Tremulous Forum
Community => Strategies and Tactics => Topic started by: Meisseli on September 26, 2010, 11:18:19 pm
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Table of contents
- 1.0 Introduction
- 2.0 Human building in general
- 2.1 Location of human base
- 2.2 !The main goal of building
- 2.3 The priority list of structures
- 3.0 List of buildings
- 3.1 Telenode
- 3.2 Armoury
- 3.3 Medistation
- 3.4 Reactor
- 3.5 Machinegun Turret
- 3.6 Tesla Generator
- 3.7 Defence Computer
- 3.8 Repeater
- 4.0 Forward building
- 5.0 How to move
- 6.0 Sudden Death
- 7.0 Finding weaknesses of bases
- 8.0 An example: Building a base in Karith
- 9.0 Glossary for the builder
- 10.0 Closing words
1.0 Introduction
Human base building in 1.2 has completely changed from the boring semi-circle turret days of 1.1. The new building system encourages creative bases and forward building that was not possible almost at all in 1.1. Building is fun and I encourage you to try it, but one should get the hang of it before attempting and failing on it. This guide aims at being comprehensive; it is not for only copying my bases for example but for people to get the hang of human building in general, so one can improvise a good human base in new or old locations or maps.
The main thing to notice is that in 1.2 there is a build point (BP) queue. Once a structure has been destroyed it will enter the queue where build points are restored slowly one point at a time. An exception to this are repeater-powered buildings - they return their build points instantly.
Another thing is that aliens have area-of-effect attacks, i.e. marauder zap and dragoon snipe now. Buildings are in general to be spread out.
An important thing also is to know the weakness of every base, so you can defend it properly.
Note that even with a "perfect" base you can't always win. Sometimes your team just can't use the resources your base offers to the maximum, or the other team exploits the weaknesses of your base well.
No base can stand on it's own; a clever alien can always find some loophole to destroy your base if it's left alone. Be sure to check your base every now and then!
2.0 Human building in general
2.1 Location of human base
A good human base is located in a place where
- the terrain is bad for aliens
- distance to the alien base is as small as possible
- there is sufficient cover for buildings
- all the exits can be defended well
- all the buildings can be accessed/defended easily
- the base is located in high ground
Plant Room in Niveus is basically impossible to kill due to the terrain being so bad for aliens and because the exits can be defended so well. Distance should be fairly obvious: aliens are mainly good because of their mobility compared to humans'. Humans really gain the upper hand when they've reduced that mobility to minimum by building as close as possible. Elevator Room in Karith suffers because buildings need to be placed on two levels. Or if you fancy jetpacks and lucijumps, only the upper level. Your base being in high ground might not be the most obvious: but it is harder to aim upwards and travel upwards (jetpack and stairs are both slow), problems that the aliens don't have.
2.2 !The main goal of building
A lot of times do builders forget about the main goal of building: to help win the game. One of the most important tips to building is to adjust to the game in hand. If you notice that your team is clearly superior to alien's, build a forward or do a bold move, if it helps your team. If your team sucks, make only safe moves and try to make a base even your team should be able to handle. If your team has part X of the map under control, you may want to move there. And so on. Too often do builders only build the same standard bases they have memorized and not adjust at all.
2.3 The priority list of structures
- Telenodes
- Armoury
- Reactor
- Medistation
- Turrets/teslas covering vital base structures
- Turrets/teslas covering turrets/teslas covering vital base structures
- Forward bases (and their buildings)
- Other base defences
i.e. what are the most important buildings, from top to bottom.
This is what you should keep in mind when designing bases. Telenodes, armoury, reactor and medistation (bolded) are all vital base structures. The reason reactor is only 3rd is because it has enough hit points to stand on it's own for a while, whereas armoury is much more easier to kill. Medistation is not as important as the other vital structures are, but you'll be sorry for not having it because of poison.
Yes, turrets and teslas are not themselves important. Turrets and teslas covering the vital structures however are. After you've got enough of them up, focus on turrets and teslas covering them. Confusing, huh?
After those you should concentrate on forward building, if possible. Usually a forward base does help your team but sometimes not. More on that later.
And finally, other base defences, such as turrets/teslas covering one exit or a defence computer.
3.0 List of buildings
Here's a comprehensive list of buildings and how to use them properly plus some funky stuff you might want to try.
3.1 Telenode
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/tele.jpg)
Available at: Stage 1
BP: 10
HP: 310
Build time: 10 seconds
The telenode is the most basic building of the human team. This is where your teammates spawn, and if you lose them, you lose the game. You want to always have at least 2 telenodes and have them well-covered even if you have a small team, since a single node is too easy to snipe or rush in some other way most probably resulting in a loss for your team.
