Using Scs Against The Aliens
Sky
Join Date: 2004-04-23 Member: 28131Members
Join Date: 2004-04-23 Member: 28131Members
<div class="IPBDescription">How to make a strength into a weakness</div> So, sensory chambers now grant insta-sof? Does this spell the end to ninja phases everywhere? Certainly the strategy takes a slight hit, but there are a few things marines can do to help bring back the rambo-rine pg strat, as well as to use the limited scent of fear against the aliens.
First of all, know when it's safe to ninja. If the aliens go MC first (which is just as viable as SC first), then you have nothing to worry about, and the rest of this post is pointless. You should know right in the first 2 minutes or so which chamber the aliens chose; if you haven't been attacked by a cloak or focus skulk by the 3 minute mark, you can assume that 1) The aliens didn't drop scs, or 2) the aliens aren't committed to dropping an extensive sc net, so rambos might still have a chance.
Now, if the aliens DO drop sensory chambers in their hives, here is what you do: test the boundaries of the automatic sof. Try hiding for a while outside of a hive; if no one attacks you, move a little closer. Do this until you are spotted by an alien (presumably with sof). This strategy works much better if you have MT: just move slowly towards the hive until blips start converging on your position, and you've found the range of the sensory chambers.
Now, to exploit it: since the aliens will most likely be watching their screens for sof icons as their way of detecting marines in the hive, they are less likely to be actually patrolling the hives. So, what you can do is build a phase gate just outside of the range of sof outside a hive, and the aliens will most likely not even notice. Then, when your entire team is there, the comm quickly drops the pg, tf, turrets, whatever, and by the alien team is alerted by the sof icons and has arrived to "cleanse the intruders", you're already quite well fortified and ready for their attack.
The best way to use the built-in sof to your advantage, however, is to spread misinformation to the aliens. Most players are used to the rambo phase marine strategy, so most players won't be surprised when they spot that lone marine on sof in a hive. "Silly rambo, I've got you now!" they'll think, as they dash off to kill the marine and any potential phase gates he's putting up. What they don't know is that that marine has no intention of setting up a phase gate; he's just a diversion. The rest of the marine team is forming up with shotties outside of the other hive (obviously outside of sof range), waiting for the sole "rambo" to report being attacked by fades or multiple aliens at least before charging the hive guns blazing. The aliens won't know what hit 'em.
Now, obviously a simple ninja phase is a much more effective strategy than any of these ideas, but the days of easy ramboing are (rightly) gone now. Any marine who wants to sneak around in 3.0 will have to be a bit more intelligent. Plus fooling pubbers using their own sof against them is just gold. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
First of all, know when it's safe to ninja. If the aliens go MC first (which is just as viable as SC first), then you have nothing to worry about, and the rest of this post is pointless. You should know right in the first 2 minutes or so which chamber the aliens chose; if you haven't been attacked by a cloak or focus skulk by the 3 minute mark, you can assume that 1) The aliens didn't drop scs, or 2) the aliens aren't committed to dropping an extensive sc net, so rambos might still have a chance.
Now, if the aliens DO drop sensory chambers in their hives, here is what you do: test the boundaries of the automatic sof. Try hiding for a while outside of a hive; if no one attacks you, move a little closer. Do this until you are spotted by an alien (presumably with sof). This strategy works much better if you have MT: just move slowly towards the hive until blips start converging on your position, and you've found the range of the sensory chambers.
Now, to exploit it: since the aliens will most likely be watching their screens for sof icons as their way of detecting marines in the hive, they are less likely to be actually patrolling the hives. So, what you can do is build a phase gate just outside of the range of sof outside a hive, and the aliens will most likely not even notice. Then, when your entire team is there, the comm quickly drops the pg, tf, turrets, whatever, and by the alien team is alerted by the sof icons and has arrived to "cleanse the intruders", you're already quite well fortified and ready for their attack.
The best way to use the built-in sof to your advantage, however, is to spread misinformation to the aliens. Most players are used to the rambo phase marine strategy, so most players won't be surprised when they spot that lone marine on sof in a hive. "Silly rambo, I've got you now!" they'll think, as they dash off to kill the marine and any potential phase gates he's putting up. What they don't know is that that marine has no intention of setting up a phase gate; he's just a diversion. The rest of the marine team is forming up with shotties outside of the other hive (obviously outside of sof range), waiting for the sole "rambo" to report being attacked by fades or multiple aliens at least before charging the hive guns blazing. The aliens won't know what hit 'em.
Now, obviously a simple ninja phase is a much more effective strategy than any of these ideas, but the days of easy ramboing are (rightly) gone now. Any marine who wants to sneak around in 3.0 will have to be a bit more intelligent. Plus fooling pubbers using their own sof against them is just gold. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Comments
If you've got a large SC network, or you're a higher life form, then focus is better.
Here are a few things you have to do if you want to counter SCs:
1. Get Armor1. Otherwise, Focus + SCs will rip your marines apart. You'll have a much greater chance of surviving if you're surprised.
2. Travel in groups. This is always important, but it becomes more important against SCs. 2 people can spot partially decloacked aliens twice as well as 1 person can. If your buddy gets hit from behind by a cloaker, you'll have a much larger chance to kill his assailant, than he will.
3. Get an obs. Scan often. Scan some more. Drop another obs by your PG in the hive you secured (you did secure a hive, right?).
4. Hunt down SCs. Make note of where they are when your comm scans. Have the comm drop a waypoint on top of the SC. If you can't take down their SCs, then you will forfeit your map control.
5. Be aggressive. You have to take down their RTs. They'll spend more res covering the map with SCs than they'd spend with DCs/MCs, so take advantage of that. Their 2nd/3rd fades and lerks will come out slower than usual.
Also, static defense becomes better against SCs. Higher life forms have a harder time taking out static defense without DCs. I'm not saying you should turret farm the whole map, but if you've got lots of res, then consider using mines or even electrification.
To the contrary, feinting works best against MC aliens... a good enough marine team can take out the alien mcs in a hive, shoot it, draw them in, and then hit another hive while the aliens haul arse. It's not a particular vulnerability of sensory... quite to the contrary, if you see only 1 (one!) marine in the hive, you're likely to only get a few aliens responding at most.