Werewulf's Guide to Dretchs

[Werewulf]

Welcome Alienlings. Here we teach you to become the full dretch as you can!
The key of being a dretch is to kill, but kill quickly and to get the hell out before a human puts bullets in your ass!

FIRST NOTES:

*HEADBITES DO MOST DAMAGE

*You don't need to jump to do headbites as your attack range is much like the human power saw, just lean up and aim at their ugly faces.

*Bullets and alike kill dretchs..watch out for those...

*DON'T BLOCK, the key to being a dretch is to be a dretch, not a pain in the ass.

*Gather those that run from bigger aliens, dretchs are scavengers that easily kill the wounded and this is the advantage to getting evo by picking off the weak if the larger aliens havnt marked them (marking a human for an evo point if you inflict a large % of their health down.)


Importance of the Dretch:
The dretch is your race's key to achieving victory fast. The dretch is stealthy and fast killing but weak yet, yet the dretch should never be underestimated as a dretch CAN and WILL kill a bsuit when utilized well combing both the power and skill of dretch usage.

Power of the Dretch:

Stealth:
When you are chasing a human from behind, NEVER taunt or jump as you automatically kill your stealth and chances of gaining a kill for your team.
Its always best to hide behind door sides, on the walls above doors, corners and in the shadows. The roof is the best suggested place especially when there is a slope or object to conceal you from the humans view as you can land on there head, directly.

Speed:
The dretch is a fast and cunning little alien, speed is a major key in both stalking and combat.
When ever you are facing a bsuit or human head on, NEVER EVER run straight. Zigzag whilst  eventually slowly going behind the target to get him confused and wondering where you are as you bite his head is a very useful technique.
Techniques:
Here is a list of techniques and their names (these names are chosen personally to identify the techniques, call them as you wish)

Headbites:

 -Shark
  The shark is a head on hit to the head, often killing the target in one bite (practically) if you continue to burrow along down his chest to ensure the human scum dies.

 -Piranha
 Piranha is the technique constant biting of the legs and occasional chest or head (aiming, no jumping) whilst circling the target to confuse him and parry his bullets.

 -Sting
 The sting is the most deadliest yet one of the hardest techniques, often consisting of an aerial bite. To perform this, simply stalk your target from a wall, roof or run up wall and land on your targets head whist still aiming down on him to cause often fatal damage (to even helmets and non helmets) OR the constant movement on the walls of corridors to parry your enemies spray of bullets and carefully but fastly placed jumps from walls and roofs to your targets head. (this movement is called COILING)

Manuvuers:

 -Zigzagging
Zigzagging is the most common movement/manvuere used when being dretch (less skilled just walk straight...which is bad). The purpose of the Zigzag/Zigzagging is to confuse your enemies bullets and his aim (which will obviously kill you if your not careful). Its the constant pattern and movement of a ZIGZAG used when running to or away from your enemy.

 -Drifting
Drifting is used to attempt to get behind the target, although if used for too long and your target begins to recognize your pattern he will kill you. It's best to use this when your very close to your target or in combination with the zigzag.

 -Coiling
Coiling is when your in a small corridor or hallway and the use of constant wall climb and running, all over the wall, roof and floor to confuse your target. Best used with STING if done carefully.

Skill of the Dretch:
Here is a list and guide of what to do when faced with these examples:

Non-Helmet human:
Any of the Manuvuers.
Suggested Zigzagging and shark.

Helmeted human
Suggested Zigzagging, drifting and piranha. (STING IF COILING IN STEALTH)

Battle suit:
Suggested Zigzaggin+drifting and Piranha

Lucis:
AVOID lucis, the only techs I suggest are Drifting (with zigzag to avoid the luci large damage area) and sting. Piranha is too dangerous as lucis often shoot their feet on purpose.

Flamers:
AVOID, the only techs are to get behind them and lean towards there heads and go back, and do this until they die (only aim at the back of their head)

Las guns and pulsers:
Zigzags, coiler, sting and cautious doses of piranha.

Saw (non bs)
Piranha OR back shark or just simply jump on their heads and point down

turrets:
Piranha


GL and have fun killing that troublesome human scum

[tehOen]

[14:28] <Werewulf> how old are u people?
[14:28] <PhilH> why do you ask?
[14:28] <Werewulf> Im a paedophile

[ShadowNinjaDudeMan]

lol.

That a good thing to say, Im a sexual predator.
Like A TYRANT!

[Werewulf]

Indeed, you kiddies better be good at aliens to avoid my cold human hands of love. (humans suck, dretch/aliens ftw)

[AppleJuice]

Not bad. The only problem I have with your guide is zigzagging - it is very easy to kill a dretch if it does that, especially in unlagged. That's just my opinion. I personally prefer dretches that constantly use walls and corners and the occasional ground attack ('sting' and 'coiling' + 'shark'). A combination of 'drifting' and wall walking for quick head bites is good against bad/decent battlesuits. 'Piranha' can potentially be good, but it's harder to do if the opponent is good (i.e. the player just moves away from you).

