Aliens and metarushing: Should we slow down?

[Renomaki]

I think we all had this happen to us before: You are a marine, you hit planetside and step out of your pod or dropship. Just under the span of a minute, someone sees an alien, and without even firing a shot, they are suddenly pounced and attacked without so much as a breath. Whether the alien ends up dying due to it's quick aggression or it manages to get away while the marines nearby take the facehugger off their marines, the marines are now fully aware of the threat and ready to kick ass and chew bubblegum [and probably rush the river since the aliens were quick to aggro].

Now, I'm no expert on xeno lore, but honestly, I find this a very bad habit that needs to stop. I know xenos are focused heavily on expanding their hive, but you'd think that they would take some time to observe the marines for a bit before deciding to attack them, right?

In fact, just as how metarushes often hurt marines more than help them, xeno rushes tend to cause a lot of runner/hunter deaths because they act first and think later. Hell, runners dying in droves as become a [urp] meme at this point. And why? Because runners just foolishly rush in and try to get infections when they should be stalking from the darkness, learning and observing, maybe emitting the odd growl and hiss now and then to get marines paranoid and possibly lure a rambo out alone to infect them, picking the marines off one by one like, you know, xenos are assumed to do.

I know this is going to be a very touchy subject, and people aren't going to agree with me, but I really think that we should start promoting a more stealthy play-style for xenos, at least in the early game, since in the beginning, the xenos are all fairly young and still growing, and the marines are a recent new threat that are completely unaware of the xenos. Sure, they might get scared and fire off some shots towards xenos like they do towards predators, but a smart xeno would just avoid it and keep stalking and intimidating them until the marines are too scared to focus.

In fact, there are a few bad habits that I'd want xenos to knock off in the early game, such as weeding everything outside the caves, building forward nests when there is no reason to have them, building a freaking massive wall across the river, etc etc etc. If you want the marines to stop metarushing, you have to prevent them from having a reason in the first place, at least for awhile.

But that is just how I view it, both from a marine and xeno perspective.

[NoahKirchner]

Hell yeah, I always try to play a stealthy alien but it's difficult to hide and actually scare marines because of the current alien mechanics, especially with the hunter.

[Jay Burns]

Well the thing is, most marines will fire a shot, as a xeno you just have to be all out hostile if spotted or run away, but most of the time runners/scouting xenos will fight.

[Toroic]

I fully agree, but the issue is that the dumb players who die as young runners don't care that they're negatively affecting the hive. They don't gather monkies, they just rush survivors/marines and die, then d/c.

[Feweh]

Lol, xenos meta-rushing marines upon landing.

Marine's are at their strongest upon landing, all grouped up and fully loaded.

[NoahKirchner]

If it were up to me, I'd make the xenos decently few, but incredibly powerful and very stealthy, so it's more like hunting for an enemy that can completely fucking destroy you 1v1, and you only have a chance in a group. But in CM, one marines vs. one runner could go either way.

[Renomaki]

Lol, xenos meta-rushing marines upon landing.

Marine's are at their strongest upon landing, all grouped up and fully loaded.

That's the point.

Aliens SHOULDN'T be attacking the marines on first contact, they should be holding themselves back and observing for awhile, carefully picking off marines that stray off or generally just distracting and causing paranoia while the main force grows stronger and stronger, until the swarm is ready to push back the invaders with all their might.

And yet, so many aliens rush at the marines while the xenos are at their weakest, harming the xenos in the long run by wasting larva reserves.

Sure, the xenos get better in the end (provided they don't act stupid midgame), but still, just imagine how much stronger aliens would be if they were more subtle and predator-y. After all, Predators wouldn't survive very long if they just went gong-ho and ran at marines every chance they get, and they are pretty freaking strong as is.

I only wish there was more incentive for xenos to use stealth over blind charging into crowds for attempts at infection.

[Toroic]

That's the point.

