NEVER FEAR, for I am here!
Well first off you really ARE new to the server, ask a staff, they helped me TREMEEENDOUSLY when I started SS13 in near-end 2016, and they will help you, if they blatantly DON'T help you ... well ... i'm not gonna go there or say anything about that.
If you are new, don't play the first round you see ... THIS IS NOT A PRANK, AND NOT A JOKE ... familiarize yourself with the ship ... the map ... the equipment the marines use ... things like that.
Table of Contents:
1: Rules? UGH
2: Spawning in
3: Comms
4: Briefing
5: Target Practice
6: Your First Drop
7: Tactics of the Corps
Rules, PLEASE ... PLEASE ... just read the ... even the pro's do it.
► Show Spoiler
Spawn in as a regular marine, with just a first name, and a last name that is human, don't have a name of "Rushy Robusto" or something like that, that'll get you temp-banned at most, and a name rechange at LEAST.
ALSO, DON'T go doc or anything special, trust me, you'll regret it ... even if it's xeno, set xeno to OFF ... if you do, you will regret it ... DEEPLY (speaking for me AND my brother from experience (who occasionally plays as well from his house in another state.) )
ALSO ... if you have a friend, or family member playing WITH, or IN YOUR HOUSE with, or near you, PLEAAAASE inform staff of this ... they will put notes that you are two separate people, because in the admin's eyes you have the same IP, therefore the same player / player who got banned and is ban evading.
These are special cases, but here is the rule-book link, PLEAAASE READ IT.
http://cm-ss13.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=5094
Alrighty enough rules, LET'S GO ALREADY!!!
Alright, calm down, I know you're excited to shoot some bugs, but you need to know things first.
Spawning In & Getting Prepped
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Ok ... you spawned in as a marine, do this first:
Go to the cafeteria above or below cryo, and eat one MRE for how hungry you are, and grab an extra MRE and put it into your satchel, you have NO IDEA how much just ONE little bit of hunger slows you down, as well as heal you and give you blood if no medics are around.
Go to your prep, here you will grab equipment as a marine, you'll have access to ONLY your prep room, as will each marine in your squad, even if they have a specialty like medic, engie, smartgunner, specialist, or SL.
When in your prep room:
Get ALL of the equipment from ONE of the lockers, trust me ... you won't need more ... because you can't carry anything more than what's in the locker
Head to one of the 8 vendors of the same type, it doesn't matter which one, unless things are out, if they ARE out, just go to another vendor, trust me, you won't run out, if you do ... ask another squad for ammo from their prep.
Vendor Equipment
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Take a normal, standard issue M41A Pulse Rifle, even pro's use this, it's for ALL people, this is even MY main weapon.
Alt-click the rifle to turn on the safety, you don't want to get arrested for an accidental weapons discharge and spend 30 minutes in the brig, this ship has marines with deadly weapons, they WILL NOT HESITATE to taze you if they think you are a threat. Their policy is LITERALLY "Taze and cuff first and ask questions later."
Vend 6 ammo clips, stick one into your Rifle, put it on your armor slot, and put the other 5 clips into the ammo rig, trust me, you won't need more, you will die before then, if you don't, you are probably the luckiest marine in the corps, then just loot off of the bodies of marines, but ask the medics first, because they might not be fully dead, just revive-able and in critical condition.
Vend a first aid pouch, and a flare pouch, and put them into your pockets, it's LITERALLY a pocket for your pocket.
Lighting is a MASSIVE thing in this server/game, if you do not get some sort of extra lighting, you will be surrounded by the dark ... much more ... closer ... than you would like to be ... just in the perfect range for a xeno pounce ... or even a hunter of xenos ...
Vend a flare marking PACK, and stick it into your satchel, DON'T GET A BACKPACK, YOU CAN'T USE IT WHILE IT'S ON YOUR BACK, AND YOU DON'T NEED THE EXTRA SPACE ... TRUST ME, I HAVE NEVER NEEDED EXTRA SPACE AS A NORMAL MARINE.
Grab a bayonet, and a rail light, and turn on the rail light, this will help your view TREMMEEEENDOUSLY on the ground.
