New Players Guide
Cronos
Join Date: 2002-10-18 Member: 1542Members
Join Date: 2002-10-18 Member: 1542Members
<div class="IPBDescription">A general guide to playing NS</div> Hey guys. I've written a new players guide as evidenced by the title of the topic. I basically need to know if I've missed anything glaringly obvious or if I've gotten a few statistics wrong. Thanks for looking in, and yes, I promise to write up a structures guide as soon as I can find the time for it (Cursed exams).
Anyway, it's a bit of a read, so grab a coke <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>The New Players Handbook to Natural Selection</span>
<u>Written By Cronos</u>
This manual is by no means definitive. This manual is intended to give new players a basic understanding of both sides, marines and aliens, so that they may better understand how to get started playing NS.
<b>Prologue</b>
The time is the future. In a vast new frontier, known as the Ariadne arm, a threat for humanity looms. An insidious alien species has infested ships and bases all over the frontier. The trans governments wish to quarantine the entire Ariadne arm, but this, to the Frontiersmen, is unacceptable. The TSA (Trans System Authority) is the only organization that wishes to stand up to this threat, The Kharaa. The Frontiersmen are the only things that stand between humanity, and whatever would threaten it. Your actions on the front lines of this battle, will decide the fate of humanity.
<b>Chapter 1: The Ready Room</b>
You have installed NS; you?ve set up your keys and your raring to go. You join the game, and you?re in this weird little room. This room, or collection of rooms, is known as the ?Ready Room? it is made to enhance the atmosphere of NS and add a place where players can socialize without having to risk getting shot at. It is useful for ?AFK? (Away From Keyboard) players so that they are not in the way, and if you need to leave the computer for any reason, simply press the F4 key and you can walk away and come back without fearing abuse from your team because you?ve done nothing for a whole hour. It must be noted however that some servers are not appreciative of this; you may get warned to join a team or risk getting kicked. These servers generally do this because the server slots are filling up and wish to maintain active traffic, so don?t feel too bad about it.
There are five things you can do in the ready room. Join the alien team, Join the marine team, Spectate, Join a Random Team, or idle. If you choose to idle, you can have a friendly chat with other more experienced player before you start playing. They can give you tips that this handbook will undoubtedly omit or misconstrue. If there are no players with which to talk to, I would recommend that you Spectate for at least one game to get a handle, both on the map, the tactics used and the various hiding spots and buildings which are vital to NS. Of course, you can jump straight into the action if you wish; it?s totally your personal choice.
Now, to join either marines or aliens, simply walk into the door with the sign ?Join Marines? or ?Join Aliens? to join that team. If you chose to Join Aliens, skip ahead to Chapter three. If you wish to choose marines, read ahead to the next Chapter.
<b>Chapter 2: Marines</b>
If you are new to NS, but are familiar to half life and first person shooters in general, the marines will be the most familiar side to play with. If you have joined the game at the start, you should start inside, or very close to the marine start. This room will serve as your base. At first, there are usually only two buildings in the marine start. A funny, squat, four-legged thing, and a white rectangular structure. The four-legged thing is called a ?Resource Tower?. It gives your team the currency to buy more buildings with; the more of these you have, the better. Resource Towers are built only on Resource Nodes; resource nodes appear as grey nozzles that have a fine white vapor steaming out of them. If you have played the game ?Total Annihilation?, resource towers work exactly like metal extractors. The white rectangular building is the command console. The command console allows one marine to initiate ?Commander Mode?. This special mode takes the player into an overhead view, much like star craft. From here, your commander can place new buildings, such as spawn portals, armories and phase gates. This will aid you, as a marine, to eliminate the enemy threat. It is recommended that if this is your first time playing NS, you should not command. Try waiting a few weeks to get a grip on the game, NS has a very high learning curve and it takes quite a while to get used to it. Even if you have many years of experience with Half Life mods, NS will be rather difficult to master.
One of the largest difficulties of the unique gaming prospects that NS has to offer is that new players to marines have is actually building structures. It?s quite simple, but many people seem to miss it. Once your commander has placed a new structure, move up to the structure, point your gun at it, and press your ?Use? key (Default is E). The structure will slowly build until it is completed, more players building the same structure will speed up the rate at which it is built. Be wary however, if everyone in the room is building, then no one is defending, which essentially makes the entire group a sitting snack for the nearest skulk (a dog-like alien with a deadly bite that can climb walls). Always keep at least one man building, with one man defending. It?s up to you to decide weather you will build or defend, whatever your better at doing do it, but under no circumstances should you leave builders, or un-built structures undefended without direct orders from your commander to do otherwise.
Remember that if you?re in a location, your commander may not be looking at you. So, when you request orders or buildings, give him a few seconds to find you. Your location will automatically be broadcast to your team.
Because NS maps are rather large, it has a feature built in to help players ascertain their location. Look in the lower left corner roughly above your health indicator, usually it will tell you where you are such as ?Marine Start? or ?Hive Location ? Great Viaduct? Etc. Alternatively, you can press your ?C? key to bring up a map showing your location, the location of your team mates and the location of friendly structures and enemy structures in the line of sight. This map can be extremely useful when you are lost or confused or simply unfamiliar with the map.
Another useful tool that is in NS is the popup menu. You can set the key to bring it up like any other. Through this menu, you can request orders from your commander, or ammo, or health, or even taunt aliens without having to type. You can even reload and drop your weapons through this menu. The alien menu is structured differently, and is described in the alien section.
Additionally, getting more ammunition for your weapons poses some confusion. In NS, there are two ways to get ammunition. Either the commander drops ammunition in green packets on the floor, or, the commander builds an armory. An armory is a cylindrical structure with four panels sticking out. Simply move up to the armory, and press your use key to receive half a clip of ammunition for the currently selected weapon.
Below is a short description of the weapons that marines can have.
LMG ? Default spawning weapon. If used correctly, it is devastating. Without damage upgrades, this weapon deals 10 damage per bullet. This weapon fires in a cone shape, so, accuracy decreases proportionally with range. Put simply, the longer the hallway you?re shooting down, the less shots will hit the target.
Shotgun ? If you have played FPS games before, the shotgun is the ultimate close ranged weapon. The shotgun holds 10 shots, with 50 shots reserve, one single shot should kill a skulk no matter what depending if all the shotgun pellets hit. The shotguns accuracy does decrease with range, so just make sure that you?re close to your target before you engage, or retreat. There is no shame in retreating to an ambush point
HMG ? This is a little more powerful then the LMG. This weapon can only be dropped by the commander after he has upgraded the armory and only when he has the resources to do so. A HMG costs 20 resources so don?t lose it. This weapon is very powerful. Without upgrades, each bullet deals 20 damage, and each clip holds 125 rounds. This is more then enough ammunition to kill any alien you encounter, except for higher life forms (such as the onos, explained later). However, this weapon will slow you down somewhat(It is a ?Heavy Machine Gun? after all) and its accuracy is worse then that of the LMG at long range.
Welder ? The welder is not truly an offensive weapon as such. It has many purposes. Welders can be used to repair other marine?s armor, it can repair damaged structures, and on certain maps they can be used to close off vents and alter the map geometry. I?ll leave it up to you to find the weld points on different maps.
