Salutations internet denziens. Today we’re presenting the first of what is hopefully a long line of articles generated by members of our community. Authored by forum member mickzerofive (www.gamestah.com, www.4seasonsgaming.com), Commanding Public to Advanced aims to teach aspiring commanders the ins and outs of the command chair.
If you have any ideas for an article don’t hesitate to write it up and either post it on our forums or email us. You too could be an internet superhero just like mickzerofive.
Commanding Public to Advanced
Introduction
Basically a point of view guide designed to help those generally playing marines as a soldier instead of exploring the commanding role. Others have either had disappointing results on a constant basis, or don’t really understand what to do or how to do it effectively enough to not get ejected or abused/hated on. The guide is not supposed to WOW decent commanders or even in fact teach them anything new, it’s pretty much just a quick summary of commanding a game of normal NS. Views and opinions are always welcome, negative criticism will be ignored and hopefully we see a few more people in the race to the chair !!
Marine Terminology
Game
Rine – Marine
DC – Defense Alien Chamber
MC – Movement Alien Chamber
SC – Sensory Alien Chamber
OC – Offensive Alien Chamber
Structures
NODE/RT – Resource Node/Resource Tower (shortcut: Q -> A)
IP – Infantry Portal (Q -> S)
ARMORY (Q -> D)
CC – Command Chair/Console (Q -> F)
TF – Turret Factory (Q -> Z)
Turret (Q -> C)
Seige (Q -> X)
ARMS – Arms Laboratory (E -> A)
OBS – Observatory (E -> S)
PROTO – Prototype Laboratory (E -> D)
PG – Phase Gate (E -> F)
Support
MP/MED – Medic Pack (E -> A)
AP/AMMO – Ammo Pack (E -> S)
CAT – Catalyst (E -> D)
Upgrades
AA – Advanced Armory (Armory -> A)
NADES – Hand Grenades (Armory -> Z)
DMG1 – Damage Level 1 (Arms Lab -> A)
DMG2 – Damage Level 2 (Arms Lab -> S)
DMG3 – Damage Level 3 (Arms Lab -> D)
A1 – Armor Level 1 (Arms Lab -> Z)
A2 – Armor Level 2 (Arms Lab -> X)
A3 – Armor Level 3 (Arms Lab -> C)
CAT – Armor Level 3 (Arms Lab -> F)
MT/MTN – Motion Tracking (Obs-> X)
SCAN – Scanner Sweep (Obs -> A)
PG – Phase Gate (Obs -> S)
BACON/BEACON – Distress beacon (Obs -> Z)
JP – JetPack (Proto -> A)
HA – Heavy Armor (Proto -> Z)
Weapons
LMG – Light Machine Gun (Spawn)
SG – Shotgun (R -> S)
HMG – Heavy Machine Gun (R -> D)
GL – Grenade Launcher (R -> F)
MINES (R -> A)
WELD/WELDER (R -> Z)
Jet Pack (R -> X)
Heavy Armor (R -> C)
Alternatives
Control Point/Choke Point – An area of a map that has a high level of traffic or a vital pathway to a much needed area. If secured by either marines or aliens can prove vital or crucial to taking control of a map/winning the game.
Future Echos – The tactic of listening in as a commander/being able to predict future events with the use of hovering over locations and listening in for either movement/attacks/structure pulsates. Can be used to warn marines of incoming attacks, inform them of enemy resource structures, hives or gestation.
Duel-tasking Or Multi-tasking – The ability to do more then one thing at once, eg drop medpacks and quickly be able to upgrade arms lab. The ability to select a medpack before you click the “need a medpack” jump button. Bascially master moving your cursor to click on “need a medpack/ammo/order” and at the same time using your keyboard to select the required mp/ammo/rt so all involves is a quick left click.
Stats Wiki
Commander View
(not an ideal base layout, just to show what the commander seat looks like)
For Advance layouts (az0r’s guide)
Resources Gathered: What you’ve got to spend for your team
Select All Marines: Stay away from this button, but why?
It’s good for selecting all your marines and giving them way points? No, it’s good for hogging up your marines screens with massive blue circles and distorting their sound with “move to your way point soldier”. An alternative is to single or drag select max 2-3 marines and give them mini-way points (goals like building or moving to a nearby area)
But, it’s good for putting them in a unit so I can keep track of if their under attack? Not really the only thing putting players in control groups are for is to help your marines pretend they are finally apart of Squad5, you tell me how one flashing icon can accurately tell you which of your players are in danger without moving your cursor all the way up and clicking it. It’s annoying to the eye/sound of a commander especially when the game already has a sound bite that says “your units are under attack” and pressing the space bar is a quicker option to get to danger, but really you should already be looking over your marines anyway.
