"faster More Intense Games"?

Bowley · August 2003

Is it just me or is it more like "longer and more war of attrition-like games"?
I'm not whinning about it because I really enjoy 2.0 and a long game can be very very fun. I am just questioning the official statement about 2.0 before it was released. Most of the games I have played are around 45 min to an hour AT LEAST, they get longer!!! Maybe it is because we're still feeling out the game and its strategies, but even when the victor is clearly decided it can take a half hour(maybe less) just to beat them down in their base. I guess it could just be a clashing of 2 good teams? I don't know ...anyone else notice this technicality?

Bowley

Ploem · August 2003

I know that my first game took 4 hours. The Kharaa just couldn't finish the game.
Most likely this is because people are still getting used to alien abilities and especially (important) teamwork.
Now I've noticed that games actually have become shorter on our server, like 30 minutes to an hour.
So I trust the time will go down even more, as everyone gets more proficient with 2.0.

Spazmatic · August 2003

You will still get stalemates (this coming from the lad who argues that stalemates are mostly a product of our noobishness) most likely forever, however, I imagine they'll be very frantic, exciting stalemates, not the lame "1-hive no onos can't kill" or "turret farmed marines" stalemates. Like last night, we had a vicious 2.5 hour battle for resource control that ended up knocking us from 6v2 res to 2v4, but where we ended up using swarm tactics to knock down hive after hive and shotgun tango with oni, taking them down as fast as they went up (until the server crashed). That's a fun stalemate.

coil · August 2003

2.0 requires a great deal more teamwork, which will take some getting used to. After people start to get the hang of it, game times will drop and average "energy level" will rise.

MagiTek · August 2003

Endgames are taking so long because people haven't yet learned that aliens need to attack in groups to win. These stalemates occur because you have all the marines grouped together in a defensive posture fighting Oni who slowly trickle in. No surprise that the aliens can't make a dent. It wouldn't be very fair if 2 aliens could take down a whole team of HA/HMGs, now would it? All it takes to crack marine base is 2 Lerks and a bunch of Oni all attacking at the same time. One lerk spams umbra and the other primal scream. The Oni all use charge (not devour) and make a beeline to the marine structures. Ignore the HMGs, just kill the armory/proto lab and stay in the umbra cloud. Once those structures are down, proceed to kill the marines and mop up. One Onos by himself is worthless in this situation, there needs to be multiple Oni who all go in TOGETHER with decent support.

coil · August 2003

Don't forget the Gorges. (:

HAMBone · August 2003

Like 100+ exact duplicates of this post in the past few days. Sensory chambers, while definitely a valuable aid for the alien team, are generally IMO what cause these long games.

Quaunaut · August 2003

Magitek- on the spot.

I swear, I(skulk) went up against I HUGE turret farm with a gorge and lerk,we took it out on our own, even after 2 HA HMGs came after us. That just shows teamwork(and a damn good lerk/gorge. I just bit the hell out of him <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'> )

Tempus · August 2003

Sorry, but 2 hmgs or 1 hmg + 1 Gl behind a wall of turrets will prevent anyone from getting in. The onos get stuck on literally EVERYTHING, and turrets are no exception. And even if those onos somehow manage to take out a few turrets, they can be built right up again, since they are basically free.

Stalemates are more frequent than ever since there is no "End game" anymore. Or should I say that "End game" starts like 10 minutes into the game and lasts for another hour. Middle game is absolutely missing, and start game lasts only long enough to drop a few res and turrets.

TheWizard · August 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Tempus @ Aug 4 2003, 12:33 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Sorry, but 2 hmgs or 1 hmg + 1 Gl behind a wall of turrets will prevent anyone from getting in. The onos get stuck on literally EVERYTHING, and turrets are no exception. And even if those onos somehow manage to take out a few turrets, they can be built right up again, since they are basically free.

Stalemates are more frequent than ever since there is no "End game" anymore. Or should I say that "End game" starts like 10 minutes into the game and lasts for another hour. Middle game is absolutely missing, and start game lasts only long enough to drop a few res and turrets.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
Tactics are changing and evolving. I highly doubt we will see this much longer. And, to be honest, I don't see much of it right now either.

