Marine Commanding - Strats

[w@flz]

*Post your commanding strats, back up your choices, speculate

 

[w@flz]

Ill start w@flz

Early Turret/Arc/Jetpac

Ns2_Veil - Map for NS1, this map is very hard for aliens because of the way the hives are layed out, Using this strat you can deny the Kharra team most of the res and push into there second hive very quickly.

1# - Get nano grid, send everyone there , making sure there isnt a skulk rush on your main, You want to hold those 2 res locations for as long as you can. Cotten's strat simply puts the armory and obs and first phase gate in Nano, you upgrade mines and spread the entire room with them. Once you have held nano you push towards the cargo have while taking overlook/skylight/subsector.
1b - If you cannot get nano, simply move into west junction while taking skylight and over look and setup 1 or 2 arcs along with turrets, this denys the aliens 2 res nodes and opens up nano to be taken again later.

2# Once you secure the left side of the map, that leaves you with 6x res nodes if you own nano, and 4x if you dont (+1) with Topo, and 2 command stations. (Tip) * put 1 marine patrolling skylight and overlook to stop skulk harass.
2b - If the alien have is Subsector, time to win early and get a phase in overlook or skylight and push into sub using arcs and mines. Its easy to siege the hive from the top of the stairs just south of overlook.

3# - As soon as you can get jetpacks upgraded and shotguns, while pushing toward cargo. Get a phase just north of cargo below nano grid defend with turrets/armory. Keep constant pressure on cargo with jetpacking marines and arcs used to siege out sub. Cargo is one of the easiest hives to take with jetpacks. Work on your weapons 1, then armor 1 and armor 2 , fade's will be up at this time and you need armor 2 as soon as you can get it.

4# - If you take cargo the game is over.

I have used this strat many many times, In the chair i get flamed for building turrets/arcs early but it always gives me the win, even against good alien teams. It takes pressure off the marines, when you build turrets and arcs. Turrets in this strat should never really be used as defence, but put them at the front line. Arcing subsector and cargo is very easy , all the marines have to do is defend the arcs.

The strat limits weapons and armor ugprades so your marines are not as effective as they could be, but the aliens attention is swayed to turrets and arcs. Plus with the amount of res nodes you get by establishing the left side will allow you to upgrade quickly . I often build 2 arms labs and roll out the upgrades as quick as possible. By the time my guys were pushing into cargo i had 2n2 going.

Hope you like it, Both Drops and Heat were playing as a marine when i first did this strat, any comments from them?

Angry Child

Marine

What situations/map is it best to get exos over jetpacks?

I don't truly think youll ever find a situation where getting exos first over jetpacks is a better option, jetpacks are cheap and enable your entire team to perform better, good players can use jetpacks and be enabled to dispatch enemies much more safely and swiftly, exo's are pretty good when supported with macs but since they require welders to really push anything significantly youll be bogging down your team into exo welding that much earlier, they will also have a harder time doing it without jetpacks.

What situations would GLs, flame throwers, shotguns work best in?

FLAMETHROWER:

Something marines dont do enough in this game right now is harass the enemy alien economy, a good marine with a flamethrower unopposed can torch up pretty much all the cysts on the maps in little under 2 minutes, this puts a huge strain on the alien commander when hes already occupied with other things. Flamers also are pretty much the best weapon to utterly destroy a structure such a hive, two or three marines with flamers and jetpacks and pretty much tear down any hive without hydras set up if they are good enough. Flamers are also excellent as a support weapon for clearing out lerk gasses when pushing down hallways, and they can demolish an onos if the flamer is allowed to continue unloading on it.

GRENADE LAUNCHER:

Not the practical weapon for skulks lerks or fades, but the grenade launcher can be a pretty powerful support weapon for a push, you can create a killzone for aliens such as a hive entrance (w/out whips ofcourse), the grenades deal double damage to structures and can catch most higher tier lifeforms offguard with the weapons potiential for burst damage. Flying into the back end of a hive while your other team members are pushing from the front is also very effective, because usually pub aliens just sit right behind the entrance and a good marine can snag some ridiculous killstreaks from that.

