Hera an introduction

Hera is one of the oldest played map out there.
It's not one of the most played map.
It's not one of the most visually enchanted map
It might be one of the most changed maps and possibly one of the best balanced maps.

What is an OC

The OC(Offense chamber) is the aliens counter to the marines turret, although the two of them has completly different roles.
The problem with the gorges nowadays, seems to be that they all want a solid defence wall(if you played 1.0 a WoL) but the OC doesn't work that way anymore.
OCs are used to intercept a marine advance and keep the marines at one place until help arrives.
Is the OC a mad killing machine?
Short speaking: no
To get a kill with a OC you have to be lucky and know how to, and where you shall place your OCs.
That is what this guide is going to be about.

What should I protect?

The most important thing is of course the hive, second your rt's and third, and maybe the most useful way of useing the OC, the important moving areas For exampel: South loop on ns_eclipse or processing on ns_hera.

This guide won't work good versus commanders that loves a good lockdown, more the commanders that loves the smell of sieges and HAs, but don't disbelief, it can easily be adapted.

The question?
Were should I place my OCs for the best hive protection.
If this would be NS 2.0 I would say at the siege spots, but in 3.0 many marines have understood the true value of spawn-camping.
But yet i would say, put them at the siege spots, many siege spots usually are a entrance to the hive and "shuts the door" for the spawn-camper.
Note: Spawn camping usually appears when the marine team are more skilled than the Aliens.

Hera's OC placment
(The samples and hints mentioned below are all alone and anticipates that you only uses one of the sample at a time)

Important routes
-Holoroom

-The Double res room of ns_hera, marines always tries to take it.

OC spot 1 and 2
This one is the WoL technology, it tries to stop the marines from even entering holo room

The marines will come Entrance 1 or 2, the OCs on the picture protects it from
entrance 1, but the marines can still pour out from OC spot 2(rarely OCed) and easily kill your and your gorge buddy.
Some protection has been added to spot 2 on the picture as the third OC(the one in the corner) should take the marines by surprise(if they try to go to OC spot 2, or rush over spot1)
You need at leat two gorges to keep one opening alive for a while.



-Another OC suggestion
spot 3

From reception you can count on that atleast a couple of rines comes from here and run towards OC spot 2 and upp the left flan. From here they can easily kill you, your gorge friend and all the oc's.

This is a very commonly used OC spot, why?
It provides cover for both entrancec and the marines can't fire at it from range.
But unfortunatly many gorges forgets to build a OC behind the RTs, otherwise a single marine can easily take out both RTs.
If you build a couple of DCs close to the OCs, you can maintenance another couple of OCs and yet have the time to run back to your OCs if there should be any need for it.

OC spot 4


-A dark picture of the plateau at the bottom right of holo room.

This is by far the best solution for the lonely gorge.
Marines can outrange you, so save ALL energy to healspray, and build a DC directly after the first OC, if of course aren't two gorges.
The ÓC doesn't reach over the entire holo room, so spitting could be tempting but save your energy.
If you're two gorges one can spit and the other healspray, and this is a very mean combination.
The only way to get rid of two gorges up there is sieging, and as bonus, their sieges won't reach you from reception.

Don't count on keeping on this room for a long time.
It's two resource nodes and easy movement to both archive and processing makes it the one of the most valuable positions of the map and therefor, if the marines can't take it with force they VERY often sieges from cargo OR reception.
One of the only ways to keep it is to get early fades and lerks.

Hive protection

The hives os ns_hera are one-way entrances for the normal marine.
The smarter marines can either weld open the door to Archive hive, weld open the vent to Data core delta hive or build a human stair to get into ventilation.


-The easiest way to protect Archive hive.

Hints for archive

There are two entrancec to Archive hive(If the commander hasn't reasearched JPs)
one of the entrances consists of a door, the other of a weldable door.
Both of the entrances need heavy maintenance if the marines attack.
It's hard to place the OCs such as they cover each other, instead you can either

• Build a WoL
• Fortify the RT room(very effective because the sieges won't reach the hive)
• Try to put the OCs close to the corners, but so they still can fire, and try to make the OCs cover each other(very difficult)

-The most common siege spot of vent secured

Hints for ventilation hive

Ventilation hive is a paradise for a JPer, if you know that the marine commander fancy JPs, put some OCs in the hive ontop of the entrances to the hive.

Ventilation hive is VERY difficult to siege, one of the only ways to doing it, is to go up the ladders(on the picture) and build sieges there.
Therefore I strongly recommend that you build OCs there, build them a bit back so that the marines have to go up the ladder to fire at them.
If you're maintaining these ÓCs they'll be invincible, and the skulks can easily dispatch a group of rines stuck on a ladder.


Processing, the usual siege spot for marines.

Hints for Data core delta hive

Data core delta is a easily JPed and sieged hive.
You can get ride of the JPers woth some OC placment in the hive but the siege spot is though to protect.

There are many ways of trying to protect processing, I'll put some of the most commonly used here.

1: as you can see on the picture above the OCs are placed ontop of the plateau, this requires a gorge to maintain all the time, but can come in handy when the marine tries to siege.


OCs that covers two of processing four entrances.

2: This is probably the most used OC spot, it gives rather good protection vs one of the entrances and gives superb cover for the other.
The problem with this spot is that is can easily be outranged by marines that come from one of the other two entrances.


-more OCs in processing

3:I haven't tested this one yet, but it takes at least two gorges to build enough OCs.
It can be used in conjugation with Nr2(this costs ALOT of res) and protect the entire processing.
Try to build your OCs on a line so that they can cover Entrances: 1, 3 and 4 superbly, Entrance 2 gets a bit bader covered but this it would be enough with a gorges support.
note:when you got this many OCs in processing the commander might want to siege you, he can do it from either cargo or holo room.

