I Hate Spores
eaglec
Join Date: 2002-11-25 Member: 9948Members, Constellation
Join Date: 2002-11-25 Member: 9948Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">how to counter??</div> Spores, a 1 hive alien ability that does a huge amount of damage to light armour troops.
1st, They split and run to try to escape the damage which is fatal if they remain in the cloud.
2nd, The range of spores is los, and you can spore through walls so often you dont even need line of sight to your target.
3rd, Its a fire and forget killer, it last ages, damages and kills marines, splits them up, impedes thier ranged vision (making it easier for skulks to run in un-shot).
Ok, whinge over but marines have a tough enough time and the only counter marines have to spores that I know of is Heavy armour, as you know this requires:- Adv Armoury (35res), Arms Lab(45res), Proto(45res), research(50res) and finally 20 res per marine that you want to protect. (min 195)
The other option is a TF and dozen turrets seems to put them off, so long as the turrets are carefully placed and on some areas this means 2 TF's and 18-22 turrets. (150+ res per location)
Lerks are notorious impossible to hit at range, especially as they dissapear when flying along the roof and the hit box is screwed. <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
PLEASE, if you have any better suggetions on how not to become gas chamber victims please help.
1st, They split and run to try to escape the damage which is fatal if they remain in the cloud.
2nd, The range of spores is los, and you can spore through walls so often you dont even need line of sight to your target.
3rd, Its a fire and forget killer, it last ages, damages and kills marines, splits them up, impedes thier ranged vision (making it easier for skulks to run in un-shot).
Ok, whinge over but marines have a tough enough time and the only counter marines have to spores that I know of is Heavy armour, as you know this requires:- Adv Armoury (35res), Arms Lab(45res), Proto(45res), research(50res) and finally 20 res per marine that you want to protect. (min 195)
The other option is a TF and dozen turrets seems to put them off, so long as the turrets are carefully placed and on some areas this means 2 TF's and 18-22 turrets. (150+ res per location)
Lerks are notorious impossible to hit at range, especially as they dissapear when flying along the roof and the hit box is screwed. <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
PLEASE, if you have any better suggetions on how not to become gas chamber victims please help.
Comments
1. They dont panic, occasionally it will be a newbie but the regulars wont panic if you drop from th ceiling with an HMG
2. They will fire from a range and if anyone runs at them they will spike them to death before they get close or drop back and let skulks and fades take them out.
I tried the charge the lerks down routine and my marines just got repeatedly cut to ribbons. It didn't help that there were two or maybe three lerks stacking spores. Yes I also tried charge with medspam but marines have a habit of standing where you cant drop health <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
GL's take ages to research. Yes they are a good counter but the cost and time involved means they arrive too late. Any better ideas?
18-22 not only SOUNDS extreme... it IS!
i can secure a location that proves to be skulk/lerk-proof in under 6 turrets... depending on the point in the game, i put more... upwards of 15.... but never more... some of us know about FPS problems, and try to avoid giving them to others.
then, confront the lerk in a close quarters battle where you have the upper hand.
preferably done with shotgun. <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'><!--endemo-->
congrats, you have a dead lerk corpse.
1. They dont panic, occasionally it will be a newbie but the regulars wont panic if you drop from th ceiling with an HMG
2. They will fire from a range and if anyone runs at them they will spike them to death before they get close or drop back and let skulks and fades take them out.
I tried the charge the lerks down routine and my marines just got repeatedly cut to ribbons. It didn't help that there were two or maybe three lerks stacking spores. Yes I also tried charge with medspam but marines have a habit of standing where you cant drop health <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
GL's take ages to research. Yes they are a good counter but the cost and time involved means they arrive too late. Any better ideas? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Spores don't stack, for starters.
Anytime a lerk can spike you, you can shoot it. Just rush them. Seriously. They don't bite (anymore).
It doesn't matter whether they panic or not. They take very very few bullets to kill. They can be calm as can be, but they'll still die.
A lerk is obviously different than many lerks. Trying to fight a whole bunch of lerks with vanilla marines is roughly on scale with fighting a bunch of shotty marines with skulks. Obviously, you need a new plan. If you're fighting a whole pack of lerks, you're going to need some cover from a GL to get close to them. Once you get close to a lerk, they can't really put up a fight.
Lerks are the complete opposite of skulks. Skulks kill you in close quarters, but marines win out easy against lerks in the same way.
Spores do stack when they are fired from multiple lerks. I've had marines spawning with 60hp because of spore stacking, they can barely figure out where the enemy is before they die.
