Tales from the frontlines

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Comments

  • Hida_TsuzuaHida_Tsuzua Lamarck's Heir Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 79Members, NS1 Playtester
    I was one of Hum's teammates thoughtout the night as an alien.  While he was a doing all he was doing, I was running around as a Bob taking out what I could and keeping the marines busy (that's why Hum dealt with less marines).  Then I went to Fade and evolved a speed upgrade.  Since I was tired of acid rokcet, I just used swiped and blinked.  It didn't matter if they had jetpacks, power armor, or HMGs; I would just run at them at insane speed and swipe the daylights out of them.  This tactic was so good that I did this in other games and maps.  I felt like a Skulk of Unusual Size (SOUS).
  • QUADQUAD Join Date: 2002-07-17 Member: 963Members
    @humbaba: man, you keep the stories rolling in. gimme a hug...

    ...

    on second though, forget it  <!--emo&:p--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'><!--endemo-->
  • coilcoil Amateur pirate. Professional monkey. All pance. Join Date: 2002-04-12 Member: 424Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    We aliens were having a bad time of it on Hera... The marines were chasing us all over the map - heavy machine guns, shotguns, power armor, jetpacks... you name it, they were using it to kick our slimy behinds.  Suddenly, into my mind sprang the cardinal rule of Natural Selection:  marines with no command center and no infantry portal have a very short life expectancy.

    How do you go for the CC and IP when they're in the middle of a heavily fortified marine base?  First off, only the important upgrades: armor and speed.  Get there quickly, and survive long enough to do some damage.  I didn't bother evolving to a high life form, either... pound for pound, the Skulk's bite really packs a punch.  I also knew I was going to be dying frequently, and didn't want to toss RPs down the toilet on an evolution that I wouldn't live long enough to justify.

    Hera's CC is situated is a small room overlooking the main airlock, and can be accessed by climbing a wide ladder or through a (breakable) window.  I climbed out of a vent across the room from the ladder, and with one well-aimed leap was at the top.  I quickly slid into the control room, taking minor damage from the turrets below.  What was up there?  The CC, for one... and the Infantry Portal!  It was almost too easy.  Unfortunately, with the Infantry Portal up there, that meant that every respawning marine would see me... sure enough, I only got 10 or 15 bites on the CC before I was spotted and filled with lead.

    But I wasn't that easily deterred... time and again, I upgraded my carapace and my speed, made the perilous leap past the turrets, and had myself a CC sandwich.  Eventually my persistance paid off in a puff of smoke and a very surprised (and quickly removed) commander.  I started yelling "The CC is down!  The CC is down!  I'm starting on the Infantry Portal!!" into my voicecomm... moments later, another Skulk made the leap up the ladder and helped me polish off the Infantry portal.  The armory followed quickly, depriving them of ammunition... and then the Arms Lab, because it was there and we felt like it.  (:

    Sadly, the commander hadn't built an expansion... the game lasted another minute or two as we hunted down the remaining marines and helped them join their comrades in that great big CC in the sky.



    <!--EDIT|coil|Sep. 03 2002,04:13-->
  • coilcoil Amateur pirate. Professional monkey. All pance. Join Date: 2002-04-12 Member: 424Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    I joined a game on Caged to find the marines rather disorganized... Voicecomm is great for quick communication, but when an entire team is talking about different things, it gets very difficult to give or follow orders!  After seeing if there was anything to be done at base, I headed off in search of *something* to help my commander out.  I had my LMG and my pistol, but limited ammo for both.

    I made my way to the antechamber outside the Sewer hive, where I saw an alien resource collector.  I didn't attack it, however; I didn't have the ammunition to take on the alien defenders it would alert when it came under attack.  Instead, I looked past it, to a vent - one of my favorite vents as an alien, it leads from the room I was in all the way to the Ventilation hive.  Luckily, I had a jetpack - I boosted into the vent and made my way down it to the vent hive.

    Sure enough, there was a hive already built there.  I immediately told my commander where I was, and asked if there was anything I could do.  Sadly, no - the vent was too small to build a siege turret.  A lerk spotted me and started throwing spore clouds at the vent opening; luckily I was far enough back that they didn't hit me, and whenever he looked *into* the vent I'd pump a few LMG rounds into his face.  A skulk jumped into the vent and was promptly sent to the respawn cue; then the lerk itself poked its head in, and I managed to put it out of my misery, too.

    I had one LMG bullet left.

    I asked the commander if there were *anything* useful I could do from my position... he said, again, no - all he could do was drop me some ammo and health.  I said yes please.  (:  So with 150 LMG bullets and full health, I dropped in and quickly destroyed two upgrade chambers.  Then to the hive... I emptied the rest of my LMG into it, jetpacked to sit on top of it, and fired my two pistol clips into it as well.