The single most curious way of using telenodes is through a repeater. You will always want to have telenodes in your base though so don't go building them randomly around the map (there is only one exception, more on that later). The repeater costs 4BP and gives you 20BP to build in the area powered by one. Since all the buildings in the human team arsenal are less than or equal to 10, you always have a choice of two buildings for each repeater. You will want to maximize the BP gain from repeaters, hence it is sometimes wise to build even two nodes (2x10BP) for a repeater. Notice that this way two nodes cost a mere 4BP!
Now, since you can't build the nodes near reactor, one might think that it sucks to build two nodes far away from your base. But this is not the case.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/046b.jpg)
Take a look at that. A decent nano base with an armoury, medistation, reactor, turrets and a node. Wait, only one node? Didn't I just recommend to build at least two nodes?
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/045.jpg)
Two repeaters with one node and one turret each. One might think that this is some <insert animal> crap, but it isn't. What aliens think when seeing this sight is lust. Lust for the telenodes. They see the blue shimmering human spawns like male glow worms would. They are attracted by the light and do their everything to kill them. In fact, these nodes are fairly strongly protected. They are covered by two turrets, and this room is really easy to defend with any human even only passing by. What an alien would have to do to kill those nodes is first take out the rightmost turret, then the leftmost turret. After that he could kill the nodes, but it takes so much time that eventually one human will pass by and shoot the alien down, making it a free kill (after all, it is the human base, there will be traffic). Even if he would get all of the nodes and turrets down, the repeaters would still stand. Rebuilding within repeater range is very fast.
Why not go for the repeaters then? Well, nodes do not require power to work. Those two nodes would be functional for two minutes. An alien would only be able to make the turrets not function, but the purpose of the turrets is to only protect the real stuff, telenodes, so that would just be useless. After two minutes has passed though, all unpowered buildings in repeater range will be destroyed. But two minutes is more than enough to build a repeater back since it only costs 4BP (=> BP queue will be short). And actually, one can build even a third repeater in that room and have three telenodes. A "clever" alien might think now that all you have to do is to ignore them, but aliens need to kill nodes to win. And humans have more nodes in their base, plus the main human base is under attack more seldom! It is a win-win situation.
A win-win situation? Well, not completely. Aliens can just ignore the buildings there and attack the main base first. Or attack both at the same time, when human main is under attack, aliens can destroy these repeaters a lot easier. But these would require a lot stronger alien team compared to human team, considering how easy the room is to defend. Then again, repeater powered nodes are usually bad in sudden death. But we can just move the nodes when SD comes.
So as we have seen, perhaps a surprising result to some, repeaters with telenodes are very useful and well-built/placed they are also easy to defend.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/048jf.jpg)
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/047g.jpg)
Another case, this time two nodes per repeater. It might seem like a newbieish thing to build them, but they have their use as attractors (free kills and diverting aliens from other parts of your base) and well, as nodes.
The thing is that this time it is in a riskier place and aliens can actually get to the nodes real fast. Then again they really have trouble escaping the spot. These nodes require a good human team to realise they have to be alert for the box room way (which sadly does not happen too often). The benefits are again really nice. 5 nodes in total of which 4 are powered by repeaters. The repeater nodes are cheap (=> in practice 1 more turret), they function for two minutes if repeaters are destroyed, they can be rebuilt instantly, they attract aliens.
There is one drawback though: humans will have to constantly watch for box room. And if you are being rushed, the spawn queue might lose you the game with the repeater nodes destroyed. You can build two nodes in your reactor-powered base though to counter this (the disadvantage is -1 turret). Also, someone might prefer building two nodes and two turrets for the repeaters but I have found turrets to be too incapable in that spot. Teslas work fine though in S3.
Remember that nodes are the most important structures. Therefore you need to make sure 1-2 nodes are well-protected (most of the time this means in RC range). If you feel that the nodes outside RC range are too vulnerable and the alien team is capable of doing a heavy rush, build two reactor powered nodes. It's too late to start building extra nodes in your base while under serious attack.
3.2 Armoury
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/arm.jpg)
Available at: Stage 1
BP: 10
HP: 420
Build time: 10 seconds
Armoury's the place to upgrade your gear. Therefore you will always want to have an armoury - two are not usually necessary. Armoury's probably the single most common building aliens like to try and kill, therefore it must be well-protected and preferably blocked in some way. Arm is quite durable, 420 HP means that you always need at least four snipes or chomps to destroy it. With teamwork it is quite easily destroyed, though.