Grab a "nightraider" survival knife, and put it inside of your boot, use it for emergencies, or just cutting down or hitting windows in.
Alright, you may hear some chatter over comms ... but ... how do I use my headset?
Communications 101:
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Alright, when typing in (Say ") use prefixes like in normal SS13, but merge the space between the colon or semi-colon and the letter, other-wise it won't work. I'm spacing them otherwise : p with the space taken out in these forums will looks like an emoticon.
PLEASE do not include the []'s in the message, otherwise people will think you are talking radio LOOC, which is ... frowned upon, and can get you in trouble.\
Alien Hivemind:
: a (for aliens only ... DUH)
Squad Comms:
: q (for alpha squad)
: b (for bravo squad)
: c (for charlie squad)
: d (for deltar- I mean delta squad)
Other departments of the ship
: v (command, normal marines do not have access)
: m (medical, normal marines do not have access)
: p (military police, normal marines do not have access)
: e (engineering, normal marines do not have access)
Briefing, attachments, and assignments.
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YES ... PLEASE attend briefing, and ACTUALLY listen, other people may fuck around, but IRL they ARE ACTUALLY LISTENING, this is where you will get your squad assignments
Everyone knows the maps, if you don't know, ask your SL (indicated by the big ... you guessed it ... L icon for a map, he has like FIVE of them, and no-one ever uses them, if you can't make sense of it ... just follow your SL when you're on the ground, just follow him, he's supposed to know what to do when, and where, and in all situations, and MAKE SURE HE DOESN'T DIE, HE IS ONE OF YOUR MOST IMPORTANT ASSETS ON THE BATTLEFIELD, IF HE DIES ... SO DOES YOUR ABILITY TO USE AIR STRIKES, AND ORBITAL BOMBARDMENTS, if he FF's you (friendly fire), DEAL WITH IT, believe it or not, you are not as important as he is.
I will talk more about your SL later.
Get into the requisitions line, you'll know it when you see it ... it's literally like ... a mile long of marines, and ask for an M41A Skeleton-Stock, you'll thank me later ... just trust me.
Actual Briefing
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Your squad will have one of 4 possible assignments:
Scouting (mostly for fuck-up squad ... ahem ... delta squad, relax, delta is either REALLY good, or REALLY bad, it's usually a 50-50 chance, and you'll KNOW if it's bad)
Power setting up and fortifying power, usually bravo squad, hence the yellow
FOB, THIS stands for Forward Operating Base, usually alpha and charlie squad, the FOB is usually next to the dropship, and is the last line of defense for the marines, and HEAVILY FORTIFIED with turrets, barricades, and machine-gun nests, fall back to here if you're wounded, it is also the place where true terror takes place as hordes of xenos assault your position.
ERS (standing for emergency response squad, usually when a squad is fucked, or the front-line or the general situation is FUBAR ((guess the acronym, it's what it looks like)) rarely assigned, but when it is, it's usually deltard ... ahem ... delta squad, or charlie squad)
Target Practice, not just for the noobs, it's for pro's as well.
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The Range
Alright, get to the hangar, but don't get on the dropship, tell your squad you are going to get some target practice on the firing range, this is what you will do.
Now I know what you're thinking "FIRING RANGE??? BOI!!! I CAN SHOOT A GUN!"
Aaaah you have much to learn young baldie (baldies are new players, who usually don't customize their characters, hence them being bald)
PLUS even PRO PLAYERS practice at the firing range for situations, especially if something happened last round that wasn't supposed to, I know I do.
Where IS the range anyway?
The range is south of DS2, in that little ware-house section, go to the right, there'll be doors, then you'll be in the firing range.
In the firing range, first thing you should do ... is break the glass ... wait WHAT ... YES, break the glass between the little firing ports divided by glass, it'll be FINE, if you aren't sure, just A-help and tell them you are doing so, and that you are new and are training, PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT NEW, DO NOT BREAK THE GLASS, CHALLENGE YOURSELF WITH PREVENTIVE COVER.
Grab the targets from the little corner, red stands for an enemy, and gray stands for ... you guessed it ... a friendly.
You may know how to shoot a gun, but FF (short for Friendly Fire) is the most salt generating thing in the community, AND it's biggest problem and biggest cause of injury.
