Shift - Echo - Tactics
Joseppe
Join Date: 2012-01-21 Member: 141497Members
Join Date: 2012-01-21 Member: 141497Members
facts:
shift - echo - tactics:
to secure
to attack
Discussion:
In a lot of these tactics you can rescue structures with the ability to echo the shift itself "forward and backwards",
otherwise it would be to expensive (you would always lose the shift). maybe its a little bit to powerfull...
- echo: "beaming" structures near shift & shift itself to another infested place
- enable: evolve shift hive
- costs: 2 res (harvester, egg, whip), 1 res (everything else)
- shortcuts ([number]-key):
- create:
- bind: select the shift + hold [CTRL] + press [number]-key
- predefined: A = echo, A-F & Y/Z-C for specific structures
- notice: bind 2+ shifts to the same key to use echo at same time (thanks to redrim)
- create:
- you can´t:
- echo 1 specific structure out of structures of the same type (example: onos egg out of "a lot" eggs)
- echo hive, gorge tunnel
- use echo when the shift got flamed (thanks to redrim)
shift - echo - tactics:
to secure
1.1. harvester - placement (EASY): (2+ res, well known) - echo
main hive - place shift near harvester.
echo a full grown harvester to a ressource location.
redrop the main base harvester + place 1 drifter near it (1 drifter costs 10 res, so you only need 1).
optimal: have a gorge near the main base harvester for fast building with the drifter.
1.2. harvester - rescue (HARD): (4 res) - echo + echo shift itself, Thanks to "draconis":
at first you need a free infested ressource point.
echo shift itself to harvester, echo harvester to a safe, free, infested ressource point.
echo shift itself back to main hive.
1.3. harvester - healing (EASY): (3 res) - echo + echo shift itself
echo crag to the damaged harvester.
when at full health, echo the shift to the crag and echo both back to main base
hint:
the crag has a "big" heal range. if you need to recyst, you should place the crag as fast as
possible on the new growing infestation as long as the harvester is in range.
you can move the crag (waypoint) later if its in an unsecure place.
2.1. hive - building (EASY): (1 res) - echo shift itself
IF there is a gorge, echo the shift itself to the 2 hive.
2.2. hive - rescue (MEDIUM) (1+ res) - echo
if another hive is NOT to much damaged & there are NOT to many marines,
echo crags (you should have at least 1 crag in main hive) to the hive and
click the crag + select "speed healing".
2.3. hive - rescue - upgrades (EASY): (3+ res) - echo
hive under attack -> echo the upgrades (and maybe other structures nearby) to a safe place
3. sneaky phase gates (EASY): (2+ res) - echo:
in the hive locations always place a cyst near the powernode.
Why ?:
if the marines attack this cyst, you get a damage alert (they probably will, because its damaging an active powernode)
if the marines dont attack the cyst, you have infestation for echoing on this location
Echo:
if marines are building the powernode, echo whips at it.
if marines are building the phase gate (or its finished), echo whips in front of the phase gate.
main hive - place shift near harvester.
echo a full grown harvester to a ressource location.
redrop the main base harvester + place 1 drifter near it (1 drifter costs 10 res, so you only need 1).
optimal: have a gorge near the main base harvester for fast building with the drifter.
1.2. harvester - rescue (HARD): (4 res) - echo + echo shift itself, Thanks to "draconis":
at first you need a free infested ressource point.
echo shift itself to harvester, echo harvester to a safe, free, infested ressource point.
echo shift itself back to main hive.
1.3. harvester - healing (EASY): (3 res) - echo + echo shift itself
echo crag to the damaged harvester.
when at full health, echo the shift to the crag and echo both back to main base
hint:
the crag has a "big" heal range. if you need to recyst, you should place the crag as fast as
possible on the new growing infestation as long as the harvester is in range.
you can move the crag (waypoint) later if its in an unsecure place.
2.1. hive - building (EASY): (1 res) - echo shift itself
IF there is a gorge, echo the shift itself to the 2 hive.
