'nuff said.

I'm one of maybe 2 players out of a 10 person pub team that parasites. Even good players don't do it. Learn to switch weapons and parasite whilst you are coming in to the attack, that way even if you die, you've handicapped the marine (and made him suck up at least one medpack).

I disagree with the whole switch thing dude...

If your running in you gotta kill him... theres not enough time to parasite.

But yes parasite is good. And yes i find your partially right.

If theres 2 marnes. I kill one and the other is too far for me to get to with living i wll parasite the 2nd.

But mainly parasites are for helping later with ambushes so its good to para them coming from doorways and base.

i do try to do that but it gets me killed cos i need to aim. so i usually bite as much as i can and if needed retreat and parasite the marine or parasite the second marine if a second marine comes along and i'm low on health

Personally, I parasite every marine I see at range. I even try to get a parasite in before biting most the time. I also parasite every RT and PG that I see, even if I plan on munching it. You might get ambushed and the rest of your team is much more likely to go finish it off if it's parasited.

Against marines it's a free wall hack. If you are asking why you should take the effort to parasite I'll ask why you don't want a free wall hack.

I parasite always, if I am not within bite range I para, if I think it gives benefit to para inbetween bites (usually focus) I do

When charging onto a marine as a skulk you should be bhoping or right beside him. There's no time to parasite when you're right beside and there's no way to do it while bhoping. So I think your point is moot.
Also, if you parasite a structure before bitting it, you lose 1/3 of your energy and waste precious seconds to take down the structure.
Where I recognize value is in doing the last stand parasite when you are pretty sure you're dead.
And what should be the main advice for parasite, is "parasite from a very safe distance, then ambush".

I got a parasite kill yesterday, so I guess I use parasite enough, right?

I get para kills plenty, my fave is hitting JPs.

also if you hop around in a group of 4 marines, moving is key. So I para between bites if I aint in position to bite.
and with focus, pushing a para between bites really does not delay alot

Parasite is one of the key points in NS. Aliens need superior information to defeat high tech level marines. Adding a few orange circles to the view hurts no-one. I parastie everything that I see. It gives the other players information that might just keep that injured gorge, or fade alive for a bit longer. And it helps wonders when facing a heavy train, or a swarm of jetpackers...

don't forget the priceless moment of ownage when you parakill that JPer.

I parasite killed yesterday in a pub, sadly, it wasn't a JP'er. It was a noob focus fader's leftovers. After about 15 seconds of this fade walking around the marine, I got a clear shot and it killed him.

And I always parasite RTs and PGs. About that 1/3rd energy loss.. that's why you para BEFORE you get to it. That way you get your energy back by the time you get there.

Since aliens have no equivalent of MT (as in span across the whole map) it's a good idea to parasite things, especially jetpacking marines. Those things travel mighty fast, and it's possible that you may miss their blip when you have SOF.

To be honest...I used to use parasite a lot. It just seems I'm not the type of person to follow my own advice now
But I always para before I move in because either way if I die, he has a parasite on him

The question is, imo, is it more important to kill that marine there and then, or to make sure he gets killed before he reaches his objective.

Personally, I believe the second is most vital, and as you don't know what a marines objective is untill he reaches it, if you die without parasiting, you can go back to that spot after respawning and have no idea where he went. If you parasite him, you can go back and chase the nearest yellow circle. Its likly to be the same marine and you stand a better chance if you managed to take his armour before you died, assuming the comm even bothered to heal him.

unless i want to sneak up on a rine i always parasite him first

sneak? then para just before the bite

i only parasite if there is two or more rine in a group, otherwise its easier to jump down and kill him. God its fun shooting afk's with parasite though, just some noob sat on the ip, and then have a 11 parasites thurst up his ****, killing him...

Parasite down a hallway.

If I'm rushing a marine, bhopping at him, and there's no doorway to slip into, and i'm too far from the exit, i switch out to parasite, shoot him with all 3 shots, and keep going. Chances are I'll die (since it's a long hallway), but even if you get there, you have neough energy for a lot of bites.

