Thinking of attempting the one shot trophy, need some advice :)

[✚ Mariel ✚]

So I'm thinking of trying to get the one shot trophy for this. I wont be cheesing it or saving my game, just doing it all in one segment, probably steamed on twitch or something

1) Does anyone have any in-depth info on the aliens AI? I'd like to be able to predict it better to minimise bad luck byguessing more accurately where it is going, whether its patrolling randomly, if it has an idea of where I am, if taking it slow will make it more aggressive and home in on me more as if it can smell me or something etc

2) Any advice for particularly difficult segments?

'll be watching a few youtube videos before I even attempt this XD

[☆Heike'sFootSlave™☆]

You could try speedrunning it!
Except 3 or 4 scripted events the Alien is too... Unpredictable!

[Sepp]

Originally posted by Kiri:

2) Any advice for particularly difficult segments?

I found the facehuggers the most annoying threat. You definitely need to know the locations and have your flamethrower ready for them.

[☆Heike'sFootSlave™☆]

Best thing for facehugger is maintenance jack!

SMACK!!! :D

But NEVER if you crouch then flamethrower is better!

[Dayve]

Best tips for one shot:

1. Learn to outpace the alien. It's kind of a trick because the game is supposed to be about hiding and whatnot, but if you are aggressive and you outpace the alien... the alien becomes less aggressive. For example, when you first meet the alien properly during the mission to find the code and keycard for Kuhlman, when the alien comes down from the vent, just keep on truckin' right for the objective. Don't stop, don't hide, just walk to the door, put in the code, go through and keep on walking to the objective. Even on nightmare mode this will make the alien chill out a little. And it works for every mission. Be aggressive and keep on moving to the objective. You get ahead of the alien and he kind of chills out in the vents for a while.

2. Memorize the facehugger locations. Seriously, those things are like mines. They're always in the exact same place on every playthrough and if you step on those mines you're done.

[Shakes]

Originally posted by Dayve:

Memorize the facehugger locations. Seriously, those things are like mines. They're always in the exact same place on every playthrough and if you step on those mines you're done.

And if you can't confirm that they're dead within a couple seconds of hearing them, it's safer to reload your last save because their killing animation is extremely brief.

and don't be like me and run out of flamethrower fuel right before the last two facehuggers in the vents on nightmare, having nothing but shotgun ammo and not playing the game for 6 months afterwards out of fear of fucking it up

[BROOD-SkorpioN]

Originally posted by Kiri:

So I'm thinking of trying to get the one shot trophy for this. I wont be cheesing it or saving my game, just doing it all in one segment, probably steamed on twitch or something

1) Does anyone have any in-depth info on the aliens AI? I'd like to be able to predict it better to minimise bad luck byguessing more accurately where it is going, whether its patrolling randomly, if it has an idea of where I am, if taking it slow will make it more aggressive and home in on me more as if it can smell me or something etc

2) Any advice for particularly difficult segments?

'll be watching a few youtube videos before I even attempt this XD

First of all, let me selute you for going after the One Shot challenge the legit way. You're in for a ton of fun. As for your quesions:

1. For in-depth info on the alien AI, watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt1XmiDwxhY

2. I'm going to go into so in-depth advice assuming you already are experienced enough with the game to know the fundemantals for survival (walking > crouching; cover > lockers, etc'):

First of all, there are some mission-specific parts that you can skip entirely, and by doing so save yourself time and increase your chances of survival. For example: you don't need to read the board in mission 5 in order to find Morley's location and can instead go directly there. Mission 6 has 2 more examples of this: you can avoid Lingard's office completely, and once you reach the main hospital complex, you can go directly to the room with the working joe.

In general, there are several segments that people regard as difficult, but are are actually quite easy for an experienced player. Examples are mission 5 and the nest in mission 14.

You can easily beat mission 5 safely by either exploiting the alien's drop animation and making a run for it towards Morley. You should be able to reach as far as the door that opens the place where he was making his rounds. If you don't want to do that (and choose to go for the fun way), make use of the mission's circular level design and combine it with the motion tracker in order to circle around the alien while making your way to Morley.

The nest in mission 14 is also a lot easier than what most people think. While it has more than one alien, the aliens' spawn times and locations are relatively scripted, so if you time your movement correctly and plan your hiding locations according to those nearly scripted encounters, you should be able to breeze right through that mission.

Three missions you need to look out for: Mission 6 (the alien sometimes doesn't kill the survivors, and it can cause some 'uncomfortable moments' after activating the evacuation procedure); Mission 10 (simply due to the extremely long time during which you'll be dealing with the alien directly); Mission 17 (that last bit when the mission constantly sends you back and forth while being hunted is probably the most challenging bit in the game).

When dealing with the difficult missions, it is important to find a good balance between patience and speed. You don't want to rush into areas too quickly, but you don't want to linger around for too long either, as this will prolong your exposure to the alien and will increase the chance of you making a mistake. The goal should always be to avoid the alien and not hide from it.

