Olde's Guide On The Marine

A basic guide on playing as the marine.

Introduction

Initially when I was making my guide on the alien, I thought that was going to be it. After all, the alien probably required the most explanation and the most getting used to, seeing as it plays the most differently from characters from other games. But after I made that guide, I started thinking more and more about what I could say about the other species, not only for the benefit of others but also for the benefit of myself, putting my thoughts into words. So without further ado, let's talk about the marine.

The marine in AVP Classic 2000 is probably the most standard and familiar class that players will try. It plays like the standard marine from many other games and uses many familiar weapons from the movies. The control and basic strategies that work best are pretty similar to other games. In other words, this is probably the easiest class to pick up from the get-go. However, because this game is not like other games, you'll soon find that the marine is very difficult to use effectively. In AVP Classic 2000, the marine is basically cannon fodder. Remember how many soldiers the predator took down in Predator? Remember how many corporal marines died in Aliens? Yeah, while the marine is probably the most familiar class from the start, AVP Classic 2000 is so relentless that you'll actually need to step up your game quite a bit if you hope to win a game against good players.

I've divided this guide into two parts. The first part will talk about the very basics (controls, advantages/disadvantages, weapons, and basic strategies). The second part will go more in-depth about strategies to use in multiplayer in one-on-one scenerios and against groups.

Since writing, MandatoryAlcatraz has written an in-depth marine weapons guide that you should check out for further reading.

Part 1

Part 1 will cover basic elements of gameplay such as the controls, weapons, the marine's advantages/disadvantages, and basic strategies.

Controls

Let's start with the marine's controls. The marine has the most tools available, and because this game is so fast, it's imperative to be able to select what you want as soon as possible. Here I'll outline my controls so you can get an idea of how I use the marine.

Forward: W
Backward: S
Strafe Left: A
Strafe Right: D
Walk: Left Shift
Crouch: Left Cntl
Jump: Space
Operate: E and W
Fire Primary: Mouse1
Fire Secondary: Mouse2
Previous Weapon: Mouse Wheel Down
Image Intensifier: Mouse Wheel Up
Throw Flare: F and Mouse3
Jetpack: Left Shift
Taunt: R
Say: ~ (tilde)
Species Say: Y
Show Scores: Tab
Auto-Weapon Change: No

As you can see, I have most of the commands located around the WASD setup. As with the alien, my vision mode button is Mouse Wheel Up so I can freely change vision modes as I'm moving in any direction. I personally don't use the next/flashback weapon functions at all; I only use the previous weapon function when scrolling through weapons. Mostly, though, I use the default weapon choices (1-9). Auto-Weapon Change is set to No so I don't automatically change weapons to something bad when I run over it. You can set multiple functions to the same key. For instance, I have both forward and operate set to W. I set this up when figuring out strategies to lower time on my speedrun. Also, I set both Walk and Jetpack to Left Shift. You rarely ever get the jetpack in multiplayer (it's made available on some custom maps) and the walk key is only ever useful for walking silently.

The Marine's Basic Advantages

Here I'll outline what I see as the marine's basic advantages. The marine has considerably fewer advantages than the other species. In the wrong hands, the marine can easily be considered the worst species, but an experienced player will be able to use the marine's innate advantages to win as much as possible.

WEAPON STRENGTH: Let's start with the obvious: the marine has some of the best weapons in the game. Whether it's the minigun, SADAR, grenade launcher, or even the starting pulse rifle, the marine has access to some of the game's heaviest arsenal. The weapons are also generally much easier to use than the predator's weapons (at least the non-cheap ones), and the basic strengths of these weapons will be familiar to players of other first-person shooters. Many of the weapons are rapid fire and have significant splash damage, so there's a certain room for error that the class allows.

WEAPON DIVERSITY: This is another obvious one. The standard marine can pick up whatever weapons are available in the map and are also allowed in the server. Provided you picked up the weapons, you can give yourself an upperhand by switching up tactics, choosing different weapons for different situations. This allows you to do combination moves (for example, light up an alien with the flamethrower, then switch to a heavy rapid fire weapon) and also makes it more difficult for enemies to predict what you're going to do next, making it harder for them to defend themselves.

LONG-RANGE COMBAT: Unlike the alien, who needs to come up close to its target to do damage, the marine can kill from afar. The marine will not engage in melee combat, so you'll want to get most if not all of your frags at a distance. It may seem like an obvious point, but the marine's long-range advantage is an advantage that it definitely has over the alien and you should never forget that. A marine with a minigun is tied with the predator for the best long-range combat class, being arguably better in practice than speargun sniping or firing dodgeable shoulder cannon shots.

CLOSE QUARTERS SUCCESS: Even though the marine is fairly good at medium and long range combat, he can also be devastating at close range. In a corridor or tunnel, the marine won't have much difficulty aiming when his target is up close, meaning he can pretty easily shred anything that tries a direct assault, provided the marine has the appropriate weapon.

RAPID FIRE LONG-RANGE WEAPONS: The marine is also the only species that has rapid firing long-range weapons. The only other attack in the game that has rapid fire is the alien's claw attack, but its range is so poor that you need to be on top of the enemy for it to hit. The predator doesn't have any, unless you count the shoulder cannon's mini-blasts, which are so ineffective as to not pose much of a threat at all. The fact that the minigun, smartgun, pulse rifle, and flamethrower shoot either a stream of bullets or fire gives you a lot of leeway in terms of accuracy. For the most part, in a chaotic skirmish, a predator and alien essentially have only one chance for their attacks to hit before they have to wait to strike again. The marine, on the other hand, can keep pouring the heat in a constant barrage of damage.

HARD TO GET STUCK ON THINGS: The marine's slow movement is often seen as a hindrance, but actually it can help you navigate tight spaces. Maps that have lots of random things that the alien or predator seem to always get stuck on can oftentimes be easily negotiated by the marine, offering some extra mobility.

QUICK RESOURCE RESUPPLY: Also unlike the alien and predator, the marine heals very easily. All he has to do is run over a medkit and his health is instantly restored to 100. The same goes for armor, just find some armor and your armor will be restored to 100. This means you don't have to rely on getting kills to heal (as the alien does) and it only takes a fraction of a second to heal, as opposed to the predator, who requires a few seconds and is completely vulnerable when it uses its medicomp. Along with health pickups, the marine can also get ammo quite easily. All he has to do is simply run over a weapon or, more rarely, an ammo pickup.