3.3 Medistation
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/medi.jpg)
Available at: Stage 1
BP: 10
HP: 190
Build time: 10 seconds
Medistation is basically a necessary structure too. Humans have only one way of healing, medkits, which along with health must be constantly refilled in medistations. Only one person may use a medi at a time, although it will cure everyone's poison. Medistation has very low HP, only two snipes or chomps will destroy it. You should always aim to build a medi in a place where it can't be sniped. One thing every dragoon loves to do is to snipe the medi: because multiple humans are usually standing on the medi a dragoon will usually get multiple kills while destroying it. Alien poison is particularly effective if there is no medi and because of that aliens can even eventually win by denying the medi for a long period of time. Most people place medistation near an armoury, but this is not always recommended. Taking them both out is easier - on the other hand there will be more defenders for the armoury. Sometimes, particularly in large games, it is worth to have two medis in your main base since so much time will be wasted on waiting to heal.
What is the most powerful base defence? The answer is a human. Since humans generally spend a lot of time with them, medistation and armoury are both great in guiding human defenders to some particular location.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/049.jpg)
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/054s.jpg)
A nice, strong room full of repeaters in the first two shots. This room has two nodes and an armoury.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/052m.jpg)
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/053r.jpg)
An otherwise nice base but the reactor area is rather weak. Reactor is easy to kill once a single tyrant kills a few of the reactor-protecting turrets, especially since a part of the human team will be defending the other room. That's why we have both an armoury and medistation near the reactor. The whole human team heals in this room, which equals to a well-needed increased traffic and therefore protection in the reactor area. Chainsuits patrolling this room is perfect - all due to a medi and an arm! The second room has an armoury to help defending too, but waiting in the medistation queue is what eats most of a human's time in a base. That's why the reactor room will have a plenty more defenders.
3.4 Reactor
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/rc.jpg)
Available at: Stage 1
BP: 0 (free, only one allowed)
HP: 930
Build time: 20 seconds
Range: 1000
Reactor is the building powering all other human buildings, so it is the most important building humans have. It is rather durable though, so usually the only thing you need to make sure of is that there are turrets protecting it from reactor jumps. One thing to note is that to ensure you can have maximum amount of repeaters in your base you should place it in a corner where the power zone it generates is as little as possible.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/057i.jpg)
The distance between a turret that can shoot aliens on top of RC and reactor should be memorized. You should always have 2-3 rets that are able to shoot RC hoppers.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/055w.jpg)
Here is a picture of three rets hitting my marauder when I'm trying to hop it. The middle one does not hit regular marauders, but that's ok. Basilisks can still jump the reactor, but they will at most survive with some 5hp, enough for the reactor to kill them. Notice that the turrets can be made to cover other buildings as well by building a node and a medi near reactor for example.
The turrets protecting the reactor are usually in a rather weak formation though. They usually need other rets to cover them.
3.5 Machinegun Turret
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/turret.jpg)
Available at: Stage 1
BP: 8
HP: 190
Build time: 10 seconds
Damage per shot: 8
Damage per second: 53,33
Range: 400
Turret is your basic, albeit a very good defensive building. Turret rotates and does not shoot at you instantly, it takes 750 milliseconds to lock targets. You should always aim to build a high number of turrets with your leftover BPs that remain after building vital structures. HP is the same as medistation's. Turrets deal an amazing damage, 53 per second! Since in a good base an alien will have several rets aiming at him, he has to keep moving or get shot down in less than a second.
Spread out your turrets! Actually, this applies to all buildings.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/060ed.jpg)
Here's an example of a good setup of rets. Colour coded too - for your convenience! They are spread out so that the alien area of effect attacks are minimized. No goon can snipe two rets at once and a zap can in practise connect to only two adjacent buildings. 5 rets are protecting the vital structures, and two turrets are there for only to protect them. Every turret but one is covered by other rets, the leftmost by 3! The turret circled with grey colour is the one that no other turret covers.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/059y.jpg)
Here's that turret, in action. It essentially covers the stairs from dragoon snipers that love to try and snipe your base without taking any damage. So even it has an important use and isn't just randomly placed.
3.6 Tesla Generator
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/tesla.jpg)
Available at: Stage 3
BP: 10
HP: 220
Build time: 15 seconds
Damage per shot: 10
Damage per second: 40
Range: 200
Tesla generator is more of a specialized defensive building. It fires electricity instantly compared to turret's delay, but it also does less damage and it's range is half of turret's. It also has a knockback and it's two times the size of a turret. All those facts combined together makes teslas ideal to be located around corners.
