Or. Rapid expansion..go for as many rts that your team has pushed out to, 4 on average, 5 if things work in your favor, 6 of it's stacked....with all the money get one upgrade into hive, while hive builds get biomass/gorge upgrades. Start whip and push out leap asap before 2nd hive upgrades.
Or. Rapid expansion..go for as many rts that your team has pushed out to
I love this tactics on less populated server (12-16p), go shift, spam as much cysts as you can around the map, mature those around enemy RTs with mist. Every RT flashes red = panic. Less armor = easier for skulks to take down extractors. Nobody attacks that RT? Teleport egg next to it. RT down? Echo harvester! Even if marines are close and it won't last long, they still have to invest time to take it down, while you grow a replacement harvester safely at base.
If marines allow you to spread infestation all around the map and let cysts mature, they will have problems fighting infestation. And it has deep psychological impact. In addition, you can use your abilities almost everywhere and echo/grow stuff wherever you like.
Like this. Look at those marines with three tech points (minimap):
And how it begins:
Does it look like they are winning? We had harvester at every their natural. At one point, after harvester at their natural was killed, I managed to echo another before marine comm dropped blueprint. And it wasn't waste of resources from my side, it was a waste of their time and res (ammo + time not pumping res from that res node).
Trick here is to place cysts carefully, one by one. Let them grow, then place next cyst, to avoid easy destruction of large chain of unbuilt cysts. Handpick location for every cyst, so they are behind crates, close to walls, etc, so marines: a) will have to put them in bad positions to kill infestation b) will have hard time locating them. Make strong chain, so death of 1-2 cysts doesn't change anything. Eventually, marines will either be very busy fighting infestation, or completely ignoring them giving you all the advantages infestation gives you. Win/win. And if they buy flamethowers to clear infestation, well, they wasted large amount of pres and firepower on something as cheap as cysts.
European servers, 2012: Phase gates first
European servers, 2013: Mostly PGs first, sometimes upgrades
European servers, 2014: Upgrades first
American servers, 2012: Phase gates first
American servers, 2013: Phase gates first
American servers, 2014: Phase gates first
'Merica!
As an American I try to do upgrades but it rarely works. I speculate Europeans are just more skilled at games.
I've noticed that, but I've also noticed American players are far more social/likely to use voice comms during a match. On some EU servers it can be deathly quiet while playing.
I prefer the silence so I can hear enemies and such :P Americans talk too much!
Ahem, I am American =P. Settling arguments and hilarity ftw
@aeroripper don't forget to tell your marines to not save for exos.
In NS2 current official build, this is a wise statement.
@AERORIPPER gives some great marine tactics further up this thread.
In my personal experience, I watch alot of pub games recorded on Twitch and Youtube. I am constantly holding down the "J" button to see what my Commander is researching and keep my ears open to follow his commands. It's really play by feel, having fast responders and a cohesive team that works well under pressure early game but then can close the deal late game. My favorite games as a Com has been when some bright person, takes it in their hands to lead ground troops, a Field Commander if you will, while I watch over them from above. The beauty of this game is that new strategies are emerging constantly. I am consistently being wowed by new coms making amazing clutch decisions I wouldn't think of but now employ given the right circumstance.
So in the end, practice, practice, practice, and remain teachable.
KungFuJV ... do you resnode the 2nd hive location first or drop the hive from a position of 3 nodes?
PS: Really nice post Xen32, I have placed thousands of cysts manually, but have been tricked into using the auto place system lately - I must try to unlearn my mistakes
@OnosFactory yessir. I just don't go for the 4th harvester(doing that build order) until the 3 chamber upgrades are done. Allows stronger individual players and less risk to tRes
If marines allow you to spread infestation all around the map and let cysts mature, they will have problems fighting infestation. And it has deep psychological impact. In addition, you can use your abilities almost everywhere and echo/grow stuff wherever you like.
I could not agree more with this. I think not targeting the cyst-chain is one of the most wide-spread mistakes in the NS2 community - I would say about 90 % of pub players and at least 50 % of comp players dont do it enough.
