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newbie question - marines on ground


Gustavo
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hi again, I'm about to drop my marines on surface. I'm going to use the tips on page 58 of TFM. But I have some questions:

1 - I'm not going to transport them, I want them going by SC/OC. So... Where should I allocate them? To the SC, OC or both?

2 - Once on the surface, Will them leave the SC or OC automatically and SAD?

3 - Is there any way to give them any kind of order like halt, SAD or whatever?

4 - I'm using the same questions 2 and 3 form my OC's.

5 - If I attack a planet like earth with A LOT of bases, will that bases send troops or fighters against me? Because if they will, I'm not going to drop my marines to get a starbase and than to have them killed by the troops of another starbase on the vicinities.

thanks for helping.

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1: Your choice. You have to give the order to deploy them from the SC or OC to get them out, though. I believe that the deploy order completely empties the vehicle, so keep in mind if you're planning to dust-off with the shuttle, it won't have a pilot in it if you deploy.

2: They should. I've noticed they won't always. If you haven't "Prepped them for combat" in Tactical first, they'll go into "Hold" orders, since they don't have any ammo.

3: Individually you can order marines by clicking on them in TacOps. As a Group, the manual states that you can set waypoints for Transporter or SC/OC deployed teams, but I haven't figured out how yet.

4: Err... What? Same questions, same answers I guess.

5: Ground radar range is 250 klicks, on average. If they can see you, they may attack you. Ground units will take a while to get there, but you can expect heavy air resistance from enemy bases to arrive within minutes of you hitting an enemy base.

In my opinion, hitting a ground base using marines from orbit is one of the most challenging things you can do in BCM. It's going to take practice, and your troops will die a lot.

A good way to get your feet wet without too much risk is to nuke most of a base from orbit, and then follow up with troops. The remainder of a base after and OTS strike shouldn't be too difficult to take out, but you will take losses. If you've got fighters, have them patrol the air near the base. That should keep fighters from nearby bases from attacking your ground forces, but again, you're going to take losses.

[ 12-20-2001: Message edited by: Badgerius ]

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Do me a favor and let me know how it all works out. I have not yet tried any real type of invasion dealing with ground troops, and would love to know how it turns out for you. I am planing to attack a small naval unit this weekend.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've found beaming down marines to be almost useless unless you land them _very_ close to some hostiles and issue the SAD command. Otherwise, they tend to stand around motionless (this is after being "prepped").

Also,unfortunately, trying to beam them back up seems to force a quit to Windows most of the time (I'd be interested to know if anyone else has had this problem).

I've taken to ignoring marine assaults entirely and just concentrating on OTS, atmospheric, and first-person strikes.

-S

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quote:


Originally posted by Snark:

I've found beaming down marines to be almost useless unless you land them _very_ close to some hostiles and issue the SAD command. Otherwise, they tend to stand around motionless (this is after being "prepped").

-S


They are not super human - and I've mentioned this before. If the enemy is not within range, they won't do anything. The same works for the enemy. This is not some game which tosses out enemies based on some scripted trigger. There is real AI at work and they're not stupid. If you drop your marines out of range of the enemy, as in most tactical games, you have to then give them marching orders or direct orders (SAD, strike etc).

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quote:

Originally posted by Gustavo:

BTW, is there any special planet or moon with few bases where I can practice a little?

thanks for helping : )

I am a complete newbie myself. I've been targeting an Insurgence base on Mars. I deploy all of my Marines teams in OCs, with 4 L Fighters flying SEAD and 4 remaining fighters flying CAP. All 12 craft make planetfall at the same waypoint and then split up to their targets (never more than two ie one primary and one secondary). Sometimes I try to use my CC to fly high CAP, ie I will make planetfall about 10 miles away and target the enemy aircraft myself. Haven't tried OTS or figured out how to assigni my Marines to teams yet, since my focus on the game has been space combat. One important factor is that the NPCs will only due what they are told, specific actions at specific waypoints. The last strike took my twenty minutes to plan and was over in five. My Tac Ops screen looked like a plate of noodles b/c I had 50 waypoints on it.

