It's fair to say that NS2 revolves around having a decent commander on each team. Poor commanders tend to lead them team to ruin, though a poor marine commander can prolong a losing game for many minutes after his team has actually lost, which gets a bit tedious.
Still, I believe that the core of a commander's role is in understanding that NS2 is just like many older style RTS games: a resource race: he who produces fastest and most, wins. Secondary to that is the technology race: he who has better kit wins. However, as technology requires resources, resources are clearly the prime consideration.
Clearly, having a team of marines who can't shoot or aliens who can't bite rather hampers this, but putting that sort of uselessness aside the resource race is king.
As such, I've been having a think about my recent games and trying to understand why particular ones were won or lost and how they could be done better.
To start with, some basic stats:
The commander spends Team Resources (TR). He has a maximum pool of 200, and they accumulate at the rate of 1 TR per six seconds per extractor. Each team starts with one extractor. In other words, that's 10 TR per minute per extractor.
Individual players spend Personal Resources (PR). They have a maximum pool of 100, and the accumulate at one tenth the rate of TR (i.e. 0.1 PR per six seconds per extractor, or 1 PR per minute per extractor).
The number of resource points varies from map to map, but 9 or 11 seems somewhat common. That means that evenly balanced teams are generally only going to have 4-5 resource points under their control at any one time (and more, of course, if they're winning).
5 resource points is 50 TR and 5 PR per minute.
Focusing particularly on the commander, what can those TR be spent on?
This is a matter of progressing through the tech tree in a way that helps your team win, whilst also holding resource points and denying them to your opponent. As commander, your job is to make your team stronger as fast as possible.
So, some routes (and TR costs) through the tech tree:
Marines
Desirable end goals for the marines include Jetpacks and Exosuits. Between the beginning of the game and those weapons, shotguns and phase gates are often obligatory, as are armour and weapon upgrades. All the rest is a bit circumstantial IMHO.
Some costs, with some nesting to indicate research order requirements:
Additionally, Extractors are a requirement. Assume that at least two are going to be placed very quickly.
So, immediately, we've spent 30 TR on initial essential, start-of-game kit and for this we're getting 30 TR per minute. Probably by the time we've had time to consider what we're doing, we've got that 30 TR in hand.
Some choices from here:
Arms Lab + Armour 1 = more survivable marines for 40 TR
Arms Lab + Weapons 1 = more efficient marines for 40 TR
Shotgun Tech = early game advantage over Skulks for 20 TR
Feels like Shotguns are an obvious first step, as long as your marines can shoot straight (not a given!).
A lot of newer (?) commanders seem to immediately rush for sentries; they're also effective against Skulks, but look at the costs: Robotics Factory + 1x Sentry Battery + 3x Sentry Guns = 35 TR. Add 25 TR for each sentry deployment. Seems a lot. Or... Mines Tech for 10 TR, and then 15 PR for three mines. Let's face it: sentries are only really effective against Skulks or careless Lerks, and then only really until the mid game. Offloading base defence in the form of mines and guns to the marines seems far more cost effective than even a single sentry battery.
So, skip sentries completely. For the 5 less TR, get Shotgun Tech and Mines Tech and save for something more useful (such as being half way to affording another Extractor).
For a total of 120 TR, in the space of the first five minutes your marines can have Armour 1, Weapons 1, Shotguns and Mines, plus your team has three Extractors (the initial one, plus two more) to generate 30 TR per minute.
Here you're at a choice:
Does your team need mobility, survivability or firepower more? Phase Gates provide excellent point to point mobility, so much so that they are often the primary target for the Khaara. Jetpacks provide good general mobility and can substantially increase the survival chances of a marine. Exosuits provide much needed firepower and, when supported, can be a way to counter the inevitable wave of Fades.
Phase Gates will cost 50 TR for the first pair (Observatory + Phase Tech + 2x Phase Gates), plus 15 TR for each additional gate.
Jetpacks will cost 110 TR (Advanced Armoury + Prototype Lab + 2nd Command Station + Jetpack Tech) and require a second site to be secured for the second command station. This is going to be a requirement regardless, of course, but at over double the cost of Phase Gates, Jetpacks are potentially going to take a while.
