What is the Marines' response to 2-3 Bile bombing Gorges and an Onos?

Merciless OneMerciless One Join Date: 2012-11-08 Member: 168344Members
Just came from a match where the teams were fairly even. It was a 24 server (has no relevance, but whatever). We were going back and forth, switching bases and everything. Losing Exos and Onos left and right. Cool match.

Until the Aliens decided to mass Bile bomb a base at a time. Even with the beacon, it was a significant disadvantage to our team because now the Marines were stuck in a dead base (No power and/or Phase Gate), and the Exos were alone with the MAC's.

Ok, so we lost a base, killed some of the Gorges, put the power back up, whatever. Time for a counterattack. We'll take theirs with the Exos and Arcs. When I command, I use the Exos to defend the Arcs. Also, I like to leave an Exo in the middle of the map to defend (in this case, Crossroads).

Now, Aliens made a brilliant attack again with a Fade, an Onos, and 2-3 Bilebombing Gorges on our counterattack. The Exos were focused on the Onos, of course, but while they were doing that, the Gorges were freely spitting venom on the Arcs and the now useless MAC's which go in to derp mode when Bile bombed. Hence the Arcs died, the MAC's died, and we lost 1 out of the 2 Exos while they only lost 1 Onos.

After this point, we were mainly left on the defensive end for the remainder of the match, with random Gorges and Skulks and/or Onos attacking power nodes left and right.

Anyway, fast forward to near the end of match, they Bile bombed rushed our bases, killing the power nodes in less than 5 seconds. It was so overwhelming. Even with the Beacons (which I know I did right), we suffered huge losses, as they would just Bile bomb the other bases.

I just wanted to point out that Bile bombs were the deciding factor in the game, as I felt that without them, we would have certainly won with the combos and the strats that we were using.

Yes, they responded well to our attacks on their Hives (they lost about 3-4 Hives total - long match), but once they started the mass Bile bombs, I felt helpless as the Marine commander.

I'm sure a lot of players have seen it before, and even discussed it before, but I haven't really seen any solutions to Gorge Bile rushes.

Comments

  • SquishpokePOOPFACESquishpokePOOPFACE -21,248 posts (ignore below) Join Date: 2012-10-31 Member: 165262Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Nano Shield ya Power Node
  • AngeluszAngelusz Harmonic entropist Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18072Members, Forum Moderators, Constellation, NS2 Playtester
    Have your exo's focus the gorges instead? They die pretty fast to an exo and if they are forced to heal, they can't bilebomb. Just sounds like the alien team played better.

    Also, the guy above me has a bad way of saying it, but yeah - the game will probably be a bit unbalanced at 12v12.
  • ChizzlerChizzler Join Date: 2013-01-04 Member: 177532Members
    edited March 2013
    It was a 24 [player] server (has no relevance, but whatever)

    The player count is hugely relevant. In a 12 player match, 2-3 gorges and an onos is the majority of a team. In a 24 player server, it's a third.

    You should be able to see an attack like that coming. On a low-mid server size as there won't be much combat occurring whilst they're off grouping up and preparing. in a large server, 4 players could group up without such a dip in combat occurring and take your base unexpectedly.

    However... You had multiple exo's... park one of those in a base, and it becomes safe from rushes like that... got to be better than placing one in the middle of the map, assumingly not in a base. it can't defend, and will be unassisted if a beacon occurs.

    Ultimately it's better to prevent a bilebomb rush than to respond to it.
  • SixtyWattManSixtyWattMan Join Date: 2004-09-05 Member: 31404Members
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
  • dragonmithdragonmith Join Date: 2013-02-04 Member: 182817Members, Reinforced - Diamond
    You could have tried and turned it into a base fight?

    I dunno, you sound like you did everything well and it was just bad luck (and 24 players).

  • XariusXarius Join Date: 2003-12-21 Member: 24630Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    edited March 2013
    Also leave one dual exo on defence in these kind of back-and-forth lategame slugfests. It'll deal with pretty much everything short of a mass alien attack.

