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| Strategy Tips |
| A new strategy is invented with each game of LSN. The
map plays a crucial role in the choice of strategy no matter which
race you are. As you can only play marines as an unsubscribed player, I shall focus on Marine strategy. This page contains some uses for each units and some general tips on how to use them, and when. The other section, which is called More Tips, consist of some more general advice that could be applied for all races. |
| In General |
| Marines aren't that tough. They die easilly from anything
that hits them. It could be a brick falling from a roof (however,
there are no roofs in LSN), or the flesh ripping bite of a Drone mindlessly
serving the greater collective. When a Marine gets hurt, it means he is less of an asset for you. It is alright for Marines to get hurt sometimes, but they shouldn't stay hurt. Always bring at least two medics to heal them up. Losing your medics can mean the end of you if the fight is long drawn. The same thing goes for ammunition. Marines will empty their loads fast, especially Grenadiers. Bring a Headquarters (HQ) when you deploy. Hide it well, because it'll have to last the entire game. Don't bring two unless you think you'll really need them. |
The HQ |
|
The HQ just being an HQ sitting in the middle of nowhere in a plain
of absolute nothingness is of course completely useless. However,
when paired up with some Marines, it can actually reload them. The
HQ is therefore very important for Marines. When deploying the HQ
make sure you don't put it too much in the open. Remember that certain
walls can be shot down, so take that into account when you deploy
it. You don't want the HQ to be destroyed by an enemy sniper early
in the game. |
The Commander |
| The Commander is a nice guy to have around.
He costs 3 FP, but it's worth it. He does very high damage and can
shoot through walls. Typically you want to have Commanders when facing Machina. Grunts will barely scratch AI:s or Missile Tanks, unless you have tons of Grunts. Commanders are also somewhat tougher and can survive a grazing shot. Their ability to shoot down walls should not be neglected. Your enemy will most likely concentrate on the pre-made attack paths. With the Commander you can shoot up some holes in a building and totally take someone by suprise. If you spot a cluster of units or a lone unit, it can be worth it to blast down a few walls and shoot them in the back. This does of course not mean that you shall only bring your Commander along, but other units can accompany the Commander when he blasts his way to unknown territory. Against Spawn, Commanders tend to be a bit slow firing. They still do high damage and can be good at taking out Splatters and such If you suspect you are facing Spawn, you should keep 50 - 75% of your Commanders in the jar and take some grunts. Against Greys the Commander can be really good. Never risk your Commander to be killed by Warp Gunners and Psykers. The Commander will make pancakes of Warp Gunner and Psykers if he is allowed to shoot them, he will also kill Sentries easily. Because the Commander is a high risk unit, you should not under any circumstanses put it in a situation where it has a high probability to be killed. Even if a Commander is just wounded with 1/4, and you have a medic nearby, you should heal him up unless it would interfer with the greater plan. |
The Sniper |
| You might easilly get the temptation to
place too many of these on maps with large open areas. Snipers are
good. They can control a whole area of the map by their long vision
and high accuracy. Don't be too drawn into this however. They can
be easily outmanouvered, once smaller units get close enough to be
able to fire, and then they are toast. This can be examplified by a Marine vs. Spawn game, where the Spawn Buzzers are a big threat to unguarded Snipers. A corner dancing Grunt that is within close approximity to the Sniper can also easilly take the Sniper out. About two Snipers can be good (speaking about 20 Force Point games), and reasonable for games with large open spaces. If the map is mainly at close proximities you might not want to get any Snipers at all. As with Commanders, Snipers are good Machina killers. They can strike up quite big holes in the AI:s' armored plating. Snipers can also shoot down walls. Snipers are good against Saucers because they will be able to hit the Saucers without being hit themselves. You should always be careful with Snipers when facing Greys however, because the Sniper might not see units under the Guardian's shield's cloaking cover. One use of this could be to guess where the enemy HQ is and shoot the walls down around that building and have a look inside. Snipers are good at corner dancing if the distance is long. This is because they will be in cover before any shots arrive at them. Read more on corner dancing in the More Tips section. |
The Grenadier |
| The Grenadier is a fabulous Marine unit.