Exosuits will cost 115 TR (same as Jetpacks but Exosuit Tech instead) and also require the second site, but importantly each Exo will cost 4 times that of a Jetpack (40 PR vs 10 PR) to each marine, so if your resources are in short supply keeping Exos in the field may be difficult if you take loses.
Given that, for larger maps, Phase Gates would clearly be the more obvious strategy earlier in the game: mobile marines keep your facilities standing longer and, potentially, survive longer themselves by avoiding long trips through alien-infested corridors (there are no bonuses for numbers of aliens killed, except insofar as the other team is stripped of invested resources).
Smaller maps imply you'll skip Phase Gates in favour of rushing Jetpacks, then Exos (Exos are only 30 TR more after acquiring Jetpack Tech).
Jetpacks vs Armour 3 in terms of survival
Total cost to get to Jetpacks is 120 TR. Total cost to get to Armour 3 is 120 TR. So, identical costs, but the Jetpack manuever benefit is so high that it, in many circumstances, is clearly the superior choice: if a marine isn't even hit, it doesn't matter how much armour he has.
Khaara
Of course, for the Khaara, this all works differently. Of prime importance to the aliens is biomass. One Hive provides 1 level of biomass and each Hive can increase its biomass by a further two up to three.
Biomass controls the aliens "tech level". The highest level required by the aliens is at 9 biomass, implying three fully upgraded Hives. Additional biomass can be used to further strengthen aliens' stats (up to 12), but no further tech is unlocked after 9.
In order of biomass quantities:
However, access to these abilities also requires that the associated upgrade is unlocked via a Hive, Crag, Shade, Shift or Whip.
Crag (10 TR) unlocks Onos abilities for 35 TR (and heals nearby structures and aliens)
Shade (10 TR) unlocks Fade abilities for 35 TR (and cloaks nearby structures and aliens).
Shift (10 TR) unlocks Lerk abilities for 35 TR (and recharges energy for nearby aliens).
Hive (40 TR) unlocks Gorge abilities for 30 TR.
Whip (10 TR) unlocks Skulk abilities for 20 TR (and attacks nearby marines).
Once unlocked, all the associated abilities for that lifeform become available when the required biomass level is reached. Upgrading a Hive's biomass costs 20 TR then 30 TR.
Additionally, each Hive can be specialised into either Crag, Shade or Shift types (for 10 TR), which then gives access to a special structure that is used to provide the aliens their evolved powers.
Crag Hive leads to Shell (20 TR each), which provides Carapace and Regeneration.
Shade Hive leads to Veil (20 TR each), which provides Aura and Phantom.
Shift Hive leads to Spur (20 TR each), which provides Adrenaline and Celerity.
Additional Shells, Veils and Spurs upgrade the associated evolved powers (up to three levels).
Given this flexibility and primary focus on biomass, strategy for the aliens is going to vary. However, to advance beyond the basic tech, a second Hive is always going to be required, and for the Khaara to be at their strongest will require three Hives (compared to the marine's two Command Stations for Exos and Jetpacks).
For example:
Leaping Skulks require biomass 4 and the Whip unlock. That requires two Hives, each upgraded once, and likely one developed as a Crag Hive and the other as a Shift Hive.
Biomass 1 upgrade + Crag upgrade + Shell + 2nd Hive + Biomass 1 upgrade + Shift upgrade + Spur + Whip + Skulk unlock = 170 TR
Stomping, armoured Onos requires biomass 9 and the Crag unlock. This requires three Hives, all full upgraded, though we'll assume only one developed as a Crag for now.
Biomass 1 upgrade + Biomass 2 upgrade + Crag upgrade + Shell + 2nd Hive + Biomass 1 upgrade + Biomass 2 upgrade + 3rd Hive + Biomass 1 upgrade + Biomass 2 upgrade + Crag + Onos unlock = 305 TR
Additionally, each Cyst costs 1 TR, and each Harvester costs 8 TR. Four Harvesters plus probably 30ish Cysts to sustain the infestation required for most alien structures is another ~60 TR.
In theory, a fast moving team could have leaping Skulks inside 10 minutes and stomping Onos inside 15.