    It was down to me, my knife, and about 1500 pounds of hideous, pulsating alien flesh.  Well, I set into it.  A Skulk showed up - amazingly, I killed it with a few well-aimed slashes.  Back to the hive... slash, slash, slash!  Then a Lerk (Greedo) appeared, and I knew I was in trouble.  He threw spore clouds at the hive, but the combination of my position (crouched on the hive) and infestation above me prevented him from getting a clear shot.  Finally he flew up and landed next to me on the hive... it was all over for me.  Slash!  Chomp!  Slash!  <b>CHOMP!</b>

    I heard the "Beep beep beeeeeeeeep" of my heart monitor flatlining, my view fell sideways.......... and I fell.  I didn't just fall over dead on top of the hive, though... I fell a good 15 or 20 feet, to the floor below me.  And as my screen faded to black I spun my mouse around, looking at the scene of my demise...

    The hive was gone.  That last slash had killed it.

    Greedo, of course, was absolutely furious.  (:



    <!--EDIT|coil|Sep. 03 2002,04:17-->
  • Silver_FoxSilver_Fox Spammer Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 34Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    <!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->
    ... and then the Arms Lab, because it was there and we felt like it.  (:
    <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    lol

    I love it ...
  • Prvt_GarretPrvt_Garret Join Date: 2002-09-03 Member: 1269Members
    *tear* that's such a cute story...
  • eBnareBnar Join Date: 2002-03-12 Member: 307Members
    Inredible, just incredible. &<!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo--> I love both of your stories, coil, and especially the second one. Gives me more of an idea of how NS plays
  • HBNayrHBNayr Join Date: 2002-07-13 Member: 930Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--coil+Sep. 03 2002,04:06--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (coil @ Sep. 03 2002,04:06)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->And as my screen faded to black I spun my mouse around, looking at the scene of my demise...

    The hive was gone.  That last slash had killed it.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    coil, ladies and gentlemen.  He gave his life so that we might not be subjected to the horrors of the THREE HIVES.

    Good stuff Tennenbaum.

    -Ryan!


    The quickest way to end a war is to lose it.
    -- George Orwell

    Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
    -- Albert Einstein
  • CMEastCMEast Join Date: 2002-05-19 Member: 632Members
    Coil, those are absolutely brilliant stories, excellent work i... ok, I sound a bit fawning and stuff so Ill tell you why. I had a dream last night that we had a massive fight... which is strange cos I really dont know you and have no idea what you look like.

    Anyway, sorry for dream-kicking-your-arse
  • Sgt_XSgt_X Join Date: 2002-03-01 Member: 261Members
    I love this thread. I just finished writing the take down of the first hive in my story, and I decided to try and do that chaos thing someone described for hive takedowns, I think I it's really going to be good.
  • FlayraFlayra Game Director, Unknown Worlds Entertainment San Francisco Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 3Super Administrators, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
    Just for the record, I was both the skulk that joined Coil in the CC assault on hera, and the lerk that tried to get him out of the vent near the vent hive... :)
  • CMEastCMEast Join Date: 2002-05-19 Member: 632Members
    I always thought you were more of an alien than a marine flayra.
  • GreedoGreedo Bounty Hunter Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 37Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    Grrr Coil...

    You people have no idea how many times I've killed the marine/seige cannon/sentry turret within the half second after he/it manages to kill the hive.  You people have no idea how frustrating that is.
  • FlickFlick Join Date: 2002-08-11 Member: 1137Members
    Greedo, I have a solution to your problem.. Dont attack the Turret at all.. just leave it shoot.. then you wont kill it just as the hive dies and you be frustraited.. sure it may go against Alien instinct but pfft, your happyness is whats important..
  • GreedoGreedo Bounty Hunter Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 37Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    Flick, I shall wave my paw at thee and speak 'Bah!'
  • FlickFlick Join Date: 2002-08-11 Member: 1137Members
    You go right Ahead and do that..  thats the last time I try to help you out.. just looking out for poor ol sencitive Greedo.. after all your a valueble  member of the playtesting community of which I so wish I was included in.. so you see.. any way of which I can suck up, I'll try.
    PLus! I'm a comic..
    no.. wait I'm not a comic.. I'm like.. The Comic.. like The man.. but with Comic insted of man.. you know?.. well no of corse you dont.. no one knows.. I mean.. what if  I put  comic infront of the. that wouldnt make any sence would it? no no it wouldnt.. of corse..  making a submarine out of tooth picks toaster ovens and Microwaves doesnt make sence  either does it!? well I'm doing it! so ha!
    I Flick will create the most dangerous war machine the world has ever seen.. and then. I will take over.. Alaska! yes.. Alaska! not the world no no.. who's stupid enough to try that with a sub made of tooth picks and kitchen devices...   but yes,.. anyway .. Alaska will be mine!!  Muhaha... And Then.. I will control...   er.. I'll control.. !@$% Change of plans boys, we're going to cuba!
  • CMEastCMEast Join Date: 2002-05-19 Member: 632Members
    /me jumps aboard the sub

    All aboard, we're headed for Cuba

    A sub made of toothpicks, toaster ovens, Microwaves, cuban cigars and communists awaits us.

