Nation Red Gameplay Tips. If you just started playing, good read

SnowBrigade · 08-14-2010, 10:21 AM

Hello everyone,

Since there is an enourmous difference between the skills (and scores!) of beginning players and those more experienced, I always wanted to start a gameplay tips topic for those players just starting off.

Nation Red is an arena shooter which means you basically fight in an area about 100 by 100 meters (300x300 feet). This makes it play faster and a bit more hectic than most other top-down shooters since you will be surrounded by dozens - hundreds of enemies rather than just a handful and you can't simply run away and hide.

These are some good play tips if you're not too familiar with arena-shooters like Nation Red (Smash TV, Crimsonland, Robotron..)

I found these tips from a Japanese Nation Red forum, and I think they're a good set to start us off. If you have more tips, please post them here. May make this a sticky if people like it

You can set the camera to a true top-down view in the game options. Some players will be more comfortable with this viewpoint.
Weapons in this type of game are relatively balanced. This means there isn't one weapon which is a lot better than others for everyone. You might feel a Minigun is a lot more useful than a Glock handgun, but both have advantages (minigun has superior ammo capacity) and disadvantages (the minigun is slow to reload during which you are vulnerable). The trick is simply to discover which weapon fits best with your playstyle. Some people prefer the Mac10, some the AA12, some the M1024 shotgun, etc.
You can set the difficulty level by pressing the TAB key and using the slider with the mouse or the left/right arrow keys. High difficulty will give you more Xp per kill and you will level up faster and get perks quicker. But higher difficulty will also mean more zombies, faster zombies and higher zombie damage. Low difficulty will give you much less Xp per kill which means longer games but it will also take you longer to collect perks. NOTE: To prevent players from constantly changing the difficulty while playing, you can only change the difficulty for the first minute of every game.
Barricade and Free Play modes feel very different. Start playing in the mode you feel most comfortable with. Both will get you used to the overall gameplay. There are different types of Barricade maps, some of which require you to protect an individual or a particular breach point.
In Single Player, choosing a stronger but heavy weapon from the start of the game may slow you down. You will get attacked by zombies - you die.
Try selecting light weapons such as the MP5 or Nailgun, and then when you get your movement speed up/one level, change to AK47, M4..
You might like to move backwards while shooting, but that will slow you down (as in real life). As a beginner, try to mainly shoot zombies in front of you while turning/shooting around you. That will prevent zombies from catching up with you in the meantime.
Use the Remote Detonator perk to kill a batch of zombies ahead of where you are moving. It comes with 2 free grenades as well. In coop, you can also use remote grenades to kill zombies around your friend without having to move close to them.
The Orange/Red Zombies pack exposives and detonate when near. Always shoot them from a distance. You can pick the Negotiator perk to make them slower to explode.
When you pick up Heavy Ammo, you can attack with such weapons as the M240B. At this stage you are still vulnerable towards enemies behind you, so you should still attack forward while running/avoiding their attacks.
In single player mode, the Minigun can become the cause of early death unless your movement and reload speed are at their max. The AK47 is a good enough weapon to avoid this, so it's not a bad idea to use an AK47 as a primary and have the Minigun as a spare.
The Minigun + Heavy Ammo is very useful to clear large amounts of zombies without reloading.
It's advisable to aim for faster reload and movement perks and pick up Amor, Regeneration and Messy. You may pass on Hand of God/Saw Blades/etc. and take Lone Wolf instead depending on your play style.
A perk such as Hand of God (the kind which helps you increase your kill count) doesn't mean much unless you get to later levels when you've collected a good set of base perks. Hand of God-type attacking perks are mainly 'Kill Helpers' for those who can survive long enough. They're mainly useful to increase your scores. If you are going for a short game of survival, Lone Wolf is good enough.
When you pick up a weapon you intend to use, make sure to lock it so that you won't pick up others. But be careful about locking a weapon at the beginning when you're not used to toggling it on/off - you might fail to pick up a weapon you want, and you don't want to run back into a pack of zombies to try to pick it up.
Later in the game, you pick up items dropped from more frequent bosses, so it's a must to have Boss Power which doubles the drop from a boss. Same goes for Man of the Moment.
If you do not like pausing the game to pick perks, create an Auto Perk list and play in that mode.
You can create up to three Auto Perk lists. Use them for different objectives, for example List #1 for Free Play, List #2 for Barricade Mode, List #3 for Achievements, etc.
The stackable Ghost perks are essential and used by almost every high scoring player. Make sure you select these to clear the screen of zombies whenever you pick up a Ghost powerup. This means choosing perks such as Mirror Image, Strike Team and Wild Bunch.