Notice the long build time, you'll have to be careful since a single dretch can take out a tesla even if it's almost done.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/062u.jpg)
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/063n.jpg)
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/064gc.jpg)
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/065n.jpg)
Yes, even the dreaded death corridor can work if only done properly. This has the added benefit of having a repeater powered node (third picture) and a much less zappable base overall. However before S3 you'll have to prepare to do some defending in the reactor area. With a weak team it won't work.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/066e.jpg)
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/067b.jpg)
Here's how I would arrange the turrets before S3.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/068.jpg)
Since the default ATCS base is so zappable, why not just make it hard? Two teslas on the ledge do wonders against would-be hoppers from below. Now this is a really snipable base but it works nicely with the usual ATCS chainsuit campers.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/069p.jpg)
You can place the two remaining rets somewhere else too, depending on the game.
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3.7 Defence Computer
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/defc.jpg)
Available at: Stage 2
BP: 8
HP: 190
Build time: 10 seconds
Range: 1000
Defence Computer affects all buildings within a range of 1000 game units and gives the following bonuses:
- Repairs buildings 4HP per second, with a 2 second delay after the building has taken damage
- Increases the defensive zap damage of Reactor
- Displays a warning message "Our base is under attack!" when a building is damaged
Minor, quite random bonuses. The repair effect stacks with multiple defence computers, others do not.
The repair rate is slow, one single human repairs 4,5 times faster (and doesn't take 2 seconds to warm up). Defence computer does repair all buildings though, but most of the time you want to repair only a few buildings (such as armoury or reactor) instead of some minor, 10HP scratches a turret might have got. And if your base is under a heavy attack, there normally are 2-3 repairers doing the job already.
The reactor zap damage mostly increases on top of it (top: 2 damage -> 19 damage, bottom only 23 -> 29). This is rarely useful since we already have turrets doing the job and turrets aren't restricted to the reactor only, they can protect other parts of the base and cover other buildings at the same time too. The death corridor base in Tremor however benefits from this effect, but only at S2. The teslas make it useless at S3.
The warning message is useless unless your team isn't checking the base condition at all. If that's the case though, the warning message itself is useful enough to build a defence computer so your base won't be annihilated while you're away. Although, if you should happen to have such a team, you probably won't win the game anyway.
Notice how both reactor and defence computer have a range of 1000. If you build a defence computer in a repeater's zone (outside reactor's), none of the bonuses the defence computer offers is applied to the reactor. This is why in practise a defence computer is even bad if it's built with a repeater since you will want to have a warning sign (and even perhaps that zap) affect the reactor.
All in all, a defence computer is usually a useless investment. Those 8 BPs could be used better as any other building (extra medi, turret, tesla, telenode, you name it). Due to the aforementioned reason repeater DCs are not good either. Also, rarely is your whole base affected by the defence computer either. The stackability of defence computers doesn't help much since two bad buildings do not equal two good buildings. If you were to build more DCs though I'd build max two to not hurt the turret count.
I can think of two cases in which a defence computer is nice. 1) When you have such a bad team that you have to babysit the base but also solo the alien base yourself too and 2) when your team leaves the base undefended all the time. Both of the situations mainly profit from the warning message only, but the extra repair doesn't hurt either. If you find yourself to have a decent team though, chances are you won't need any.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/070o.jpg)
In case you still insist on building one, here's where to place it: on the very edge where the reactor's power range ends. This way you heal the maximum amount of buildings while getting all the minor bonuses defence computer offers. Notice how the repeater marks the end of the reactor power zone.
3.8 Repeater
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/repeater.jpg)
Available at: Stage 1
BP: 4
HP: 250
Build time: 10 seconds
Range: 500
Ah, finally on the very building that defines the new, cool build system of 1.2. There have been already some mentioning of repeaters before on this guide. Quoted from the 1.2 Gameplay Changes thread, this list explains the repeater quite nicely:
- repeaters provide a pool of 20 local build points that can only be used in their power zone
- points from the reactor's pool can no longer be built outside the reactor's zone
- power zones may overlap, but repeaters can not be built inside an existing zone
- if a structure is built in the overlap of a repeater's zone and the reactor's zone, it will only take power from the reactor
So in short: repeater costs 4BP but provides 20BP which can be used only in the repeater's power zone. Since in default Tremulous settings humans have 100BP with repeaters the human team could in theory get a total of (100/4)*20 = 500BP to spend.
I mentioned it earlier but since all the human buildings cost less than or equal to 10 build points, it's a good idea to build the most costly buildings (teslas and telenodes) with repeaters so you get the maximum out of the 20BP.
