The Roleplayers

relsan · January 2003

<div class="IPBDescription">do whats needed</div> Ok you guys know basically what a marine team is composed of: One commander, and a bunch of grunts. However as we have played this game for a couple months it's become more apparent that the teams that win are the ones that have groups of marines that are specialized in their operations.

Now most people are aware of these specializations, but a BIG problem arises when too many people want to do the same thing and the team specializations become unbalanced, creating an opening for the aliens to exploit.

First, let's go over the specializations.

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The Caretaker/Handyman - he stays behind and builds up the base. He DOES NOT help build outposts, but when the outpost is finally secured and there's a phase gate installed, he's there to phase in to weld equipment and do casual montioring for aliens. Caretakers never leave unsecured areas, (i.e. outposts and marine start) and travel long distances by PHASE GATE ONLY.

PROS: prevents alien sneak attacks, and does the crap jobs no one else wants to do

CONS: if there are too many caretakers, the marines will never advance and eventually lose. 1 is all you need. maybe 2 for 30 player servers.

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The Field Commander - These are the guys that work hand in hand with the commander. While the commander is concerned with securing the map, the field commander can tell him the easiest way to do it. Some might say that commanders already know how to do this but the field commander is in the 3-D battlefield with motion tracking to easily see alien movements. He doesn't see blips, he sees aliens and he knows when he's about to be flanked or when there's a prime opportunity to attack alien outposts.

Field commanders are also vocal and are good at taking control of marines. Marines entrust their lives to good field commanders.

PROS: ensure that marine operations are intelligent, quick, and efficient

CONS: if there are too many field commanders, the commander will not be able to allocate resources properly and the marines will break up into teams that are too small to realistically carry out large scale operations like securing hives and doing quick circuits(quickly securing rts one by one with small 4 turret outposts). As the saying goes, too many chefs, spoil the soup.

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The Rambo - Every military entity has a small squad of troops that take the jobs that must be covert and typically extremely dangerous. These are the guys that harass the aliens. They aren't looking for just ANYTHING to kill. They are looking to cause aliens a blow to their resource reserves and if possible, take out hives. Sneaking past poorly made alien defenses, these marines sneak their way into the most vulnerable undefended alien areas to cause as much damage as they can before the aliens can react. This has the direct effect of hurting the aliens severely. It has the indirect effect of causing the aliens to halt their plans for conquest and come running. I've seen rambos thwart a seemingly unstoppable marine start attack just by attacking a hive. They work best in a grouped team of 2 to 3, but one good rambo can make the difference.

PROS: they are expendable. marines pop up every 4 seconds. worst-case scenario, 4 rps. best case scenario, HIVE DOWN, 80 rps.

CONS: rambos don't build anything. too many rambos means, no upgrades, no ha, no hmgs, because there are no rps.

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The Squad - The main force of the marines. These are the guys that follow field commanders orders, build outposts, and DO IT EFFICIENTLY! i.e. they WAIT at base for a group BEFORE moving out. They make sure all entrances to the area are covered with a gun BEFORE deciding to build. They watch eachothers backs. If you are the last guy in the group, LOOK BEHIND YOU. If you are on point try to scoot a little ahead to give the squad advanced warning... and be ready to die. There can never be enough people in this group and the larger it is, the better your chances are to win.

PROS: if you are worried about your stats, stay in the squad because they have the lowest casualty rate. Your back is always covered and help is never far away. Large squad groups win games, end of story.

CONS: if theres no field commanders to direct them, things can go wrong unless the commander is very good. if theres no caretakers to keep outposts in shape, the squads work can be undone by a coordinated alien team. if the aliens are aleady at your marine start with acid rockets and onos, the squad is quite ineffective, but hey isn't everybody in that situation?

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This is just a quick down and dirty list of player types I think every good marine team should have but I'm sure you all have ideas and comments on what works.

But basically the point I'm trying to make is that it's not enough to decide at the beginning that you want to be a rambo, or a caretaker, or whatever. LOOK AROUND first and see if thats really what your team needs. If you decide to be a field commander and end up breaking up the squad force, that could cost your team the game. If you decide to rambo, and your teams squad is getting decimated by aliens, you should be over there helping. If your hive outpost is being taken over by one lerk, get to caretaking. Be versatile and be ready to fill the shoes of any type of person thats not there.

Shadowz · January 2003

well said . .. i shall add in =)

first thing to add :

scout :
This marine(s) scout area by himself and he determine if a res tower if to be build by scouting surrounding for alien and chamber..... like the name say its scout. he dont directly go into battle into chamber and skulk. if he spot any alien , 1st : decide if he can take it ... like in 1 skulk or retreat and ask for reinforcement for 1 fade or 3 lerk (wow). When he die , he will try another direction. his main objective is to find unoccupied hive , res tower , key location to secure . unlike the others marine , he should tell his location to the field comm ( as you say ) before he start building .

so a team of 8 should have :
1 comm
1 field comm
1 caretake
2 rambo
1 scout
2 squad.
it may seem small for the squad but then , think positivelly that field comm should be clear of the map and know when and where to attack and must and i repeat MUST have a good handling of his gun

moreover , i must add , combine wif pulse^dsn formation for field comm and squad , marine will have a BIG BIG chances of winnning , but shall i say that all this can only be done in a clan =( sad to say not in public server <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='wink.gif'>

LaserApa · January 2003

Rambo and scout is pretty close i think. While in the field you can do both if needed, so I would put the extra scout in the squad.

