i see a lot of ppl here and in pubs use silence. how is that upgrade good compared to others better ones like adren and celeb?

can anyone plz explain to a noob plz?

By using silence you can sneak up on marines at a higher speed, and without risking making noices.

While in actual combat, marines most often only see the first batch of skulks, concentrating on one at a time to get them down while noticing and evading the other with the help of the sound. It's way harder to take down multiple skulks who use silence.

i get silence on CO, but NEVER on NS, it's pointless.

I owned sooooo many skulks in NS by sound alone..

Silence is extremely good in the early game.

However, once boundaries are more or less defined, they are useless. MT absolutely kills silence, too.

Most of you play with sound (headphones, speakers) I assume. Try taking them off for a while, and see how well you do.
That's how important silence is

yup..if u have a good sound system it almost makes the skulk accuse u of cheating sometimes.
sound not only enables u to know where the skulk is coming from, but if u hear a sound coming from one direction then stop, it's a good chance that he heard u coming and is thinking of cloaking or ambushing u in some stupid corner.
so be on the lookout for those semitransparent skulk outlines and look in the obvious camping spots in the direction u heard the sound in and u'll most often bump into a skulk in which case u can nail him easily.
the question "MT?" often follows, in which case u say no, in which case he goes along and calls the admin to ban u. happened to me at least twice anyway.

Since most players track aliens by sound, silence is vicious.

Even very low skill players are able to get one or two bites into a marine if they silently run up behind them. Silenced fades are bloody nasty ambushers at low levels, as time goes on however marines will be expecting a fade and thus silence loses its value in the face of more speed or more energy.

Mid-endgame, silence and cloaking can help gorges who like to ninja, or really really bad skulks, or scouter skulks. Problem is both upgrades are pretty passive compared to, say, adren, celer, and focus.. three very important upgrades when the marines are running around with armour ups.

silence.
run to marine trains back
BACKSTAB and gg.
almost perfect.

i can't say how many tiemes my clanmates and I have been mistaken for "cloaker nubs, OMG GET SC$N!!1" because we were silenced.

Silence focus celerity leap skulk is one of the best combo's in co.

It really is. I've used that and it works very well. Silence is very nice with leap because you don't get the giant scream yelling "shoot me!" every time you move quicker.
Focus to leap in, bite, and get back out before they knew what hit 'em. ^^

Silence and celerity will get you accused of cloak almost more then actually HAVING cloak. Its just that good since even WITH MT as you get near the marine he will listen for you more then watch for the circle most times, so he knows roughly where to aim when he loses the circle. With silence he can't. Even with MT it makes marines fighting you have lots of problems since you could go up a wall and even if you're biting they don't know the exact direction.

Most players rely on sound, and hearing where the creeps are, if they

- Can't see you
- Can't hear you
- YOU have a huge advantage


apart from smelling or feeling

Silence is defibitely the best upgrade on co_ You cant hope to get kills without it. This also tracks that you should make mc first on classic. Early game silence skulks are the worst you can ever have. Comm cant help marines by listening, ambushes works even better, base watcher cant hear base chewing(!!!) and lastly you allso get 2 great upgrades and ability to go to 2. hive whenever you want (spit the hive ftw)

I know its made but if the base watcher isnt next to the building he cant hear. :/

Silence is one of the more valuable upgrades you can get. If people can't hear you, you get 1 free bite, usually 3 if you know how to mess with a marine properly.

Example- me playing drunk with sound- ~6:1 kd ratio
me playing sober with no sound- 2:1 k:d ratio

My headset just broke, so I'm completely screwed when trying to ambush or find skulks.

Even once the Marines in co get motion tracking, in the larger games you can consistantly get kills even inside the Marine base and get away before even getting shot because people aren't worrying about a Skulk they can't hear, they're worrying about the Onos coming in on the left, and the Fade whacking the chair.

Silence, leap, and focus, when put together, are Natural-Selection's sniper rifle, not to mention the best way to take down a jetpacker when a skilled Lerk is not about.

I've ran in front of marines as a silenced skulk and they've STILL not shot me. Its scary how much people rely on their ears. Half the time I think most players aren't even looking for aliens, they're just listening for them.

Anyone seen a Focus/Silence/Celerity Lerk in Combat?

