Run Optimization and You

[clickeverywhere]

Introduction

Hey guys, ClickEverywhere here with a guide on run efficiency. With the ubiquity of tomes and barrels these days, the game is no longer a question of success or failure, it is a question of how quickly success or failure is achieved!

This guide will be helpful to you if you have ever asked yourself these questions:

1. Why is this run taking three hours?
   
2. Why are we holding last on wave 2 for ten minutes?
   
3. How can I contribute to the team if there is no room for me to slash/shoot/throw?
   
4. Why are we holding last on wave 19 for twenty minutes? What's going on? Why are people dying repeatedly and why am I tabbed out reading reddit while they are doing it?
   
   

Even if you haven't asked yourself any of these questions, you should read this guide. This guide is intended to give players tips on how they can waste less time, kill more Nords, and ultimately get more loot. The knowledge you glean from this thread is applicable to any mode and any map. You might even find yourself applying what you learn from this thread in real life!*

Why is run optimization important? NordInvasion is a team game. Servers can accommodate 16 players. If you play inefficiently, you waste not only your own time, but the time of 15 other players. You may say "but NordInvasion is a pastime. Its very purpose is to waste time!" Well, some people can't afford to invest that much time into a single run. Some people have to sleep or have work. They may have hopped onto a server with two hours to spare thinking "it's only a hard run, how long could it possibly take?" while you go on to betray their naive expectations by going AFK when half the team has died so that barricades can be tomed in yet no one is uses a tome and then everything despawns and now the team fails to kill Ragnar!! The slower a run goes, the more likely players are to tab out and not pay attention.

*You won't actually be using these tips in real life.

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General Tips

1. Use TeamSpeak if you are able to. It isn't necessary for you to speak as long as you can follow orders or react properly to situations involving breaches or wraiths, but it is a bonus if you can give useful feedback and information to the team.
   
   
2. If you bring in a support item, use it. Don't bring it in and just drop it somewhere on the ground expecting someone else to place your barricade or use your medic box.
   
   
3. If there is no dedicated healer for your team, use 3 medic boxes at the end of each wave and then refill them along with your other ammo. This way, the team will not have to wait in line to heal.
   
   
4. Use medic boxes. The DPS of the team is correlated with how risky each attack will be. If your team is at full health, they will be more willing to continue taking risks and finish off the wave faster as a result.
   
   
5. Do not overcrowd slashing spots. If there aren't enough slashing spots for your team, it is likely that you should widen the shield line. If there is one shielder, you can usually have two slashers. Two shielders allow for three slashers. Three shielders allow for five slashers. There are exceptions when you add in pikemen with long weapons.
   
   
6. Understand your team composition. If your lineup is commando heavy, build your barricades accordingly.
   
   
7. Do not overcrowd shooting/throwing spots. This leads to a phenomenon known as double peeking, which gets your allies killed and actually decreases the speed of the run. If there are no more good spots to throw or shoot from, you should instead do one of the following: heal the team with medic boxes, shuffle the tomes and barricades so that they do not despawn, or reinforce the barricades.
   
   
8. You should never be standing idle between waves. If you have time to be standing around you could be building barricades, shuffling items, toming for more barricades/barrels/tomes, or moving on to the next wave. Someone is usually holding the last bot. Don't force him to spend 30 minutes doing it.
   
   
9. Do not do things mindlessly. Evaluate and re-evaluate the situation whenever you can as situations tend to deteriorate very quickly when you're not paying attention. The most important thing is having the ability to adapt.
   
   
10. Use the score screen (default key: tab). Players should be checking this screen frequently to check whether you are close to the end of the wave and to quickly ascertain the health of the team.
    
    The score screen will inform your decision making. Will the team be okay for the next wave? Should a tome be used? If the majority of the players on the top of the scoreboard are dead, it's a good time to tome. High DPS is necessary for a fast run. If one or more of your shielders are dead, it's a good time to tome. Do not muck about in indecision about toming, but make sure that you announce your intentions so that other living players are prepared. Each player should be able to come to these conclusions individually.
    

Role Specific Tips

Archers and Players in Ranged Roles

1. Archers can refill their quivers by taking the ammo off of fallen Nords. Do this between waves rather than hogging the ammo refill box. The arrows you pick up will be the same quality as those of the first arrow you pick up. The type of arrow you are using will be shown by the quiver on your character.
   
   
2. If you are a class that does not have the luxury of refilling your ammo from the corpses of fallen foes, you should begin your ammo refilling as the wave winds down. If there are only four bots left visible, not every archer/crossbowman/pikeman on the team has to try to kill them. Get a headstart on refilling your ammo instead.
   
   
3. Give feedback of what you see to the team. Players on the ground can use information of what you see to determine their best course of action.
   

Slashers and Shielders

1. If there are 6 commandos on your team, adjust the size of your shield wall accordingly. Using three shielders is more efficient than using only one because it allows for more spots from which other players can slash. Furthermore, you lose fewer barricades because more attention is focused on the shields.
   
   
2. A staggered shield wall can be a lot more effective than a straight shield line. In most cases, it can give a better angle to attack from and can compensate more slashers.
   
   
3. Decrease your idle time as much as possible. Follow shielders out and try to understand what they are doing. Remember to always leave room for retreat. Do not stop moving in areas where players will be exposed to ranged fire. If the shielders set up an impromptu shield wall at the front, they will need slashers.
   
   
4. When it is the end of the wave, go out and hold last so that the shielder can repair. If another slasher has already taken the last Nord, look for barricades that haven't been placed and reinforce the barricades as needed.
   

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Final Words

If there are any tips that you'd like to share, please comment in the thread. I'll update the thread with more tips as I think of them.

EDIT 2014/03/20: Fixed up introduction and conclusion. Incorporated a few tips from comments.