Almost FORTY PERCENT, yes you heard that right, 20-40% OF MARINE HURT comes from FF, I'M NOT EVEN BULLSHITTING, and A-helping won't save you, since it was IC accidental and is considered an IC incident.
This is an RP server, meta-grudge, or a general fuck-you-i-do-what-i-want, by another player/griefer, is unacceptable, PLEASE A-help, THIS IS NOT OK, BECAUSE IT RUINS A ROUND FOR SOMEONE, AND THESE ROUNDS LAST A LONG TIME.
Scenario #1: A simple target, and rifle mechanics.
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To set up this first scenario, DO NOT put the targets in the far stakes, and flip the table so it faces the "enemy" or "down-range"
Place a simple red target in the middle, and fire on it by---
[Dude ... I know how to fire ...]
Ok, fire on it ...
Oh, you still have your safety ON don't ya? turn it off with Alt-click, and then fire at the target.
Oh, that's right, you have to hold your weapon in TWO hands in order to fire, you aren't on a space station anymore marine, this is the corps, and these are heavy weapons, you can't dual wield heavy machine guns and LMG's like on your space stations.
Here's a quick run-through of how to operate your weapon:
To hold the weapon with two hands in order to fire, simply click the rifle while it's in your active hand to hold it with two hands, ignore this for pistols, as it will just eject the magazine.
To eject or empty the magazine, simply click the rifle with your empty active hand to unload the magazine, or with pistols simply click on it while it's in your active hand, you can also transfer bullets into different magazines.
PRO TIP TIME:
On the planet, you will see rifle magazines that have only 3-10 bullets left, DON'T WAIT FOR XENOS TO MELT OR WASTE THEM, pull the bullets out of the magazines and combine it into one mag by having an empty hand, and just clicking on your other hand that has the magazine with very few bullets, it will surprise you how much ammo is on the planet, just LAYING there, waiting for a taste of acidic blood.
Ok, you've fired your gun, perhaps even a couple of times, now examine your rifle with shift-click, it will display the ammo in the MAGAZINE, THIS DOES NOT ACCOUNT FOR THE BULLET IN THE CHAMBER, KEEP THAT IN MIND WHEN IN COMBAT.
Ok, now you see all these little buttons next to your hands? Good, if you don't press F12 until you do, this changes your HUD view, VERY useful when a xeno is RIGHT in the square that shows your hands, or when your target is right underneath your hunger and health doll, practice that now.
Ok, now turn on the rail light using the little button next to your hands called "toggle rail light", it will have a bright light and illuminate and area, now turn on your suit light, see how BRIGHT you illuminate already? Man ... imagine how much it would help you down there in the pitch black darkness where xenos, and even worse ... where the predating Yautja lurk ..................
Alright, now find the little button next to your hand labelled "toggle burst fire", yes ... you read that right, your M41A rifle has a built-in burst fire mode, try it out now.
Now fire your rifle at the target.
Do you see how much your bullets spray and how only the 1st bullet or 2 actually are on target, and the 3rd goes off? Yeah ... be careful with this ... this "recoil" mechanic can be deadly, ESPECIALLY if a marine is right next to a xeno and you are firing on the xeno as well.
THIS CAN be countered by using a skeleton stock, which you should have gotten, or not if requisitions was out, if so attach it to your gun the same as you would the bayonet and the rail light, and burst fire now.
It's MUCH more accurate isn't it? Almost all of the time the bullets fly in a beautiful line towards the target, THIS ... is why marines love attachments, they do beautiful things, look more up on them later.
Scenario #2: Obstructions, and a friend in need.
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Alright, now put a grey target RIGHT IN FRONT of the red target, but not ON it.
The grey is your fellow squad marine, or just in general, another marine or friendly, or pretend it's someone you love, like a family member or something, that'll do.
"Even the most loyal and battle hardened soldier will betray his army, leader, commander, even his king if the people most dear to him are threatened directly, or with a torturous, cruel, and passionate, hate-full intent." -An Unknown General
Your objective ... scare off/KILL/or otherwise deal with ... the xeno (red target) without hurting your friend/family member, look at the angles, think ... now fire when, and most importantly, WHERE you think is the best, and turn off the burst-fire before you do so, you don't want to hurt your friend by accidentally missing and hitting him/her.