    <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo-->
  • FlickFlick Join Date: 2002-08-11 Member: 1137Members
    *sighs* no apparently we cant goto cuba.. something about risking an international insident or some such nonsence.
    now we're on to Moroco!.. does anyone even know where that is? and cigars are bad.. they'd burn our submarine *nod*
  • CMEastCMEast Join Date: 2002-05-19 Member: 632Members
    Erm... morroco

    A sub made of toothpicks, toaster ovens, Microwaves, Straw donkeys and... pottery?

    I wouldnt worry about setting the sub on fire, there is this handy procedure where you dib it in a bit of water <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo-->
  • FlickFlick Join Date: 2002-08-11 Member: 1137Members
    oh yeah sure..  but what about when the nuclear core (toaster and microwave) goes critical huh Mr.Smartypants!? oh sure.. we'll just dip it in the water.. kill of all the under sea life..  and we're no longer going to Morroco.. it was to many o's in it.. we're now going to sydney! And I will rule ermm..  the beaches! yes.. the beaches... anyone  messes with me.. BOOM hamster stuffed with C4 up their @$$
  • CMEastCMEast Join Date: 2002-05-19 Member: 632Members
    Well, I sorta had my heart set on all that pottery but I guess Ill help you get sydney. Only if I can have the opera house though, I want to sing at people. Oh, I also want neighbours because then I can get up to all sorts of mischief with lots of pretty people.


    (btw, lol at coil not being straight, didnt think that little comment deserved its own post even if this isnt the right thread)
  • FlickFlick Join Date: 2002-08-11 Member: 1137Members
    ok.. I dont care for houses.. no me  I'm an out doors man.. yup.. real boy scout.. holy !@#$ a pine cone!! I've read about those.. I hear they house small alien gestation chambers... that quickly change into  mini skulks.. that burrow under your skin!.. oh wait.. no those a ticks..
    oh well.. close

    Isnt Coil soft and cuddly?
  • UkiTakuMukiUkiTakuMuki Join Date: 2002-08-13 Member: 1141Members
    hey i want to ride in the toothpick submarine too!!!!!

    move over! -shove-

    then we can go to melbourne, hows that!  have lotsa seafood then we can go on to afghanistan where we can have supper under a twilight sky lit with a million tracer rounds... that wil be romantic :> so ill bring my girlfriend along nyeheh.
  • FireWarriorFireWarrior Join Date: 2002-07-13 Member: 931Members
    You people are insane.... I think the wait has been too much for you.
  • coilcoil Amateur pirate. Professional monkey. All pance. Join Date: 2002-04-12 Member: 424Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    Bast's Refinery hive - probably 100 feet long, 50 feet wide, with a 40-50 foot ceiling (30m, 15m, 12-15m).  It's got 3 entrances - at ground level, half-way up the wall via a catwalk, and a ramp up from below floor level.  Pipes criscross the floor; visibility is broken by two huge cylinders descending from the ceiling to near-floor level.  The ramp comes up right beneath a resource node; in the opposite corner of the room, the hive hangs menacingly from an overgrown ceiling.

    Now imagine, if you will.  The marines have just destroyed one of our hives; the other two (including the Refinery) have just come online.  Neither is adequately defended.  I am building turrets in the refinery, when a marine with an HMG comes up the ramp and blows me to pieces - I have time to type "Refinery!" before I go to the respawn queue.

    Thank god, I spawn in Refinery, evolving immediately to Lerk.  What ensued then was probably the craziest 5 minutes of NS I've ever played.  3-4 Lerks and 1-2 other aliens defending the Refinery against a squad of 4-5 jetpacking, power-armor-equipped marines toting every weapon imaginable.  We swooped.  We chomped.  We spiked.  We spore clouded like our lives depended on it.  Bullets were flying... Skulks were leaping after the jetpacking marines, trying to score the lucky hit.  Exclamations from the marines and snarls from the aliens filled the air and echoed in the huge room.  And after what seemed like an eternity, the last marine cried out as a lucky alien bite ended the assault... the hive was safe.



