Aliens Always Die
deadwisdom
Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165695Members
Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165695Members
I'm a new player, so please understand that I'm just trying to learn. But these are some conclusions about the game that I've come to so far, dissuade me of them:
Because the Skulk must engage in close quarters, and is yet very fragile, the Skulk must take many risks to fight, therefore they will die on average more. This means that the Marines, given equal skill on each side, will necessarily gain more resource per player.
The Skulk's primary advantage is being able to walk on walls and ceilings, but since the Marine knows this, it ceases to be an advantage against all but the newest players.
To hit a Marine, the Skulk must be very accurate at an relatively tiny distance, and yet the Marine can merely hop around to avoid the Skulk while firing his weapon wildly.
The Aliens are at a supreme disadvantage because their primary unit, the Skulk, is prone to dying, and only able to be effective in greater numbers. Therefore to win, with equal skill on each side, the Aliens must outnumber the Marines, somehow.
Coordination seems to be the only hope for the Skulk, but is next to impossible on a public server.
Either side has fixed defenses, but while the Marine can safely engage from afar, the Skulk must engage in close combat, this means the Aliens can't leave anything unguarded at all, whereas the Marines can focus their forces elsewhere.
The Lerk mitigates much of this, but since it costs so much resource to use, it's not worth purchasing because it will take that much longer before you can buy a fade or onos, and your likelihood of dying is still great enough that you might just lose it all anyway.
Resources are only given for a kill which means other ways of helping your team go unrewarded. Do not bother attacking that power-conduit unless you can get the last hit. Do not bother healing your friends or dealing damage to the enemy unless it scores a kill.
Very quickly one team establishes dominance, usually the Marines, and it becomes impossible for the other team to gain ground, and yet the game goes on far longer than it needs to with each team knowing the outcome.
So at this point, I'm ready to say that the Alien side is severely under-powered, and worse, it's just simply not fun to play them until you can get a Fade or Onos, but that can take forever. So you're stuck, running around either engaging and dying often, or not engaging and letting the Marine's take whatever resource points they wish. Fun.
Because the Skulk must engage in close quarters, and is yet very fragile, the Skulk must take many risks to fight, therefore they will die on average more. This means that the Marines, given equal skill on each side, will necessarily gain more resource per player.
The Skulk's primary advantage is being able to walk on walls and ceilings, but since the Marine knows this, it ceases to be an advantage against all but the newest players.
To hit a Marine, the Skulk must be very accurate at an relatively tiny distance, and yet the Marine can merely hop around to avoid the Skulk while firing his weapon wildly.
The Aliens are at a supreme disadvantage because their primary unit, the Skulk, is prone to dying, and only able to be effective in greater numbers. Therefore to win, with equal skill on each side, the Aliens must outnumber the Marines, somehow.
Coordination seems to be the only hope for the Skulk, but is next to impossible on a public server.
Either side has fixed defenses, but while the Marine can safely engage from afar, the Skulk must engage in close combat, this means the Aliens can't leave anything unguarded at all, whereas the Marines can focus their forces elsewhere.
The Lerk mitigates much of this, but since it costs so much resource to use, it's not worth purchasing because it will take that much longer before you can buy a fade or onos, and your likelihood of dying is still great enough that you might just lose it all anyway.
Resources are only given for a kill which means other ways of helping your team go unrewarded. Do not bother attacking that power-conduit unless you can get the last hit. Do not bother healing your friends or dealing damage to the enemy unless it scores a kill.
Very quickly one team establishes dominance, usually the Marines, and it becomes impossible for the other team to gain ground, and yet the game goes on far longer than it needs to with each team knowing the outcome.
So at this point, I'm ready to say that the Alien side is severely under-powered, and worse, it's just simply not fun to play them until you can get a Fade or Onos, but that can take forever. So you're stuck, running around either engaging and dying often, or not engaging and letting the Marine's take whatever resource points they wish. Fun.
