Bunches Of Noob-ish Questions
mayhem1
Join Date: 2004-05-18 Member: 28745Members
Join Date: 2004-05-18 Member: 28745Members
Been playing NS for about a month now, I've picked up the basics but have lotsa random questions that I can't find answers for in the manual:
Chambers -- how do people know how many of each kind (dc/mc/sc) are on the map at any given moment? Do they just quickly glance at the map and count or is there some special HUD option or console command to see a total?
OC's -- worthless? As an alien, if there are two or more turrets nearby it seems like we need a Fade (50 res) to do anything about it. But a single marine can take down bunches of OC's without breaking a sweat. Am I missing something here?
Leap -- If you are good at bunny hopping, is there any reason/advantage to using leap?
Xenocide -- Is there some trick to more effective xenociding? It could be my imagine, but it seems like I have much more success when I blow up mid-air instead of on the ground.
Umbra -- How should you aim it? Do you just have to shoot it at the person you're trying to protect and then he's protected for the next 3 seconds (regardless of where he runs off to) or does he have to stay inside the cloud to get the benefit?
Configs -- With some units (Fade/Lerk), I see good players do some extremely fast weapon switches. I'm talking about blink-swipe-blink-swipe etc. Using the default config, that's a lot of button mashing (blink-attack-swipe-attack). Do people use a bind/script for faster weapon switches? e.g., something like left-mouse blinks, right-mouse swipes...
Combat -- I can't seem to figure out what the rules governing XP are. I seem to get XP and random times; sometimes I get lots of kills but very little XP. Sometimes I get no kills and seem to get XP just for soaking up damage. Can anyone clarify?
Phase Gates -- On servers that don't let you choose where you phase, what's the logic for the phase-gate cycle? Proximity?
Onos -- Gore is super easy to aim, but I can't devour for the life of me, especially when the marine is crouching. What gives? On my screen I'm pointed straight at the guy spamming devour and my tusk just flops around and does nothing 90% of the time. Any tricks?
Cloaking -- It seems to break at random times, and I can't always hide when I want to. Sometimes I stand still for several seconds, nothing happens.. I nudge forward and inch and then it works. Bug? And then I hold down walk and start moving but the cloak fails for no apparent reason. Help?
That's all I can come up with on a Friday afternoon. Thanks in advance to any helpful answerers!
Chambers -- how do people know how many of each kind (dc/mc/sc) are on the map at any given moment? Do they just quickly glance at the map and count or is there some special HUD option or console command to see a total?
OC's -- worthless? As an alien, if there are two or more turrets nearby it seems like we need a Fade (50 res) to do anything about it. But a single marine can take down bunches of OC's without breaking a sweat. Am I missing something here?
Leap -- If you are good at bunny hopping, is there any reason/advantage to using leap?
Xenocide -- Is there some trick to more effective xenociding? It could be my imagine, but it seems like I have much more success when I blow up mid-air instead of on the ground.
Umbra -- How should you aim it? Do you just have to shoot it at the person you're trying to protect and then he's protected for the next 3 seconds (regardless of where he runs off to) or does he have to stay inside the cloud to get the benefit?
Configs -- With some units (Fade/Lerk), I see good players do some extremely fast weapon switches. I'm talking about blink-swipe-blink-swipe etc. Using the default config, that's a lot of button mashing (blink-attack-swipe-attack). Do people use a bind/script for faster weapon switches? e.g., something like left-mouse blinks, right-mouse swipes...
Combat -- I can't seem to figure out what the rules governing XP are. I seem to get XP and random times; sometimes I get lots of kills but very little XP. Sometimes I get no kills and seem to get XP just for soaking up damage. Can anyone clarify?
Phase Gates -- On servers that don't let you choose where you phase, what's the logic for the phase-gate cycle? Proximity?
Onos -- Gore is super easy to aim, but I can't devour for the life of me, especially when the marine is crouching. What gives? On my screen I'm pointed straight at the guy spamming devour and my tusk just flops around and does nothing 90% of the time. Any tricks?
Cloaking -- It seems to break at random times, and I can't always hide when I want to. Sometimes I stand still for several seconds, nothing happens.. I nudge forward and inch and then it works. Bug? And then I hold down walk and start moving but the cloak fails for no apparent reason. Help?
That's all I can come up with on a Friday afternoon. Thanks in advance to any helpful answerers!
Comments
Offense Chambers - Yes, they are almost useless. Think of them as a overpriced speedbump.
Leap - Due to bugged hitboxes, I find it easier to kill on the ground rather then in the air. I dont get enough practice using it either.
Xenocide - Adren really comes in handy, wait around a corner start the Xeno and leap in. Takes practice but its worth it!
Umbra - Its hard to effectively umbra a fast fade, umbra whatever they are blinking toward. For oni just umbra the ground just in front of them.
Configs - Do a search of the forum, there are a few of them around =)
Combat - Exp is given when you kill someone, or when someone else near you kills something you get exp but not as much. Stay in packs so if one of your team makes a kill you all get exp.
Phase Gates - I think its in the order they were built but im not sure. A good commander will keep the number of phases to a minimum for quick movement
Devour - Put the marine in the center of your screen, aim with the tip of your horn for their torso. The thing with devour is it always fails you at the moment you need it the most.
