Xerond’s Advanced Marine Structure Guide
Marine Structures - The Low Down
This is going to be a little “break” guide that I’m making in between my map guides so.. yeah, enjoy.
To one point you know that an Infantry Portal spawns Marines, thats an Armory gives you ammo/health/weapons, that an Arms Lab gives you upgrades, but this guide will give you all the numbers associated with each marine structure. Such as: build times, research times, the affects/attributes/abilities the structures gives, and advanced tactics with each structure. As a Commander, a Marine, and an Alien. All the information here should help you out. If you dont want to go through a read all my commentary, you dont need to, really its the numbers that will matter, and putting all the numbers together, such as calculating a siege, or a rush, or any structure based tactic for marine game.
Notes-
The calculations below are based on NS 3.1, once NS 3.2 is released to the public I will update this guide accordingly.
All the build times are referenced to having one marine builder.
Command Chair-
Cost: 20 Resources
Build Time: 15 Seconds
Recycle Time: 20 Seconds
Recycle Earnings: 10 Resources
Hit Points: 10,000
Info: The comm chair has a 5 second cool down period, this is kinda valuable to know; if there is a skulk on an ip, that ip is closer than 5 seconds, if you can’t kill him before he gets to you, you’ll prolly die because that cooldown period will prevent you from getting back in the chair within those 5 seconds. However, if the skulk (dont hop out on a fade,lerk, onos… please.) is on a node, you may have time. Just something to consider.
Infantry Portal-
Cost: 20 Resources
Build Time: 10 Seconds
Recycle Time: 20 Seconds
Recycle Earnings: 10 Resources
Respawn Time: 13 Seconds
Hit Points: 2,500
Info: With full Adren it takes a skulk 14-15 seconds to kill an IP, and it takes 13 seconds as a marine to spawn in. So say your whole team is alive, one rine in base, a skulk comes in and kills him and starts on the IP. Chances are he’ll get it down before he spawns in. If you’re a commander, jump out, and die with one IP and no one is close to home. You’re screwed. Just food for thought. Some other things to consider, when your entire team dies, and you only have one IP it could take 1 minute+ to get them all alive, and by that 1 minute time, more could be dying. A 2nd IP is always something to lay down before your entire team dies, not after. It could save you from beaconing, and save your res in the long run.
Armory-
Cost: 10 Resources
Build Time: 15 Seconds
Recycle Time: 20 Seconds
Recycle Earnings: 5 Resources
Hit Points: 2,400
Info: This is the begining of your tech tree. This will allow you to drop welders, mines, and shotguns.
—–Grenades(Upgrade)
Cost: 10 Resources
Research Time: 45 Seconds
Info: Hand Grenades is a very effective upgrade, allowing your marines to help deflect lerks in vents, skulks staging doorways, and skulks hitting nodes. Think of it more as an investment, because chances are just one time one grenade will save one node, and by then, the upgrade has already paid for itself and probably done more. Get it. Unless you’re rushing an AA, get it right off the bat.
—–Advanced Armory(Upgrade)
Cost: 30 Resources
Research Time: 3 Minutes (180 Seconds)
Info: This is the nail that CAN seal the coffin. An AA is one of the stages in the marine game that will either help turn it around for you or seal that “coffin”. The AA allows you to drop Heavy Machine Guns, Grenade Launchers, and a Prototype Lab. It takes 3 minutes to upgrade though, and will only affect the armory that you upgraded. Once it is upgraded, if the armory dies you will have to re-research it. Which means this becomes a magnet for aliens. You’ll notice that you can identify the AA when the 4 lower extendable features of it pop out. As a marine and alien you need to be able to identify that. If you didn’t know already; when a structure is shaking it means that it is upgrading. If you’re an alien and you see that armory shaking, hit it. It will cause the commander to stop the research on the armory incase it dies, causing them another 3 minutes to get the AA.
