Xerond's Comm/Siege Guide For Every Map

Xerond · 10-11-2006, 04:29 PM

Why hello, first thing I should say; This is gonna be long. Real long. So sit back, crack your knuckles, cause you're going to want to, or will skim through this.

This "guide" is going to cover my little comm style and how I like to do things, sieges spots for every map and hive, hive guides, relocations, and my commentary I how I think the map "can" be played as a commander. Before you begin looking through what I have to say here I'd suggest you go over and look at Aero's Siege guide which is very helpful and I'll be reiterating a lot of his points through-out this guide.

Check that out here: http://www.tacticalgamer.com/showthread.php?t=66780

To start this guide off I'm gonna break down every official map, one map at a time. So this first post is going to contain my first map, since I dont want to go back and forth figuring out which map to do next I'm just gonna go alphabetically down the list (sadly veil is last =( ).

And it begins:

NS_ALTAIR

I. Intro

Altair, a map that in my experience has been really fun to play. It features a unique sewer system that links all three of the hives for the aliens therefore making it hard to keep control of the hives unless you lock them down. The res flow on the map can be real nice for marines, and as an alien your hives are so far from MS that you can take advantage of dropping the farther nodes and having a fair chance of keeping them alive.

II. Marine Start

This is how I like my base placement for Altair. I like having the IPs far from the comm chair and symetric because when I see which ip is getting hit or structure I can hop out and take a left or right strafe and bam I can shoot him. Also a note to remember when you first hop into that comm chair, take that extra millisecond and turn around and face the area of marine start where you will drop structues before you hop in the chair, and then enter. This way when no one is respawning or at base and you've got a skulk on a structure, it gives you that edge when you hop out if you're already facing the alien.

I keep my armory tucked against the wall so its easy for me to hop out and a skulk can't get behind it, and I like my armories to be close to the ips so I can drop anything on the IPS. I like dropping weapons or mines or welders, or whatever on the ips so that when someone spawns its right there and they dont have to run around to it. It helps more if you check your scoreboard and wait until you see one of your best players in the spawn que and drop it on an ip so that he specifically gets it. I know sometimes I'll be so quick to spawn and get to a node or phase that I leave weapons at MS, so I figure if you drop them on the IPS if keeps people in check with weapons, and they are not humping the armory asking for a weapon. You can also see I've got the obs and armslab tucked in corners for obvious reasons. Next is the Phase Gate, I always try to put the phase between the IPS and the Armory, that way it pushes more people to phase than hump, I'd rather drop ammo to marines and have them on the field then in base. That and I can place mines or welder between the IPS and the Phase so that they see it, get it, and use it when they phase. Thats about it for MS. You've got 3 nodes all about equal distances from MS, Nanite, Communications, and Docking. You should ALWAYS have those 3 nodes pumpin unless you've relocated.

III. Life Support Hive

This hive is on the north portion of the map and seems to be the worst of the three hives to start out on as aliens. Its pretty distal in the sense of resource nodes compared to Omega or Consistency.

Siege Spot 1

This is between Sigma and Life Support on the West end of the hive, all sieges hit (all do in this guide) and provides nice clean straight hallways for those straight shooting bullets that us marines like to use.

Siege Spot 2

This is located in the Iota Corridor on the East end of the Hive. This spot allows you to snuggle the TF down in a dark corner that is perfect for chucking grenades into, easy to cover for skulks, and if a fade or a lerk goes down there, its a little tricky not getting stuck between the pipes. The sieges themselves can be biled if a gorge gets on that upper level of the hive, but those sieges are as far back as possible. I've seen both of these siege spots do pretty well.

Node Siege Spot

This spot is located in the Parts Room, its really hard to get to that room from Life Support because you either have to go all the way around to docking to get there or by Sigma, and either hallways are pretty far. Don't forget to weld the vent in there though. I've played a game, rushing there in the first minute with one siege up to take out their hive node, and then from parts rushed Sigma to take out their node. (Another reason why I think Life Support is a bad starting hive for aliens) Parts room seems to be completely ignored by commanders when actually its pretty secure part of the map.

Spawn Spots

Now dont take this as a guide for lone spawn camping and being an ass. But as a marine knowing the spawn spots for hives is pretty valuable information. When you've got two marines in a hive spawn camping and you're trying to load the rest of your team with shottys to get there and take that hive down, those 2 spawn camping marines can be the difference between that rush failing or working. If you can remember the patterns you can place marines in certain places within a hive incase an alien spawns or decides to use a movement to get to the hive.