SPECIALIST AMMO: The marine specialist gets a lot of ammo for his weapon of choice, much more than you would have if you were to just pick up that weapon as a standard marine. This is helpful for maps that don't have that weapon of choice, maps that have very few of that weapon, or maps that have those weapons in bad locations. This means the specialist can focus more on getting kills and not so much on trying to find ammo.

MOTION TRACKER: Ah, the quintessential aspect of the USCM that most everyone will recognize. This useful gadget can detect movement within a semi-circle of 30 "meters" from the player and it transmits a rough estimate of where that movement is coming from on a sort of radar screen. It will only give an indication of where the object is at one given point, so you won't see where the object is moving, but it is useful in giving you an idea of where the object is. The really good thing about this is that it can also detect stationary marines and predators. Unfortunately, it cannot detect stationary aliens, and objects such as flares and dead bodies also show up on the motion tracker. However, it does detect objects that are above or below you and objects behind walls, allowing it to function as a sort of low-level wall-hack in the right hands.

FLARES: The marine's normal vision mode is limited to the light sources available, since it's standard human vision. To help illuminate the map, you can throw flares around, which stick to pretty much any surface. You have infinite flares but you can only have four lit at a time. In multiplayer, you'll soon find that flares are useful for things other than lighting up areas, such as blinding foes or luring them into traps.

IMAGE INTENSIFIER: Because the marine's standard vision is poor, he also gets a night vision mode, which allows him to see in perfect darkness. This Image Intensifier is the marine's only alternate vision mode. It allows you to see the map pretty clearly through a green filter, but it unfortunately has a grainy effect that can make it difficult to see things in the distance. It's useful for navigating areas in total darkness, but isn't perfect. It also disables the motion tracker. It might hurt your eyes to see through it for a while, but in instances where a dark area is too large to be lit up with flares or where you don't want to give away your position, it can be helpful.

The Marine's Basic Disadvantages

The marine has a lot of disadvantages, in fact, probably the most of the three species.

PHYSICALLY WEAK: The marine is just as fragile as the alien, if not more so. He can't sustain a lot of damage before dying. This means you'll have to really try to dodge attacks and kill your oppenent quickly, or else you'll have to flee the scene to look for health/armor, or get ready to respawn. This can be a real problem against very fast aliens, who can kill you in one quick tail swipe. Even against enemy predators and marines, it's very common to go from full health to dead by just a single shot.

SLOW: Along with being physically weak, the marine is also slow. He moves the slowest by far, and he also jumps the shortest amount of distance. Against a pred or especially an alien, you can't expect to outrun your opponents. A good marine will have figured out how to take down their opponents without fleeing. Put on the pressure and once the enemy's dead, then you'll have some time to get out of the area to find health.

HARD TO SPOT ENEMIES: In addition to the first two disadvantages, the marine's two vision modes are also pretty miserable. Unlike the alien and predator vision modes, which highlight enemies, you can't spot anything without actively searching for them. This goes for normal mode as well as the Image Intensifier. The marine also has very limited sight distance in the two vision modes, and he doesn't get a scope.

RESOURCE-DEPENDENT: A marine is dependent on the health and armor pickups, if not ammo as well. Smart opponents will destroy your pickups, limiting your chances to survive. There's not much you can do in these situations except learn where alternate pickups are.

POOR VISION MODES: Both vision modes of the marine have some disadvantages. Obviously, the normal mode is very dependent on the amount of light in a given area. It doesn't highlight any enemies but you do get your motion tracker. The Image Intensifier, on the other hand, allows you to see in the dark but has a constant grain filter, making it much harder to see enemies in the dark at a distance. Furthermore, any light source viewed in the Image Intensifier tends to wash out the screen in white, even if the light is a dim red or blue. You won't get your motion tracker when using the Image Intensifier.

LIMITED ELEMENT OF SURPRISE: Because you don't know if an alien and predator will be able to see you highlighted on your screen, you should act as though they can always see you. This means that you will only very rarely be able to get the drop on them. It is possible to maintain an element of surprise if you put yourself in a hidden spot where they're likely to go but probably won't look around before running in.

FALLING DAMAGE: In case falling damage is turned on, you can't take very many chances dropping down any significant distances. For one thing, you'll take damage, if not die, and for another thing, the marine will make a pain noise, potentially indicating to enemies in the area that you're close.

EASY TO SUICIDE: Whether it's by falling damage, alien acid, or by firing a rocket or grenade in close range, the marine dies by suicide by far the most of any species. In multiplayer, this will take away the "base kill value," which is normally 100 points.

WEAPON JAMMING: Periodically certain weapons will jam. This includes the pulse rifle, smartgun, pistols, and minigun. Since AVP is so fast, one little jam can mean the difference between life and death.

POINT VALUE: The default point value for the marine is 100 points, which is worth less than the predator (default 150) but more than the alien (75). In my personal, subjective opinion, it can actually be easier for the alien to kill the marine than the other way around. Personally, I think the marine is at a disadvantage in terms of the point system in multiplayer.

MOTION TRACKER: I mentioned this in my advantages section, but it also deserves a mention here. The motion tracker can very easily be thrown off by a number of things: dead bodies, flares, teammates, and destroyed objects. I think a big mistake of new players is relying too heavily on the motion tracker. It's good for 1v1s, but in larger matches it loses its benefits.

Weapons, Pt. 1

All right, let's not hold off any more, this is probably the section you want to see. The marine has a ton of badąss weapons, so here I'll cover each of them.

PULSE RIFLE

Keystroke: 1
Primary Fire: Rapid fire bullets
Secondary Fire: Pulse grenades
Attack Damage (Bullets): Light
Attack Damage (Grenades): Medium
Speed: Quick
Range: Long
Notes: Primary fire jams easily; pulse grenades can kill a marine or alien in one direct shot.

This is the marine's most basic weapon. He'll start every single-player level with this gun. At first glance, it's a decent weapon. The bullets do light damage so don't rely on them too much. It can be enough to hold off some AI aliens for a while. With swarms, use the secondary fire, which launches a grenade. After much use, though, especially in multiplayer, you'll learn to love this weapon. Grenades can one-shot two species (marine and alien) and it takes 3 direct hits to down a predator. Not too shabby. Each magazine carries 99 bullets. The standard marine starts with 5 magazines and 5 grenades, while the specialist gets 10 magazines and 15 grenades.

SMARTGUN

Keystroke: 2
Primary Fire: Rapid fire bullets
Secondary Fire: Switches between tracking and free mode
Attack Damage: Light (Alien, Marine), Medium (Predator)
Speed: Fast
Range: Long
Notes: Can track enemies.