Winning, As Either Team
Key to all this is the acquisition of resources. This will, of course, require a considerable amount of map control, but the focus is protecting resource acquisition while destroying enemy resource acquisition.
To get their end-game tech, the marines need at least two Command Stations, where the Khaara need three Hives. However, individually, Skulks are more disposable than marines as Skulk upgrades all revolve around team resources rather than personal resources, where marines tend to need to spend personal resources on the weapons they need to survive.
Marine Command Stations are cheap (15 TR) in comparison to Khaara Hives (40 TR). Additionally, to expand, Khaara need infestation, which increases the cost of their expansion somewhat. In other words, Marines can expand quickly and relatively inexpensively, where the Khaara expand more slowly and losing a Hive is more profound.
This, to me, says that the Khaara need to keep pressure on the marines from the get go. They need to be denied resource points, lose Extractors, and kill off early shotgun marines to cost them 20 PR a throw (even at 5 PR a minute, on a balanced game, that's potentially 4 minutes 'til a marine can afford a shotgun again).
The same is somewhat true of the marines, in that they need to keep killing Harvesters but also Cysts; while each Cyst may only be 1 TR, killing 5-10 of them may break a chain of infestation and slow the development of a second (or third) Hive. Put another way, 10 Cysts costs the Khaara 1 minute of production from 1 Extractor, and might only take ~15 seconds.
Right, I've run out of time for further analysis for now. Happy for comments.
Still, I believe that the core of a commander's role is in understanding that NS2 is just like many older style RTS games: a resource race: he who produces fastest and most, wins. Secondary to that is the technology race: he who has better kit wins. However, as technology requires resources, resources are clearly the prime consideration.
Clearly, having a team of marines who can't shoot or aliens who can't bite rather hampers this, but putting that sort of uselessness aside the resource race is king.
As such, I've been having a think about my recent games and trying to understand why particular ones were won or lost and how they could be done better.
To start with, some basic stats:
The commander spends Team Resources (TR). He has a maximum pool of 200, and they accumulate at the rate of 1 TR per six seconds per extractor. Each team starts with one extractor. In other words, that's 10 TR per minute per extractor.
Individual players spend Personal Resources (PR). They have a maximum pool of 100, and the accumulate at one tenth the rate of TR (i.e. 0.1 PR per six seconds per extractor, or 1 PR per minute per extractor).
The number of resource points varies from map to map, but 9 or 11 seems somewhat common. That means that evenly balanced teams are generally only going to have 4-5 resource points under their control at any one time (and more, of course, if they're winning).
5 resource points is 50 TR and 5 PR per minute.
Focusing particularly on the commander, what can those TR be spent on?
This is a matter of progressing through the tech tree in a way that helps your team win, whilst also holding resource points and denying them to your opponent. As commander, your job is to make your team stronger as fast as possible.
So, some routes (and TR costs) through the tech tree:
Marines
Desirable end goals for the marines include Jetpacks and Exosuits. Between the beginning of the game and those weapons, shotguns and phase gates are often obligatory, as are armour and weapon upgrades. All the rest is a bit circumstantial IMHO.
Some costs, with some nesting to indicate research order requirements:
- Extractor [10 TR]
- Infantry Portal [20 TR]
- Armoury [10 TR]
- Arms Lab [20 TR]
- Armour 1 [20 TR]
- Armour 2 [30 TR]
- Armour 3 [40 TR]
- Armour 2 [30 TR]
- Weapons 1 [20 TR]
- Weapons 2 [30 TR]
- Weapons 3 [40 TR]
- Weapons 2 [30 TR]
- Armour 1 [20 TR]
- Shotgun Tech [20 TR, 20 PR each]
- Mines Tech [10 TR, 15 PR for 3]
- Observatory [10 TR]
- Phase Tech [10 TR]
- Phase Gate [15 TR each]
- Phase Tech [10 TR]
- Arms Lab [20 TR]
- Prototype Lab [40 TR] + 2nd Command Station [15 TR]
- Jetpack Tech [25 TR, 10 PR each]
- Exosuit Tech [30 TR, 40 PR each]
- Exosuit Dual Wield Tech [20 TR, 60 PR each]
- Prototype Lab [40 TR] + 2nd Command Station [15 TR]
- Robotics Factory [10 TR]
- Sentry Battery [10 TR each]
- Sentry Gun [5 TR each, built in 3s]
- Sentry Battery [10 TR each]
Additionally, Extractors are a requirement. Assume that at least two are going to be placed very quickly.