Note that a repeater has half the power-zone range of reactor.
Repeaters can be divided to two distinct types: repeaters in base and repeaters as forward bases. Let's take a look at the base repeaters first.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/071b.jpg)
With the repeaters in the base we can fill the other half of the room with buildings too. Here are 3 repeaters with 2 nodes and 4 turrets. Nodes because they are so expensive and turrets to protect them. In general most repeater powered structures should be expendable since the build points are regained instantly and they are often in positions that are less protected anyway. They are very useful in absorbing damage from aliens while the human team shoots them.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/073e.jpg)
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/072e.jpg)
Teslas are great to use in pairs in doors and corners in base entrances, and why not in a forward base to prevent aliens from entering some location.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/049.jpg)
And as seen earlier an armoury can be built to both help humans in another room and as a spare armoury.
Most of the time you will want 1-4 repeaters in your base with one of the following combinations:
- Telenode + Telenode
- Telenode + Turret/Tesla
- Turret + Turret
- Tesla + Tesla
- Turret + Tesla
On to forward building.
4.0 Forward building
Yes, this deserves it's own chapter.
Let's take a look at the list of good combinations in forward bases.
- Armoury + Medistation
- Medistation + Turret/Tesla
- Turret + Turret
- Tesla + Tesla
- Turret + Tesla
Armoury + Medistation is bolded because this is the combination. Why? Essentially it is what every human comes searching for in the default base. Humans need healing, ammunition and weapons to stay alive, and if all of these are provided by a forward base a human will survive for long.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/074.jpg)
An astoundingly good forward base. This will really help a human team gain control of the tunnel in ATCS. Notice the position of medistation, you should always in forward bases aim to place it so people can see the incoming threat (being surprised by a goon when a medistation is behind a corner is bad). Humans are already so good in tunnel and this forward makes them too good, really. Just spawn first, grab a conkit and rush tunnel. You may get a few blaster kills while building it. Everyone in your team should remember though to check default every now and then.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/075i.jpg)
You may even get a few turrets to defend your forward by moving the other repeater so you have room for two repeaters.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/076f.jpg)
Here's an example of Medistation + Tesla combination that works nicely when you're S3 and aliens are not.
Other combinations with only defending (tesla or turret) buildables should always be accompanied with an armoury or a medistation. It is useless to build a forward turret army!
One thing worth to note is when to keep maintaining a forward base, and when to stop. It may seem to you that the forward is useless since it constantly gets picked by aliens but this is not always the case. You should always take a look at the whole picture. Are aliens feeding? Are they spending an enormous amount of resources just to kill that one armoury in the tunnel? It just might be that the forward is useful after all.
Other combinations are valid only if you're moving the base, which leads us to the next section.
5.0 How to move
There are two ways of doing a proper move. First one is to spawn first, mark deconstruct reactor and telenodes and build a new reactor ASAP. This is what you should use if the base you're going to build is very close to your default, or even the same room with a better reactor position.
Second one is to build a few, normally two repeaters to help the move. This is to be used when you're moving far away and you preferably have a few teammates to defend while you move the base. At least for this kind of a move should you always scream "Moving to <location>" in teamchat!
The build order should usually be as follows:
- Repeater #1
- Armoury
- Turret
- Repeater #2
- Turret
- Telenode
- Move reactor.
You did remember to mark deconstruct reactor and telenodes, did you? You always should when moving.
Now, why build an armoury, and why build it first even? Well, if you have binds (you should, binds are for cool people), you can quickly buy a gun and shoot any dretches passing by, which is much more effective than relying on turrets (at least if you've ever played first-person shooters to be able to aim those buggers). And having an armoury for your new base when reactor goes up is really cool. Other than that, build some defending turrets and lastly a node to both make sure nothing goes wrong and have more defenders on the spot the new base is going to be in. You may want to build a medistation if you've got a lot of hurt teammates assisting the move, but remember to eventually replace it to achieve the buildings on the list.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/077b.jpg)
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/078d.jpg)
Here's an example "forward base" to help you move to Slow Door in Karith.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/079c.jpg)
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/080.jpg)
Remember that forward base in ATCS? Well, if you happen to be one of those blessed with a good team, tunnel forward can be transformed to an excellent base. The terrain is really good for humans and it's close to aliens reducing the alien mobility and thus making it really good if you're just able to do the move. Usually games with this base location tend to abruptly stop after humans get S2.
6.0 Sudden Death
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/099g.jpg)
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/101.jpg)
If the server you're playing on has the infamous Sudden Death setting on, we probably need to adjust our base for it.