Hot Groups: Very important for structures! Arms lab should be primarily group 1 (hold control and press 1, then for future selection simply press the 1 key. Primary observatory lab group 2. Armory as group 3. And future obs group 4/5. Important you get more then one observatory! With possibly proto as 5, in which case un bind group 3 armory and instead bind it to another obs.
Log out/Leave CC: Self explanitory button and it is highly recommended you do not use yourself as a defense mekanism against skulks chomping your ip’s/armory, if you do not have an obs then it could be a trap with other skulks surrounding your chair, or in the most common case it just the one skulk but because you have been in the chair your aim’s a little off and the skulk manages to kill you, finish the IP and finish your base off before your marines can get back in time (this has lost games before)
Current view/Minimap: Very important you use left click to maneuver your way around the map, simply click the left mouse to a location, then if you want you can also hold the left mouse down over the minimap to quickly and effectively move to a nearby location. The minimap is vital to a commander to know where his nodes are/ keep track of guess where enemy nodes are/ scout the map using future echos (sound hax).
Location/Game time: Also important for knowing where you are/want to be/send your marines. Game time is good to keep a control on timings, and also predict what aliens are up to.
Command Interface: Designed perfectly for hotkeys, don’t ever ever ever click your mouse on this control pad. Keys are simple as you see from top row left to right as you see them, q w e r, middle row a s d f, bottom row z x c. Also remember V is used to recycle structures/stop upgrades
Start Game
Setting Up Base
Drop order – ARMORY -> IP
This is because armory provides the ability to get an arms lab/obs so it would make sense to build it first so you can gain access to those other structures quicker, but ultimately it doesn’t matter
Armory should be half placed up against a wall, so skulks cannot sneak behind it and continue to dodge marines attempting to stop them from killing it. Because it is a weak hp structure, make sure its up against a wall for this purpose.
It’s important to lay out the ip’s spaced a little but refined around the cc and armory. Most commanders go with a synchronized/parallel/unison set up for more then one IP spaced apart so spawn kills don’t happen to friendly marines.
Next
Check for hive very quickly move yourself using your minimap to the location of each hive to determine which is pulsating/spawning skulks (be careful some commanders get confused with skulks moving/gorges gestating as the correct hive). If you are unsure about a hive drop an ammo pack (because it is 1 resource instead of mp’s that are 2) directly on the hive and if it’s correct it will slowly sink to the ground. If it’s not the hive the ammo pack will instantly hit the ground. Once you know the hive, it is crucially important to inform your team.
Then
Drop res nodes, hopefully your marines will be calling for orders to make your life easier, simply move your cursor to the left/center of screen and click on the marine icon. It is important you master duel tasking which is selecting the RT/MP/AMMO hotkey with your lefthand/keyboard and then clicking on the specified request button with your righthand/mouse.
It is also wise to determine enemy resource towers, and inform your marines to damage enemy resource control early. This can be crucial in high teir matches, but if instructions can be sent to your team (eg: kill cargo res), to take these early alien nodes could prove very useful to you mid game.
Back at base
Hopefully you have enough resources to manage an arms lab now, and hopefully both an observatory. A quick advance armory upgrade can be either beneficial or a vulnerable tactic. Some alien teams will notice the armory shaking/upgrading in which case they may target it for a quick damaging -40 resource (30 for upgrade, 10 for placement)
Analyzing your Team/Players
Basically divided into recognized areas
KPS – Known Pub Smasher
Generally a familiar name/clanned player that you know loves to rack up a few skulk kills by rushing a choke hold or direct hive. Important to gain an understanding with a KPS that you are quick with the medpacks and ammo
UPS – Unknown Pub Smasher
Basically the same as a known pub smasher just usually an aliasser or could be a player you have never heard of but has been playing on different servers for a long time. Same deal, will rush hive or a choke hold and try to develop an impressive kill to death ratio
Yeah he’s that guy I wont medpack because if he dies and has a bad score it will teach him a lesson! No, you’re an idiot. He’s the player who’s going to help you win the game by pressuring enemy traffic locations or even camp up a few kills which allows your other players to move around the rest of the map with ease. By dropping medpacks and ammo packs to the rambo he will continue to rack up kills (hopefully, as marines vs skulks are basically 2 skulks to 1 marine). 1 medpack costs 2 resources, 1 skulk kill provides 2 resources, so either way its win win. Also keeping him alive may get him to a good choke point or he may eventually build res nodes that are in deep enemy territory but also in wide open/sound secure areas.
But he’s usually arrogant telling me to do this or that or give him weapons? Well that’s why its important to establish an understanding. If he dies early once he respawns tell him you will give him a shotgun for building either an arms or obs or you can say nothing and see if he builds it and THEN you drop him the gun.
