Mid-game Theorycraft
Eclipse
Join Date: 2003-01-18 Member: 12444Members
Join Date: 2003-01-18 Member: 12444Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Strats, Ideas and Theorys</div> The mid-game is quite argueablly the most action packed and crucial point in the game. If the marines can push back the usually large influx of fades and lerks, they can push on and win the game, or the aliens, using their new found muscle can stop skirmishing and bring serious firepower to the battlefield. Or, in those truly epic moments, you get battles that wage back and forth across key areas of the map, sometimes lasting well past the 60 minute mark of memorable battles of vanilla marines with large weapons influxed with the occasional HA or JP facing off against fades and lerks.
With all but 2 weeks left in 1.04, it seems somewhat moot to bring up a strategy discussion. But the way I figure it, despite all thats being changed, the mid-game seems to be generally left intact as we know it, with but a few changes here and there (More static defenses, stronger aliens, weaker buildings)
Now lets move onto the meat of the topic: Strategies, Ideas, and general Theory.
To keep this from degenerating to horribly, I'm going to lay a few general guidelines:
1) Let us assume the teams are of general equal skill, the aliens know how to organise them selves into strong packs, know how to utilize their upgrades, and generally dont suck. The marines can shoot, follow orders, and they know the maps well enough that they dont need waypoints.
2) Lets make make the mid-game a defineable point, assume the aliens have at least 4 res-nodes and their second hive building/built(depending on what version your basing it on)
3) Lastly, please dont let this degenerate into a flamewar or stat-crunching, long stories on how your idea worked once when they moon was full and the planets aligned and whatever. Just write down how to do it, and what it's meant to accomplish, hopefully we'll see some adventureous commanders take a few of these up and give em for a test cycle.
Now for an idea on how to post here
Strategy: Alien Starvation (1.04, but can be altered for 2.0)
Nodes Required: Minimum 3, recommend 4-5
Tech Required: Advanced Armory, Motion Tracking*, Beginnings of Passive upgrades*(*=Recommended)
Tested: Yes
Synopsis: Slower than an HMG rush, but generally safer. Hand out 3-5 HMG's and move out with the sole intention of destroying alien resource nodes, a single clip can kill a node, so order a marine to shoot the node while others cover. Ideal window of opportunity is when hive is just beginning, but can be done after it finishes. Can also lead to a push on alien hive.
Strengths: Brings heavy firepower in, and cripples alien economy when they need resources most.
Weaknesses: LA marines can still be vunerable, despite HMGs. Aliens may retaliate by attacking main base or outlying resource nodes due to decrease in defensive man-power. Seems to be map-dependent on effectiveness.
Theory: Hidden Sieges (Either version, probably more effective in 1.04)
Nodes Required: 2-3
Tech Required: Advanced Turret Factory, Motion Tracking
Tested: no
Synopsis: Fairly similar to chopper dave's resource denial, only this is concentrated on hives. Setup basic turret outposts with sieges that have the hive in range. Get enough so that the hive will not last past a minute, so probably 3-4 sieges. When the opportunity presents itself Begin scanning hives.
Strengths: Can destroy multiple hives simultaneously, leaves aliens in a 'WTH?' mindset.
Weaknesses: Represents considerable investment if lost, probably wouldnt work, but would be interesting try, if only for laughs.
With all but 2 weeks left in 1.04, it seems somewhat moot to bring up a strategy discussion. But the way I figure it, despite all thats being changed, the mid-game seems to be generally left intact as we know it, with but a few changes here and there (More static defenses, stronger aliens, weaker buildings)
Now lets move onto the meat of the topic: Strategies, Ideas, and general Theory.
To keep this from degenerating to horribly, I'm going to lay a few general guidelines:
1) Let us assume the teams are of general equal skill, the aliens know how to organise them selves into strong packs, know how to utilize their upgrades, and generally dont suck. The marines can shoot, follow orders, and they know the maps well enough that they dont need waypoints.
2) Lets make make the mid-game a defineable point, assume the aliens have at least 4 res-nodes and their second hive building/built(depending on what version your basing it on)
3) Lastly, please dont let this degenerate into a flamewar or stat-crunching, long stories on how your idea worked once when they moon was full and the planets aligned and whatever. Just write down how to do it, and what it's meant to accomplish, hopefully we'll see some adventureous commanders take a few of these up and give em for a test cycle.
Now for an idea on how to post here
Strategy: Alien Starvation (1.04, but can be altered for 2.0)
Nodes Required: Minimum 3, recommend 4-5
Tech Required: Advanced Armory, Motion Tracking*, Beginnings of Passive upgrades*(*=Recommended)
Tested: Yes
Synopsis: Slower than an HMG rush, but generally safer. Hand out 3-5 HMG's and move out with the sole intention of destroying alien resource nodes, a single clip can kill a node, so order a marine to shoot the node while others cover. Ideal window of opportunity is when hive is just beginning, but can be done after it finishes. Can also lead to a push on alien hive.
Strengths: Brings heavy firepower in, and cripples alien economy when they need resources most.
Weaknesses: LA marines can still be vunerable, despite HMGs. Aliens may retaliate by attacking main base or outlying resource nodes due to decrease in defensive man-power. Seems to be map-dependent on effectiveness.
Theory: Hidden Sieges (Either version, probably more effective in 1.04)
Nodes Required: 2-3
Tech Required: Advanced Turret Factory, Motion Tracking
Tested: no
Synopsis: Fairly similar to chopper dave's resource denial, only this is concentrated on hives. Setup basic turret outposts with sieges that have the hive in range. Get enough so that the hive will not last past a minute, so probably 3-4 sieges. When the opportunity presents itself Begin scanning hives.