Knife ? Also part of the default marines repertoire, I don?t think I need to explain it?s use. The knife will deal 30 damage per stab and should only be used as an absolute last resort weapon.
GL ? Grenade Launcher, this is difficult to use, but very very useful. The grenade launcher allows the marines to fire around corners by bouncing the grenades off of walls. If a grenade hits an alien directly, it will explode on contact. If it does not touch an alien, it will sit on the ground and explode six seconds after you fired it. The GL is great for taking out enemy defenses and deterring aliens from going down a path, but watch your ammo, you only get 30 grenades and four grenades per clip, and at the rate you?d love to fire them at you will run dry on ammunition fast, so conserve your ammo and don?t leave base without backup. The GL will slow you down about as much as a HMG would, perhaps a little more. The GL is primarily a support weapon, and as with the HMG, it costs resources. Do not lose your GL, if you do lose your GL; inform your team where it is so others can pick It up. It should be noted that each grenade launched from the GL deals out 200 damage, but does double damage to alien structures.
Pistol ? Another weapon that default marines get, this weapon is simple and effective. You have 10 bullets per clip, and can have a maximum of 3 clips spare. Each single bullet deals 20 damage, without upgrades, not only that, this weapon is the only hit scan weapon in NS that has absolute perfect accuracy. Wherever your crosshair is pointing is exactly where the bullet will land, additionally, the pistol will fire as fast as you can click your mouse. If used correctly, the pistol is a dangerous weapon.
If you read all the above, you may have heard me mention damage upgrades a few times. Put simply, if your commander builds an Arms Lab, he can upgrade the amount of damage your weapon can deal out, as well as how much armor you have. This costs resources; so don?t expect upgrades straight away.
In addition to the weapons you can receive, you can also get some equipment. Heavy armor slows you down a lot, but you?re a walking tank. With this HA on, you have 230 points of armor (290 with level 3 armor) that absorbs 90% of all incoming damage. When you have heavy armor on, the aliens will fear you. However, you are by no means invincible, stick with your squad and get a welder buddy to keep your armor maxed out. HA will also protect you from lerk spores.
Also, you can get Jetpacks. Be aware, you can have either Heavy Armor and be a tank, or, A Jetpack and fly around the map. YOU CANNOT HAVE BOTH. It is either one, or the other. To fly with a jetpack, simply press your jump key and move around as normal, you may need a bit of practice to get used to it, but the increase in your maneuverability will be invaluable since most alien species are melee based (close range, biting, slashing, etc).
Finally, Trip mines. Trip mines replace your pistol slot, but if placed correctly they make an excellent early game defense. Trip mines placed on the floor or wall will act like a land mine. No marine will be able to set off the mines, only aliens can. Place them on vital structures such as Infantry portals, phase gates and resource towers. The best way to place mines is to look at where you want the mine to go and press your primary fire button, crouching helps with placement. Also, place them in strategic locations such as vents, doorways and narrow hallways. Mines do become less effective later on when more powerful alien classes come into play due to their increased health and durability, but mines can severely limit their options and vectors of attack.
There are many varied structures in NS. A structures manual is in the works, so wait patiently while it is being created. In the meantime, you should be able to figure out for yourself what certain structures do, while others should be more obvious.
To sum up the marines, teamwork is god. If you do not work as a team on marines, you will die. Obey your commander, stick with your squad, and you will live. Go Rambo off, leave your team mates, and give away your position to the aliens and you could lose the entire game for your team. Although you may be able to sneak past enemy defences and get forward bases up in enemy territory, it is far more likely that you will die. Always listen to more experienced players and try your best to help your team achieve victory over the alien menace.
<b>Chapter 3: Aliens</b>
If you are new to NS, the alien team will be very complex and difficult to master. Each alien species practically deserves a chapter all to itself.
If you?ve joined the beginning of the game, you will spawn in a room with a big brown/yellow/green object inside. This is called the hive. This is the single most important structure for the aliens to have. It is even more important then the command console; the aliens are nothing without their hive. The hive allows you to spawn, it allows you to use higher-level weapons, and it heals you if you are hurt. The hive also gives you important tactical information. If you look around you may see, yellowish, greenish, reddish, or yellow circular circles. This is called ?Hive-sight?. Yellowish circles are your teammates; yellow circles are marines that your teammates can see or marines that have been parasited (more on that later). Reddish circles are structures or players that are under attack. Greenish circles are gorges, the alien builders (more on that later).
Aliens have a different popup menu from the marines. Through here, they can select their upgrades, so to evolve the Carapace evolution, one would bring the menu up, move to the left to upgrades, move down to ?Defense? and then select the carapace upgrade. Although it may be confusing at first, it will become second nature after a few games and you will hardly notice using it at all.
<b>Chapter 3A I ? Upgrades</b>
Upgrades for aliens work differently from marines. When a gorge (alien builder class) builds an upgrade structure (Defense Chamber [DC] Movement Chamber [MC] or Sensory Chamber [SC]) you can pick different upgrades. It should also be remembered that different upgrade chambers have different area effects and offer different advantages to the alien team.
The Defense Chamber allows three upgrades. Regeneration, Redemption, or Carapace. Carapace increases your armor; redemption will transport you to a hive when your health falls below a particular level, although not 100% reliable, it can save your life many times over before it fails. Regeneration will allow you to heal damage over time without the hive or a DC. DC?s will heal you if you are hurt and within their range.
The Movement chamber also allows for three upgrades. Silence, Celerity, and Adrenaline. Adrenaline allows your alien to continue to use its weapons for longer; it speeds up the rate at which the yellow bar to the right goes back to full. Celerity will deliver a speed boost to your alien, making you move even faster. Silence allows you to make no noise as you move through the level, allowing you to sneak up behind marines without arousing their suspicion as well as attacking without sound, though it may sound useless, sound is as important as sight in determining if an enemy is close in NS. Movement chambers also increase the rate at which the yellow energy bar to the right regenerates.
The Sensory Chamber allows for three upgrades as well. Pheremones, Scent Of Fear, and Cloaking. Cloaking allows you to become almost completely invisible to the marines, which is wonderful for ambushes. Scent of Fear will allow you to see marines within a certain range of yourself (reddish Hivesight circles, but different from the ?under attack? hivesight circles), pheremones will allow you to see a kind of trail of puffs that tell you where an enemy has been. Sensory chambers allow an area effect of cloaking, and negate the marine motion tracking in the sensory chamber range. Being touched, shot, or being scanned by the marine commander can decloak you.
<b>Chapter 3A II ? Hives</b>
A little foreword on hives before a more detailed description further below. Hives allow for one chamber type of upgrade. To have all three upgrade chambers, the aliens must have all three hives. On any map, there are only 3 Hive locations indicated by hive sight. Aliens will start in one random hive, and will expand from there. Hives heal hurt aliens and structures, grant more powerful weaponry, allow higher evolutions and increase the alien spawning rate. If you lose all your hives, you will slowly lose health and die, as will all other aliens on your team. This is your teams punishment for being incompetent enough (or at the very least, for being unable to counter the marine strategy) to lose a hive.
<b>Chapter 3B ? Alien Classes</b>
For each alien class, I will give a set of recommended upgrades. However, you are allowed to choose any upgrade you want, these are only recommendations but your play style may demand different upgrades. Feel free to pick and choose your upgrades as freely as you wish.