It's not too hard to para-bhop at the same time- when the rine gets into your xhair during your jumping motion, uh, attack. Yep.

If you can hit a marine in the beginning of the game before they get armor1 with 3 parasites, you can bite them and kill them in one hit. If they have armor2, you can bite them three times and finish their last 5 HP with a parasite, guaranteed. I got 3-4 para kills today, at least 3 of them on the same round. Switching it around to be more safe, against armor2, one parasite is enough to neutralize the upgrade, allowing 3 bites rather than 4.

Parasite is tremendously spiffy.

You are SO wrong on one of the numbers. It takes EXACTLY 2 bites worth of damage ot kill an a0 marine, so one bite + 3 parasites would not kill them at all. One bite + 8 parasites, however, will do the trick.

Think he said 3 para +1 bite.

Think order matters alot on this one as if most of armor is gone from parasites bite will do more...

Although my math says you need 4 para for that

Skulk bite is still 70 dmg and para 10 dmg right? =p

no.. 75

Still need 4 then don't you? Since marine armor will make the 3 parasites do less then 10 each and not enough to take them to one bite range?

Yeah I'm probably wrong about armor0 since you start with that 25 armor.

If they have NO armor at all left, but they've been getting medpacks, one bite takes them to 25, which is 3 parasites.

Armor1 and two bites leaves a marine with 40 hp 0 ar, that's 4 parasites left of hp.
Armor2, 3 bites leaves a marine at 5 HP, one parasite wins

Armor2 is the easiest to get parakills with. As long as you see blood three times, you don't have to go for the fourth one, just back up while switching weapons, THWAP dead marine, server starts laughing.

After you take one bite with a0, you have 75hp left.

So, anotehr bite, or 8 parasites, would kill you.

Parasite those leet marines with a 5:1 kill:death ratio so every skulk will know exactly where to go to give that marine more kills!

Hah, ambushing. Thats a good one! Most normal NS maps lack the spots to ambush if you havent noticed. Unless it has a high cieling, all you can do is wait beside the door, which doesent help at all since crack jumping marines can sweep and bounce around a bit before they're killed. Like most co maps, all the marine has to do is know where the vent systems are, becuase thats the only place skulks can drop out of, else they have to charge straight at them. Imo, parasite, and ambushing would be more useful if maps were built more like ns_shiva. Shiva shows that ships dont have to be four walls with a box in the middle.

The biggest offender I've found is the co map Daimos. If you were to study the new, and old sewer system, you could find that in the old one, the two level, dark, and open sewer room has multiple hiding spots. One above the sewer waterfall, one below the sewer waterfall, underneath the pathway of the top level, inside the ladder shaft, behind the door to the weld room, or even in the cave.
Look at all that compared to the new sewer, which has a box in the middle.

Older ns maps had that flair for good ambush/hiding spots. These new maps all have the same fault. Four sides and a box.

Give me shiva.

And parasite all you want, the damage you take from marine bullets becuase you have to pop out will force you to go heal at the hive, If your on the forward front, its a long run back, by then they'll have made it close by to the hive or the double res node.

If they really wanted to make parasite usefull, have act like the tfc medkit infection. When the marine is hit, anything he touches will recieve the parasite too. So if he builds or welds another player, that too will become infected, making it worth the 6 bullets you recieve for trying to parasite someone.

Good idea, parasite the armory and all marines will be parasited as well. Who needs sof?

-About the parasite, I mean for it to only spread once. As in only what the original marine touches, not any of his infected counter parts.-


As to skulking, I'm an awesome skulker. I don't bother to ambush since I'm skilled in crackjumping as an alien, I just usually come from an angle marines don't expect it, like where they just saw a team mate.

I've also looked long and hard for each spot, and found everyone of them. So now, as a marine, I always know where to look, because these spots are few and far between, and can only hold one to two skulks. If you looked at shiva in some spots, you could see large pipes crossing through rooms, the whole alien team could set up a massive wellplaced ambush to prevent marine growth in that section. But at this point, its all about getting the fade out the door because skulks are more and more useless at midgame.