Overall, good guide for new dretches.

[Werewulf]

thnx for the feedback    

[benmachine]

The best tactic when fighting lcannons is to keep your distance and feint approaches to force them to charge up a shot - draining their ammo and potentially causing them a little selfdamage. You are unlikely to get the kill and can easily feed, but a really persistent and annoying dretch can cut a baseraid short, which could save you a lot in the long run.

Personally, I think people are far too gung-ho as a dretch. You are so easy to kill that you have to preserve every last hitpoint - if you are hit, consider running away and hiding to regen. Especially when fighting rifles, lasguns, painsaws, every point can count so do not charge into battle with anything less than full. Conversely, against massdrivers, flamers, and lcannons, it's virtually impossible to get hit without immediately dying, so your HP level is of little consequence.

Remember that your life is the least important of any on your team. Throw yourself on chainsuits and relish your death if it gives a tyrant a chance to escape.

Jumping is underrated - don't overdo it, but the tiny speedbost it gives you can sometimes be all you need to close the distance and a tiny hitbox moving in three dimensions instead of the usual two can be that much harder to hit. Never underestimate walljumping either.

[kevlarman]

Jumping is underrated - don't overdo it, but the tiny speedbost it gives you can sometimes be all you need to close the distance and a tiny hitbox moving in three dimensions instead of the usual two can be that much harder to hit. Never underestimate walljumping either.

the speed boost is far from tiny when you do it right (but it's also extremely dangerous when done at the wrong time because you're an easy target moving in a straight line)

[Samurai.mac]

I think people are far too gung-ho as a dretch.

Gung-ho means working in tandem, so this would be a good thing...

[benmachine]

Gung-ho means working in tandem, so this would be a good thing...

No it doesn't.

[Hk]

Dretches should consider to go in pairs, especially at S1.
The reason is rather simple. A single dretch always needs 2 bits to kill a human, however, 2 dretches can kill a human extremely fast.
Íf they are good, this goes as far as not being able to see the dretch pair, but being dead.

Using this pairs, you are also able to ambush pretty big food-packs... er, HUMAN TEAMs with pretty big safety, because you are just able to kill them so damn fast.... and eating a good food-pack... err.. HUMAN TEAM gets goons up early... and early goons are mean

[Samurai.mac]

Sorry, but:
"[Earlier Gung Ho, motto of certain U.S. Marine forces in Asia during World War II, from Chinese (Mandarin) g?nghé, to work together (short for g?ngyèhézuòshè, Chinese Industrial Cooperative Society) : g?ng, work + hé, together.]"

[benmachine]

Sorry, but:
"[Earlier Gung Ho, motto of certain U.S. Marine forces in Asia during World War II, from Chinese (Mandarin) g?nghé, to work together (short for g?ngyèhézuòshè, Chinese Industrial Cooperative Society) : g?ng, work + hé, together.]"

Yup. clear as day. gonghé means "to work together".
Well, actually, it means industrial worker's cooperative, but let's not split hairs.

Sadly, we're not talking about the meaning of gonghé.
We're talking about gung ho, which, as that dictionary entry you just read stated, means

Extremely enthusiastic and dedicated.

this and only this.
OK?

[player1]

well, we transliterate from Chinese very poorly
the term gung ho is similar to the term gung fu in that both contain the "gung" which refers to doing something beneficial, performing a useful action, etc.
in gung ho, the meaning is work together
in gung fu, the meaning is work efficiently and beautifully (see the terms gong fu - a way to prepare tea - and kung fu - a way to kick someone's ass - both of which refer to doing something in a way that is aesthetically pleasing and extremely efficient)

the term gung ho became applied to the US Marines during the Boxer Rebellion, because the Chinese were impressed by the way the Marines cooperated as a unit

it's later meaning came as a result of being misapplied to the overly zealous

you're both right (although relatively few people who use English as their first language are even aware of the etymology of the term)

now let's go dretch some bsuits

[mooseberry]

now let's go dretch some bsuits

Agreed. Who needs arguing over the etymology of Chinese--English words when you can pwn?

[player1]

now let's go dretch some bsuits

Agreed. Who needs arguing over the etymology of Chinese--English words when you can pwn?

Dretches should consider to go in pairs, especially at S1.

tru dat
in this way, while dretches should not be too gung ho (overly enthuasiastic), they should try to gung ho (work together)

also, thx 2 u all 4 t3h hintz <3

even player1 won't spam the Strategies and Tactics sub-forum

[mooseberry]

while dretches should not be too gung ho, they should try to gung ho

 :eek: lol.  

[player1]

@OP: My only kvetch about your tutorial is the green text. It doesn't read very well against the slate background on this machine. Other than that, a couple of minor spelling things (I just leave "Check Spelling as I Type" selected in Safari, and let the tool do the work), and once or twice you were just a bit vague when assigning names to the techniques. I think I know what you mean, you just were a little obtuse describing it (differentiating Shark from Sting, and describing Drifting). In the words of Hemingway: edit, edit, edit, edit, edit. Then edit.