It should also be noted that the third and fourth weapon slots only become active when the 2nd and 3rd hives are up. More on hives later.
<b>Chapter 3B I ? The Skulk</b>
Now, you have just spawned. You are the default, level one alien. This alien is called a ?Skulk?. Skulks have many unique abilities.
One of these abilities is the ?Wall Climb? (Wall climbing will be very familiar to AvP players). To wall climb, simply go to the nearest wall and walk up it. You will stick to the wall, and can even walk across the roof. Wall climbing does have some limitations, but you will be able to learn what those are better through experience rather then through here. Wall climbing gives you an advantage in maneuverability. You have six times the surfaces to walk upon, use it to your advantage! Sit above doorways to ambush marines as they walk through, dodge and weave side to side to avoid their bullets rather then running in a straight line. Skulks are 2 ? 3 times faster then a marine, this speed will also play into your favor as a skulk.
Always remember, as a skulk, you are not a tank. You will have only 70 health and 15 armor to begin with, meaning 9 - 10 LMG bullets can kill you and even heavier weapons will kill you in even less time. Ambush the marines, take them by surprise and try to avoid running straight down long hallways.
The first weapon in your inventory is called ?Bite?. Biting a marine will deal 75 damage to him. Biting him twice will kill a standard marine. The bite is a melee weapon, so you will have to get very close to the marine to kill him.
The next weapon is called ?Parasite?. Parasite is not an offensive weapon, but it is ranged. Parasite will do only a little damage to marines, so it will take many many parasites to kill a marine using it, but parasites usefulness comes in under hive sight. Parasite allows your team to see the parasited marine (yellow circles) so if you see a squad of marines rolling by, parasite them before attacking so your team knows where they are.
The third weapon in your inventory is called ?Leap?. At one hive, leap is disabled, however, when your team has built a second hive, leap is usable. When you use leap, you shoot forward at tremendous speed. If you touch a marine as you leap, you will damage him slightly. A common tactic is to leap and close the distance to a marine and then quickly switch to bite and kill him. Leap also works in mid air and can be useful for taking out jet packing marines, though lerks are far more effective at taking them out.
The fourth and final weapon in your inventory is called ?Xenocide?. It is a third hive ability, meaning that your team must have three hives up before you can use it. Xenocide will turn you into a time bomb. Simply press the fire button, and run in towards your target until you explode. You will deal massive damage with Xenocide, it?s not unusual to kill multiple marines, and in addition, you will heavily damage all structures in the blast radius (Note, Double damage is delivered to structures when using Xenocide)
The recommended upgrades for the Skulk are Carapace, Celerity/Silence, and Cloaking/Scent of fear. Though, as I said above, change these according to your playing style.
<b>Chapter 3 B II ? The Gorge</b>
The next alien is the Gorge. It is very important to know the following. The Gorge is near useless for direct combat except in a supporting role. Though it is possible for you to defend yourself it is highly recommended that you do not engage marines? head on. The gorge is the alien builder class; it builds hives, Offense Chambers, all the upgrade chambers and resource towers. I recommend that you practice with building structures in a LAN game before gorging in game. It is also recommended that you observe how other gorges play and the tactics they employ when building. Gorges have 125 Health, with 50 armor, and more with carapace.
Although the gorge is not an offensive class of alien, it does have some weak weapons at its disposal.
The first weapon is spit. Put simply, the gorge spits out a green glob that does 22 damage. It moves slowly and can be dodged easily by marines.
The second weapon for the gorge is called Healspray. Healspray does exactly what it says. It is a spray that heals aliens and their structures, while damaging marines. Healspray does not affect marine structures, but it will travel through them. Healsprays animation is also a bit misleading, it has far more range then the animation would suggest as well as a wide firing arc.
The third weapon for the gorge is called Bilebomb. It is a large, heavy green glob that arcs through the air. Although it cannot damage players, it will inflict heavy damage to marine structures. If you find a safe place to bilebomb a marine base from, you can take down multiple structures and heavily damage surrounding marine buildings. Bilebomb is indispensable when destroying marine bases. As with all third weapons, bilebomb will only come into play at the second hive, but it is useful nonetheless.
The fourth weapon for the gorge is called web. Web is very very special. A gorge can web a hallway by shooting one glob of web at one wall, and another glob at another wall. Bingo, you got web. When a marine walks by and into the web, he gets slown down horrendously, his weapon holsters and he is skulk food. Webbing can slow down the marine team considerably, as well as stop jetpackers in their tracks. Web carefully however, there is a limit on how many you can lay down in an area, so be very strategic in its use if you are a gorge.
Remember, the Gorge is not an offensive class. The gorge is one of the most important alien species to the alien team, so if you?re new just remember that anything you build will impact on your team. Ask if your team needs upgrade chambers built before building them, or lay offensive chambers in defensive positions. Or, you can help your teams economy by buiding resource towers on uncaptured resource nodes. You can even support assaults on the frontlines by providing Healspray for your team mates, the choices, importance and work for the gorge are practically endless.
The best upgrades to have as a gorge is are any defensive upgrade depending upon playstile, Adrenaline/Celerity, and Cloaking/scent of fear.
<b>Chapter 3 B III ? The Lerk</b>
The Lerk is the most unique alien to the Kharaa. It is the only alien species that has the ability to fly. Unless you are skilled in the usage of a Lerk, it is recommended that you try it a few times as you will take quite a few games to get used to it. To fly as a Lerk, you use your jump key. It is important to remember that the first flap of your wings will push you up; the second flap will propel you forward. Holding down your jump key will let you glide. It is rather difficult to use the Lerk, and will require some time to master. It should be noted that the Lerk is more of a support unit rather then direct assault, but the support of the Lerk will be invaluable if used correctly. Lerks cost 30 resources, have 100 health and 25 armor, more with level 3 carapace.
Weapon one for the Lerk is called Spikes. Spikes are just that, spikes. Spike is a ranged weapon that does 18 damage per hit. Try aiming where the crosshair is to hurt marines. It has perfect accuracy and is very useful at taking out weakened marines, or softening them up before melee forces finish the job. Treat this as a sniper machine gun, engage with spikes from long range and try to keep out of marine line of fire.
The second weapon for the Lerk is called ?Spore Cloud?. You will love this weapon. Marines will hate you for using this weapon. It works like a grenade launcher, fire it into a room, it will hit a wall or marine and green gas will fill a given space. This green gas is toxic to marines, but leaves structures and HA marines unaffected. This weapon, when used correctly, can soften marines up for direct combat forces to dice. It can work as area denial and it is not uncommon for marines to die easily to lerk sporecloud (provided they are stupid enough to sit in the green cloud and take continuous damage).
The third weapon for the Lerk is one of the most useful weapons for the alien team. It?s not precisely a weapon in the strictest sense. This weapon is called ?Umbra? and is devastating if used correctly. Umbra is a yellowish, slightly opaque gas that the Lerk spits out, much like sporecloud. It absorbs an appreciable fraction of every bullet incoming. This will allow you and your team mates to weather extreme bombardment by bullet based weapons, only a grenade will be unaffected by umbra. You can support attacks on enemy positions by spitting out umbra on Onii (plural for onos, described in the next chapter) and other assault aliens to protect them from fire, increasing the length of time in which they can damage enemy bases and increasing the amount of punishment they can withstand by a large amount.