Resource Tower-
Cost: 15 Resources
Build Time: 15 Seconds
Recycle Time: 20 Seconds
Recycle Earnings: 8 Resources
Hit Points: 6,000
Info: You know, one thing I hate seeing in NS is when one skulk bites a built node and the commander recycle its. Thats stupid. Never do that. It takes a skulk 40-45 seconds to kill a full health node. A node gives you 1 resource every 4 seconds, meaning that the node will give you 10-11 res before it goes out. During this time, the node can still be saved by sending a marine. Now, if you recycle the node, you stop getting resources from it, the skulk biting on it is no longer occupied, and you’ve earned less res than if you just let the node do its thing. See how its semi-retarded? If you have two skulks on a node, and you recycle, chances are they will kill the node before it finishes recycling because; with both of them biting they should be able to kill it twice as fast if not faster because they wont have to wait to recharge their adrenaline. It takes you 20 seconds to recycle, 2 skulks biting will make it go down in 20 or less, and as you recycle the node will degenerate its hit points. This means you probably wont get any money at all. So, let it pump for those 5 seconds to give you that 5 res before it goes down, and again, it may still be able to get saved.
—–Electrification(Upgrade)
Cost: 30 resources
Research Time: 30 Seconds
Info: Personally I’m not a big fan of electrifying nodes. If you do the math, it takes a node 1 min to repay itself, if you then electrify it, it’ll take an additional 2 minutes to pay itself off. The only time this is effective is in the early game(pre-2nd hive), and that means you’re spending a lot of res on your rt’s instead of denying the alien team a 2nd hive. If they do get a 2nd hive, you’ve got bile bomb/fades on all your 45 res worth RTs that will only earn you money after 3 minutes. You’re spending 10 res on a TF before your sieging anything(assuming you’re doing this early game), putting a TF probably no where near a hive. That first 10 res could have been spent on: Grenades, a pack of mines(that could been used to put on nodes, effectively saving them and earning you res), or a shotty sent with a couple LMG’s to take down an alien node. That 30 res on one RT could have been spent on: 3 shottys, 3 packs of mines, armor 2/weapons 2, an AA, or with 5 more res Motion Tracking. Its Blasphemy. Seriously.
Turret Factory-
Cost: 10 Resources
Build Time: 15 Seconds
Recycle Time: 20 Seconds
Recycle Earnings: 5 Resources
Hit Points: 3,000
Info-: Ah yes, remember when you always had a TF and turrets in base? Remember when electrification first came out and you could pile all your structures next to the TF and electrify it? Yeah, well those days are over. TF’s are good for 3 things, Sieging, electrifying(oh god), and turret farming(kill yourself). You already sensed my frustration over Eletrification, and you’ll see my frustration with Turrets below. So, really they are just good for sieging. The TF by itself doesn’t require many advanced tactics, the sieges/turrets do. Read below.
—–Electrification(Upgrade)
Cost: 30 Resources
Research Time: 30 seconds
Info: Don’t get me started again, it’s even stupider. You’re electrifying a structure with less hitpoints than an RT, you could put 3 packs of mines on the TF instead, and if you say “yeah well mines can be biled” a TF that is electrified and is getting biled is doomed as it is. The electrification does nothing to prevent bile. If anything I’d say the bile could clear the tf for skulks, but still, 3 packs of mines have a better chance of killing skulks AND upper lifeforms than electrification.
—–Advanced Turret Factory(Upgrade)
Cost: 15 Recoures
Research Time: 15 Seconds
Info: The ATF upgrade allows you to drop Siege Cannons.
Turret-
Cost: 10 Resources
Build Time: 7 Seconds
Recycle Time: 20 Seconds
Recycle Earnings: 5 Resources
Damage: 10
Fire Rate: 0.75 Seconds
Hit Points: 1,300
Info: Turrets are like electrification to me. If anything they are sentrys that alert you when an alien is around when you dont have motion tracking. These things are a complete waste of res, for them to be any bit of effective, you need to have 2-3 in an area. For Skulks. They can be biled easily, a fade can take them out. An Onos can walk all over them. They’re practically pointless. I’d opt to drop a shotty, or a pack of mines anyday. So, moving on…
Siege Cannon-
Cost: 15 Resources
Build Time: 10 Seconds
Recycle Time: 20 Seconds
Recycle Earnings: 8 Resources
Damage: 400
Fire Rate: 4 Seconds
Hit Points: 2,000
Rotation Time: 5 Seconds
Info: Believe it or not there is a lot that goes into these things. I’ll explain the math at the end of this guide, when we pull all these numbers together with other structures.