A few more general tips:
1. The alien hissing and even fully spotting you is not necessarily game over. If you're near cover and can break line of sight, make use of it.
2. Stun mechanics are life savers. This includes well timed pistol shots at working joes to avoid being caught, and even shotgun/bolt gun shots at the alien just to stop it in its tracks while you break line of sight.
3. As others have mentioned, shooting facehuggers anywhere but the nest tunnels is a waste of ammo (you gotta crouch there). Simply smack them with the maintenance jack.

[✚ Mariel ✚]

Thanks for the good advice! I have the run a go on my xbox 360 since I couldn't use my PC at the time.

I got to the area right after the medbay (forgot the missions number). It's the area where one of the pipes explodes if you get too close to it. I dropped into the area out of the vents, went for the computer, came back out and as I was going down the corridor I heard the alien. Kept on walking and it seemed to be on the other side of the area when I reached the computer room with the keycard thats in the wall safe. Started using the computer to put in the passcode and mr alien drops down in the room right in front of me that I could see through the window

Anyway, nowhere to hide. Try to creep out of the room would either send me towards the exploding pipe or towards the alien and there was nowhere to hide in that room so I crouched and hoped for the best. Mr A came skulking over slowly and eventually came into the room and saw me so that sucked. I had the idea to throw a flare but just before I activated the flare I saw it come and stand right in front of the door, looking at the wall. I decided not to risk throwing a flare incase it turned towards me as I lit the flare, or in case I hit it with the flare while trying to throw it past it, but after several seconds it turned towards me and it was GG. Don't know what I couldve done aside from throwing the flare immediately but im not even sure if it wouldve worked

Doing those 30 boring minutes at the start sucks, I might go again sometime but the thought of repeating the start over and over wears me down just to think about it =_=. I can't believe you would hit a facehugger with a maintenance jack, that's some real stones lol. I usually just torch them, the flamethrower seems like the universal answer to anything alien related once I get it, and the railgun takes care of joes for me. Why risk it when I can just torch them?

I didnt know bullets slow down the alien, it never seemed like it to me. Only thing I found that saves me if I'm spotted by the alien pre flamethrower is pipe bombs. If it's far enough away and I get a direct hit, that usually sends it packing for 15 or so seconds

[Dayve]

They were joking when they said hit facehuggers with the wrench. Although I did accidentally kill one with the stun baton - I raised my gun (I thought it was the flamethrower) but it was the stun baton, and the facehugger lunged at my face and I had no time to react, I just hit it with the stun baton and killed it when it was 1 inch from my face haha.

To be honest you just need to play the game enough to the point that you are confident you can play on nightmare and never die. Took me around 2 playthroughs to get to this point.

[☆Heike'sFootSlave™☆]

Hey @Dayve
That's absolutely NOT a joke!
It's the best way using the maintenance jack to smack it on the facehugger!
Except if you crouch and can't stand up then you don't have the right timing hitting one so you must use flamethrower or shotgun!

And if you speedrun this game you don't have time or even need any ammo you find while running, so the maintenance jack is perfect!

Here:
https://youtu.be/97uktZS57QQ

Go to 1:55:00 and also 1:56:10
First time he missed with shotgun and used the Jack

[✚ Mariel ✚]

well you can drive off Adrian with half a tank of flamethrower and theres tons of tanks of it on the main routes through areas. Quite a lot in each one so just picking them up as you go would net you tons of it, and it's like an Adrian proof shield providing it's not within a metre when you light him up

[☆Heike'sFootSlave™☆]

Originally posted by Kiri:

well you can drive off Adrian with half a tank of flamethrower and theres tons of tanks of it on the main routes through areas. Quite a lot in each one so just picking them up as you go would net you tons of it, and it's like an Adrian proof shield providing it's not within a metre when you light him up

Just related to the difficulty you play!
If you only play nightmare you get nearly nothing!
Map is not working and also the motion trigger is broken (works just a bit)

[✚ Mariel ✚]

ah man, I guess if I ever progress to nightmare I'll have to learn to spank the facehuggers then

[☆Heike'sFootSlave™☆]

Originally posted by Kiri:

ah man, I guess if I ever progress to nightmare I'll have to learn to spank the facehuggers then

Don't worry, it's really easy! Or let me say: It's way easier than it looks or than you think!
If you have the timing the first times, next time you even don't think about it! You hear the facehugger sound and the move comes automatically ;)

[✚ Mariel ✚]

I saw a video of it. It looked pretty funny, but the guy was acid burned? Seems it could be dangerous on nightmare!

[Dayve]

But if you use the wrench to kill facehuggers it's all about timing... if you get the timing wrong you could lose your progress right at the end of the game to a damn facehugger =/

Is it worth the risk!?