Overall, I really like it, and you may even have succeeded in providing a basic lexicon of dretch maneuvers and techniques. I give it 4 dretches (out of a possible 5).

         

(OK 4 dretches and a booster, which they earned by reading your Useful Thread. Speaking of which, no discussion of Booster Poison? That's my favorite part of being a dretch! I love the sound the Humans make as they grunt and activate the medkit: it brings the bigger Aliens like flies to a turd in the sun. poisonbite > *grunt* > *unzip* > pouncing killwhorez > LOL @ n00bly hy00minz)

[Dracone]

How about some stuff about biting while still on walls?

A group of humans is coming down the hall at ATCS. Pick a safe time to take the corner and get on the wall and dodge around a bit and slide down a bit and sweep over them while looking at their heads. Make sure you don't try to hit the ones that know to hug wall opposite the one you're on. I've learned that if you want to switch walls, it's best to go across the ceiling because then you can come back down quickly again. It gets confusing to the enemies. Basically, "coiling," as you described it, but without jumping off the walls to attack.

Also, low ceilings like that of the wide corridor near the human base at Niveus. You can stay on ceilings like that and look down on their heads and get 'em pretty nicely.

[mooseberry]

If you are right next to a human without a helmet, you can just sort of rapidly swing your move around and he'll be down very quickly if you hit the head first. [size=0]500th post!!!![/size]

[liq3]

You forgot about getting headbites on unhelmed humans with poisen. Poisened humans dont live long with 4 hp. Otherwise nice guide.

[Lava Croft]

Dretches aren't fast at all, it's the combination of a high Field of Vision and being close to the ground that gives the illusion of speed. The Dretch is actually among the slower of the Alien classes.

[benmachine]

Dretches aren't fast at all, it's the combination of a high Field of Vision and being close to the ground that gives the illusion of speed. The Dretch is actually among the slower of the Alien classes.

The dretch base running speed is the highest of any alien, so your statement is only true where circumstances allow the larger classes to exploit their movement abilities like pouncing/charging. A marauder with no walls to jump off can easily be outrun by a dretch.

[+ OPTIMUS +]

lets not forget about the ways to reach the target. dretches can camp at corners, hide at spooky places and sometimes they can come straight face-to-face.
there are many 'favourite' dretch-camping places, like staying on the slope on ATCS corridors(Puma's evil trick), and doing a head-body double in one jump=instant death when the humm appears at the corner.

i think the best training for dretches is one vs one dretch vs rifle on ATCS corridors, we train quite much like that in the clan. also excellent for practicing aim for humans.
everyone is challenged, i need the XP :-P

[Dracone]

Actually, tyrant has fastest base running speed. But it is the biggest class.

Still, I may be wrong but I believe the basi runs faster than a dretch.

In any case, a dretch running straight at a human sprinting in a straight line away from the dretch will have trouble catching up. The dretch really isn't that fast.

[tuple]

I wish there was a sufficient way to describe the dretch.  I hear some of these stories and think of an alien on the floor, when really the only way to perceive the dretch is moving in the 3d space of the walls/floors/ceiling, as opposed to the 2d space of the floor.

I think there needs to be something about evasion.  I consider it to be the dretches most potent ability right next to its speed traveling through maps.

Wall jumping, especially from wall to wall, has been an extremely successful evasion technique for me.  Its really good against lcannon's on atcs in the halls.  You just know they are coming for a base run, their first shot misses so they charge a little more to kill you.  Or, less ammo when they get to your base.  Or distract them before the tyrant comes charging around the corner.  Or misdirect the chainsuits to leave the lightly armored luci's running towards your base.

Combing coiling down a hall and wall jumping between walls can be extremely useful.  When coiling, many humans will pepper the ground to hit you when you inevitable cross it.  Not ever being on the floor can really throw them for a loop.

As far as a dretch moving through the maps fast, their smaller size means they can jump through smaller openings that other aliens would have to go around, such as between the pillar and stairs behind the alien base on niveus (heh, I think its niveus, the one with the ele room.)  I use these tricks to get to the human base quickly and then evolve so humans have less time to repair.

[benmachine]

Actually, tyrant has fastest base running speed. But it is the biggest class.

Still, I may be wrong but I believe the basi runs faster than a dretch.

Ahem.

[Shadowgandor]

Actually, tyrant has fastest base running speed. But it is the biggest class.

Still, I may be wrong but I believe the basi runs faster than a dretch.

Ahem.

Enlighten us/me please, which code is speed?

[HamStar]

Scroll down until you get to the bit where it says :

*Alien classes
 *_Speed
 *_Regen

[Dracone]

Ahhh, I stand corrected by the evidence. That clears things up. Apparently "appearances can be deceiving" is huge with speed in Trem.