At first, most players think this is the big mama of the game. I mean, it's big, it tracks enemies, and it fires at a very fast rate. In single-player, it can shred hordes of aliens pretty quickly, but in multiplayer its usefulness is incredibly limited. First of all, the tracking mode is very slow, so while it can keep up with the AI, it normally can't keep up with actual players. It can be used to locate hiding enemies who are stationary, but otherwise I highly recommend aiming the smartgun manually instead (press secondary fire to switch between tracking and free modes). However, I should mention that against predators, especially cloaked ones, tracking mode can actually be useful. For some reason it seems to do a lot more damage to predators than aliens and marines. Each magazine holds 500 bullets. Each pickup yields one magazine, and the specialist starts with 5 magazines.

FLAMETHROWER

Keystroke: 3
Primary Fire: Stream of fire
Secondary Fire: N/a
Attack Damage: Light
Speed: N/a
Range: Short
Notes: Ignites enemies, possible to light yourself on fire.

Unlike every Alien movie ever, the flamethrower in AVP Classic 2000 is almost completely useless. It's hard to do consistent damage to enemies with it, and it's also very possible to ignite yourself, too. In fact, I see this happening about 50% of the time with people who use this weapon. I highly recommend not using this weapon except A) to annoy people, or B) in a tag game where you want to screw the other person by becoming a flamethrower specialist. Okay, well you're probably looking for some tips on how to actually do something with this weapon, so here's a tip: the flamethrower is actually best used as a burst fire weapon. That's right, don't hold down the trigger, but instead just tap primary fire because just a single burst is enough to ingnite an enemy. Then switch out for a better weapon. Once on fire, the player might do one of two things: try to flee, or try to go right for you. Either way, you'll be able to see the enemy much better, so once he's on fire, it's a good idea to get out a weapon that can do some real damage. Each magazine has 100 "units," which runs out rather quickly. Each pickup yields one magazine, and the specialist starts off with 5 magazines.

SADAR

Keystroke: 4
Primary Fire: Single-shot missile
Secondary Fire: N/a
Attack Damage: High
Speed: Somewhat quick to fire, slow to reload
Range: Long
Notes: A direct hit will one-shot any species; the weapon takes up a good portion of the right side of the HUD. It must be reloaded after every shot.

Now we're getting to the good stuff. The SADAR is AVP's standard rocket launcher and it packs a punch. A direct hit will one-shot any species. In close range it will often kill whoever's stupid enough to attack head-on. Unfortunately this has the side effect of often leading to the marine's own suicide. In my experience, the SADAR isn't the most reliable weapon. It has to be reloaded after every shot and it takes up a good portion of the HUD, so you'll be vulnerable when you're reloading and especially from attacks coming from the right side. Being one of the only weapons that can one-shot a predator, it has some potential usefulness in MvP matches. A SADAR pickup will give you 4 rockets, and a specialist starts with 10 rockets.

GRENADE LAUNCHER

Keystroke: 5
Primary Fire: Single grenade
Secondary Fire: Switches between standard, fragmentation, and proximity mine grenade types
Attack Damage: High
Speed: Slow
Range: Medium
Notes: Fires grenades in an arc towards the ground; proxy mines detonate when something is close to it or after about 20 seconds.

This weapon is a bit of an oddball. It delivers a ton of damage but it's slow and hard to aim. Here's the damage breakdown: standard grenades and proximity mines deal the same amount of damage as the pulse grenade, that is, they will insta-kill a marine and alien at full health but only reduce a predator's health by one third. These grenade types also deal explosive area of effect damage, meaning AoE damage is quite high. A direct hit from a fragmentation grenade (the second grenade type) will insta-kill any species at full health, but note that it causes a burst of shrapnel so it does not deal any explosive AoE damage. In fact, AoE damage with the frag grenade is exceptionally low, therefore only a direct shot from the frag grenade will be of any use. For this reason, if I use the grenade, I'll typically stick to the fragmentation type unless I'm going for an alien or marine kill around a corner, in which case I may switch to the standard type. Against stationary aliens on a wall or ceiling I may use a proxy mine because they had it coming. The problem that most veterans have with this weapon is that it's too easy enough shoot a grenade into something going on at close-range battle and kill everything, as well as annoy everyone else time by surrounding your location with proxy mines. It's especially unsportsman-like to mine spawn points and entrances/exits to rooms, as well as the main alley of Subway. Because I typically expect people to annoy the ♥♥♥♥ out of me with this weapon, I usually ban the grenade launcher in my servers. As said before though, it is possible to use this weapon legitimately in a competitive match, which essentially just comes down to not using the proxy mines. If you must use this weapon, please do not use proxies, or if you do, make sure they're only direct hits. Please do NOT plant them in the environment for people to unknowingly stumble over later (this includes surrounding yourself with proxies, mining entrances/exits, and in any other way setting up a proxy minefield). This is annoying and cheap, and if you get a kill this way, it isn't earned. In coop, any use of it is fine as long as friendly fire is off. A pickup will give you 5 grenades of each type. A specialist gets 5 magazines of each type.

Weapons, Pt. 2

MINIGUN

Keystroke: 6
Primary Fire: Rapid fire
Secondary Fire: N/a
Attack Damage: High
Speed: Extremely fast
Range: Long
Notes: Prevents movement while firing and has significant recoil.

Among experienced players, the minigun is usually considered the marine's best weapon. It fires incredibly quickly, has a huge magazine size (800 bullets), and DPS is ridiculously high. It can take down any species very quickly. But it comes with a huge downside: it will immobilize you when you fire. You also can't shoot in mid-air. Essentially you become a turret for as long as you fire. The weapon also has a very big kick, so if you use it right after moving, the recoil will usually alter your aim for the first second or two. However, if you can overcome these two problems, you'll be able to be a force to be reckoned with. The minigun pickup will give you one magazine, and the specialist starts with 5 magazines.

SKEETER LAUNCHER

Keystroke: 7
Primary Fire: Charge-up before single-fire disc shot
Secondary Fire: N/a
Attack Damage: High
Speed: Slow
Range: Long
Notes: Damage comes from auto-aiming laser that fires out of a disc, which the skeeter launches.

The skeeter is the gimmick weapon of this game that was introduced in AVP Gold Edition in 2000. This weapon is very similar to the SADAR except that it shoots a disc that slowly moves through the air for a second before firing out one or two lasers that fire at the spot where a player is. This can easily hit or miss, depending on how other players move. Because this weapon doesn't require any skill to get a kill with, I usually disable it.