Time yourself, especially time yourself when you have your rifle not fully in your hands, or even in your suit, test your response time, if it's below 5 seconds, your friend is either dead, dragged off, being devoured, or has 2-3 broken bones in their body because you weren't fast enough to deal damage to make the xeno go away and spend the next 30 seconds to 2 minutes re-generating health on weeds.
5 seconds = I hate to say it, but your friend is dead, being dragged off, or bleeding out, or YOU will have been pounced and attacked.
4 seconds = most likely severely hurt with broken bones and/or bleeding out, YOU might have been pounced or slashed a bit.
3 seconds = hurt, but most likely no broken bones, VERY SLIM chance you are pounced or hurt.
2 seconds = hurt, EXTREMELY unlikely they have broken bones, only an ANCIENT has the pounce cool-down short enough to pounce you.
1 second = Xeno is gonna be runnin' and your buddy is most likely un-hurt, besides a few acidic burns, but better than a broken bone.
Scenario #3: "Where the fuck did that bullet come from?" *General salt from xenos comes from this*
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Alright, the THIRD target practice is a difficult one, you see the stakes ALLLLLLLL the way at the back? Slide a red target onto one of them, or if you hate someone in your life, put a grey target and pretend it's them.
Now stand all the way back at the firing line of the table ... don't see the target don't you? A lot of hits on xeno's ... AND unlucky marines, come from random shots off-screen, if a xeno runs, keep shooting for about 2 seconds at the place where you think it is off screen, trust me ... YOU WILL HIT XENO'S A LOT THIS WAY, but think before you fire.
Are there marines up there that could get accidentally FF'ed? Is there an oh so important survivor from the colony up there or even worse if you FF them ... a doctor doing surgery?
Take some shots, and check the results, you were most likely aiming at the chest, and look where your bullets hit when you weren't clicking EXACTLY on the target, pretty sporadic huh?
And in this life, most likely your last in the corps.
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ALRIGHT, IT'S TIME TO STOP TRAINING AND PLAYING TARGET PRACTICE, get on DS1 when it comes up ... EVENTUALLY, or ... if you're lucky, and the DS's hasn't left yet ... board your squad's designated Drop-ship, and buckle in. DS1 is Alamo, and DS2 is Normandy.
"I won't lie to you about your chances, but ... you have my sympathies" - Ash the synthetic from the Aliens Franchise
I'm not going to lie to you ... you are going to get hurt ... A LOT.
Die on the ground ... A LOT
Abandoned by your fellow marines in order for them just to save themselves, and possibly more marines than just you or the marine dying next to you ... A LOT.
The Ground: Hell-drop
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Alright, you're on the ground, time to get dirty.
Land on the colony, and IMMEDIATELY, you will see signs of ... things ... lurking about ... things moving in the dark ... blood ... and possibly even a horror you can't bear to imagine from your deepest ... darkest ... nightmares.
Get to your SL as soon as possible, or the acting SL.
The order of squad leadership (unless otherwise over-ruled by the SL, or other authority figure) is:
SL:
Protect this man with your LIFE, and ... OBEY THEIR ORDERS, DON'T GO RAMBO, YOU'RE GONNA GET POUNCED AND THEN SLASHED TO DEATH, or worse ... decapitated, unrevivable even with head re-attachments surgery, mature hunters and up will fuck you up.
Represented by the big L icon next to them.
Specialist:
They are represented by the spec-ops goggles icon next to them.
HE IS THE NEXT MOST IMPORTANT MAN, he "knows" how to use SL equipment, as well as his specialist equipment, you should stick to him if your SL is ship-side, COMPLETELY SECURE in an FOB, or on the safest place on the planet ... which is the FOB, so basically if the SL is in the FOB, follow the specialist
Medic:
Represented by none other than the classic cross.
Engineer:
Represented by none other than the classic wrench.
Smart-gunner
Represented by none other than a target icon.
This guy is also known as a marine's second best friend, and an SL's best friend.
Marine:
No symbol, usually just has a Fire-team number next to them like the other people.
