Cool features/tactics rarely used.
xen32
Join Date: 2012-10-18 Member: 162676Members, Reinforced - Supporter
Join Date: 2012-10-18 Member: 162676Members, Reinforced - Supporter
Let's make a list of cool and/or funny things people rarely do in NS2:
- Beacon to unpowered base. You can actually do this if you have obs in nearby powered room.
- Comm self beacon from unpowered base. I.e. you have no IPs at other base and CC in unpowered room is going down, you can drop IP at second base, beacon and exit the very same second it goes off.
- EMP to stop gorge/onos from destroying power node, also draining energy from fade to prevent his escape.
- Dual phase gates. You build one at main base, second at other base/important room, third at main base, fourth at next base/important room. Marines are always one phase away from either location right after spawn, also makes attacking main base PG rather pointless. Bonus: when you are down to one base, marines can blink from on side of the room to another.
- Clogging PGs built right next to wall. Careful not to put clogs too close, or marines will get pushed right through them. Tho they won't be able to use PG again quickly anyway.
- Using ninja MAC to build ninja PG.
- Making clogs hang from the ceiling and attaching hydras to them. First, you can make this in places very unexpacted for hydras. Second, marines shooting hydras will eventually destroy the clog, making hydras fall off attaching themselves somewhere else, making things even more confusing.
- Using skulk hallucinations to distract enemy. At first, enemy will panic and attack each one of them, making it easier for your skulks to attack marines. As soon as they realize what's going on, they will keep ignoring weirdly moving skulks. Trick is to start acting like one of the illusions (only while you are amongst them!).
- Using MACs and Drifter to harass multiple enemy RTs and cause panic. Because distracting enemy players from doing their job is even better than killing them, even though you will never destroy any RT. Easier to do with drifters of course.
- Echoing upgrades.
- Speed cyst through marine territory behind enemy lines, crag right next to last cyst. When chain is destroyed, you will have infestation island there. Get shift and you have forward base right behind their backs (think east wing when marines have terminal and departures, EW almost never visited by marines in such situation, nobody would expect infestation there)
I'm done for the moment.
- Beacon to unpowered base. You can actually do this if you have obs in nearby powered room.
- Comm self beacon from unpowered base. I.e. you have no IPs at other base and CC in unpowered room is going down, you can drop IP at second base, beacon and exit the very same second it goes off.
- EMP to stop gorge/onos from destroying power node, also draining energy from fade to prevent his escape.
- Dual phase gates. You build one at main base, second at other base/important room, third at main base, fourth at next base/important room. Marines are always one phase away from either location right after spawn, also makes attacking main base PG rather pointless. Bonus: when you are down to one base, marines can blink from on side of the room to another.
- Clogging PGs built right next to wall. Careful not to put clogs too close, or marines will get pushed right through them. Tho they won't be able to use PG again quickly anyway.
- Using ninja MAC to build ninja PG.
- Making clogs hang from the ceiling and attaching hydras to them. First, you can make this in places very unexpacted for hydras. Second, marines shooting hydras will eventually destroy the clog, making hydras fall off attaching themselves somewhere else, making things even more confusing.
- Using skulk hallucinations to distract enemy. At first, enemy will panic and attack each one of them, making it easier for your skulks to attack marines. As soon as they realize what's going on, they will keep ignoring weirdly moving skulks. Trick is to start acting like one of the illusions (only while you are amongst them!).
- Using MACs and Drifter to harass multiple enemy RTs and cause panic. Because distracting enemy players from doing their job is even better than killing them, even though you will never destroy any RT. Easier to do with drifters of course.
- Echoing upgrades.
- Speed cyst through marine territory behind enemy lines, crag right next to last cyst. When chain is destroyed, you will have infestation island there. Get shift and you have forward base right behind their backs (think east wing when marines have terminal and departures, EW almost never visited by marines in such situation, nobody would expect infestation there)
I'm done for the moment.
Comments
You never know what might come in handy.
Scrajm armoury drop at 00:37 was probably the most recent awesome move I've seen in a game. Worked out so well considering duplex went 4 skulks Left side. Basically let ARC know on Alien respawn if any skulks were moving through Obs.
I couldn't see on the minimap the exact timing, my internet is too poor! but the Obs drop around 2:40~ in ET based on what ARC saw as a second skulk pack en-route to Ore was just awesome.
EDIT: Could be really wrong, just from spec view it looks like that was the thought behind it. Was awesome.
So wait, lessee... If the map would be Docking, and I would have a marine base with a CC in Cafe, Terminal and Departures... Then Terminal would get rushed, power goes down... So could I then recycle Departures CC and use Departures Obs for beacon and thus beacon to Terminal if the CC was still up? :P
Sounds like a plan!
Yes, you can do that.
I'd like to see the eyes of every player on the server after this is executed successfully.
The problem with Echoing upgrades is you are preparing to lose. If you have the res to put a shift down by your upgrades and upgrade it, you should probably be spending it on something else that will prevent you from needing to echo them in the first place.
Beaconing from outside a base is something I don't think I've ever seen someone pull off, but it's pretty easy to do. It's actually a good idea if you have observatories in other places on the map and you can then beacon to any chair, even if the power or obs is down in that room. I don't think many people realize it's possible.
Doing anything with EMP is too much micromanagement for this games interface.
Harrassing RTs with drifters sounds like an amazing idea, I'll have to try that next time I have a chance as Khamm
what about using a ninja marine to build a ninja PG? i swear it's one of the best strategies you can do on pub. in addition to mines, it requires a huge group of aliens to just stop 1-2 marines there.
You can get 2 ARCs out onto the field by about 2:30. Although this prevents you from taking any other early upgrades.
I've had to do this when rushing upgrades and nobody is near base when the other team decides to do a slightly delayed skulk rush. Drop an obs wherever a safe marine with power is and beacon from there when it's built.
Or a trade. Besides many ppl put a shift by a newly dropped hive to max the healspray potential.
Or because the UI is dubious at best.
EMP is worth doing. It just gets used little because it takes lots of micromanagement. Same thing for enzyme.
That's probably because I rarely build a robo lab, unless the aliens have managed to turtle something.
ARCs/MACs aren't really required unless your marines cannot take down a hive with JPs/Exos.
Most coms don't though. One com I was playing with didn't even know it existed and it wasn't his first rodeo.
Had someone using that against me in a game a couple hours ago, probably the first time ever. It's mildly disorienting.
Actually it looks a lot like gorge spit, but covers more of the screen and is slightly different looking. I don't really have too much trouble shooting despite it but I know people complain to hell about the spit blind so it's probably a big deal for some noobs.
Some time I intend to try to get a hallucination Onos out at a ridiculous time (shade first) just to mess with the marines and see what happens.
Bone wall anyone?
Also, I once went for silence/hallucination first and actually helped gorge with ink and enzyme to defend freshly dropped second hive. He got two marines down. Well, at least he said "Thanks for the ink", that's what made me think it helped.
Like "my" hotkeyed shifts with whips and crags echoing into the marine base to kill everything "strategy"?
I remember the first time I echod structures into the marine's base. I felt so smart. Then I tried to do it against a team that wasn't 90% AFK, and realized its not actually viable.
It only takes a few seconds before the cost of the support exceeds the cost of the lifeform.
Basically:
It only works if you have 6-7 res towers.
The same could be said about marines and medpacks.
Marines with LMGs cost 0 res.
That only works if you have 3 Bombard whips for every Exo.
And they never actually deploy the ARCs.