    Additionally, sentries and forward armories/TF to block certain paths can win you some valuable time. If you're swimming in res it can also be useful to build a second Obs for when aliens focus obs before power nodes.
  • Madd0gMadd0g Join Date: 2012-12-24 Member: 176116Members
    What happened in your game is actually the oposite of what usually happens.
    If marines get to the point of having full upgrades and double EXOs moving with arcs and macs,it's GG for the aliens 70% of the time.
    A mistake that i see a lot of marine commanders do in the late game(even the decent ones)is they just keep forgeting to activly support the marines.
    You got all upgrades and stuff reasearched?You got a few arcs and macs on the field?You droped a few foward armories for the marines?
    Than use ALL your resourses on nano shielding and medpacks,if you have 3+ extractors and you dump all your cash into support,it would make your marines almost godlike(unless your micro is pretty bad,but just after a few games of activly trying to use medpacks on marines it will get much better).
    And i have to ask you,how many EXOs did you have?
    If the answer is 4+ ,there is your mistake.
    A group of marines with jetpacks,shotguns and focus fire is the perfect counter to gorge+onos.
    Also if they are always rushing your power node in lategame,you might wanna put an armory infront of it just to slow them down.
  • FrothybeverageFrothybeverage Join Date: 2003-02-15 Member: 13593Members
    edited March 2013
    Building structures ON power nodes does nothing to slow down bile bomb.
    I don't know where that idea comes from.

    Bile Bomb has splash damage.

    edit:
    Also
    lol 24 man server
  • FuleFule Join Date: 2009-06-04 Member: 67683Members
    What is the aliens response to a sneaky phase gate and the whole team just went through it? Please stop this bs.
  • Rich_Rich_ Join Date: 2012-11-05 Member: 167152Members
    edited March 2013
    shoulda welded ur exos

    oh and the proper response = 3 guys with shotguns.
  • john_wesleyjohn_wesley Join Date: 2013-02-28 Member: 183445Members
    Where did they attack from? In my experience, attacks do not appear out of thin air, usually the aliens need to take some time to gather up, evolve into gorge in the next room before they initiate. Maybe a commander who is more actively scanning for large groups of aliens or a marine team that is a bit more actively scouting for these attacks can prevent the mass gorge rush.
  • LamboLambo Iceland Join Date: 2012-08-07 Member: 154915Members, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited March 2013
    It was a 24 server
    This is pretty much it.
  • NeokenNeoken Bruges, Belgium Join Date: 2004-03-20 Member: 27447Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Playtester
    The trick to countering a bilebomb rush is to scout with marines/obs/scans, and catch them outside your base. On a 24player server, you should really see any sort of base rush coming ages before it actually enters your base.

    In any case, always focus fire on the gorges first. And there's always nano in case of emergency.
  • ResRes Join Date: 2003-08-27 Member: 20245Members
    You need to do scouting around your bases from time to time in late game like that, usually just a quick scan will suffice if you dont' want a player to do it.

    Another trick in late game like that is to wall off certain entrances to your base with armories, this is also gives you tons of warning when an attack is happening because they have to take down the armories first.

    And last but not least, nano power node if they get in to the base and beacon.
  • BentRingBentRing Join Date: 2003-03-04 Member: 14318Members
    And by this point in the game ALWAYS have a second arms lab in another base.
  • CrazyEddieCrazyEddie Join Date: 2013-01-08 Member: 178196Members
    What is the marines' response to 2-3 bile bombing gorges and an onos?

    "Hey, cut that out!" <bang bang bang>
  • 1dominator11dominator1 Join Date: 2010-11-19 Member: 75011Members
    edited March 2013
    I hate powernodes, one weak structure that serves no purpose but to turn off your entire base. Brilliant design!

    But srsly, its prolly best to just counterattack and kill a hive while recycling all your shit. With faster build times and recycle you can recover much faster than aliens. That will only work if its not the main or you have backed up your tech in other rooms.
  • WheeeeWheeee Join Date: 2003-02-18 Member: 13713Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    next time put observatories up around the map near chokepoints that aliens can use to get to your base. spot them first, give yourself 15-20 seconds to respond...they'll be dead before they can do any damage.
  • CiroCiro Join Date: 2013-01-09 Member: 178392Members
    It must have been a long game, with lots of resources used. Since you had Arcs and Exos, you could have convoy'd you way through all the alien Hives. Unlike the Marines, aliens can't build a Hive in less than 20 seconds, so steamrolling can be very effective vs aliens. At that point, we might have an alien comm post about Arcs+Exos.

