Thoughts on unconventional FOBs (aka Not Nexus)

[Rocco Ward]

So tonight we had an interesting round where I decided to go against the norm and ordered a jungle FOB as XO. Additionally to make this a viable decision due to the distance from the LZs, I had three of our doctors, and a single MT deploy planetside with their equipment and supplies. Due to this idea abbreviating from the norm, quite a few marines were outraged and threatened to mutiny before they were even deployed. This seems to be the case anytime a FOB that is NOT NEXUS is selected. I've witnessed this many times and I don't see why it's such a big deal. Tactically- with Nexus FOB you can be potential getting attacked from all four directions at once, and straight LOS for boiler spam. You can't even breakdown walls to scavenge metal anymore... It's horrendous. It's a fun time for epic last stands on the planet, but there are much better locations to pick with better defense features.

• Telecomms - Reinforced areas, Chokepoints, Few flanking spots for xenos to use
• SW Jungle - 10 tile lake, no weeds, only one direction xenos can attack from
• Medbay - Medical supplies and equipment
• Cargo Dome - Lots of room for construction, Easy to grinder off eastside to prevent flanks, Rasp turrets protects south flank
• Research/IA Dome - Blast doors that can be controlled, close to LZ2

[Monoo]

I'm also a fan of the cargo/storage FOB. It's got a lot of open space to set up a kill field with turrets and designated marksmen, and prevents the xenos from taking that spot as a forward base like they always do when the nexus is the fob.

[Swagile]

The jungle FOB was great; if we had Cargo send down more metal + plastisteel and SADAR rockets, it would have been an epic FOB.

Unfortunately we had no Cargo the entire round due to Sulaco blowing up, so yeah.

Cargo + Storage is another great FOB location.

I would LOVE doing these FOB's as a Engineer, unfortunately most of the time they aren't ordered to be done as FOB's so im stuck doing the usual LZ1 / Nexus / Hydro routine. Going out solo to do these autism forts is suicide as you get taken down and if no one uses your FOB then its pointless.

And when a XO / CO orders these "unconventional" FOB's to be done you get marines mutinying.

Its like when I did fun hives as a Queen; except you can't mutiny against the Queen or you get destroyed by the Admins since you have no free will. But even that was taken away because Queens can't use tunnels now unless Fog is cleared.

[kroack]

Big advantage of the jungle FOB is lack of weeds as well.

[driecg36]

Yeah, i got pretty salty that round, sorry, I'm usually only mildly salty.

I personally dont mind non-nexus fob's. Variety is always welcome IMO, but personally I'm not a fan of the southwest jungle just because it's so far from the aliens and the lz the aliens can just bloody ignore it.

I think one of the main points of contention was the fact you said you were sending down ALL the sulaco crew, cl and the like as well. From an RP perspective, I didn't like the idea civilians being ordered into a potential warzone at all, but that's just my off topic pov on the situation.

I've seen medbay and hydro FOB's, which are meh at best, but a cargo fob sounds dope. I'd be behind that any day.

[Karmac]

Was the jungle FOB the round where admins nuked everyone? Because if it was, I gotta say, that was the most abominable 'thing some would call an FOB' I've ever seen.

[TheMaskedMan2]

The biggest problem with this is Xenos always take the path of least resistance, why in the hell would they attack your obscure jungle base when they can skip literally all of it by taking the Rasp into what is essentially a super flank?

[Simo94]

The biggest problem with this is Xenos always take the path of least resistance, why in the hell would they attack your obscure jungle base when they can skip literally all of it by taking the Rasp into what is essentially a super flank?

becuz our hero and savior of a CO Bill Carson eliminated that chance by.......self destructing Sulaco

[Swagile]

Was the jungle FOB the round where admins nuked everyone? Because if it was, I gotta say, that was the most abominable 'thing some would call an FOB' I've ever seen.

There was only one supply drop the entire round, and it was only like 100 metal and some plastisteel.

Thats all we were working with (and starter FOB supplies) the entire round. If there was more materials dropped before Sulaco exploded, it could have been made into a decent FOB.

[driecg36]

The biggest problem with this is Xenos always take the path of least resistance, why in the hell would they attack your obscure jungle base when they can skip literally all of it by taking the Rasp into what is essentially a super flank?

That's why rocco ordered all the sulaco personnel onto the ground, supposedly. His plan was to completely abandon the ship.

[Telegnats]

I used to be much more in favor of using the Nexus as an FOB when walls weren't miserable to deal with. You could easily dismantle a whole section of the Nexus in 15 minutes and set up something unique to play around with (Though everyone would generally scream and bitch about how it isn't the norm, but that's another story entirely). But now that dismantling walls takes so damn long and is generally as irritating as hell to accomplish, i'd quite like to move to more open spaces so I don't have to waste half the round setting up to get ready to set up.

[Renomaki]

Honestly, I never was much of a fan of Tcomms, mainly because it had a habit of making marines cocky...

