I am doing this because unfortunately camping leads to harrasment and deconning (don't forget subsequent weekly bans) and I'm tired of angryness. Games are for having fun, not to harass and hurt each other. Hope it helps.
Well, I admit, I'm doing this guide mainly to help aliens defeating those annoying campers that clump in their own base, but it maybe warns human players about the dangers of camping, even if it's well done. So I'll start.
CAMPERS: TYPES AND HOW TO DEFEAT.
Camping, camping, camping... not all the types of camping are the same and not all are even noticed. Camping a bit may make the game a bit more funny (empty bases are ridiculously weak against 3-4 opponents). Often humans are the camping team, but I've also seen a few camper alien teams (I think it's not necessary to cover that). There is a *sane* camping, but only for the humans. Alien team is better at taking ground than at holding it, and humans aren't very prompt to control waste areas as aliens do, as in most games, 80 or more percent of the map is controlled by two killwhoring dragoons, so humans think they are forced to camp. I consider it a defeatist tactique, when having in mind human groups are a lot stronger than an human alone, when alien groups are often only a bit stronger than aliens alone, particularly big aliens.
Better explained (taking 1 human as reference unit): 1 dragoon = 3 (eg), 2 dragoons = 4, 3 dragoons = 5, so higher number of dragoons reduces so much the power of the individual dragoon. Supposing those numbers are real (of course individual skill affects it), 1 dragoon alone "has" a value of 3, but a dragoon in a group of 3 only has a value of 1.4. The reason for this is that big aliens tend to bleed and block each other. In counterpart, humans aren't so prompt to disturb each other, so 2 humans = 2 (not a joke), 3 humans = 4, 4 humans = 5.5 and 10 humans = 18. Watch the increase. A human alone worths 1, but if 4 humans go together each individual has a value of nearly 1.4, meaning it is nearly equivalent to a dragoon in a group of 3. This doesn't mean that teamwork is bad for aliens, only going together is. A group of 3 dragoons, if well distributed, may easily neutralise 15 humans, so there the value of each is increased to 5. (this numbers are approximative, so this is not a dogma)
Notice that at S1, humans are slightly weaker than aliens, at S2 both teams are almost the same and at S3 humans are a little bit stronger than aliens.
But this is not only a math question, some strategies should be forged to counter the camper wall. I mainly distinguish the following ways of camping.
- EARLY BASE TRENCHING
Most probably the silliest move the human team can do. It often begins with a very early human rush. If dretches start holding the attacks without having too many losses, humans may get discouraged, make their base a poorly built turret farm and leaving all the map for aliens. Humans will have a little piece of ground and, as aliens are surrounding them, they can't backup. It gets progressively easier to defeat humans as there are more players on the server, and over time (NOT STAGE!!). 1 alien can't win against 1 retcamper. 20 aliens will smash 20 retcampers. A good basi has to fend off any escaping human, as they may try to flee with a ckit. Dispatch turrets first, and as alien's wallet will be full, don't worry about dying. Dragoons are great against defenses and camping humans, while I prefer marauders to finish off the remainders of the base once dragoons start spawncamping the remaining nodes. Kill those and campers have been powned.
- LATE BASE TRENCHING
Main motto of this guide. Most deconners start deconning when this happens, harassment and bans are too common.
This move is very silly too. Often it begins with a mid-game human rush. Since humans will most probably be S2 or S3, they don't get discouraged as fast. They will keep rushing, but all their tries will be futile, as long as aliens control the 75 or more percent of the map. Long waits favor aliens. Humans are impatient. Not like aliens. You can wait hidden somewhere then attack humans by their back. Later, humans may discourage, and start camping in game end (eg in minute 21). Here enters the same factor than in all camps, but for a different reason: both teams are S3 Here also enters one of my favourite and most smashing tactics: the barb hail. If aliens have enough players, 8 or more of them should evolve to adv.dragoon. Send them in the human base in a way they enter simultaneously by all entrances. As humans are camping, there is no danger of getting hurt/killed in your path to human base. Spam barbs against armory, medi, and if some barbs haven't been spent yet, dispatch turrets. LEAVE RC STILL, since it can be fastly rebuilt (remember 1.2 BP queue?) and nodes, because the other aliens will end the work. Those should have evolved to (adv)maras but 2 brutes. If snipers have dead, leave them still. They weakened human base so much that it will be impossible for them to recover under mara pressure. Brutes should take out any armored human, while maras head for RC (now yes, to prevent human re-arming). Leave still any reactor rebuilding trial if any. It will be useless, since aliens will have won before it completes. Kill nodes and you are ready to play next map. A basi should cut any escaping human's trajectory again, priorly if he wears a ckit.
