Wish to try to be a Commander, any update in guide?
FreedomFighter
Join Date: 2013-12-04 Member: 189777Members
Join Date: 2013-12-04 Member: 189777Members
I read in guide section but it look like it's old data, most are still valid though but since game balance and new toy add, i wish to know more if i miss anything.
Oh, and by Commander mean Marine Commander, i enjoy being little Skug as Alien more than commanding.
Oh, and by Commander mean Marine Commander, i enjoy being little Skug as Alien more than commanding.
Comments
Enjoy
You (usually) need tech to win the game
You need resources to get tech
You need map control to get resources
You need Marines alive out on the map to get map control
You need to drop med packs and ammo, and you need to communicate with Marines to keep them out in the field alive.
Similarly:
You need to deny alien tech to win the game
You need Marines alive out in the field to deny alien resources
You need to drop med packs and ammo, and you need to communicate with Marines to keep them out in the field alive.
A Marine alive on the map is the commander's most precious resource.
THIS !
+ get a microphone
If people think you got no idea wtf you doing it's like they wont listen to anything you say.
1. Load empty practice server and familiarise yourself with the location of every building/tech.
2. RTs are your most important building, you want as many of these as possible, but don't want to drop them so far extended (like dropping 4 alien nodes at game start) or they might get killed off and you have a net loss of res.
3. Medpack/ammo soldiers on the field. This one is complicated, always give ammo (unless they're about to die), but for medpacks, don't be overly attentive for spamming meds on people that you recognise will die anyway, it's a waste of your resources. The ones you identify as able to take out skulks more often than not should be given meds however, the reward of map presence is worth it. Adding not to drop meds on soldiers near an armory, however, there is an exception. IF THEY ARE IN COMBAT, the rule is ignored, med them. Why? Because mid combat people can't run up to an armory to heal, if you want to hold that area (and thus that armory too) you're going to need to med people. Only drop meds on people who look like they're just about to actually take a hit too, don't preemptively drop 5 meds on a guy as a skulk approaches. Two reasons, one, he might not need them, two, there is now a pickup delay on medkits, of 0.53s. This means if a soldier has received a medkit he cannot pick another one up within that 0.53s. So if he's jumping all over the place dodging skulks he probably won't be where you spammed the meds originally by the time he can pick one up again.
4. Understand basic tech paths. Really only 2 ways you can go (commonly). Phase gates everywhere immediately (no more than 4 phase gates in a pub on the ground at once), or upgrades as fast as you can, or a mix of both. (Upgrades meaning weapons/armor level upgrades). Shotguns must come out before fades, if you have enough res try and get them out at around the 1/1 (that's weapons level 1/armor level 1) mark. Finally once you have around 2/2 (or 3/2 if you had a TON of res early on), start your Advanced Armory so you can get a prototype lab for jetpacks and exos. Warning, too many exos can mean a loss for marines as they are unable to build or weld each other. Lastly, and unrelated to previous order, recognise when it is right to build arcs to break alien turtles and/or siege hives. This can be the difference between a win at 20 minutes and a loss at 60 minutes.
Oh, should have added. For aliens, standard tech path in public play is go shift hive, get some RTs early (minimum 3), keep capping RTs if you CAN and drop 3 upgrade chambers asap (in this case spurs). Then get your second hive. Crag is also an acceptable hive type. Shade might get a bit of whining from some (me included), as it's kind of weak and leaves you with little options if you only get 2 hives (or worse, 1). Once your second hive is up you probably want gorge upgrades for bile bomb (you should know how to do this if you followed step 1) fairly soon, as it's the strongest tool aliens have. Then you want your second hive upgrades (3 upgrade chambers of new hive type) and life form upgrades (onos/lerk upgrades are much more useful than fade btw). If you DO get a third hive, you can get the third chambers if you want, but honestly, getting to biomass level 9 for contaminate so you can echo whips (you should know how) into marine spawn is far more useful. In my opinion.
5. Drop a second IP early in the game, if it's a 24p server I recommend dropping it immediately. There is quite some time for a marine to spawn, so if multiple people are dying at once they get locked in a spawn queue and you end up with only half your team on the field, this means you lose. A soldier is your most valuable resource.
6. Scan ahead of marine squads so they and you are aware of what they're coming up against.
7. Be aware of base rushes, if you spot skulks heading to your base early game you may need to call some (NOT ALL) soldiers back to defend, you don't want to lose out on an IP early game, it really hurts. Also be aware that if it is only one skulk, you yourself CAN hop out of the chair to kill it (assuming you have decent aim). So many comms think they are tied to their chair and let their whole base die to one skulk, or beacon the whole team back for it losing all map control.
Hope this helps some, if I've left anything out I might edit it in later.