Comments
The next point is that a lone Skulk should <b>NEVER</b> and that means never attack a group of marines alone, technically you will want a 1v1 scenario to be effective, but while Skulks are meant to hunt in packs you could very easily take out a lone marine if you get the surprise. The surprise does come but if you stand around just holding your Bite key you are sure to be killed. Again Marines are prone to bunny hop around so you cannot get an accurate bite on them, so take this tactic and make it your own, jump around using the Skulk, make yourself a harder target, run up the wall and jump down again, move like your going to die.... Which you will if you don't move.
Of all of the ramblings I've just made two points stand out, get in close and personal by running on the walls and ceilings / Laying in wait around a bend for that lone marine and jumping / constantly move.
While these may just get you your kills there are many things that an Alien commander could do to help you in your plight. The best way to start a Hive is the Crag.. ((defensive)i hope i got that right) Hive meaning you can unlock the carapace early game to allow more Armour, this with silent footsteps is a deadly combination.
Main points -
<b>-</b>Get on to your commander (make him know you need extra Armour)
<b>-</b> Low health? get back to your Hive and HEAL!
<b>-</b> Hit and Run - Get 2 hits in and move away
<b>-</b> Don't stop moving - If you do you will most probably die
<b>-</b> Ambush your lone Marines! Lie in wait until they come around the corner
<b>-</b> Jump, Jump, Jump and more Jump!
<b>-</b> never attack a group of Marines on your own, make sure the odds are 1v1
<b>-</b> Use the walls/ceilings/air vents to your advantage and harass them as much as possible
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The lerk is also (I think) meant to be a hit and run unit. Flap, glide and spin your way away from groups. The Lerk can harass a big group of marines and keep them preoccupied as long as you watch your health bar and keep flapping (using the gas attacks).
Got a Marine attacking your base and the room has a high ceiling / your outside? fly high and harass the Marines with your range attack! (spike them to hell / but keep moving)
Onos I could say more but as long as you have a gorge at your side with carapace you'll do fine as long as you don't walk into 10 marines at once. An Onos / Gorge combo can take 5-6 Marines or 2 Marines + an Exo if your careful. (normal kills for me as an Onos with a gorge is 10-20 before i get headstrong and stupid...)
The final piece of advice and the most important is to <u><b>watch your Health Bar!</b></u> it is the most important thing when you have an expensive unit and you do not want to lose it. The Alien side isn't under powered or the Marines overpowered, you just have get your own play style and learn the classes. Ive had games where Skulks bum-rush the marine base and the game is over in 5 minuets, I've also had a game today where I lasted an hour and a half as the Alien commander before the game crashed and nobody won. The point is that it all seems quite fairly balanced.
<!--sizeo:2--><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--> Unfortunately I cant help with fade... I haven't played around with it yet... :D<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
There are also the power in rooms. Disable the power, and everything goes dark, and all the marine's buildings except 3 suddenly stop working. Those 3 being the com chair, Sentry batteries, and Sentries. If you really want to mess the marines up, go for the power in their main base before anything else. cause as soon as they lose that, they can't spawn anymore, or beacon back, or phase gate in, or reload at an armory. And if it is their only base, then if you kill all the marines you win.
There are other strategies too. Whips are melee defenders, so best to place them near doors around the corners, so they have to come into the room, and get hit, to even have a chance to attack them. There is also the silence upgrade, that makes you completely silent in everything, from walking, to jumping, to attacking, to using abilities. My favorite tho is the cloaking. group of marines walk into a room, and then suddenly 4 Onos appear out of no where, kills everything, and then vanishes again. Very deadly stuff, especially for a fade.
Fades are the hit and run, not Lerks or skulks. Fades are blink in, swing a few times, then blink out and regen. Stay no more than 5-8 seconds, even near a single marine.
There are also gorges. Each gorge get 3 hydras and 10 blocks, and they stay even when you switch forms or die, so every player should switch to gorge atleast once and place those items, it really helps. There is also the shade building, which makes everything in the are invisible, the buildings, players, and eggs. Really helps as well.