Less important places


-hera reception

In 2.0 this waste the favorite relocation spot for the marine commanders, now it's more a good siege spot to holo room.
You have to run past reception to get to the weldable door to Archive.
Put the OCs as far forward as you could but also protecting for the RT.


-cargo from above the box

This is a newly found OC spot, it's dramaticly effective as it both covers a RT and the main rout from marine spawn and the marines can't fire your OCs without self getting fired at, I've even got kills on this spot.
Get atleast: 3OCs and 1DC and it will be self maintaining



This is a common sight for the marine player, but the OCs still does very little damage to the marine because the marine can hide in the corners.
Instead block the elevator, build 3-4 OCs ontop of each other and the elevator won't get down, the comm can siege from base.
But lucky us, the majority of so called "skilled" commanders don't got a TF in base.

- "Catalyst : Me"

Great guide... but it forgets a few points

- OCs suck

- Chained chambers make the baby gorges cry

- In large games you'd be lucky to make 2 OCs the whole game

- OCs REALLY suck

- And grenades... lots of grenades

Sure it misses a few points, but it's my first guide.
Hope someone can find it useful.

In large games you say.
Well NS is for the time being adapted for 6vs6 matches, anything bigger than that have to be adapted to the guide.

And many alien players seems to think that Alien play is all about "skills", but you have to utilise all options possible for each team.
Gorges need teamwork, protection and create groups with other gorges.
Learn how to use the gorge for maximum effect.

Criticism are always welcome, it helps us improve.

- "Catalyst : Me"

Nice =)

the only use OCs have is being a warning for rine attacks.
I never use it to hold rines, and any group of OCs whihc does so encounters a bad rine squad

My only issue is to drop 6 oc's in an area costs you 60 res.. and if you have 60 res, you would be better suited to drop another hive.. or go fade... If you have all 3 hives or one is locked down, then perhaps.. But I don't remember ever seeing that many OC's in an area unless the game is already over.

Great guide. Despite people who can never be pleased I think no one else would mind you doing a guide for some of the other maps. I certainly liked this one.

...

OCs should be a warning for rine attacks,

OCs in them selves are weak, but with just one skulk they become very deadly.
They require you to use teamwork, and help the OCs that are being attacked.

Think for yourselves, how many times haven't you heard the "structure is under attack" voice but not given a damn about it.
Helping your OCs is VERY effective.

Many of us just run away when a RT or a hive is under attack, but you could have helped the hive/RT defences to keep of the invaders.

And you don't go gorge just to drop OCs, drop something else at the same time, for example; 60 res is a hive and 1 OC, and that's alot better than a hive with no OCs.

So long as you can spread them out everywhere youll do fine with oc's. Your primary goal being to make it so they can only be shot individually and not from cover. This also means you cant use a gl on them. Basically they just annoy marines. MInd you they can be devastaing against a foolish marine team. E.g. taking double res when engine is our main hive. Or securing pressure hive when our main is ae35.
In fact the things you can do with a noobie marine team are limitless. E.g. not building anything at all and all ****ing to onos and winning

You depend a lot on OC's that cost res, thus you never have them when they are still useful; in the beginning of each game. Just to note, if marines get Hera, they can siege both arc and holo, thus making OC's there a risky deal. If they get holo too, they can siege their way to delta and cargo, and then it's game over.

Nice guide, but spamming your beloved
's and 's doesnt work as good as going any of the higher lifeforms and beat the crap out of them.

just 3 's and 1 is fine for some defence..

just one OC would already own deep.
I mean, you ARE gone check it out aren't ya? And we are gona healspray huh?
Or are we all gorge n00bs who just sit on there res waiting to build something? MOVE DAMNIT. You got a perfect slot 2 weapon begging to be used.

Nice guide, especially the pictures

Pictures are good.

Don't forget, only the topmost part of the OC fires. So if you put your OCs in a low depression in the ground and only the red spikey ball on top is showing, it will still be able to shoot marines fine, but they will have a harder time firing back.

OCs are not the end-all be-all of defense. What they are good for is a super distraction for skulks. Skulks by themselves are weak and puny unless they are in a group. Skulks camping OCs are nasty because the first thing a marine will notice is the tower firing spikes at him. This gives a skulk who is prepared nearby all the time he needs to ninja-drop from the shadows and pick up a kill while the marine's attention is on the OC.

OCs make great bait, like gorges. You just have to think about where you are putting them. Experiment with them and see what works, then think about WHY it works. OCs only cost 10 res, but if you put them in a few nice spots on each map, they will live a long time and keep marines from just waltzing into the room. But if you don't defend them, they tend to die off. One marine with an extra 100 LMG bullets to spare can almost kill an OC in the time it takes to shoot 2 full clips.

As you said zaggy, OCs aren't as good as any higer life forms, but if used with higer life forms they bot gets and helps the higer(or lower) life forms to get deadly as hell.

And we all probably notices that the OCs that "go down" are usualy "unmanned" in other words not heal spammed.
The gorges need to do this. they need to maintenance their OCs, if you got more than 1 solid defence wall, then get DCs, they helps to heal while you're running between your OCs outposts(presumable that you got adrenaline not celerity).

By the time built all those ocs, u coudl've used that res to gone fade, or onos, which would stop marines a lot better than those ocs.

yes yes, it's true that it's an easy thing killing a healspraying gorge.
But to kill a gorge you need to fire almost all ammo you got.
Get 1DC(yes 1 is enough) and run around it healspraying when someone trys to jump over.

This is also one of the easiest ways to get kills with OCs.
Make the marine belive that you are a easy kill, work wonders with 2OCs and 1DC(mayby carpace or regen).

also do not forget hera is god to siege.
It has great places to set up outposts wasy to defend and siege