You need to be smart about to drop meds/ammo and for whom, because dropping too many packs/ammo can drain your resources too much, resulting in a loss as well (unless you have like the entire map and 8 RTS of course :P).
Dropping 10 meds on a rookie that can't even kill a skulk = waste of res.
Dropping meds on people who are nearby an armory or can just get ammo/hp easily = waste of res (unless it's an important engagement)
Dropping meds on a good player can essentially win your game.
Drop ammo on people who hunt down harvesters, because shooting them down is fastest.
Plus, don't overdrop meds/ammo, drop only enough to heal / replenish ammo, because if you drop extra packs and they are not picked up you're burning res with no purpose. Only drop extras in engagements or sieges (i.e. situations where it makes sense)
Q W E R for top level menus
A S D F for next row
Z X C V for bottom row
Using the keys let's you respond quickly to the (very often mentioned in this thread) medpack and ammo requests.
When a request is made, simply press the SPACE BAR to jump right to that player, select the appropriate top level menu key, select the next level menu key, and click the mouse.
It's this method that allows commanders to quickly "spam" meds and ammo in an area. If you attempt to use only the mouse to click back and forth on the icons, you will fall behind very quickly.
- Lots has been posted already but I think I'll re-iterate a point that's easy to overlook when you first get in the marine comm chair: Choose a tech path!
I've seen a few newish marine comms lately that get the first few ticks of res from their opening RTs and then try to build everything. Obs + PG research, arms lab and robo factory all up in the first few minutes.
You won't be able to upgrade everything at once!
Common early game tech paths are -
Fast Phase Gates
Armory - Obs - PG research - Mines - Setup PGs - Other Upgrades (Arms lab, shotguns)
Lots of people like fast phase gates as it gives you alot of map control early on. If you can get and keep a PG and an armory near a hive early on, its usually GG for aliens.
Upgrades
Arms Lab - Get as close to W3A3 as you can - Shotguns - Other stuff
I prefer this kind of build most of the time, if your marines positioning is good. Don't leave any open routes to your base as you wont have an obs to beacon with, i.e. make sure your marines are EVERYWHERE. All up in their extraterrestial nooks and crannies.
Modest Stuff
Armory - Obs - Robo - PGs - Sentries at choke points - ARCs - Mines
Robo factory based tech path for advanced com/ team that can't shoot and need help from sentries. Make sure you let your team know not to go wandering around Arc targets, they should be sitting back and letting the arcs do the work.
Recommend seeing this played before you try it yourself as sentry positioning is vital to make it work.
Once the mid game is in full swing (fades are up, shotguns or W2 is up) you will want to upgrade your armory to adv. armory asap and start work on jetpacks and exos.
Personally, as a field player, I believe you cannot be an effective commander if you don't first learn the maps on the field.
Commander view gives you no insight into the advantages that each room gives a team, and all these advantages are directly dependent on timing. And the only way to use this knowledge quickly enough is experience
Youll also start to understand the build orders that work, how to work against player skill disadvantage and how to use your player skill advantage.
In my opinion this is fps before rts
He kept went into hoard and die and expected me to assist him.
As a marine commander:
1. Get robotics factory as first building.
2. Get sentries in you base ASAP.
3. Wait.
As an alien commander:
1. Get whips around your hive.
2. Wait.
See, it's not an RTS game. Maybe you should have supported him. He might might have killed two skulks out of 5. And as Joshhy said you're most valuable resource is players on field. Sacrificing 2-3 res and a marine to reduce the power of a "hoard" is usually a good decision
See, there's no point to help him at all if he kept doing that for more than 10 times. I better spend those med pack on better marine, at lease he made those 4 Skug sit in place in hope for free easy kill on him.
If the marine is in a marine held area of the map with an RT, then you should do your best to help keep that marine alive it should not matter how many skulks there is, but its down to you how many med packs you wish to spend to keep this marine alive.
If your holding 1 RT, then drop 1, if your holding 7 RT, then drop him 10, it all depends on your res flow as a commander, and what you want to hold as a team.
I relied on the vets advice when I first started comming so do listen to your team.
This is the single most important bit for new players. Play this game for several hours as a grunt, on both sides. Building position, lines of expansion, knowledge of where you spawn are super critical, and if you don't know what those are, build orders and medpack spam won't do jack for you.
This game really is a FPS first, get a handle on that, and commanding can come later.
Similarly with aliens think about timing, gorge/skulk/... upgrades take much longer then bio-mass to upgrade, start them before biomass so they finish at the same time...
When I doubt get JP before Exo... This will thin out exos later since some people won't have the res...
Agreed! I spent about 70 hrs almost playing before I played as marine commander (less for alien but it was easier)