Shooting Skulks

beige · December 2003

<div class="IPBDescription">and lerks</div> I thought I could aim until I played this game.

Any tips on how to deal with those things? Sure, there's the odd charger and zigzagger, but I usually find myself getting owned by the sneaky ones that fall from the ceiling or pop around a corner, or the ones that hop around more than a rabbit on crack.

The only thing I've tried that gets me some results is to circle around and strafe. It seems to get me out of their vision, at least.

That_Annoying_Kid · December 2003

circle strafing with skulks is the thing to do, and keep in mind the most they can shoot at you is a parasite, so try and keep your distance, but with lerks, the closer your are the better [when they get there bite back this will change]

I find that if I charge a lerk and empty my clip when I get about 5 feet close to it, it usually dies with the quickness

PetriZide · December 2003

Lerks are buggers.. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'> <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/lerk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='lerk.gif'>

spikes let them take down marines pretty fast.. but now that they only got spores as long range wep they have more trouble killing marines.. because spores do (16?) damage per sec? thats like 8+- seconds to kill a marine.. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wow.gif'>

and spikes would kill a marine in like 3+- sec.. (if you hit)

Skulks however are campers.. and some of the "1337" people dodge bullets like crazy.. but shirtgons are your friend.. to busting both Skulks and lerks..

Lerks are going to have problems taking down shotgunners now that they dont have instant hit weps they can use at a distance.. problem is spores are too "slow" and a good com can drop 2 medpacks at a sg guy while he runs through the spores and kills the lerk.. bite + shotgun = happy marine <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif'>

Umbraed_Monkey · December 2003

remember, aim at the skulk's back half, the front half does not detect any hits.

Shzar · December 2003

Your ears can be very useful in fighting skulks... be sure to listen for the very distinct click click of a skulk's claws. If you hear them, try to put some distance between you and it, and be sure to circle strafe if it gets close. As for the ones that wait for you, be sure to check above doorways and in dark corners, and pester your comm into researching motion tracking <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'> .

Cypher · December 2003

For lerks...when the animation of "flapping wings and spasing out real fast" happens, AIM A LITTLE BELOW THEM

If you look the animation goes into the ceiling, but the hitbox stays below.

For skulks, look around, learn the hiding places, and sometimes I find my own marine hiding places where they themselves are the hunted rather than me.

Green · December 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Cypher---GorgeLover @ Dec 8 2003, 11:38 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> For lerks...when the animation of "flapping wings and spasing out real fast" happens, AIM A LITTLE BELOW THEM

If you look the animation goes into the ceiling, but the hitbox stays below.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
Oh god... I really wish I would've known that a few hundred hours of playtime ago... good to know...

Roger_Dodger · December 2003

Oh yeh and plenty of practise will teach you all the nice hiding spots, this game is different to other FPS in the fact that looking up is essential.

For bouncing skulks just circle strafe and keep a good aim, also be quick to switch between lmg and pistol as more often than not alot of bullets will miss so you'll need the pistol.

- RD

Bogglesteinsky · December 2003

make sure both your guns are reloaded, and burst fire while circle strafing and jumping up and down like a kangaroo. it only takes about 11-14 bullets to kill a vanilla skulk, and there is no recoil on the guns, but the muzzle flash gets in the way. burst fire allows you to re-aim easily.

You are at most danger when going round a corner. long hallways are death traps for skulks. If you can, get a couple of other marines to go along with you. Another usefull thing is to play the maps as alien quite a lot. You will learn all the hiding places, from wathinc your team or discovering them yourself. I remember on tanith, there is a ledge above a door near marine spawn. I would always hide up there as a skulk, so when I was marine, my first instinct as I am running through the doorway was to shoot some bullets up there. Most of the time there are no skulks there, but once there was. I fell into 2 categories with that player: cheater or proGamer, of which I am neither. I was well chuffed...

BlueNovember · December 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Umbraed Monkey @ Dec 8 2003, 04:13 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> remember, aim at the skulk's back half, the front half does not detect any hits.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
Hitboxes still not fixed in 2?

Anyway, there is a setting that will shift them forward, but it means that shots nearer the back will miss too. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'>
Monkey, you remember it? I can't for the life of me find it...

Zunni · December 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Hitboxes still not fixed in 2? </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
But they have been fixed in 3.0

So you can imagine how easy it is to put a few slugs into an ONOS now...

Amped1 · December 2003

When firing all that matter is the skulk and your crosshair.

BlueNovember · December 2003

Not exactly, believe it or not.

Asside from the issue I mentioned with hitboxes being shifted backwards, also take into account:

- Powder flare from the nozzle of the gun
- Contortions in the skulks body. (When it strafes sideways, it's back end trails out and is an easy target)

But yeah, in general, point n shoot works. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'>

AlienCow · December 2003

Wish I'd know about the lerk and skulk hitbox thingies before now.....Btw, I used to be amazing at nailing skulks with my pistol. Since v2, I found for some reason the pistol seemed...i dunno...harder to control? Well whatever it is, I cant pistol anything anymore <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'> Unless its a big fat onos. Its prolly just the new skulk doing bunny hops and back flips as it charges me...kinda distracting, and awe inspiring i find.

