General Guide to Pub Alien Commanding
statikg
Join Date: 2012-09-19 Member: 159978Members
Join Date: 2012-09-19 Member: 159978Members
Hi Guys this is not in depth map specific but a general guide for new players to learn to command as an alien. A good alien commander will always gorge and put some hydras around his own starting hive.
There are basically 2 good general opening strategies you want to pursue.
<u><b>Fast 2nd Hive</b></u>
A) Locate the marine base, once you know where it is immediately drop the second hive as far away as possible. Ask someone to gorge at the hive. At this point you should probably take the RT between your first and second hive and I like to take the 3rd RT at the second hive ASAP as well.
B) Upgrade leap. Leap is very strong and its the entire point of getting a fast second hive otherwise you should have done something else first. Some people prefer to get leap before the 3rd RT, but I think getting the 3 RTS down ASAP is key to improving your teams chances down the road.
C) You basically have 2 choices here, go for onos egg immediately or get upgrades. I prefer the upgrades because especially now with all the noobs around you often can't trust one player to carry the game for you. I always get carapace first when I'm doing this strategy because leap allows you to close the distance easily and contrary to some peoples belief, carapace makes a BIG difference fighting LMG marines.
D) Get Carapace or celerity whichever you didn't get first. Drop onos egg if you havn't done so yet.
E) Get adrenaline, bile bomb, spores, blink as appropriate. Look at which life forms you have alot of, if you have alot of people with 45+ res about to fade etc.
F) Continue to support your team with life forms, whips/craigs at forward positions.
<u><b>Fast Shift Hive</b></u>
A) Evolve the shift hive and try to lock down 3-4RTs right away. Usually this involves trying to hold a riskier more forward position like nanogrid in veil or courtyard in tram.
B) Ask your team to get a gorge in the risky position and put a shift there to use egg spawn to help hold it. Egg spawn forces people to spawn at that position.
C) Get celerity upgrade quickly
D) Organize team to take second hive location, get second hive. You may wish to place a shift nearby to help attack this position.
E) Get carapace and leap, I prefer carapace first because you have celerity to help close the gap already but its a toss up really. You could also go for an earlyish onos at this point.
F) Get adrenaline, bile bomb, spores, blink as appropriate. Look at which life forms you have alot of, if you have alot of people with 45+ res about to fade etc.
G) Drop life forms to support your team, whips/craigs at forward positions
<u><b>When should you use which strategy?</b>
</u>
The second hive first strategy is better if you are confident that your team knows whats going on. If they don't you can easily lose your second hive as this is a riskier strategy which basically results in you losing the game.
The shift first strategy allows you a little more control over the early game as you can force spawns in positions that you desire, and it is also less risky as you gain a higher res flow and you have less invested into any one position. However there is the added risk that marines could lock down all hive positions while you are doing this, so its better on maps with 5 tech points and also on maps with important positions which aliens can reasonably hold. For example the double res at nano, but not the double res at central drilling. I would also add that this strategy is a little more fun, because you have some control over the game through use of your shifts.
<u><b>FAQs</b></u>
<b>Should I ever build whips?</b>
Generally not until you have your core build done. Sometimes if the marines are really pounding on a location over and over, and you have a gorge there full time it might be worth it, otherwise it is just too easy to lose your investment.
<b>Why don't you ever use shade?</b>
Silence is nice at the start of the game for skulks, and noobs seem to love camo (which i dono it might be ok), but when your assaulting a marine held position with skulks or when using higher lifeforms and you only have 2 hives, you will be gimping your team by not having both shift and craig upgrades.
<b>Can I deviate from your build?</b>
You can obviously make changes to my builds as you prefer, but in my opinion this is the best way to do it.
<b>If its so easy why is it fun?</b>
This is why I personally don't think commanding for aliens is very fun.
<b>How do I finish off camped marines?</b>
Set up forward bases with 5+ craigs, a shift and a shade and then drop lots of onos eggs and get umbra. 1-2 Lerks with umbra mixed with onos and some gorges is the key to finishing off camped marines.
<b>Why is there no fast crag hive strategy?</b>
Because its most important for skulks to have improved ability to close the gap with marines and fast crag does not offer this.
There are basically 2 good general opening strategies you want to pursue.
<u><b>Fast 2nd Hive</b></u>
A) Locate the marine base, once you know where it is immediately drop the second hive as far away as possible. Ask someone to gorge at the hive. At this point you should probably take the RT between your first and second hive and I like to take the 3rd RT at the second hive ASAP as well.
B) Upgrade leap. Leap is very strong and its the entire point of getting a fast second hive otherwise you should have done something else first. Some people prefer to get leap before the 3rd RT, but I think getting the 3 RTS down ASAP is key to improving your teams chances down the road.
C) You basically have 2 choices here, go for onos egg immediately or get upgrades. I prefer the upgrades because especially now with all the noobs around you often can't trust one player to carry the game for you. I always get carapace first when I'm doing this strategy because leap allows you to close the distance easily and contrary to some peoples belief, carapace makes a BIG difference fighting LMG marines.