IV. Omega Hive

Omega in my opinion is the 2nd best starting hive for aliens, you're close to Annex and Consistency for nodes and you get equal access to the rest of the map. And in my experience its a hard hive to siege.

Siege Spot 1

This is located at the North part of the hive at the end of Sigma. This gives you a good "hill" to protect from on top of those stairs, and if keeps that TF in a seperate room with a doorway and a bend to get through, keep an eye on it though since aliens can seem in from that vent thats starts near Annex.

Siege Spot 2a

I like this spot when you have early control in the game. Its best if Omega is their First and only hive, their last hive, or Omega is that hive that is going up and is not finished. It keeps the TF back from the hive so your marines can sit back and not be too clustered from a lerk, but its open for biling and thats why I dont think its all that great if aliens have 2 hives.

Siege Spot 2b

I like this variation better if they have two hives because it cant be biled as easily, and it keeps your marines closer to the sieges when their getting hit. By this timne you've got fades out and keep those marines in the action is what is going to keep that siege alive.

Spawn Spots

Here you can see that most of the spawn spots are in the back of the hive, so if you can get a couple marines in a back with a line of sight on eachother, that will spell trouble for the aliens.

V. Consistency Hive

Consistency is the best starting hive to me. You're in close proximity to a few nodes to either cap or keep away from marines, and a lot vent access to get to other parts of the map. Its also a litle tricky to siege, but at the same time hard to defend if you have higher lifeforms since the hive has a lot of corners and obstacles that your lifeforms can get stuck on.

Siege Spot 1

This is located on the North-East entrance/exit to the hive and is a tricky one to keep alive. Since its hard to keep a direct live of sight on the sieges they can go down easily, especially to bile. But your TF is decently protected. Not my favorite siege spot ever, but if it gets the job done then that works.

Siege Spot 2

I prefer this side a lot more than the other, it divides the aliens from omega, denies them annex and should allow you to cap it. It's also easier to keep a line of sight on the sieges and it tucks your TF next to those barrels so that if anything is biting it, its with their back facing you as you phase and in pop some bullets up their ass.

Spawn Spots

The spawn spots on this hive are somewhat spread everywhere, its hard to spawn camp this hive unless your whole team is already in there, in which case the hive should already be down. However, if you place marines on both ends of the doors, you're defending and covering 8 of their 15 spawn spots. Not too shabby.

VI. Relocation

Some of you reading this might have played a game with me where I relocated here. I like to relocate here because it gives you a lot of equal access to the map. With communications on your right and Annex on your left, you've got two nodes, Annex being a vital control part of the map for holding onto Omega or Consistency. I keep my base structures pretty close because I like to mine it up in there. Try it out sometime and if you like it cool, if not, play the game the same way you always play it. The only time I've had it fail on me is when all the marines die before it even gets built so, I think its pretty successful.

VII. Outro

Well kiddies, I hope you liked this guide for the map. Any suggestions, questions, or comments are appreciated and tune in next post for NS_AYUMI. (I'll reply to this same thread with that guide)

**zibalatz** · 10-11-2006, 06:39 PM

holy awesome
muchos rep++

Keres · 10-12-2006, 01:50 PM

Oh this is great! I always have to ask where to put the sieges for altair because I don't play it enough.

Xerond · 10-27-2006, 11:21 PM

NS_AYUMI

I. Intro

Ayumi, ayumi... a map that seems to be frowned upon within the NS community. Most of the complaints I pick up on is that it is a hard map for the aliens, especially in the latter game when upper life-forms begin to appear and when those hives are going up. Reason being that the design of the map is real unfriendly to Lerks and Fades. Instead of having several "rooms" that have control of the map, the map is almost one continuous hallway aside from the hives. There are barely any high spots for lerks to fly with, the only spots being Pressure and AE-35 hives, and if you've got marines in there you've got trouble already. With the hallways having low ceilings, jagged sidings, jagged corners, and a lot of corners, they become a death trap for the lerks and fades.

So what does this all mean to you as a commander, or as an alien? Early game on this map is real important. Some maps allow you to wait til 3-4 minutes before you see real action, but this is a map that needs to be a rush map. If aliens can do a rush on marine start early in the game, you should. Once marines tech, its relatively easy for them to drop a PG somewhere on the map and hit a hive. Now as a commander, you need to focus on node control and a somewhat early defense. PG placement is real important on this map, and having an almost offensive-defense is in my opinion the way to go. Latter in this guide I'll show you the weld points and important control spots on the map.

