2.0 Strategies

GoldenShadowGoldenShadow Join Date: 2002-04-21 Member: 483Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Defining the reason marines don't win</div> Remember that little thing called 'rock, paper, scissors' thats why marines are losing. they keep picking rock to the alien's paper.

since 2.0 aliens and marines now have all 3 options open to them. they can spend their starting res on turtling, expansion or rushing.

Marine rushing might be a shotgun rush
Marine expansion would be to cap a bunch of nodes right off the bat.
Marine turtling would be to build a Turret farm imediately.

Alien rushing can mean skulk rushing or buying some lerks/gorges dropping OC offensively
Alien expansion means all the players drop res towers imediately
Alien turtling would be to build OC and maybe sensory in and surrounding their hives and Resource towers


Lately, I've seen aliens always cap a bunch of nodes(expansion) when the game starts then go skulk. Marines always seem to build a TF in their base and only try to get 1 or 2 extra res nodes and TF them up too. thats what i would call as turtling.
Expansion>turtling

I propose to the marine commanders to see if you can win more by using some Fast rushes. speed is of the essence. eventualy the aliens will get a clue and hate dieing soo fast every game they will stop expanding and invest in some base defenses, making them turtle.

Obviously in most traditional rts games rushing is supposed to be risky, but i think its a nessesary evil to teach the alien players a valuable lesson. I think every marine strategy should include a small scale rush just to make sure the aliens aren't trying to expand too fast. the same way skulks make the marines keep a TF in base.

Comments

  • TalesinTalesin Our own little well of hate Join Date: 2002-11-08 Member: 7710NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators
    Rush > Expansion > Defense > Rush.

    Quite perceptive, honestly.

    At this point Marines *are* actually starting to notice the shotgun rush, and people are beginning to complain about it being overpowered. As posted in another thread, the counter to this is to Defend.. set up OCs, drop a sensory (if the Comm is stupid and won't sensor sweep) or a movement (turbo-healspray!). Let the shotgunners come to you, laughing about how they're going to 'pwnz0r 7h053 4L13nz0r'... then have a single Skulk pop up and run away. Nine out of ten, they'll charge after him.

    Bait is a wonderful thing, as are the clatter of shotguns hitting the floor when the OC-lined room is done with the rushing Marines. After which the Gorges that put them up will likely have a good chunk of the res needed to wander out and drop an RT each. Repeat ad infinitum with different stretches of map. All it requires is that aliens NOT concentrate on going Onos, Fade or Lerk, but putting those RP to work in other ways. Three OCs gives you more firepower than a Lerk in a given area. Sure, it's static. But you don't give the Marines any res if one *does* get taken down.

    Strategies abound. Hopefully we'll see them come to fruition in full before being patched away. <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • SpetzSpetz Join Date: 2002-11-05 Member: 7100Members
    It is generally harder for marines if they have a team of new players to rush or expand because they don't know where they are going and therefore you see only one or two res and lots of turrets. By which time aliens have got 6 rts and 3 hives and then you die.

    Relocating and expanding is still probably the best strat but hard to do with new players. The best strat on pubs is to lock down a hive and get some res up, maybe 4, and then save up money for HMG HA welder rush to take out a hive with siege guns or just shooting.

    Probably why the game seems alien biased in the early days of 2.0 is because there are lots of new players, and new players hurt the marine team more than they do aliens. Once 2.0 has been out for a few weeks, i expect to see marines become more powerful until the teams are balanced. This happend with the release of 1.0, so i'd predict the same kind of thing.
  • HandofGodHandofGod Join Date: 2003-05-07 Member: 16114Members
    I saw three <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'><!--endemo--> wins last night by building tfs in the right place. Expansion followed by TF.

    Not <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'><!--endemo--> start. A relocate to the double respoint followed quickly by a couple of guys getting a hive means that you have at least 3 if not 4 res points onder your command.

    Move out take another res and tf it.

