Mara Guide

[Demolution]

A few things regarding the next section of the guide. These are just rough notes, and I'm sure they could be more detailed.

Ninja Style:
In 1.2 the marauder is the alien to attack the human base with simply because of its zap attack. As with any other time you attack, you should have the in-and-out, ninja mindset when attacking the humans' base. As stated above, ALWAYS KEEP MOVING, especially in and around the human base. The turrets in 1.2 have a slower spin-up time, but once they settle on a target, they are unforgiving. If you get caught in a corner or in between structures for longer than a second or two, you will get shredded/zapped/gunned down. If you are lucky, you can hop in the human base, attack a few times, and hop back out whilst taking minimal damage.

For a full base:
For the most part, humans have learned to not cluster their buildings together. What they sometimes fail to consider, however, is themselves. Whenever there are two or more humans surrounding the armory (or in proximity to any other building really), you should consider zapping their sorry asses. This might not always bode well for your own health as the humans and their defences can easily attack you, but it can deal a lot of damage to multiple targets, as well as pave the way for other maras and/or other aliens to assault the human base.

For an empty base:
Although you won't have as many targets to zap at, you will have a lot less resistance from an empty human base. As usual, approach with caution. A nibble/zap here and there go a long way. It's best to assault with a basi (or booster) nearby and in groups, as you can run in, take a turret or two out, and then run out to heal. Keep an eye out for retreating or spawning humans.

Teslas:
Because of their knockback attack, it's best to approach with caution. The mara has a longer range (in terms of zap attack) then the tesla, so you should have no problem taking lone teslas out once you get comfortable with dancing just outside of their attack range. Never attack a tesla head on, as they will drain your health very quickly.

Attack in groups:
Two or more maras can take down a human base very quickly with some goon/tyrant support. Always try to attack together, and (if possible) from different sides. Teamwork is essential. Attack what you think will yield the most damage. Suicide attacks are only advised if you think you can deal a decent amount of damage, otherwise keep attacking and then retreating to heal.

[Venkman]

All of that is great. Dude, you make me feel almost guilty for dragging my feet on this last section. I just got so lost in Gooning these past 2 weeks that I totally put my Mara aside.

But, seriously, I'm gonna go put that in the guide as-is and just add my own notes later. It's pretty late right now where I live.

But, yeah, well done and thanks a crap-load.

[Dracone]

Don't neglect your backwards key. If a human reverses direction, it's stupid to turn a lot to keep up, compared to just backing up.

The most important thing about mara is, outside of accuracy, being able to make accurate predict the human's movement.

[Venkman]

Don't neglect your backwards key. If a human reverses direction, it's stupid to turn a lot to keep up, compared to just backing up.

The most important thing about mara is, outside of accuracy, being able to make accurate predict the human's movement.

Truer words...

Learning how to quickly change direction, both while jumping and on the ground, is an essential part of any good Mara's playbook. Watch your target and learn how to respond to their movements.

[Conzul]

The most important skill of ANY, is to be able to predict human movement. It doesn't matter which class you are, if you can do this, you will PWN.

[Venkman]

The most important skill of ANY, is to be able to predict human movement. It doesn't matter which class you are, if you can do this, you will PWN.

Agreed. Of course, you still need to know how to handle yourself with each class (Human, Mara, Goon, etc.) or else your predictions will be a moot point.

For example: When I first went from Mara to Goon, I was a bit thrown off by the latter's heavier movements. I had gotten good at predicting Lucy fire but, still, my goon's evading ability was not quite up to par yet and I ended up having to eat a few blasts before I learned.

[Dracone]

The most important skill of ANY, is to be able to predict human movement. It doesn't matter which class you are, if you can do this, you will PWN.

Maybe the most useful in general, but it will not lead to success by itself. One of the core things of my human play is my dodging, and from doing it well, it's obvious that it takes way more than prediction to kill some humans. Prediction skills are not the same as the reaction time and aim that you develop that specifically ties into the game itself.

Prediction comes into play more with mara because "long lined" patterns are effective against maras, meaning you have to alter your own movement direction much more often. Simple strafing and quick lateral movements are complete shit against any good mara, so you need to use more moves in which you sustain the same general direction of movement, or certain circling movements, although those will fail quickly and only work on the rare occasion.

