Phase Tech
Spetz
Join Date: 2002-11-05 Member: 7100Members
Join Date: 2002-11-05 Member: 7100Members
<div class="IPBDescription">why do comms never get it?</div> I have played a lot of 2.0 games on the marine side, and hardly ever do comms seem to get phase tech until much later in the game. I see phase gates as the single most useful marine structure and should be researched right at the start of the game, before gun upgrades. The effectiveness of having your marines being able to get to a key location on the map "at the speed of light" cannot be underestimated...i've seen marine teams lose won games because of lack of phase gates to the two hives the comm put turret factories in. :/
IMO, comms should build 2 ip, armoury, obs, research phase tech and then go for RT and a hive. THEN weapon/armour upgrades. WHat does everyone else think?
IMO, comms should build 2 ip, armoury, obs, research phase tech and then go for RT and a hive. THEN weapon/armour upgrades. WHat does everyone else think?
Comments
Its tactical advantage is more than any other upgrade. I mean it balances the marines main weakness (speed) against the aliens abilities. PG's are also a good way toget people to stick together. If you put a waypoint people tend to arrive it dribs and drabs as soon as a PG is up they all go together.
What does ZIGGY's post mean? :/
If you're going to turret up an area somewhere, it's rather silly to not build a phase gate. A gorge (or really anything other than a skulk) can take out a fairly defended TF faster than marines can walk to a hive.
then after that go for a hive then 1 rez node, then take over one of they're rez nodes, then go for hive so on so forth, like that then set up PG's at they're old hive locations so it's easy to move around the map
It's not as safe a win as good TF'ing, but it's SO much more fun, it's also alot closer to how I think the game was intended to be playing. In other words, if this was a pure RTS, the non-comm players would be the actual fighting units, not the drones building defense... It also results in those fabled 15-20 minute games that aren't shotgun rushes.
However, comms often neglected phase tech when they, in fact, plan to research it, because it's easy to mix. Until someone calls for a phase gate, it's easy to say, "Hey, my marines are dying, so let's get more weapons/armor upgrades!", and only later realize the mistake (I've done this before).
Yeah but mintman once you've done that and built a TF and four turrets at the hive you plan to secure, the aliens rush it and take down the TF and the turrets and you're left with nothing but a res hole because your marines can't get there fast enough to save it.
What you do before building a TF is build a PG in the hive and base, once the PG is up the position can be reinforced and your whole team (theoretically) can be there instantly.
Compare that with how long it takes one marine to build a TF and 4 turrets with the time it takes for a marine to build a phase gate (roughly the same time as building a TF) and 4 marines to phase through AND the res cost.
Another tip - recycle obsolete phases. Saves you some res and means your men aren't hopping around obsolete phase areas.
Whenever my heavies need reinforcements, I have them build a phase, have the new heavies phase through to back 'em up, and then I recycle it. Fairly cheap in the long run, and fast.
I a few recent games I've seen the first structure to go down when securing a position a TF! A PG is almost always a better investment. Even including the tech time + cost!
To illustrate this I did a survey on CoFR with the question: How many turrets = a LMG marine? Most people said about 5 and this sounds reasonable. One marine in a long hallway can easily be shrugged off by an onos, likewise with 5 turrets. 2 marines however <b>should</b> generally cause a redemp as will 10 turrets. (Although its still a rough estimate that does not hold entirely, so don't moan about the comparison)
So as a comm ask you self this, should you secure a location with 25 turrets for 265 res or 5 marines for 15 res? I think it's obvious which is best.
To some up: USE PHASE GATES!!!!
Any particular reason?
The lesson: Guard > TF farm + eletrification + PG
Guard + TF farm + eletrification + PG = VERY hard to take position. (this is assuming the guard is at least decent and understands all of this).
Weld the tfac back up? Send a guard to cover the first guard who's welding? What happens if your team are busy elsewhere?
Its been pointed out in another thread that building a base round a pg is an investment that you are forced to protect. IMHO there should never be a situation where you have to hold a PG/TFarm - you should never be in the situation where aliens are on attack.
They can destroy a lamed up base at endgame, so rest assured they can smash up anything you build anywhere. Don't rely on turtling if you intend to win against competent aliens.
And I LOVE it when some rambo who knows what he is doing sneaks into a poorly defended hive and builds a pg. It doesn't always work (I play mostly on pub severs) but its entertaining at the very least.