[ 01-01-2002: Message edited by: Bringram ]

[ 01-01-2002: Message edited by: Bringram ]

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Gustavo,

2nd Lieuntenant JJ here nice to meet you. I can see your into waging ground combat...i have a proposition for you...you want some real hot multiplayer action...how about joining the 22nd IMB of the best damned fleet there is..ORION

pm me or nova, or silk, hell private message anybody in Orion if your interested.

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What about just taking your CC down onto the planet and dealing with the base personally?

Just fly your heavy cruiser into the atmosphere and strafe the thing with some real firepower. Then let your marines pose infront of the burning rubble and make postcards.

Can you pick up salvage from surface bases?

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quote:

What about just taking your CC down onto the planet and dealing with the base personally?

Just fly your heavy cruiser into the atmosphere and strafe the thing with some real firepower. Then let your marines pose infront of the burning rubble and make postcards

I tried that and got my *ss shot off. Although, I haven't gotten to the point where I can use OTS, or tried to do it cloaked the whole time.

Come to think about it, I am a heartless bastard and wouldn't care if my crew glowed in the dark afterwards.

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Ok guys, I have tried to destroy some ground buldings using my marines and OC's. Now I have some problems here......

1 - Are my OC's INSIDE my SC's? How can I check this? I'm asking because I set waypoints for my SC's to "deploy veichles". But my OC's wasn't deployed. In TACOPS I can see that they have "green squares" instead of "white squares".

what is going wrong so?

2 - Does SAD command for OC's and Marines mean that they will attack ANYTHING (i.e. bulding, veichles, marines, etc...) aorund? Asking because I transported them in the middle of the enemy base and they did nothing until I ordered them to (one by one - How to command them as a group?)

3 - I noticed that you can create waypoints for OC's too. IF my OC's are inside the SC's, Where do I have to create waypoints for OC's? Maybe near the SC "deploy veichle" waypoint?

4 - Can I capture the base to me (command carrer).

and, uffa, finally

5 - Do I need to be in orbit (or very near the planet) to launch a OTS missle?

BTW, It was a greate experience to me to transport myself down and fight with my marines. I disabled some missles lauchers and buldings. When I noticed that my OC's weren't around and my marines were all dead I beamed up myself because, you know, I'm not that fool. ; ).

Thanks guys : )

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First things first Gustavo, if you haven't registered your copy go and do it now or you can't expect any support.

If you have registered add your system profile info to your sig (as told in the link here)and you'll get support. Hope I can help you as soon as you got it done

Edit: I saw above that you had your system profile in your sig, where did it go? Try to fix it as soon as possible to avoid misunderstanding.

Anyway, I think it's alright to try to answer some of your qustions.

quote:


1 - Are my OC's INSIDE my SC's?

They should be, if you haven't taken them away, which leads to next question

quote:


How can I check this?

Go to tactical computer -> loadout -> SC# -> cargo, and you should see if you have OC loaded in SC

quote:


I'm asking because I set waypoints for my SC's to "deploy veichles". But my OC's wasn't deployed. In TACOPS I can see that they have "green squares" instead of "white squares".

what is going wrong so?


If you have OC loaded in SC, then it should work and SC deploys OC. Try adding 1st waypoint as "proceed to next and 2nd "deploy vehicle". And of course you should have assigned marines to OC too, but that you knew already, right? (light green = crew in the vehicle, dark green = no crew in the vehicle)

quote:


2 - Does SAD command for OC's and Marines mean that they will attack ANYTHING (i.e. bulding, veichles, marines, etc...) aorund? Asking because I transported them in the middle of the enemy base and they did nothing until I ordered them to (one by one - How to command them as a group?)

You can't give group orders to marines

quote:


3 - I noticed that you can create waypoints for OC's too. IF my OC's are inside the SC's, Where do I have to create waypoints for OC's? Maybe near the SC "deploy veichle" waypoint?

Anywhere in the visibility of deployed place

quote:


4 - Can I capture the base to me (command carrer).

StarStations, yes, Space Stations, no.

quote:


and, uffa, finally

5 - Do I need to be in orbit (or very near the planet) to launch a OTS missle?


