The Road To Destruction

Durandal · November 2002

<div class="IPBDescription">With a Triple-A Map from the Marines</div> Ok, here's something that makes me a little grumpy.

Today I decided to give the command chair a shot after having a few test rounds in LAN mode. Now, granted, this was my first shot, but I thought I had a a fundamental understanding of the basic strategies involved in playing the marines, even if I wasn't sure I'd bring our side to victory, I was at least confident that I would give the aliens a run for their money.

So I jump in the chair. First thing I did was build a respawn point, then a turret factory, followed by a few turrets (nothing excessive), followed by an armory and then an observation tower was planned. After I built three turrets, people kept spamming me to fill the damn place with them (after I told them to look sharp and guard ents, with only one person working on each structure).

My next plan was for everyone to book it to the nearest hive and set up an aux base, and THEN work on the rest of the nodes (seeing as how we'd get one anyway from taking the hive, and wouldn't have to worry about it in the future).

My team didn't like that, and I was forced to stand down. So the new commander steps up, and you know what happens?

Thirty minutes of node jumping, and node defending.

And the aliens get three hives.

I just want to know if there was something screwy with my strat that I'm just not seeing, or if it's at least theoretically viable.

Thanks!

-Durandal

3psIloN · November 2002

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (-=Durandal=- @ Nov 7 2002, 06:42 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>So I jump in the chair. First thing I did was build a respawn point, then a turret factory, followed by a few turrets (nothing excessive), followed by an armory and then an observation tower was planned. After I built three turrets, people kept spamming me to fill the damn place with them (after I told them to look sharp and guard ents, with only one person working on each structure).
</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
1- You should of started by building the armory, the first wave needs the extra ammo.
2- Building the observation tower so soon in the game is useless, Kharaa don't have the cloaking ability yet.
3- Turrets are good for defence but Marines are your priority.

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'>

Cyborgguineapig · November 2002

Hey durandal! Nice too see another marathon fan in here <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'>

Kalias · November 2002

Tis almost a need of the marines to take a hive earlyish.. just the players still think they can play the same way they did before the patch, hence the "More turrets! more more!" and the lack of any hive defence, they figure they can just hide away until they get loads of hmg's and armour and win... they can't, they lose.

Mercior · November 2002

Going to an empty hive & setting up base there is an excellent strategy - especially if you build a couple of siege turrets in there... really slows down the aliens <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'>

Moleculor · November 2002

No your strategy was very viable. It's how we played in Playtesting. The rest of your team was just thinking in the old patch mode.... Did the aliens win?

Durandal · November 2002

Wow, Cyborgguineapig, so YOU'RE the other Marathon fan out there <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

Seriously though, I've been using this name for ages, and you're one of the few people who actually caught the reference. Yeah, Durandal is one of the best, if not THE best, character to ever grace computer game history.

I loved that series... god, it was the first FPS to actually have a story, and so ahead of it's time. Unfortuantely, I suppose, I'm a PC user now, but if I wasn't, I suppose I wouldn't be playing NS now, so hey, let the chips fall where they may.

In any case, Kalias, that's pretty much what I thought. I want to get that hive ASAP. And I'll keep that tip in mind about throwing down the armory first, then the spawn point. It's a tough call though.

Thanks for the advice. Any other tips are more than welcome.

-Durandal

Durandal · November 2002

Oh, and Moleculor, yes, the aliens won. We put up the standard long, frantic battle in the comm room, but once they got that third hive and the Onos' started pouring out, it was pretty much over for us.

-Durandal

Kalias · November 2002

quick point... spawn point first ALWAYS... I think they were referring to the armoury before turrets

-edit
reason is, it's possible for marines to die really fast... sometimes before they even get their first clip fired... and if theres nowhere to spawn... you've lost.

Durandal · November 2002

Gotcha, thanks!

-Durandal

matso · November 2002

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Kalias @ Nov 7 2002, 07:15 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>quick point... spawn point first ALWAYS... I think they were referring to the armoury before turrets

-edit
reason is, it's possible for marines to die really fast... sometimes before they even get their first clip fired... and if theres nowhere to spawn... you've lost.</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
IIRC, infantry portal is required to be built before you can even drop the armory. So IF first is
pretty much a no-brainer :-).

Greedo · November 2002

Spawn point has to go first. You don't have a choice, as it's a prerequisite to any other building. Personally, what I do is throw down a t fact 3-4 turrets, an observatory and send a squad to a hive right away, with 1 or 2 behind. Then, I throw down phase gates, one in the base, one at the hive. Then a tower at the hive node, turret factory, 2 or 3 turrets, a backup CC and an infantry portal. Then, and only then, will I generally consider throwing down an armory, and I always place it in the hive. Then it's off for the nodes between the hive and the marine spawn real quick, with phasegate linkage, and then off to get a second hive room, hopefully usually before they get that second hive up.

There's nothing wrong with your strategy, but some people want ammo and guns right off the bat. If you play with a clan, you can generally do what you want and they'll follow you, else you're at the whim of the masses.

Hayduke · November 2002

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (-=Durandal=- @ Nov 8 2002, 12:07 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Wow, Cyborgguineapig, so YOU'RE the other Marathon fan out there <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
Hell no he isnt. I'm a marathon fan from way back. Looks like you made your sig from that gif on the story page.. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'>

FROGBLAST THE VENTCORE!

Lt_Warhound · November 2002

Erh, Greedo, you do know you need an armory to get _ammo?

What do you do, keep supplying each marine with ammo packs as needed? Seems expensive.

The 100 rounds a marine starts with for the LMG goes fast. The 20 rounds for the pistol go faster.

How do you handle the need for ammo without an armory?

Rico1 · November 2002

Marines dont start wasting lots of ammo until later on in the round. I use the same strategy he uses (except for the phase gates, i build those late in the game).

As for the observatory, i dont really build that until we have HA and HMGS personally, but i do expand like a madman in order to keep my team well supplied and with good morale. You dont know what having HMGs feels like after only spending 5 mins of playing a round...

All at no expense of defence or technology at all <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'>

My tips: Expand expand expand. It makes all the difference. Build a turret factory near a hive, then upgrade it and siege it back to hell.

Ablack_ratE · November 2002

durandal for your first time commandin you had the right idea. lately i havent seen any marine wins because people are still stuck in 1.0. getting a hive right at the begining is so important. even if they cant build a hive yet they can fill it with chambers. but instead people try to grab as many nozzles as possible. and even worse is they dont bother to try to defend them. a few towers aint gonna do it anymore. the alien players who learned to win prepatch used amazing teamwork. i dont see this happening with marines nowadays.

Durandal · November 2002

Thanks for the host of tips and responses, guys. I'll give it another solid shot later on if I can get my teammates to extend a little trust <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'>

Hayduke, it looks like we're all crawling out of the woodwork now! And yes, I've spent many nights up way to late reading every inch of the Story page, hehe.

-Durandal

The Road To Destruction

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