With a goon in 1.1, you are simply fast enough that the human needs extremely crafty moves of any kind to fool you, if you know how to use goon. With a goon in 1.2, you have pounce as a lethal weapon, and you will kill any human 1v1ing you, save for a good luci, if you know how to pounce, unless they use the environment. In any case, there's no real prediction necessary, although it doesn't hurt.

I won't go into this discussion with other classes. It's also good to keep in mind that properly predicting the future of a group vs. group fight can lead to you setting yourself up well enough to kill the entire human group. You cannot learn prediction in a game like this before you learn accuracy and movement to some degree anyways, so it would be impossible to put prediction on a pedestal.

[Conzul]

Shoulda been obvious. I must remember to use more words.

[Venkman]

It's also good to keep in mind that properly predicting the future of a group vs. group fight can lead to you setting yourself up well enough to kill the entire human group.

Definitely. In 1.1, my Dretch could take out 4-5 nakeds in 10 seconds as long as there were a few larger aliens around distracting them long enough for me to get in close. With 1.2's slightly weaker bite, it takes a bit longer. Still, the point stands.

Prediction comes into play more with mara because "long lined" patterns are effective against maras, meaning you have to alter your own movement direction much more often. Simple strafing and quick lateral movements are complete shit against any good mara, so you need to use more moves in which you sustain the same general direction of movement, or certain circling movements, although those will fail quickly and only work on the rare occasion.

I'm just gonna go ahead and put that in my guide, if it's okay with you. The Mara's movements are such an essential part of its ability and you did a great job of explaining why.

[Dracone]

I don't mind anything I say getting thrown into guides, I'm not exactly trying to save the community or anything, when I post.

[AppleJuice]

Prediction comes into play more with mara because "long lined" patterns are effective against maras, meaning you have to alter your own movement direction much more often. Simple strafing and quick lateral movements are complete shit against any good mara, so you need to use more moves in which you sustain the same general direction of movement, or certain circling movements, although those will fail quickly and only work on the rare occasion.

I'm just gonna go ahead and put that in my guide, if it's okay with you. The Mara's movements are such an essential part of its ability and you did a great job of explaining why.

This is completely false. Strafing is not "complete shit" against good maras, especially not V-strafing. Of course, you can't only use strafing, but I don't know why anyone would. Circling/half-circling is also extremely effective; I don't know why you think they only work rarely. I seem to remember St. Anger and myself killing most good maras in 1.1 (2 years ago, when we still played) 10+ times in a row with just a rifle using these techniques. Of course, we also used long movements, but we pretty much used everything. It's unwise to say one particular technique is complete shit - every technique has its own particular situation at which it's good. Surprise is also a big factor.

[Dracone]

I said "simple strafing and quick lateral movements." "V strafing" is a different story, St. Anger pretty much used that alone to kill me when I had mara, since he did it very well. I put that out there because, although "I don't know why anyone would" is pretty much what you want to think for such simple movements, a lot of people would use them since they can work on even the best goons and tyrants. men and Dustin did it the best.

Of course it's situational, but you use the moves that are best for the broadest range of situations. You cannot read a mara's position and use any rapid movements without that being an unreliable decision of chance, since you're damn near always still going to be within his range still.

Also, when I said circling will only work occasionally, I meant that after someone does it to you once or twice you can easily just track them and keep hitting them, and you can quickly funlily its use by becoming prepared. St. Anger would kill me maybe once or twice and then it wouldn't work again, and just about everyone else was unable to use it since I was prepared.

I'm not arguing with Apple's post, everything he said is legitimate and valuable information, simply clarifying what I meant.

[AppleJuice]

Also, when I said circling will only work occasionally, I meant that after someone does it to you once or twice you can easily just track them and keep hitting them, and you can quickly funlily its use by becoming prepared. St. Anger would kill me maybe once or twice and then it wouldn't work again, and just about everyone else was unable to use it since I was prepared.

No good player is going to use the same dodge 3x or 4x in a row against another good player. Any good alien player is going to adapt. It has nothing to do with marauders.

However, circling does work 10x in a row, anyway, against marauders (and even some goons). I remember killing everyone's marauder using just circling + backing away + some very simple strafing, back in Zubs. It wasn't just me, though. St. Anger could do it, Yarou could do it, Ozzy could do it...etc. And that was just with a rifle. If anyone were to use a shotgun back then, s/he would have been called a "noob" for using an "OP" weapon. That's just how weak the marauder was against certain strategies.