    Then <!--emo&::siege::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/siege.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='siege.gif'><!--endemo--> a hive. Seems to work well but the outcome of the game in decided in the first 2 min. There is some possiblity of the aliens taking places back. But if the comm has pg and obs up they acn hold out until the HA comes along.

    It takes a long time for the <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'><!--endemo--> to build up the HA train to take the other hive. (Aliens start to leave etc).

    I do miss the the pride of killing a <!--emo&::gorge::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/pudgy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='pudgy.gif'><!--endemo--> in 2.0 over 1.04. In 1.04 it meant a kick in the aliens expansion. Now it means very little.

    <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::onos::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tiny.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tiny.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • SnidelySnidely Join Date: 2003-02-04 Member: 13098Members
    edited August 2003
    Do MCs still increase an OC's rate of fire? It certainly seems that way.

    The trouble with marine rushes is that since marines are so slow in regrouping and getting somewhere (in comparison with the aliens) that it's very difficult to hold an area too far away.

    The most reliable marine tactic I've seen so far is to rush the double res node and build an outpost there. Then they can retrace their steps and cap the RTs on the way back the the base. The res flow from the aliens trying to take back the double res can go towards shotguns/TFing single RTs.
  • gc_phillehgc_philleh Join Date: 2003-08-04 Member: 18898Members
    Yup <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->

    Nowdays im usually trying to persuade people to build MCs first.
  • Bosnian_CowboyBosnian_Cowboy Join Date: 2003-06-07 Member: 17088Members, Constellation
    People get lazy when they have to think about how to counter something so they just don't and call it overpowered.
  • gc_phillehgc_philleh Join Date: 2003-08-04 Member: 18898Members
  • ElvenThiefElvenThief aka Elven Thief (ex. NS Programmer) Join Date: 2002-11-15 Member: 8754Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Constellation
    According the the latest changelogs in the beta, Flayra made it so OCs don't fire any faster with MCs nearby, as they already fire quite fast. (The alien adren-like energy boost is still there)

    I just double checked on a LAN game. I can't see an increase in rate of fire, so my statement looks to be true.
  • gc_phillehgc_philleh Join Date: 2003-08-04 Member: 18898Members
    Would that be 2.0a ?
    I swear they did in 2.0
  • KoenigKoenig Join Date: 2003-01-23 Member: 12659Members
    I find the paper, scissors, rock analogy a very crude analogy to apply to ns, this game is not just strategy, it is also tactics because of the human element in it. There NEEDS to be a command structure on both teams. And there NEEDS to be a cooperation between the different classes.

    Since I'm admin on a couple of shiny new servers, I've played a lot recently, yesterday I comm'ed a game, wherein we litterally wiped the floor with the aliens.

    After the game one marine noted that this was the most teamwork he had EVER seen in ns.

    I was too busy to actually think about it during the game, but thinking about it I'd agree with him. People actually went to the set waypoints, no questions asked. I didn't type a line in that game, dispinte not using a mic.

    Noone humped the armoury, and we had 2 groups of 4 marines who stuck together like glue, and one guy who keept harassing the a hive (because he had a wp there, so no it wasn't because he thought he was rambo), to GREAT effect.

    When they had all hives up, we had all the tech availible (maybe we even had it sooner, I didnt bother to check since the game was only a question of mopping up at this point), and they had to throw tons of onos and fades at the two squads just to keep them at bay, we ended up having a respool

    On a side note:
    Did i mention that groups were important; If i didn't I'll tell you why instead:
    If the comm has to scurry all over the map for your sorry ****, he will eventually tire of it, so will you, because you will always lag behind the others who are ahving all the fun.
  • GoldenShadowGoldenShadow Join Date: 2002-04-21 Member: 483Members
    I realize the analogy is crude, but it does apply to the start of the game. what you do with your starting res can make or break.
  • ClintClint Join Date: 2003-08-03 Member: 18816Members
    Shotgun rush prooves most effective in my opinion.
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