No, but nearer the better. It takes time for missile to fly to planet atmosphere.

[ 01-04-2002: Message edited by: Papi ]

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SmileyMan's generic Starbase destruction procedure (assumes you have a Heavy Carrier):

1. Beam your 5 EF marines directly into the middle of the base with SEAD orders. They will take out the SAMs and SALs so your fighters don't get creamed. Prep your 10 MI marines for combat, and get your 5 SF marines on duty.

2. Once the EF marines have taken out some enemy air defences, launch two of your fighters with a ring of waypoints around the base, and SAD orders. Launch the other two with escort orders for the first two.

3. Order your EF marines outside the base perimeter. The mobile forces from the base will follow them to engage. Beam down all 10 MI marines behind the enemy forces for a pincer movement. At this point you might wish you had a faster PC . Extract the EF marines and get them to medibay if they need it.

4. Once your MI marines have destroyed the mobile enemy forces, extract any injured ones, and send the rest back into the base with strike orders on any remaining enemy air defences.

5. When the air defences are down, fly your carrier in there with the PTA on about 30% (so that you can hit the small, fast enemy targets). Personally, I like to give the A/P orders to Fly To one of my fighters, then decouple the IOD and try to hit targets on the base with the main guns. The Fly To order makes your carrier dodge far better than you ever could.

6. Once the enemy base is totalled, fly out of the atmosphere, recall your fighters and evac your marines. Then go look see how much experience you got. Should be lots!

I tried base attacks about ten times in the TA commander scenario until I got good at it. It needs lots of practice. My approach is a bit like playing an RTS game. FPS fans might like to beam down with the EF marines (you will die!) or the MI marines (you will probably die) or after the MI marines have taken out the enemy mobiles (you might die). Battlezone fans might like to land themselves in an OC some way from the base, and get into the action after the EF marines have done their SEAD work (or else your shuttle will get shot down with you and your OC in it). Remember that in first person you can get to Tacops with Alt+S, so you can still order down your fighters/carrier for support. Beam down with the EF guys on top of a structure, snipe from there and order all four fighters to escort your ass!

This is one of my favourite ways to play the game, but a word of warning - do not do this with your long standing commander career until you have practiced.

Cheers,

Smiley

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Wow, thanks for the tips Smileyman! I think I will try your method a few times today. One question though, how did you set the marines to SEAD? Did you do it by selecting each of them individually after they had landed?

Also, might it be better to do the initial attack with MI marines, since they have rocket launchers which may help destroy air defenses faster.

I tried my first base assault last night and I swear I could hear circus music playing in the background. My roommate and I dubbed it the 'Moron Invasion'. My (prepped) marine force just stood there while the enemy marine force stood there watching them a number of yards away. Periodically, the enemy marines would shoot at my marines and kill them, and my marines would point their guns threateningly but rarely fire (and never move). The few times they did fire, they didn't even come close to hitting.

Luckily, my commander was wearing the one ring. Well, at least it seemed that way as I ran right up to all of the enemy marines and mowed them all down eventually with my wristlaser.

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You do have to give them all orders individually, which is where the "HOLD" button in TacOps really comes into its own. This stops AI updates so you can give all the marines orders at once.

I find the EF marines have a much better survivability rate than the MI marines for the initial SEAD assault. Just make sure that once they have taken out some of the SALs that you get the fighters in there for air cover.

Another fun thing to do, which might work for the non-carrier commanders out there, is to beam down all ground capable marines some way outside the base, then set two MI marines to escort each EF marine and give the EF marines individual targets inside the base. You need to micromanage like hell, but you might come out of it with all the marines alive, and no need for fighter cover. Or more likely with everyone dead.

But generally, the key to my approach is the use of a balance of the forces you have, except that I don't use OCs because I never have anyone with a high enough AI to drive them in combat!