I know you said "simple strafing, etc." My point is that those, too, work. Not just V-strafing, which is actually much easier to counter once you're used to it (just let the human come to you). Everything works if you constantly change your dodge.

Marauders have their place, and they certainly don't suck, but it's very easy to kill them once you're good (and active).

[Fuego]

is this the guide for 1.2? or 1.1? but it is a very useful guide i must say.  . i love theadv mara the most out off all the aliens because of its speed.

[Demolution]

is this the guide for 1.2? or 1.1? but it is a very useful guide i must say.  . i love theadv mara the most out off all the aliens because of its speed.

It's for both, as there are places where things that differ from each version are noted.

Venkman: Can you add a note in the base raiding section that the marauder's zap is only highly effective vs. buildings in 1.2?

[Venkman]

is this the guide for 1.2? or 1.1? but it is a very useful guide i must say.  . i love theadv mara the most out off all the aliens because of its speed.

It's for both, as there are places where things that differ from each version are noted.

Venkman: Can you add a note in the base raiding section that the marauder's zap is only highly effective vs. buildings in 1.2?

@Demolution: Sure thing. And thank you for answering Fuego's question and your help with everything else. I might just add a note in the guide's title specifying it's for both 1.1 and 1.2.

@Fuego: I'm glad you found the guide useful. Hearing that makes me glad I put it together. And yeah, even though I'm Gooning a lot more these days, Adv. Mara will always be my first love.

[Venkman]

Apologies for the BUMP. I just finally started playing 1.2 for real and felt compelled to edit the guide. For those who care but don't feel like scrolling through, here's what I've added so far:

*1.1 Mara is NOT a Kill-Whore*

(EDIT[August 7th, 2010]:
So when I wrote that last bit, I hadn't played much 1.2 Mara and had relied mainly on other people's impute when it came to the subject. Now, having clocked enough hours on 1.2 that I couldn't even imagine going back to 1.1, I feel compelled to correct certain portions of my Mara guide. Starting with this...

*A Good 1.2 Mara CAN Pown Harder Than Any Dragoon*

Props to Conzul who tried to explain this to me before I had ever bothered to find out for myself and a big sloppy wet thank you to the Devs for fine tuning my favorite class. Despite what you might have read on the forum, 1.2 Aliens are AWESOME and the new Adv. Mara is a Flying Lawnmower of Death to any noob that isn't smart enough to run when they see one coming.)

[Conzul]

the new Adv. Mara is a Flying Lawnmower of Death

+1

[Venkman]

Sorry about the necro, guys. I just wanted to bump my guide real quick because I finally have some spare time to devote to this thing and I'd really like to update it for 1.2's quicker deadlier Mara.

Hopefully, you'll see some updates soon but for now I'd just like to tell all those players who provided such great info and feedback for the 1.1 guide to feel free to send any notes on 1.2 Mara that you might already have.

There's a LOT I want to add but some of the basic additions will be:

-How to Approach (number of humans/ stage/ weapon)

-How to Coordinate a Zap-Rush

-How to Assist Goons, Rants
[This will be a big part, considering that Mara is essentially an assist-class and also the 1.2 Mara's more fluid movements/ smaller model allows for the class to now follow or lead without too much potential blocking.]

Please feel free to post any more notes or advice that you might have here (or just PM if it's a lot.)

[SirDude]

you say you should run when you see a chain suit and that is true, but want to know can be even MORE deadly? someone with a lassgun, helm, and good aim. reloading isn't a issue, it has perfect accuracy at any range, and if they have a helm they cant really be ambushed.

also, fear humans who get good with a high mouse sensitivity, as if they learn how,they can spin around even some of the best maras with out having to relay on dodge and spring, that paired with a lassgun, makes for a mara eater...

[Meisseli]

you say you should run when you see a chain suit and that is true, but want to know can be even MORE deadly? someone with a lassgun, helm, and good aim. reloading isn't a issue, it has perfect accuracy at any range, and if they have a helm they cant really be ambushed.

also, fear humans who get good with a high mouse sensitivity, as if they learn how,they can spin around even some of the best maras with out having to relay on dodge and spring, that paired with a lassgun, makes for a mara eater...