2.2. hive - rescue (MEDIUM) (1+ res) - echo
if another hive is NOT to much damaged & there are NOT to many marines,
echo crags (you should have at least 1 crag in main hive) to the hive and
click the crag + select "speed healing".
2.3. hive - rescue - upgrades (EASY): (3+ res) - echo
hive under attack -> echo the upgrades (and maybe other structures nearby) to a safe place
3. sneaky phase gates (EASY): (2+ res) - echo:
in the hive locations always place a cyst near the powernode.
Why ?:
if the marines attack this cyst, you get a damage alert (they probably will, because its damaging an active powernode)
if the marines dont attack the cyst, you have infestation for echoing on this location
Echo:
if marines are building the powernode, echo whips at it.
if marines are building the phase gate (or its finished), echo whips in front of the phase gate.
to attack
4. mobile spawn (EASY): (2+ res) - echo, Thanks to "draconis":
echo eggs to safe places out of base (all around the map on infestation).
echo eggs to extractors (needs infestation).
place a gorge tunnel somewhere:
* echo a shade to the gorge tunnel infestation
* echo eggs to the gorge tunnel infestation (no tunnel walkthrough)
5. frontline help (MEDIUM): (3 res) - echo + echo shift itself
echo crag & shift near the front line to provide healing & energy.
echo them both back before they get lost.
6. base rush (HARD): (6+ res, well known) - echo, thanks to redrim
you need contamination (3 hives + 2 x biomass research = level 9 biomass).
place whips in your hive near shift. get a minimum of 2 shifts.
bind all shifts to the same key (select shifts + hold [CTRL] + press [number]).
now you can echo x-whips at same time (with x = number of whips).
wait until they are mature (if you want to use bile bomb / bombard).
keep track of the marine structure placement (look at base when alien is moving in),
so you can try to place the whips in long range (so they use bile bomb).
WHEN your aliens are rushing into marine base.
THEN use contamination to place infestation and use echo to place your whips to attack.
a) the powernode
b) marine structures (especially infantry portals)
hint - attack same target:
if the whips are just attacking different, nearest targets, you can (if possible) give them the
order to attack the same structure. bind them all to the same key before the attack.
(btw: you will probably be busy to use enzyme on your alien teammates
)
7. extractor attack (MEDIUM): (7+ res) - echo + echo shift itself
especially on "no techpoint locations".
place infestation near extractor (but not in range of extractor - why ? extractor should not get damaged by infestation and alert marines)
echo 3+ whips to extractor (you need to be fast, before marine can reach the whips and kill one), echo them back when finished
short range: whips attack, long range: whips bile bomb / bombard (high structure damage if they are mature).
echo eggs to safe places out of base (all around the map on infestation).
echo eggs to extractors (needs infestation).
place a gorge tunnel somewhere:
* echo a shade to the gorge tunnel infestation
* echo eggs to the gorge tunnel infestation (no tunnel walkthrough)
5. frontline help (MEDIUM): (3 res) - echo + echo shift itself
echo crag & shift near the front line to provide healing & energy.
echo them both back before they get lost.
6. base rush (HARD): (6+ res, well known) - echo, thanks to redrim
you need contamination (3 hives + 2 x biomass research = level 9 biomass).
place whips in your hive near shift. get a minimum of 2 shifts.
bind all shifts to the same key (select shifts + hold [CTRL] + press [number]).
now you can echo x-whips at same time (with x = number of whips).
wait until they are mature (if you want to use bile bomb / bombard).
keep track of the marine structure placement (look at base when alien is moving in),
so you can try to place the whips in long range (so they use bile bomb).
WHEN your aliens are rushing into marine base.
THEN use contamination to place infestation and use echo to place your whips to attack.
a) the powernode
b) marine structures (especially infantry portals)
hint - attack same target:
if the whips are just attacking different, nearest targets, you can (if possible) give them the
order to attack the same structure. bind them all to the same key before the attack.