A game without a Grenadier is not a true game. You should consider
to take at least two Grenadiers with you. They have eight grenades, and fire them at a decent rate compared to other units that fire explosive charges (Missile Tank : 5 seconds). The grenades can be bounced off the side of walls, or through windows. The Grenadier himself should not be exposed to enemy fire. You should experiment first with different placements to see if there are other options to get a grenade to the place you want it. When throwing grenades, remember that they have to travel quite a bit before they explode. If an enemy is on the move, he is likely to be somewhere else when the grenades explode. A good use of Grenadiers is to anticipate the enemy's position. Grenade blasts might look good, but they do not do any good unless they hurt the enemy, so only fire where you really think he will be! Grenade blasts can be seen through the fog of war. That means that anyone can see a grenade going off (just the blast) regardless of if they have a line of sight to that place or not. This means that throwing a grenade without a sure target might reveal your position and turn the game to the enemy's favor. Grenadiers should be used in cooperation with other units. Grunts should keep the enemy busy, and scout the map ahead of the Grenadier. Grunts can also open doors for the Grenadier just as the grenade passes through it. Another way of cooperating is to use Snipers or Commanders to shoot down walls and throw grenades in where the enemy did not expect it at all. Grenades are good versus all Spawn and Marine units. The only race they might have some troubles with is Machina. You generally need a lot more grenades to kill something that comes from the Machina army than from any other army. However, grenades will still damage Exterminators (The Machina foot soldier) and Hunters (the flying Machina unit) quite a lot. The big units should be dealt with using Commanders or Snipers. Against Greys, the Grenadiers are quite good. You should remember that Guardian shields can bounce grenades away and will soak up the explosive damage. Grenades can be good to kill Regenerators with or Psykers and Warp Gunners hiding in buildings. They are very vulnerable, however, and should be kept out of harm's way as much as possible. Grenadiers can also provide a shield for you to prevent early rushes or to prevent enemy movement in general. Just throw a few out and nothing is likely to dare move there in the next few turns (unless you're facing someone relatively experienced, or if they killed your Grenadier :-)). Grenade blasts can also destroy goo that comes from Spawn Goo Spitters. A few things to remember is that the Grenadier is not 100% accurate. He might shoot his grenade a bit to either side of the line of fire that you provided. This means that the grenades might bounce totally wrong. To compensate for this, try to not shoot all your grenades through tight spaces. Use the test orders button to see how well it works too. |
The Grunt |
| Grunts only cost 1 FP, which is quite good.
They are a bit for throwing away and for doing those risky things
you don't want your Commander to do. They are used for sticking their heads out in the line of fire to check if someone's actually shooting at you. In other words, for scouting. They're also used for corner dancing, which is described in the More Tips section. They can fire ten rounds each turn, and that is a considerable amount for such a weak unit as the Grunt. They aim very bad, however, and do quite low damage. This doesn't mean that the Grunt should never be used to shoot things, however the main killing is done by Grenadiers, Commanders and Snipers. Grunts can be good at killing lone Grenadiers or Snipers when they appear in a situation that allows them to be shot. When playing against Spawn, the Grunt is a must to have. Grunts can shoot a lot and if a Spawn player rushes toward you with all he's got, the Grunts unaccuracy won't matter since if the Grunt doesn't hit the Drone he's aiming at, he's sure going to hit the other Drone running right next to it. When playing Spawn you generally want to clear an area out and take many Grunts put in a tight formation that allows maximum fire rate (usually a diagonal of some sort, or use windows in a building). A Grunt could also be used to protect units like Snipers. Guarding is not a task you want to put a Commander on, he's too valuable. A Grunt however, might be able to scare off some intruders that want to kil your Snipers. Or give you the time to send in reinforcements. As was said earlier, however, Grunts are very good scouts. You could pop a Grunt out behind a corner, and make it hold for 1 second (Press H), then make it go back. Another way is to send a Grunt off with retreat on sighting and hope for the best. This way you might loose the Grunt, but you will know where the enemy is in any case. Grunts can be wasted like this without too much worry, especially if it's at the beginning of the game. Just to find out what race your opponent is. You should always have a Grunt or two around to gather information, or to shoot down unexpected foes. Take as many as you think you might need. Generally three or more is taken. |
The Medic |
| Medics are crucial for the Marines. Marines
get hurt easilly and they need to be able to recharge their health.
Medics are good at this. If you lose your Medics, you'll most likely
have a hard time winning the game. To heal something with a Medic, select the Medic and right click on the damaged unit. You should take one or two Medics. Preferrably two. They should be deployed at the back of the line, but not too unaccessible. They should never be sent to the front to shoot anything, because they are useless at it. The only times Medics should in general be used for fighting is to fend off Spawn invasions. When a unit is damaged, don't bring the Medic all the way to the damaged unit. Bring the hurt unit to the Medic instead, or let them meet up at a safe location. Otherwise you'll just give your opponent the pleasure to kill your hurt unit and the Medic too. |