SHOTGUN:

As of right now the absolute best weapon in the game for killing aliens of all types. Marines equipped with assault rifles have a hard time taking out fades and lerks early game due to the additional stress on aim from the fast movement of the higher mobility life forms. Shotguns allow marines to mediate their aim and consequent damage to specific points in time and this makes it easier for them to take out these lifeforms. The shotgun should always be purchased before the grenade launcher and flamethrower with no questions asked, in the hands of a good marine the shotgun can take on anything for its own worth.

What order/timing is it best to get weapon/armor upgrades?

"unless your marines are unbelievably good shots" You should always purchase armor 1 -> weapons 1 -> weapons 2 -> armor 2 or weapons 3 -> etc.

Why? Because armor 1 prevents skulks from 3 biting you, or 1 parasite two biting you, this will have the biggest impact on your pub marines the earlier you can get it researched as it will give every marine those extra moments of protection to make their final shots. Generally after armor 1 you want to get started on the weapons upgrades however as they can assist players with not so high aim standards to take down targets.

Which maps do arcs work best in? Which maps are the worst?

I don't think theres any real tier level of arc usefulness based on map. Arcs are situational pushing tools you purchase when you have an opening to take down a hive with them. You shouldn't start a round as a marine comm thinking "oh im going to get some arcs this round" because really it all depends on the situation that arises from the game playing out.

That being said however, you can do some pretty disgusting things with arcs via bar to locker rooms, central drilling to deposit, arcing out nanogrid from either junction on veil, etc.

Aliens

I typically get upgrades in this order: Celerity, Regen, Carapace, Adrenaline, Silence, Camo. Is there a better build order for specific maps?
What are some good tactics for using shifts to teleport structures?

There is no better build order, every upgrade has the potiential to do something for your team that they can in turn exploit, it just takes good players who know what they are doing to use it to their advantage, in terms of sheer value however, carapace is unmatched for simply increasing the health pool of every alien on your team.

For pub games however right now purchasing shade hive first and going camo right off the bat is pretty effective, (only because of bad pub marine commanders who do not know how to scan anything for ######, or drop health for ######, and bad marine players who dont understand simple concepts like "cover your teammate" and "always stay moving when camo is present")

 

[MrDropps]

I personaly liked the strat it was good early res deny without to much work by the ground troops... We did have a foggy patch in the middle of the first match but once the upgraded kicked in we really had a relatively painless win!!! Plus some great end game welding by yours truly wrapped the whole match up beautifully... I think if the timings all get figured out for the tech order its basically a free win for the marines...

 

[HeatSurge]

I don't think there's a strat that works every time.

On Veil, if the aliens put a lot of shit into nano (like 2+ gorges, shift, a whip, etc.) it can be a huge waste of time to take, unless you go arcs but that's very risky and may or may not pay off. Instead, just take cargo or pipeline or sub (whichever isn't their hive) and deny a 2nd hive. Without a 2nd hive, aliens are fucked. Then get jetpacks and rape ALL the things.

On most maps, the key to being a good marine com is to have to look at what the situation is and respond adequately. Armor/weapon levels are always helpful, but sometimes other tech is needed. You shouldn't always be playing reactively (i.e. waiting to see what the enemy will do so you do the "counter" to it), in fact it's much better to make your enemy react to you, but it helps to have some reaction "cues" down:

- Rushing over and over from a close spawn? Get mines and expand the other way. Think about welders to repair stuff around the place getting hit eventually.
- You generally need shotguns for lerks and fades. You can take them down with ARs, but it's much more difficult, and shotguns make them "back off" a lot more, making them much less effective, at least - especially lerks who will start being afraid of being 1-shot.
- Structure spam? Arcs or GL.
- Whips? Arcs or flamethrowers.