Yep, that's scary....it's like death from above....but that was a long time ago since I played like that xD

In classic though, Silence loses its value as most decent commanders will get Observatories by midgame, and Motion Tracking by mid to late game. This pretty much kills silence's value as an upgrade mid to alte game. Early game though, it's pretty vicious.

And yes, WAY too many marines depend on sound. Must be that CS mentality that you have to listen for footsteps....

Yup I allmost allways quite co_ if sile/cele/focus lerk appears. I just cant take it, slosh,arggh, rinse and repeat. But I still love to be one

yup..i just love how u can take advantage of getting two upgrades from the same chamber in co_ celerity silence works wonders...

but once marines know there are silence skulks, they'll be on the lookout and constantly looking around their back.

I have tried the tapping but it is slower due if you make one noise you have screwed. going with shft is on a long run, more faster.

silence is awesome, simply becuase most good players can hear that *click* the skulk makes from 5000 units away, and then they go on the alert. not to mention the feeling you get from walking behind/above/side of a marine and not having him notice you is awesome

I guess silence is a undetectable way of cloaking... its useless in NS, but its useful in co?

huh? it is very useful in NS and will be used even more after B6.

I would like to say that cloaking is silence for nubs. With silence you allways get the great feeling what ever you do. You dont have to worry about that 34229349:1 guy hearing you from another map or anything just get free bite at first and hammer him down then while he is helplessly thinking whats happening.


Oh and i have to say this about 1.04

Remember how funny it was to walk behind marines while shooting them with spikes and silence. Usually no one noticed anything before their health turned in red and it was too late! LERK P0W4H

lol, there is some pubs with spikes too, and i think i will try that sometimes

spikes were great. Spiking a antire outpost cause the n00b comm forgot lerks.

silence + cloak = ouch in classic.
usually means 3 hives, that ouch in any case

silence is by far the best skulk upgrade ever, even though it's possible to move fairly fast silently by tapping forwards it doesnt offer anywhere near the amount of silent manouverability as silence. On other lifeforms it isn't useless but the other mc upgrades make it redundant.

I have to agree. I enjoy playing as skulk and silence is my favorite upgrade.

Motion Tracking doesn't counter Silence.

Yes, I said it. And as it turns out, the reasoning is simple.

*) Motion Tracking only works in front.
Most of the time, Silence is used simply to help close the gap from behind, and Motion Tracking has no effect on that scenario. In fact, when the Marines have Motion Tracking, someone approaching from behind is more likely to reach them, because if the Marines are actually watching (or at least watching for) the circles, they act as an excellent distraction.

*) A competently-orchestrated ambush won't be foiled by Motion Tracking either way.
Obviously, if the ambush spot is behind the Marines, Motion Tracking won't do anything; and even if it's located such that one has to get there while it is still in front of the target(s), generally you'd take the position while the Marine(s) is/are still at a fair distance, and Motion Tracking is fairly ineffective at long range (it's too inaccurate, those it depicts are likely to be gone before you get there anyway, and besides, who actually watches the small circles?). And let's not forget what a small group can do if one player baits Motion Tracking...

*) Silence is just as useful in a fight as it is before one.
Something that many fail to realise is how much they take sound for granted not only when an enemy approaches, but also when they're actually engaged in combat. To get to the point, fighting a Silenced Skulk in close can be very disorientating, especially if there's a random element to the Skulk's movements; it's hard to keep one in sight, and harder to find them. With a clear head, some skill in the art of dancing (or for those less endowed with clarity of mind, at least some productive form of manic jumping), and a little thought paid to how a Marine reacts to being bitten from various angles, confusing a Marine is very easy with Silence, and with practice, it's quite possible to land every Bite in the Marine's back (or ankle, if you can do it properly while staying groundbound) - I've soloed more than a few lone HA/HMG Marines as a Skulk this way, and I'm at the lower end of the skill spectrum.

These points should be considered fundamental for strategists, but I feel that everyone can benefit from them. Keep them in mind next time you've a spare Movement upgrade and Motion Tracking comes along - you won't regret it.

well i'm not sure about everyone else...but normally i look around to see where most of the alien lifeforms are if i have mt.

in ns mode, pressing the map shows every lifeform - even the ones behind u (duh).

and how are all the aliens supposed to be behind the marine all the time? unless they start behind him, the alien has got to get from in front of him to behind him, which the marine would detect.

mt is the counter to silence.