(If a marine is the SL, you ... well ... you already know shit's about to go south ... FAST)
What to do on the ground in general/Squad Structure
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Now just follow the SL's orders, if he ever puts himself in danger, you put yourself in danger with him, stick to him like glue that's had baking powder sprinkled on it.
(If you don't understand, there's a couple of videos on it, it's kind of amazing actually, but that's beside the point.)
Even run in front of a ravager charge or drag him out of a crusher charge and possibly get decapitated to save him, if he goes down, drag him to safety and get a medic ASAP in the FOB, otherwise he is still "in danger" when he is "safe" get to your specialist, he is the SECOND most important person in the squad, he is now in command until your SL is healed and is out of critical.
IF your SL is down and he "deathgasps" as in like "(name) siezes up, his eyes dead and lifeless", DON'T PANIC YET, THE MEDICS CAN STILL SAVE HIM THROUGH VERY ATTENTIVE AND CAREFUL DE-FIBRILLATION AND MEDICAL TREATMENT.
Specialist in command:
If the specialist goes down, follow the same steps as if the SL was down, get an escort ESPECIALLY TOO, because xenos LOVE to target humans with thick armor, and special equipment.
ONLY THE SPECIALISTS CAN USE THEIR EQUIPMENT, NOT EVEN SL'S CAN USE THEIR EQUIPMENT, SO IT'S IMPORTANT TO SAVE SPECIALISTS TOO.
Xenos ESPECIALLY LOOOOOOOVE KILLING the B18 grenade launcher specialists with their thick armor stronger than the SL's squad leader armor, and then drag them and then let the queen GIB them to PIECES, leaving nothing but a bloody mess, and NO B18 armor left behind for pickings ...
Other people in command:
Follow the same steps as you would an SL, listen to them, and keep close, it's basically a death sentence/you lose, game-over, type scenario if a marine gets to be in charge, i'm sorry man, it's game over.
"Game over man, game over, what're we gonna do, WHAT'RE WE GONNA DOOO!!!" - Private William Hudson, from the Aliens Franchise
(If you don't understand, there's a couple of videos on it, it's kind of amazing actually, but that's beside the point.)
Even run in front of a ravager charge or drag him out of a crusher charge and possibly get decapitated to save him, if he goes down, drag him to safety and get a medic ASAP in the FOB, otherwise he is still "in danger" when he is "safe" get to your specialist, he is the SECOND most important person in the squad, he is now in command until your SL is healed and is out of critical.
IF your SL is down and he "deathgasps" as in like "(name) siezes up, his eyes dead and lifeless", DON'T PANIC YET, THE MEDICS CAN STILL SAVE HIM THROUGH VERY ATTENTIVE AND CAREFUL DE-FIBRILLATION AND MEDICAL TREATMENT.
Specialist in command:
If the specialist goes down, follow the same steps as if the SL was down, get an escort ESPECIALLY TOO, because xenos LOVE to target humans with thick armor, and special equipment.
ONLY THE SPECIALISTS CAN USE THEIR EQUIPMENT, NOT EVEN SL'S CAN USE THEIR EQUIPMENT, SO IT'S IMPORTANT TO SAVE SPECIALISTS TOO.
Xenos ESPECIALLY LOOOOOOOVE KILLING the B18 grenade launcher specialists with their thick armor stronger than the SL's squad leader armor, and then drag them and then let the queen GIB them to PIECES, leaving nothing but a bloody mess, and NO B18 armor left behind for pickings ...
Other people in command:
Follow the same steps as you would an SL, listen to them, and keep close, it's basically a death sentence/you lose, game-over, type scenario if a marine gets to be in charge, i'm sorry man, it's game over.
"Game over man, game over, what're we gonna do, WHAT'RE WE GONNA DOOO!!!" - Private William Hudson, from the Aliens Franchise
What to do if you are hurt.
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IF you are injured or hurt in ANY way (besides mentally, come on son, it's the military, suck it up) follow these steps:
1: Did something feel like it shattered in ANY of your limbs, torso, or head? If so, skip to steps 5 and 6.
2: Are you in critical condition in ANY way? (on the ground and can't get up, you see white, or are unconsious?) If so, skip to steps 5 and 6.