The final ability for the lerk, although a support weapon, is extremely powerful and useful. It is called ?Primal Scream?. When a lerk uses Primal Scream, all surrounding aliens, as well as the lerk that screamed, will move and attack twice as fast. This might not sound like much, but it is unbelievably potent when used in the presence of teammates when destroying the marine base or outposts.
The best upgrades to get as a Lerk is Carapace/regen with Adrenaline and good old Cloaking or Scent of Fear.
<b>Chapter 3B IV ? The Fade</b>
The fade is one of the most versatile species available to the alien team. It?s tough, maneuverable and devastating if used right. They cost 50 Resources, have 200 health with 125 armor, further armor level 3 carapace. For TFC (Team Fortress Classic, another HL mod) players, the fade will be very similar to the ?Soldier? class, but with a few neat additions. It should be remembered that the fade is like an upgraded skulk, hit and run tactics are the mainstay of it?s playing style.
The first weapon in the fades arsenal is swipe. It does 80 damage per hit, but has a short range. It?s your primary weapon until the third hive is up, so learning to swipe good can save both your hide and mince light marines. Swipe is a melee weapon, so close range is needed as always.
The second weapon in the fades arsenal is ?Blink?. Blink is an ability that when used, allows the fade to move quickly at the cost of adrenaline. Fades can even fly by jumping up and pointing where they wish to go while firing blink. It takes a few tries to get used to it, but it is very useful when a fade blinks into a squad of marines, swipes and then blinks back out. If used to proper effect, blink increases the fades mobility, and thus it?s effectiveness.
The third weapon for the fade is possibly the most unusual weapon the kharaa have in their possession, Metabolise. Many people will experiment with metabolise and think it does nothing. However, Metabolise will heal 20 hitpoints per ?wave? of the arms. It can be used in place of regeneration, and is good for healing oneself behind enemy lines. Use it when your wounded or low on health to get some quick healing.
The fourth weapon will be the one that TFC players will find most familiar. This is called ?Acid Rocket? and is exactly what it says it is. For those familiar with first person shooters, Acid rocket will work precisely like any rocket launcher. Simply aim at marine?s feet, or where they are going to be to hit them and inflict maximum damage. Acid rocket is a ranged weapon that deals about 60 damage per direct hit with splash damage. Acid rocket can also be used to take out structures at a safe distance, although a careful aim is needed, always aim for vital structures like the Turret Factory or the Phase gate.
The best upgrade strategy I have found to use as a fade is a carapace/regen with celerity/adren and cloaking/scent of fear upgrade path. Though, your playing style will in all probability differ from mine, so try finding the upgrade path that suits you best.
<b>Chapter 3B V ? The Onos</b>
The Onos is the ultimate species in the alien arsenal. If the marines have allowed your team to achieve a resource dominance, but are well fortified within their bases, the Onos is the perfect tool with which to decimate them. The Onos is the most powerful species the kharaa posses, and are there to make the marines yell ?Game Over man, Game over!?
The Onos Costs 100 Resources to evolve to. Has 500 Health points, with 150 points of armor, 200 with Carapace. The Onos is a literal tank on legs, and should be treated as such. When you are an Onos, you are powerful but slow, use that power to your teams advantage. Remember that you are an expensive life form, so although you can go solo, if you value your life it is far better to attack with your team. Onii can die to concentrated fire, like the HA, you are by no means invincible.
The first weapon for the Onos is the gore. This works precisely like bite and swipe, with the exception that it deals out 120 damage per hit. Use it to attack structures and nearby marines.
The Onos? second weapon is Devour. As the name suggests, the Onos eats the marine whole. You can only eat a marine one at a time, and for that matter, any marine. Devour will keep enemy players out of the game for longer then if you killed them, so it can strip the marines of manpower, and if a HA marine is eaten, it will waste valuable resources from the marine team. It is useful for the aliens, and insanely annoying for the marines.
The third weapon in the Onos? inventory is stomp. In all essentiality, it does exactly what it says it does. When you activate stomp, a white shockwave will travel forward and stun any marines in the line of fire. You can then either devour the marines or gore them. Stomp can be considered a support weapon. If the marines cant fire and cant move, they are food, so use stomp to your advantage wherever possible.
The Onos? fourth weapon is ?Charge?. This works very much like leap, except that the Onos simply runs faster and in a straight line on the ground. Damage is dealt by touching the marine, the more touches, the more damage dealt to the marine. Charge does damage buildings, but only for as long as you touch that building, and due to your forward momentum, you wont be touching that building for long enough to destroy it.
The best upgrades to have as an Onos are probably Redemption/Regeneration with Celerity/Adrenaline and Cloaking/Scent of Fear. As I have stated earlier, adjust what upgrades you choose to your personal taste and play style.
<b>Chapter 3C ? The Hive</b>
As many of you will have noticed, there are few if any descriptions of structures in this handbook. Remember, the aim of this handbook is to give a basic understanding of NS. Most of the structures will be simple to learn, and will become very obvious in function. If you wish to learn more of structures and their functions, you will have to wait until the structures guide is completed.
Of all structures, the Hive for the aliens is as important, if not more, for the aliens as the Command Console is for the marines. Hives allow more potent weapons and more kinds of upgrades. Without a hive, aliens will literally begin to die (a pinging sound will be heard, and aliens will lose health) unless a new one is placed post haste. The hive allows for spawning, Hive sight, the building of structures and evolution. The loss of a hive is devastating to the alien team. If your hive is under attack, it is advisable to run to it to defend, unless you have a chance to cripple the marine team irreparably (by destroying their only CC, or their entire Spawn, even so, if it?s your only hive though, you must defend it at all costs). The hive also heals you if you?re hurt. Although it does not have the active functionality of the marine CC, it is even more important to the alien team.
<b>Chapter 3D ? The Final Word</b>
For aliens, the Hive is your god. It tells you about important events, such as what is under attack and indicates where it is through hive sight. Aliens are more individualistic then marines are, so you can afford to go on lone ambush or reconnaissance missions, rush the marine spawn or even harass undefended marine resource nodes. Or, you can team up with friends and try to take down a marine base in one of your hive locations, or support your gorges by keeping marines well away from them or even sacrificing your life to save the gorge. Aliens work wonders when working as a team, but also work well when working as individuals. It is always advisable to work as a team when on aliens, while keeping a few people on solo missions attacking stragglers or undefended resource towers.
If you can deny the marines strategic locations, such as hives, resource points and even a forward base, you will eventually tech up to more advanced hive evolutions and send the marines screaming to they?re commander.
Thanks for reading the new players guide, Beta 1. Please don?t hesitate to point out errors and omissions, and thanks again for reading.
Anyway, it's a bit of a read, so grab a coke <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>The New Players Handbook to Natural Selection</span>
<u>Written By Cronos</u>
This manual is by no means definitive. This manual is intended to give new players a basic understanding of both sides, marines and aliens, so that they may better understand how to get started playing NS.
