how do i become more robustHi, I have 730 marine hours now. I wondered… how to become le robust? because i keep being solocapped by single drones. lurkers. runners too. i just cannot escape because of their oddly OP tail stab and pounce. is there a way to counter these lag switchers? what are your strats? even though this is in acid goop, I actually beg for help. because these UAVers keep metagaming and literally playing unfair. i’ve a total of five xeno kills. maybe six. it actually sucks. so please regard to this thread seriously. or i might become a xenomain
yes
WE’VE BEEN OVER THIS BEFORE.
Skill issue. Go become benomain and take away their slots.
sorry i am not going to read all that.
Apply for admin and then PM people “hey do you have a second” when they get close to you, then don’t elaborate at all when they respond
Owned
get better ping
Well, I have 700 marine hours as well (plus 100 ping), and even I manage to solo T3s from time to time. If you can’t - skill is the issue, go play shipside or smth
I can’t take such questions seriously… Robustness is just an experience, lol - play the game, and you’ll get better with time. Or you won’t, which means you suck
For combat it’s just 60% positioning, 20% clicking, and 20% game-knowledge. You’ll notice that the best players rarely seem to put themselves in a disadvantageous position, be they marine or xeno. Take OWL for example, if a fight is risky they probably just won’t take it unless they’re looking to limit test. When they do take risks, they have thrown away 60% of what keeps them alive and are now reliant on the other 40% of the game entirely: their ability to click well, and their knowledge of the game (i.e. how long they have after rushing someone before they run out of time for free damage).
The reality is that every single competitive online game today swirls around risk-management and opportunity cost. That’s why people who are really good at one video game tend to be really good at all video games, they can quickly assess when something is a worthwhile risk and when something is too risky to justify attempting (or when the opportunity cost is too great, though OC isn’t really a factor in this game). The best players at any game are the best at doing this accurately.
An important thing to note is that risk is subjective. What do I mean by that? If you want to get better at the game, obviously you want to work on your mechanics. But, none of the legit robustos are all mechanical and, in this game, it’s likely that they’re not even mostly mechanical; they make decisions that make success more likely than failure. You need to get better at risk-management: this is not a game of immense outplaying. As you increase your game knowledge and mechanics, your room to take ‘risks’ grow as maneuvers become less risky with your experience and skill.
Build sufficient rapport with other nonrobustos - once they trust you they will see/help you robust bugs. Eventually you will robust newer low caste xenos in front of them and they will parade your name. Congrats after 3k hours for being robust!
Here’s a few tips on how to be robust, beyond what’s already said here:
One: Make yourself unpredictable to the enemy. Quite simply mind-fuck with xenos to the point where they will think twice before trying their luck in a 1v1. Move in random patterns, or no patterns at all; at times seemingly ignore them, and then blast them with everything you have when they think you are clueless. I will be honest, playing as both xeno and marine made me fear players that DONT follow any kind of plan when fighting and just follow their gut.
Two: Know how to manage ammo and xeno health. I bet you had THAT moment when a xeno goes critical in-front of a door, you have to reload, and while that happens they stand up and run off. Know when to magdump La Creatura and when to simply back off and let it run off without doing much OR get out of position and become more susceptible to getting ran down.
Three: Make your character known to other players. Best way to do that is have a static, of course, but even without that you can get people to know your characters I am sure. You WILL DIE one or more times while dueling OWL or some other prime xeno and then you rest on the sand of LV\Big Red until next round… Or you wont if a person knowning you comes running in and rescues your lifeless body, then throws it to the delta medic(which then ODs you on tram and you go all the way to medbay). Even the most robust protags arent immortal, they die alot, but they stay in the game when they get revived, and then they go killing again. I myself had seemingly random people approach me some rounds, exchange some pleasantries like they know me, and then run off to save me in the round later. You may think that game skill is the only thing that matters, but who would’ve guessed that social skills matter too… :pikachuface:
OWL said in deadchat yesterday that they started playing CM in 2016, being robust takes time, have fun with the game and don’t tire yourself out really
not always true, we got a lot of people here that say they’ve been playing CM for years and still play like they picked up the game yesterday
some are different than others, not everyone is the same
You don’t.
L rizz
im a new player, started cm in 2025 and im already fragging left and right i think u guys just suck
underbarrel shotgun with magharn to stun benox.
heavy armor.
stun grenades may help?
Also md to know where they’re coming from, and incendiary nades and metal foam nades to block paths.
And stay away from chokes without checking them safely.
Take the long safe way into a building instead of rushing a 1x1 hallway.
How to become the antithesis of “robust”.