2.0 Status Quo For Me.
KRagg
Join Date: 2002-11-15 Member: 8832Members
Join Date: 2002-11-15 Member: 8832Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Or why I have no fun as an alien anymore</div> I've pretty much stopped going alien on my favourite server because of this. Most of the players are fairly good there, admins are good and plentiful, popular server and has cheating-death. (I'll refrain from mentioning the server, because it's not intended as a server plug, just explaining the environment.)
The problem arose about the same time as marines started slash and burn tactics. At that point, the marines finally learned how to play vs 2.0 aliens and started getting good counters and a good sense of understanding of how to beat the aliens, coupled with all the nerfs on aliens has put aliens at a relatively severe disadvantage.
It's damned if you do, damned if you don't, to be honest. For the marines, it's gone from build base, move out and get 2-3 res nodes and start fighting for a hive, to spread out, grab as many res nodes as you can and have marines move in small teams or single and try to kill as many of the alien res as possible. It's essentially an extension of the slash and burn where there's no need for much teamplay nor order as long as aliens don't get much res.
If most of the aliens drop a res node earlyish, several of them will die as marines rambo throughout the entire map, so it's probably better that most aliens stay skulk and try stopping marines from spreading.
Also, due to the extremely low health on todays RT's (I don't see why it is like this, they ought to at least have double HP) means that with one marine getting to an RT will probably manage to kill it if there isn't a skulk close by. Two marines knifing the RT and you'd literally have to be in the next room to be able to stop them.
But not building is just as bad. That means that marines can build there, and if they manage to get an rt up, it's 30 seconds wait for electrify, which nearly guarantees aliens won't kill the node until they get fade or second hive.
Build some OC's you say? Where's the res comming from? you have maybe three, four res nodes up if you're lucky most of the time, while marines will have 5-6+. Several skulks and a gorge, perhaps? That's two skulks out of the battle for all intents somewhere else, giving marines the numerical advantage.
Bilebomb or fade works, but if the marines knows what they're doing, you're going to be strapped for res, and if you do manage to get a hive up, chances are they'll spot it and kill it. Fade? comm drops shottys, it's not like he can't afford it on 5-6+ res nodes.
Marines takes initiative and holds it because of their effective res pool, strong res protection and hard to kill res nodes (once elec).
Suggestions? I'm out of ideas.
The problem arose about the same time as marines started slash and burn tactics. At that point, the marines finally learned how to play vs 2.0 aliens and started getting good counters and a good sense of understanding of how to beat the aliens, coupled with all the nerfs on aliens has put aliens at a relatively severe disadvantage.
It's damned if you do, damned if you don't, to be honest. For the marines, it's gone from build base, move out and get 2-3 res nodes and start fighting for a hive, to spread out, grab as many res nodes as you can and have marines move in small teams or single and try to kill as many of the alien res as possible. It's essentially an extension of the slash and burn where there's no need for much teamplay nor order as long as aliens don't get much res.
If most of the aliens drop a res node earlyish, several of them will die as marines rambo throughout the entire map, so it's probably better that most aliens stay skulk and try stopping marines from spreading.
Also, due to the extremely low health on todays RT's (I don't see why it is like this, they ought to at least have double HP) means that with one marine getting to an RT will probably manage to kill it if there isn't a skulk close by. Two marines knifing the RT and you'd literally have to be in the next room to be able to stop them.
But not building is just as bad. That means that marines can build there, and if they manage to get an rt up, it's 30 seconds wait for electrify, which nearly guarantees aliens won't kill the node until they get fade or second hive.
Build some OC's you say? Where's the res comming from? you have maybe three, four res nodes up if you're lucky most of the time, while marines will have 5-6+. Several skulks and a gorge, perhaps? That's two skulks out of the battle for all intents somewhere else, giving marines the numerical advantage.
Bilebomb or fade works, but if the marines knows what they're doing, you're going to be strapped for res, and if you do manage to get a hive up, chances are they'll spot it and kill it. Fade? comm drops shottys, it's not like he can't afford it on 5-6+ res nodes.
Marines takes initiative and holds it because of their effective res pool, strong res protection and hard to kill res nodes (once elec).
Suggestions? I'm out of ideas.
Comments
Did you even play 1.04? If you say then you really didnt.