Pistol

Keystroke: 8
Primary Fire: Single fire
Secondary Fire: Rapid fire
Attack Damage: Extremely low
Speed: Medium
Range: Medium
Notes: N/a

Along with the Skeeter, Gold Edition introduced the pistols to AVP. This weapon is basically useless. Damage output is laughably bad, fire rate isn't very fast, and the weapon requires pretty good accuracy to hit anything with it. This weapon was introduced to give specialists something to use when they run out of ammo for their primary weapon. If you're using this weapon, you should instead be fleeing to find a better weapon.

Dual Pistols

Keystroke: 9
Primary Fire: Single fire
Secondary Fire: Faster fire
Attack Damage: Very low
Speed: Slow
Range: Medium
Notes: Rapidly double-clicking primary and secondary fire gives an even faster rate of fire.

If you pick up two pistols, you can dual-wield them. Using primary fire will fire the weapons alternatively, therefore sort of doubling your clip size, although reloading both takes longer than reloading one. Holding secondary fire will fire both pistols in a cross-arm fashion. This doubles the original pistol's damage output, although damage is still low, and now it fires twice as slowly. The pistols are still extremely accurate but the very long reload time and the slow rate of fire make the dual pistols challenging to use effectively. [ZSG]Ghost[ZSG] figured out that if you rapidly double-click primary and secondary fire you can actually fire the dual pistols very fast, but I still find this weapon choice pretty bad.

Weapon Strategies

This is a small expansion upon the Weapons section.

Pulse Rifle

The main way you should use the pulse rifle is with the grenade launcher. A direct hit from a pulse grenade will instantly kill a marine or alien, and splash damage is significant enough to take down either in a few shots, provided they're close enough. Each pickup yields 5 grenades so if you're good enough to survive, you'll eventually have to replenish. By contrast, bullets are very weak. The only reason you should use bullets is if you've run out of grenades or if you're trying to pretend that you've run out of ammo to instigate a more direct approach from an alien enemy.

Smartgun

The smartgun is not a very useful weapon. If you have to use it, know that it's more advantageous to use the smartgun's free aim than tracking mode. The crosshair's tracking movement is very slow, which is detrimental, especially at long-range. At short range, the tracking mode is more effective, especially in corridor-based maps like Lab 14. The smartgun deals the most damage to predators and it can track cloaked preds. It's much less useful for aliens, who will likely shred you before you have a chance to hit them. Even standard marines can quickly and easily counter your smartgun with one pulse grenade shot.

Flamethrower

The flamethrower is one of the worst weapons. It should be used in burst fire shots unless you've cornered your opponent or you're in a fight with a lot of people. The flamethrower is best used as a "support weapon," meaning it's used to support another weapon. Igniting foes and then switching to a better weapon is the best strategy if you need to use the flamethrower. An alien can put himself out up to three times after being ignited, so it's not like you can sit back after lighting him up. I've never seen a flamethrower specialist do well in a server. My recommendation is to not use this weapon at all.

SADAR

The SADAR is actually more of a sniper rifle in AVP, if you can believe it. It does very minimal splash damage but a direct hit from it will do immense damage. It's a very unwieldy weapon to use because it requires an unexpectedly high degree of precision and occupies such a large space on-screen. This weapon will test your aim, although admittedly you need less precision in small maps.

Grenade Launcher

Standard grenades and proximity mines do the same damage as a pulse grenade. The frag grenade will instantly kill a marine, predator, and alien. Most people just fire this thing any which way, causing the grenade to roll around for a bit and explode, with the person hoping to hit something. However, there are two ways to use the standard/frag grenade. The first applies most generally in open or mid-sized areas. In such a location, the idea is to shoot the standard or frag grenade on the ground rather than aiming at the target itself. This increases the speed of the projectile and directs the projectile's arc upwards rather than downwards. It's not only faster but also much more accurate this way. The second way applies around corners. The grenade launcher is one of only two weapons that can fire around corners and is the more legitimate of the two. It can therefore be used to flush out enemies who are hiding, trapped, or ignorant of your position. In a one-on-one fight, you can use the motion tracker to help you pinpoint the position of your enemy. I didn't cover proxy mines because they're not a legitimate weapon and an abomination to the game.

Minigun

The minigun is favored by most marine players. It's best used in camping positions where you put yourself near a wall and just hold the trigger. Since you can't move anyway, you've got to ensure your own safety with the environment. Typically this means limiting the number of directions at which an enemy can come at you. The typical counter to the minigun is the charged shoulder cannon and the pulse rifle, both of which will instakill a minigunner. Two ways to reduce the weapon's recoil are to either fire immediately after a jump (without continuing to press any directional keys) or shortly holding the walk button while moving immediately before firing. The walk button will slow you down and reduce or even eliminate the recoil.

Skeeter

This is the other weapon that can shoot around corners. This weapon is quite dangerous because it can be fooled to fire back at you. The only legitimate use for this weapon is in a one-on-one fight where the opponent is hiding (especially if it's an alien), as the skeeter will give you an idea as to where the enemy is if it doesn't kill him outright.

Pistol(s)

Aside from the pulse melee, the pistol is the worst weapon in the game. It does extremely low damage, fires slowly, requires very good accuracy, and has limited ammo per clip, meaning you're going to be reloading a lot. I really have no strategies for this weapon because it's frankly extremely difficult to win with it. Since this was added in Gold Edition, it seems to me like this is more of a last resort weapon when you've run out of ammo for the better weapons. There are only two positive things about this weapon: the first is that you usually have at least one if you're a marine specialist, and if the server provides infinite ammo for pistols, having one is better than only having the cudgel (pulse rifle melee). The second positive aspect is that it is the most accurate marine hitscan weapon by far. Even using the weapon's rapid fire gives it zero accuracy penalties, meaning if you have perfect aim, you can theoretically use this to actual effect. However, since everything moves so quickly in AvP and since the pistol does such god-awful damage, this isn't really a feasible weapon. Well, okay, I guess I can give you a sort of tip. If you only have one pistol, hold down secondary fire to shoot more quickly. If you have two pistols, I still don't know if firing each pistol individually is better than firing both off at the same time because neither seems to do any real damage. Do yourself a favor and don't even use the pistol.

General Strategies

LEARN THE WEAPONS: This is an obvious one. Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of each weapon will help you plan accordingly to each situation. In practice, some weapons are great for most situations, others are essentially useless, and others are only useful in certain situations. Also, some weapons are considered cheap (or "noob") weapons by the community at large. Knowing not to spam proximity mines or the skeeter launcher in a competitive game (or even better, banning them from your server) will help you earn the respect of more experienced players.

