Vanilla Marines are Powerful

Begbie · 05-13-2003, 01:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Eclipse
/me clicks off lights turns on ye olde 50's projector and clicks on tape recording.

4*beep*
3*beep*
2*beep*

Ahh the TSA Marine:

What a noble and graceful creature, but beneath its gentle beauty lies the heart of a warrior and the strength of a large...strong thing! Thats right, the run of the mill spawn marine is actually quite powerful, provided it can aim, follow a blinking blue circle, and listen to your orders.

But that impossibility aside, lets take a look at what makes this wonderful creature so powerful.

The Light Machine Gun: Unlike the Kharaa Skulk, the spawned marine has a gun, a 'Light Machine Gun' as it is called. With this tool he has a distinct advantage: Bullets! Bullets kick total ***, just ask anybody who's been shot! And on top of that, these bullets can do a fair amount of damage. No upgrades deals 10 damage a shot, that may not seem like much on its own, but multiply that by 50(the size of your clip) and you get 500 damage! Woooaah nelly thats a lot! Now thats enough to kill a Skulk, a Gorge, or a Lerk in one clip. Fades and Onos are a different matter however. Besides killing low level aliens, what else can this simple yet stunningly effective weapon accomplish? Well, it can kill buildings. Yep, just about every building is LMG fodder, Offensive Towers, Defense, Movement, and Sensory Chambers. Even resource towers and hives! Wait, whats that you say? The lmg isn't strong enough to kill a hive? Well by golly you just might be right, that is until you take into account you generally have marine buddies with you. Take the alien Hive: 6000 HP, with a healing rate of 2hp per goosh, or second. So, if 12 marines were to unload all of their LMGs simultaneously into the hive, you would have a hive with 10 hp left...maybe. Now in most situations you wont have that many marines, generally you'll have around 4-8. Have those unload a couple clips and thats a dead hive! Bear in mind however this doesnt take into account defense chambers below, but under this kind of sustained firepower, it wont last very long.

The Pistol: Wow this is one badass lookin pistol aint it? All big and...well big. This sucker does 20 damage a shot, and will go in a straight line, for you Quakers out there this is the equivalent of a rail gun...only you need fast fingers for it to deal the damage. With a clip size of 10 and no current cap on the fire rate, you can dish out 200 damage in under 5 seconds if you dont fumble up. Switch over to your LMG when your out and you can typically bag yourself a Fade. Not bad for a run of the mill grunt straight outta the infantry portal. The pistol is best used as an anti-personal only weapon, with its limited clip size it isnt all that effective at killing structures, but with its blazing rate of fire the low level aliens dont stand a chance.

The Knife: Much like the pistol, this is pretty badass looking, especially when you see how big it is compared to the hand. It also does a fair share of damage as well, 30 a hit. And it swings damn fast! Unfortunetly if your using your knife your forgetting the marines crucial advantage: Bullets! The knife, alas, does not have bullets, and useing it usually means the alien is to damn close. By to damn close, I am of course implying that you are within biting range, which is TO DAMN CLOSE (TDC) and you should have shot the alien before hand. However, save the Offensive Tower, the Knife is your handy-dandy kill all structures tool, with its lack of bullet-using you are able to conserve your bullets for other things, will you happily knife down the Kharaa structure. !Be Warned However! All Kharaa know when their structure is being attacked, and since you'll be using your knife you run the risk of an alieng getting TDC, which is not healthy.

Upgrades: The run of the mill average TSA marine can be outfitted with ph4t l00ts a.k.a: Passive Upgrades later on in the game via the Arms Lab. With 3 levels of Weapons and Armor this poor creature can become a very powerful instrument of death. Weapons are increased 10% with each upgrade, meaning at Level 1 you deal 11 damage with your LMG, and 22 damage with your pistol. 12 damage LMG and 24 Pistol at level 2, and lastly 13 LMG and 26 pistol. Again, it may not sound much, but multiply by the clip factor and your dealing 550, 600, and 650 damage with your LMG with each successive upgrade. As well as 220, 240, and 260 with your pistol. (Your knife doesnt get upgraded because it doesnt use Bullets!.) Along with weapons upgrades, are your 'Armor' upgrades. The more you have, the better, thats a good philosiphy when it comes to armor, with each level of armor upgrade you gain an additional 20 points, as well as a greatter absorbption rate. What this absorbption rate does is allows you to take more damage. At Level 1 you'r able to survive 3 skulk bites. It may not sound like much, but in the heat of battle it can make a difference, compensating for the fact that the aliens got TDC to you and you just might be able to kill that little bugger off. At Level 2 your up to 90 armor points, alas a skulk can still kill you in 3 bites, however, Fades will find you more difficult to kill, as well as lerks. (Your screwed against an Onos, so dont bother asking son) Lastly at level 3 your at your peak, 110 armor points, 4 skulk bites, a good number of acid rockets and lerk spikes, and, thats right, you might survive 2 onos bites! Now, with 2 ways to go, how do you traverse up this upgrade tree? Well, that can be a tough decision, for sure you will want level 1 armor, because sometimes, them pesky aliens just creep up on you and get to that dangerous stage of TDC. After that, it is this authors suggestion to get level 1 and 2 weapons. Now your at the turning point: Do some recon: Is the second hive going up? If so, you'll be facing fades soon, and level 2 armor can make you that much harder to kill. Are the aliens crappy and or being slapped around by your team? Then go for level 3 weapons and lay on the humiliation. Dont have an arms lab and your commander is lost in la la land? Well son, I suggest surrender, I heard Kharaa offer semi-painless deaths when you go up to them unarmed.

