...background soundloop while writing this: Synphony of destruction by Megadeth...
This is a topic dedicated to all those out there who do not know the difference between two things that may look the same to the jerk, but are very different indeed: Camping and defense. And I am writing this just not to have it to repeat all the time and to be able to go more into detail than in ingame-chat.
zybork's manifest of defense or why defense is not camping
First of all, camping is weird. It means to remain on one spot and wait for prey, doing that only for the purpose of cheap kills or because a player could go out, but won't, actually reducing the strength of his team by one player. This is something I did in my first days of gaming, and after that, never again. Camping is bad. Also, a non-attacking team is usually a losing team, so camping is a really bad thing. We all know that camping humans lose, no matter where they camp. Hey man, I've played against camping humans located in the famous elevator room in Karith Station ... and won! Really, camping is not good.
In contrast to this, a defender also seems to remain in the base, shooting at any alien approaching it. So, where is the difference between camping and defending? First of all, a few facts that help unterstand the difference:
- An undefended base gets destroyed. This is true both for the alien and human team. Until the enemy is completely on the run, there should always be somebody in the base, while the rest of the team goes out for the enemy. If too many "defenders" are in the base, they more likely step on each others toes than assist each other, this is something any experienced player will agree to.
- Bots suck. A base "defended" by bots is not only equal to an undefended base, it is often worse, for bots tend to shoot the base's buildings. In fact, a bot-defended base means: One marauder sneaks into the base, all bots fire their lucies, reactor goes down... ::) and so on.
- Humans have to team up for close combat, aliens don't. An average dretch takes down an average rifleman, an average goon takes down an average gunner, an average tyrant takes down an average chainsuit. (On long ranges, the aliens have to team up against the humans, but this is rarely the case.)
- Humans have to reload. They also have to heal back home at their base. Really, I am not joking!
Now, what's the difference between a camper and a defender?
- A defender protects more than only himself. A camper does not. A camper just stands around, moreless only protecting himself. A defender wants to get between the enemy and something else, the precious buildings, or the builder maintaining them.
- A defender chases enemies only if it makes sense. Single tyrants are to be chased if possible. because once you get them, the alien team loses five evos. Good. If you have two of them in front of you, they will get you, mostly without even one of them being killed, which costs your own team 800 credits. Bad. So you don't. This is called logical thinking...
- The goal of defense is not to win, but to prevent the other team from doing so. This seems to be hard to understand for all those teenies out there. They yell "camper camper camper" at the defenders. Keep yelling, babies, defense is a necessity, if you are not old enough to understand that, well, life is tough sometimes.
- If the base is sufficiently protected, a defender will become an attacker. Maybe the most obvious difference between a defender and a camper: A defender is a fighter, he goes out, teams up with attackers immediately the moment he knows the base in good hands. That's logically correct of course, because, as we all know, a camping team is a losing team. On the other hand, an undefended base is a dead base, so who can attack again without an armoury and a medistation, not to speak of the reactor?
- Defending is definetely not so much fun than attacking. I know this well, maybe much too well... However, more than once I found myself being the only one defending the base, because it is not so much fun. To my mind, losing the game is even more antifun, so I often do that damn job, if noone else does it. It has to be done either way.
That's moreless it, I hope I made myself clear, one last thing still: I don't know how many matches I played, and I was the builder or a defender quite often. And many many times, it was I who saved the necks of the others, because I rebuilt the base or just did my share to, well, "discourage" tyrants and advanced dragoons from attacking it. I also remember a number of times when the enemy base was completely undefended and I gooned/ranted down one turret after the other completely unchallenged or blasted down eggs and finally the overmind without anybody interfering... It is redundant to remark that my team of course won in such cases.
The bases in Tremulous - both alien and human bases - are designed not to be able to be left alone. This is a good thing, it makes the game much more tactical. If you do not understand that defense it a basic element, get back to your arena-egoshooters where you just can shoot-shoot-shoot and do not have to think, and - be quiet. And yes, I am indeed angry about those jerks yelling "camper" because one is not willing to just let them win.