Mainly what needs to be done is to decon all the forward bases and fix all the errors in our main to make for a longstanding base. Make sure the vital structures are protected well! I really recommend also to build a second armoury just in case. If armoury happens to fall in Sudden Death it's usually game over for humans. Also, if you have any repeater and especially repeater-powered telenodes, make sure that they are well-protected. If they are, they can stay there, but remember that if you kill a repeater every structure it powered will explode in two minutes. It is wise to have at least one telenode that the reactor powers.
Turrets become less important in Sudden Death since they are in the most exposed positions, rely on each other and have low HP. It's often better to have extra vital structures, be it telenodes, medistations or armouries than turrets that are destroyed easily. A good Sudden Death base is a base that can sustain heavy losses but still remain functional.
7.0 Finding weaknesses of bases
Remember how I said something important in the introduction of this guide? Probably not, so I'll quote it: "An important thing is to know the weakness of every base, so you can defend it properly."
You see, no base is perfect and you don't even have to build a perfect base. What you should do instead is learn what weaknesses each base has so you can react accordingly. This is not only useful for builders but for defenders too. What alien classes should I prioritise in killing and what base entrance should I be defending?
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/102t.jpg)
Just Ye Olde Tremor Base with no repeaters or fancy gimmicks whatsoever. The default tremor base exits are quite easy to defend, but this base is prone to zapping and tyrants.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/102ed.jpg)
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/103t.jpg)
If I were a marauder I'd attack through the route the leftmost purple arrow is pointing at. There are two turrets visible here but the turret on the floor can be clawed fast without the upper turret even hitting me. Then I would proceed to zap the hell out of the human base.
Tyrants have an easy time going the rightmost route. There isn't much turrets in there and those which are can be easily torn into bits without getting too much damage. Or, if I were to use the middle route, I would make a charge, which gives me enough speed for the ramp to send me flying and land near the armoury. Goons are restricted to sniping in bad conditions in this base, I wouldn't probably even recommend using a goon.
Even with these things considered, this base works. Why? Because we know the weaknesses and can adjust according to them. Learn to find weaknesses in your bases, and either build to obstruct them, or ignore them and adjust your defending according to the base. Sometimes a "perfect" base is even worse than a base that has some weaknesses.
8.0 An example: Building a base in Karith
Okay, so we've now got the theory, but how to apply it in practise? We load the map Karith and find out!
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/081u.jpg)
We are going to do a quick reactor move, so we join the team fast and spawn first. We begin by marking reactor and telenodes.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/082n.jpg)
We find this cool spot for reactor where it has nice cover under the stairs, and is in a place where we may build a maximum amount of repeaters in the room.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/083ed.jpg)
Notice how we DO NOT build a repeater in the old base. Building it just takes time away from building in the new base and we want those buildings deconstructed anyway.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/084n.jpg)
With our sheer coolness we know how to build turrets that are able to shoot on top of the reactor and so we build two turrets to do so. The middle one is there just to defend the two.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/086i.jpg)
By this time our teammates are already pissed at us so we must build an armoury and a medistation to not get yelled at. Notice where I build the medistation so people will look at one of the base entrances.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/087r.jpg)
We still have some time before the two minutes that unpowered buildings take before exploding is over. So let's build a telenode.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/088b.jpg)
After this we add a few turrets to support the turrets covering our vital structures.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/092t.jpg)
We take a good look at our base and think the vital structures are protected well enough for now.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/089o.jpg)
It's time to build a second node and our first repeater. Turret to protect the fragile telenode.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/090t.jpg)
We add some more repeaters with telenodes and turrets to make a nice net of protected, cheap repeater telenodes.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/091.jpg)
We still have 16BP remaining, so we use them for two turrets to use up all build points wisely. These turrets belong to the "Other base defences" category.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/094z.jpg)
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/093y.jpg)
VoilĂ ! I wouldn't want to be an alien bumping into this strong of a base!
But wait, an experienced player is calling on us! He says our team urgently needs a forward base in Slow Door.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/095x.jpg)
We think the player is experienced enough to order us around, gear up since we don't want to die on the way, mark a turret for deconstruction (I'll leave it to your thinking, which one to mark) and answer the call.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/097y.jpg)
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/098j.jpg)
And we build the human team a nice forward base to help The Cause, aka win the game.
9.0 Glossary for the builder
- Reactor = Reac, RC
- Telenode = Spawn, Node, Tele
- Medistation = Medi
- Machinegun Turret = Turret, Ret
- Armoury = Arm
- Defense Computer = DC
- Tesla Generator = Tesla
- Hit Points = HP
- Build Points = BP
- Deconstructing a structure = Deconning
- One who maliciously deconstructs structures to disrupt the game = Deconner
- Sudden Death = SD
- Forward base = Fwd
Taken and modified for builders from http://tremwiki.com/abbreviations.
