Players on the Singaporean servers, myself included, are horrible at using the aliens. The situation was so bad, it felt as if the marines team was stacked in every game.
The only times we won (I played aliens in every single match so far in every server) were those times when the marines team was so bad the commander (comm) didn't summon their whole team back to base with a Distress Beacon when it got raped by a quasi-zerg-rush in which 3-4 skulks (in a 7v7 or 8v8 game) went directly to the marines base when the match began.
In short, aliens NEVER won legitimately.
So I spoke to my bro about it and learnt that it's mainly because although there had been such a long beta phase before release, there were no Singapore servers and very few Singaporeans playing the game. Hence, everyone here suck at the game.
However, the marines team is easy to learn since it's all about shooting and buying weapons for most of the team, so Singaporean players picked that up a lot faster than aliens.
You know what happens in most of the alien teams I've played in so far?
At least half the team was always camping in the hive for no apparent reason. Probably still figuring out what each lifeform does like I did.
Higher lifeforms did appear, fortunately; but they NEVER lasted, unfortunately.
As a result, 99% of the times when exos began to steamroll us, there were no fades nor onoses in sight.
In addition, the alien comms were terrible. Their learning experience, in turn, was being stifled by the terrible performance by the rest of the alien team, so they could never try much out.
Tired of this bullshit, I went to a different server today with about 100ms ping, maybe Japanese, maybe Australian, I heard both, and things were so different over there.
Not only did the aliens win, we won legitimately, and I even got the chance to try out the onos against the marines. The second round, we lost, but at least we didn't simply get steamrolled.
A huge difference there.
You know what's bad about playing as an alien in NS2?
You can never get the chance to appreciate the map environment because it's always good to have alien sight mode on due to its tactical value.
Funny thing about NS2 is that while I suck at most lifeforms so far, I seem to shine at onos. Weird, and not really a good thing because the onos is the most expensive lifeform and the highest on the aliens' hierachy other than the comm.
In other words, it's a late-game lifeform.
Skulk - the basic lifeform. Bites hard (2 bites to kill an unupgraded marine) and spits parasites that makes the marine visible to all nearby aliens through walls for a long while.
I won't say I'm good at it. I aim for the butt (out of the target's sight) and I keep moving as he turns... or at least I always try to. Doesn't really work too well when he's not alone or when there's lag. In addition, I also always try to flank them and use vents to reach more interesting spots safely.
Still, I don't do very well as a skulk. The bites requires timing. Simply spamming it doesn't work.
Gorge - the healer. Sprays heals that also speeds up alien structure construction, and can spit on marines to do mediocre damage.
It is not that great when I use it. I don't have the balls to fight because I feel that the gorge is too weak and slow for even a 1v1 duel with a marine. Hydras, small defensive alien turrets gorges drop, I've tried so hard to use them, but they always end up dead quickly. How on earth are they even supposed to provide tactical support when a single marine can almost kill a hydra with a single clip despite my heals and 2 other hydras supporting it?
What use are hydras?
The only time I'm useful as a gorge is when there are damaged structures, like the hives. Nobody ever heals the hives IMO, and that's a bad thing. Maybe it's because the hives' HP aren't highlighted enough for people to notice.
And bile bombs (an anti-structure weapon)? Comms seem to only research it when we're already winning hard. And when we're not, how are gorges supposed to get near structures to use it when marines love to aim for the gorges to stop their heals?
Lerk - flies, shoots spikes and gasses marines.
Yea it's cool, but it's only good for shooting spikes. Great anti-noob weapon but when non-noobs arrive, I often get caught in rather tactically disadvantageous positions as I get too focused on raping noobs. Great for hitting structures from vents too, though pretty darn weak compared to a skulk's bite so it takes forever.
Gas is much harder to use now compared to its counterpart in NS1. Back in the day, I could shoot a gas cloud and it would stop on the first wall or floor it hits.
Now, it's a smoke trail behind me that gradually sinks to the ground, like planes spraying pesticides on farms. To use it, I have to fly above the marines and hope they don't shoot me because I'm so damn fragile.
This means it's only useful when the marines are already engaged with other aliens, usually skulks. In other words, not really useful IMO.
Fades - capable of short-distance teleport (aka blink) and whose slashes do amazing damage. I've had really bad memories of them back in NS1 due to the difficulty in mastering the blink so I've been avoiding it.
Onos - the tank.
Skulks have 70hp and 10 armour.
Gorges have 150hp and 70 armour.
Lerks have 125hp and 50 armour.
Fades have 250hp and 50 armour.
Onos (plural also "onos") have 1300hp and 600 armour.
When an onos engages the marines, someone always dies. There is no "if" and no "maybe".
1-2 hits will kill any marine who isn't in an exosuit. Even against one in an exosuit, the heavy armour of the marines, the onos can win in a 1v1 fight. I know because I've been through 2 duels with morons who thought their exosuits granted them godlike powers and thus allowed them to wander the map alone.