<b>Prologue</b>
The time is the future. In a vast new frontier, known as the Ariadne arm, a threat for humanity looms. An insidious alien species has infested ships and bases all over the frontier. The trans governments wish to quarantine the entire Ariadne arm, but this, to the Frontiersmen, is unacceptable. The TSA (Trans System Authority) is the only organization that wishes to stand up to this threat, The Kharaa. The Frontiersmen are the only things that stand between humanity, and whatever would threaten it. Your actions on the front lines of this battle, will decide the fate of humanity.
<b>Chapter 1: The Ready Room</b>
You have installed NS; you?ve set up your keys and your raring to go. You join the game, and you?re in this weird little room. This room, or collection of rooms, is known as the ?Ready Room? it is made to enhance the atmosphere of NS and add a place where players can socialize without having to risk getting shot at. It is useful for ?AFK? (Away From Keyboard) players so that they are not in the way, and if you need to leave the computer for any reason, simply press the F4 key and you can walk away and come back without fearing abuse from your team because you?ve done nothing for a whole hour. It must be noted however that some servers are not appreciative of this; you may get warned to join a team or risk getting kicked. These servers generally do this because the server slots are filling up and wish to maintain active traffic, so don?t feel too bad about it.
There are five things you can do in the ready room. Join the alien team, Join the marine team, Spectate, Join a Random Team, or idle. If you choose to idle, you can have a friendly chat with other more experienced player before you start playing. They can give you tips that this handbook will undoubtedly omit or misconstrue. If there are no players with which to talk to, I would recommend that you Spectate for at least one game to get a handle, both on the map, the tactics used and the various hiding spots and buildings which are vital to NS. Of course, you can jump straight into the action if you wish; it?s totally your personal choice.
Now, to join either marines or aliens, simply walk into the door with the sign ?Join Marines? or ?Join Aliens? to join that team. If you chose to Join Aliens, skip ahead to Chapter three. If you wish to choose marines, read ahead to the next Chapter.
<b>Chapter 2: Marines</b>
If you are new to NS, but are familiar to half life and first person shooters in general, the marines will be the most familiar side to play with. If you have joined the game at the start, you should start inside, or very close to the marine start. This room will serve as your base. At first, there are usually only two buildings in the marine start. A funny, squat, four-legged thing, and a white rectangular structure. The four-legged thing is called a ?Resource Tower?. It gives your team the currency to buy more buildings with; the more of these you have, the better. Resource Towers are built only on Resource Nodes; resource nodes appear as grey nozzles that have a fine white vapor steaming out of them. If you have played the game ?Total Annihilation?, resource towers work exactly like metal extractors. The white rectangular building is the command console. The command console allows one marine to initiate ?Commander Mode?. This special mode takes the player into an overhead view, much like star craft. From here, your commander can place new buildings, such as spawn portals, armories and phase gates. This will aid you, as a marine, to eliminate the enemy threat. It is recommended that if this is your first time playing NS, you should not command. Try waiting a few weeks to get a grip on the game, NS has a very high learning curve and it takes quite a while to get used to it. Even if you have many years of experience with Half Life mods, NS will be rather difficult to master.
One of the largest difficulties of the unique gaming prospects that NS has to offer is that new players to marines have is actually building structures. It?s quite simple, but many people seem to miss it. Once your commander has placed a new structure, move up to the structure, point your gun at it, and press your ?Use? key (Default is E). The structure will slowly build until it is completed, more players building the same structure will speed up the rate at which it is built. Be wary however, if everyone in the room is building, then no one is defending, which essentially makes the entire group a sitting snack for the nearest skulk (a dog-like alien with a deadly bite that can climb walls). Always keep at least one man building, with one man defending. It?s up to you to decide weather you will build or defend, whatever your better at doing do it, but under no circumstances should you leave builders, or un-built structures undefended without direct orders from your commander to do otherwise.
Remember that if you?re in a location, your commander may not be looking at you. So, when you request orders or buildings, give him a few seconds to find you. Your location will automatically be broadcast to your team.
Because NS maps are rather large, it has a feature built in to help players ascertain their location. Look in the lower left corner roughly above your health indicator, usually it will tell you where you are such as ?Marine Start? or ?Hive Location ? Great Viaduct? Etc. Alternatively, you can press your ?C? key to bring up a map showing your location, the location of your team mates and the location of friendly structures and enemy structures in the line of sight. This map can be extremely useful when you are lost or confused or simply unfamiliar with the map.
Another useful tool that is in NS is the popup menu. You can set the key to bring it up like any other. Through this menu, you can request orders from your commander, or ammo, or health, or even taunt aliens without having to type. You can even reload and drop your weapons through this menu. The alien menu is structured differently, and is described in the alien section.
Additionally, getting more ammunition for your weapons poses some confusion. In NS, there are two ways to get ammunition. Either the commander drops ammunition in green packets on the floor, or, the commander builds an armory. An armory is a cylindrical structure with four panels sticking out. Simply move up to the armory, and press your use key to receive half a clip of ammunition for the currently selected weapon.
Below is a short description of the weapons that marines can have.
LMG ? Default spawning weapon. If used correctly, it is devastating. Without damage upgrades, this weapon deals 10 damage per bullet. This weapon fires in a cone shape, so, accuracy decreases proportionally with range. Put simply, the longer the hallway you?re shooting down, the less shots will hit the target.
Shotgun ? If you have played FPS games before, the shotgun is the ultimate close ranged weapon. The shotgun holds 10 shots, with 50 shots reserve, one single shot should kill a skulk no matter what depending if all the shotgun pellets hit. The shotguns accuracy does decrease with range, so just make sure that you?re close to your target before you engage, or retreat. There is no shame in retreating to an ambush point
HMG ? This is a little more powerful then the LMG. This weapon can only be dropped by the commander after he has upgraded the armory and only when he has the resources to do so. A HMG costs 20 resources so don?t lose it. This weapon is very powerful. Without upgrades, each bullet deals 20 damage, and each clip holds 125 rounds. This is more then enough ammunition to kill any alien you encounter, except for higher life forms (such as the onos, explained later). However, this weapon will slow you down somewhat(It is a ?Heavy Machine Gun? after all) and its accuracy is worse then that of the LMG at long range.
Welder ? The welder is not truly an offensive weapon as such. It has many purposes. Welders can be used to repair other marine?s armor, it can repair damaged structures, and on certain maps they can be used to close off vents and alter the map geometry. I?ll leave it up to you to find the weld points on different maps.
Knife ? Also part of the default marines repertoire, I don?t think I need to explain it?s use. The knife will deal 30 damage per stab and should only be used as an absolute last resort weapon.
GL ? Grenade Launcher, this is difficult to use, but very very useful. The grenade launcher allows the marines to fire around corners by bouncing the grenades off of walls. If a grenade hits an alien directly, it will explode on contact. If it does not touch an alien, it will sit on the ground and explode six seconds after you fired it. The GL is great for taking out enemy defenses and deterring aliens from going down a path, but watch your ammo, you only get 30 grenades and four grenades per clip, and at the rate you?d love to fire them at you will run dry on ammunition fast, so conserve your ammo and don?t leave base without backup. The GL will slow you down about as much as a HMG would, perhaps a little more. The GL is primarily a support weapon, and as with the HMG, it costs resources. Do not lose your GL, if you do lose your GL; inform your team where it is so others can pick It up. It should be noted that each grenade launched from the GL deals out 200 damage, but does double damage to alien structures.