How does giving him a shotgun control is ramboness? Well no doubt he probably has the best aim in your team and shotguns can be so vital for easy skulk kills or taking down res nodes. It also allows for a bit of early game variation for when the lerks come out and get surpise shotgun bullets to the face. If the said rambo has a shotgun he will more then likely try to hold onto it, playing a bit safer, hide around corners for easy close range suprise skulks kills.
Should I only give him a shotgun? And how often should i be dropping these? Well if you have more then one PS then drop a couple if you can spare it, otherwise pick your favourite and generally the other PS will all be in the same direction/location and eager to pick it up upon his death. If the resource allows it drop them semi-often early to mid game, they can prove more useful to drop one and wait that extra 10-20 seconds for that next upgrade.
Support Player
People who love to build RT’s and other Structures, usually the one or few guys left at spawn building your base. You love these guys because usually you don’t even have to ask for something to be built. Sometimes they can be a bit ditzy and useless waiting around for the next structure to build, find a resource node where you have low resources and expect the tower so they can keep their E finger happy, or in worst case scenarios argue with you to turret farm every corner of the map like area fortresses. This can be bad and you should sometimes explain to these types of marines that a pack of mines are sometimes just as effective.
Med Packs and Ammo
Be quick, respond fast so the requests don’t build up and so your marines survive encounters, make sure you learn how to duel task selecting the request and the specific item. Watch the game, keep an eye on your marines lurking in dangerous enemy territory and have E->S already selected. With ammo remember early game nobody who left spawn has more then 4 rounds, 50/150. So if they are in a few battles make sure to drop it before they spam your requests, also keep an eye on people with shotguns or HMG’s that may ignore the armory as well to save time.
Upgrading/Researching
All dependent on you and your marines. If you have many pub smashers (people with strong aim) sometimes weapon 1 upgrade is better then armor 1. In most cases Armor 1 is preffered for survivability and especially if you are slow to med then get armor 1. If they have sensory then get armor 1 (plus an obs 
). If your marines are in a very very aggressive play style (eg: pretty much spawn camping) and doing very well offensively sometimes Level 2 weapons can be better then Armor 1. If there are lerks out just after weapons 1 then please upgrade armor 1 next.
Rushing Motion has both advantages and disadvantages. It is costly especially considering obs are very easy to kill and highly targeted if the armory is not researching. Also restricts scanning temporarily, distress beacon and researching phase gates. Recommended if rushing motion to try and get another choke point obs down.
Phase gates are obviously very effective for moving around the map, and if you have a hive or a nice choke point you are going to want to be able to lock down temporarily. Sometimes if the choke point is close to base or the map is smaller then phase gates can be researched a little bit later (only in very rare cases).
Catalyst, good but also a little costly in battles you can find yourself spamming it and running low on resources quickly. Only really get it mid to late game if you think you need it.
Hand Grenades, also situational but in most bigger pub servers I would say an early 10 res to kill those skulks in vents will be worth it. Very useful and worth the money if your players can use them effectively and often, otherwise its just a wasted research. Check with your team, or wait for them to ask for hand grenades, if two or three start asking then its probably best to try and fit it in as these players love to run into battle with grenades out screaming Leeroy Jenkins.
Lock Downs / Phase Gates
Two types of lock downs;
Turret Factory/Farm setup
A turret factory placed close to the phase gate can often be upgraded to be used as a nearby electrical defense from weaker units. Of course a gorge or two and a skulk can very slowly penetrate this defense as with turrets who are the weakest structure in the marines artillery. Some people find this useful as a scare tactic especially in pubs, but can sometimes be beaten pretty easily with enemy team work.
Mines/Armory
This is more of a temporary solution, a band aid if you must. Just like a band aid it will eventually come off exposing the wound, just like mines if they explode the phase gate becomes vulnerable. Basically a phase gate can hide mines around the edges and can come as a shock to a hungry skulk. Suggestion to plant two packs of mines around a gate as defense, and also an armory could be used as a decoy or to hide mines a bhopping skulk might not see until the last minute.
Phase Gate Placement
Its important to place a phase close to a wall rather then up against it to allow for wall coverage from attacking on the gate, also if its too close this could trap your marines dodging movements and also give the skulks a better chance to lock you up against the wall. Take note of nearby ducts or long corridors that lerks can be found effectively taking down your gate single handily with poison gas. Don’t forget the mines, and keep an eye on gates as they are easy to be taken down. Also don’t have too many gates up, I will even sometimes recycle a gate if a hive has been unused by enemy, or even gates that are near together, pick the most appropriate and recycle the other.
Taking the hive
SG Rush – A brutal physical force attack with a group of marines carrying shotguns primarily and on occasion welders to take down enemy creatures/structures. This tactic can also be related to using the strength parameters of the game. Basically load up (some people beacon, personally I like to keep my marines who just built the gate defending the gate at all times) with shotguns, welders if you can spare it and get your marines to focus fire that big alien mumma. The great thing about this tactic is even your marines who are lacking in the aim department, can’t miss the hive covering up their screens.