    <!--EDIT|coil|Sep. 04 2002,08:43-->
  • FamFam Diaper-Wearing Dog On A Ball Join Date: 2002-02-17 Member: 222Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    Lies coil! All lies! You didn't kill us all! I ran away like a big girls blouse! So there! Hah!

    (This post was brought to you by the International Exclamation Mark Association)
  • humbabahumbaba That Exciting Tales From the Frontline Guy Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 86Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    And I landed down, picked up an HMG, killed a lvl 4 (with pistol, well . . after unloading a Full HMG clip into him), took off, and forgot to save energy for the landing. Heh heh. I fell to my death. Well . .almost, I didnt quite reach thr ground before somethign caught me in mid air (some spikes or an acid rocket, I suppose) and killed me.  <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo-->



    <!--EDIT|humbaba|Sep. 04 2002,09:26-->
  • FreemantleFreemantle Join Date: 2002-06-16 Member: 783Members
    Humbaba (Pistol) Insert Alien name Here

    W0oT!
  • humbabahumbaba That Exciting Tales From the Frontline Guy Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 86Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    Another breaf moment from the same game (I believe). This one is for you freemantle.

    Later on (much later), we were holed up in the marine start. The enemy was evolving to lvl 5s occasionally and bile bombing as well as sporing us into oblivion. They took out our Armory and we were in DEEP. I ran to the lift and hopped on it, sending it down. As it went down, I looked ahead to a vent and jumped in. The main routes to our base were constantly teeming with enemies, so the unconventional approach was called for. I figured I'd get into a sneaky position and maybe siege turret a hive. I crawled through a long vent and wound my way aroudn to an Area Just past the airlock. I hopped out, and saw no motion tracked blip nearby. I high tailed it around and antered a large barrel shaped room with a catwalk crossign it (you've all seen this shot of bast, I assume <a href="http://www.readyroom.org/ns_maps/relic25/bast_shaft1_8x6.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.readyroom.org/ns_maps/relic25/bast_shaft1_8x6.jpg</a> )
    I entered the Cockpit of the bast from there and took a right, leading down a shaft. I was pretty close to the upper entrance of the refinery Hive at this point, and I entered a small room with a slit in the floor through wich you could see the hallway between the water hive and refinery. In the middle of the room was a node. Ahead of me was a ladder leading right into the refinery hive and behind me was the cockpit, where I had come from.
        I crouched by the node, out of sight of the slit (so they couldnt see me. I could hear the clackign of claws, the fizzy sound of blinking, and the roar of a lvl 5 as various aliens stomped and hopped and ran through the hall beneath me. A 1 unit thick wall sepearated me with my LMG from them. That and my secrecy. I typed "Node Full by refinery, if we can get these rps, we can win!". I sat there waiting, watching the fiesta of blue dots shifting around, growing and shrinking. I could envision them, what room they were in. I looked up, a large dot coming toward me, moving down the ladder shaft. I took aim. A skulk dropped down and looked confused. I was standing behind the white particles of the node and wearign power armor. I had camoflauged in. My LMG tore him to shreds before he could realize what was happening.
         Frantically, I typed "my position is given away, forget about the node. Brign me soem backup and we can think about getting this up." No reply. I look at my HUD. No commander. I hit tab. EVERYONE IS DEAD!. Crap. I run away to the cockpit. A big confusing mass of computer equipment and cramped spaces. I look at the chair in the cockpit, and hop in, typing on the public band "I can fly a space ship! WEEE!". There we go, let them come to me. I crouch down further, out of LMG ammo and with only a pistol left. 3 bullets remaining in the clip. Hmm . . almost better off with the knife. Nah. As long as I make each bullet count. I here the ticking of claws. click . click . click. They slow down and I see a blue ring closing around to my right. I hunker down in my chair. click . . . . .  click . . . . ..  pause . . . . . .click. He pops around the corner. BAM! BAM! BAM! I empty my pistol and whip out my knife. Twirling around in my chair. I slash at the skulk as he chomps me. And on that day, Humbaba got a knife kill. Still alive, I get up and run, playing hide and go seek. I turn the corner and, too panicked and jittery after that encoutner to notice the large blue dot, walk right into a lvl 4. SLASH! Team Two wins. Sigh .  . .
  • coilcoil Amateur pirate. Professional monkey. All pance. Join Date: 2002-04-12 Member: 424Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    I was the skulk at the resource node.. yeah, I was *very* confused, and you were definitely completely hidden by the resource particles.  Argh.  (:

    The knife kill was nice, too, though I only saw the kill message.
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