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='skulk.gif'> <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'>

Last · December 2003

Aiming's a lot harder with NS then with any other game because the targets move -- really fast. Just keep practicing, you'll learn to trace and follow skulks, speed up your reaction time, and pick up a few tricks along the way. One thing I'd suggest is crouch - strafe - jump away from the skulk, then turn your crosshair to aim at him again. This will confuse inexperienced skulks giving you time to get a few good shots on him.

Flik · December 2003

Walk around using only the minimap in the upperleft corner of the screen.

Skkulkks will never sneak up on you again.

Ripur · December 2003

actually they will since mini mpa view only shows what is in line of sight of another marine, or is picked up on a scan. If you a skulk is fallowing your marine squad, and no one turns around to look at him, he does not appear on the map. If a skulk drops down fomr a vent between you and a buddy, being in clear sight of the other marine, you get the skulk icon on your map.

Unless you are refering toa cahngeg coming up in v3.0, in which case that's knida lame

Flik · December 2003

Are you sure?

I've played in 2.1, and a skulk sneaking up behind me showed up by my radar, and it spotted one hiding up on the ceiling.

It's not really cheap, since the range of the minimap is so freaking short, and pretty much by the time you see that skulk on the map, your going to die.

Unless you got mad relexes.

Bogglesteinsky · December 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (AlienCow! @ Dec 11 2003, 11:40 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Wish I'd know about the lerk and skulk hitbox thingies before now.....Btw, I used to be amazing at nailing skulks with my pistol. Since v2, I found for some reason the pistol seemed...i dunno...harder to control? Well whatever it is, I cant pistol anything anymore <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'> Unless its a big fat onos. Its prolly just the new skulk doing bunny hops and back flips as it charges me...kinda distracting, and awe inspiring i find.

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='skulk.gif'> <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'>  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
The only thing changed on the pistol at v2 was the rof cap at 7.5 bullets per second, to stop insane pistol scripts that emptied a clip into you faster than you could say "WTH?"

ANdreW1 · December 2003

in 3.0 it is now VERY easy to pistol aliens now...one game thats all i had...fired a whole clip of lmg at them and 1 pistol shot finished them...skulk,lerk,gorge,fade, or onos died from pistol <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'> hitboxes are also fixed...lerk flying physics have been fixed...there is gonna be one more playtest version i hope before the version is available to public...the problem exists with combat where marines spawn to slow when its needed most >_< but they spawn in groups <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'> and im sure most of you know its gonna be steam so if you hate it you can still play 2.0

Cold_NiTe · December 2003

Great, can't wait to empty pistol clips into Kharaa again.

Bogglesteinsky · December 2003

The new skulk hitbox is half the size of the old one, so the armour has been reduced to 10 to compensate. skulks now start off with 70 health and 10 armour.

RaVe · December 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Z.X. Bogglesteinsky @ Dec 14 2003, 06:30 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> The new skulk hitbox is half the size of the old one, so the armour has been reduced to 10 to compensate. skulks now start off with 70 health and 10 armour.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
Well, that's good considering the fact they they ARE half their height now

And people will need to change their aim now <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'> I already did

ANdreW1 · December 2003

i still find skulks easy to kill...in 2.0 it takes me a whole clip and they still live because the hitboxes are elsewhere then in 3.0 so it takes me longer to kill it or it kills me

ZombieNinjaDoomLaserBaby · December 2003

The speed of all the skulkiness will probably boggle your mind for awhile. I make a rule of never traveling by myself unless directly told to or other extreme situations. If you're confident in who you are following, you can relax a tade, but if the guy in front of you is bait - allow him to be what he seems to want to be.

I'd also say try to keep your calm is the biggest thing. Not like, "want a cup of coffee?" calm, but somewhat relaxed and focused. Don't flip out and look around all over when you get parasited. Most expierenced skulks I know of do it to get a player freaked out, then kill him right off.

ASAODEN · December 2003

as the nub I am I get freaked out just starting the game..

remi · December 2003

how would parasite freak them out?!? all it does when i do it is alert the player of a threat, and normally when it would freak them out it's when i'm sneaking up on them or handing from a ceiling....

and also, good players that use their headphones can tell aproximately where you are if you parasite them or make any noise, super helpful. even better players know the likely hiding spots and so know where to shoot if they hear a parasite.

Ripur · December 2003

Parasiting is what you do when either
1) you don't think you can finish the kill, but are about to attack
2) you aren't even going ot bother attacking them at the current time.

The first is something i often do when i ahve the jump on a shotgunner. with a little practice, you can get the switch to happen so fast that they can't react tot eh parasite before you bite them.

The latter is when their or say... 3 rines ammoing up in base and you know the turrets + elec + other rines would kill you to quickly to be usefull. Paraste the buggers, then go hide a little ways down in the hall. when they are about to come around the corner, or through a door, jump out to greet them. This is the most effective way i've found to take out shotties and h4x.

Gangsta_Monkey · December 2003

I find that jumping around alot works well too.

ANdreW1 · December 2003

im an insane skulk...long hallways are doom for most aliens especially the skulk...i can go down that hallway and take out 3 marines...did it last night and the 3 of them said i hacked...when they saw me i had 40 health 13 armor and after i killed them i had 34 health 0 armor

PoltErGEist · December 2003

do like this

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'> DIE!!!!
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'> DIE!!!! <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='skulk.gif'>
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'> DIE!!!!
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'> DIE!!!! <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/lerk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='lerk.gif'>
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'> DIE!!!!

it should fix them <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'>

Shooting Skulks

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