1 Player Can Make The Difference

Speedy · February 2003

Having just 1 good player or 1 lousy player can spell the difference between victory and defeat. How many times have you dropped key equipment on a player who did not know how to use it, only to lose a key position or fail an assault because the grenades were not placed in the right location ? On the other side of the coin, how many times have you had a player with basic equipment take out a hive or secure a hive all by him/herself ?

1 player can make the difference.

Obliterater · February 2003

In my experience one highly skilled person can lead a Marine (or alien team for that matter) team to victory, if they tell the comm and the Marines what to do, how to do it, ect.

XHydralisk · February 2003

I am an Army of One

HeXetic · February 2003

One player _can_ make a difference, sure. But in the late game when the 'rines are losing, too often people think that just one player makes the difference. I can't even count the number of times I've been playing, the Kharaa have 2 hives (and very close to getting a third), our base is being pounded by Fades, and all the communications traffic is stuff like "Comm, drop me a jetpack and nade launcher, I can make it to their main!" "Comm, JP & HMG I'll take out a hive!" "Comm, drop me HA and a big knife, I'll stab them all to death!!!" <i>(okay maybe not the last one)</i>.

I know from being a Kharaa that commando infiltration operations sometimes can take out an immature hive. And, they sure cause a heckuva ruckus with the gorges screaming "GET TO THE HIVE", the fades running as fast as those stubby legs will take them, and the fvox yelling "THE HIVE IS DYING!". But, realistically speaking, the jetpacker dies before he does any real damage, the gorges just put up some more defenses in the hives, and the fades run back to the marine base to open up a can of tasty rine treats.

Lone-gunmanship will only take the worst of alien teams totally unawares. If the fades are in your base, that means the gorges are probably going chamber-happy all over the map (and possibly in your base, too). The 'real' way to take out a hive late-game is either to put in a phase somewhere near the hive and possibly put up a siege too. The phase is critical, because in all likelihood one player won't make a difference, you need more people. With the marines' fast spawn rates and the ability to build plenty of infantry portals, even a team that's constantly dieing should be able to hold the portal long enough to do some damage (or at least take the heat off the base and the commander).

abbazab · February 2003

Honestly, before last night and this morning, I would have agreed with you.

But I played several games as comm last night and today and, unless the alien team is completely retarded as well, it takes a good field marine (or at least one that listens) on top of a good comm (again, or at least one that listens... the leader doesnt HAVE to be the one in the comm chair) to win a game.

One example: I was playing ns_nancy and we had silo fortified (6 or 7 turrets) and ventilation (where we were spawning) The only issue pressing us was the gorge above us building offence turrets. Luckily, I foresaw this and had already upgraded the tf so I promptly dropped a siege cannon and gave all my troops a waypoint to build it. I typed and voiced to them to build the siege and forget about the OTs (they could hit the rt, but thats it) until we had a siege or 2 up. My team, however, chose to ignore me and rush out to meet the OTs (at the top of the ladder :/ ) keeping a good 2/3 of our team dead at all times. We did get the siege up... eventually... but it wasnt enough, and the skulks werent being shot at. Apparantly the OTs are a priority target over skulks in the base... We promptly lost that game.

over and over
all night
all day

maybe one good game every 5 hours...
horrible evil

Clan_Hunter · February 2003

Or maybe seige turrets don't shoot aliens. Aliens that die to siege turrets are too close to a target being hit by the turret.

Alpha_1 · February 2003

Wrong map dude, you are talking about NS_nothing, NS_Nancy has no-name hive, port engine hive, and subspace array hives. NS_Nothing has cargo bay, Viaduct, and power silo.

Might help you in the future.

Archzai · February 2003

i love being field comm and i think most comms could depend on me to lead the team <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'>

EDIT: the stupidest thing i heard today:

THis chat happened when we were attacking there main hive or maybe their second... (i had joined in the middle u see and so i dunno which hive was first.. well this convo happedn after we tried to attack their hive and we died)

Player X: Wtf Beta u stupid idiot u were parasited?
-=Beta=-Bl@ZeR(ME): Yeah i was... cuz a skulk spawned at the hive and parasited me as soon as he spawned.
Player X: you stupid.. u led them to us... u shouldve run
-=Beta=-Bl@ZeR: -.- wtf... i told u they parastied me when the SPAWNED not when i was on my way.... the killed us cuz they spawned there.... and wut.. i was jus supposed to run away... they knew we were there anwayzy
Player X: Its still ur fault

wtf .... skulks taht spawned parasited me.. meaning they knew we were there.. stupid newbie

ZERG · February 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Speedy @ Feb 6 2003, 04:44 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Having just 1 good player or 1 lousy player can spell the difference between victory and defeat. How many times have you dropped key equipment on a player who did not know how to use it, only to lose a key position or fail an assault because the grenades were not placed in the right location ? On the other side of the coin, how many times have you had a player with basic equipment take out a hive or secure a hive all by him/herself ?

