November 2002

It would be more helpful for us to aid you with advice if you explained what you do as a Skulk. However, a few basic tips, hide above Marine head level, walls, ceilings and doorway overhangs are your friend, brains make good food. Whenever possible attack from behind; the best meat's in the rump. Try to avoid fighting Marines in vents for the moment as hitboxes are a bit off. Strafe and jump a lot when closing in on a Marine, force him to waste his ammunition and become desperate. Hmm.. it seems that's all the basic advice off the top of my head for now.

JackPoT_OwNeR · November 2002

Well, I do climb the cielings and all that..But Whenever I try to attack from the front, I always seem to miss them all the time. It's like I can never get better with them.

Injury · November 2002

Practice makes perfect. If you can't attack from the front, attack from behind. Sit over a doorway, let the Marines walk past you then chew their legs off. Maybe attacking from the front isn't your specialty. You just have to discover your Inner Skulk and move with its vibes. You'll get the hang of it eventually. There's plenty of ways to kill a Marine, just discover them.

Don't lose your confidence, if you like the Skulk, stick with it. If its just not working out no matter what you try, maybe another alien form is your knack.

zoda · November 2002

1.rushing - do not run straight at them.. do it while movign side to side and avoiding enemy fire.. also this helps while attacking.. as does circler straffing them

2.hiding - this is what you should do most often.. hide over a door or something and wait for a marine to run by you. Hop down and bite his behind!! hideanywhere you can and be sneaky!

Use upgrades - a skulk with regeneration can live much longer, even though skulks are free (your spawn) you may still want to survive in one spot and rack up kills

silence - ahh yes... I think it is very important.. skulks can easily be heard running at you, but when they have silenece it is different.. can be very sneaky.

Cloaking - If you are cloaked while hiding they will never spot you

the one thing that got me killing a lot more was side stepping, whenever I run head on at a marine they spot me easily and shoot me down.

FireStorm · November 2002

Use the parasite against the marine if you can't get close.
He'll know all aliens can see him on their hive sight and he'll panic. You'll see him too through the walls (the yellow circle), and you'll be able to surprise him because you'll always know where he is.

LockNLoaded · November 2002

As a skulk, u have to roleplay as one. Skulks are special becauase they can scale walls, hide in little nooks and crannies, and have a vicious bite. they move the fastest too. With that in mind, u have to roleplay yourself into a skulk.

Use the walls, hide in ceiling corners. See 3 marines walking under u? wait for the last to go by...then bite their heels. They are so aligned in a row they fall almost one after the other. get agressive when your hive is threatened; scale the walls, surprise them because marines have no idea where YOUR element of surprise is. Use hit and run tactics.

vents are your friends. USE them to navigate around and avoid frontal contact with a headon attack on marines. Dont go chomping non stop unless u are sure u have the target in sight. Try biting twice when REAL close, or LEPT and bite at chest level.

oh and i dont know about regeneration but lvl 3 caraspace saved my hide many times early game.

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='skulk.gif'> <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='skulk.gif'> <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='asrifle.gif'> <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/pudgy.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='pudgy.gif'>

gazzer · November 2002

maybe i should say this but this is the tactics for [GT] has skulks

we bait, i would run out just enough for a few marines to see me, i would then tag them with parasite and let them follow me. dodgeing bullets etc running on walls.

we would have 2 skulks waiing above a door at either side, has soon has i go through depending on my status i will either hide or turn around, at the time the marines come through, my fellow clan m8s will attack them from behind, leaveing nothing but dead bodies.

SKULKS are not ment to fight alone, yeah 1 on 1 but not agaist any more, skulks are the prime class for team work and at [GT] we are finding it very worth while with the "baiting tactic" now i have just warned a few ppl i better say that gazzer is not my alias <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'> so your still not safe <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

Lazarus · November 2002

Its also important to listen. If you can hear a marine footsteps, run into some dark corner and wait for him. I usually get my kills as a skulk that way. Headphones help alot.

Typhon · November 2002

Theres 3 things that you can focus on as a skulk:

1) Recon. Your job is too keep track of every marine on the map. Just parasite everything you see. Best if you dont really know the maps, or if you havent gotten the hang of killing stuff with skulk. Remeber, 'shoof' means you missed but 'shoof tack' means you hit your target with parasite.

