Electrification
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[edit] Electrification - Your Friend and Foe
Author: Lito
The electrification strategy, a strategy consisting of mass electrification of your resource towers in order to keep them up and pumping nanosludge for as long as possible and to deny aliens res, is very popular on pubs. And why not? For 30 res, you can electrify a res node and it'll be protected with or without a marine. You can take your mind off your res node for most of the beginning and some of the early-mid game.
However, electrification is a double edged sword.
[edit] By the Numbers
A resource tower costs 15 res to put down. Now, its 4 seconds a tick for B4; 15 res * 4 second a tick / 60 seconds a minute = 1. Which means that 1 minute after that res node is built and starts pumping nanosludge, its paid itself off, and all the res afterwards until it is taken down is profit.
An electrified resource tower costs 45 (that's 15 res for the node itself, and 30 for electrification. We'll leave out the cost of the tfac for simplicity). 45 * 4 / 60 = 3. That means it takes 3 minutes for that res node to start making a profit. That's 3 times that if you didn't electrify it.
[edit] Time Attack
Now, lets say you've got a res node at the Overlook on ns_veil at 1:30. Its an area that your marines will generally walk near or through, but you decide to electrify it anyways. By the time it pays itself off, it'll be around 4:30, which is around the average fade gestation time (which is around 4:00). Electrification is useless against fades, and the fade will be able to take it down in a jiffy. Chances are, if you let the fade kill it, it will either lose res, break even, or make very very little profit from that res node.
Then there is the fact that any electrified res node won't last long after the second hive goes up.
[edit] Res, Oh Res, Where Art Thou?
The point of electrifying res nodes is to keep them. The point of keeping them is to get res from them. But really, when you electrify your res nodes, you're shooting yourself in the foot. It takes 30 res to electrify. 30 res is any upgrade, an upgraded armory, 3 shotguns, 3 packs of mines, or wait for 5 res for motion tracking. The fact is, that 30 res is ALOT. And while you might break even with your electrified res nodes before the fade takes them down, the 30 res isn't taken when you break even, it takes 30 res from your coffers straight when you click that electrification button. This stunts marine growth substantially. You simply can't fight back because you don't have the res, means, or upgrades to do so.
[edit] Those Poor Defenseless Creatures
Those res nodes look a little naked without the sexy blue glow, huh? What do you do? That res node is going to go down if I don't electrify it!
You're forgetting the most important weapon in your arsenal: Your marines. They move, they shoot, they even give you smack from time to time, and get this: They're completely free. That res node under attack? Send a marine over there! More likely than not, they'll earn you 1 - 3 rfk free of charge. You can also defend it by other means. Most notably mines. Its 1/3 the cost of electrification, and you earn a lot more rfk from it. Think about it. You're going up to a res node and its not electrified. You think its safe, run up, boom.
[edit] Semi-Bonzai Bases
Back in 2.01, a popular base to build were the "Bonzai bases". In 2.0, there were no building radius restrictions. And such, you could fit your whole base within 15 square meters with a tf in the middle effectively covering all of it when electrified. Although its not possible to do this anymore, electricity range has increased substantially, so this strategy is still viable and still being done. For base defence you just blew 40 res. This also effectively kills any attempt at marine tech growth. If you have to defend your base with something, then defend it with mines. 2 packs, 20 res, and they'll do just as well as electrification, if not better. Just remember to replenish them when they go boom.
[edit] Hypocrite
Now now, electrification isn't all that bad.
Electrification is a powerful tool, but it needs to be used in moderation. Does this mean that you shouldn't electrify res nodes? By all means no! Electrification is VERY useful for res nodes that are far away or is an area with high action levels such as hive rooms or choke points. Like, on ns_metal, you aren't going to electrify power banks (the res node at the very top) because its so close to marine start, however its not uncommon to see an electrified mineral processing node (the node in the middle). Mineral processing is a high traffic area. Its right next to 2 hives, and is a good choke point to hold. You can expect that node to go down a lot if its not defended, so instead of letting it die and rebuilding it again and again, its more profitable to electrify it.
Electrification is also my hive defence of choice. For a hive room, you could stick a phase gate and res node together, plop down a tf, and put down two turrets (this setup has large blind spots, or spots where a skulk cannot be hurt at the turrets due to their angle of fire). Or you could just electrify the res node for the same price. (THIS IS IMPORTANT. Res nodes have more HP than tfs, so if you have a choice, its ALWAYS better to electrify res nodes).
Electrification can boost the chances of a siege to go successfully as well. Electrify that tf, and you'll have skulks making suicide runs on it in attempt to get it down. Not only do you get massive res for kills, but with a welder, the chances of that tf going down is very low.
[edit] The Last Word
Electrification is very very useful. With its large radius, you can cover a lot of things. But its also very expensive, so you must use in moderation. The next time you're thinking of electrifying that res node, stop. Just stop. Click on the arms lab and get armor 2 instead. You'll thank yourself later.
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