copet
1841
My replacement power supply arrived today and is all hooked up, so I’m down for a game tonight! I haven’t played anything in a long time… :)
Killing Floor is out today, so unless it is completely unplayable, that will be what I’m busy with.
Finding a game still isn’t much of an issue. I go on around 10PM-2AM EST every day and I have always some people who want to play or find a game going that I can try to join for a rematch/replace some leavers. At the bare minimum, there’s always enough for a pub smash.
I feel pathetic that I haven’t played a single game of this since my first online one with frank. I can’t get motivated to buy a microphone. Maybe I’ll throw one in my next Newegg order, but I think I’d rather just go shoot things in a public game.
Pogo
1845
Not absolutely necessary to have a mic, depending on the skill level of everyone else. I personally turn off the music so that I can clearly hear when someone just got pounced or smoked. Those things should be second nature at a certain point, since the game gives specific audio clues for those events (hearing one of your teammates yell NOOOOOO!! for example, or hearing the telltale slam of a successful pounce).
copet
1846
It helps to be able to call out when you are pounced or pulled, but other than that you just need 1 teammate shouting orders :O
Even though there are massive audio-visual clues, I always say something when I’m pounced or smoked, even if it is blindingly obvious. I’ve been conditioned by too many experiences where I’ve been ignored when I didn’t think I had to say anything.
I have an extra headset lying around if you want one. It’s a USB Logitech set that’s pretty decent, considering it cost me like $30.
Not necessary to a point, I don’t have a mic, but I flatter myself that I’m a pretty solid player. I know when things happen, and I usually make good choices. Just pick someone and stick to them, and you’ll do fine.
H.
Anyone check out the L4D SDK yet? The tutorials are pretty easy to follow and comprehensive.
Just pick someone and stick to them, and you’ll do fine.
This is typically what I end up doing. I don’t know the maps yet so I just hang back and when I see someone advancing, I follow them. It’s worked out pretty well. I’m OK in a fight so once the action heats up I can contribute.
Pogo
1852
I like the buddy system. The best games are when people instinctively know to stick with a partner. The rear 2 players protect each other, while the front 2 protect each other. Otherwise, you have 2 players run backwards to help some guy that just got pounced at the back of the line, leaving the player in front to deal with new zombies and be open to attack. Unfortunately the latter is exactly what has happened with my teams in the past like 3 games, so I’m taking a break from the ridiculousness.
I say it a lot, but if 3rd watches 4th, and 2nd watches 1st, then it takes a well-coordinated attack to hurt the survivors. 1st needs to move in bursts then wait for 2nd to pass him before going. 4th runs like hell to catch up. 3rd keeps 4th alive. That plus cornering on boom/horde/event, is 97% of survivor.
H.
Pogo
1854
Yeah well, some people just don’t get it. They have to be told each and every time someone is pounced.
copet
1855
I just assume everyone is watching everyone. Sometimes it seems like people have their volume too low and can’t hear the pounces or pulls. Another thing that hurts is when people always have to stop to shoot. If an entire team can move and shoot at opportune times, I think a lot of headway could be made. This includes running backwards to cover teammates and such.
Another good tactics is just to have 1 guy bait everything. If everyone is on top of eachother, boomers get more than 1 person and everyone can get stunned by pounces. One example of this is at the VERY beginning of No Mercy. That first room past the kitchen can be easily done if one person goes in and takes the hits, rather than everyone going through and getting boomed. Cover him and most of the time hunters wont even get a hit off before dying.
Pogo
1856
Indeed, that works as long as 2 of the middlemen don’t get distracted trying to help the guy in that just got smokered in the back… that leaves the point man completely open to a pounce and boom, which is when shit hits the fan for the whole group as the last 3 struggle through waves of zombies and pounces to save the guy in front.
I’m still intrigued by the idea of corner-rushing, but I’ve never gotten a group to pull it off. What if every time you entered a new area, you picked a corner, and everyone rushed to that corner and faced out? Rinse, repeat. If you pick short hops (5 sec. or so) and blocked walls, it would be very, very tough to split the survivors or for hordes to break them up. Ammo might be the deciding factor, but if you could coordinate the corner hopping with a big rush when 3 specials were known to be down, I think it could work.
Except, of course, when there are no corners. :-)
H.
Pogo
1858
I find that’s what pretty much happens automatically, but not every corner is ideal.
Yeah, in a game with really skilled people the infected will all attack together so the survivors’ tactics are basically a binary switch between “huddle in corner to weather zombie horde if boomered” or “sprint like motherfuckers if boomer fails or after fending off a boomer rush”
Trey
1860
Situational awareness is one of the hugest factors in whether you do well as survivor. You HAVE to know, whether by audio/visual clues or by being told, what is going on around you, or else stupid things will happen. You can get by without knowing the maps if you keep aware of your teammates positions and condition and stay alert to things like the sound of a hunter sighting someone or the smoker tongue missing.
Unfortunately infected requires a lot more knowledge of the map, both the survivor’s route and the good spots to ambush them from. As a hunter it helps to know where there are good high spots to pounce from and if you have a pre-calibrated launch angle to some chokepoint, all the better (like I know how to aim for one of the hiding spots on Dead Air 3 crescendo spot, and Dead Air 1 as they come out the windows). As boomer you need to know if there are any good ambush corners ahead, and you have to know which way the survivors are going since as I’m always telling boomers, you want to spawn ahead of them 99% of the time. Survivor doesn’t strictly REQUIRE situational awareness as much, but it is going to help you time your attack if you pay attention to when your teammates are attacking and coordinate, and the better the survivors, the more teamwork is going to be necessary to do any appreciable damage.
