Experiences of a newbie commander

RuneGrey

<div class="IPBDescription">...or my day with my marines.</div>Well, after playing for a short time, I finally had the chance to sit back in the command console and attempt to lead my marines to victory.  Sufficient to say, it was like nothing that I ever really experienced.

The first thing that I discovered was that you need to train your marines - most of them can be like little children from time to time, wanting to have lots and lots of big weapons to go play with, and will run off and do their own thing.  Normally I would have been nice and indulged them...  but this game, I didn't have the option.

When I took command, I was rather hard pressed on all sides by the aliens, who had effectively boxed us in and cut us off from all but one resource node.  I didn't have the RPs to give out the big weapons with, and only 9 marines and a dozen turrets to hold off the advance.

My first big tip to commanders - get Siege Turrets.  These things are GODLY, and are the ultimate area denial system when set up properly.  If you can't hold a resource node, at least make certain that the enemy will not either.  In my case, a pair of Siege cannons cleared out a huge number of offense towers that had been constructed around our base, and the shockwaves delayed the aliens and gave us time to catch our breath.

Second...  your marines need to understand that you're doing what you can.  Resources are not unlimited, and if they want the big toys, they need to do the work.  Essentially it comes down to a simple equation - I'll give you X fun things to blow crap up with if you first go and capture Y resource nodes for me.  Pretty simple, and ones your marines start thinking as a team instead of individuals, things begin to go better.

Teamwork is always the key - don't boot your commander if you don't get what you want right away - oftentimes they may have a strategy that you can't see just yet.  And also...  people just need time to learn.  Get used to the controls, and develop tactics that will help their marines.  My boys and girls didn't ever have to shoot at a building as we pushed the aliens back - Siege Cannons were sufficient to eliminate the defensive structures, leaving only the alien players for the mopup.

So think ahead, don't panic, and do what you can to help - RPs are not unlimited, but cunning is. ^_~

~RuneGrey

EggHed

You are absolutely right. I had to train my marines to follow orders, at first, they would not go to waypoints, but then i gained there respect by placing the right buildings in the right places, then they started to listen to me.
Another game i played i used siege turrets, and your right. They rock. I managed to level a fully defended hive with 2 of them.

Shifty_Eyes

ironically enough, I had to tell a LOT of new commanders to STOP dropping ammo/health. It was nuts, the ground would be COVERED in healthkits that could have been turrets or a resource collecter.

TheRandomSin

yes... i had my first try at commandering today and frankl;y, i roxored... though it took me a little but to get around to what you needed cause there were turrets to be placed and marines ready to build them... but am i frankly going to stop placing turrets to give you armor/weapons when i can have those set up... i also was getting mixed up when the people said something like "I need health at the Vent shafts."  and then im like "where the hell is the vent?  now which one? which dot are you?" lol but hey, i did alright...

Inexorable

There is another reason not to drop excessive amounts of health and ammo. Those little pickups show up on your minimap just like structures. It's a ##### trying to find anything when the entire map is covered in blue dots.

The same thing can be said of turrets. I've seen games were you could barely move because the main base was wall to wall turrets. For 3 turrets I can outfit a marine with Heavy armor, a HMG and tripmines. Consider that.

Narfwak

Glad to see that there are some good commanders.  All the commanders I have been under never set up waypoints, never really gave explicit orders, never really developed any rhyme or reason to what they were doing, and generally just sucked a big, fat pile of ###.

Keep up the good work.

Mindmeldme

Yes, to cover both of those points it seems a lot of commander forget the best defense at times is a good offense. Now out right in the beginning of the game you lack the resources to do much...and i believe spending them on a mess of towers will not help. Now I'm not saying bum rush out and attack the aliens...no, bad idea. It's just usually...beginning of the game, marines do die at times...it happens, that's what they are there for...so some are usually at the spawn. I hate losing men, but I can't be everywhere at once. Now two or three turrents well placed in the spawn is usually more then enough to hold off a mess of aliens if they do rush before the team can respawn or get back. Placed turrents all over will only waste resources better spent on your marines and crowd up your areas making it harder for your men to move about.

Next is fun with ammo and Medpacks. Drop them when needed, and drop enough, but don't crowd an area with them. Then you have a horde of blue dots all over the map and you can't find any of your GREEN marines when you need to. Remember...those packs cost resources...they are not much but they add up...and 5 med packs that no one needs is about 1/3 of a HMG now. Be attentive...drop what is needed and one or two extra...that's it till they are needed again...ammo...drop a mess to make sure there is enough, after that shoot for an armory. It's a lot easier to have mini bases at resource nods then to have to endlessly watch over all your marines.