xX_Renegade_Xx · 08-14-2010, 10:46 AM

Some of the things I've found so far:

No Longer Needed.
Watch your sentries ammunition, if it starts to fall low lead a zombie towards it to use the last few rounds then re-arm it as soon as you can, this is effective on barricade mode (warehouse) just before the next horde arrives, use the last few zombies to use the ammunition up so you have a fully armed sentry for the next wave.
Remote detonator can be a life saver if you're rearming and don't have time to pick off a running zombie that's made it past the sentry guns, use the remote detonator to stop them reaching the breach point.

SnowBrigade · 08-14-2010, 11:03 AM

And courtesy of Syncourt:

In Barricade Mode remember you can reload the sentry guns by standing near them. The red bar under the sentry guns indicates the ammunition in the gun. If the bar is flashing, the sentry is either out of ammo or still in the middle of reloading.
The Gray bar indicates the upgrade status of the sentry. When it is full they will upgrade into weapon stations (a more powerful form of turret).

WaZzUp115 · 08-14-2010, 11:10 AM

There's a slight delay before a boomer explodes, use this to quickly roll away to avoid getting hit.
Always prioritize running zombies and boomers.
Running zombies are easier to deal with if you gather them up in a crowd behind you instead of taking them out one by one, you need to be quick though or they'll catch you, so don't wait to long until you take them out.
The machine gun and minigun overheats when you fire lots of bullets without pausing, this will cause the bullets to spred, if you want them to go straight fire shorter bursts. (need dev input here, does it deal less damage or something when it overheats?)
Don't risk your own life to save your partner in coop, wait until you have grenades or a powerup like cloak, rage, etc, before you attempt to revive.

roman2838 · 08-14-2010, 11:23 AM

Friendly Fire is essential, get it ASAP. There's no easier way to get some room then heaving Friendly Fire and shoot a boomer

JK_DC · 08-14-2010, 03:43 PM

Remember to use the mines at the exits on barricade mode. Even if they get by you and the sentry guns they will have a present waiting for them.

Syncourt · 08-15-2010, 05:33 AM

A short introduction to the various game modes of NR.

Single Player modes:

Missions - These are like short challenges. Generally the goal is to survive a specific set of enemies or to protect an NPC.
Freeplay - A short game mode with endless enemies which progresses in difficulty very quickly the longer you survive.
Barricade (Bridge map) - Medium length. An endless game mode with waves of enemies, which progresses in difficulty the longer you survive. You have 2 lines of barricade in the middle which bottleneck the zombies, but these can be destroyed. There are 4 NPC allies stationed there for temporary help, but they do not regenerate health when hurt or acquire weapon/powerups/perks. Enemies come from 2 directions (the top and bottom) and the objective is basically to survive in a narrow space without getting sandwiched and killed.
Barricade (Warehouse map) - Long length. An endless game mode with waves of enemies, which progresses in difficulty the longer you survive. You have 2 lines of barricades that bottleneck the zombies, but these can eventually be destroyed. You have 2 sentry turrets which can each be refilled only when empty. The sentry guns upgrade to a 2nd level. Enemies will come from 1 direction only (the top) and the objective is to prevent any zombies from exiting (the bottom) of the map.
Survival - Short length game mode with endless enemies which progress in difficulty the longer you survive. You may select a weapon to start with, but there are no levels, experience, power-ups or weapon drops while playing. You start with all the basic weapon perks (messy, quick fingers, intensity ect.) You have one health bar, use it wisely.