Another ability is stomp. It takes a long time to load (0.7s according to the wiki but it felt like 2-3s) because you know, imagine an elephant raising its forelegs. It can't do it instantaneously. Same with the onos stomp.
What it does is that all the marines nearby not in jetpacks and exos will collapse on the ground, stunned, for 2 whole seconds. If 0.7s felt like 2-3s for me, imagine what 2 real seconds would feel like.
Yet despite all these praises I heap on the onos, they all keep dying in the games I've played. I believe the issue lies in how players, upon seeing those 4-digit numbers on their hp and armour, also think they've been granted godlike status.
Moreover, the immense size of the onos makes them the number easiest target in every fight, and only the smarter marines will aim for the little gorge healing behind the onos. Let's just say that we're not all geniuses.
What I've noticed is that it's always a good idea to turn away from a fight before it appears necessary to do so. The main reason is that the onos doesn't run quickly so it needs some buffer hp to handle the fire as it retreats.
Personally, I turn back when I lose 25% armour when I'm not backed by a good number of teammates. However, I don't simply go straight to a hive to heal. If I hear marines chasing me, and they only number one or two, I'll turn around at some point and kill them all, and I'd have the hp to do so and still get away if reinforcements happen to be somewhere behind them.
The thing is that when marines focus on chasing you, they don't stop to think that something may be terribly wrong when you suddenly turn around and charge at them. Maybe it's because they tend to think you're low on hp if you run. I just don't want shit to happen; onos are expensive.
In spite of this simple rule, I still can get killed or almost die because of exos. 1 is easy, but 1 plus several basic marines are not. 3-4 exos together, and I won't even bother reaching them before I turn, and I'd still get almost killed because everybody loves to chase the running onos. Good thing alien comms tend to get celerity by the time I can afford onos, so I can outrun them before I die in those situations.
The celerity upgrade increases my movement speed.
In situations where there really are 3 or more exos pushing into our territory in a group, all I can do is bait and hope the rest of the aliens will attack as I draw their fire. What I do is I move into sight at a doorway and retreat repeatedly. Unless they're pros, someone will always try to chase me.
Otherwise, I hope very hard that someone on my side is smart enough to flank them as I do my dance.
Basically, what I'm saying is that a lone onos cannot do much against 3-4 exos.
Turning back early doesn't seem like a bad thing so far in my games. I believe it's because the onos doesn't simply take or deal insane amounts of pain, but it also raises the morale on my team wherever it goes.
I've felt it before and I've seen it in others. When an onos is at your side in battle, you feel like you can go all out suicidal attack on the marines there. Partly it's because the onos is there to soak up damage that otherwise would have killed you.
Hence a live onos, even one that doesn't do shit but enter battles and run around, is still a very useful unit. It doesn't matter if the onos kills anything - it just needs to distract the marines and absorb all the bullets. The rest of the alien team is faster and thus can do more damage.
That's the kind of onos that I am. Maybe there are other ways to use the onos but this seems like the best way to use it so far.
Granted, I am much less effective in battles because I run out so quickly, but the trend is evidence that over the long term, this is a more effective strategy IMO. The trend that I'm talking about is how I usually stay near the bottom of the team's scoreboard till I become an onos, at which point I would rise to the top.
I haven't played a lot of games but in 3 out of 6 games I used the onos, I ended up with the top score in the team. Other times, I'm always in the top half.
In contrast, if I go gorge, I stay at the bottom forever.
Discovered a weakness of exos: they can't turn quickly. No agility, so if a skulk is careful, it can theoretically take down an exo in a 1v1 by staying behind the exo as he rotates. I've just done that with their top player in my last match. Fantastic aim isn't worth shit if you can't see the target.
Of course, that's like after 50 or more failed attempts. Still, 1 in 50 is still a decent chance for something like that.
Anyways, I haven't played as a marine at all. Aliens are too much fun and I don't want to join all the noobs who stack marines in every server I've been to.
Maybe in a few weeks when the noob fever dies down and we all get more experienced at it.
And in the news today, some boy commited suicide when he saw Itachi Uchiha die.
Tried Wendy's delivery. Though there has been an outlet near my place for months now, I've only tried their shrimp burger.
Discovered that Wendy's has better beef patties than Burger King. And the bacon is resembles real bacon more than the dried stuff from BK.
Since the prices aren't bad, it may just replace MacDonald's for my deliveries from now on.
These new suppliers I found during my Shanghai trip are interesting. One is so new I think I'm their first big client, although I only ordered what I would consider a small amount which I wouldn't consider with the suppliers my mum left me with. Prices are bad there but there was one design that I liked and I squashed it down to something I could consider remotely decent. Meh. It's not a big loss even if it doesn't sell at the cut-even price.
Another keeps telling how I'm lucky to have found an experienced supplier like her. The more she repeats that, the more suspicious I am getting. Still, she seems to be handling things a lot better than expected and she's been going beyond what is expected of her for my sake.
Maybe she's been down on her luck recently. Who knows?
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