Oc Placement
Michael
Join Date: 2004-10-22 Member: 32400Members
Join Date: 2004-10-22 Member: 32400Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Where do you put them?</div> I would like to know where to put OCs in a NS game. Hidden in the corner or out in the open to cover as much as an area possible. I have heard opinions to both sides and would like to get to the bottom of things.
Comments
For example it is good idea to place 2-3 ocs just in front of hive in viaduct or powersilo in ns_nothing. Those hives are easy to take down with only 2-3 jetpacker with shotgun. And put 1-2 ocs to redroom because it is siegespot to viaduct hive.
Good example of blocking pivot point is cargo storage in ns_tanith. Even if you don't have hive in fusion reactor, it is good idea to put some ocs to cargo. Tou can place them at top of "balcony" or drop them top of boxes near entrance.
I don't usuallu place then in corridors or far from hive. Lonely ocs are very easy to kill so you should always protect them. The best use for them is to reinforce already protected ares (just like cargo storage in tanithj, you should always keep eye on it). And I usually drop them in pairs. One oc is not worth of it, unless placed in hive.
And never place oc in hive in the first 2 minutes of game. If you need it in first minutes, you lose anyway. If you don't need it, those res should have used to build rt or put oc in strategic place (cargo again).
Its not how big/small area they cover, it is how strategic their location is.
I prefer the attached pic. They're still somewhat visible from the corridors, and thats bad, but they're spaced out to avoid grenade damage. You can put a DC or SC in any corner in order to toughen them up though. From the entrances, marines will only really see 1-2 OC. When they enter the room however, they get the full force of all four. If you web the middle of the room then marines are easy kills. Skulks can camp the corner ceiling in order to ambush any weakened marines who enter. This is your average "ZONE of lame".
I use the "skewed square" set up to catch a lot of marines and its good for choke points. DCs are easily added to the corners, with an SC in the fourth.
Second, dont make the mistake of stacking OCs. They wont fire properly. Either use well spaced apart triangles (two on the base side by side, one on top in the middle of the two so all three can fire) or put them on top of DC/SC (two ranks of chambers - front rank OC, second rank DC/SC, and on top of the DC/SC place OC). These "WALLS of lame" appear in the mid to end game where you need to deny marines access to an area. DCs will make them unkillable, and you just need a bit of web and healspray. They are, however, SEVERELY vulnerable to GLs, grens, and sieges.
Personally I use zones of lame, and they can be easily added to as time goes on. They dont block alien travel, but do a fine job of stalling marines. They're good ambush points too, and if you get a good choke point you can have fellow aliens healing at your DC (under cover of SC) while the OCs are firing at any pursuing marine. The minibase of the alien team.
OC placement should be about maximum damage to the target with maximum efficiency. All OCs should be able to shoot anywhere in the room, and should DEFINITELY be able to cover any and all entrances. They fall into the above zones/walls of lame, and hive JP defence. Hive JP defence is pretty easy - set up OC to shoot jetpackers. This is pretty essential in most games as ninja phases can make life miserable.
Use these things SPARINGLY as they cost a lot of res which you will probably NOT get back - OCs are deterrents and most rines will not be fool enough to run into a nest of them without weapons. Second, 4 OCs could be the last ditch hive relocate you needed to win.
If you arrange them just right marines wont see the OCs untill they reach the end of the hallway, but you get the idea..
Same as putting turrets around a tfac but leaving a blind spot.
As for Rushakra's "balls of lame"... I'm pretty sure most servers will kick you for that sort of activity.
Res is quite useful, if you haven't noticed. 3-4 OCs =~ a hive. What do you want; a well-defended room, or a new hive going up? Maybe a lerk, or a fade. Use your res for better purposes <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
If you're rich in res, string them through a series of rooms one at a time. This often counters the type of 'good' rambo marine who knows to run by just one chamber, as he will encounter and perhaps ignore chamber after chamber along his route. Either way, either he wastes bullets/time killing one (and even then it's just ONE oc for chirssakes), or he arrives at his destination armorless and wounded.
To bad they don't have a warning like the comm gets for turrets firing! That'd be sweet... hint hint...
On the other hand, having the whole team deafened by an OC near a building would suck severely. Maybe just a graphical warning? Whatever.
this helps esp when ur team goes sc.
I tend to drop two if someone has already got dibs on a hive. Then you can "top up" the zone of lame as time passes. If nothing else they're good spots to put DC/MC/SC for your team's benefit, as opposed to ALL in a hive.
As far as early warning systems are concerned... maybe. Marines will sometimes try to "run the gauntlet" in order to avoid a "building under attack" message. This is good for a ZoL, as it almost always (for my ones at least) means a dead marine.