Pistol ? Another weapon that default marines get, this weapon is simple and effective. You have 10 bullets per clip, and can have a maximum of 3 clips spare. Each single bullet deals 20 damage, without upgrades, not only that, this weapon is the only hit scan weapon in NS that has absolute perfect accuracy. Wherever your crosshair is pointing is exactly where the bullet will land, additionally, the pistol will fire as fast as you can click your mouse. If used correctly, the pistol is a dangerous weapon.
If you read all the above, you may have heard me mention damage upgrades a few times. Put simply, if your commander builds an Arms Lab, he can upgrade the amount of damage your weapon can deal out, as well as how much armor you have. This costs resources; so don?t expect upgrades straight away.
In addition to the weapons you can receive, you can also get some equipment. Heavy armor slows you down a lot, but you?re a walking tank. With this HA on, you have 230 points of armor (290 with level 3 armor) that absorbs 90% of all incoming damage. When you have heavy armor on, the aliens will fear you. However, you are by no means invincible, stick with your squad and get a welder buddy to keep your armor maxed out. HA will also protect you from lerk spores.
Also, you can get Jetpacks. Be aware, you can have either Heavy Armor and be a tank, or, A Jetpack and fly around the map. YOU CANNOT HAVE BOTH. It is either one, or the other. To fly with a jetpack, simply press your jump key and move around as normal, you may need a bit of practice to get used to it, but the increase in your maneuverability will be invaluable since most alien species are melee based (close range, biting, slashing, etc).
Finally, Trip mines. Trip mines replace your pistol slot, but if placed correctly they make an excellent early game defense. Trip mines placed on the floor or wall will act like a land mine. No marine will be able to set off the mines, only aliens can. Place them on vital structures such as Infantry portals, phase gates and resource towers. The best way to place mines is to look at where you want the mine to go and press your primary fire button, crouching helps with placement. Also, place them in strategic locations such as vents, doorways and narrow hallways. Mines do become less effective later on when more powerful alien classes come into play due to their increased health and durability, but mines can severely limit their options and vectors of attack.
There are many varied structures in NS. A structures manual is in the works, so wait patiently while it is being created. In the meantime, you should be able to figure out for yourself what certain structures do, while others should be more obvious.
To sum up the marines, teamwork is god. If you do not work as a team on marines, you will die. Obey your commander, stick with your squad, and you will live. Go Rambo off, leave your team mates, and give away your position to the aliens and you could lose the entire game for your team. Although you may be able to sneak past enemy defences and get forward bases up in enemy territory, it is far more likely that you will die. Always listen to more experienced players and try your best to help your team achieve victory over the alien menace.
<b>Chapter 3: Aliens</b>
If you are new to NS, the alien team will be very complex and difficult to master. Each alien species practically deserves a chapter all to itself.
If you?ve joined the beginning of the game, you will spawn in a room with a big brown/yellow/green object inside. This is called the hive. This is the single most important structure for the aliens to have. It is even more important then the command console; the aliens are nothing without their hive. The hive allows you to spawn, it allows you to use higher-level weapons, and it heals you if you are hurt. The hive also gives you important tactical information. If you look around you may see, yellowish, greenish, reddish, or yellow circular circles. This is called ?Hive-sight?. Yellowish circles are your teammates; yellow circles are marines that your teammates can see or marines that have been parasited (more on that later). Reddish circles are structures or players that are under attack. Greenish circles are gorges, the alien builders (more on that later).
Aliens have a different popup menu from the marines. Through here, they can select their upgrades, so to evolve the Carapace evolution, one would bring the menu up, move to the left to upgrades, move down to ?Defense? and then select the carapace upgrade. Although it may be confusing at first, it will become second nature after a few games and you will hardly notice using it at all.
<b>Chapter 3A I ? Upgrades</b>
Upgrades for aliens work differently from marines. When a gorge (alien builder class) builds an upgrade structure (Defense Chamber [DC] Movement Chamber [MC] or Sensory Chamber [SC]) you can pick different upgrades. It should also be remembered that different upgrade chambers have different area effects and offer different advantages to the alien team.
The Defense Chamber allows three upgrades. Regeneration, Redemption, or Carapace. Carapace increases your armor; redemption will transport you to a hive when your health falls below a particular level, although not 100% reliable, it can save your life many times over before it fails. Regeneration will allow you to heal damage over time without the hive or a DC. DC?s will heal you if you are hurt and within their range.
The Movement chamber also allows for three upgrades. Silence, Celerity, and Adrenaline. Adrenaline allows your alien to continue to use its weapons for longer; it speeds up the rate at which the yellow bar to the right goes back to full. Celerity will deliver a speed boost to your alien, making you move even faster. Silence allows you to make no noise as you move through the level, allowing you to sneak up behind marines without arousing their suspicion as well as attacking without sound, though it may sound useless, sound is as important as sight in determining if an enemy is close in NS. Movement chambers also increase the rate at which the yellow energy bar to the right regenerates.
The Sensory Chamber allows for three upgrades as well. Pheremones, Scent Of Fear, and Cloaking. Cloaking allows you to become almost completely invisible to the marines, which is wonderful for ambushes. Scent of Fear will allow you to see marines within a certain range of yourself (reddish Hivesight circles, but different from the ?under attack? hivesight circles), pheremones will allow you to see a kind of trail of puffs that tell you where an enemy has been. Sensory chambers allow an area effect of cloaking, and negate the marine motion tracking in the sensory chamber range. Being touched, shot, or being scanned by the marine commander can decloak you.
<b>Chapter 3A II ? Hives</b>
A little foreword on hives before a more detailed description further below. Hives allow for one chamber type of upgrade. To have all three upgrade chambers, the aliens must have all three hives. On any map, there are only 3 Hive locations indicated by hive sight. Aliens will start in one random hive, and will expand from there. Hives heal hurt aliens and structures, grant more powerful weaponry, allow higher evolutions and increase the alien spawning rate. If you lose all your hives, you will slowly lose health and die, as will all other aliens on your team. This is your teams punishment for being incompetent enough (or at the very least, for being unable to counter the marine strategy) to lose a hive.
<b>Chapter 3B ? Alien Classes</b>
For each alien class, I will give a set of recommended upgrades. However, you are allowed to choose any upgrade you want, these are only recommendations but your play style may demand different upgrades. Feel free to pick and choose your upgrades as freely as you wish.
It should also be noted that the third and fourth weapon slots only become active when the 2nd and 3rd hives are up. More on hives later.
<b>Chapter 3B I ? The Skulk</b>
Now, you have just spawned. You are the default, level one alien. This alien is called a ?Skulk?. Skulks have many unique abilities.
One of these abilities is the ?Wall Climb? (Wall climbing will be very familiar to AvP players). To wall climb, simply go to the nearest wall and walk up it. You will stick to the wall, and can even walk across the roof. Wall climbing does have some limitations, but you will be able to learn what those are better through experience rather then through here. Wall climbing gives you an advantage in maneuverability. You have six times the surfaces to walk upon, use it to your advantage! Sit above doorways to ambush marines as they walk through, dodge and weave side to side to avoid their bullets rather then running in a straight line. Skulks are 2 ? 3 times faster then a marine, this speed will also play into your favor as a skulk.