Not really, chain suit, and chain gun in general is far worse of an enemy for a marauder than a lasgunner. A chaingun's damage per second is twice the lasgun's and doesn't need reload either.

I also find mass driver be a more of a threat than a lasgun though lasgun works fine in killing marauders too.

[SirDude]

the thing is tho is that a lassgun has perfect accuracy, meaning it can get you from any range and that can make running away harder, and it still can dish-out more damage then a chaingun if more shots hit overall as the chaingun bad accuracy.

[Tremulant]

A well aimed chaingun when you're not expecting it can drain your health so rapidly that there's no time to distance yourself from the thing.

[F50]

True, but chainguns are dangerous to any alien class. Lasguns are almost as dangerous as chainguns, but its not obvious.

[Celestial_Rage]

Lasgun requires constant aim. While they are deadly in those with impeccable aim, chainguns are fairly deadly no matter the aim (well, reasonable aim).

[SirDude]

but with aim like that is a double sided blade, not everyone can do it but those who can are far more deadly with a lssgun then with a chain gun.

[Dracone]

Nope.

I'm finding it pretty crazy that you, some guy who claims that he loves to dodge, would be so in love with a weapon of range. It says that you clearly have no clue about how chaingun is, disregarding ammo limitations, pretty much more efficient than any other weapon if you know how to dodge, since the lack of range loses prominence when the aliens can't hit you up close anyways.

I tend to chaingun marauders in between 3 and 4 seconds if they try to engage me and don't get out within the first 1 1/2 seconds. Just try and give me some legit names who do that with lasgun damn near every time.

[Venkman]

I have some field-result numbers pertaining to the "chaingun or lasgun; the better Mara-killer" debate. Keep in mind that, since the last GPP update, I've been playing almost exclusively as Mara in the hopes of getting the 1.2 guide going.
So, in 54 hours of me playing as Aliens, the weapons that killed me the most were...

Weapon | Deaths
Chaingun | 218
Lasgun | 172

Now, that's not to say that I'm the most efficient example of how to play as Mara or anything, but I have been playing the class long enough to know when and how to retreat. And when I do get caught by a human who has a long enough line of sight on me and a good enough aim to predict my movements, I've found that the chaingun is much better at actually killing me before I can round a corner where as I'll usually make it to safety before a lasgun can get those last 15 or so HP off me.

Still, those death-tolls ARE pretty close.

[jez]

Interesting. Probably should also to take into account total usage of those two weapons. A better statistic to compare might be ratio of total kills to mara kills for the two weapons (still making a lot of assumptions of course...).

http://tremulous.net/forum/index.php?topic=14028.0 for weapon usage:

55349   = Total LASGUN kills
42103   = Total CHAINGUN kills

[venkman chaingun deaths]/[total chaingun kills]    = 5.2e-3
[venkman lasgun deaths]/[total lasgun kills]       = 3.1e-3

So basically, as lasgun seems to be more widely used than the chaingun, its all the more interesting that you're experiencing more chaingun deaths.

[SirDude]

what the user is wear also plays a a key roll.

a chain suit may be able to take more damage and and dish more out a close range, but he is prone to be ambushed and is easier to run away from and range is a bad problem for it, while someone with a lassgun bpack and helm, can't be ambush effectively and has a godlike range and he can crouch, and i find that to be very useful in general and at not getting bit in the head from maras.

Nope.

I'm finding it pretty crazy that you, some guy who claims that he loves to dodge, would be so in love with a weapon of range. It says that you clearly have no clue about how chaingun is, disregarding ammo limitations, pretty much more efficient than any other weapon if you know how to dodge, since the lack of range loses prominence when the aliens can't hit you up close anyways.

I tend to chaingun marauders in between 3 and 4 seconds if they try to engage me and don't get out within the first 1 1/2 seconds. Just try and give me some legit names who do that with lasgun damn near every time.

so i cant cant be good at dodging and like the lassgun? its not like is a this or that choice.

for the chain accuracy deal i see your point but your giving the aliens a major advantage, your giving him close range, that's what alien specialize on so if you mess up or he corners you with pounce or trample, your going to die and i bet when/if you used your medon top of that he has a better chance to runaway then you.