Aliens SHOULDN'T be attacking the marines on first contact, they should be holding themselves back and observing for awhile, carefully picking off marines that stray off or generally just distracting and causing paranoia while the main force grows stronger and stronger, until the swarm is ready to push back the invaders with all their might.

And yet, so many aliens rush at the marines while the xenos are at their weakest, harming the xenos in the long run by wasting larva reserves.

Sure, the xenos get better in the end (provided they don't act stupid midgame), but still, just imagine how much stronger aliens would be if they were more subtle and predator-y. After all, Predators wouldn't survive very long if they just went gong-ho and ran at marines every chance they get, and they are pretty freaking strong as is.

I only wish there was more incentive for xenos to use stealth over blind charging into crowds for attempts at infection.

There's significant incentive to not rush and die as a young runner, but you're up against the twin forces of apathy and incompetence.

I also think there's a significant number of marine players who die, spawn as xeno, and just rush and die. It denies xenos a larva and they won't get punished for doing it only once.

[Reuben Owen]

I stood in front of a group of marines that just landing and acted curious and non threatening. Then one shot at me. I roared, pounced his ass, used a hugger, and decapped his head with extreme prejudice in the middle of his squad, then ran away. I have no regrets.

[Renomaki]

I stood in front of a group of marines that just landing and acted curious and non threatening. Then one shot at me. I roared, pounced his ass, used a hugger, and decapped his head with extreme prejudice in the middle of his squad, then ran away. I have no regrets.

The question is, when did this take place? Late, early?

There is a difference. Lategame, xenos are much more dangerous and marines more scared. Earlygame, it is suicide to rush in and attempt something like that.

I think a big problem is many xenos are impatient, not wanting to just sit around staring at marines for 10 minutes.. But sometimes you do have to wait. A xeno that knows patience is a xeno that'll grow strong.

[Casany]

I almost always fire shots at a xeno I see, especially right after we land. The marines have developed a meta because Xenos are so aggressive to marines early on.

[Mech__Warrior]

That's the point.

Aliens SHOULDN'T be attacking the marines on first contact, they should be holding themselves back and observing for awhile, carefully picking off marines that stray off or generally just distracting and causing paranoia while the main force grows stronger and stronger, until the swarm is ready to push back the invaders with all their might.

And yet, so many aliens rush at the marines while the xenos are at their weakest, harming the xenos in the long run by wasting larva reserves.

Sure, the xenos get better in the end (provided they don't act stupid midgame), but still, just imagine how much stronger aliens would be if they were more subtle and predator-y. After all, Predators wouldn't survive very long if they just went gong-ho and ran at marines every chance they get, and they are pretty freaking strong as is.

I only wish there was more incentive for xenos to use stealth over blind charging into crowds for attempts at infection.

This is what I usually tell my xenos whenever I'm queen; take hosts that are separated and don't risk a fight in the open. They tend to listen for the most part, but I still get those that go out to fight and end up dying.

[NoahKirchner]

Best way I've found to win is to try to avoid showing them exactly where yer hive is, only send very few aliens out at a time so they think you're weak. Once they magically discover where your hive is (or legitimately do it), then you fucking rush them, and pull back after you take a few losses so they think that they held you off. Then, while they're all turtling nexus, you sneak around to lz2 and either take the pod, or rush from south nexus and rip rip marines. I discover that just rushing as soon as they land is bad because you actually DO get pushed back, where as in my plan, you only make it seem like you attempted a failed early rush, when in reality yer just evolving.

[Reuben Owen]

The question is, when did this take place? Late, early?

There is a difference. Lategame, xenos are much more dangerous and marines more scared. Earlygame, it is suicide to rush in and attempt something like that.

I think a big problem is many xenos are impatient, not wanting to just sit around staring at marines for 10 minutes.. But sometimes you do have to wait. A xeno that knows patience is a xeno that'll grow strong.

No, it was in the beginning. I just happened to be in the neighbourhood. I wasn't gonna bother them unless they bothered me. And they did.