So, immediately, we've spent 30 TR on initial essential, start-of-game kit and for this we're getting 30 TR per minute. Probably by the time we've had time to consider what we're doing, we've got that 30 TR in hand.
Some choices from here:
Arms Lab + Armour 1 = more survivable marines for 40 TR
Arms Lab + Weapons 1 = more efficient marines for 40 TR
Shotgun Tech = early game advantage over Skulks for 20 TR
Feels like Shotguns are an obvious first step, as long as your marines can shoot straight (not a given!).
A lot of newer (?) commanders seem to immediately rush for sentries; they're also effective against Skulks, but look at the costs: Robotics Factory + 1x Sentry Battery + 3x Sentry Guns = 35 TR. Add 25 TR for each sentry deployment. Seems a lot. Or... Mines Tech for 10 TR, and then 15 PR for three mines. Let's face it: sentries are only really effective against Skulks or careless Lerks, and then only really until the mid game. Offloading base defence in the form of mines and guns to the marines seems far more cost effective than even a single sentry battery.
So, skip sentries completely. For the 5 less TR, get Shotgun Tech and Mines Tech and save for something more useful (such as being half way to affording another Extractor).
For a total of 120 TR, in the space of the first five minutes your marines can have Armour 1, Weapons 1, Shotguns and Mines, plus your team has three Extractors (the initial one, plus two more) to generate 30 TR per minute.
Here you're at a choice:
Does your team need mobility, survivability or firepower more? Phase Gates provide excellent point to point mobility, so much so that they are often the primary target for the Khaara. Jetpacks provide good general mobility and can substantially increase the survival chances of a marine. Exosuits provide much needed firepower and, when supported, can be a way to counter the inevitable wave of Fades.
Phase Gates will cost 50 TR for the first pair (Observatory + Phase Tech + 2x Phase Gates), plus 15 TR for each additional gate.
Jetpacks will cost 110 TR (Advanced Armoury + Prototype Lab + 2nd Command Station + Jetpack Tech) and require a second site to be secured for the second command station. This is going to be a requirement regardless, of course, but at over double the cost of Phase Gates, Jetpacks are potentially going to take a while.
Exosuits will cost 115 TR (same as Jetpacks but Exosuit Tech instead) and also require the second site, but importantly each Exo will cost 4 times that of a Jetpack (40 PR vs 10 PR) to each marine, so if your resources are in short supply keeping Exos in the field may be difficult if you take loses.
Given that, for larger maps, Phase Gates would clearly be the more obvious strategy earlier in the game: mobile marines keep your facilities standing longer and, potentially, survive longer themselves by avoiding long trips through alien-infested corridors (there are no bonuses for numbers of aliens killed, except insofar as the other team is stripped of invested resources).
Smaller maps imply you'll skip Phase Gates in favour of rushing Jetpacks, then Exos (Exos are only 30 TR more after acquiring Jetpack Tech).
Jetpacks vs Armour 3 in terms of survival
Total cost to get to Jetpacks is 120 TR. Total cost to get to Armour 3 is 120 TR. So, identical costs, but the Jetpack manuever benefit is so high that it, in many circumstances, is clearly the superior choice: if a marine isn't even hit, it doesn't matter how much armour he has.
Khaara
Of course, for the Khaara, this all works differently. Of prime importance to the aliens is biomass. One Hive provides 1 level of biomass and each Hive can increase its biomass by a further two up to three.
Biomass controls the aliens "tech level". The highest level required by the aliens is at 9 biomass, implying three fully upgraded Hives. Additional biomass can be used to further strengthen aliens' stats (up to 12), but no further tech is unlocked after 9.
In order of biomass quantities:
- Gorge Babblers, Nutrient Mist
- Fade Shadow Step, Rupture, Gorge & Lerk eggs
- Gorge Bile Bomb, Onos Charge, Bone Wall
- Skulk Leap, Lerk Umbra
- Fade Vortex, Onos Bone Shield
- Lerk Spores
- Skulk Xenocide, Gorge Web
- Fade Stab
- Onos Stomp, Contamination, Fade & Onos eggs
However, access to these abilities also requires that the associated upgrade is unlocked via a Hive, Crag, Shade, Shift or Whip.
