now, on that logic, would you not think that using the mara and discovering what kinds of erratic movement works best at breaking aim would also help a rant to some extent?
Not really, keeping your charge up and having the balls not to run from the fight when you're getting low(only running if you've got plenty of health, otherwise you're better off either faking and turning back to deliver your charge or just staying and fighting up close) have nothing to do with mara skills, of course timing your slashes is a standard transferable skill for most aliens, but that wasn't the point.
on that token, why would getting good with a mara not help you as rant?
because they have very little in common, i can't skip around, climb a wall and run like fuck without getting chased down when using a rant(partly because i'm a terrible rant).
again, you are dealing with class specifics, the kind of thing you practice to adjust to. aiming and slashing is fairly similar for all classes above dretch.both mara and rant are capable of good speed and fairly quick direction changes. yes, in different ways, but the basics are still the same.
let's say i dont know how to play either mara or rant at all. if i learn mara, i lean how to bounce around and zig-zag dodge. with rant i have to learn how much i can tank, when to use charge as transportation rather than an attack, and how to move so that i am not always taking damage.
with both i learn about aiming and timing swipes. with both i learn how to gauge distance for attacks. the basics.
when someone asks me "how do i play aliens" i dont try to tell them about class strategies and such, i want to give them a good grasp on the basics first. i, personally, feel that you can learn the basics as any class.
again, i agree with vape. the biggest part of any fps is muscle memory - aim. no matter what you learn to aim with,your aim will not magically evaporate when you switch classes.