There was one ns map from initial release that was unbalanced and went through a few revisions, but it was set up with good hiding spots, I can't remember the name, but it had the vent above marine start that came from the sewer hive area, elevated CC (Like all old maps.) and that one door that opens downward, which gorges used to always seal shut by placing offense chambers.

That map had a good ammount of spots to hide, but doesent overkill like shiva does in some sense.

The map is ns_caged. The vent is still there, the CC is no longer elevated, and the door that used to open downward is no longer there. There's also a double res node now. Actually, if that's the last you remember of the map, you haven't played it in a long time. It's still an official map.

It's more of a tactic I use in order to assault the greater threats.
For instance,

Your at a T section, your partner is on one side of the T with an lmg, while you are on the other side with a shotgun. Your both facing down the T becuase you saw skulks retreating down that way.

Now you know your team mate is guarding your right side, but because he is facing down the T, I'll sneak behind him, cross the T and attack you instead, because you are a larger threat. It actually works well in any case, especially if your team mate is on the side that leads to marine start. Depending on the skill level of the marine would depend on what movement type I use of course.

An interesting idea.
However:

• Attacking the marine with the LMG not only removes a marine faster but you're more likely to kill at least him
• If you attack and kill the marine with the LMG the shottgun guy will likely fire upon you. As you are on the opposite side of the T junction it is unlikely the shotgun blasts will kill you. Evade at a distance until he wastes his shots then charge in for the kill as he hopelessly tries to pistol whip you.
• Charging past the LMG marine (as in your suggestion) will alert both him and the shotgunner to your presence. So not only are you CLOSE to someone with a shotgun, but you have a marine LMG-ing you from behind.

There are pros and cons to both approaches, but the exact terrain and position of the 2 marines would probably be the deciding factor in how you chose to engage.

Theres alot of factors that can be played on that tactic. Its a good pub tactic as marines fail to use audio. But silence can compensate for that. I just find that its easier to get the shotgun first, because the skill level it takes to conserve ammo in the shotgun against skulks isnt that high. I see that alot of marine players will either pop one long range shot, then wait for them to get up close, or just wait for them to get up close.

The thing is though, in order to kill a shotgunner, you have to sneak up on him before he has time to track you. If hes with a team mate, attacking the team mate will give him the time to track you (Especially with 3 bites.) You just have a greater chance to survive at the cost of being seen. If you think about it, the space inbetween the shotgunner and his team mate is the only gamble you make, if no audio is given, the shotgunner will most likely suspect his friend will take the first hit, unless he knows there are enemies near his teammates rear side.

If I see more than a couple of marines moving somewhere, I will now try to parasite each of them at least once. Hopefully they will forget to weld each other for that extra 5 armor points and will be down by a bite at armor 0.

I just parasite always now. Who cares about k:d? I just like helping my team. Oh, and, parasiting at least two members of an ha train is the way to go.

yea, para on heavies is like a must. Free info on heavy train movement is always a good thing. And if your in the position to para a marine without being hit, just do it, if nothing else theres a tiny chance he needs 2 medpacks and a weld.

Besides, at least I act differently as a parasited marine, staying back and doing build stuff more, since I am kindof free intelligence on the rest of the team's movement.

Sometimes if you parasite one member of an ha train, he'll lead you ona wild goose chase. Parasiting two membersof an ha train? A good comm doesn't like to part with 40 res that quickly.

Well with the recent changes, you'll now need to parasite once or even twice (if given a medpack) before being able to kill an A0 marine.

It's bad to parasite them before you bite.

It gives them more reaction time. (eg. if you are ambushing)

If not doing so, i agree

IN SMALL GAMES parasite becomes extremely useful for aliens to track marine's movement. If you see a ninja, parasite him, and you can be sure he won't sneak in that PG.

IN CO MAPS parasite will give your teammates equivalent of SoF (no more ambushes or rushes) AND reduce marine's armor to 2 bites. When i feel like helping out the team, I get SoF and start parasiting everyone i can.

parasite can be anoying. Sure it atracts kharaa, so if you have comm support you will kill more because of it, but as a hardcore parasiter I know ppl have a hard time with it.