Yes lerks only require a few hits, but with the hitbox issues, spores making sight more difficult, healing gorges and skulks ready to pounce this one hive wander is remarkably difficult to kill. By the time the lerk is taken out he has enough res from kills to re-lerk and try again.
I've already tried myself and seen these tactics tried by my marines with near zero success. Once the multiple lerk sporing starts you've either got HA/GL or your going to be spore killed for the next 30 minutes. <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
but I am willing to go away and try again. I think the problem only occurs when you have multiple lerks attacking. We shall see.
I'm serious. You'd be surprised how many kills a Lerk can get when you don't well vents shut, and how many times marines don't bother to weld vents. Even the ones leading into their base (eclipse and caged anyone?).
Aside from that, there aren't too many counters for lerks early on. Human towers can get those hard to reach places some of the time.
Run out of base, kill the lerk, whatever to avoid/stop the spores.]
No. You can't do that anymore. Spores float through map objects, but don't have an effect. I've been behind a lamp post and been immune.
Best counter, though, is teamwork. Lerks are fast and dodgy, but are made of paper. One shotgun blast, or a few well aimed lmg + pistol shots, and bye bye lerk... Which means you need one guy to flush, and one guy to hit the escaping lerk... Or you need to bait the lerk. Lots of choices, but they require teamwork (does happen, honest).
Most of my hate is due to a player on Roob's called ACE, he is extremely patient and careful. He will go lerk in a vent at MS and spore it the entire game. As it inflicts such a res defecit due to med spam you never can afford anything, not to mention any people going through PG's do so already damaged....
In 2.01c they nerfed umbra! It should have been spores, less time or more energy.
If the lerk just 'pop out' spores you NEVER have the chance to kill it....
A lerk with SoF + Regen = virtually unkillable.
-- o Spores damage reduced significantly. Spores no longer damage players through walls.
-- o Rework spores to be able to hold off groups of T1 marines, but fall to HMGs even while defending a hive (currently they can hold off tier 2 marines with enough lerks) (Increased area of particle effect, to more accurately represent their area of effect spores do the same damage, but they do it more often, and they never stack).
1 - If there is a vent at base, I will be in it. Solution? Don't build anything people will be at near the vent. No Armoury near vent. No PG. Put turrets at a point where they can shoot into the vent. They are more patient and more accurate than most of your team.
2 - If you must shoot me, use a pistol. It doesn't spray so much, thusly you hit me more. If you hit me more, I die.
3 - If you can't shoot me, leave me alone. At most I can spike up an RT or anything you've been fool enough to put in front of me, but thats it. If you leave me alone, I'll have to expose myself or do nothing.
4 - Weld the entrance to the vent I'm in, so that if/when you DO kill me, I can't go to the same position and repeat my performance.
5 - When you get a GL, spam me. You've welded my vent, I can't escape, so it's only a matter of time before a grenade hits me.
Hope some of that helps. I realise it won't amuse rambos, people who can't aim, and those who find it unbalanced that they can't shoot around corners, but it WILL help anyone who's looking to stay alive and follow orders.
I guess it's lame to stop any kind of tactic that aliens use now. Oh no, I R TEH ULTIMATE LAMER NOW! <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
So, here are my 2 cent on spores.
STOP WHINING! It does what? 5 dmg per second... most of the time I get spored I'll take a maximum amount of 10 health.
Run after the lerk! They are so damn weak! You can kill em with one pistol clip (and a few extra rounds maybe) or one LMG clip. Forget about grenades... they fall like mosquitos that sniffed OFF.
As soon as marines get HA, spore becomes a useless weapon. Lerk spikes are very weak (the way they should be) and umbra as AGAIN been nerfed (was like 5/6 in 1.04, then 3/4 in 2.0, then 2/3 in 2.01d?).
Lerks have wet pape for armor, spore dont stack, bite was removed, umbra was nerfed and spike while good arn't going to win aginst a decent marine.
honestly lerks are so easy to conter I cant really think of anything to say. ah, I feel bad for you
P.S. LA GROUPS AGAINST LERKS ARE BAD. It's better to block map routes (if there are no vents) with 2 guys than try to go after a SoF lerk with 5. You can't do anything with more people against a SoF lerk except cost your commander a helluva lot of RP. Better to sacrifice just 1 marine to keep a lerk busy.
2. phase gate = very good tool (avoid temporary spore)
3. Grenade launcher would take a while, but efficient to take their paper life away <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Losing 32 - 36 resources vs freeing up parts of the map for its fellow aliens for 5 minutes is definately a trade in the lerk's favor.