Now though, I see that Bilebomb only works on buildings. And that's only one of the dozens of changes I see today. Now I find myself walking around in Heavy Armor with a shotgun with one or two fellow marines splitting up around the map, taking out res nodes, building our own, and electrifying them. The focus on taking out hives has changed into exactly what K'Ragg calls it: slash and burn.
I am, and always have been biased when it comes to marines. I almost never play alien. But 2.0 makes me feel like its too easy. Too often now do I see us winning. Granted, it was the other way around in the 1.0 days, but I think things have been balanced too much in the marines favor now.
As for fixing it, well, don't ask me. I have no idea, since I rarely play aliens anyway.
Did you even play 1.04? If you say then you really didnt. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
yes i did play it, and i still believe it was better then having everyone save for onos instead of putting up a hive
One of my original reasons for trying the server is that I prefer larger games.
9 per team is a large game now?
And here I was thinking 8-9 was pretty average.
And if the marines know how to aim the aliens cant even reach them on most places
It takes alot more res to put down an RT then an Alien is going to get from killing 1 solo marine who keeps attacking the same node 2 or 3 times until he gets it down.
This happens to me a ton, I go gorge ASAP, put down the closest node, and soon enough some marine starts to knife it. I kill him. He comes back. I always go skulk after Gorging just to defend nodes, but I can't be everywhere at once, and even a few seconds with a knife takes almost a quarter of an RT's HP.
So pretty much I either have to camp 1 or 2 nodes and ignore any other marine expansion, or just not put up a node at all. Not to mention the times a rambo marine will just sneak up and gun me down, 10 res down the drain +15 if I just put the node down.
If the team is good, they will keep the marines pinned in their base of course. But its not very hard for marines to push out of their base if they work on it. The problem is simply that a few good rambos will keep aliens from expanding long enough for Marines to electrify nodes, lockdown hives, and upgrade weapons. Rambos are rewarded.
Multiple reasons. more gorges = less skulks, and that is *bad* especially at the rate the marines are expanding. Many res nodes = larger area to defend, which means your forces are spreading themselves thin.
And how can you save res when most of the marine team is pushing into an area you're trying to hold, and the rest are off killing res. Where do you go? To Holo to stop marines from getting a foothold, or to cargo or to maintenance to save the res (assuming you just spawned in datacore). It might just take you 20 seconds to get to one of the places, but you'll probably lose at least one or two of them, so which do you choose? Damned if you do, or damned if you don't.
Truth
He outlined most of the tactics but shouldn't neglect the utter superiority of a Fade. Yes shotguns do well, but I usually ignore them, blink away, and get after their nozzles, the real source of power in a 2.01 game.
Let the lerks handle the shotties.
That said the game is probably more tilted in marines favor, but mostly in the late game, not the beginning/middle.
If the marines start out with all but the 3 most skilled people getting res nodes, all those 3 most skilled people have to do is go for the nearest res point to the alien hive or attack the hive itself. All the aliens go for the 3 marines (the aliens know there are 3 rines in a group and wanting kills go for them instead of the n00bs scattered around the map). The aliens won't get any res nodes or leave their hive when there's a bunch of rines so close, which means the rines get all the res points and win easy.
This strategy can be foiled if: An alien realises what the rines are doing.
That alien can then convince his team to leave a bunch of rines just outside the hive alone (very hard).
The alien realises b4 the marines get enough res to constantly electrify (about 4)
The commander doesn't notice the aliens leaving the rines alone and kill the hive.
A usual gorge slips out the back way and builds res points while killing all the n00bs (if they aren't n00bs the gorge is stuffed)
The entire alien team is above average to 1337 and work together really well (very rare) and break out of the rine seige moving on to the marines electrified res points and attacking them without regard for their own lives (i would cos i'm suicidal but most other people won't die so someone else can get a kill/kill something)
Someone is going to point out that a whole alien team can kill 3 rines no matter how 1337, so i point out that they are killed at the cost of giving the rines res, and after death they just come back possibly with shotguns.
So as a quick sum up: Aliens were nerfed in 2.01 and now only rely on the fact that marines are often rambos and don't work together as a team, and aliens don't win very often cos of res !@#$% which are common because of the 2.x res system.
more players and the marines have an advantage, less and the aliens are in favor... <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'><!--endemo-->