3: Is your health doll in a "worse medical condition" than orange? if so proceed to step 5.
4: Prioritize yourself as a "low priority" patient, and get help from an UN-OCCUPIED MEDIC, how many people have died from just simple burned people, to people who need de-fibbing and ER treatment is WAAAY too high.
5: Get to a medic, if they ask if anything is broken or "feels like it shattered" tell them, you are the other half of the heart in medical, a live patient is an informative one, as well as the most knowledgeable of what's going on in your body, if the medics tells you to go get more advanced medical treatment, or go up to the ship, skip to step 8.
6: Do you have more than one broken bone? If so, proceed to step 8
7: Return to the battlefield, if you have just one broken bone, DON'T GET POUNCED, otherwise the splint will come off, and the xeno will have an INSTANT advantage over you as soon as he pounces, rather than the delay between the pounce and the slash.
8: Get up on the Almayer and scan other people, in return, ask them to scan you, A LOT of time is wasted in medical because doctors have to scan the patient for immediate damage, drag them to the scanner, put them in, scan you, print the report, and draaaag you all the way to the their Operating Room.
9: If you feel anything else hurt after surgery, IMMEDIATELY tell the doctor, don't waste fuel going down and up, the PO's hate their job of transporting already.
10: Get back to the fighting.
1: Did something feel like it shattered in ANY of your limbs, torso, or head? If so, skip to steps 5 and 6.
2: Are you in critical condition in ANY way? (on the ground and can't get up, you see white, or are unconsious?) If so, skip to steps 5 and 6.
3: Is your health doll in a "worse medical condition" than orange? if so proceed to step 5.
4: Prioritize yourself as a "low priority" patient, and get help from an UN-OCCUPIED MEDIC, how many people have died from just simple burned people, to people who need de-fibbing and ER treatment is WAAAY too high.
5: Get to a medic, if they ask if anything is broken or "feels like it shattered" tell them, you are the other half of the heart in medical, a live patient is an informative one, as well as the most knowledgeable of what's going on in your body, if the medics tells you to go get more advanced medical treatment, or go up to the ship, skip to step 8.
6: Do you have more than one broken bone? If so, proceed to step 8
7: Return to the battlefield, if you have just one broken bone, DON'T GET POUNCED, otherwise the splint will come off, and the xeno will have an INSTANT advantage over you as soon as he pounces, rather than the delay between the pounce and the slash.
8: Get up on the Almayer and scan other people, in return, ask them to scan you, A LOT of time is wasted in medical because doctors have to scan the patient for immediate damage, drag them to the scanner, put them in, scan you, print the report, and draaaag you all the way to the their Operating Room.
9: If you feel anything else hurt after surgery, IMMEDIATELY tell the doctor, don't waste fuel going down and up, the PO's hate their job of transporting already.
10: Get back to the fighting.
Tactics of the corps:
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Barricades:
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Stand one meter BEHIND the barricade, even if it has barbed wire on the barricade, a xeno can EASILY reach over, and pierce you clean through your body with their tail strike. This is deadly when used with the queen screech, as it is one of the most powerful stuns in the game, and aliens can get 3-5 tail pierces before you can even stand up to fight.
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Mines are a friend in the HIGHEST degree, but stand at least 2 meters away from them, but stay out in the open, especially if the mines are well hidden.
The mine will stun the xeno, and then you can shoot the shit out of it for about 4-5 seconds, PLENTY of time to get it into crit, and then go up to it, and knife it like a bad ass ... or just shoot it if it starts getting dragged away by another xeno, and then start shooting that xeno too.
The mine will stun the xeno, and then you can shoot the shit out of it for about 4-5 seconds, PLENTY of time to get it into crit, and then go up to it, and knife it like a bad ass ... or just shoot it if it starts getting dragged away by another xeno, and then start shooting that xeno too.
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Turrets, along with Smartgunners, shoot right past you, have no chance of hitting you ... unless of course you're a dumbass and you took off your ID, in which case it will target you, along with the dropship alamo's self-defense turrets.