2) Attack. Just keep running around the map, when you hear marines coming, hide somewhere. Count the number of footsteps you are hearing (1, 2, 3 are easily distinguishable. above 3 it just mixes all together. If you hear more than three, parasiting them is more important than attacking them). Once the last guy walks by, drop down and start eating their legs. When they turn around, start going evasive: jump alot, strafe like mad, bite about once per second (so you dont block your view too much).

3) Sabotage. Your job is to take down as many structures as possible. Zip into a room, quickly find a spot that is protected from turret fire (and i mean quick, turrets waste skulks), get over there pronto and start munching something. IDEALLY you are going for the turret factory, but a resource node is just as good. If you cant find a sweet spot, run back out, parasiting as many structures as possible in your escape.

Obviously, your play style is going to be a mix of these three. It takes some time to find your inner skulk (yeah, there really is a mindset that you have to embody when skulking), but skulks are VERY powerful in many ways in the right hands. Personally, i'm primarily sabotage, then attack, then recon.

Stephen_Hawking_RwC · November 2002

I jump/crouch to a marine and just hold down bite, usually does the trick to kill one. If you're having trouble aiming (i know I did when I first started) just hold down bite when the marine takes up a lot of your screen, and just run through the marine. Think, you might collide into them, but they collide into your chompers.

I recommend carapace for skulks, bad marines can empty a whole clip of lmgs into you and still not get you. By the time they panic to whip out the pistol, you can keep dodging until they gotta reload. Not to mention regen and redemption probably dont kick in for a skulk enough, and the regen noise gives you away <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='sad.gif'>

If and when you do get spotted, keep moving, most people don't have super high mouse sensitivity to keep up with a skulk moving erratically, use the walls, jump down from them, then jump onto them again, that bouncing makes it even harder to track you.

Best skulks are either sneaky or suicidal.

Personally my favorite is celerity + carapace = SUPER <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='skulk.gif'>, mainly because most marines have enough sensitivity to track a skulk, but not necessarily a celerity one. Besides, it's like my wheelchair with teeth is turbo charged then.

Cyborgguineapig · November 2002

I dicovered the tool of multiplayer combat< jump. Bind your jump key to one of your mouse buttons or something that can easily be combined with the basic commands like moving forward and attack. Being able to bunnyhop around your apponent will make you twice as hard to hit and twice as deadly.

Fieari · November 2002

Jump defaults to spacebar, right? Three fingers on ASDW, and your thumb on the spacebar is the key. Jump around like a little mad man, STRAFE CONSTANTLY, and bite. Only practice will allow you to keep track of where the marines are while biting. I also find that moving both backwards and forewards helps greatly.

But killing marines takes time. While you're waiting for the skill to come in, there are easier things to do AS WELL. Find marine outposts and foreward bases, like a nodes. Marines like fortifying nodes for some reason, even though it costs a lot and rarely works. At any rate, find out if the commander is an idiot by dashing past the turrets to the turret factory. Look for a sheilded spot where you can munch that factory in peace. If the factory is safe, check out the resource collector... sometimes you can take it out without even bothering to take out the turret factory and the associated turrets.

When rushing at the beginning, if you know for CERTAIN that you suck at killing marines (although, killing marines at this time is great practise, and you should try it often) fnd the node in their base, get behind it, and munch away until they notice you and kill you (this will happen). Rince and repeat until the marines have so fortified their base that it is impossible to continue rushing productivly. You might take out the node, but if not, you've certainly wasted the marine's time.... which is the point of rushing anyway.

Once you've become adept at hiding behind buildings to munch them, you'll start to get the hang of killing the marines who come to shoot you in your protected spot. Keep an eye or an ear out for them approaching, then pause in your metal meal to have a flesh meal. Then return to chomping away. This will only come naturally once you have gotten good at using the building you are eating as a shield.

Listen for "resource tower under attack" or "Structure under attack". As someone mentioned in the Khaara strategy forum, this is your opportunity for a free meal, because marines who are busy shooting structures uselly keep facing the same way... and if you can come up from behind, they are so dead. No tricks needed, just DON'T START BITING UNTIL YOU ARE CLOSE... because biting makes a biting sound, and they can hear it. So be careful.

Hope this helps some.

Skulks

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