Shotgun Rush Article, Unknown's Advice

The Art of the Shotgun Rush

Shotgun rushing in recent versions has always had the connotations of being a risky strategy and a do-or-die atmosphere. The aim of this article is to address the issue of effectively pulling off, or countering of a shotgun rush, and to perhaps influence clans to use it once in a while for the surprise and confusion it may cause to the alien team. I will be adopting a neutral point of view, that is neither marine or alien, so as to provide both the advantages and disadvantages of each point.

MARINES:

1. Marines must stick together like glue

What a marine team wants is that all 5 players get to the hive in one piece. 1-2 marines at the back of the group must always be covering behind, and manage to not get picked off one by one. The closer a team sticks together, the harder it is to slowly pick off each marine. This being said, skulks should try to pick off a marine which is slightly ahead or behind the group, so the team is more manageable, ie more time to save the hive, and less bullets coming the aliens way, once they reach the hive.

2. Fast moving marines counter early lerks

To get lerks up, they need to get 5 res on top of their with starting res. Without any kills (which will occur by closely following point 1), this will take approx one minute. Thus, if the marine team can stick together closely, AND move to the hive with speed and aggression, the alien team has no chance to get any lerks up to counter the marines with shotguns.

3. Common sense whilst shooting the hive

Spawn camping is important. You can check how many aliens are left by pressing checking the scores and use your judgement on whether you should be smashing the hive, covering the entrances, or trying to camp respawning aliens. If all the aliens have died, have 4 marines hitting the hive, with 1 marine ready for the spawning alien, keeping in mind that team mates may very well kill them easily. Otherwise, try to split it half and have 2-3 hive killers and 2-3 spawn campers who are also ready for aliens coming back to hive to defend. With these points in mind, it is good to note that marines shouldn’t shoot the hive with all 8 shells and in fact use 5-6 depending on one’s confidence with the shotgun. This is good in case one has a skulk spawn right in front of them and it helps to confuse a lerk which is waiting to swoop. Lastly, marines should try to avoid reloading at the same time, so the same lerk will always have a marine ready for the kill if he decides to swoop.

3. Simple marine extras

Apart from 5 shotguns, welders are a must. I believe 2 is a good number, allowing the welderers to get welded themselves without having to drop their guns, and anymore welders might mean more marines will be welding than needed, allowing for some effective skulk attacks. An infantry portal should also be considered to drop at spawn so that any killed marines can respawn and try to get back to the hive to help the other marines.

ALIENS:

4. Early detection of a rush

Aliens should aim to detect the shotgun rush as early as possible. The way of doing this is that once the ambushes are setup near marine spawn, send 1 skulk into spawn to scout out what the marines are doing. The next steps are listed below.

5. Early lerks counter sg rush

The first thing an alien team must do is get at least one lerk up as soon as possible. With the lerks spore, it isn’t too hard to kill the marine team who has spent close to all their res on guns. Once the marines get into the hive, it is a lot easier to pick em off as lerk by swooping in on marines, for they will naturally spread out a little bit once there.
Because the marines will be trying to minimise losses, it is quite possible that the alien initially designated to fast lerk won’t have 30 res by the time the marines get to the hive (if the marines are moving fast). It is then crucial that if any alien has killed a marine, they should straight away lerk and other players roles get adjusted accordingly. A second alien should also consider lerking if they attain 30 res for there isn’t really a need for a fade with the marine’s do-or-die commitment. Lastly, a third alien should drop 1 mc in a vent as near to the hive as possible but in a position away from any possible attacks so the lerks can spore and swoop with more ferocity. Sporing will keep the commander will cause him to spam medpacks, and with any ammo drops, they will find he can’t drop meds fast enough with his maximum of 2 res points (most likely just 1).

6. Gorge on top of the hive and drop a sensory chamber

Before continuing, it is also advisable to drop a 2nd sc someone else on the map, hopefully in an unreachable location to marines, whilst still on their path to the 1st hive. Cloaked skulk ambushes are the aliens most powerful weapon in defeating a shotgun rush. A gorge on top of the hive can slow down the rush. In the time it takes 5 marines to shotgun down a hive, 1 gorge could add at least an extra 10% health. Assuming some of the marines cover entrances/respawns, thats a lot of healing. If you get a skulk who isn't camped he can cloak, and one by one marines will drop. Level 2 focus spits are extremely effective also putting marines on one bite. Three level two focus spits kills a marine.

HYPOTHESES:

Marine:

Assume the hive goes down and the aliens have some res points and a couple left alive. Marines should stick together in groups of 2-3 and scout out to kill all the alien res, meaning without kills, the aliens can’t get more res to drop a resource tower or hive. Three marine structures are crucial to a guaranteed win: a command chair, a res point and an infantry portal. The commander should then save res to drop other 2 res towers, so as to drop an armory and observatory with economic efficiency.

Aliens:

If the alien team are somewhat confident they can successfully withstand attacks for the time being, a skulk should be sent to spawn to kill any infantry portals or armories, followed by killing the command chair.

Hopefully this article will influence some of the clans out there to perhaps perform a shotgun rush in league matches, for both their benefit as well as HLTV spectators.

Thanks to clor and haymo for editing and comments.

- UnknownSoldier

This post has been edited by UnknownSoldier on Nov 5 2007, 10:51 AM

LOL! 1 2 3 [4]?

If you see a shotgun rush as aliens, any alien that has 30+ res instantly lerks. It doesn't matter if you have no fades or a late 2nd hive you still have 2 more resource towers than your opponent.

That's a good article. But ah... few typos etc.

i've won a prac without a comm chair before

lol

sc...

see point 6.

I have a glass of oj!

It probably wouldnt of helped any anyway.

It probably wouldnt of helped any anyway.

ROFL

Couldn't that also be a disadvantage?

Say if the aliens set up a well planned ambush from all directions if not just one, wouldn't the marines just be blasting each other to death (considering this is a prac/match with ff on) while being gased simultaneously?

I've seen this pulled off in two finals matches before. Good strat if alien ties are getting you down.

Couldn't that also be a disadvantage?

Say if the aliens set up a well planned ambush from all directions if not just one, wouldn't the marines just be blasting each other to death (considering this is a prac/match with ff on) while being gased simultaneously?

well firstly lerks wont shuldnt b up yet..but as for the skulks, yes some teams wuld get owned, but if the ppl who cover the back do it properly and dont shoot their teammates in the back it shuld be ok..also the ppl at the front hav best aim

as in, the whole article could have been summed up in

1. lerks
2. sc
3. a gorge on the hive