What To Do First As Comm?
Orcrist
Join Date: 2002-12-18 Member: 11050Members
Join Date: 2002-12-18 Member: 11050Members
I've been comm quite a few times, usually jumping in the chair after a lamer left and everybody is rambo'ing except for me, and once from the beginning of the game in ns_nancy. I've never won... So I wonder, what should you do first? Get res towers up or colonize a hive? Your soldiers need an armslab, but you need a lot of res for that. And res towers are an easy target for skulks, and to defend it with turrets you need more res, and you can't possible do that at every res tower withoutl delaying your hive lockdowns...
As for the weapon upgrades, I happen to play on pub-servers where a group of 3 marines easily gets eaten by one elite skulk, so armor upgrades are a must <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
Any advice on this?
As for the weapon upgrades, I happen to play on pub-servers where a group of 3 marines easily gets eaten by one elite skulk, so armor upgrades are a must <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
Any advice on this?
Comments
there are plenty of variations on how to start a game but this is the one I'm most comfortable with. Other strats:
- skip armory at first and get motion tracking (me likes)
- phase or infantry portal rush to the alien starting hive
- split into 2 teams and lock down 2 hives
- HMG rush
- turtle up, get upgrades, scan for alien expansion, respond quickly
those among others..... have fun!
Infantry Portal
Observatory
Armory
Leave one or two guys in base, send the rest out to an unoccupied Hive (you can use scanner sweep or try to figure out which one the aliens start in from where the initial rush came from).
Once your troops are in the Hive, get Phase Gates up in there and your main base.
From that point, you're going to want to do three things:
- Secure the first Hive
- Start expanding by grabbing resource nodes and keeping constant pressure on the next Hive
- Start moving up the tech tree in order to combat Fades during the fight for the second Hive
You can do these however you see fit and vary too much to list in detail here, so experiment and find methods that work for you.
Exactly.
Don't get into the habit of building up a Turret Factory and Sentry Turrets at every resource node. It's a huge waste of resources. If the Resource Tower is up long enough to collect more than 22 resource points (which is somewhere in the range of of 10-15 seconds), it's paid for itself.
If you really don't want to leave your Towers undefended, use mines around the base. That will deter any Skulks from eating away at them in the early game.
Look at that - we posted at exactly the same <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
True, but it gives the marines mines and shotguns in the early game, which are invaluable. Plus, it reduces the commander's need to spam ammo packs.
Look at that - we posted at exactly the same <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--><!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh didnt notice that before! <!--emo&:0--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='wow.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:0--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='wow.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:0--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='wow.gif'><!--endemo-->
However I prefer the phase gate rush since it allows you to take a hive early on and allows for easy expansion (until the comm overuses the phase gates and confuses everyone).
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1. 2 ip
2. observatory
3. phase (have marines rush an unoccupied hive and build 2nd phase there).
4. armory at base or tf at unoccupied hive, with turrets 3 min.
Rest is up to you our depends if the aliens rush or not. If they do rush you may need a different strategy and may want to build a tf at base to slow them down. Mines work too, but you need an armory..
<!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='asrifle.gif'><!--endemo-->
1. 2 ip
2. observatory
3. phase (have marines rush an unoccupied hive and build 2nd phase there).
4. armory at base or tf at unoccupied hive, with turrets 3 min.
Rest is up to you our depends if the aliens rush or not. If they do rush you may need a different strategy and may want to build a tf at base to slow them down. Mines work too, but you need an armory..
<!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='asrifle.gif'><!--endemo--><!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
you don't always need an armory right away, and you don't always need a second Infanrty Portal (IP) right away. Sometimes I like to just get 1 IP, observatory, and then research motion tracking. If anyone needs ammo, i tell them to kill themselves, or use their pistol or knife (some people don't know how poerful the pistol and knife really are). If they need health, I tell them to kill themselves, unless ofcourse they are in a key area like a hive. But think about it we've got motion tracking which kills one of the skulks major adavantages. There will be hardly any skulks sneaking up on the marines unless thery are really patient and don't move for a long time. Motion Tracking stops <u>alot</u> of marines from getting killled. [/U]
EDIT: Oh and I forgot to mention, notice that nowhere in this whole thread says anything about putting turrets in your main base before you leave. Thats because you never put turrets in your main base until you either have the extra res (no such thing really) or you are securing a second hive. The one exception is mines, sometimes it's ok to drop a pack of mines to an experienced marine. People will tell you that mines suck but please nobody say anything about them here because there are plenty of threads about that. Did you know that you already have defenses in your base? It's called the Infantry Portals and Phase Gate. And don't be afraid to hop out of the comm chair as a last resort if the skulks overpowered you a bit and are about to kill the last IP. And theres also the Defense Beacon in the observatory. Once clicked all your dead marines will spawn 3 seconds later like it was the beginning of the game. Just dont overuse this as it's 15 RP to use.
We are asuming that the aliens have the gen hive which it seems to me that its the most common one to end up with.(to me anways) They will most likly move to sub first. So its best to get everyone over there as soon as you can. If a gorg has already started building then you need to get a phase up at mother. Always phase first for fast transportation. Get the tf turrets and get the siege when possible. With all this going on, its most likly the gorg has moved on to noname(or uncommon). Its best to get your best aimers over there when the phase goes up at mother.
Now that you got 2 guys at least(I did it with just 1 guy) headed to noname/uncommon. You will most likly run into a gorg there. Kill it quickly. Get the phase up at noname/uncommon and a tf with some turrets. Then there is no possible way you could lose unless you just suck at comm. Which you shouldnt if you managed to get this far.
The one time I am a commander everybody rambo's off and dies... And because I didn't give them their shotties and medpacks soon enough they vote me out. Gr8. I'll be skulk for now <!--emo&::skulk::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='skulk.gif'><!--endemo-->
Now, I've learned to just play a round (or two) with whomever is on the marine team when I show up. I now understand that if I initially assume the role of commander, I'm accepting the risk of commanding idiot marines. If, after accompanying the marines in the field, they are mature enough to justify my staying on the server, these are the options with which I typically present myself :
1. continue playing with these marines as a marine. they use voice comm, they communicate, and they're working as a team (which ALWAYS = we're winning).
OR
2. request the honor and priviledge to command these marines next round. they follow orders and do nothing without a good reason. I *can* lead them to victory.
Wyzcrak
Everything else is random based on the situation. Good luck!