II. Base

Here is my base setup, the reasoning behind it can be explained with the first guide with the first post on this thread. Keep your structures against walls and corners so that the alien always has their back or side to you incase you jump out or a marine spawns in. Again, like I said before, always try and enter your Commander Chair facing your structures so you can hop out and they will already be in your sights. I also like to jump in with my pistol out.

Here you see I have my Obs way back in the corner near the node. If their hive is Hama or AE-35 it'll pick up on incoming aliens sooner since its placed farther away from the rest of your base, and its also far enough away and visible to not pose too much of a threat if a skulk hits it.

III. Pressure Hive

Pressure hive appears to me as one of the hardest hives to siege, but it is also one of the worst hives to start off with as aliens. If you go down this post and look at my weld/pg placement picture, you'd notice that if you have all the weld points near Pressure welded up, it keeps them in their hive with no where to go. All you have to do is hold Cold Turn and Power Access III and you've got control of 7 other nodes on the map. Thats a recipe for an easy win.

Siege Spot 1

In the event that you do have to siege this hive, good luck. Unless you put a TF up in that middle hallway of the hive you're only gonna be able to hit the hive from these two spots. You're going to have to be aware of the vents surrounding this hive; and you're gonna have to let your marines be on the defense with this siege spot.

Siege Spot 2

This is pretty much a replay on of the first siege spot just on the other side. If you're coming from Cold turn, this should be easier to set up. This section of the map has a ceiling thats a bit higher than anywhere else, so if there is any part of this map where a lerk will be real helpful, its here.

Spawn Spots

As you can tell, this hive is relatively easy to spawn camp, if you can have your rines chill near the pressure node and sit with their guns out down the hallway you shouldn't have a problem keeping about half of the spawns covered. Consider a Gl too, anyone with the GL will love this hive. Remember about the 5 spawn spots up top though, and from there they can run up and get into that vent access that goes towards Cold Turn.

IV. Hamasaki Hive

"GET TO THE HAMA!" Is what comes to mind, (if you didn't get it, don't worry, I don't think its funny.) But this is the kind of mentality you should have with the hive. I think this is one of the strongest hives for the aliens to start off with. It aids with controlling the marine's coverage of the map, and your only worry (as an alien) would be to secure your second hive and keep your life-forms alive. Its also hell for marines to do that infamous, "Relocate to Cold Turn!." aaaaaand you've got two close nodes. So yes, in my opinion getting phases up at both hives and hitting Eastern or Cold Turn hard should be your focus with this starting hive.

Siege Spot 1a

If Hamasaki is the hive you're gonna hit, and they happen to have two hives I would suggest this formation. Since bile bomb can make this all fall apart and they might have a lerk... trying to stay back as much as you can with your sieges and keeping your marines up-front might be the better tactic. However...

Siege Spot 1b

I recommend this formation if the hive was just dropped or its their only hive. If you place the sieges in the middle of the hallway it'll be a task for fades to get through and leap-less skulks. It'll also get your marines back so that they get some target practice.

Siege Spot 2

If you're pressing up from AE-35 this may be the way to go, especially if they lamed up Cold Turn. Remember though that you'll have to keep an eye on that from that leads from hama, and really in all directions. having an obs up here is pretty vital. And since you've got your sieges away from the PG keeping those marines up-front and alive will be important, make sure you got plenty of res flow since this siege wont be the easiest, you wont be able to trickle out sieges with this one. The PG in the center of the room and be biled from the vent, and the sieges on the other side of the wall can be biled from the hive. This isn't my favorite position, Cold Turn is much easier to deal with.

Spawn Spots

With the spawns being spread out all around hama its a little hard to keep the whole thing spawn camped with 1 or 2 marines. The can run away easily if they're not killed right off. But I would say positioning your marines in the top left corner of the second screen shot, and in the bottom left corner of the hive in the first screen shot gives you the best coverage.

V. AE-35 Hive

Heh, I remember when the only "great" thing about this map was that gorges hideout used to have a node and it was the gorge lame center of NS history, probably with that one vent in Nancy. This hive seems to be relatively easy to take. There isn't too much commentary that I can give this hive, so here are the siege spots...

Siege Spot 1

This siege spot is real under-used in my opinion, most people try to set up sieges near the Glass Hallway with it being right under a vent, a closing door, and a tight corner, and al that junk. What people fail to realize about "Ghibli" (the area) is that if you can get that vent welded thats right there, aliens have to go through eastern, Section Zero, and then that Hayao bridge to get to you. So for the most part all that you have incoming is going to come down that front hallway, and thats good stuff to cover with.

