Why does he not shoot ?!

[Msquare]

I've got the ammo, I am pushing, or even beating, the spacebar, and he is getting attacked but no machinegun fire?!

Sometimes I notice he is facing away, and WASD moves, but still no gunfire? I twiddle the WASD and suddenly it works again, so ...

I need a quick fact-list on using the machine gun. (With red ammo)

[Fel]

You need to have your mouse cursor near-ish the enemy you want to fire at, it will then show a red reticule on the ground under the target and the space bar will allow you to fire on it.

It's only the weapons that need targetting (gun and machine gun) that work like that, which is why many people keep a slot with a machine gun even muc later as a "safety" for when they are in the base so hitting space doesn't launch a nuke for example.
Shotguns shoot in the direction of the cursor (regardless of its distance or position), rocket launcher and flamethrower will shoot at where the cursor is if it is in firing range.

[Overeagerdragon]

In addition to what Fel said some down to earth basics (which I'm sure you know but bear reminding):

* Space to auto aim shoot (like Fell said)
* "C" to shoot (doesn't use auto aim so you can actually target objects like that chest full of junk you want to destroy)
* Tab to switch weapons (here's where I often mess up as I usually have nanobots in a slot....nanobots don't kill biters...but biters do kill me, so remember to swap to an actual combat weapon before engaging)
* Pistol>SMG>Rifle(>shotgun)>Sniper>Flamethrower/Rocket Launcher; ordened from least AoE & Damage to most AoE and potential damage. The shotgun is a special case...it has the potential to absolutely wreck biters and bases and has fair AoE with piercing shells but the spread can make it finnicky to actually hit stuff. Likewise the flamethrower has the surprise mechanic of setting forests alight...don't get caught in the blaze and avoid starting forest fires if you play on foresty maps or you might end up clearing 1 base but triggering a raid from 4 others (which never happened to me ofc *coughcough*)

[The_Mell]

Originally posted by Fel:

You need to have your mouse cursor near-ish the enemy you want to fire at, it will then show a red reticule on the ground under the target and the space bar will allow you to fire on it.

Red is out of range, green is in range & able to fire at.

[Msquare]

Forgot to say thanks to the quick answers that got me in the right direction.

After a number of wipes, I have become fond of the reload game and a quickj save before moving into battle. A bit of a "cheat" I suppose, but this is still my first game (3rd really, but the first two were mistakes in setting up the (first) base)

So now I have discovered that strafing (running and firing) is a more safe option. Still having too low success rate in clearing nests, but - otherwise it wouldnt be a challenge just grind :-}

[Overeagerdragon]

Try guerilla tactics:

* Open fire on a nest to draw the ire of the biters
* Duck out and let the biters come to you whilst you pepper them
* once they're all dead jump back in again to give those nests acute cases of leadpoisoning
* rince repeat

Make sure you have fish on hand to heal and lots and LOTS of ammo (a grenade or 2 never hurt any**....well never hurt you)