Always remember, as a skulk, you are not a tank. You will have only 70 health and 15 armor to begin with, meaning 9 - 10 LMG bullets can kill you and even heavier weapons will kill you in even less time. Ambush the marines, take them by surprise and try to avoid running straight down long hallways.
The first weapon in your inventory is called ?Bite?. Biting a marine will deal 75 damage to him. Biting him twice will kill a standard marine. The bite is a melee weapon, so you will have to get very close to the marine to kill him.
The next weapon is called ?Parasite?. Parasite is not an offensive weapon, but it is ranged. Parasite will do only a little damage to marines, so it will take many many parasites to kill a marine using it, but parasites usefulness comes in under hive sight. Parasite allows your team to see the parasited marine (yellow circles) so if you see a squad of marines rolling by, parasite them before attacking so your team knows where they are.
The third weapon in your inventory is called ?Leap?. At one hive, leap is disabled, however, when your team has built a second hive, leap is usable. When you use leap, you shoot forward at tremendous speed. If you touch a marine as you leap, you will damage him slightly. A common tactic is to leap and close the distance to a marine and then quickly switch to bite and kill him. Leap also works in mid air and can be useful for taking out jet packing marines, though lerks are far more effective at taking them out.
The fourth and final weapon in your inventory is called ?Xenocide?. It is a third hive ability, meaning that your team must have three hives up before you can use it. Xenocide will turn you into a time bomb. Simply press the fire button, and run in towards your target until you explode. You will deal massive damage with Xenocide, it?s not unusual to kill multiple marines, and in addition, you will heavily damage all structures in the blast radius (Note, Double damage is delivered to structures when using Xenocide)
The recommended upgrades for the Skulk are Carapace, Celerity/Silence, and Cloaking/Scent of fear. Though, as I said above, change these according to your playing style.
<b>Chapter 3 B II ? The Gorge</b>
The next alien is the Gorge. It is very important to know the following. The Gorge is near useless for direct combat except in a supporting role. Though it is possible for you to defend yourself it is highly recommended that you do not engage marines? head on. The gorge is the alien builder class; it builds hives, Offense Chambers, all the upgrade chambers and resource towers. I recommend that you practice with building structures in a LAN game before gorging in game. It is also recommended that you observe how other gorges play and the tactics they employ when building. Gorges have 125 Health, with 50 armor, and more with carapace.
Although the gorge is not an offensive class of alien, it does have some weak weapons at its disposal.
The first weapon is spit. Put simply, the gorge spits out a green glob that does 22 damage. It moves slowly and can be dodged easily by marines.
The second weapon for the gorge is called Healspray. Healspray does exactly what it says. It is a spray that heals aliens and their structures, while damaging marines. Healspray does not affect marine structures, but it will travel through them. Healsprays animation is also a bit misleading, it has far more range then the animation would suggest as well as a wide firing arc.
The third weapon for the gorge is called Bilebomb. It is a large, heavy green glob that arcs through the air. Although it cannot damage players, it will inflict heavy damage to marine structures. If you find a safe place to bilebomb a marine base from, you can take down multiple structures and heavily damage surrounding marine buildings. Bilebomb is indispensable when destroying marine bases. As with all third weapons, bilebomb will only come into play at the second hive, but it is useful nonetheless.
The fourth weapon for the gorge is called web. Web is very very special. A gorge can web a hallway by shooting one glob of web at one wall, and another glob at another wall. Bingo, you got web. When a marine walks by and into the web, he gets slown down horrendously, his weapon holsters and he is skulk food. Webbing can slow down the marine team considerably, as well as stop jetpackers in their tracks. Web carefully however, there is a limit on how many you can lay down in an area, so be very strategic in its use if you are a gorge.
Remember, the Gorge is not an offensive class. The gorge is one of the most important alien species to the alien team, so if you?re new just remember that anything you build will impact on your team. Ask if your team needs upgrade chambers built before building them, or lay offensive chambers in defensive positions. Or, you can help your teams economy by buiding resource towers on uncaptured resource nodes. You can even support assaults on the frontlines by providing Healspray for your team mates, the choices, importance and work for the gorge are practically endless.
The best upgrades to have as a gorge is are any defensive upgrade depending upon playstile, Adrenaline/Celerity, and Cloaking/scent of fear.
<b>Chapter 3 B III ? The Lerk</b>
The Lerk is the most unique alien to the Kharaa. It is the only alien species that has the ability to fly. Unless you are skilled in the usage of a Lerk, it is recommended that you try it a few times as you will take quite a few games to get used to it. To fly as a Lerk, you use your jump key. It is important to remember that the first flap of your wings will push you up; the second flap will propel you forward. Holding down your jump key will let you glide. It is rather difficult to use the Lerk, and will require some time to master. It should be noted that the Lerk is more of a support unit rather then direct assault, but the support of the Lerk will be invaluable if used correctly. Lerks cost 30 resources, have 100 health and 25 armor, more with level 3 carapace.
Weapon one for the Lerk is called Spikes. Spikes are just that, spikes. Spike is a ranged weapon that does 18 damage per hit. Try aiming where the crosshair is to hurt marines. It has perfect accuracy and is very useful at taking out weakened marines, or softening them up before melee forces finish the job. Treat this as a sniper machine gun, engage with spikes from long range and try to keep out of marine line of fire.
The second weapon for the Lerk is called ?Spore Cloud?. You will love this weapon. Marines will hate you for using this weapon. It works like a grenade launcher, fire it into a room, it will hit a wall or marine and green gas will fill a given space. This green gas is toxic to marines, but leaves structures and HA marines unaffected. This weapon, when used correctly, can soften marines up for direct combat forces to dice. It can work as area denial and it is not uncommon for marines to die easily to lerk sporecloud (provided they are stupid enough to sit in the green cloud and take continuous damage).
The third weapon for the Lerk is one of the most useful weapons for the alien team. It?s not precisely a weapon in the strictest sense. This weapon is called ?Umbra? and is devastating if used correctly. Umbra is a yellowish, slightly opaque gas that the Lerk spits out, much like sporecloud. It absorbs an appreciable fraction of every bullet incoming. This will allow you and your team mates to weather extreme bombardment by bullet based weapons, only a grenade will be unaffected by umbra. You can support attacks on enemy positions by spitting out umbra on Onii (plural for onos, described in the next chapter) and other assault aliens to protect them from fire, increasing the length of time in which they can damage enemy bases and increasing the amount of punishment they can withstand by a large amount.
The final ability for the lerk, although a support weapon, is extremely powerful and useful. It is called ?Primal Scream?. When a lerk uses Primal Scream, all surrounding aliens, as well as the lerk that screamed, will move and attack twice as fast. This might not sound like much, but it is unbelievably potent when used in the presence of teammates when destroying the marine base or outposts.
The best upgrades to get as a Lerk is Carapace/regen with Adrenaline and good old Cloaking or Scent of Fear.
<b>Chapter 3B IV ? The Fade</b>
The fade is one of the most versatile species available to the alien team. It?s tough, maneuverable and devastating if used right. They cost 50 Resources, have 200 health with 125 armor, further armor level 3 carapace. For TFC (Team Fortress Classic, another HL mod) players, the fade will be very similar to the ?Soldier? class, but with a few neat additions. It should be remembered that the fade is like an upgraded skulk, hit and run tactics are the mainstay of it?s playing style.
