Cram vs. Line

[PH]

I hadn't read too much into Eeks' "basing = dead" theory until now.

We BD'ed Akua the other night and lost by about a minute, thanks to our captain insisting that we line. NEWS FLASH, a dyslexic 5-year-old can get through lining. After the match I went off in the chat, saying that if our goal WAS to get into TWL then we had to learn to cram, because this shit was not going to fly come league time. Our captain retorted with "if i say line then we line".

Fuck that. Lining belongs in pub. I may BD one more time with this joke of a squad before I decide that I'd rather be in a squad with an actual future.

Am I overreacting, or is lining as big of a joke as I think it is?

[Mythrandir]

It took less than a few weeks for people to beat 2-3 year old liners with the then new cram strat.
So yeah, lining is inferior in many ways; still many people disagree just for old times sake.

[SpiderMage]

I dunno, lining has always worked for me. I usually pub, but the times 've done ?go base, though maybe not as advanced as BD, lining has worked for me at least. I guess it's all in how you manage your energy, when you fire and your line of fire. Because lining forces them into a pinch situation, and if you place your spiders on either side you can command the entrance pretty well. Cramming though is more of the "best defense is a good offense", which is good, 'm not that great at cramming unless I hang back near the entrance and provide cover fire, so 'm not really sure. Lining can allow you to dictate the pace, but cramming allows you to take it to the enemy.

[Stabwound]

There is no way that someone can look at the facts of cram vs. line and say that lining is better.

With cram you have 4-5 spiders constantly shooting down in a very concentrated area with good protection from the walls and repels. If one or two or even all of the spiders die, you can still recover easily by a quick move from the terrier or sharks. With lining, one person dying when they shouldn't (especially a shark) will, 99% of the time, ruin your line. With some of the lag players have these days, lining against them is not even an option because they will spike their way in like a knife through butter.

[Nockm]

Why is cramming better than line?


Cram defends lower in the base
- Against a cram, you are already showered with bullets in mid-base, ouch.
- Against a line, you are practically already in the base before the line-bullets make any impact. There's not much no-man's-land to get through (a few reps is more than enough to get a few ships through).


Cram has a larger area of fire than line.
- Against a cram, incoming sharks will have to repel earlier and more often. This means they run out of repels leaving the attacking team defenceless.
- Against a line, incoming sharks need only repel a narrow stream of bullets (that aren't even coming towards them). The line is so inefficient area-wise, the spiders are literally shooting themselves rather than the enemy.


I see Stabby has written something already.

[NaiLed]

line: more fun
cram: more effective

[Verthanthi]

It took less than a few weeks for people to beat 2-3 year old liners with the then new cram strat.
So yeah, lining is inferior in many ways; still many people disagree just for old times sake.

Myth, I've never met anyone who argues that lining is more effective.

[Mythrandir]

Myth, I've never met anyone who argues that lining is more effective.

I have met dozens of people who used to argue that lining is better than cramming.

[lunch3]

I think lining has a probability of returning and even defeating cram. but only if it is well practiced with experienced sharks that can team with each other and smart spiders that know how to retreat as enemy breaks in...by that time a quick counteroffensive will destroy any breach. well it would be weaker then cram in some aspects...but lining is much stronger when thinking about how strong the enemy is when they are able to enter fr and how strong the defenders are. if lining spiders retreat well as enemy breaks in, as said above, i think 90% of the time they can td or cause enemy to port back out of fr. It is weak first line defense, but has good second defense and counterattack possibilities to it also.

[Richard Creager]

both lining and cramming sucks, charge the motherfuckers all the way to spawn

[CrvenBan]

Lining can be very effective if people playing know how to do it. To execute good line you need:

-jav in play: gives you options to bomb enemies while they prepare to enter, thus wasting their reps + all the 4-fers you can get by enemies being held up in entrance
-sharks mining 2 sets of mines, 4 higher, 4 lower
-shark that mines lower stays with mines mining more as it gets repped thus increasing chances for shraps
-sharks letting thru parts of the enemy force in, especially if terr tries to drop a port under flag, just rep him up into line
-spids that know how to set up high-mid-low stream of fire (1 high to kill all the campers saving energy for crucial def, 1 lower to hit any incoming ppl, 2 mid so they can go under flag and pick up greens or rush the terr after all ppl died)
-rnd spid dmg + fc green ratio from before in order to put most pressure on attacking freq
-spids aware of possible jav from lower, moving accordingly
-spids with pateince


But cramming is much easier to learn for new ppl, and is more effective way to defend most of the times

[Eeks]

I don't care about lining or cramming.

What I dislike are people limiting themselves to either of them.

In my opinion the best strategy has always been pushing out. I always found it useless to start setting up lines and I also find it useless to concentrate all your pracs on setting up cram.

One of the things I tried to say with my thread "basing=dead" is that we're making the same mistake with concentrating 24h-cram-only that people did with 24h-lining-only.

[Nockm]

Very true, it is ineffective to limit a team to just one strategy.

Ideally you would push out to mid.
If you can't control mid anymore, retreat to cram.
If you can't control cram anymore, retreat to line.

[Dameon Angell]

Nah. Weasel Cram > all.

Bbring up the opposing team to the front, into a cram and have a weasel come from behind and down the terrier or any other ship(s) from behind. This will then take all attention off the flag for the cram to kill the rest. Even if the Terrier has X, you can bait it out into the open for the free kill and bait out a few spiders from the attack.

[Fit of Rage]

line: more fun
cram: more effective

Says it all.