Observatoy-
Cost: 15 Resources
Build Time: 15 Seconds
Recycle Time: 20 Seconds
Recycle Earnings: 8 Resources
Energy Recharge Rate: 1/3 Seconds (20 Energy Per Minute)
Hit Points: 1,700
Info: The Obs is a very valuable tool. By itself it uncloaks aliens within its proximity, and reveals nearby aliens on your map.
—–Scan
Cost: 20 Energy
Longevity: 10 Seconds
Info: This ability that the Obs has scans the area for aliens and any structures. It can unclock aliens, and let the commander visually see the aliens while displaying the aliens position on the ground marine’s map. A very valuable tool. You can also use this to spot alien structures/hives when you are sieging. The Obs comes pre-loaded with 40 Energy, and has a recarge rate of 1/3 Seconds, or 20/60 Seconds, meaning it takes one minute to recharge for one scan.
—–Distress Beacon (BACON)
Cost: 15 Resources
Delay: 3 Seconds
Info: The Beacon will cause the Obs to light up like a Christmas Tree, emit a siren that will alert anyone in the area that it is coming, and in 3 seconds recal your entire team dead or alive back to Marine Start. Obviously this is used when you need to bring someone, or everyone home. This happens when your base gets rushed, or your phase rushing a hive, or loading your entire team up with equipment, etc. Remember you can still cancel the beacon once you activate it like any type of research. If you start the bacon and then imediately end it, the sound will still play and if can be a “fake” bacon while still costing you a little bit of res.
—–Phase Tech
Cost: 15 Resources
Research Time: 45 Seconds
Info: This upgrade allows you to drop Phase Gate structures. These structures allow you to teleport between these gates and will be explained later in this guide.
—–Motion Tracking
Cost: 35 Resources
Research Time: 100 Seconds (1 Minute 40 Seconds)
Info: Motion Tracking allows you to see all the movement of the aliens team, as a commander you can see this view your commander map, and as a marine you can see them through both your map and view your HUD as little blips will appear. This upgrade is extremely useful, this allows you to keep an eye on exactly what the alien team is doing, which hive they are more active at, which nodes of your own you see them going for, allows you to anticipate a rush on your base, etc.
Arms Lab-
Cost: 20 Resources
Built Time: 20 Seconds
Recycle Time: 20 Seconds
Recycle Earnings: 10 Resources
Hit Points: 2,200
Info: This is the structure that gives your marines damage, armor, and catalyst upgrades. The upgrades are explained below.
—–Weapons 1 or Armor 1
Cost: 20 Resources
Research Time: 60 Seconds
Weapons 1 Info: Increases damage percent to marine weapons by 10%.
Armor 1 Info: Increases armor 20 points from 30 to 50.
—–Weapons 2 or Armor 2
Cost: 30 Resources
Research Time: 90 Seconds (1 Minute 30 Seconds)
Weapons 2 Info: Increases damage percent to marine weapons an additional 10%.
Armor 2 Info: Increases armor 20 points from 50 to 70.
—–Weapons 3 or Armor 3
Cost: 40 Resources
Research Time: 120 Seconds (2 Minutes)
Weapons 3 Info: Increases damage percent to marine weapons an additional 10%.
Armor 3 Info: Increases armor 20 points from 70 to 90.
—–Catalysts
Cost: 20 Resources
Research Time: 40 Seconds
Phase Gate-
Cost: 15 Resources
Build Time: 12 Seconds
Recycle Time: 20 Seconds
Recycle Earnings: 8 Resources
Hit Points: 3,000
Info: These babies teleport your instantly to another phasegate. You’re unable to determine in what order you will be able to go through them, but whatever, its better than taking the bus.
Prototype Lab-
Cost: 40 Resources
Build Time: 20 Seconds
Recycle Time: 20 Seconds
Recycle Earnings: 20 Resources
Hit Points: 4,000
Info: This structure allows you to research Jet-Packs and Heavy Armor. Two invaluable additions to your marine team. A skilled combination of the two can be very effective and killing lifeforms and being on the defense.