(http://ddos-tremulous.eu/projects/hguide/105ed.jpg)
It is also essential for a builder to know the established names of each base location in each map. You'll eventually learn them once you play, and if not, you can look for some hint from the location markers. 1.1 players know the "Crates Room" in the picture as "Box Room" though, so they don't always go hand in hand.
10.0 Closing words
Well, here we are. I had to split the guide to two different posts because it was too big. Hopefully something useful got in the guide too ;). Feedback and factual or linguistical errors are to be said out aloud.
Thanks to http://tremwiki.com for me stealing abbreviations from the site and kharnov for good pictures of buildings.
That's it, we're done! Now go and fill the world with pretty human bases!
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Wow nice job! I'm sure this is going to help many newbie builders just learning, as well as many older players adjusting to 1.2's building style.
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Wow nice job! I'm sure this is going to help many newbie builders just learning, as well as many older players adjusting to 1.2's building style.
yes thank you meis.
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This is amazing, massive thank you for taking the time to do this, especially with all the images and examples. Kudos.
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Nice job, but it's obvious the default is the best, or else it wouldn't be the default right?
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It has my approval. Although I'd watch out with imageshack and heavy image use. Sticky switched.
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Impressive.
If you'd like to use my images for buildables, just grab them off our strategy site (https://sites.google.com/site/tremulousthestrategyguide/). They aren't as faded and icky looking as the old ones. Alternatively, I can just email you them in a single .rar or some other format.
Also, would you consider combining our Tremulous strategy efforts? Maybe I can link to this in my human building section or copy over chunks. I've made it my goal to pool together all the efforts of the Trem forum strategy writers.
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Yes, the unfortunate thing in making a clear, comprehensive guide with lots of examples is that it is indeed image heavy (unless it would be a video guide or something). Perhaps the Imageshack images could be moved to some other place, I'll ask around.
Removed some bad wording, added some tidbits here and there and "Available at stage X" for the list of buildings.
You may copy parts of this guide or link to it if you want. No need to credit me even, just don't claim the guide as your own :)
EDIT: All images moved to http://ddos-tremulous.eu and I agreed that your pictures have a higher quality, kharnov.
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Well I am a bit skeptical of some of your turret placements (particularly the karith base seems vulnerable to strafing, although the repeaters probably fix that), and placing turrets powered by the reactor which have no other purpose but to defend other turrets also seems odd to me, but I think I need to rework the entire framework of how I build bases. You are the true master. Repeaterspam ftw.
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Well I am a bit skeptical of some of your turret placements (particularly the karith base seems vulnerable to strafing, although the repeaters probably fix that), and placing turrets powered by the reactor which have no other purpose but to defend other turrets also seems odd to me, but I think I need to rework the entire framework of how I build bases. You are the true master. Repeaterspam ftw.
I think I would move the turret in the bottom of the staircase closer to the medistation and the lower base entrance but I think otherwise the karith base is good.
Turrets supporting other turrets can be placed to defend base entrances and have other uses as well so it isn't as odd in my opinion. The main thing is to try to create a solid net of turrets supporting each other with the turrets covering the vital structures having first priority.
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Excellent guide! Tho maybe you should mention bounding boxes and how they work, and perhaps have an image of each building with it's bbox.
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Nice guide. There are some things i would like to point out though. If you hopefully take advantage of this guide and build repeater powered teles remember that they are often less protected and easily destroyed when under attack so either build more repeater powered teles or have 2 or more well protected rc powered teles. Then you won't find yourself waiting in an endless spawn queue when buildings start getting destroyed while under heavy attack. Teles are the most important defensive structure because humans are the best defense.
In general it's good to make a base where most repeater powered structures are expendable because you get the bp back instantly and they are often in positions that are less protected anyway. They are very useful in absorbing damage from aliens while the human team shoots them. Even silly things like armory walls can work because aliens keep attacking them and after they are destroyed they can be easily rebuilt.
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Nice guide. There are some things i would like to point out though. If you hopefully take advantage of this guide and build repeater powered teles remember that they are often less protected and easily destroyed when under attack so either build more repeater powered teles or have 2 or more well protected rc powered teles. Then you won't find yourself waiting in an endless spawn queue when buildings start getting destroyed while under heavy attack. Teles are the most important defensive structure because humans are the best defense.