Second, some comms will tell their men to just "run through" and get med spammed as they go. This is pretty pricy for them and if they don't get a PG up then he'll have to keep medspamming the Zone of Lame AND medspam where the living marines are. Tricky.
With 2 OCs you can set up a small choke at any main corridor.. only for ROOMS do you actually need any more than that.
One should never underestimate the power of a WOL. One or two DC's and 5 OC's tends to attract marines like moths to a flame. They're just hellbent on breaking it down, even if they could just pick a different route. Good source of RFK.
And I still say be wary of balls of lame, because they're frowned upon by most servers with rules.
Edit - Cockroaches check in, but they don't check out.
If you lame the cargo area just to the west of mess hall you can have a far more secure choke point, especially since marines have problems with climbing ladders.
You place OCs where they are on lower ground than where marines will come from, yet their head is exposed. A good example is on Topographical on veil. For those who don't know where that is, it's first res you find as a marine if you travel east from marine start. Well, the RT is on higher ground, and that is the ground marines will travel on. So you place the OCs on the lower ground so that only the head sticks out...
Another part of OC placement is also where on the map you place it. You definitely want to place OCs on chokepoints where it is a very tight area. Here's some tips:
nancy:
- behind the door that leads to port
- near the upper area from the ladder that leads to mess hall (center of map)
- in the upper area where auxilary res is (near mother)
tanith:
- in the area on the elevator at chemical (near sat com)
- above the ladder near acidic (between chemical and fusion)
- above the walkway at waste
veil:
- the lower area at topographical
- the intersection between topographical, c-12 and double res
nothing:
- beneath the elevator near generator
- beneath elevator near foreboding
caged:
- the grate area that is near marine start, OCs will sink a bit, but the head will stick out
- the area to the left of double res
- entrance into shipping tunnel
mineshaft:
- below elevator near marine start
There's a lot more, but I could only think of this much. Try to place the upgrade chambers in vents or areas where it is hard to see/kill them. It's also a bonus if OCs make the marines face another way so that a skulk that enters the room can easily land a bite from the side or behind the marine.
OC fortresses are good for lone marines walking around a corner with anything but the grenade launcher.
What I do, however, is spread them thinly out along a corridor. This has MANY advantages.
The main advantage of this strategy is of course is the warning. A GLer might be able to take out 1 before you are able to kill him, but a group of OCs will take many casualties.
Along a corrider, lay an oc about every 10 "feet". This strategy is BEST if you have plenty of res and web. JPers trying to slip past will be wuickly overwhelmed, while heavies will simply walk out and assassinate your precious OCs -- but this will prvide plenty of warning, as they will also will be burning ammo on OCs, one by one.
I also like to make it so when a marine walks into a room he gets the maximum amount of spikes at the same time.
Then I also put them in common seige spots because on the server I play on they don't understand not shooting.
Then sometimes I do the whole "Football field of OC" thing. On eclipse I had one on each side of MS and those JPs couldnt get out unless they all rushed one side. Then only half of em got out..severely damaged.
I'm pretty sure that's considered an exploit, though. I could be wrong.
I'm pretty sure that's considered an exploit, though. I could be wrong. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Are you sure?
One GL, a bit of time, and a few ammo/health packs, and the alien just wasted 50+ res. I don't know of any exploit that has such an easy counter. Even a couple sieges would be a cost effecient way of killing it.
Anyhow, spread out is better versus most counters, and most rines will try to run through spread out OC nests. That gets kills, which is what you want generally unless you're just building a nuisance. Fields of lame are also cheaper to maintain than a wall.
The real trick to OC master lame is to get the marines to run through it rather than shoot it. Camp near the other end as a skulk and you can rack up lots of rfk for more lame or important things like upgrade chambers and hives. Also seems to attract a lot of marine attention. FEEDING FRENZY.
The other thing I do is when I want to confine the marines into their base early. Good example being this one map, forgot the name... it's either eclipse or viel (the marines have these really anoying automatically opening doors that seem to always get me killed if I have no backup. There's a vent behind the nearest RT on the right side of Marine Start, that leads to marine start.)
Ok, I'm sure most of you know which map I'm talking about now. I go to one side (usually the right side as that tends to be closer to maintenence and sub) and make the rt, 3 ocs, and 2 dcs then I stay there defending it with healspray for a little while. I get level 2 regen from the 2 dcs, and maybe level 3 if anyone else dropped dcs, and that lasts either until I leave and they rush it or they spam it with grenades.
Though I don't permagorge very often, usually drop 1 RT, 1 OC (depending on the map), go skulk and save for a hive or fade if someone else wants to get the hive.
That requires 75 res to do all that. If no one else on your team has dropped another DC yet, then you shouldn't be spending that much res in one place.