Strengths: Can destroy multiple hives simultaneously, leaves aliens in a 'WTH?' mindset.
Weaknesses: Represents considerable investment if lost, probably wouldnt work, but would be interesting try, if only for laughs.
Comments
1. Early game - Running around trying to get "easy" kills and/or securing res nodes
2. Mid game - Consolidating assets, trying to fend of raiders. Middle lifeforms appear.
3. Late game - All out tug-of-war for more resources and destruction of enemy assets (lifeforms, res nodes). Higher lifeforms appear.
4. End game - Attrition and final push from team with more resources. Team with less resources slowly die. Comebacks are possible, but extremely difficult and highly improbableat at this point. Game ends.
Early game strategies:
There seems to be 3 major strategies for marines in early game: Rushing, Camping or, Relocation
*- Rushing could be really effective and can produce short short games if done right and the right amount of luck is present. Rushing does not guarantee marine progression to mid game. Weakness is base will be wide open for attack.
*- Camping is generally a safer alternative to rushing and since it has already been assumed that the two teams are equal in terms of skill, camping in early game will allow mariens to progress to mid game. Weakness is lack of control over alien expansion.
*- Relocation is also a risky strat, but less risky than rushing. Since the teams are of equal skill, it can be assumed that the new base will be held. This strat also has strategic merit as it either: a. allows securing of multiple res nodes (Holoroom) or b. hivelocking. Relocation should allow progression to mid game. Weakness is waste of early res and possible loss due to alien rushing.
Mid game strategies:
There seems to be 3 major strategies for marines in mid game: TFarms, Tech, or Res
*- With TFarms, the team spam build turrets to cover base, res nodes, etc. Followed by TFarming into strategically important junctions. Currently an expensive strat but in 2.0 will be relatively cheap (5r turrets compared to 19r now). Good chance of advancement to late game. Weakness is that it's expensive (pending 2.0), and requires quite a bit of time.
*- Tech strat is when a comm upgrades weapons and armour ASAP, followed by misc upgrades. Extremely good chance of advanement to late game. Allows marines to have an edge against aliens if done quickly. Weakness is that it's expensive.
*- Res strat is marines securing every single possible res node ASAP. Mining nodes is recommended. Gives high res flow for marines. All the while seek and destroy enemy res nodes. This strat allows faster teching in late game. Good chance of advancement into late game. Weakness in that res nodes HAVE to be guarded, could become very expensive.
Late game strategies:
There are 3 major strategies for late game: Siege, JP or, HA
*- Siege strat: find room where hive is in range of sieges. TFarm + Siege up. Scansweep hive. Good strat for use in conjuction with either Tech or TFarm strat from mid game.
*- JP strat: research JP. equip JPers with SG/HMG/GL. Extremely effective and deadly if players are skilled with JPs. Otherwise, total waste of res.
*- HA strat: research HA, equip HAs with welders and SG/HMG/GL. HAs weld each other + comm health drop. A very safe strat.
End game strategies:
If you're win, simple. Keep doing whatever it is you're doing. Remember to either scansweep around the map every once in a while or have marines scout out the rest of the map; prevents rogue aliens from putting up a new hive.
If you're losing, TFarm up your Alamo. Put down as many IPs as practical/possible (< players on team - 1). Redundunt TFs, armouries, OBs. Remeber to try to at least keep that res node in your base. Also remember to use beacon to get your dead marines spawned behind the enemy.
That's all i guess. Of course most of these strats are mix & match and not all work all the time. Try them out and see for yourself.
Nodes Required: 2-3
Tech Required: Advanced Turret Factory, Motion Tracking
Tested: no
Synopsis: Fairly similar to chopper dave's resource denial, only this is concentrated on hives. Setup basic turret outposts with sieges that have the hive in range. Get enough so that the hive will not last past a minute, so probably 3-4 sieges. When the opportunity presents itself Begin scanning hives.
Strengths: Can destroy multiple hives simultaneously, leaves aliens in a 'WTH?' mindset.
Weaknesses: Represents considerable investment if lost, probably wouldnt work, but would be interesting try, if only for laughs. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I've done this to the Engine Room hive in Bast before. I snuck in the vent that comes from the atmospheric/feedwater area and set up about 5 sieges and 3 sentries when the comm lit the room up with a sensor sweep and destroyed the hive in a few salvos. Since it's fairly difficult to get a fade into that vent, one decent person can defend it with an hmg/jp with relative ease if you're found out.
I've also done this to vent near Computer Core in Eclipse, but that was in the first few days of the 1.0 release, so the aliens didn't really know about the vent yet. Good luck trying to find an alien team dumb enough to let you build in there. Usually the aliens can hear you build from the hallway outside the hive.
I prefer a second base because it's just a cleaner switch than trying to battle it out on your home turf (sorry, I don't do well with heroics <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->)
So, mid-game you should have a pretty smooth cash flow, your troops are probably reasonably upgraded and itching for some battle. With one hive free I would set my second base up there. Since you may not need this base it's usually good to just start with a tf and few sentrys (preferably a PG as well) so you can keep an eye on it. Once your 'rines are on the offensive it is likely that the aliums, if they aren't fighting to the death with your men, will rush your base. This is the point where, if things get critical, you start sending one or two guys through the PG to your second base where the necessities are waiting for them to construct. Depending on the damage done, you would drop anything from a CC to IPs and so on.
It may not be a glamorous, violent tactic but it's simple and will save your tail and give you that second chance.
<!--QuoteBegin--"Synopsis"+--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> ("Synopsis")</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->*begin your fall-back base with a TF and PG
*If aliens attack home, even if your 'rines are winning on the other side, begin dropping constructs at fall-back base
*Send 'rines through PG or do it yourself
*Mix well, yields 2-3 servings.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->