1 player can make the difference.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
I've failed to ambush a group of marines before. I have the opportunity to waste these guys right behind them, but carelessly die and let them steamroll over our hive. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif'>

There have been numerous times this has happen and I try to avoid it. Makes me feel bad even though the rest of the team didn't know I had an easy ambush. In the least kill 2 marines to cripple them.

OldMan · February 2003

- when he is the last marine alive, and kill the last skul(s) from base
- resist under the hive, make a phase, and don't die.
- have a HA + GL in base, and from behind armoury block all alien waves to marines base, until marines have all full upgrades.
- can kill a hive with a single LMG charge. (can he?)
- can kill a Fade.

Brain_Cleaner · February 2003

NS is a game where on KILL can make the difference

think how many times you've been wandering around and got killed, now think "what could i have done if i had got to XXX" but it's all hindsight

story>

me(LMG/LA/Welder boy) and another marine(HA/HMG) were tagging up towards Viaduct on Nothing and the comm placed a PG for us to build in the passage with the walls jutting into the passage (ya know it?) we get the PG up...*Hmmmmm* no one comes! we are fighting off skulks, they heard us building i guess, screaming for back up, none comes and i died <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'>

the HA marine holds on for dear life, but has to fall back cos of shear numbers... we lose the PG. everyone else is arsing about trying to defend a ****-ant area that is not important, even though the comm, me & the HA marine are screaming that we can take this hive IF we get help!

i set out on foot to Viaduct, hoping that HA guy gets lucky and holds out...we're keeping in touch via voice comm and he's sounding worried. i am 20 seconds out and he's down to pistol! i get there and he's killing a skulk with his knife with taking cover in the jtting walls, the comm then realises he has an AMMO button and drops health and ammo on us, then the rest of the team work out what's going on and come to help us. we took viaduct a few mins later, all thanks to that one HA marine <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

B33F · February 2003

i just played in a game where 3 good marines (not counting a pretty good comm) made the difference. on ns_eclipse, we took eclipse hive early. then multiple times we tried to set up phases and turret factories in and around maintenance and comp core, but every time (about 10 times total) we were overrun by skulks and, later, fades. the comm called a few of us back to base and gave us HA, HMG for the other guys, and a GL for me, then handed out some JP's and HMG/GL's. a few people also got welders. instead of sending us to attack, he just sent us to defend eclipse. basically we sat in eclipse spamming grens and bullets at fades and lerks, and got 3 sieges up when they tower rushed us. once nearly everyone was fully armored and had good weapons (we also had lvl3/lvl3 at this point) we slowly fought our way to comp core, with armories and phases every few feet. Thanks to constant welding and staying in one large group, we pushed all the way into comp core and blew it to itty bitty pieces, after 45 minutes of fighting fades in umbra. from there we easily took out maint. but I think if not for the 2 or 3 of us who sat in eclipse with HA and HMG/GL for the first few minutes, we probably would have quickly lost it and the game.

Smithboy · February 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (OldMan @ Feb 7 2003, 03:26 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> - can kill a hive with a single LMG charge. (can he?) </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
Yep. I was playing ns_eclipse on a server with a bunch of beginners. The aliens left the eclipse hive wide open and I walked in there with my full ammo and proceeded to shoot it with my lmg. I don't know how upgraded i was, but i used up 300 rounds and took out the hive. No one even came to fight me till after the hive went down. It was quite funny.

My team didn't seem to care that eclipse was wide open and easy to take, so after waiting a minute in a corner and asking for back-up i decided to go for it.

Kid-A · February 2003

One good player can make alot of difference. I was comming, and another guy said 'you know what your doing, otherwise I'll comm'. I said yeah I know. Anyway basically he was an ideal marine, he welded stuff, asked for stuff thats was needed(eg; turrets and showed location) and went places when he was told. Infact he even said 'FFS get to hive' when I was trying to get the rest of the team to go. Only 1 other peep went but they cleared it.

Anyway because he was good I gave him all the goodies first. Then I told everyone 'see, you follow orders and you get equip' after that the marines were alot better. So one person as an example can easily be important.