Online modes:

Freeplay Co-op - Basically the same as in single player Freeplay (above) except it handles 2 players.
Survival Co-op - Same as Survival (Above) except handles 2 players.
Barricade Co-Op (Warehouse) - Long length. An endless game mode with waves of enemies, which progresses in difficulty the longer you survive. You have series of barricades in the center of the map in a box styled formation that you can sit in the center of, these barricades can be destroyed. You have 4 sentry turrets which can each be refilled only when empty. The objective is to survive as many waves of enemies as you can.

Game mode options:

Last Man Standing (Vs.) - Changes the game to pitt both players against each other in a Vs. style mode where they can hurt each other and pick special perks unique to this mode which will hinder the other player. Can only be played in co-op.
XP sharing - Enabling this will cause the experience gained by one players kills to be split between the two players. Can only be played in co-op.
Endurance mode - No Perks allowed.

ColdSeer · 08-15-2010, 07:51 AM

Nice posts SnowBrigade and Syncourt,
I'll give you +rep as soon as I "spread some reputation arround".

Edit: Nvm, done.

WaZzUp115 · 08-15-2010, 07:53 AM

Always keep moving and start jump-diving when reloading to avoid getting hit

Perhaps these could be added in-game somewhere, like the main menu?

roman2838 · 08-15-2010, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WaZzUp115

Always keep moving and start jump-diving when reloading to avoid getting hit

I disagree with the jump-diving part, I merely jump-dive, since it's allways a little bit uncertain where you end up. You should only jump-dive if you're helplessly sourrounded. To get some space while reloading, kicking might be the better idea. Anyways, if you keep some of the given hints in mind, especially the part about shooting into the direction you're running, you should have a nice, clear lane in front of you where you can move freely while reloading.

WaZzUp115 · 08-15-2010, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roman2838

I disagree with the jump-diving part, I merely jump-dive, since it's allways a little bit uncertain where you end up. You should only jump-dive if you're helplessly sourrounded. To get some space while reloading, kicking might be the better idea. Anyways, if you keep some of the given hints in mind, especially the part about shooting into the direction you're running, you should have a nice, clear lane in front of you where you can move freely while reloading.

True, but from my experience, when I need to reload there's usually a large crowd appearing in front of me which forces me to roll..

Syncourt · 10-29-2010, 05:38 AM

Bump for new players. Some good info here.

SnowBrigade · 10-29-2010, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Syncourt

Bump for new players. Some good info here.

I forgot about this thread

Number one tip I think is don't think the game is too hard. If you're not used to top-down arena shooters, you'll still find you will get used to it very quickly. 4-5 games and you'll survive a lot longer. Keep moving and almost imagine to click the cursor on the zombies you want to kill.

And don't forget the difficulty slider. Hit TAB and lower your skill level. You'll get less XP score and leveling up will take longer but the game will be easier.

Steed123 · 10-29-2010, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WaZzUp115

Always keep moving and start jump-diving when reloading to avoid getting hit

Perhaps these could be added in-game somewhere, like the main menu?

You can also try kicking while reloading if you're getting swamped and don't have the endurance to dive.

Whodigiya · 10-29-2010, 10:35 PM

Is kick diving still possible? I haven't been able to play in a while. If so, I've found it to be extremely useful when reloading and retreating. Kick diving deals damage so it's still useful even if you've got trailblazer. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe trailblazer deals any damage.)

I think one of the most obvious and useful tips I can provide is make sure you play around with the camera. Zooming in and out can really help you get a feel of the battlefield when you're running around.

If you can get heavy ammo and dexterity I'd say pick up an AA-12 ASAP. It's one of the best shotguns for clearing crowds and the tight bullet spread is great for slaughtering bosses from a safe distance.

Triage is a toss-up. It's worse than Regeneration if you have over 50% health, but it's great if you fall below that. That said, if you have full health and it's still early in the game then stick with Regeneration. If you really can't stay over 50% then go for Triage.

The Berretta is awesome. I choose it over certain "stronger" weapons very often. It rocks the house early on and has more staying power than the Glock19 in my opinion.