Every SINGLE time, Tcomms would end up getting hard flanked from the right due to marines not bothering to put a sentry to cover their flank there, and then they do, it is WAY in engineering with no one watching it, allowing it to be easily torn apart with little resistance.

Everyone would always go on and on about how it was THE BEST FoB location, but the reality was that it often fell just as easily due to the same reason Nexus FoBs tend to fall: Laziness.

As for my personal choice of alternate FoB? Well, I always wanted to try the cargo area up north from the LZ, since those domes are nice and open, allowing for some easy construction work to take place in them in what should be an easy to defend area. If the aliens rush for LZ1, then marines could easily counter push them from their location, which makes it a nice little place if you ask me. Maybe one day I might give it a shot if I have some good squads to work with.

Although my heart will always be for the Nexus.. Had some great last stands there, yuh know?

[Rocco Ward]

Was the jungle FOB the round where admins nuked everyone? Because if it was, I gotta say, that was the most abominable 'thing some would call an FOB' I've ever seen.

The FOB where xenos were super salty in deadchat about fighting off weeds?
The FOB where boilers could only fire 2-3 bombs and have to retreat past river to regain plasma?
The FOB where lots of dead xenos carcasses were littered in the 10 tile river that slowed them to a snails pace?
The FOB that forced xenos to go through a chockepoint that sent a rain of bullets from strategically placed sentries?
The FOB that had doctors in a super secure area for quick surgery instead of taking 5 minutes to be transported via the rasp, and then waiting at medbay?

Yes. That's the same abominable FOB. If it weren't for half of the marines trying to mutiny, and the Sulaco self-destructing, we would have probably won.

The biggest problem with this is Xenos always take the path of least resistance, why in the hell would they attack your obscure jungle base when they can skip literally all of it by taking the Rasp into what is essentially a super flank?

I play xeno regularly about 50% of the time, and the downsides to what you are suggesting should be obvious. It's a double edged sword. If xenos bypass marines on the planet and go to the Sualco, they leave the remaining larva open for ripe slaughter. The next thing is... if 90% of your marine forces are alive on the planet in a fortified position, why the hell would you abandon it? EVAC the Sulaco and send the remaining personnel to the planet and dig down in your planetside bunker. You don't necessarily have to engage the enemy on the Sulaco even if they decide to attack it.

That's why rocco ordered all the sulaco personnel onto the ground, supposedly. His plan was to completely abandon the ship.

To clarify my reasoning here, I selected a SW jungle FOB for a change of pace and to see how the terrain would play out. Due to the distance from the LZ, and the large potential to be cut off from EVAC'ing wounded and supplies, I ordered most of the Sulaco's doctors (with the exception of the CMO) to go planetside so any wounded could be treated in the FOB. Also I was sending down the MTs (and keeping the CE on the Sulaco) to help setup this super FOB to make it indestructible. The plan was to keep the CMO and CE on the Sulaco for whatever need arises. Cargo was going to be dropping supplies via beacons regularly, and the rest of the Sulaco staff was remaining at their posts. Maybe I should have been less vague about this, but considering the marines tenacity to riot whenever a briefing is different, I kept that information under wraps and only disclosed it to medbay and engineering until it was time to do briefing.

Unfortunately, I was not at all expecting admins to intervene. This threw all the plans I had made into the trash, so I resigned. While a mutiny was brewing outside bridge, Bill Carson arrived and he initiated the self destruct sequence for the Sulaco. It all went to shit from there.

I'm super proud of the marines who went with the plan though and the doctors. That FOB was fort fucking knox, and the doctors saved many more lives being at the FOB than had they been waiting on the Sulaco.

I have no regrets and gladly would repeat the same operation again if given a second chance!

[Karmac]

I'm not saying it was gonna win or lose you the game, but from an engineer's standpoint, that thing was hard to look at. It was half-finished in all the wrong places, with barricades in places I couldn't even begin to try and understand...

[doodeeda]

I play xeno regularly about 50% of the time, and the downsides to what you are suggesting should be obvious. It's a double edged sword. If xenos bypass marines on the planet and go to the Sualco, they leave the remaining larva open for ripe slaughter. The next thing is... if 90% of your marine forces are alive on the planet in a fortified position, why the hell would you abandon it? EVAC the Sulaco and send the remaining personnel to the planet and dig down in your planetside bunker. You don't necessarily have to engage the enemy on the Sulaco even if they decide to attack it.

For one..if you evac the Sulaco and get all marines on the planet, you will lose the game. People on the planet don't count as being alive once the aliens reach Sulaco..once that mechanic is put in place.

It doesn't make sense to abandon your ship. Then, you are stranded on a planet with the aliens now in control free to do whatever they want in space, and you distance yourself from escape or USCM.

[Imperator_Titan]

It doesn't make sense to abandon your ship. Then, you are stranded on a planet with the aliens now in control free to do whatever they want in space, and you distance yourself from escape or USCM.

You could simply launch a distress signal like the colony did. Anyways, the commander I can understand because of him/her being proud and shit but would anyone else stay on a ship that they know for a fact is going to fall?

