Step by step things to focus to learn to play better

<div class="IPBDescription">Prioritized steps on what to focus on</div>As a competitive player and having coached some players in NS and other games I thought I'd share some tips for those beginners that want to learn to get better and maybe put a wee bit of effort into it. I've sorted these in order of impact they have on a new players effectiveness and gameplay overall, so one doesn't have to read through all of them and try to pick out a few things to focus on - just focus on the top of the list first. I've tried to write them in such a way that by reading this you can go try things out on sandbox mode, and then apply it on a public server. The order is both that of impact, but also in order of what you should practice first.
<b>
Marines 1:</b>
Starting from your first game, focus as much as you can in only shooting when you are pretty certain you'll hit. This is because most aliens attempt to first dodge until you run out of ammo, and then attack. Often what happens is that they dodge for a while, even go around a corner, and new players keep on firing till they go click - which is a cue for the alien to come and eat your face off. So put your early focus on trying to stay cool and only firing when you have something actually in your sights - this'll take you a long way.
<b>
Marines 2:</b>
Movement. Once you get a grip of your shooting and don't spray all your bullets in a wall, it's time to focus on movement. The main thing about movement is to always try to position yourself in such a way that you have the maximum possible distance to where you think the skulks are. Whenever you are reloading, or are not attacking, keep moving away. When you reload you can just as well turn your back to the skulks and run as fast as you can unless they are already on you, because you won't be able to shoot anyway until you're done reloading. Skulks aren't that much faster than marines, so utilize your speed!

<b>Marines 3:</b>
Close combat; Once they finally close in on you, dodging becomes more important than shooting. Dodging happens by jumping. Just like with shooting (or biting), don't just rapidly jump, but do cool, calculated <i>backwards </i>jumps (so you keep the skulk in your sights) 90 degrees to the left or right. Most newbie skulks can't hit you at all, because with a jump you travel a long distance fast, and while they keep biting and you launch yourself off to the side they will surely lose track of you. This you can practice alone or with a friend as well, just to get a feel for it.
<b>
Kharaa 1:</b>
Attacking marines alone is forbidden, unless you get the jump on them. To get a jump on them, utilize sneaking (shift -key) to not make any sound, and high areas. It's always better to come from above, next explained why. Use the map a lot to figure out where you should be ambushing. Early game any pathway out of their base and towards your resource towers is good, and you should always get as close to their base as you can before you start hearing footsteps - no point in ambushing until you know they will come, otherwise you're just a useless wallflower. Later in the game protect building hives and resource towers.

<b>Kharaa 2:</b>
Only bite marines when you have them in front of you so that you know you'll hit. Every single new player keeps the bite-button down and keeps going 'chomp chomp chomp' while losing sight of the marine entirely. Three calculated, well hit bites are way, way better than 20 bites jumping around and only hitting with one. Fix this and you are already twice as effective as other new players - don't focus on anything else at the beginning.

<b>Kharaa 3:</b>
Always come from above. Walljumping is a term flashed here and there, and it's very, very useful. You should try this out in sandbox mode first. Climb up a wall, and then jump while facing in a steep downwards angle. This should launch your skulk at higher-than-normal speed, and then press jump every time you hit the ground to retain that speed for much longer than by just running on the ground. If you have to attack marines head on, always use this technique. Even if you start on the ground, you can dodge very well by climbing a wall a few feet up and then launching yourself downwards. Practice this alone first.

<b>Overall:</b>
Use the map a lot to try to have some kind of overall awareness of whats going on. As marine you want to see where others are going, and either go with others or go build resource towers in uncapped nodes. If you have nothing better to do, always push towards some hive location to keep Kharaa on the defensive. As Kharaa, use the map to get a general sense of where the marines will be coming from next, and try to position yourself between them, and something that is valuable to your team. If nothing specific is going on, or if it looks like others are already doing this, try to utilize stealth to reach enemy resource towers and chomp them down - general rule of thumb is not to bother so much with power nodes, just take the RTs down. Later you will get a feel on when it's good to attack power and when not. Did I say use the map? USE THE MAP. Bind it on an extra mouse key or something.
<b>
Other:</b>

Once you can kill skulks and have a rough idea of where you should be at different times as marines, and when you can kill marines, can walljump and can ambush people as kharaa, you can start experimenting with other stuff.

It's a great idea to go to sandbox mode, or grab a friend and go to an empty server, and then just be commander for both sides for a while. Learn what things you can build, what requires what, how much dropped ammo or meds cost, etc. because it'll greatly improve your awereness of the game and whats going on.

Finally a few general tips about overall gameplay, that should help with decision making:

1) Kharaa RTs are relatively more important than Marine RTs. If you have to choose between protecting your own or taking out an enemy RT, then as marine always take out a kharaa RT, and as skulk always protect your own RTs first

2) Marines are the offensive side, kharaa are the defensive side. As marines you have to keep attacking, even if the game isn't going so well. If both sides are left undisturbed, kharaa always win. Mainly you have to try to prevent hives from going up, and you have to try and take kharaa RTs down. Conversely, as kharaa always try to defend your own RTs and hives first, and only take out marine RTs if things are somewhat under control.

3) Try to be decisive. Whatever you choose to do, go for it. A lot of games are lost because of hesitation. If you get next to a kharaa RT and hear some steps, don't just stand around, either try to focus fire the RT down, or don't try to take it down at all and focus on staying alive. Shooting it a bit, looking around, hesitating, etc. only results in a dead marine and a living RT. Same goes for attacking. If you are attacking, then run in hard and fast, or don't. Going forward a bit, then a few steps back, then taking some damage, running back to base for health, then running out again without really hitting anything is a waste of time. Just go, or don't. Weather the choice is the right one or not is less important than making a choice in the first place.

4) If you want to practice a bit, there's one method that'll make you develop as a player far faster than any other. See if you can get a few friends together, and go play 1v1, 2v2, or 1v2 in an empty server, or make your own. Agree on a hive location that the marines (1 or 2) try to attack directly from their spawn, and then defend it with the 1 or 2 skulks. Repeat this over and over again. This way you learn the maps (as you repeat one place over and over you learn every nook and cranny), and you get to play in a familiar environment and share tips between friends on how to play better. You can experiment with dodging, ambushing, sneaking as both marines and kharaa, and so on. This is incredibly effective and gets you miles ahead everyone other beginner.

5) If you don't know what you're doing, or how something works - ask. Keep asking. Dont' be shy, a lot of people will help, but only if they know that you don't know.