(btw: you will probably be busy to use enzyme on your alien teammates
)7. extractor attack (MEDIUM): (7+ res) - echo + echo shift itself
especially on "no techpoint locations".
place infestation near extractor (but not in range of extractor - why ? extractor should not get damaged by infestation and alert marines)
echo 3+ whips to extractor (you need to be fast, before marine can reach the whips and kill one), echo them back when finished
short range: whips attack, long range: whips bile bomb / bombard (high structure damage if they are mature).
Discussion:
In a lot of these tactics you can rescue structures with the ability to echo the shift itself "forward and backwards",
otherwise it would be to expensive (you would always lose the shift). maybe its a little bit to powerfull...
Comments
You can even add:
*"Oh no you dont"
Echo shift to a harvester attacked by a single marine, echo said harvester somewhere else, echo shift back to base.
* "I want you there"
Echoing eggs near a marine RT so skulks take the meaning of attacking this RT.
Just thaught about that some minutes ago.
WOW, i didnt recognized this. Thank you! (spawning everywhere, thats really powerfull)
Just bind the Shift to a hotkey, and you don't need to move your screen away from the destination location.
BTW, I think that Echo should be a separate researchable ability, that is not tied into Shift hive. Makes no sense that that tech path has such a powerful ability compared to Crag and Shade.
You can select multiple shifts and bind them on 1 key.
When you bind 2 shifts on 1 key and use echo you teleport 2 whips at once (if there is enough of them of course)
___
Also worth noting - echo doesn't work when shift is on fire, so be careful with flamethrowers
It's worth pointing out that when harvestor rescuing, if they start shooting the shift when it appears, you should echo the shift first then the harvestor if you're fast enough. Cause you can echo the harvestor out while it's still sinking into the floor.
I still feel that the demorilization that comes with a harvestor at the brink of death being whisked away in front of a marine(s) makes up for the exorbitant cost. A legit reason might be that although you're spending more res than you would to replace the harvestor, it maintains resflow (gotta account for the amount of res that would come in while the cysts are growing/infestation spreading/harvestor growing), draws fire (thus making marines vulnerable to skulks that are hopefully on their way to respond to the harvestor dying).
As far as risking losing a shift/crag, that only really happens (in pubs, haven't played 6v6 in a while) if there's a flamethrower to disable the echo. Or if you're cocky enough to do some multitasking in between echo cooldowns, and you press the hotkey for your shift and it doesn't take you to the shift interface to echo. Echo the structures out in the order they are being targetted, and as mentioned, and you can always get 1 extra echo in while the shift is sinking. My experience in pubs is that usually even focused fire won't take out a structure if you echo it in time. Mind you, I have had issues where the shift has been damaged, and I echo it back into a hive and a ninja marine just happens to show up at the same time
It was already added and why limit yourself with being predictable and having upgrades at a hive location for a jetpacker to fly in and find immediately. What comes to mind specifically is docking in the corner of ball court with a shade if you have generator and locker room secured. Let the marines waste manpower and resources scanning hive locations for things that aren't there.
If I'm ever running around away from a hive and I hear the splat noise like I'm on infestation, without being able to see it, I immediately find the shade and kill it. This is always easy to find if you pay attention to the visible infestation range. I'll think "sweet, free shade!", but if I see a bunch of upgrades after the commander scans or the shade goes down, all I'll be thinking is "TREASURE!". Upgrades at base are the easiest to defend. Putting them in a favorable marine location such as ball court is hoping that marines are not good enough to notice. You should never base a strategy around the hopes that the team you are playing is bad.
To put this in perspective, how often do you lose harvesters inside your hive locations as opposed to naturals? To each their own though, if it works for you, great!
Heh, you would never want to keep repeating the same trick once it's discovered and yeah once it is you need to scramble to echo all the upgrades away before you lose them. But what will almost always happen during any game will be a lone marine rushing a hive on a probable suicide run to kill the upgrades. The low cost of echoing upgrades to an obscure location to see the panicked anguish of futility on a marine's failed suicide run? Delicious.