In general it's good to make a base where most repeater powered structures are expendable because you get the bp back instantly and they are often in positions that are less protected anyway. They are very useful in absorbing damage from aliens while the human team shoots them. Even silly things like armory walls can work because aliens keep attacking them and after they are destroyed they can be easily rebuilt.
I think what you mentioned in the first paragraph is covered already in the guide.
The second paragraph should be added there, I'll think of some way to word it and update.
Excellent guide! Tho maybe you should mention bounding boxes and how they work, and perhaps have an image of each building with it's bbox.
I'm not quite certain if there is a need bounding boxes for human buildings as they are quite logical. It could be a nice addition though.
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I think what you mentioned in the first paragraph is covered already in the guide.
What I was trying to say is that teles are more important than it seems based on this guide. I noticed in some of your example bases there weren't enough well protected teles/repeater powered teles to prevent losing when under heavy attack. For example in nano if the 2 bait teles are destroyed you are left with only one. I would have added at least one more to the rc power zone.
There is one more thing I didn't mention. During SD teles are even more important because none can be rebuilt. Even having 3 armories can be a good idea. Turrets become less important since they are often easily destroyed because they are in exposed positions, rely on each other and have low hp. SD bases are all about being able to sustain losses but still have all the required vital buildings.
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I think what you mentioned in the first paragraph is covered already in the guide.
What I was trying to say is that teles are more important than it seems based on this guide. I noticed in some of your example bases there weren't enough well protected teles/repeater powered teles to prevent losing when under heavy attack. For example in nano if the 2 bait teles are destroyed you are left with only one. I would have added at least one more to the rc power zone.
There is one more thing I didn't mention. During SD teles are even more important because none can be rebuilt. Even having 3 armories can be a good idea. Turrets become less important since they are often easily destroyed because they are in exposed positions, rely on each other and have low hp. SD bases are all about being able to sustain losses but still have all the required vital buildings.
Yes, in my opinion I did say all of that in the guide :)
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Yes, in my opinion I did say all of that in the guide :)
Could you quote where you said those things then because I can't find them.
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Added Saliva's suggestions and tried to shorten the character count so further additions to the guide could still be possible.
Work on the alien counterpart will begin today.
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Work on the alien counterpart will begin today.
Excellent. :)
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Just read through the entire Tutorial. I already feel I can build a perfect human base. Great Job!!
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Just read through the entire Tutorial. I already feel I can build a perfect human base. Great Job!!
ehhhh....This cannot turn out well.
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Really good report really gonna help me build in the field of battle and sudden death GOOD JOB!
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Really good report really gonna help me build in the field of battle and sudden death GOOD JOB!
gonna help me build in the field of battle and sudden death
build in sudden death
I am confused.
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Really good report really gonna help me build in the field of battle and sudden death GOOD JOB!
gonna help me build in the field of battle and sudden death
build in sudden death
I am confused.
Not worth the time, but I'm going to guess he meant preparing his buildings for surviving sudden death as well as possible. Of course, you probably could have figured that out with a little thinking, and less editing his quotes to try to make him seem ignorant. ::)
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I just like editing quotes. Resistance is futile.
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Really good report really gonna help me build in the field of battle and sudden death GOOD JOB!
gonna help me build in the field of battle and sudden death
build in sudden death
I am confused.
Not worth the time, but I'm going to guess he meant preparing his buildings for surviving sudden death as well as possible. Of course, you probably could have figured that out with a little thinking, and less editing his quotes to try to make him seem ignorant. ::)
Thinking is for moderators, not the lesser populations of the Tremulous forum. We're all ignorant down here.
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The first tutorial I ever read that I needed! Great work!
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great topic
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this is great. this will really help me build
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can u post the forward bases ddos camps in during scrims???
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can u post the forward bases ddos camps in during scrims???
:repeater:
:medstat:
:armoury:
Piece of cake.
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This is a great guide, I've picked up a few things from this. However I have to disagree with your assessment of the defense computer. It is not useless, but in fact vital to base defense. While 19dmg/zap on top of the reactor may seem low, it is a huge boost from the 2dmg/zap with out it. In fact, the reactor boosted by a defense computer can kill a full hp mara before it can kill the RC. This is extremely useful in case your RC covering turret goes down. Furthermore, the regen (4hp/sec) is actually quite useful to a lone builder trying to keep the base alive. The less time a player has to use to repair, the more time he can be helping team with with a gun. Finally, in public games, I find that teams are not always as communicative as I'd like. Big white letters telling everyone on the team that the base needs help can save games more than you think. I recommend one defense computer in every base, within range of the reactor, of course.