But whatever works is the right way...

PIMAWang_Hung_Lo · January 2003

I like your ideas, it would be cool if a comm could assign these roles to players via the comm interface so that everybody knows who's doing what. It could show up next to the players' names when you press tab or something.

pulsedsn · January 2003

yes, being able to assign roles would be cool and potentially useful.

FlatlineUTD · January 2003

Assinging roles would be awesome, but may turn good players bad.

For example, say you assign a really great Field Commander-type player the Handyman role. If he really doesn't want to do it, he may spend the whole game knifing away at your troops and being an overall annoyance.

This means you don't have a good Handyman and you're not utilizing the Field Commander role to it's fullest. Instead, you've got a annoying liability. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='confused.gif'>

Shadowz · January 2003

sometime its better not to have to commander decide =) and as i say this can only be done in clan matches most likely not in public

Shadowz · January 2003

scout and rambo is different

scout will be converted into squad when there is a need to but scout role like i say is not to engage in any battle if posible cuz scout is a loner , he have to be and i mean its a must , to know the map VERY well , as well as all shortcuts , danger hiding zone of alien etc.. , cuz you dun want the scout to lost and shout to comm " i am lost comm , giv me wp " well and scout are not suppose to be assign waypoint =)

MadFunk · January 2003

I think the best way to test this out is to create a plugin with 2 modes: Marine-Decided Roles and Commander-Assigned Roles. This would serve as an effective means to test out how well such a system would work.

Shadowz · January 2003

well have you see idiot comm that build 3 cc before he leave <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='confused.gif'>
den how ??

Geronimo · January 2003

I still consider one big groups of marines with a FC, a caretaker in base and one Scout is enough...then you have one main force, and if they are halted , your scout can put up a phase on the other side of the map, and then you wil be fighting over the last hive, while building in the second one without interference...

Firewater · January 2003

Assigning roles would be nice but it distracts the commander from what he needs to do. Usually in pubs everyone accepts their role unless you get people who think they are good to try and rambo. Too many of those are a problem, but if the comm can control his team then there should not be a problem.

Panzergeist · January 2003

There is another role: rebel without a clue. This player is constantly fortelling the doom of his own team. He says the commander is a moron. He asks for stuff the commander can't afford, or doesn't even have researched, and insults the commander when he doesn't get it. If it starts to look like marines might actually win, he will do everything in his power to sabotage their victory so that he won't have to eat crow.

I had a guy like this on our team today. Kept calling the commander a moron, even after we secured a hive and 6 nodes. Fortold our impending defeat even as our siege turret wailed away at one of their hives. Continued to tell evryone how much the commander sucked even as we surrounded their last hive room and spammed it with grenades. Couldn't admit he was wrong.

eaglec · January 2003

Useful thread, never seen it in writing before or even though of it like this but this is how I try to play, I often leave base early after the important building been taken care of and then scout to a hive / resource node and inform the commader of what I've found. If it's an empty hive I set it up and secure it for him until re-inforcements arrive. If it's the occupied hive I try to sneak away without being seen or amush a skulk pack as they leave for a rush (rambo I guess). Of course if every one runs off at spawn I stay as base caretaker unless otherwise ordered

At hive 1 if re-inforcements don't arrive or look weak I'll stay at the first hive as caretaker. Otherwise when the hive is secured I ask if we have a second hive yet, if so which on. If we do I scout for res nodes that we can get if not I offer to do reconnessence on the hive that we think is not currently occupied (scout again). From then on it can be simply setting up a pg at the second empty hive or more likely taking out a few skulks and gorges and waiting for re-inforcements. So I guess I am primarily the scout/caretaker, I avoid combat unless it's nessessary because there is little point killing a wondering skulk unless you want to draw attention to yourself. I always try to think before I pull the trigger of the pro's and cons of starting a fight. So I think in a team of 8 you need
1comm (obviously)
1caretaker
1scout
1FC
4squad

but any marine should be able to fill the role of any other marine at a moments notice, even as comm you sometimes have to get out your comfy chair and kill an skulk/finish that IP/pg etc.

captmorgan · January 2003

I personally prefer the "scout" to be more of a gorge-killer. Like in the army, the Multiple Launch Rocket system (MLRS) is the commanders "personall shotgun", the "scout" is my personal gorge assasin. Once I can scan, I look for the gorge, and if there is a scout that listens, I send him right after said gorge. If you can cap the initial gorge before he puts down that first RT, you bought yourself an extra 2 minutes at least. Of course it rarely happens that way, but that 1/15 games it does, it basically elimantes the aliens ability to tech at all early on (no res), which is always a good thing. (no cara)

Rue · January 2003

btw 1 marien can get around the map without being seen faster than 2+ , on the map with cargo and viadukt hive they aleins had blocked the quad lift , and had made offy towers all around the map , so i went on , what i thought was a suacide mission, i jumped over a out-post of 3 offy towers with out getting hurt and as i go by them i heard a fade around so i slowly found a place to hide and he ran by me , so i continued and go to the tunnel between power/gread via hive and with 3 health got PG and TF up in no time , so a 1 man army can be better than a group of peeps.

about the commander giving u classes , this isnt TFC <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'> , then if ur told to be a care taker and your on a pub server for the 3rd game in a row are u realy going to do it? or do u want some of the real action?

The Roleplayers

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