The first weapon in the fades arsenal is swipe. It does 80 damage per hit, but has a short range. It?s your primary weapon until the third hive is up, so learning to swipe good can save both your hide and mince light marines. Swipe is a melee weapon, so close range is needed as always.
The second weapon in the fades arsenal is ?Blink?. Blink is an ability that when used, allows the fade to move quickly at the cost of adrenaline. Fades can even fly by jumping up and pointing where they wish to go while firing blink. It takes a few tries to get used to it, but it is very useful when a fade blinks into a squad of marines, swipes and then blinks back out. If used to proper effect, blink increases the fades mobility, and thus it?s effectiveness.
The third weapon for the fade is possibly the most unusual weapon the kharaa have in their possession, Metabolise. Many people will experiment with metabolise and think it does nothing. However, Metabolise will heal 20 hitpoints per ?wave? of the arms. It can be used in place of regeneration, and is good for healing oneself behind enemy lines. Use it when your wounded or low on health to get some quick healing.
The fourth weapon will be the one that TFC players will find most familiar. This is called ?Acid Rocket? and is exactly what it says it is. For those familiar with first person shooters, Acid rocket will work precisely like any rocket launcher. Simply aim at marine?s feet, or where they are going to be to hit them and inflict maximum damage. Acid rocket is a ranged weapon that deals about 60 damage per direct hit with splash damage. Acid rocket can also be used to take out structures at a safe distance, although a careful aim is needed, always aim for vital structures like the Turret Factory or the Phase gate.
The best upgrade strategy I have found to use as a fade is a carapace/regen with celerity/adren and cloaking/scent of fear upgrade path. Though, your playing style will in all probability differ from mine, so try finding the upgrade path that suits you best.
<b>Chapter 3B V ? The Onos</b>
The Onos is the ultimate species in the alien arsenal. If the marines have allowed your team to achieve a resource dominance, but are well fortified within their bases, the Onos is the perfect tool with which to decimate them. The Onos is the most powerful species the kharaa posses, and are there to make the marines yell ?Game Over man, Game over!?
The Onos Costs 100 Resources to evolve to. Has 500 Health points, with 150 points of armor, 200 with Carapace. The Onos is a literal tank on legs, and should be treated as such. When you are an Onos, you are powerful but slow, use that power to your teams advantage. Remember that you are an expensive life form, so although you can go solo, if you value your life it is far better to attack with your team. Onii can die to concentrated fire, like the HA, you are by no means invincible.
The first weapon for the Onos is the gore. This works precisely like bite and swipe, with the exception that it deals out 120 damage per hit. Use it to attack structures and nearby marines.
The Onos? second weapon is Devour. As the name suggests, the Onos eats the marine whole. You can only eat a marine one at a time, and for that matter, any marine. Devour will keep enemy players out of the game for longer then if you killed them, so it can strip the marines of manpower, and if a HA marine is eaten, it will waste valuable resources from the marine team. It is useful for the aliens, and insanely annoying for the marines.
The third weapon in the Onos? inventory is stomp. In all essentiality, it does exactly what it says it does. When you activate stomp, a white shockwave will travel forward and stun any marines in the line of fire. You can then either devour the marines or gore them. Stomp can be considered a support weapon. If the marines cant fire and cant move, they are food, so use stomp to your advantage wherever possible.
The Onos? fourth weapon is ?Charge?. This works very much like leap, except that the Onos simply runs faster and in a straight line on the ground. Damage is dealt by touching the marine, the more touches, the more damage dealt to the marine. Charge does damage buildings, but only for as long as you touch that building, and due to your forward momentum, you wont be touching that building for long enough to destroy it.
The best upgrades to have as an Onos are probably Redemption/Regeneration with Celerity/Adrenaline and Cloaking/Scent of Fear. As I have stated earlier, adjust what upgrades you choose to your personal taste and play style.
<b>Chapter 3C ? The Hive</b>
As many of you will have noticed, there are few if any descriptions of structures in this handbook. Remember, the aim of this handbook is to give a basic understanding of NS. Most of the structures will be simple to learn, and will become very obvious in function. If you wish to learn more of structures and their functions, you will have to wait until the structures guide is completed.
Of all structures, the Hive for the aliens is as important, if not more, for the aliens as the Command Console is for the marines. Hives allow more potent weapons and more kinds of upgrades. Without a hive, aliens will literally begin to die (a pinging sound will be heard, and aliens will lose health) unless a new one is placed post haste. The hive allows for spawning, Hive sight, the building of structures and evolution. The loss of a hive is devastating to the alien team. If your hive is under attack, it is advisable to run to it to defend, unless you have a chance to cripple the marine team irreparably (by destroying their only CC, or their entire Spawn, even so, if it?s your only hive though, you must defend it at all costs). The hive also heals you if you?re hurt. Although it does not have the active functionality of the marine CC, it is even more important to the alien team.
<b>Chapter 3D ? The Final Word</b>
For aliens, the Hive is your god. It tells you about important events, such as what is under attack and indicates where it is through hive sight. Aliens are more individualistic then marines are, so you can afford to go on lone ambush or reconnaissance missions, rush the marine spawn or even harass undefended marine resource nodes. Or, you can team up with friends and try to take down a marine base in one of your hive locations, or support your gorges by keeping marines well away from them or even sacrificing your life to save the gorge. Aliens work wonders when working as a team, but also work well when working as individuals. It is always advisable to work as a team when on aliens, while keeping a few people on solo missions attacking stragglers or undefended resource towers.
If you can deny the marines strategic locations, such as hives, resource points and even a forward base, you will eventually tech up to more advanced hive evolutions and send the marines screaming to they?re commander.
Thanks for reading the new players guide, Beta 1. Please don?t hesitate to point out errors and omissions, and thanks again for reading.
Comments
good job! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
I think it might need a bit of <b>bold</b> and <span style='color:red'>colour</span> tho, looks a bit dull and can get tiresome especially for those "<i>fast varying interest</i>" noobs that wod read this and get bored (due to lack of colour, not due to content), other than that,
good job! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
I'll bold the titles now to add some distinction...
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Go Rambo off, leave your team mates, and give away your position to the aliens and you could lose the entire game for your team.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I also has some suggestions. I noticed you didn't mention anything about hive sight. This should be mentioned because the first thing an alien player see is the hive sight and the weird icons. Not to mention that you can't fully explain "give away your position to the aliens" without explaining hive sight.
I'll have to include an appendix at the end that includes NS Jargon, thanks for pointing that out, and perhaps a TOC can be added at the start...
I would perhaps add a little information about the commander, although I wouldn't recommend new players to start comming. But they should know why they shouldn't do it.
Right now the way it stands a mine placed near an IP or Armory is a ticking time bomb for the marines, it isn't if a skulk is going to set it off, but when. If you are standing near it, it will take you down with it.
The other thing is that metabolize and regen do not stack, it is one or the other, so as a fade, carapace is probably the best upgrade for it, of course it depends on your play style. I tend to fade in, swipe, go back to the healing base and heal/metabolize up to my full health in about 5 - 10 seconds, and go back in for another go. This is a very deadly alien when used right!
Just an FYI on your guide. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Other than that the quick skim of the text and manual looks really good.
Great Job!