The biggest deciding factor I believe in a win or lose, is teamwork. Whichever side is working together, will win over a side that isn't. Especially in the beginning of the game. The first 1-2 mins can really decide who is going to win or lose just by not being able to get a com inside at that time.
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Now then, your point of saying if the teams are equal skill in everything. It will be really coming down to strategy to winning the map, luck, and how forgetful the players are. It also depends on if the commander is doing things with purpose with every building they place down. Most players just think they can plop any building anywhere and it will work, and that is mostly not true, especially on the marines side. Aliens really only need to worry about whips and the healing building.
The marines need to worry about where the Obs goes for max reach of reveal, phase gates so as to not be a death trap, Sentries to protect themselves, the battery, and everything else in the room as well. There is also the power in the room, Marines need to make it hard for aliens to get to it and kill it, but also make it easy access to marines to repair and defend. One wrong placement, and a single skulk can get in and exploit stuff bad.
But also, with that last comment comes in the luck part. Take this situation:
I was playing a match last night as the aliens, both teams duking it out in the middle of the map for double resources. As a skulk, with no upgrades, I just went long way around the map, out of the way of everyone else, then went into the marine's main base and killed the undefended power. Suddenly they lost all upgrades, were slaughtered by the fully upgraded aliens, and couldn't re-spawn with the commander jumping out to go repair while I hid around the corner, waiting for the sound of him starting to repair before jumping out, killing him, and winning the game.
That can happen at any time, and takes just a single player to ruin the marine's entire base if they aren't paying attention.
And i have seen a lone skulk taken 2 marines out O.o we where ambushed and he first attacked the last marine and before i could react he also attacked me :O
Btw, looking at their announcement, the marines won 48.8% time of the matches, and the aliens 51.2% time of the matches, so they really can't be underpowered.
Frustrations can be high on public servers but at some point more and more people will start to realize this. NS1 had the same problem on public servers but at some point more and more people started realizing it and even public servers started to get some very good coordination.
Correct. There is no res-for-kills in NS2. Don't worry about "feeding" your opposition.
Skulks are a tricky one. In the early game a single skulk is a little less powerful than a marine in a straight up fight. Ambushing tips the balance heavily in favour of the skulk against solo marines. In the mid game skulks begin to gravitate away from front-line combat, and act more as scouts, or assisting in group attacks. In the endgame, a solo skulk is essentially a scouting and RT-killing machine.
If you're aware of your role in the current phase of the round, and play smart, playing as a skulk can be as rewarding as any of the other life-forms. Trying to maintain the same play-style throughout the entire match is a recipe for frustration.
--Scythe--
You just need to ambush a lot and have the Rines backtrack when you take on their resnodes.
The only problem I am having now is that I have run into some Rines that are doing 20-0 runs at the start of the game. Is their some aimbot out that I havent read about or is this due to newbies running into his guns?
This means that in order for your TEAM to do well, you have to defend those harvesters and where the khaamander is expanding. This is what will bring in the resources for you faster.
However, aliens don't gain resources while dead. This is a bit of a problem, but it encourages you to play smarter--defend those harvesters and hive, take pot-shots at extractors when marines aren't around, when you engage with marines do as much damage as you can without dying, then retreat to heal. Work in packs. The differences in the sides can be difficult, but if you follow this strategy you will find yourself with more resources, earlier, to get better life forms.
My first priority was not to kill, but to confuse. I jumped wall to wall, climbed to the ceiling, jumped to the side, ran around a pillar and bit only if I got the chance.
I got 0 kills and died. My fellow newbie skulk, who doesn't know how to walljump, climb etc, got all 3 kills. The marines were too busy shooting me to notice the ground-walking skulk biting them.
The team benefits. I got 0 kills but we won the engagement, so team pulls ahead. Plays like this is a reason why traditional stat tracking / KDR does not reflect how good an NS player you are.