D) Get Carapace or celerity whichever you didn't get first. Drop onos egg if you havn't done so yet.
E) Get adrenaline, bile bomb, spores, blink as appropriate. Look at which life forms you have alot of, if you have alot of people with 45+ res about to fade etc.
F) Continue to support your team with life forms, whips/craigs at forward positions.
<u><b>Fast Shift Hive</b></u>
A) Evolve the shift hive and try to lock down 3-4RTs right away. Usually this involves trying to hold a riskier more forward position like nanogrid in veil or courtyard in tram.
B) Ask your team to get a gorge in the risky position and put a shift there to use egg spawn to help hold it. Egg spawn forces people to spawn at that position.
C) Get celerity upgrade quickly
D) Organize team to take second hive location, get second hive. You may wish to place a shift nearby to help attack this position.
E) Get carapace and leap, I prefer carapace first because you have celerity to help close the gap already but its a toss up really. You could also go for an earlyish onos at this point.
F) Get adrenaline, bile bomb, spores, blink as appropriate. Look at which life forms you have alot of, if you have alot of people with 45+ res about to fade etc.
G) Drop life forms to support your team, whips/craigs at forward positions
<u><b>When should you use which strategy?</b>
</u>
The second hive first strategy is better if you are confident that your team knows whats going on. If they don't you can easily lose your second hive as this is a riskier strategy which basically results in you losing the game.
The shift first strategy allows you a little more control over the early game as you can force spawns in positions that you desire, and it is also less risky as you gain a higher res flow and you have less invested into any one position. However there is the added risk that marines could lock down all hive positions while you are doing this, so its better on maps with 5 tech points and also on maps with important positions which aliens can reasonably hold. For example the double res at nano, but not the double res at central drilling. I would also add that this strategy is a little more fun, because you have some control over the game through use of your shifts.
<u><b>FAQs</b></u>
<b>Should I ever build whips?</b>
Generally not until you have your core build done. Sometimes if the marines are really pounding on a location over and over, and you have a gorge there full time it might be worth it, otherwise it is just too easy to lose your investment.
<b>Why don't you ever use shade?</b>
Silence is nice at the start of the game for skulks, and noobs seem to love camo (which i dono it might be ok), but when your assaulting a marine held position with skulks or when using higher lifeforms and you only have 2 hives, you will be gimping your team by not having both shift and craig upgrades.
<b>Can I deviate from your build?</b>
You can obviously make changes to my builds as you prefer, but in my opinion this is the best way to do it.
<b>If its so easy why is it fun?</b>
This is why I personally don't think commanding for aliens is very fun.
<b>How do I finish off camped marines?</b>
Set up forward bases with 5+ craigs, a shift and a shade and then drop lots of onos eggs and get umbra. 1-2 Lerks with umbra mixed with onos and some gorges is the key to finishing off camped marines.
<b>Why is there no fast crag hive strategy?</b>
Because its most important for skulks to have improved ability to close the gap with marines and fast crag does not offer this.
Comments
Overall good guide though, it should give noobs a general idea of what they need to do
Which is most pub games, they can not.
Hence why its better to give them a little bit of survivability before dropping a second hive. This doesn't mean you shouldn't immediately cyst and secure a second hive room.
Because its most important for skulks to have improved ability to close the gap with marines and fast crag does not offer this.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Assumptions from ns2 wiki:
- LMG/shotgun: Normal (Every armor point of the target will absorb 2 points of damage)
- Mine/sentry/pistol: Light (Every armor point of the target will absorb 4 points of damage)
- Skulk: 70 health + 10 armor
- Carapace: + 20 (30 in total)
- Celerity: + 30% speed
-> vs LMG/shotgun we have 90 health vs 120 health with carapace (+44%)
-> vs mine/pistol/sentry we have 110 health vs 190 health with carapace (+73%)
-> Speed only helps closing the gap 30% faster and does not help in close quarter fights
I still dont get it why fast crag hive is no viable strategy especially in the early game.
- LMG/shotgun: Normal (Every armor point of the target will absorb 2 points of damage)
- Mine/sentry/pistol: Light (Every armor point of the target will absorb 4 points of damage)
- Skulk: 70 health + 10 armor
- Carapace: + 20 (30 in total)
- Celerity: + 30% speed
-> vs LMG/shotgun we have 90 health vs 120 health with carapace (+44%)
-> vs mine/pistol/sentry we have 110 health vs 190 health with carapace (+73%)
-> Speed only helps closing the gap 30% faster and does not help in close quarter fights
I still dont get it why fast crag hive is no viable strategy especially in the early game.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sorry I should have included that the utility of shifts and the spawn egg ability is what makes the early shift hive especially important. Beyond that once you have closed the gap it is much harder for the marines to hit you, and you do 0 damage when not in range, both important factors for why speed is of the essence.
No, it's not actually. Especially on maps like veil where you need the second tech point secured and leap ASAP, second hive either insta-dropped or dropped VERY quickly is more or less a necessity.
It makes the game a little too predictable, but... it is what it is.
On maps with 5 tech points, getting an upgrade first is a little more viable, but veil is pretty rough to play without leap imo.