LEARN THE MAPS: This is another obvious tip. Those who succeed know the maps inside and out. It always pays dividends to know where each path leads and where the weapons, health packs, and armor are, as well as hiding spots. I recommend exploring the maps on your own. You can set the number of players to 1 so only you will be in the map.

ALWAYS KEEP MOVING: A moving target is always harder to hit than a non-moving target. Unless you're camping in a corner, you should always be moving, even if it's just in circles. Along with this, you should jump, too, which will make you harder to hit. Just be aware that other players can hear you jump.

STOCK UP: It's usually a good idea to keep a fair amount of ammo on you. A standard marine starts with only 5 pulse magazines and 5 pulse grenades, so at the very least you'll want to pick up more pulse rifles (5 grenades won't get you very far). This can also include picking up a variety of weapons, but each weapon pickup will typically only give you one magazine or a limited amount of ammunition, so it helps to pick up multiples. This also has the added benefit of not allowing enemy marines to pick them up.

DESTROY PICKUPS: This probably applies most when facing off against predators. Always make sure to destroy the field charge units. Doing so limits a predator's cloak, shoulder cannon, medicomp, pistol, and disc recall. There are also occasions where it can be beneficial to destroy other marine pickups. If you're a specialist, you can only pick up pistols and your weapon of specialty, so it can be useful to destroy other marine weapons, such as the grenade launcher, minigun, SADAR, and Skeeter. You can also destroy health kits and armor if you're going one-on-one against another marine to prevent them from running away and healing.

USE FLARES: Flares serve multiple functions. Obviously, they illuminate dark spaces, allowing you a temporary light source in a dark area. On top of that, a bunch of flares in a compact location can blind an alien, making it very difficult to time a tail attack. This blinding technique actually affects the alien the most because the fisheye perspective of the alien's hunt (default) vision will actually pick up more light, washing out most of the screen in a sea of white. Flares can also be used to lure players where you want them to go. If an alien doesn't see you but sees a new flare, odds are he will go near the flare. If you have carefully hidden yourself, you can get the drop on him. Keep in mind, though, that you only have four flares and aliens can destroy them with their claws.

DON'T RELY ON THE MOTION TRACKER: The marine's motion tracker isn't as useful as it is in AVP2 or AVP2010. This is because it picks up dead bodies, enemy flares, and even destroyed pickups. Also, the rate of pulsation is rather poor, its range is lousy, and the location it represents is hazy at best. If you're in a sizable match, I often forget it's even there. In a one-on-one, of course, it can be useful, especially in dark maps. I recommend just using your eyes unless you're in a one-on-one where the other enemy is hiding; the motion tracker just isn't very good.

LEARN TO SEE THROUGH THE GRAIN: This applies of course to the image intensifier, the marine's alternate vision mode ('night vision'). The image intensifier has a substantial amount of graininess, making it difficult to see. Learn to see through the grain so you can make effective use the image intensifier.

GET A HEALTH KIT IF YOU'RE LOW ON HEALTH: The marine arguably heals the easiest of the three species, since all he has to do is run over a health kit. If you're low on health and the enemy doesn't seem to be low, there's really little reason not to retreat briefly to run over a health kit. Kits are usually strewn liberally throughout most maps.

ALWAYS LISTEN: This is a strategy that applies to all species. Know what sounds to listen for so you have a general idea of where other players are. This includes taunts, jumps, firing a weapon, cloaking, falling, taking damage, and even footsteps from just running.

Playing

There are essentially two different tactics when playing as the marine: you can go balls out or you can camp. The marine is the least stealthy of the three species so he can't effectively use a more stealthy approach, as both the alien and pred can. Obviously, the most successful marines will be those who combine those two approaches (going balls out and camping). Be sure to mix it up and don't simply stick to one strategy because it will make you predictable.

GOING BALLS OUT: You may think that it behooves you to hide, be stealthy, and take your time to get kills, but the marine doesn't have many stealth options. An alien and predator can spot you easily, so hiding usually isn't very useful. Plus, even if you are hiding, if you miss your shot then you've compromised your whole strategy. So I find that it's actually better to get into the fray and keep your target on edge by putting pressure on him. If you get in the middle of things and fire away, chances are you'll more easily be able to take down your opponent and it will help you overcome the natural feeling of wanting to play cautiously. On top of that, the marine is the only species that has rapid firing weapons. If you can prompt a predator or alien to miss an attack, you can quickly counter.

CAMPING: As old as the FPS genre itself, camping is of course where you set up camp in a spot that's difficult to reach and go to town on any unwitting passersby. AVP Classic 2000 has plenty of these spots, and although none of them are foolproof, they can be used to quickly rack up points. While I often find this cheap because it's more pussing out on the action than taking a risk by getting into the fray, most other players don't have a problem with it and consider it not only a legitimate strategy, but a good one for racking up points. Camping over an item is a variation on this, which is really only relevant against aliens. The alien tail gravitates toward objects and players alike, usually that which is closer to the player. So if a marine sits on or behind an item (like a health kit or weapon), the alien's tail will usually hit the item instead of the marine, thus giving the marine an easy chance against the alien. As a typical alien player myself, I find this incredibly annoying, as it basically means the marine is untouchable by the tail for one shot unless you do a kind of ceiling wall-walk. Just remember though, that if you do use this tactic, the other player(s) will likely start destroying items, limiting the number of places you can camp.

Damage Chart

This is a very basic damage rate sheet. It measures the damage that the various weapons do against the marine. Hopefully this will convey a sense of how much damage you can sustain as the marine.

Damage Sustained by Alien's Attacks

Claws: Low
Tail (uncharged): Medium
Tail (charged): Instant kill
Jaw Attack: Instant kill

Damage Sustained By Marine's Attacks

Pulse Rifle (Bullets): Low
Pulse Rifle (Grenade): High (direct hit is instant kill at max health)
Smartgun: Low
Flamethrower: Low
SADAR: Instant Kill
Grenade Launcher: Instant Kill
Minigun: Very High
Skeeter: Instant Kill
Pistol(s): Very Low

Damage Sustained by Predator's Attacks

Wristblade (Uncharged): Very Low
Wristblade (Charged): Instant Kill
Speargun: Instant Kill
Shoulder Cannon (Uncharged): Low
Shoulder Cannon (Fully Charged): Instant Kill
Pistol: Low
Disc: Instant Kill

Part 2

Part 2 will cover more in-depth strategies on dealing with the different species.