Then again, like I say, it's usually better to be the aggressor...

 

[w@flz]

Good points Heat ,

I think the 30 res invested into 1 arc in east junction with 1 marine, stopping 2 of there res nodes is worth it, almost every game .

 

[Angry Child]

I'm starting to see some comms instead of going for fast phase tech at the start of the match have a good portion of their marines run to a nearby tech point and throw down a command station and then put another Ip on top of that, do you guys think this is worth the effort?

 

[Sword]

No phase gate to reinforce that expansion means that the marines defending it need to be exceptional players, if they go down that single IP won't be able to meet spawn demand against a rush, and if you put all your eggs in one basket aliens can just take out your main. You really need to know what kind of people you are playing with before doing such an aggressive expansion strat (anyone doing it in a pub with guys they don't know is gambling too much). If your marines aren't an issue (and usually they are the only issue), then it can be a good strat, all early phase gates do is hold your marines' hand and remove positioning from the equation, as well as guaranteeing a slow but safe rate of expansion.

 

[HeatSurge]

Basically what sword said.

Rush 2nd chair sometimes works, but it opens you up to rushes in both places, unless you build an obs in both places, which is expensive. Each chair+ip+obs combo costs you 45 res to build. So with 2 chairs/obs/IP you used 90 res. With 1 chair, 2 IPs, and 2 phase gates it's actually 105 (15 for PG research). It's comparable, but with 1 chair you have PG tech pretty fast which is preferable IMO.

Also, you have to take into account that PG actually have more health, so they actually go down slower than an IP...

2 chairs/obs/ip can work if you have a really nice team. It's not a completely fail strategy, but I personally prefer phase gates fast.

 

[w@flz]

Phase tech fast has always payed off for me, early shotgun/nade works as well if you have a phase close to a hive.

 

[w@flz]

Sticky please

 

[Angry Child]

Someone was asking for advice for marine comm on a uwe thread and I wrote this stuff, reposting here

Marine

What situations/map is it best to get exos over jetpacks?

I don't truly think youll ever find a situation where getting exos first over jetpacks is a better option, jetpacks are cheap and enable your entire team to perform better, good players can use jetpacks and be enabled to dispatch enemies much more safely and swiftly, exo's are pretty good when supported with macs but since they require welders to really push anything significantly youll be bogging down your team into exo welding that much earlier, they will also have a harder time doing it without jetpacks.

What situations would GLs, flame throwers, shotguns work best in?

FLAMETHROWER:

Something marines dont do enough in this game right now is harass the enemy alien economy, a good marine with a flamethrower unopposed can torch up pretty much all the cysts on the maps in little under 2 minutes, this puts a huge strain on the alien commander when hes already occupied with other things. Flamers also are pretty much the best weapon to utterly destroy a structure such a hive, two or three marines with flamers and jetpacks and pretty much tear down any hive without hydras set up if they are good enough. Flamers are also excellent as a support weapon for clearing out lerk gasses when pushing down hallways, and they can demolish an onos if the flamer is allowed to continue unloading on it.

GRENADE LAUNCHER:

Not the practical weapon for skulks lerks or fades, but the grenade launcher can be a pretty powerful support weapon for a push, you can create a killzone for aliens such as a hive entrance (w/out whips ofcourse), the grenades deal double damage to structures and can catch most higher tier lifeforms offguard with the weapons potiential for burst damage. Flying into the back end of a hive while your other team members are pushing from the front is also very effective, because usually pub aliens just sit right behind the entrance and a good marine can snag some ridiculous killstreaks from that.

SHOTGUN:

As of right now the absolute best weapon in the game for killing aliens of all types. Marines equipped with assault rifles have a hard time taking out fades and lerks early game due to the additional stress on aim from the fast movement of the higher mobility life forms. Shotguns allow marines to mediate their aim and consequent damage to specific points in time and this makes it easier for them to take out these lifeforms. The shotgun should always be purchased before the grenade launcher and flamethrower with no questions asked, in the hands of a good marine the shotgun can take on anything for its own worth.