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Very lethal, Very robust, kills a lot of xenos, and stuns them too, grenade spam is ... controversial, even queen can be stunned by B18 specialist 'nade spam and killed VERY easily, BUT THIS IS A FF NIGHTMARE, launch/throw it at LEAST 4 meters away from you AND other marines, if one lands next to you ... RUN, it only has a 3 second timer, and if it was LAUNCHED, you have practically less than a second, and god help you if you got FF'ed by a B18 grenadier spec, it blows up in less than 250 milliseconds (.25 seconds for all you non-magic folk), in that case, just get out of his way, and follow behind him, if you don't have 20 broken bones from one explosion already.
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Very good at defending if manned properly, HAS NO IFF FEATURES, so you CAN FF, but deals VERY high damage, can kill an ancient hunter if he's in your sights and is unlucky enough to step on a mine, poor bug.
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This ... is interestingly enough as double-edged as it can be, you can get into a corner CQC battle, but then again, grenades will do wonders on corner xenos, but the spitters will fuck you over if they get the corners, spitters, are, well, what it's name implies, it spits either neuro-toxins at you to stun you, and then drag you away to get face-hugged, or spits acid to hurt you, DUH.
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Usually you will want a formation in your squad to maximize the chance of a dead xeno, but most squads don't enforce, or even practice formations
key:
s = shotgunner
r = rifleman (you)
P = Specialist
Q = SL
+ = medic
E = engineer
G = Smart-gunner
a typical spearhead formation
<<<<<----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
r
r s +
r s Q<->G E
r s +
r
or just a simple defensive formation
r
s + s
r E S Q E r
s + s
r
To be honest with you, it's really up to your SL, you usually will travel in something sloppy like this.
Q +
r + r G E
s s
r
Formations never get implemented because it's a squad by squad thing, but when they are done, the xeno deaths are beautiful. OH SH*T A XENO POUNCED THE RIFLEMAN *two shotguns loaded with buckshot and the smartgunner fire ONE buckshot from both, killing, if not crit-ing even ancients, then the SG finishes, or if one misses, helps finish them off* ... ded.
OH SHIT BIG ASS BUG BOILER, IT'S GASSING US WITH MUSTARD GAS *spec and riflemen take it out at long range because they are clear in their line of fire (LOF)
... ded
key:
s = shotgunner
r = rifleman (you)
P = Specialist
Q = SL
+ = medic
E = engineer
G = Smart-gunner
a typical spearhead formation
<<<<<----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
r
r s +
r s Q<->G E
r s +
r
or just a simple defensive formation
r
s + s
r E S Q E r
s + s
r
To be honest with you, it's really up to your SL, you usually will travel in something sloppy like this.
Q +
r + r G E
s s
r
Formations never get implemented because it's a squad by squad thing, but when they are done, the xeno deaths are beautiful. OH SH*T A XENO POUNCED THE RIFLEMAN *two shotguns loaded with buckshot and the smartgunner fire ONE buckshot from both, killing, if not crit-ing even ancients, then the SG finishes, or if one misses, helps finish them off* ... ded.
OH SHIT BIG ASS BUG BOILER, IT'S GASSING US WITH MUSTARD GAS *spec and riflemen take it out at long range because they are clear in their line of fire (LOF)
... ded
Smartgunners:
► Show Spoiler
SG's are your best friend on the battlefield, they don't even have to worry about hitting you, as they LITERALLY CANNOT HIT YOU, due to IFF features. (unless they turn it off ... which I have no idea WHY they would) They usually guard the SL, and/or the specialist, as pouncers really like to pounce and them impale them with their tails, royally screwing them over, but if they try, they'll probably go into crit before they can even fully ready their tail to strike, and collapse on the ground, ready to die. SG's are useful to have, as they are probably one of the most important units in the game besides the SL and spec, if not MORE important, guard him, and he'll guard you.
► Show Spoiler
THIS is where the FF (friendly fire), and the salt, starts.
A xeno pounces on a marine, a fellow marine looks and shoots at the bug, trying to get it off of him, hopefully saving him from getting broken bones, but the marine gets up, gets hit instead, and the xeno uses him as cover WHILE it slashes the marine, breaking bones, and generally killing the marine's life on the ground pretty much for the rest of the round.