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Ahhh, and here all along I thought the 'hold' button stopped the tactical screen updating, and not actual 'real world' updates. (I thought that it made everything on tacops hold still, so that I could select them easily when they were actually still running around as usual. That way, you could actually select a fighter instead of having to click just on the right spot at the right time)

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quote:

Originally posted by SmileyMan:

SmileyMan's generic Starbase destruction procedure (assumes you have a Heavy Carrier):

1. Beam your 5 EF marines directly into the middle of the base with SEAD orders. They will take out the SAMs and SALs so your fighters don't get creamed. Prep your 10 MI marines for combat, and get your 5 SF marines on duty.


This is a bit of a newbie question, but then, I picked the right forum for it.

In the tac ops screen with the transporter mode open, I can never get the "setpos" button to light up. There are marines placed in my transporter (perscann shows they are there), and I'm zoomed in far enough to place normal waypoints on the planet surface. What am I doing wrong?

Another question: I can purchase ground weapons and armor at space stations, but how do I equip myself with them? I go to the loadout screen for the crew members, but I don't seem to be able to alter their equipment. I suspect this is an unsupported feature at this time.

[ 01-04-2002: Message edited by: Geldonyetich ]

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I managed to use the setpos comand this time. I suspect what the cause of my original problems was that my marines needed to be prepped for combat, first.

If I'm correct and that was indeed the cause, I think ideally BCM should either inform you they still need to be prepped or the Marines should prep themselves before going to the transporter.

I'm still not cirtain how (if possible) to equip different personal weapons while onboard the CC.

[ 01-05-2002: Message edited by: Geldonyetich ]

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This has got to be because of a bonehead mistake but I have to ask. I followed SmileyMan's instructions for base destruction. The only problem is once my EFMs are on the ground I click on each one, click on (left click I think) "supress enemy air defense" and they just stand there like a bunch of idiots. Has anyone else seen this? It's not the AI 'cause I tried it again after using the playmod cheat for AI. On the other hand I used a super carrier and launched all my fighters and they did pretty well.

Only one fighter damaged, base 50% destroyed

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quote:


Originally posted by Bringram:

This has got to be because of a bonehead mistake but I have to ask. I followed SmileyMan's instructions for base destruction. The only problem is once my EFMs are on the ground I click on each one, click on (left click I think) "supress enemy air defense" and they just stand there like a bunch of idiots. Has anyone else seen this? It's not the AI 'cause I tried it again after using the playmod cheat for AI. On the other hand I used a super carrier and launched all my fighters and they did pretty well.

Only one fighter damaged, base 50% destroyed


1. If they don't have the proper weapons, they won't engage.

2. If they don't detect any SEAD (you DO know what those targets are, right?) units, they won't engage. When in doubt, use SAD (assuming #1 is satisfied)

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Thanks SC. Yeah I do know what the SEAD targets are. I'll try just using SAD. Haven't had a chance to try it yet since I've been messing with the patch. BTW Thanks very much for all the hard work you've put into this. I am very green in this game but I won't be for long, it's too addictive.

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quote:

Originally posted by Papi:

First things first Gustavo, if you haven't registered your copy go and do it now or you can't expect any support.

If you have registered add your system profile info to your sig (as told in the
)and you'll get support. Hope I can help you as soon as you got it done

Edit: I saw above that you had your system profile in your sig, where did it go? Try to fix it as soon as possible to avoid misunderstanding.

Anyway, I think it's alright to try to answer some of your qustions.

No, but nearer the better. It takes time for missile to fly to planet atmosphere.

[ 01-04-2002: Message edited by: Papi ]

Ok, thanks for information. I don't understand why I have to register again (I have to register to post anything here, right?). But that's ok. I did it again. I really don't know if I did it correctly.

BTW, I has been thinking over and I will try a strategy. It's crazy, but I will try. Here is the plan:

We know that if the marines don't see you, they will not attack you, right? And it's easy locate the Air defenses from TACOPS, right?

So, I'm going to beam down my AE near the EAD and shoot them until destroy them (need just some good shots). When I finish with one, I will beam up my AE again and then, beam down near another EAD. I'll keep doing this util all EAD will be destroyed. If I survive this, It will be easy to destroy all the base without many losses.

I will keep you informed (if I survive)

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