The key, as others have said, is moving in packs, knowing when to move silently, listening to those loud marines footsteps and comm's, then getting behind them and tearing the back of their head off.
One skulk CAN take out three or four marines, but those marines will be very derp to fail that hard. You always, <i>always</i> want to use the buddy system in NS2. That goes for both teams, but even more so for skulks.
The best way to put this that I can think of: Skulks are kite machines. One skulk hops around wall jumping and going across the ceiling to pull the marines fire then a second or even third skulk hops out from another direction. Attacking the same target helps out a ton late game as well, as Armor 3 nerfs skulk damage by a lot.
Just some friendly advice. Aliens are a lot of fun with good teamwork, even more so than marines I think.
Now i learned a lot fo more.
A very important Rule for Aliens in my opniion: Dont Die if you are something bether than a skulk.
I often seen players starting as skulk, waiting for points to envolve, than they envolve, run into the enemy, die and be a skulk again.
And if you have problems with the skulk, dont ply them. ;) On start of a round you got 20 Points. Use them.
For example:
When i start i first envolve to a gorge and help the commander to establish the 2 Hives and ectractoes. Also i build up a Wall on one entry to the Hives and repair damage and friendly units.
When i got 30 Points i envolve to the leark, my ctual favority unit. I can fly all the time and fire my highspeed invisble MG with endles munition, no bulletdrop and no bulletspray. Perfec to defend. Sitting somewhere far behind the lines, and send a storm of bullets to the entry where the marin came from. They often be afrait, dont want run into this bulletstorm, giving your team time to come the the hive and defend it. my best Situation was it to fight back 2 Exos + Reparibots + Marines only while sitting hidden in a corner and firing and endles bulletstorm. :D
But the important rule, dont waste points. The marines die and start again now with the upgrades, they dont need do be care. But as an Alien you must learn when its time to leave, go back to hive or gorge and heal. Save points for the team to finaly envolve to the onos
it's impossible for skulk to die to marine 1:1, if nothing else then because the skulk is much faster and therefore you're never forced to engage a marine unless you have a good chance to win.
if skulk had a 50% win chance against an equal skilled marine (in all situations), it would be utterly broken for marines because they can't escape so it would be some boring diceroll crap and you'd just die constantly.
marines with 3 armor upgrades have 280 effective hp (stupidly hard for skulk to kill 1v1), but you can bypass the armor with lurk players who know what they're doing. lurk is incredible for softening marines... he flies top speed through a hostile room and drops spores - 20 hp damage per second ignoring armor and almost unkillable. not to mention it's usually a low-risk to carefully tag 1-2 marines with poison bite as you fly through, then flee - which also does a load of hp damage over time. then the marines are super weak, any skulk will have a much easier time.
consider regeneration instead of carapace. for skulk and lurk i find regen to be godlike. lurk is my favourite and when i blitz through a group of marines and get hurt, i'm able to flee and FULLY REGEN hp and armor in about 5 seconds. then go back in for a second blitz. imo carapace is only good if you're planning on fighting marine head-on and/or you're clunky therefore probably not isolated (easy retreat to hive/crag heal or have a healer gorge; fade, gorge and onos).
unless the player skill is horrifically imbalanced in favor of one team, then the game is won or lost purely on strategy. you must spread out to ensure you can expand through the map, and/or stop the enemy from expanding (as alien this it's easy to hop from room to room biting on extractors and then flee when marine comes in).
anyway, i'm a self-admitted AWFUL skulk (only been playing since release) and i still get >50% win against marines... it's because i have the experience from other FPS games, i know where the marines are and what they are going to do - makes for easy stalking, harrassing and assassinating.
alien's have advanced movement techniques which make them ridiculously hard to kill, but they take a long time to master.. i'm still clueless with walljumping, despite trying to do it whenever i'm a skulk. one such tech with the fade, is to jump > shift > jump, the second jump has so much momentum that the combination can give you greater speed than a lurk.