    Two Dual Minigun Exos can effectively counter 3 Gorges and an Onos. A fully upgraded Exo takes around 4-5 Onos hits to kill; that's not including MACs and JP+SG support. You can all go Dual Minigun Exo, plus Rail-gun Exo, plus a JP+W+SG'er. Rail-guns are extremely effective at killing anything below a Fade, and you can drop them as Commander.

    I hope you came to your conclusions after thinking about the overall match, rather than the ending alone.
  • VittuLimaVittuLima Join Date: 2012-12-25 Member: 176227Members
    Angelusz wrote: »
    Have your exo's focus the gorges instead? They die pretty fast to an exo and if they are forced to heal, they can't bilebomb. Just sounds like the alien team played better.

    Also, the guy above me has a bad way of saying it, but yeah - the game will probably be a bit unbalanced at 12v12.

    But it's unbalanced to marines favor.

    To op: Maybe ur marines were just stupid and didn't realize to kill the gorges.
  • FirebreathingmaniacFirebreathingmaniac Join Date: 2013-03-18 Member: 184057Members
    Ciro wrote: »
    Two Dual Minigun Exos can effectively counter 3 Gorges and an Onos. A fully upgraded Exo takes around 4-5 Onos hits to kill; that's not including MACs and JP+SG support. You can all go Dual Minigun Exo, plus Rail-gun Exo, plus a JP+W+SG'er. Rail-guns are extremely effective at killing anything below a Fade, and you can drop them as Commander

    What you don't realize is that not only are the Mac's neutralized by the bile bombs because they cannot move or repair but shotguns have a lower dps than a rifle so in that situation considering that most marines can hit the side of a barn the rifle would be more effective at taking down any oni just a little tidbit of info about marine weaponry showing that a shotgun is not the best weapon on all occasions.
  • GrueneMedizinGrueneMedizin Join Date: 2012-12-13 Member: 175008Members
    Focus down the gorges and the onos wont be a problem anymore after focused fire of 11 marines. Like @Xarius said have dual exos defend every important location that you have control over.
  • CiroCiro Join Date: 2013-01-09 Member: 178392Members
    Ciro wrote: »
    Two Dual Minigun Exos can effectively counter 3 Gorges and an Onos. A fully upgraded Exo takes around 4-5 Onos hits to kill; that's not including MACs and JP+SG support. You can all go Dual Minigun Exo, plus Rail-gun Exo, plus a JP+W+SG'er. Rail-guns are extremely effective at killing anything below a Fade, and you can drop them as Commander

    What you don't realize is that not only are the Mac's neutralized by the bile bombs because they cannot move or repair but shotguns have a lower dps than a rifle so in that situation considering that most marines can hit the side of a barn the rifle would be more effective at taking down any oni just a little tidbit of info about marine weaponry showing that a shotgun is not the best weapon on all occasions.

    If the Gorge is bilebombing the MACs, the Exos and JPers can kill them or focus the Onos down. Shotguns have a higher burst, which makes quick work of the Gorges and good for finishing off the Onos. Shotgun isn't the best weapon for every job, but it's great for this one.

    Accuracy shouldn't be factored in, since it would make these types of question unanswerable.
  • LagLightLagLight Join Date: 2012-03-31 Member: 149708Members
    What about a MAC Emp pulse? It may give you more time to react with fewer Bile-bombs coming out. Although most Marines comms don't bother with the EMP upgrade.
  • RippsyRippsy Join Date: 2013-01-16 Member: 179921Members
    Can macs perform any actions once they are under the bile bomb effect?
  • DaxxDaxx Join Date: 2002-04-16 Member: 460Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited March 2013
    LagLight wrote: »
    What about a MAC Emp pulse? It may give you more time to react with fewer Bile-bombs coming out. Although most Marines comms don't bother with the EMP upgrade.

    Mainly cause it's crap. Takes like 25% of the energy pool away, for something that's pretty difficult to use. If EMP disabled energy regen for say 5-10 seconds it'd be useful, but meh.

    You'd be better served Nano'ing the node and beaconing, if you even notice in time to do so.

    Personally if the mechanic of the Powernode remains, I'd like to see an upgrade to the node possible that adds armor/health. 20 res to double the values or something, and if it's destroyed you'd have to upgrade it again. Give it an upgraded graphic like the Advanced Armory to make it obvious.

    That and fix the bloody notification system so you don't get the popup 10 seconds after your powers down. A more critical/louder/wtfever notification would be nice if a comm chair is attached to the node would be nice too.
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