What are your suggested upgrade paths?

I usually center mine around how the game is going. For instance, if I am there at the beginning of the map and seem to get through the first 4 levels fast I will do W1, Shotgun, HMG, then get A2, HA, then A3, then go back to W2 and W3. If I join the game late, I usually get W1 then a Shotgun, then get up to A2 or 3, then get either HMG or W2 then W3.

How about with the 50 level mod? I haven't experienced it much yet, and most games don't last long enough to actually use most of the mod.

What are your upgrade paths in co_ maps?

i ALWAYS get resuply.
after taht it depends on whos using what

if there are a lot of cloakers/silenced i get either MT, scan, or both and grab a shotgun with W2

if they are evolving to big stuff really fast, i get HMG with A1 as soon as possible

if they are leaping/xeno spam/ lerking i get mines and nades (even tho nades r teh suck)

if anything else, i jsut get W1 and get JP as soon as i can from there

Im sorry but Combat Strategies is just an oxymoron....

No one playing combat has any strategy whatsoever.... its fun... but there is no strategy...

No one goes... wow the marines have shotguns... lets counter it and go lerk and spore them down...

The aliens have a lot of fade's, lets get a few welders and resupply rather than just blindly charge the hive with jetpacks....

Hmm... 8 alien onos, maybe a few jetpacks to keep the hungry hungry hippo's off teh HA??

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!


People do whatever they want in combat, with no care for the other team... its all i can do to get someone to get a welder to help me weld open the phasegate room for crying out loud...

Combat is all about yourself... the lack of teamwork, situational awareness, and knowledge of the enemy's "strategy" makes for no strategy at all....


With that said...


I love L3 armor with Resupply, Catalyst, Mines.......

Then i knife the **** out of everything and my mine gets me kills....

Its fun

~Jason

Well, Jason, you might not see it much... but it does happen.

in fact, the posts before yours are proof it does... so what, exactly, are you talking about?

Strategy?

Walk into the server.

Go fade

Get focus

pwn the marines.

whats more?

though i am not good to do that

the sole purpose of CO is to "de'CS'ify" n00bs so they can play NS without critically flipping up as much.

that and/or to pwnz0r some aliens/marines

Ok so to keep from an infinate amount of redundant remarks on this thread...

What upgrade path do you normally take?

(You might notice that there isn't the word "strategy" in the question. I cannot edit the thread name though I wish I could because apparently it was offending some people.)

Its been a long while since I've played combat, I stick mostly to NS only servers,
But with that and the generic combat sucks comment,
W1 - W2 - W3 - Shotgun - A1 - A2 - Jetty - Wildcard

If the maps fighting is mostly in close combat I'd get shotguns before W2, but otherwise 7 shots from an lmg does the trick to deal with the early skulks.

Last point generally goes GL if Im able to reach the hive with ease or they start webbing, or goes HMG if they mass onos.
Occasionally I might sub out W3 or the Wildcard for resupply as well, but not often.

Usually i get an HMG for CORE, and pwn the hell out of all the skulks who actually LINE UP for me for some reason...

My strategy is to not die, and kill as many aliens/marines as possible.

You not dieing = less xp for the other team = 1337 score = get called a hacker.

I've used pretty much the same strategy since CO first came out. I mostly play on >10 servers but the starting formula is identical for me:


Alien:
Celerity
Focus (even with reduced damage)
Fade
Scent of Hax
Regen
Carapace
Whatever I feel like (usually adren or unlock ability)

If the marine team is doing great or I am doing badly early on I'll sometimes take scent of fear before fade or save focus for later.


Marine:
Damage 1
Shotgun
HMG
Armor 1
Armor 2
Jetpack
Motion hacking
Damage 2
Whatever I feel like (usually damage 3, or special upgrades if on server)

Never resup unless its >10. Occationaly handgrenades or a welder if there's a web-happy gorge on the other team.

I've stuck with these two forumulas. Early fade starting with celer and focus regularly gets me 10:1 kill ratios or greater (in public servers of course). Early HMG gets a whole lot of complaints from the opposing team, but that's because its so devestating. Its easy to take out the entire alien team with it early on if you're good or they are bad. With practice you can have jp within a few lives of getting HMG, definetely before 10 or 15 deaths unless the alien team is really owning.


I've found that scent of fear and motion tracking are two of the most underestimated abilities in combat (or regular NS for that matter). I've been kicked from servers quite a few times because mods thought I was aim botting. Its easy to aim quickly when you know what's around the corner

motion tracking is how i get many 1337 kills on NS maps with MT. I usually keep the map up and see what's going on. Scent of fear si also pretty good, but it doesn't show up on map...BLEAH.

Most really good players that can aim well with shotties go in this order:

1) Weapons 1
2) Shotgun
3) Resupply
4) A1
5) A2
6) Save
7) JP
8) W2 or HMG or GL
9) W3 or HMG or GL

Beyond that (depending on the server plugins), get whatever you want.

On co, camping is key as rine. Most alien players are impatient or think they'll get an instant kill if they run up straight up to rines in the beginning.

My marine build:

mines
armor1
weapon1
shotgun
hmg
resupply
armor2
jetpack
weapon2

mines are so underrated. Depending on the combat map, one marine with mines can really disrupt the aliens in early game. Maps like core, pulse, and faceoff are perfect for mines. If even half the team gets mines, aliens are in deep trouble unless one uber skulk goes fade fast enough.


My alien build:

I just generally play skulk. I don't usually have the patience to save points for higher lifeforms.

carapace
leap
(xenocide if the marines are owning us badly early game)
focus
celerity
scent of fear
regen
redemption
xenocide

I get MT first then proceed to farm skulk kills till i have level 10, only stopping to occasionally whine about reg, inept team mates or cloaking. Public players ftw, baby!