Here's the funny part, the marines blames the guy who tried to save him
*later that round*
*guy get's pounced on*
*guy doesn't shoot*
*marine gets angry for not trying to save him*
To be honest with you ... just ignore people who say and do things like that ... they are just mad they aren't robust enough to handle a hunter/runner who pounces.
This is what you should run through your mind if a marine get's pounced, or stunned:
1: was the marine stunned by a spitter? If so skip to step 5
2: was the marine on the ground initially? If so skip to step 5
3: was the bug who pounced the marine black? If so skip to step 5
4: was the bug who pounced the marine red? If so, don't fire, runner's stuns don't last long, they mainly jump behind enemy lines and their purpose is to LITERALLY make you FF another marine.
5: Fire on the bug with ONE burst of 3 bullets, if they don't go away, rush the bug, unless there are like 3 or more, believe it or not, this actually works, and your bayonet does more, if not TWICE as much damage as a bullet, and usually the xeno will be at 40%-60% health if 2-3 bullets hit, it will piss off, unless it's a big ass ravager or crusher, then ... i'm sorry ... your friend is fucked unless you have at least 3 marines standing up and with guns. If it's your SL, specialist, smartgunner, or medic, try as much as you can to get the T3 xeno off of him, those are the most important roles in the squad, they MUST survive if you have ANY hope of winning.
General anti-FF tactics:
Check your LOF before you shoot, if you think it might hit a friendly, DON'T FIRE.
Refer to the pouncing rules above for the xeno's.
Use safety's, they help prevent accidental dis-charges.
A xeno pounces on a marine, a fellow marine looks and shoots at the bug, trying to get it off of him, hopefully saving him from getting broken bones, but the marine gets up, gets hit instead, and the xeno uses him as cover WHILE it slashes the marine, breaking bones, and generally killing the marine's life on the ground pretty much for the rest of the round.
Here's the funny part, the marines blames the guy who tried to save him
*later that round*
*guy get's pounced on*
*guy doesn't shoot*
*marine gets angry for not trying to save him*
To be honest with you ... just ignore people who say and do things like that ... they are just mad they aren't robust enough to handle a hunter/runner who pounces.
This is what you should run through your mind if a marine get's pounced, or stunned:
1: was the marine stunned by a spitter? If so skip to step 5
2: was the marine on the ground initially? If so skip to step 5
3: was the bug who pounced the marine black? If so skip to step 5
4: was the bug who pounced the marine red? If so, don't fire, runner's stuns don't last long, they mainly jump behind enemy lines and their purpose is to LITERALLY make you FF another marine.
5: Fire on the bug with ONE burst of 3 bullets, if they don't go away, rush the bug, unless there are like 3 or more, believe it or not, this actually works, and your bayonet does more, if not TWICE as much damage as a bullet, and usually the xeno will be at 40%-60% health if 2-3 bullets hit, it will piss off, unless it's a big ass ravager or crusher, then ... i'm sorry ... your friend is fucked unless you have at least 3 marines standing up and with guns. If it's your SL, specialist, smartgunner, or medic, try as much as you can to get the T3 xeno off of him, those are the most important roles in the squad, they MUST survive if you have ANY hope of winning.
General anti-FF tactics:
Check your LOF before you shoot, if you think it might hit a friendly, DON'T FIRE.
Refer to the pouncing rules above for the xeno's.
Use safety's, they help prevent accidental dis-charges.
Unfortunately, the game meant to have a "perfect imbalance"
This means the xenos ... usually ... well ... win.
HOWEVER, NEVER FEAR, FOR AN ERT DISTRESS CALL IS ... pizza that was supposed to be delivered a WEEK AGO!? ... welp ... we're fucked.
When the xenos take control of the DS, and crash into the ship, command may send out a distress beacon, calling possible reinforcements, or the dreaded XRT, a ship full of xeno's.
prime and launch escape pods,
and best of all ways to go out ...
Arm the Self-Destruct
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO9x0y5lqD0
If you live long enough to be at the ship and the Dropship is on a collision course ... well ... i'm not gonna tell you what to do ... that's up to you ... godspeed marine, for he has a hard-on for marines, because we kill ... everything we see.
o7