What order/timing is it best to get weapon/armor upgrades?

"unless your marines are unbelievably good shots" You should always purchase armor 1 -> weapons 1 -> weapons 2 -> armor 2 or weapons 3 -> etc.

Why? Because armor 1 prevents skulks from 3 biting you, or 1 parasite two biting you, this will have the biggest impact on your pub marines the earlier you can get it researched as it will give every marine those extra moments of protection to make their final shots. Generally after armor 1 you want to get started on the weapons upgrades however as they can assist players with not so high aim standards to take down targets.

Which maps do arcs work best in? Which maps are the worst?

I don't think theres any real tier level of arc usefulness based on map. Arcs are situational pushing tools you purchase when you have an opening to take down a hive with them. You shouldn't start a round as a marine comm thinking "oh im going to get some arcs this round" because really it all depends on the situation that arises from the game playing out.

That being said however, you can do some pretty disgusting things with arcs via bar to locker rooms, central drilling to deposit, arcing out nanogrid from either junction on veil, etc.

Aliens

I typically get upgrades in this order: Celerity, Regen, Carapace, Adrenaline, Silence, Camo. Is there a better build order for specific maps?
What are some good tactics for using shifts to teleport structures?

There is no better build order, every upgrade has the potiential to do something for your team that they can in turn exploit, it just takes good players who know what they are doing to use it to their advantage, in terms of sheer value however, carapace is unmatched for simply increasing the health pool of every alien on your team.

For pub games however right now purchasing shade hive first and going camo right off the bat is pretty effective, (only because of bad pub marine commanders who do not know how to scan anything for ######, or drop health for ######, and bad marine players who dont understand simple concepts like "cover your teammate" and "always stay moving when camo is present")

 

[w@flz]

Thanks for the input, ive added it to the top.

I always rush Armor 2 cause that stops the fades from tearing people apart.

Armor 1 / Weapon 1 / Armor 2 / Weapon 2 / Weapon 3 / Armor 3

 

[Chickenbomb]

Regen? Why Regen instead of cara?

 

[Angry Child]

Oh, that was part of his question to me, him suggesting those alien upgrade orders, I respond to that with "there is no better build order" I had the paragraphs bolded on UWE it didnt carry over

 

[Scout255]

Kind of a necro bump, but wanted to add this here incase anyone is like me and didn't know you could do this:

An observatory beacon will transport your entire team to the closest command center to the observatory as long as the observatory has power. It does not matter whatsoever if your command chair has power.

This means if you have a second obs up in an area adjacent to a tech point, you can use that to beacon your team to your command chair long after you lost power on that comm chair. I.e. you have an obs in Terminal and a second one in Landing pad (ensure it is closer to your terminal comm chair than the caff one). The aliens bile rush terminal power and knockout power before your beacon in Terminal goes off. No problem! trigger the second obs you have in Landing pad and proceed to freak the hell out of the alien team on how you pulled off a beacon into an out of power area.

The great thing about this is if they are onus rushing and they are low on health, they will run when they hear the beacon but come back as soon as the beacon doesn't go off. When your second beacon goes off, you can surprise them and have a greater chance of downing them because of it.

Obviously it would be best to just NOT have your power go down, but an extra 15 res invested in a backup Obs could let you save a base that otherwise would've been unrecoverable. Had this sprung on me yesterday and I tried it out myself in explore mode, it does indeed work. Can't wait to try to do it in a real game.

 

[HeatSurge]

It works, but an obs is already weak, and if you put it where people aren't spawning or going for ammo or to phase (read: people aren't there often), it goes down in 20 seconds to 1 skulk... and you can't beacon there because... it beacons to the nearest chair .

But yeah, e.g. if you put an obs in nano and trigger it, I think it usually goes to command on veil (if it's next to the upper wall).