Marine vs. Alien

Let's talk a little about the aliens in AVP Classic 2000's multiplayer. Aliens are extremely fast and agile. They can walk on walls and leap incredible distances. Against marines they have two one-hit kill attacks: the charged tail and headbite. To make matters worse, experienced aliens will also use the advanced alien techniques, which allow them to move at blazing speeds, making them nearly impossible to hit.

However, the alien is not invincible. One direct hit with a pulse grenade, SADAR rocket, grenade, skeeter rocket, and a direct minigun burst will instantly kill an alien. The alien has about the same amount of health as a marine, but it relies on other players to replenish its health. If there aren't any other players and it can't get a headbite on you, then an alien has only two ways to replenish his health: dying, or eating your head.

On top of that, the alien only really thrives in open spaces. In close quarters, the marine is at an advantage because the alien has fewer ways to use speed and open space. The more area of the screen the alien takes up, whether by being in a tight corridor or just being uncrouched and up in your face, the less room for error you have while shooting. Taking advantage of close quarters is one of the best ways to kill an alien. The marine is at an extreme disadvantage against an alien in open spaces, but it can be done.

The marine has an arsenal of nine different weapons but in essence only two are useful against the alien. That's right, only two: the pulse rifle and minigun. The pulse rifle is useful for a number of reasons. First, a direct hit by a pulse grenade will instantly kill an alien. You should hardly ever use bullets unless you run out of grenades because they do next to no damage. Secondly, pulse rifles are very easy to find in most maps, and they're typically strewn around generously. Some maps (e.g. Statue) also have pulse grenade pickups. As said before, a pulse rifle specialist gets 15 pulse grenades. This is 5 more than the SADAR specialist gets. In fact, the pulse rifle is always better than a SADAR because pulse grenades and SADAR rockets both do the same amount of damage, pulse rifles are easier to find than SADAR rockets, the pulse specialist starts with more grenades, and the pulse rifle takes up less of the screen than the SADAR.

The second weapon that's useful against an alien is the minigun. The minigun will shred an alien in no time flat and probably presents the biggest problem to the alien. This doesn't mean you're invincible, far from it. In fact, minigunners can be sitting ducks just begging for their deaths. But I've also seen minigunners wreck havoc on maps, even open ones. The minigun specialist must keep moving, and the most successful ones either camp in safe spots (usually corners or dead ends) or jump around and only fire in bursts. The latter method is difficult because of the recoil, although there are some ways to limit the amount of recoil (I'll let you discover them).

The only other weapon you might use is the smartgun, but only for its tracking mode. This will help you spot a hiding alien. However, once you've spotted an alien, immediately switch back to either the pulse rifle or minigun because the smartgun does very little damage to an alien and the tracking mode has a difficult time keeping up with a speedy xeno. Proximity mines and the skeeter launcher should never be used against an alien. Proxy mines are cheap and the skeeter launcher is a homing missile--this is cheap against newbie aliens but easily avoided by experienced players. Either way, don't use them.

Now let's talk strategy.

ALWAYS KEEP MOVING: I know it's been said before, but it begs repeating: never stop moving. A speed-tricking alien will always be much faster than you and will typically be heading straight for you with a charged tail. If you keep moving, you can prompt the alien to release the tail a bit too early or too late. This can buy you some time to fire a grenade or minigun burst right at his face.

LEAD THEM TO CLOSE QUARTERS: It's tempting to stay in the outer areas because of the fun factor. However, marines succeed best in close quarters. There's less room for you to miss and they will have less room to maneuver to get to you. Since the alien has to come to you for a kill, you're actually the one in control of where the fight takes place.

USE FLARES: Flares have multiple uses. Obviously they can light poorly lit parts of the map. They can also be used to blind an alien if you're located in the right spot. Since the alien's FOV is something like 115%, the alien's vision will be affected more drastically by a flare's light. Flares can also be used to distract, mislead, and lure aliens into a spot where you want them, especially if you bounce it off an object or move away the instant you throw it.

CAMP: Let me preface this first by saying that I don't like campers. I don't like people who camp, and I don't like camping, myself. That being said, in AVP Classic, the best strategy for a marine to win against an alien is to camp, typically in several alternating places that are hard to reach or that are over objects. Personally, I find this strategy incredibly cheap, and I actually advocate manning up and taking on an alien at his own game; that is, getting out there in the middle of things, run around, and shoot like a madman. However, it is a fact that a non-camping marine will always have a disadvantage against an alien. Camping isn't foolproof either, but it does make you a lot harder to kill, especially with the minigun.

RUN AND GUN: A more legitimate strategy than camping in my opinion is to nut up and get out there like a man and kick an alien's ąss. This is much riskier than camping but if you know how your opponent moves, if you use the motion tracker to get an idea of where he is, and if you have extremely fast reflexes and great aim, you can beat a good alien player. You'll also have to be able to either time the pulse rifle grenades perfectly and/or know how to limit the minigun recoil, since you'll typically always be moving. The alien will typically have the upperhand over you, though, so you'll really need to learn your maps, learn how to find aliens, and practice up your aim and reflexes. Since an alien needs to be right on top of you to kill you, you potentially have the chance of killing an alien every time he kills you, as long as you are always watching from every direction. Since this is much harder than setting up camp and waiting for the alien to accidentally cross in front of you, I respect the run and gun strategy much more than camping and I find marines who can beat aliens with this technique truly good players.

Marine vs. Predator. Pt. 1: Weapons

The predator is of course the bad boy of the AVP universe and regularly ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ shít up. He's hard to take down and has quite a few nifty weapons at his disposal to take you down. He can stalk you with his cloaking ability and has thermal vision, allowing him to spot you a mile away, even in total darkness. He has numerous one-hit kill weapons on you and two of his weapons have a lock-on system that allows him to hit you even if the crosshair isn't anywhere close to you. On top of that, he's stronger than you, faster than you, and can jump farther than you. Looking at core stats, the marine pales in comparison to the pred. Considering all these facts, the marine is especially vulnerable to the predator. Even with the disc banned, the marine is still without a doubt at a disadvantage. So in order to cover our bases, let's review the predator's weapon arsenal before figuring out how to take one down.

Wristblades: The only melee weapon of the predator, this one packs one hell of a punch. An uncharged attack won't do anything, but a direct hit with a charged attack will instantly kill you. Ouch.

Speargun: Another instant kill attack, one hit from the speargun is all it takes to turn you into sliced cheese. Fortunately, this is not a homing attack and requires careful aim to actually hit anything. The predator spawns with 30 spears that are not replaceable.

Shoulder Cannon: This is one of the predator's two auto-aiming weapons. Uncharged blasts don't do much damage, but they can be fired rapidly. Semi-charged blasts do even more damage, and a fully charged blast will instantly kill you.