Cloaking - You cannot cloak near observatorys and you are slightly visible while walking cloaked. If the marines have motion tracking you are much better off with scent of fear or focus
chambers: well for the DC's, you can tell if less than three are placed by the amount of health that regen gives you. I dont remember the exact numbers, buts its like 6/8/10 or something, you can also just watch the upper left corner, it shows whenever a chamber is dropped.
OC's: They are not worthless, but good placement, and accompaniment by a DC is key. There is currently a problem with marines being able to shoot them from around corners, but I believe this is a HL engine problem.
Leap: Leap is a damage multiplier, effectively, if you leap against a person for the full 2(?) seconds, it doubles the damage your bite will do as long as the bite is deilivered before the leap ends.
Xenoside: The only trick I can suggest to you is press xeno, then leap towards a group of marines. You probally notice the xeno killing more rines in midair because there are no stuctures blocking the blast radius for the marines.
Umbra: You have to be in the cloud for umbra to work.
Configs: There are blink/swipe and leap/bite scripts out there, but you can just as easily use -lastinv, it switches to the last weapon used, default it q i believe.
XP in combat: If you are close to a rine that makes a kill, you get XP for it, this encourages team play.
PhaseGates: They work in the order they were placed. There are AMX/MetaMod plugins for PG's that allow you to choose were you want to go, but these are server side plugins.
Devour: Aim at the rines feet/midseciton, and try croutching when using devour, and stop will make devouring INFINTELY easier.
Cloak: I have noticed random times when it doesnt seem to cloak me, but meh. As far as walking, you cant use straffe while cloaked, your forward speed is to great for you to remain cloaked, again an HL Engine bug, but just use forward and your mouse to turn.
hope this helps <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
OC's -- Only effective at close quarter's where the marine's can't shoot them at angles or distances. Good with multiple chambers stacked in one area.
Leap -- Leap is good for hit-and-run tactic's especially when you can leap and bite quickly after.
Xenocide -- There's not really any tricks for xenocide except getting as close as possible then exploding or running into large groups of crowded marine's, another tactic you can use is hit xenocide then leap quickly after or bite.
Umbra -- Just shoot it at the alien(s) and where they may be fleeing or trying to move next.
Configs -- Bind q lastinv = win
Combat -- Whenever a team-mate kills an alien or you kill one, the exp is shared between everyone around.
Phase Gates -- Custom mod's allow player's to choose which pg to goto, I love it.
Onos -- Here's a tip, don't use devour. It's cheap, useless, and did I forget.. lame? The best way to avoid devour is to duck because it causes the marines hitbox to sink into the ground and it can give your team-mate's enough time to kill an Onos as he tries his hardest to devour you. If you know the enemy is going to crouch, DON'T DEVOUR.
Cloaking -- Hold shift as you walk and you can cloak walk.
And OCs > JPS
(for the most part)
Can anyone provide more info on those mysterious "hit-boxes" and how crouching apparently messes with them? Is a crouching target un-devour-able? Also, I've spectated and seen some Fade players do amazing things with crouch.. like crouching midair as they blink, or crouching behind structures and taking very little damage as they pound away.. is this an important skill to have in NS ?
Can anyone provide more info on those mysterious "hit-boxes" and how crouching apparently messes with them? Is a crouching target un-devour-able? Also, I've spectated and seen some Fade players do amazing things with crouch.. like crouching midair as they blink, or crouching behind structures and taking very little damage as they pound away.. is this an important skill to have in NS ? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
When possible, ALWAYS CROUCH. You are definitely harder to hit, being that the hitbox is smaller, regardless of model representation. Yes, the fade hitbox is smaller then the animation shows.
Can anyone provide more info on those mysterious "hit-boxes" and how crouching apparently messes with them? Is a crouching target un-devour-able? Also, I've spectated and seen some Fade players do amazing things with crouch.. like crouching midair as they blink, or crouching behind structures and taking very little damage as they pound away.. is this an important skill to have in NS ? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yes, strafing speed can undo the effects of cloaking, which is why you should be careful to always try and move directly forward and adjust your view to do so. Be especially careful when wall-strafing as Skulk.
Hitboxes dictate the space where damage can be drawn upon a player. Crouching is indeed an important skill to take advantage of, seeing as any repositioning of one's body will adjust their hitbox as well. Crouching Marines aren't undevourable, it's just that much harder to devour them; crouching will counter this effectively, yet I'd advise against this when encountering large groups of enemies, seeing as you'll be much slower while crouching and open to enemy fire. Just aim low with devour (try aiming for ankles). As for crouching behind structures, enemy fire cannot penetrate beyond the hitbox of the structure. So if you can find a "blindspot" on a TF (position where you can attack a structure while avoiding enemy fire or turret fire), a good way to take advantage of this as larger evolutions is to crouch and stay as close as possible to the structure.
For devour problems, find a devour crosshair. I made one, that can be found somewhere in the depths of NSArmslab.
there will be a series of 3 "levels" to this image... the base image, is when you only have one chamber, two imagtes (the main one, and a part of it again to the upper left) and 3 (the main one, with two ghosted towards the upper left)...
for any more than three, you cannot tell without a server plugin.