[Eenkogneeto]

I stood in front of a group of marines that just landing and acted curious and non threatening. Then one shot at me. I roared, pounced his ass, used a hugger, and decapped his head with extreme prejudice in the middle of his squad, then ran away. I have no regrets.

I was a young runner once getting petted by marines and giving them a corgi as a gift, The queen said i should trick them so I was
Eventually, orders from up on high lead to them shooting towards me (They actually missed two on purpose, I thought it was a nice touch) and scaring me off.
I became an ancient hunter and later decapitated everyone involved, Good times.

[saronsen]

Ironically, it's actually beneficial to murder a good number of the marines instead of bursting them early on. They can't scream about how they're being captured, and you thin the herd rapidly.

By the time they've started turtling up, they've lost so many, they can't actually properly defend without a massive number of static defenses.

[Simo94]

Lol, xenos meta-rushing marines upon landing.

Marine's are at their strongest upon landing, all grouped up and fully loaded.

i will have to disagree there, xeno rushing is a thing, marines need to set sentry guns, tables, barricades, mines, place flares and fix engineering and inform command for orders before they even have a chance, they still lose with all that sometimes, the river is no longer a checkpoint, xenos insta take hydro and medbay upon landing now and cyka blyat rush and camp both LZs which harms them actually because theres 60+ marines on sulaco when they raid it

[Polkjm]

This problem has an obvious reason: Impatience

You have all these cool claws and huggers. When you feel powerful you want to use your power.

[Mephiliso]

When aliens rush either LZs the marines normally get anally reamed by friendly fire, the xenos don't even have to do anything. At that point it's just a war of attrition.

[Abbysynth]

I see a lot of xenos complain about marines camping when they go up, but if xenos would stop being so hyper-aggressive and pushing them off the planet, there probably wouldn't be quite so many off the planet. Having marines flee an hour in because of constant xeno pushes makes the round pretty boring.

[Renomaki]

I see a lot of xenos complain about marines camping when they go up, but if xenos would stop being so hyper-aggressive and pushing them off the planet, there probably wouldn't be quite so many off the planet. Having marines flee an hour in because of constant xeno pushes makes the round pretty boring.

I just had a recent round that involved a CRUSHER attacking marines at engineering a few minutes after landing.. Later followed by a carrier.

I swear, there were so many xenos at Tcomms and engineering that I assumed we were going to lose 20 minutes in, it was stressful as all balls.. But then, by some luck, we managed to pull off a marine major.

Still, it left me horribly disoriented. I hate it when xenos rush like that, ruins my RP.

[apophis775]

If it were up to me, I'd make the xenos decently few, but incredibly powerful and very stealthy, so it's more like hunting for an enemy that can completely fucking destroy you 1v1, and you only have a chance in a group. But in CM, one marines vs. one runner could go either way.

Because runners are designed to be expendable.

One Marine Vs One of any other Xeno will usually be that Marines horrible death unless that marine is robust or VERY well armed.

[NoahKirchner]

Because runners are designed to be expendable.

One Marine Vs One of any other Xeno will usually be that Marines horrible death unless that marine is robust or VERY well armed.

Please forgive my old opinion that was bad. Honk.

[wastedfate]

Because runners are designed to be expendable.

One Marine Vs One of any other Xeno will usually be that Marines horrible death unless that marine is robust or VERY well armed.

But they still cost exactly one larvae. Thus their death still hurts the hive significantly. It's to the point that many queens just give the runners direct orders not to leave the hive while young, and then ahelp it if they do. Because you get like ten young runner deaths, or more, per game.

[Jackie Estegado]

Thing is the marines are the same. If I pass by lz1 after marines land and see me, then I just stand there peacefully they just start yelling and 10 of them rush after me, even if I am just a runner.
And even if the marines wouldn't be just rushing aliens on first sight you have the problem with the 12 year old fags who don't communicate and just attack marines anyways.