Medicomp: Not technically a weapon, the medicomp is a device that predators use to fully heal. It requires 20 units of field charge and takes a few seconds to use. The predator cannot attack you whilst healing.

Pistol: This gun fires a glob of energy in an arc towards the floor. Thankfully, area of effect damage from this weapon is minimal, and so is a direct hit. You can survive a couple hits from this weapon but any more than that and you'll be looking at electrocution.

Disc: This weapon is always cheap to use regardless of what species you are. It instantly kills anything it hits and is a homing weapon that can follow players around walls and even into different rooms, regardless of whether or not the predator keeps you in his sight. The disc should always be banned from servers and should never have been incorporated into multiplayer at all, or at least it should have been programmed differently.

Enough about the bad news, how do we actually take a predator on? Let's look at our own weapon choices. There are only a few weapons you have that can be effectively used against a pred.

Minigun: The most effective by far is the minigun, and should be your first choice when pitted against a predator. It does a very high amount of damage and fires continuously, meaning the predator will have to be running like crazy to avoid it. Even if you don't get a direct hit, oftentimes all you'll need are a few indirect hits to kill one. When a predator gets hit, his accuracy gets affected and his screen turns green. This greatly hinders a predator's use of the speargun, which requires careful accuracy. It does not, however, hinder a predator's shoulder cannon or wristblade, which are often used to counter the minigun. Predators will use the recoil (which forces you to remain stationary when firing) to their advantage. The recoil allows the shoulder cannon to more easily hit and for them to reliably get close enough to you to hit you with the wristblade.

Smartgun: This weapon actually deals more damage to the predator than to any other species. It greatly affects a predator's aim and can easily lock on to a large box of the predator's torso. Even better, the tracking mode can lock on to cloaked predators. The tracking mode won't consistently be able to follow a good predator's movements, so you'll need to rely on your own accuracy as well (switch to free mode to manually aim the smartgun). It still does quite a bit of damage to preds and unlike the minigun, you don't have to stand still to use it. Unfortunately, this weapon isn't very good against GREAT predators, who will often flee the instant they take any damage. It also doesn't do damage quickly enough to kill a predator before he can fire a charged shoulder cannon blast at you.

SADAR: A direct hit from a rocket will instantly kill a predator. Unfortunately, only a direct hit is useful; the area of effect damage is negligible. Also, be aware that the SADAR comes with very limited ammo, it blocks most of the right side of the screen, the rocket doesn't fire instantaneously, and reload time is significant. It's also easily to kill yourself if you're too close to the blast. These disadvantages drop the SADAR down from being a very useful weapon to a kind of so-so weapon.

Grenade Launcher: Standard grenades and proximity mines only take about a third of the predator's health. However, one hit from a fragmentation grenade (the second type of grenade) will instantly kill a predator. This is pretty difficult to aim, since the grenade fires in an arc towards the ground, but the grenade often flies around once it hits the floor. If it touches the predator at all, it will kill him. Like the SADAR, this is probably not worth using unless there's really no other weapon to use. Grenade launchers will usually be banned anyway to prevent proxy spamming. If for some reason the grenade launcher is not banned, predators should NOT complain about cheapness of fragmentation grenade usage. Good predators should be able to kill you even if you surround yourself with proximity mines, so there's no use. Proxy mines are cheap against everything else, so just don't use them.

Skeeter Launcher: The skeeter launcher shoots a flying disc into the air that fires a blast at the position of a random player (except the person who fired it). If there's nobody in the vicinity, it simply explodes after a few seconds. A direct hit with a skeeter blast will instantly kill a predator. Most players will claim it's cheap in a similar vein to how the predator's disc is cheap: it requires no skill to use. I recommend you man up and go with a weapon that requires real aim. A skeeter blast can be avoided by a predator, too, so it's not like it's a guaranteed kill. It's typically banned anyway, but just so you don't piss anyone off, I suggest not using it.

Pulse Rifle: Okay, now we're getting to the weaker weapons. You need three direct hits with pulse grenades to kill a predator; obviously you'll need more grenades if you can't hit the predator directly. Since most predators will flee and try to heal when they're low on health, pulse grenades are usually not a reliable weapon against predators. It can be done but it's difficult. Pulse bullets do very little damage so don't even bother.

Flamethrower: This weapon is just plain stupid to use unless you're being a troll. Igniting a predator will mildly irritate him at best. The only way to kill a predator with a flamethrower is if he's not moving or extremely low on health.

Pistol(s): This weapon is a joke. If you're using the pistols (or even worse, a single pistol) against a predator, you've given up. Find a better weapon.

Marine vs. Predator, Pt. 2: Strategies

As discussed in the previous section, the predator has a ton of weapon advantages over the marine. In a one-on-one with the standard disabled weapons, the marine is clearly at a disadvantage, hence why he's worth fewer points. So here are some strategies you can use to help you not die as much.

USE ONLY THE BEST WEAPONS: If you really, truly want to best a predator in a one-on-one, don't bother with any weapon except the minigun. You have to be extremely quick to the draw as well. Good predators will usually kill you repeatedly with the shoulder cannon, which will make your life a living Hell. This also negates the smartgun, since it doesn't have a high enough damage output to take down a predator before you die; the smartgun's muzzle flare also washes out a significant portion of the middle of the screen. The SADAR and frag grenades can presumably kill a predator before he kills you, but you can't honestly expect to score enough direct hits with either to beat a predator who has an auto-aiming weapon. Pulse rifles are even worse because they require three direct hits. The minigun is the only real option you have, and even then you're at a disadvantage.

DESTROY THE ORBS: The predator's only external resource is field charge. Field charge is used for energy weapons, cloaking, and healing. If you always keep the field charge orbs destroyed, then you can limit the amount of damage they can do to you.

DODGE: As against any other enemy, you'll need to keep moving to avoid getting killed by the shoulder cannon, wristblades, and speargun. In particular, you'll have to learn how to move to best avoid a shot of the shoulder cannon and wristblade. Avoiding these will give you enough time to plant your feet and kill a predator with a minigun.

PRACTICE YOUR AIM: Since the best weapon against a predator is the minigun, you'll need to work especially hard on your aim. A spray and pray technique isn't good enough against good predators.

LEARN HOW TO SPOT A CLOAKED PREDATOR: You'll also need to be able to spot a cloaked predator from a distance. Nine times out of ten, a good predator will cloak against a marine. This especially pertains to dark maps or when the lights have been destroyed. Flares will expose a cloaked predator but you only have four. Cloaked preds can be difficult to see with the Image Intensifier. The motion tracker always comes in handy in one-on-one scenerios, and a match against a predator is no exception. Also keep an eye out for the red light that appears when the predator is using the speargun or shoulder cannon; you can see the red light when looking in the normal vision mode and also when using the Image Intensifier.