Then again, many alien comms are not using the potential given - by being too hesitant with the cysts, and not using the shift echo ability enough. A big advantage of echoing is that you do not put your drifters on the front line anymore - remember it is 8 res for each drifter that gets killed. I see drifters killed regularly even in the premiere league games (while having shift hive). Two drifters killed are 16 Tres, you could have build a shift for that.
The echo ability becomes even more powerful when you have a cooperative gorge on the field. You can ask him to build harvesters very fast in the base and then shift them out. Or - if the gorge is not in the base but at some other RT point - you can echo the shift to him, echo the built harvester to some other location, and drop him a fresh one to build. You can drop several stuff (crags, whips) to one spot and let the gorge build it all at once.
Comments
Two natural rts into max upgrade, into hive.
Or. Rapid expansion..go for as many rts that your team has pushed out to, 4 on average, 5 if things work in your favor, 6 of it's stacked....with all the money get one upgrade into hive, while hive builds get biomass/gorge upgrades. Start whip and push out leap asap before 2nd hive upgrades.
Marine comm..arms lab first, and rush wep3.
If marines allow you to spread infestation all around the map and let cysts mature, they will have problems fighting infestation. And it has deep psychological impact. In addition, you can use your abilities almost everywhere and echo/grow stuff wherever you like.
Like this. Look at those marines with three tech points (minimap):
And how it begins:
Does it look like they are winning? We had harvester at every their natural. At one point, after harvester at their natural was killed, I managed to echo another before marine comm dropped blueprint. And it wasn't waste of resources from my side, it was a waste of their time and res (ammo + time not pumping res from that res node).
Trick here is to place cysts carefully, one by one. Let them grow, then place next cyst, to avoid easy destruction of large chain of unbuilt cysts. Handpick location for every cyst, so they are behind crates, close to walls, etc, so marines: a) will have to put them in bad positions to kill infestation b) will have hard time locating them. Make strong chain, so death of 1-2 cysts doesn't change anything. Eventually, marines will either be very busy fighting infestation, or completely ignoring them giving you all the advantages infestation gives you. Win/win. And if they buy flamethowers to clear infestation, well, they wasted large amount of pres and firepower on something as cheap as cysts.
Ahem, I am American =P. Settling arguments and hilarity ftw
One does not simply be American and stay quiet.
?
I still can't stop laughing. This is so true!
In NS2 current official build, this is a wise statement.
@AERORIPPER gives some great marine tactics further up this thread.
In my personal experience, I watch alot of pub games recorded on Twitch and Youtube. I am constantly holding down the "J" button to see what my Commander is researching and keep my ears open to follow his commands. It's really play by feel, having fast responders and a cohesive team that works well under pressure early game but then can close the deal late game. My favorite games as a Com has been when some bright person, takes it in their hands to lead ground troops, a Field Commander if you will, while I watch over them from above. The beauty of this game is that new strategies are emerging constantly. I am consistently being wowed by new coms making amazing clutch decisions I wouldn't think of but now employ given the right circumstance.
So in the end, practice, practice, practice, and remain teachable.
PS: Really nice post Xen32, I have placed thousands of cysts manually, but have been tricked into using the auto place system lately - I must try to unlearn my mistakes
I could not agree more with this. I think not targeting the cyst-chain is one of the most wide-spread mistakes in the NS2 community - I would say about 90 % of pub players and at least 50 % of comp players dont do it enough.
Then again, many alien comms are not using the potential given - by being too hesitant with the cysts, and not using the shift echo ability enough. A big advantage of echoing is that you do not put your drifters on the front line anymore - remember it is 8 res for each drifter that gets killed. I see drifters killed regularly even in the premiere league games (while having shift hive). Two drifters killed are 16 Tres, you could have build a shift for that.
The echo ability becomes even more powerful when you have a cooperative gorge on the field. You can ask him to build harvesters very fast in the base and then shift them out. Or - if the gorge is not in the base but at some other RT point - you can echo the shift to him, echo the built harvester to some other location, and drop him a fresh one to build. You can drop several stuff (crags, whips) to one spot and let the gorge build it all at once.