One skulk does not have enough energy to kill an rt by himself - he can get it to half hp before tiring. Now there are two options to finish the rt: 1) Wait for energy to recharge (preferably in a good ambush spot) and 2) Stay next to the rt and bite it as energy comes.

My question: which one is faster?

Biting non-stop is faster, but if you were to recharge slightly and bite so you ran out've stamina again, it'd be at the same speed.

I actually did an experiment on this once and I found that a charged skulk bites about 13 times in 5 secs and a depleted skulk bites about 9 times in 5 secs.

But I also found that if you are depleted and you wait around a second, bite 3 times and then repeat you can get around 10-11 bites in 5 secs if you time it right.

There might be an even better method but my point is I know you can do better than just continually biting.

No you can't. It's a figment of your imagination.

Seriously, it is. Nonstop biting is the quickest way to go. But resting for a bit (just so you can hear faster bites between the silent intervals) will do it JUST AS FAST, but not faster, and sometimes slower, if you rest too much.

Without resting a skulk kills an RT in 38 seconds.

I tried continually resting for enough energy for 2, 3, and 4 bites and wasn't able to do it any faster than that.

I usually bite on an RT until my energy is fully depleted then go run into hiding until its back up.

Can do more DPS for shorter bursts, but also exposes you to marines for a lesser amount of time.

Or you could just man up and drop an SC first and focus the RT.

i thought focus made killing buildings take longer....

Not if it stops you from getting tired...

So, let's time this with and without focus?

I think it's wise to rest just in case marines come straggling by... just so you'll have some energy to bite or parasite them. Any numbers on the focus biting yet?

As soon as STEAM updates I'm heading to the server to time it.

Focus only: 42 seconds

No upgrades: 39 seconds (no rest)

Don't forget to ALWAYS parasite an rt! Even if you're killed, a swarm of aliens will go there later.

Not true--while parasiting the RT is useful in giving away its location, RTs dont move much, so you can accomplish about the same thing by saying "this place RT up, attacking it now" over voicecom.

Not that having the RT be parasited is bad, its just a very minor benefit. And on the downside, parasite uses a LOT of energy--if you were planning to start biting it right away, parasiting first means you will get tired much faster, meaning RT dies slower, marines get more res out of it, and you wait longer before you can go off to do something else.

So I'm not saying parasiting RTs is always bad...just sometimes.

Let us not forget one other perk of constantly whacking it is if something does get the drop on you , whatever, itll have less health then if you decided to take a nap and got murdered.

What i do when the 2nd hive goes up is bite in about 3-4 bite bursts and regen energy so i can leap away if marines come and harrass elsewhere. I also find it useful for hearing the faint *tap tap tap* sound of a marine walking towards the res.

I find it useful to make small breaks while biting (one or two seconds) to listen for incomming marines. No time is wasted though, since energy is gained while i don't bite.

you can't hear footsteps over the bites? I'm pretty sure you can.

Parasite first and bite later? If I saw a res node, just right there. I would bite it, and parasite it. Just 'cause when you see a building it helps other teamates know what is up around them and where thier next kill would be. FTW.

you're probably right about chewing the node nonstop as being faster. But what if there's a marine nearby and you have no energy left to deliver a few quick bites to him? You'll pretty much be screwed if you don't kill him fast enough.

I would wait a bit to recharge and listen for incoming rines during that time. If you can conserve just enough energy to finish the node or maybe kill the marine when he tries to go behind the node, you'll be fine.