B33F · August 2003

right now, i don't see people using umbra enough. just yesterday, i was an alien, and it was the endgame, attacking the marine base. i saw 3 lerks on our team sitting together and launching spores. sounds good, right? no. the enemy team was all HA. for the next few minutes, i repeatedly told them to use umbra, but was entirely ignored.

Amelek · August 2003

I was playing as aliens in eclipse where the marines had 20-30 turrets with 3 TF's in spawn ... plus 2 guys using the continuously firing GL exploit to cover the doors. Needless to say, this went on forever, the only way we were able to break it was get 3 fades to blink in together, take out a building, blink away and heal ... rinse and repeat.

Aaron · August 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Amelek @ Aug 4 2003, 03:13 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>I was playing as aliens in eclipse where the marines had 20-30 turrets with 3 TF's in spawn ... plus 2 guys using the continuously firing GL exploit to cover the doors. Needless to say, this went on forever, the only way we were able to break it was get 3 fades to blink in together, take out a building, blink away and heal ... rinse and repeat.</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
you...you mean you were forced to use <i><b>strategy</b></i> OMG! <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

Zek · August 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (B33F @ Aug 4 2003, 02:06 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> right now, i don't see people using umbra enough. just yesterday, i was an alien, and it was the endgame, attacking the marine base. i saw 3 lerks on our team sitting together and launching spores. sounds good, right? no. the enemy team was all HA. for the next few minutes, i repeatedly told them to use umbra, but was entirely ignored.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
Well when I go Lerk and use Umbra, my teammates often have a hard time understanding that they need to stay IN the umbra for it to take effect. I umbra a building, they go in to attack it, and as soon as somebody shoots them they run off to get the kill and inevitably have to leave the base to regenerate immediately afterwards.

Generally I blame most of these one-sided stalemates(1v8 res nodes, marines sitting in base with as many turrets as they can afford) on general 2.0 nubbishness, <i>especially</i> on the Alien side. Aliens need to learn that single onoses are no longer capable of doing significant damage to a defended marine base by themselves. Lerk support and bile bomb are things that I wish I saw much more often in most games. The requisite teamwork for alien wins has been increased tenfold, and I think the games will keep getting shorter as pub players realize this and get more experience.

n4s7y · August 2003

I hate those stalemates, but as people are getting used to 2.0, they're getting a lot shorter. Nade spam isn't so powerful anymore it seems. Partly because within ten minutes, people get bored of spamming like <span style='color:white'>baleeted</span> and just quit.

tankefugl · August 2003

"Baleted!" is a great word.

Anyway. Faster games? Not yet, but we are getting there. See it every day: The games are getting shorter and shorter. Intense? Woha, yeah. The games are so action-packed that I actually need to rest after a couple of hours of NS.

Concerning the turretfarm with the HAs with GL and HMG: Easy! If they have another turret farm, strike that one instead. Time it with other aliens' attacks for a distraction somewhere else. With some luck, one (or perhaps both?) of the turretfarms attacked falls. Soon, they only got ONE turretfarm left. That means map domination. It's only a couple of final assaults from final victory after that. (Yeah, we are getting better at those too. Both alien and marine teams.)

Amelek · August 2003

Also today, I played 3 games in that the marines won with shottie rushes. Fastest victory, 1:31 ... 91 seconds (ns_veil, I think sub 5b hive or whatever its called). Now that's fast.

Iced_Eagle · August 2003

If marines learn to get res fast it is a very intense and yet short game. Right now I get about 20 min games on average... The best are those 5-10 min games as your adren is pumpin and you gotta win...

Bowley · August 2003

Yea I just played a 30 min game on nothing, so the games are indeed getting shorter, although there always is that few that last forever. But you're right we're just getting used to changing tactics. And Zek, no kidding about that umbra...a lot of people don't stay in it after I shoot it for them, but this last game an onos a gorge and a lerk were able to take out generator pretty easily using bilebomb and umbra and the onos as a target. I like these changing tactics...it's new and refreshing. Whew that bilebomb really destroys those <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/turret.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='turret.gif'> and <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/siege.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='siege.gif'> pretty fast.

"faster More Intense Games"?

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