Ha: Mobile Weapons Platform
CplDavis
I hunt the arctic Snonos Join Date: 2003-01-09 Member: 12097Members
I hunt the arctic Snonos Join Date: 2003-01-09 Member: 12097Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Your thoughts</div> When there is only enough res for one or two HAs with a gl or HMG do you people usualy use him as the main spear head of the assualt group with the other non heavies covering him, or do you use the standard soldiers as the main assault force with the HA guy providing support?
Just wondered what everone else does.
Just wondered what everone else does.
Comments
I give out heavy suits in full setups.. eg HA/Welder/HMG
Usually i give out full suits unless our base is dying.. at what point i will make sure we keep upgrades coming... and just drop heavies and welders...
True is that you might very well allow aliens to get a second hive or even fades if can get all other RTs instead...all teched HAs will own everything except maybe onos...
Though ressource monopolyzing is my favorite strategy in maps like Nothing , the fades can own the HAs if they're courageous enough. Sure 3 HA HMGs with welder look invincible , but if you acid spam them while a lerk protects you with umbra , you will have many opportunities of taking out at least one HA when they are welding each other. They also need the comm's constant attention , so frustrated skulks may destroy your starting base as well. Fades with DC or gorge support can destroy turret farms in second so the marine team has to react very quickly to theses attacks , possibly leaving the sieging outpost undefended. I've noticed that aliens need less ressources than marines late in the game (marines losing RTs to random skulks , comm medspamming , phasing , sieging , rebuilding...) so they can constantly fade.
This is generally a stalemate situation - siege one hive , hunt down fades , siege the other hive , meet the remaining fades , bring backup , get owned by the new fades... ad nauseum. However , due to the lesser marine mobility the aliens always win eventually (at least in smaller games)
Ummm yea so anyway, Ignoring the ignorance.
Usually a squad of heavies otherwise use the 1-2 as the spearhead and have the LAs cover.
Do you know how annoying this is?
I was playing a game, we had like 200 res, and the only person the commander would give a jp/hmg to was his clan mate.. the rest of us got nothing from him, except the occasional medpack
I was even asking for a shotgun/jp (which is the price of a hmg) couldn't even get that... the rest of my team did n't realize the fact that he was doing this.. we lost this game, and then the comm and his clanmember start calling the rest of the teams noobs... I just wish one of the server admins was playing on marines at the time.. that would have been fun <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
(Yea, I know its about ha, and not jps, but I hate people in clans when they do that)
Use GLs against Umbra. I hate when coms give out HMG/HA but refuse to give even one GL.
Because of this cost, heavies are not very attractive late game when the aliens have pummeled your res nodes. Or early game because it takes time to get them..... so a mid-late game is usually when they come out. They're not as powerful as onos individually, but can come out sooner.
Costs are important, and it must be considered when you plan your attack.
HA/HMG/Welder: ~60 res
JP/HMG: ~34 res
JP/Shotgun: 25 res.
Notice that you can outfit a soldier with a jetpack and a shotgun for the price of one heavy machine gun. Keep this in mind if your res is coming slow and your weapons are level 2 or more. It can be an effective tool. It's not that great when you only have level 1 or 0 weapons though....
Ideally you want a mixture of heavy armor and jetpacks. Basically combined arms. This is fairly difficult to counter with a competent squad.
A few tactics I've noticed for HA. Keep in mind these are all assuming public servers, and version 1.04. 1.1 may be different.
<b>1) Solo. </b>
Situation: Aliens only have 1 hive, and so does your team, but you can't sustain a 2 hive lockdown and need to buy time. Requires a HA thats competent.
A single competent HA with a heavy machine gun can defend a spacious area versus multiple attacks. I was in generator, and my commander, well, forgot about me. It was too far to walk back, as I'd get pummeled along the way in the small hallways. So I stayed in generator, and killed several waves of skulks (9-12 or so in total) before I ran out of ammo. This bought us enough time though to build up a force to attack their hive. This also made my throat hoarse screaming at the commander to give any sort of help.... he didn't. Bastage.
This is the most basic of tactics, and cheapest, but not recommended if the aliens have 2 or more hives, so you won't see it often. Oh, you'll see solo HA's often, but thats because they're stupid and they seperate. There's a difference between intentional and "oops, where'd my team go? Ah well, I'll attack anyway a-hyuck!"
<b>2) Base Defense</b>
Just what it says. It enables one marine to defend the base with the effectiveness of 2 or so. But be nice to your base defenders, give them shotty, or HMG if it's late game and you expect waves of attacks while the rest of your team is gone.
<b>3) Welder Train:</b>
Situation: Usually 2 hive lockdown, or they just now got 2nd hive. This is assuming you were able to secure and aquire enough res to outfit 3 HA, 2 welder, and at least one HMG perferably more.
Basically everyone welds, and few actually shoot. A 3 man team is minimum (one shooting, 2 welding) but more are perferred. Can be overwhelmed or seperated, especially if the welders aren't on their toes or the shooter reloads. One of the most basic of HA attacks; I don't like this method at all. It's so crude and it's not easy to make it work. One variation of the welder train is to have oscar meyers (light armor marines) behind the HA and let THEM do the welding. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's the downfall of the asault. They usually don't last long, and often get destracted dodging skulks and trying to weld the HA, while the HA are not even paying attention to protecting their precious welders.... rather they get caught up trying to shoot buildings or hives. Then they turn around and they have no welders. This is a good time to take your headphones off, because screaming over the mic will ensue.
<b>4) Island hopping.</b>
Situation: You need res. You have HA's.
Basically the HA's move in force to one location (IE a res node), secure it, move in force to the next, secure it, move in force to the next, secure it..... and then when they get to the hive, they either seige from outside (using the HA's to guard while they build), or move in. Pretty common tactic I think; it requires some coordination, but not a tight knit group, meaning it's an effective tactic even in public games.
<b>5) Support</b>
Basically HA's and oscar meyers (LA) are intermingled and go for the hive. No real coordination, welding, or anything, it's just a mob. Easy in public games when you don't have too much res, but you might be better off ramboing with a jetpack as it's expensive. Often used as a hybrid island hopping strat...
<b>6) Combined arms: </b>
Situation: Good team, not enough res to outfit everyone with everything.
Couple of jetpackers support the HA's, welding them, destracting enemies, hitting the hive while the enemys are destracted by the HA's, welding in front of the HA's to make sure they don't get webbed, etc. Probably the most cost effective tactic if you can get away with it. Stoppable, but usually in the chaos the aliens are down one hive.
<b>7) Domination:</b>
Situation: More res than you know what to do with.
Your entire team with HMG's and HA, maybe a grenade launcher or two. Your entire team shoots (with the exception of maybe one welder). Basically the idea is to throw so much lead out that the enemy won't have a chance to fend off the attack before it's already over. Your team is a moving WOL. Move into a hive, no skulks should be able to even get withing biting range. Fades won't last long either. WOL's are taken down quickly. As long as you have a competent team, who sticks together (and is aware who is to weld, who is to fire, etc) this attack is almost unstoppable....
There are a few other tactics, and hybrids. All have their advantages and whatnot; all can fail miserably. I guess the one you use is based on nessesity and how much res you have. I like to do HA more than jetpackers, but I do have to face the fact that jetpackers are a quick and dirty solution; a good jetpacker is often more reliable than a whole team of incompetent HA's when it comes to a comeback. This is gonna be fixed in 1.1 though so I suppose we shouldn't get used to it. Usually, the aliens almost never give me a chance to really build up an effective HA team, so while your goal may be a domination or combined arms style tactic, you may end up only being able to do, say, a welder train with a few light armored marines spattered in there.