Crag (10 TR) unlocks Onos abilities for 35 TR (and heals nearby structures and aliens)
Shade (10 TR) unlocks Fade abilities for 35 TR (and cloaks nearby structures and aliens).
Shift (10 TR) unlocks Lerk abilities for 35 TR (and recharges energy for nearby aliens).
Hive (40 TR) unlocks Gorge abilities for 30 TR.
Whip (10 TR) unlocks Skulk abilities for 20 TR (and attacks nearby marines).
Once unlocked, all the associated abilities for that lifeform become available when the required biomass level is reached. Upgrading a Hive's biomass costs 20 TR then 30 TR.
Additionally, each Hive can be specialised into either Crag, Shade or Shift types (for 10 TR), which then gives access to a special structure that is used to provide the aliens their evolved powers.
Crag Hive leads to Shell (20 TR each), which provides Carapace and Regeneration.
Shade Hive leads to Veil (20 TR each), which provides Aura and Phantom.
Shift Hive leads to Spur (20 TR each), which provides Adrenaline and Celerity.
Additional Shells, Veils and Spurs upgrade the associated evolved powers (up to three levels).
Given this flexibility and primary focus on biomass, strategy for the aliens is going to vary. However, to advance beyond the basic tech, a second Hive is always going to be required, and for the Khaara to be at their strongest will require three Hives (compared to the marine's two Command Stations for Exos and Jetpacks).
For example:
Leaping Skulks require biomass 4 and the Whip unlock. That requires two Hives, each upgraded once, and likely one developed as a Crag Hive and the other as a Shift Hive.
Biomass 1 upgrade + Crag upgrade + Shell + 2nd Hive + Biomass 1 upgrade + Shift upgrade + Spur + Whip + Skulk unlock = 170 TR
Stomping, armoured Onos requires biomass 9 and the Crag unlock. This requires three Hives, all full upgraded, though we'll assume only one developed as a Crag for now.
Biomass 1 upgrade + Biomass 2 upgrade + Crag upgrade + Shell + 2nd Hive + Biomass 1 upgrade + Biomass 2 upgrade + 3rd Hive + Biomass 1 upgrade + Biomass 2 upgrade + Crag + Onos unlock = 305 TR
Additionally, each Cyst costs 1 TR, and each Harvester costs 8 TR. Four Harvesters plus probably 30ish Cysts to sustain the infestation required for most alien structures is another ~60 TR.
In theory, a fast moving team could have leaping Skulks inside 10 minutes and stomping Onos inside 15.
Winning, As Either Team
Key to all this is the acquisition of resources. This will, of course, require a considerable amount of map control, but the focus is protecting resource acquisition while destroying enemy resource acquisition.
To get their end-game tech, the marines need at least two Command Stations, where the Khaara need three Hives. However, individually, Skulks are more disposable than marines as Skulk upgrades all revolve around team resources rather than personal resources, where marines tend to need to spend personal resources on the weapons they need to survive.
Marine Command Stations are cheap (15 TR) in comparison to Khaara Hives (40 TR). Additionally, to expand, Khaara need infestation, which increases the cost of their expansion somewhat. In other words, Marines can expand quickly and relatively inexpensively, where the Khaara expand more slowly and losing a Hive is more profound.
This, to me, says that the Khaara need to keep pressure on the marines from the get go. They need to be denied resource points, lose Extractors, and kill off early shotgun marines to cost them 20 PR a throw (even at 5 PR a minute, on a balanced game, that's potentially 4 minutes 'til a marine can afford a shotgun again).
The same is somewhat true of the marines, in that they need to keep killing Harvesters but also Cysts; while each Cyst may only be 1 TR, killing 5-10 of them may break a chain of infestation and slow the development of a second (or third) Hive. Put another way, 10 Cysts costs the Khaara 1 minute of production from 1 Extractor, and might only take ~15 seconds.
Right, I've run out of time for further analysis for now. Happy for comments.
