Chamber Spam

Soral · August 2003

<div class="IPBDescription">typical strategy?</div> Ok, so I only get to play NS occasionally against friends on a LAN so I don't know what the real world is like, but here's my story:

The week after NS 2.0 came out we managed to get 4 people together. 2 of us had played 1.4 and knew the commands/controls well enough and the others had never seen the game. 3 of them went marine (to learn the ropes) and I went alien. I spammed the map pretty badly with SCs and OCs, and managed to claim all the hives, but they eventually beat me after about 2 hours by creeping with siege cannon installations.

Here's the discussion bit. Is this a typical pub/newbie game for aliens and/or marines? Is chamber spam a problem in the real world (as I made it one in mine)?

Dogg · August 2003

Plenty of counters.

A shotgun tears chambers to pieces. An upgraded shotgun doesn't even take a full clip.

Siege has good range in 2.0

Grenade launchers destroy chambers, and you don't even have to be close (grenades launch extremely far).

A marine team that rushes will usually kill the gorges before they can spam stuff

I haven't seen chamber spam as a problem on most pubs... most aliens are saving for onos or go lerk early.
Another thing, the bigger the game, the less res each alien has. In small games, you're swaming with resources. That's probably the biggest factor.

sk84zer0 · August 2003

yea chambers arent that good to spam

Edit: If u played online with about 10 people on each side u will realize that chambers get taken down quite quick.

MrKNifey · August 2003

In larger games, chamber spam is only possible if you have some elite d00d on your team willing to use all his res on chambers....which only happens 0.1% of the time. The rest of the time, they invest in a higher evolution.

Chambers die easily to shotguns, so bring one along on your next trip into gorge land.

OCs can be circle-strafed if they're alone, which they should not be should the gorge building them have any sense at all. You'll still get hit by the OC, but less so since you're kind of moving. I wouldn't really call the marine running speed moving.... <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'>

FrickenMoron · August 2003

Yeah "Oldschool" Walls of lame just aren't that good anymore, even if the OCs now are helluva evil snipers.

SoulSkorpion · August 2003

Chamber spam is a good idea, but it's typically much too expensive to pull off. It's good because it slows marine expansion and gets you kills, but to really do it right you need to spend something like 100 resorces fortifying just ONE chokepoint.

coil · August 2003

The closest I ever come to spamming chambers is either of two instances:

1) Sensory networks. This isn't so much "spam" as covering the entire map in a sensory blanket - aliens can move between hives, from hives to the double node, and within striking distance of the MS without ever uncloaking or showing up on Motion Tracking. It's not spam -- it's careful, un-obvious placement of sensory chambers (where they're not gonna get shot at or run into).

2) Hive/node "lame." Funny that "lame" is the word for this -- it's just setting up a proper defense. Make sure there's nowhere a marine can hide, and if he can see one OC, 2 more can see him. Put DCs and SCs in as well, but far away from the chambers.

Really, though, chambers are a delay at most. The only way to really protect an area is with actual defenders.

Testament · August 2003

If you get 8 OC's set up right, you CAN stop a small attack.

Edit: As aliens, I like to skulk until I get 70 or so resources, go gorge, and help the team the rest of the game.

UnderDOG · August 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (coil @ Aug 25 2003, 03:21 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> 2) Hive/node "lame." Funny that "lame" is the word for this -- it's just setting up a proper defense. Make sure there's nowhere a marine can hide, and if he can see one OC, 2 more can see him. Put DCs and SCs in as well, but far away from the chambers.

 </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
funny that anything more than 4 or 5 chambers is a wall of lame, they arnt lame anymore and they are really easy to kill, but i guess the name stuck <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif'>

HAMBone · August 2003

The game really isnt designed for a 3v1. A 1 man alien team gets resources unfairly fast and obviously if the marine team has a commander(or even if they dont) they are going to have a tough time taking out loads and loads of OC without some good weapons and healthy medspam. In a 3v1 the marines get res just as fast as they would in an 8v8, but you as the alien get 8x as much res as you would in an 8v8, so it throws everything off. That doesnt mean that a 1v1 or 2v2 cant be won by marines, it just calls for much more aggresive tactics.

lazygamer · August 2003

I think Wall of lame is a title that is descriptive, not derogatory. Only a loser would seriously consider a WoL a cheap tactic, as opposed to just joking about it.

Morrik · August 2003

Seems like version 2.0 of Natural Selection really cut out the need for chambers in the game. 1.04 proved to have massive amounts of chambers in one area. Heck, it wouldn't be much of a suprise seeing fifteen or twenty chambers just in a hallway around some random resource node, then again, the actual offense chambers didn't really seem so accruate during the 1.04 era and it would be easy for Marines to just take them out from range or around a corner.

I have only seen one game where chamber spam was used and the Alien team ended up losing because they used all their available resources on chambers instead of hives and better evolutionary states.

Chambers are more like traps. Get a few of them in sensory range and watch that Marine group scatter!

Monkeybonk · August 2003

Whenever I find myself as a gorge at the end, I'll run into their base and place as many O chmabers as possible. Everywhere.

lazygamer · August 2003

Two(or three) gorges could probably use OCs as an offensive weapon. For example, hive lockdown, no marines in the area(But there is a phase there). If the Gorges put up OCs and DCs, they have a bullet shield and something to shoot at the turrets and stuff. They can heal the OCs with healspray.

Only issue is GLs, those might be a big problem. Chances are alot of comms won't hand out a GL, and they(and other players) might not realize the dire need until it's too late.

I think it takes 4 nades to down an OC, not sure. Perhaps if the chambers are spread out, the gorges might be able to take down a dangerous grenader.

I actually tried this tactic in a small game, it would of worked a helluva lot better if the OCs were in range so they got shot at by turrets(because than they can shoot back). What I do realize though, is that without a GL, gorges and lerks could use the OCs + DCs for healing and a shield. The marines could come around the backway, but then they'd actually get shot at by OCs. A fun tactic that I will have to try more.

Necrosis · August 2003

On the map with sewer hive, tram hive, and cafeteria beside the lift to marine base, I made a load of OCs and walled rines into their hive from Gen. Marines never got shotties...

GG.

I agree OCs are overrated, and I only use them as a deterrent and early warning system. I drop three in a pyramid, and usually only at areas choking off hive access. Every now and again I add another OC, or DC, and waddle along my merry way. Shotties are pretty much my only worry. That or a concerted rush.

Even still, it costs them ammo and time, meaning more aliens can get there. Sometimes they give up entirely, usually assuming a gorge is obviously nearby.

Majin · August 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Soral @ Aug 25 2003, 01:12 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>
Here's the discussion bit. Is this a typical pub/newbie game for aliens and/or marines? Is chamber spam a problem in the real world (as I made it one in mine)?  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
Not to the extent that you no doubt were able to make it.
Becasue you were the only person on the Kharaa side, you got all of the res, normally res comes in very slowly, so to be able to do "chamber Spam" would take a really long time and no 1 gorge would have a steady enough income to be able to do it.
NS 2.0 is not balanced for 2 v 2, 3 v 3 games.
5 v 5 is the bare minimum to be able to have a good game on NS 2.0

Don't worry about spaming of chambers, they can be destroyed very easily
Turrets on the other hand.....

taboofires · August 2003

There are generally better ways to spend the hundreds of res needed to litter the map with chambers. Onos, I hear, are quite popular. I'd imagine chambers would be too if they could move, but you have to do a bit more than defend to win.

Chamber Spam

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