[Casany]

For one..if you evac the Sulaco and get all marines on the planet, you will lose the game. People on the planet don't count as being alive once the aliens reach Sulaco..once that mechanic is put in place

This seems like a shitty addition if it's ever added. What's the point of building good FOBs anywhere except around LZ1? Hell, if this were added even Nexus center FOBs would be abandoned. If marines built a good FOB and command happened to leave the POD down aliens could just get that win through cheese, leaving the bulk of the marines planetside and still wining

[TheMaskedMan2]

I play xeno regularly about 50% of the time, and the downsides to what you are suggesting should be obvious. It's a double edged sword. If xenos bypass marines on the planet and go to the Sualco, they leave the remaining larva open for ripe slaughter. The next thing is... if 90% of your marine forces are alive on the planet in a fortified position, why the hell would you abandon it? EVAC the Sulaco and send the remaining personnel to the planet and dig down in your planetside bunker. You don't necessarily have to engage the enemy on the Sulaco even if they decide to attack it.

I still believe Xenos boarding the Sulaco, is almost always a net gain, it is certainly a risk, but you pass all the defenses, cause chaos, and can if clever, slaughter basically all of the essential Sulaco staff. Keeping the Sulaco safe is a priority, and as a Xeno I will always take the easiest and most available method to get there. If that means the marines left the pod down (Again) at round start? So be it. Also it's fun.

[Rocco Ward]

but you pass all the defenses, cause chaos, and can if clever, slaughter basically all of the essential Sulaco staff. Keeping the Sulaco safe is a priority, and as a Xeno I will always take the easiest and most available method to get there.

Why wouldn't the marines take the path of least resistance as well? Why fight in a super vulnerable position when they can EVAC to the planet in a much more safeguarded area? While the loss of the Sulaco is catastrophic for the marines, it should not be considered checkmate by any means.

[4thsurviver]

Why wouldn't the marines take the path of least resistance as well? Why fight in a super vulnerable position when they can EVAC to the planet in a much more safeguarded area? While the loss of the Sulaco is catastrophic for the marines, it should not be considered checkmate by any means.

From a RP perspective abandoning ship means you lose cargo, comms, food and ammo supplies, and most importantly cryo storage. Those 10 or 20 Xenos you ran from now have access to the dozens or so people left sleeping. Also with no one maintaining the ship how long before its systems start dying and it crashes into the planet? The marines in the Aliens had to wait 2 weeks before they would be declared overdue and an investigation launched and then you need to wait for whatever relief unit comes and will most likely be a few more weeks too.

[Karmac]

RP wise you wouldn't abandon a miitary ship to like 20 xenomorphs.

[Rocco Ward]

From a RP perspective abandoning ship means you lose cargo, comms, food and ammo supplies, and most importantly cryo storage. Those 10 or 20 Xenos you ran from now have access to the dozens or so people left sleeping. Also with no one maintaining the ship how long before its systems start dying and it crashes into the planet? The marines in the Aliens had to wait 2 weeks before they would be declared overdue and an investigation launched and then you need to wait for whatever relief unit comes and will most likely be a few more weeks too.

RP wise you wouldn't abandon a miitary ship to like 20 xenomorphs.

What exactly do you think EVAC Pods are for?!? The ship is getting overrun with xenos and you are ESCAPING!!! It's the same concept. Both RP'wise and code'wise this is hard coded into the game.

[Karmac]

The ship wouldn't be overrun if you had marines on it, ready to protect it from boarders.

[Garrison]

*snip*

From the sounds of this story.. I feel like Marines definitely should of won, because from a game-play/strategy perspective, they did all the right moves and forced the aliens to fight at a total disadvantage... and yet the aliens still won.. why does this depress me? I have a feeling this locations tactical advantage is going to have numbered days. Which is a shame because thinking outside the box is something that should be rewarded on either side as long as it is a sound stratagem. Unconventional FOB's can make the game so much funner because they throw the games routine completely out the window, which forces new ideas and scenarios to be played out. Which is exactly what Rocco did that day.

[4thsurviver]

What exactly do you think EVAC Pods are for?!? The ship is getting overrun with xenos and you are ESCAPING!!! It's the same concept. Both RP'wise and code'wise this is hard coded into the game.

Do you mean a standard evac with the destination as the planet rather then the shuttle high command sends? I was under the impression you were talking about everyone just running to the drop pod and landing on the planet. One method is super fast and easy while the other takes 23 minutes. Also when you evac the mission is over and you don't have to face the consequences of your actions as you would if you just ran to the planet. You still have face the xenomorphs and the whatever supply issues and mechanical issues that would happen, while if you evac you run away to high command and probably get yelled at for losing a war ship to a bunch of lizards.

Personally I think if the xenos call the rasp down and command can figure out that no one called the rasp down and can clearly see the xenomorphs on the ship cameras rushing it they should be able to set up defenses on the ship. If xenos take the rasp over while its already on the ground then no defenses should be allowed on the ship.