@uzguz

Minimap FTW. Not only in this scenario.

mfg

Lance

Uzgus got owned and yes. As soon I`m not comming (rarely ) when we have MT i just hit the c button and go with it 90% of the time. Gotta luv when you see re d dot close behind you and then you turn and pistolwhip him in his confuse

Running around with a permanently open minimap will generally kill you, imho. Its all checks and balances.

Judicious use of the minimap when you have motion tracking is probably the best map control tool for marines before aliens get too far into their game. Put wall hacks and radar hacks in the hands of an aware marine and you get a high ratio of dead skulks to dead marines. I approve of MT to counter MC.

Silence is a nice upgrade. A lot of people use their ears just as much as their eyes. Silence is like cloaking except it works on a different sense. How can you not see the benefit in silence? That's half of the marine's sensory awareness you take away.

Silence is a great skill because

1- it comes with the MT which is the best first hive chamber

2- silent skulk rushes to take down CC chairs are funny as heck

3- makes ambushing easier

4- it really scares the marines

5- it has NO counter

I allso recomend that if you don't want to ambush and you'd rather just hunt marines, get Celerity as an early skulk. right now nilla rine > then skulk. but if you throw celerity into the Mix Skulk = nilla rine. its good stuff

sigh. the counter to silence is MT.

i believe the MT ur refering to in ur post is MC? anyway, MC being the best chamber is just an opinion, not a fact.

Silence is awesome for the following reasons:
- You can chase most marines across the entire map and they'll never notice you.
- You don't need to bhop to close the gap because they don't know you're coming to begin with.
- In groups of skulks, you're not noticed.
- In groups of marines, they don't notice you're killing their buddies. "Ungh! Ungh! EYARGH!" "Huh? What was that? . . . ! SNAAAAAAKE!"
- You can approach camping Marines much more quickly, lowering the likelihood of them spotting you on the ceiling, or shooting you as soon as you come around a corner.
- On maps with good vent systems you can flank Marines quickly and quietly.
- Kill a marine, flee through a vent, reenter through a door.. his buddies have no idea what's going on. Rinse and repeat.
- Easier camping. Kill a marine, flee. He knows you're wounded, and he's thinking you don't have regen or have left (because he can't hear you healing). Then he dies.
- Silenced Fades are scary !@#$%es.
- Cloak + Silence on a Gorge means OC farms in Marine Start and no one's the wiser.
- The alien attack sound can be heard from farther away than the "hit" sound. You can chomp on an RT and Marines will walk through a nearby corridor and never know you're up to it.
- "I totally didn't know there was a Gorge around that corner healing four Skulks. Oops?"
- Life forms don't make the annoying "idle" sounds that could potentially give them away while cloaked. A Cloaked Onos is always more effective with Silence, especially because he can be Devouring and still catch other Marines unaware with Stomp/Gore.

There are plenty more but that's just a list of some of the more awesome tactics involving Silence.

Ahh, i can just see it now:

Comm: Ok guys, Ive got MT, watch the pretty blue circles!
Marine: Oh look, theres one now! Ohh its so close, Lets shoot it down!
*Marine chases down the circle, runs past a vent in the floor. Meanwhile, Skulks swarm out of it

Marine: Aw look. It's a gorgie!

Gorge: OH my, Its a parade!!!

*skulks completely covering the floor run over marine

hmm that normally doesn't happen

where do u find a vent in the floor where the marines would just ignore? i can't think of any...or maybe it's just my mind being blocked at the moment

To be honest it might happen.
Not all vents show on maps. And if its a added vent sure hell I am gona ignore it, cause I simply do not know its there.

For example, I was quite surprised on c12 RT. I was fighting a skulk which was using the cover great. Suddenly he jumped down on the right. A few secs later I heared a skulk incoming from the left and nailed him.

After waiting a few more secs I desided to risk ambushing that skulk on the right, after he didn't move out with his buddy.

Found out it was the same damn skulk. Was a vent I never saw, and I sure hope its added cause else I really feel n00b.

Does anyone have any idea how funny it is to get silence & SoF as fade? You follow the rine at a distance then blink up to him, if he don't have MT you can folow him to any marine "forward bases or locked rooms" and then chukle behind him he pelts bullets everywhere and you swipe him when he sees you.. or you could wait for his buddy to say "**** YOU HAVE A FADE BEHIND YOU" again the rine wets his armour... or you could just pick of the unknowing rambos