Speedy · February 2003

I think some of you misunderstood the point of my post. I never said 1 player WILL ALWAYS spell the difference between victory and defeat, I was just stating something pretty obvious : 1 player MAY make the difference. I think it's pretty amazing the number of close games I've had, win or lose, where I can think back to a specific player and even a specific action that made the difference in the outcome of the game.

Now, to add a grain of salt to that, I've played several games where I knew, 30 seconds into the game, that my team was going to win or lose (and we did), no matter what the quality of an individual player.

Cry_Havoc · February 2003

Yeah, that usually happens when you know the teams are stacked one way.

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'>

Dunkin_Dynamite · February 2003

My favoritest game ev4r <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'>
when our team had messed up a drive to powersilo which appeared to have cost us the game. I had given up and our team was improvising. For 10 minutes we lived on a survival plan. We were pretty good team but aliens had 2 hives so things looked bad. This was on the map with cargo, viaduct, silo.

So guys start suggesting oh "gimme jp+hmg" I'll take out the hive! but these guys were all good marines and so worked together mostly somehow keeping base safe.

I somehow acquired jetpak + hmg and I like to rambo. So I flew to via hive alone; as I got there I realized I had a fellow rambo with shotty + jp and he was annoying the hell out of a fade a gorge and of course the hive. I flew in and right away this guy died; so it was up to me jp+hmg the hive and a few angry aliens (w00t) I shoot away and they keep missing me; soon the hive is down and in my elation (I'm not actually very good with jetpak) I start typing and they drop me :/

But the hive was dead ^^

My team, the good rines that they are, continue their group efforts elsewhere (silo maybe?). I somehow acquire jetpak + hmg again and rambo again. Aliens are putting up fierce resistance again; do they have 2 hives? Fly to via, they have another hive up!! After a couple secs of shooting and assessing the situation I fly to the bridge over via and shout for the commander to drop a phase ASAP.

Meanwhile the aliens, realizing the gravity of the situation, recall their troops (by this time almost everyone is fade or gorge) .. but .. they can't hit me!! The comm soon drops a phase and I am busy building away, checking my back every so often and listening for lerk skulk, but the aliens refuse to evolve back to lesser forms and trust instead in good old acid spam.

The phase is up! The team good rines that they are come through, we get tf and siege up and the hive + WoL blow up and we go on later to win the game.

w00t - my bestest game ev4r - I can aim well and track well and click fast but I not that great of NS player yet tho much better than newbs. I killed a hive ramboing when the other guy ramboing died; if I had not gone the jetpak + hmg would have been wasted (trust me heh) and the aliens likely would have eventually overwhelmed us; we were getting progressively weaker at that time. But as we recovered aliens rebuilt via again, and had I not checked no one would have been there to build the phase and with no phase to take it out the game woulda been a tossup still.

I both killed the via hive when we were losing and phased the rebuilt hive when via started to look impenetrable. That bridge is a Godsend!

It might seem cheap or alien team stupid but this a perfect intersection, so to speak, of forces. Aliens have all gone fade and about to roll us over. They should win, right? But fades were unable to stop me. They needed skulks and lerks. No one wanted to evolve down to a lesser form, so to speak, and understandably so. So the aliens seem stupid in this case.

But consider their position; even if they had evolved, they risked taking damage from me and my HMG and thus risked death. They would have lost fades and wasted sh*tloads of res all for nothing. Further if they got many people to switch to skulk/lerk, they woulda been owned by the rest of the marine team even if they stopped the phase. So they all trusted in their acid spam and w00t it doesn't penetrate the bridge ^^

Kid-A · February 2003

The fades could have blinked?!?!?

Also people know about skulk/lerks giving lifts to gorges, can you do this with onos?

Anyway one thing this does highlight is that there is almost no point in HMGing a hive unless one of a few things:

1 - Your then going to secure the hive.
2 - You are coordinating with another marine to take down ALL the hives at the same time.
3 - The 2nd hive has *just* gone up.

Any other time and the aliens are rolling in res so can throw another hive up any time and due to the res system, it has very little effect on the rest of the teams res, other than the gorge.

Dunkin_Dynamite · February 2003

Blink - not really, most people are reluctant and probably unable to use blink.

I can blink now thanks to that blink thread; I haven't gone back in to look at viaduct but it seems a risky proposition to blink nonetheless.

Remember the aliens were either stupid or else high on fade and felt themselves in a bind. And most fades can't blink.

1 Player Can Make The Difference

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