Siege – A structure reliant attack needing an upgraded-to-seige turret factory set up in a nearby location to the structures that need to be sieged. Also known as an intelligence tactic to instead attack from behind ally walls (in theory), using structure abilities to take down enemy structures. Can be costly on the resources but probably the most effective ‘lets not get our hands dirty’ method. Again both strategies are used situationally and it’s these decisions that give you a unique commanding style.
Both types of strategies work well together if you have the resources 
The Use of Multiple Armory’s and Observatory’s
Basically the next step in commanding. Expanding your knowledge and use of basic structures and abilities of structures to gain an extra advantage over your alien counter parts. Similar to them using defense towers for Regen or Sensory towers for cloak (and yes movement towers for adrenaline).
An armory can be used as a step, ammo resupply, medic resupply, gun/mine/welder drops and can also be used as a distraction. What! All that for 10 res? get out of here, whats the catch… There is no catch, its so important to drop armory’s either through gates or at choke holds even early game. Armory’s are quick to build and provide so much advantage to your troops, and can also be a way to get that pub smasher his favored shotgun/mines quicker.
Observatory reveals nearby enemy creatures/structures and also provide extra scan energy and secret distress beacon capabilities. Placing an obs against a choke point wall can provide coverage to res nodes/set ups/rushes/being taken from behind. Skulks will generally not see a carefully placed obs and could get caught out with the tracking. Make sure you also use the scans to scan for hive/marines in trouble.
Mid-Game Tactics
Using the capabilities on Offer
Scanning, make sure to scan lone or group marines in danger, also keep a close eye on the hive that has either just gone up or about go up. Scans can also be good to determine location of chambers
Weapons, make sure your sending weapons onto the field, preferably in your better kill/death ratio players hands. Make sure to support your whole team with constant mp’s and ammo droppings.
Mines are a public underestimated defense tool, use this to your advantage. Also remember to use both armory and obs droppings, in fact i tend to always play with 3 obs and 3 armory’s every game.
Securing Choke holds
Important you know maps, and know the points that lead to multiple pathways. Also important you send a few marines there with some weapons and get them to secure those points and move into hives (sometimes a choke point can also be a hive). Securing can be done with the obvious above methods.
Researching
Hopefully you have remembered to upgrade damage and armor. Preferably you will have 1 armor and 2 damage by now, and basically decided if its worth to get armor 2 or damage 3 (your choice inevitably). Phase gates should be up, and a few lying around. Advanced armory should be finished with SG/HMG’s now entering the field to combat the fades and you may possibly have either grens or catalyst or in some cases neither (i generally go with neither half the time).
Enemy Plans
Hive/Fade lets do this. Shotguns are generally your all rounder gun, keep an eye on the hive with either scans/future echos or ammo packs and make sure to alert your team the instance either a gorge is gestating for it or its just gone up as they now have 3 minutes to bring that baby down. Be sure to get a gate up nearby with mines and an armory surrounding and constantly feed med and ammo depending on what method you go with seige/rush (i prefer generally rush).
Late Game
The Second hive completed
Usually sirens go and your team calls the good game, forfeit, f4 calls. Unfortunately in most cases if you’re not already pressuring or attacking on a hive then it’s pretty much an uphill battle from here on in. The second hive is so crucial in marine losses and the best methods of taking down an alien team with two hives is to firstly, pick a hive (both the 1st or 2nd hive can be targets, not just the second) and then either ninja a gate or send an organised group in to get a phase gate up. From there in it’s your call for the Rush or Siege, personally 2nd hives should be sieged but be aware that sometimes a quiet rush can be just as effective.
Weapons/Tactics
HMG’s provide useful for killing creatures just as grenade launchers provide useful for killing structures. But do NOT forget that the shotgun is the best all rounder gun and is preferred by some players and the easiest to aim for your noober less aim orientated troops.
The Heavy Armor Jet pack Decision
Haha, don’t even ask. It’s your choice or your team’s, it really is another situational option. If lerks and decent fades are constantly about then possibly jetpacks may become a bit vulnerable. If a second hive is up, I would HA train it all the way. If the enemy team have secured points with defensive structures or offense chambers and either vents or quick movement is the way to go then Jetpack it. Generally your team will give you a 50/50 response as for some reason some people like the idea of being incredible strong defensively and others like the quick agile abilities tha floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee have to offer.
Winning or Losing
Hopefully you won the game, or gained a great understanding as to why you lost. In many games commanders realise they could have done things differently and it’s all about learning from mistakes and simply playing and playing over and over again and improving on resource management, structure locations and of course your choke point/2nd hive coverage.
Thanks for Reading