I also made a video on how to take on lesser experienced predators as the standard marine. Keep in mind that the predator I'm playing against isn't someone I'd call "good" but hopefully this will at least give you some idea of how to succeed as the marine against a predator.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h7QxTskgKU

Marine vs. Marine

MvM battles are some of the craziest but also some of the rarest. Few players actually go marine in tournaments, and to find two marines of similar skill level going against each other in a serious match is quite a rarity. Typically MvM battles use only pulse grenades or the minigun, since both will instantly kill a marine. The difference between them lies obviously in whether or not the marine can move whilst shooting.

The deciding factor in a match between two marines is pure accuracy. For this reason, pulse fights are probably the highest watermark for a marine's skill. Mobility and accuracy are both of the utmost importance in such a fight, and a good pulse marine will be able to time a grenade to coincide with where he anticipates his opponent to be in the split second after he fires. Minigun fights probably aren't quite at the same level because the minigun can be used more easily in a camping position and in a spray and pray fashion.

Marine vs. Groups

Okay, so I've gone on long enough about how the marine sucks, how the marine is the weakest species, and how tough it is to actually succeed with him. I've told you how little health he has, how slow he is, how weak he is, how clumsy and usually futile most battles as the marine can be. With the exception of MvM fights, I've gone on to tell you that the marine is more or less the worst species to pick in any given scenerio. Well, no longer. Here, I'm going to tell you the ultimate secret of the marine. That's right, here I'm going to spill the beans and tell you exactly what makes the marine worth a shít.

Groups.

That's right: groups. One on one, the marine always comes up short and is never the most effective species for the job, if you really want to win. All that goes out the window when you've got a game of 5 or more. You see, the marine wasn't built to match the alien or predator. On sheer stats alone, he's always inferior. But something odd happens when you increase the number of enemies he has to fight. The marine's effectiveness starts to rise, such that he can be the best choice for a given scenario. Why is this? Well, if you think about the other two species, the predator only has single-shot attacks, and the alien only has melee attacks. This means that both of these species will be targeting one enemy at a time. The marine, on the other hand, has both rapid fire AND long range attacks, meaning that he can easily get multiple kills. In fact, matches with multiple targets are often the best scenerios for which you should choose the marine. Of course, this depends on the map and your knowledge of the best place to get kills. But as long as you get at least two kills to every one of your deaths, your kill score will surpass your death score, and with some of the marine's weapons at his disposal, this isn't a very difficult task.

The best option against groups is, again, the minigun. Since it's a rapid fire weapon that does a high amount of damage, you really just need to get in the middle of a group and go to town on them. In theory, the grenade launcher is the next most effective option because you can score multiple kills incredibly quickly, but it's often considered cheap by other players and most people will either leave the area or leave the server. Pulse grenades, on the other hand, are a fairly good option against groups, as is the SADAR. The skeeter is especially effective in crowded areas, but as with the grenade launcher, it's also frequently banned for cheapness. The smartgun isn't a great weapon against crowds but if you're going after someone who's attacking someone else, it could potentially whittle down their health enough to kill them. The flamethrower is, as usual, a pretty terrible weapon that still has a very limited usefulness unless you happen to ignite someone low on health. Lastly, pistols are almost always a pretty terrible choice.

Closing Thoughts

Well, this was certainly interesting to write. I had a few moments of realization on writing my thoughts down and experimenting with some strategies in the game. I have a new respect for good marines since the marine seems to be nothing more than a glorified meatbag 90% of the time. I know there's a lot that I didn't include, but I think I've said as much as I can say on the topic. Some players will disagree with some things I've said above, but I never claimed to have the final, definitive word on things. Ultimately you'll have to figure out what works best for you. This guide is really only an introduction; the rest is up to you.

Credits/Contact

This guide was written solely by me, Olde (Olde72 on GOG). You can (and should!) use this guide and share it with others. However, you should not distribute it while giving authorial credit to either yourself, someone else, or to nobody at all. You may quote from it at length but please do not post the entirety as a guide on any other forum or site without my express permission. I also reserve the right to remove or modify this guide at any time and/or make it unavailable, with or without providing a reason.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment below and I will try to respond as quickly as possible. You can also contact me via Steam, YouTube, and GOG.

Thanks for reading and enjoy playing!

BONUS: Shotgun!

Haha, you didn't think it was over yet, did you? We still have to cover the long-lost AvP weapon, the shotgun!

A lot of people have complained that this game doesn't have a shotgun. Well complain no more because a shotgun was, in fact, created for this game in a mod called the MelPyth mod, made by Melanikus and Python years ago. It was created for AvP Gold Edition because Classic 2000 hadn't even been released yet. I recently got my hands on a computer that could actually run AvP Gold Edition and, by extension, the MelPyth mod, so I got to experience what the shotgun could do.

So let's talk about the shotgun. First off, this sucker is really intense. It's loud and can blow xenos apart in one shot. You can keep up to 12 shells loaded. The specialist starts out with 60 shells. Primary fire obviously fires the thing. General firing is very useful in close quarters like tunnels, where you can be quite inaccurate and still end up doing considerable damage. Secondary fire extends and folds the stock, which zooms in or out the view. When the stock is extended, you need much better accuracy to hit anything, but accurate shots will go a lot farther. Unfortunately, extending and folding the stock takes considerable time, so it has limited usage.

The shotgun's major downside is that it takes a while before you can fire another shot. Reloading from 0 is incredibly long, by far the longest reload sequence in the game. However, in the MelPyth mod, you can manually reload anytime, even after one shot, so you're not forced to be a sitting duck. You can also interrupt the reload sequence just by firing.

If you have a computer with an old graphics card and/or operating system, consider downloading the MelPyth mod and trying it out for yourself! Otherwise, enjoy these videos I made.

[Psycho]

Solid guide, great work! I used to langame this for ages - love hearing people scream IRL. Agree totally with banning proxy grens, skeeter and disc as no-skill weapons. As fast alien (my specialty) I can move faster than the scanner sweep. Usually they get one 'meep' as my tail hits their forehead, and yeah no way can a smartgun track a fast alien unless they are running straight at them (unlikely).

Great tactics and thoughtful arguments on weapon choices and strategies, you know your stuff.

The shotgun mod is almost worth the reinstall by itself, thanks!