- TURRET REPLACEMENT CAMPING
This, unlike the previous camper profiles, may either be a very smart move or a complete dumbness. There is no middle ground. Turrets are replaced by camping humans (most commonly chainsuits) by the desire of freeing BP from turret. It's a good move (I've done it some times of the rare ones I play human) as long as build points are spent in armories and telenodes, and a completely dumbness when spent in teslas (however I'd put 1 tesla in front of reactor, you will see why), since those are weaker than turrets (in SD). The tactique I recommend here is the barb hail again, this time against reactor, as it can't be rebuilt in SD. If SD hasn't begun yet, annoy humans with small zap rushlets until it begins and then hail the reactor. A tesla in front of reactor will be a problem (nothing unsalvable), because tesla hitbox is so tall that will most times "meatshield" the reactor. Remember that buildings are solid even a few seconds after they have been destroyed (not much, but enough to let humans kill the snipers). Once RC has been destroyed, camp on your own base, wait the great bang of unpowered human structures and kill any remaining humans. If you can't barb hail the reactor, I'd recommend a zap rush. Chainguns are not very accurate at long range, so maras will dodge "some" shots, unlike brutes that eat them all. Center on telenodes, then armory (CLAW THE ARMORY, NO MATTER IF YOU DIE, IT'S FASTER!!!). Enjoy next game.
- DEFENSE REINFORCEMENT CAMPING
This is a smart move. It's not strictly a camping, and most times isn't even noticed, but it makes hard for aliens to rush anything. The games it gives are often very enjoyable, and very long, but if aliens can handle it properly, they will end up winning. It's often started by good human teams when aliens start getting tempted to rush. It consists on 2 or 3 hummies camping with MD/Lasgun (maybe prifle). This doesn't mean humans aren't going to fight. Most times the rest of the human team is constantly threatening your base. The reason I mention it is because it may degenerate into a late base trenching, ruining all the game and "forcing" people to disconnect or get bored/angry/rage. Treat it as an undefended base, but be very careful not to get killed (may motive a massive human rush). Lightning zap will work excellently here, as well as psychologic warfare.
- RANDOM (terror) CAMPING
Silly move. I call it "random" because it has no convincent reason to perform like this. This is the most defeatist thing I can imagine in Tremulous. Most times it is done because aliens got S2 (albeit humans are often about to). I'd rush, or try to kill a basilisk/marauder to get S2 weapons, rather than camping for the same purpose. Treat the bases as the early base trenching ones, having in mind the ones here tend to be better built. Psycologic warfare will work here excellently, as humans are usually terrified rather than discouraged. Increase their fear, and it often will become panic, and then they will greatly contribute to destroy their base. Panicky humans tend to defend with inappropiate weapons, such as flamer (if humans got S2 and are still terrified), painsaw or shotgun. Zap rush, because lightnings flash human eyes and are a lot more frightening than a barb that sometimes isn't even seen. If you fail at rush, prepare to hold your base, as terrified humans will take vengeance at all costs. Try not to get killed, because humans may stop panic and organise a good defense.
OhNo! The rush has failed! What can we do?
It depends of three things: the type of camping, the state of human base and how full is your mates' frag wallet.
If it was a trenchier camping, keep rushing until you have less than 3 frags. Humans won't probably try to rush in brief, but still be prepared for an eventual rush. If it is SD, keep a small detachment to hold the OM and eggs, but keep rushing. If RC is down in SD, just wait for boom.
But if it was a defense reinforcement or random, only keep rushing if the human base was about to be cleaned or you have an impressive wallet. Be always prepared for human vengeance tries, and hold your base by early repulsing any rush. Keep a marauder prowling around to warn mates about forming rushes and any strange human move.
In the next post (will be edited soon) I'll show some bases that are not for camping or directly human horrible spots anyway (and are used sometimes of course)
See ya soon! (aliens, remember humans may get smarter by reading this, so keep varying slightly this strategies)
GLOSSARY(tactiques I developed/improved)
Barb hail: Smashing tactic, most powerful during SD or against high BP/HP buildings. Cannot be performed until aliens get advaced dragoons. Consists on >8 dragoons shooting their barbs from everywhere at the same time and target. Nothing can resist that power (more than 2000 damage in less than 4 seconds).
Lightning zap: Spectacular tactic. Cannot be performed until AS2. Variant of the classical zap rush, but unlike it, >6 maras fly around very quickly in different directions and trajectories, zapping once and healing. Smashing against clustered bases, although it's main finality is to confuse both campers and turrets.
Psycological warfare: Chosing tactics for retinal effect/short term memory rather than power. E.g, succesive light rushes, fake unorganisation, single-class palying then rushing with another, playing with opponent's fear...