Siege Spot 2

This spot is a little more difficult to defend with the vents that come from eastern, but covering the hive and life-forms isn't too hard, using those corners to nab/block fades or lerks is great and once you're putting those sieges up, having marines stand there and look down at the ground below the hive is excellent spawn camping.

Spawn Spots

As you can tell, if you're coming from eastern and standing up top looking down at the hive space you get pretty good coverage of the hive. Not much I can add about this either, except its easier to shoot down the hive if you stay on the upper ramp form eastern. If your marines all fall in and shoot the hive, you're gonna have aliens spawning in all around you, but if they stay back they can hit the hive and the aliens that come in at them.

Node Siege Spot

This I discovered after Wyzcrack was comming a game, we were holding Power Access III for a while and after we lost the game he said something along the lines of "You know I think I discovered that I could siege three nodes from there." So I investigated, and voila. You can. The only time I could see this really being worthwhile though is that they have two hives, Pressure and Hamasaki, and they have the sever outlet nodes and cold turn, and you just cant get close enough to siege either of the hives. So I would say focus on holding AE and PA-III, and hit their nodes and try to kill life-forms. Now the formation that you see above is really tricky. Some its something that you may have to play with. Also, don't set this up unless you are in "Oh ****, if we don't have some defense and tech up we're gonna get rolled over." So yeah, the cost to set up any Siege set, especially this one, is 70 res + meds, obs, pg, ect. So unless you you've got an AA already or your upgrades up well enough don't do this, spend that res on upgrades. The reason you're on the defense is not because you didn't siege three nodes, its cause you need some upgrades, or your team sucks.

Weld Spots and Phase Gate Placement.

Man oh man, if there is one major map in all of NS where the welds are really important, this is it. You'll notice that if you had every weld point welded on this map (aside from gorges hideout) you really isolate those pretty jagged hallways for your life-form killing. Pressure Hive is the most affected by the welds, if you remember me pointing this out earlier. All you have to do is hold PA-III and Cold Turn, you then control 7 nodes. Hamasaki isn't really affected. And AE-35 only has one that helps, the Ghibli weld, which is real helpful if you're sieging AE-35 on either side.

Now for PG placement, Cold Turn is simply a must, Cold Turn in Ayumi is like the Cargo of Tanith, the universe revolves around it. Also Power Access III is a great center pg for node coverage and a great fall back point. Another important hold spot is Eastern-AE-Ghibli, Eastern can be biled, as can AE unless you keep it on the top ramp. But anywhere in there is all around helpful.

VI. Outro

Well I can't add much more about this map. I just hope the information provided will help make those Ayumi games a bit more competitive and enjoyable rather than all the "I HATE THIS MAP" in the RR. Any comments, question, or corrections are appreciated.

Tune in next post for: NS_CAGED (Yes, I'm skipping Bast for now)

Xerond · 11-02-2006, 03:31 PM

It seems the host I had for all the images on here has disappeared and I can't get in contact with the owner. So I apologize as the visuals are temporarily unavailable.

ChopStick · 11-02-2006, 05:53 PM

I caught it with the images still up. Nice stuff there. You're totally our comm...

ImAWuss · 11-03-2006, 06:53 AM

ChopsStick, BACK AWAY FROM YOUR CACHE.... S L O W L Y

Just playing. CHeck your temp internet files for these images... Zip em, and pm me the link. I"ll host them.

Xerond · 11-03-2006, 09:42 PM

Is it possible that I could email a zip of all the images to you and you could host them for me? It would be greatly appreciated.

ChopStick · 11-06-2006, 05:18 AM

I could put them on my TG FTP if you need them still.

degamer106 · 11-06-2006, 01:31 PM

hurry up xerond ;p

waiting for the next post..

Xerond · 11-06-2006, 05:14 PM

Yeah, the images are hosted elsewhere now, but I'm having a problem with the forums and being able to edit my posts. Instead of getting a "edit" and "quote" boxs I just get the two "quote" boxes, like so:

Unless someone else knows how to solve this, should I just start another thread brand new with the guide posts?

*Edit* Now I just edited this post, and the option appeared. So does the edit function leave after a certain amount of time? Cause I still can edit my previous posts.

**Wyzcrak** · 11-06-2006, 05:45 PM

12 hours? I think it's 12 hours.

ImAWuss · 11-06-2006, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wyzcrak

12 hours? I think it's 12 hours.

GGTG. After 12 hours, your words are etched in stone. Make a new thread!

Xerond · 11-06-2006, 06:08 PM

Alrighty, I'm just gonna make a new thread then, if an admin could, delete this or lock it or something. Thanks.