—–Jet-Packs
Cost: 35 Resources
Research Time: 50 Seconds
Info: Not much to add. They make you fly. =o
—–Heavy Armory
Cost: 40 Resources
Research Time: 100 Seconds (1 Minute 40 Seconds)
Info: You know what they are, big n bulky. This is a structure guide not not a marine weapons/items guide! I’ll prolly do that another time.
Review-
Well, now that you see and know all the numbers that go into all these structures its time for you to put it all together to determine tactics.
Let me show you an example:
Hopefully you know that it takes 3 Minutes for a hive to build. So for this scenario lets say a gorge just dropped a hive and you have one marine near the hive. You drop him a PG, that costs 15 res, and will take him 12 seconds to build alone. It goes up, you drop someone a pack of mines that costs 10 res for the pg, as soon as the pg is done you drop a 10 res TF that takes 15 seconds to build. Its up, you spend 15 res on ATF(siege upgrade), they wait 15 seconds, its done. You drop 3 sieges for a total of 45 res. It takes 30 seconds to build all three if you have one builder building constantly. And you’re ready to hit the hive.
Let me break from away this scenario and show you something else, the first time you ping the hive, the sieges will align to the hive and shoot. And as soon as that scan goes away they will resume their normal rotation TOGETHER, syncronized. The sieges normally takes 3-4 seconds to make a full rotation, once you ping, the sieges rotate slower, and it could take 3-5 seconds for them to make a HALF rotation. If you scan when the sieges are pointed away from the hive, they will takes 3-5 seconds, align, shoot. By scanning the hive when the sieges are pointed away you are losing 1,200 to the hive with 3 sieges up. Here is the math:
A scan when the sieges are pointed away:
**Scan(that lasts 10 seconds)** 3-5 seconds for the sieges to turn. **fire** 4 second wait **fire** 4 second wait **scan ends** your three sieges did 1,200 damage per fire, for a total of 2,400 dmg with one scan. Now…
A scan when the sieges are just pointed at the hive:
**Scan(last 10 secs)** **Fire for 1,200 dmg** 4 second wait **fire for 1,200 dmg** 4 second wait **fire for 1,200** **scan ends**
The 3-5 seconds causes you to only get 2 sieges shots in with one scan rather than 3. So, next time, scan with the sieges pointed. It’ll be worth it.
Alright, back to the scenario. Your sieges are up. You scan once, for 10 seconds, you get the sieges aligned together with the first ping and do 2,400 dmg. You wait 5 seconds for them to rotate before you scan again. You scan when they’re aligned, you do 3,600 dmg this time. (If the hive isn’t fully built its probably dead by now) If its not dead, you wait another 5 seconds to rotate, ping again. And even if they have a gorge on the hive its probably dead by this third time.
This entire siege set up costs you: 95 Res + meds + more mines + guns.
The time take to set up the siege with one marine builder building constantly: About or more than 72 seconds. Time to Siege: 25-40 seconds.
This is all with ONE building marine. Assuming he can stay alive to do all of this. But this should help you imagine. If you have your entire team covering just one builder. And can defend the sieges. you WILL get that hive down and in time. Just food for thought.
Early Game is something this guide should help you with. How long does it take to rush this? How long will it take to do that?
Let say a early Phase gate:
Lets say it takes you 5 seconds to hop in the chair. You drop an armory and IP, your marine builds the Armory first and takes 15 seconds. Its up, you drop an Obs, it takes 15 seconds to build. You research PT, it takes 45 seconds. Your base builder builds the IP and takes 10 seconds, you drop him another IP, takes 10 seconds. you drop him a pack of mines in anticipation for the phasegate. Now you’re saving res. By 1 min and 20 you should have marines in a place that you want a phase gate. You drop them a gate, you drop your basebuilder a gate. And you have PG’s up with mines on the other side, 2 ips, around 1:35.
Outro-
Well, you can play around with the numbers some more to determine what you’d wish.
Some of these numbers may NOT be correct. So please correct me if you notice that. All the information has been pulled from experience, in-game testing, and the natural selection damage calculator. If you have any questions, comments, corrections, anything, feel free to do so. I’m also too lazy to go through and re-read to correct all my typos, so my apologies. Thanks.