Meta/strategy discussion

[Royal Griffon]

I think that the tank is more useful as a blockhouse howitzer that can't be destroyed, and also that marines need something to pack more damage, like regular rounds just bounce off xenos too much, and if they don't bounce off then they do jack all damage, and it is somewhat annoying that they just tank so much, especially defenders, who simply take a whole squad to take down, and can quite literally just abduct marines

[Dolth]

Just today.

>Tank goes into cave to fight queen
>Fires main cannon shell at her
>DIRECT HIT
>Examine queen
>"S H E I S S L I G H T L Y I N J U R E D"

This. Queen isn't the main factor anymore because we loose before reaching her or being a threat to her. But believe me she is still that bitch doing a charge scream before you get showered in acid and pounced by a warrior to be used as a meat shield.

Tank doesn't do shit its half bugged and doesn't kill unless hardcore playing. I mean mean fuckig should at least crit T1. Come on. Even gayfender.

[Wesmas]

One of the problems marines have is focusing fire. Rather than a squad focusing on one alien at a time during a push, the fire is spread out across multiple xenos and results in no kills. What we need is a visual feedback of how damaged the aliens are.

An idea I have had for a few days is that as alien health goes down, the sprite changes. It would mean that anyone in the fight can look at an alien, realise its damaged and help finish it off. Opinions?

[TastyCrabLegs]

Biggest tank issue is movement.

I appreciate the time taken to make a tank but two smaller jeep like objects would have been a better way to go.
One for each DS.


As it stands the tank gets trapped by a 1 tile large hedge row or a light.....

Something a light tank could easily plow over. *See shermans*

My point being, as much as I love the tank you took a good idea and did way to much way to fast.

Scale it back a bit or rework maps by taking out certain hedge rows / letting them be gunable, runable over.

[Dolth]

One of the problems marines have is focusing fire. Rather than a squad focusing on one alien at a time during a push, the fire is spread out across multiple xenos and results in no kills. What we need is a visual feedback of how damaged the aliens are.

An idea I have had for a few days is that as alien health goes down, the sprite changes. It would mean that anyone in the fight can look at an alien, realise its damaged and help finish it off. Opinions?

Smart thoughts but how do you wanna focus fire? Yell at people? The only way you could would be, as a SL, pointing at xeno (that could work actually.)

Also I agree 100000% with your idea. Sizzling green blood to notify the alien HP would be really really great.

[Helplesssheep]

I would disagree with your initial premise. Specifically, the combination of Boiler Gas Clouds + Crusher + Queen Charge, and now Prae Acid Shotgun, means the Xenos can assault a FOB with little personal risk. Gas Clouds temporarily nullify defenses by themselves--Combine a preemptive Queen Charge and you can stunlock + acid cloud any marine caught. Same can be down with the Prae's acid and spit to a lesser extent. Send the Crusher's in at the same time to dent up their fortifications, and rinse and repeat until you deplete the marine forces too much for them to hold the forward lines. Realistically, with the cover of the Boiler Gas Cloud, marines can't deal enough damage to kill even T2s. So it's a matter or attrition, which plays out pretty rapidly--Usually about 10 minutes of focused assault will break a line of cades.

Also, to note, Assault is the best way for Marines to win because of one very simple factor: Xeno HP Regeneration. During a siege, it is easy enough for a Xeno to skirmish then disengage with sizzling wounds, only to be healed up within a minute or two by laying on weeds. Even worst case scenario, a concentration of Xenos can drag back a paincritted Xeno to some weeds and let them rest for a while without devoting any resources or manpower to their recovery. Obviously this is different with Marines, between broken bones, vulnerable medics, and extraction for surgery. It means the only way to reliably kill Xenos is to push forward into their forces to prevent rest, as long as Marines can maintain the momentum.

I totally agree with this post in that holding an FOB is now even harder than it once was a couple months ago, however from my experiences I find that this is mostly due to Xeno players now attacking from multiple sides as opposed to one direct linear assault. I believe that this is due to the addition of the new xeno castes which have reduced the relianace on crushers for FOB engagements and have enabled players to use more attainable classes for the purpose of offense. A common strategy I've seen is that xeno players will now take control of areas surrounding the FOB (if possible) and then attack from multiple sides. Although this is not an entirely new strategy, it is now easier to pull off with the addition of warriors who easily disable marines with a single click via warrior grab. The latter part of the grab involves using the marine as a meatsheild which allows the warrior player to then make their way out of the fight and into safety. This playstyle has made it possible for the xeno faction to win almost all small scale fights thus making it impossible for marines to control territory without massive numbers. As a result, it is now easier for xenos to retain large numbers prior to the FOB seige which allows for more manuverablity across the map. This combined with the queen's charge + screeh (which has no counter and really should have one), along with the xeno rush, summarizes defeat for the marines.