Summary: Utilizing his superior 'Bullets!' as well as teamwork from fellow marines. The TSA grunt is able to accomplish much, given upgrades and half a brain, and the Kharaa better watch out! As has been shown, a half-intelligent squad of marines can take down just about anything, be it Skulks and Fades or even Hives. However, as has also been shown, your average TSA grunt isnt doing very well when the Kharaa are getting to the dangerous TDC level of engagement. But, in ideal circumstances with both the aid of Bullets! as well as passive upgrades, this humble creature
can totally own this creature

can be just as devestating as this one

as well as be able to destroy this:

but alas will be devistated by this creature...

Payday · 05-29-2003, 12:25 PM

big-b knowing how funny this was what was the point of bringing it back?????

note funny

Daxx · 05-29-2003, 12:57 PM

Satire it may be, like most satire it has truth within it, and in this case, useful information. And as you said, its funny

Wintermute · 08-26-2003, 03:07 PM

My LMG advice it fire less. Yup you heard me less is more. Too many people (including myself most of the time) go OMGITSASKULKRUNSHOOTHELPCOMM!!!! and fire their whole clip into a wall.

Now you may think you are 1337 because you did 500 damage to a wall, but wouldnt it be better to shoot the skulk?

So what do you do when you see a skulk and hear its terriable gnashing of teeth? Stop, think, breath. Feel the flow of the matrix, balance your chi, re-arrange you feng-shui and then take carful aim. If you hit it even a little bit you will be "teh win."

Watch demos of clan play. Marines hardly EVER die to skulks because they shoot calmly and carfully.

Also, as we all know, a lone marine is a dead marine. Dont go off by yourself or leave others behind.

Daxx · 08-26-2003, 04:22 PM

Quote:

So what do you do when you see a skulk and hear its terriable gnashing of teeth? Stop, think, breath. Feel the flow of the matrix, balance your chi, re-arrange you feng-shui and then take carful aim. If you hit it even a little bit you will be "teh win."

Sometimes I pinch my feng-shui, and my aim really goes up the wall!

08-26-2003, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wintermute

, ...balance your chi...

thats the important part.

Demonite_Dreams · 08-26-2003, 06:24 PM

Survival tip #74: The skulk will not die unless you shoot at it.

HSantal · 08-26-2003, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demonite_Dreams

Survival tip #74: The skulk will not die unless you shoot at it.

I believe I've heard that used just last night.

Daxx · 08-26-2003, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demonite_Dreams

Survival tip #74: The skulk will not die unless you shoot at it.

This is not always true. I've seen more than one leaping skulk end up in the lava on ns_origin

Wintermute · 08-27-2003, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Some Hippy

If you believe in it enough, anything can happen

NothingMore. · 08-27-2003, 04:50 PM

Walls are hard to kill!

Marine_027482 · 10-19-2003, 05:30 AM

keep trying, AreYouBreathing, keep trying.
I'm sure you will kill one, one oh these days.

What I need to figure out about me is why I can hit a skulk (and kill it) with an lmg, but not a pistol. (Yes, I know. My pistol aim needs work. Now my question is why only my pistol aim.)

aesop rock · 08-16-2005, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marine_027482

keep trying, AreYouBreathing, keep trying.
I'm sure you will kill one, one oh these days.

What I need to figure out about me is why I can hit a skulk (and kill it) with an lmg, but not a pistol. (Yes, I know. My pistol aim needs work. Now my question is why only my pistol aim.)

Probably because you're spending too much effort on spamming mouse1. With most people, myself included, this causes your hand to shift position on the mouse, your reticle will become less stable, and ultimately, your aim to become much worse. I will not condone or condemn the use of pistol scripts, however I can certainly vouch for the usefulness in both aim and dmg/second.

Kerostasis · 08-18-2005, 07:03 PM

/me points out Marine274 posted that some TWO YEARS ago...

Eclipse · 03-16-2006, 10:12 PM

***deadly necro powers!!!***

*sigh* memories....

(Still true to this day, although I need to find a new link for the pics)