08-14-2010, 11:10 AM	#4
WaZzUp115 Join Date: Sep 2007 Reputation: 69 Posts: 1,261	There's a slight delay before a boomer explodes, use this to quickly roll away to avoid getting hit. Always prioritize running zombies and boomers. Running zombies are easier to deal with if you gather them up in a crowd behind you instead of taking them out one by one, you need to be quick though or they'll catch you, so don't wait to long until you take them out. The machine gun and minigun overheats when you fire lots of bullets without pausing, this will cause the bullets to spred, if you want them to go straight fire shorter bursts. (need dev input here, does it deal less damage or something when it overheats?) Don't risk your own life to save your partner in coop, wait until you have grenades or a powerup like cloak, rage, etc, before you attempt to revive. Last edited by WaZzUp115: 08-14-2010 at 11:13 AM.

08-15-2010, 05:33 AM	#7
Syncourt Join Date: Feb 2008 Reputation: 132 Posts: 2,050	A short introduction to the various game modes of NR. Single Player modes: Missions - These are like short challenges. Generally the goal is to survive a specific set of enemies or to protect an NPC. Freeplay - A short game mode with endless enemies which progresses in difficulty very quickly the longer you survive. Barricade (Bridge map) - Medium length. An endless game mode with waves of enemies, which progresses in difficulty the longer you survive. You have 2 lines of barricade in the middle which bottleneck the zombies, but these can be destroyed. There are 4 NPC allies stationed there for temporary help, but they do not regenerate health when hurt or acquire weapon/powerups/perks. Enemies come from 2 directions (the top and bottom) and the objective is basically to survive in a narrow space without getting sandwiched and killed. Barricade (Warehouse map) - Long length. An endless game mode with waves of enemies, which progresses in difficulty the longer you survive. You have 2 lines of barricades that bottleneck the zombies, but these can eventually be destroyed. You have 2 sentry turrets which can each be refilled only when empty. The sentry guns upgrade to a 2nd level. Enemies will come from 1 direction only (the top) and the objective is to prevent any zombies from exiting (the bottom) of the map. Survival - Short length game mode with endless enemies which progress in difficulty the longer you survive. You may select a weapon to start with, but there are no levels, experience, power-ups or weapon drops while playing. You start with all the basic weapon perks (messy, quick fingers, intensity ect.) You have one health bar, use it wisely. Online modes: Freeplay Co-op - Basically the same as in single player Freeplay (above) except it handles 2 players. Survival Co-op - Same as Survival (Above) except handles 2 players. Barricade Co-Op (Warehouse) - Long length. An endless game mode with waves of enemies, which progresses in difficulty the longer you survive. You have series of barricades in the center of the map in a box styled formation that you can sit in the center of, these barricades can be destroyed. You have 4 sentry turrets which can each be refilled only when empty. The objective is to survive as many waves of enemies as you can. Game mode options: Last Man Standing (Vs.) - Changes the game to pitt both players against each other in a Vs. style mode where they can hurt each other and pick special perks unique to this mode which will hinder the other player. Can only be played in co-op. XP sharing - Enabling this will cause the experience gained by one players kills to be split between the two players. Can only be played in co-op. Endurance mode - No Perks allowed. Last edited by Syncourt: 08-15-2010 at 07:50 AM.

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08-14-2010, 10:21 AM	#1
SnowBrigade DiezelPower Join Date: Sep 2009 Reputation: 735 Posts: 2,983	Nation Red Gameplay Tips. If you just started playing, good read Hello everyone, Since there is an enourmous difference between the skills (and scores!) of beginning players and those more experienced, I always wanted to start a gameplay tips topic for those players just starting off. Nation Red is an arena shooter which means you basically fight in an area about 100 by 100 meters (300x300 feet). This makes it play faster and a bit more hectic than most other top-down shooters since you will be surrounded by dozens - hundreds of enemies rather than just a handful and you can't simply run away and hide. These are some good play tips if you're not too familiar with arena-shooters like Nation Red (Smash TV, Crimsonland, Robotron..) I found these tips from a Japanese Nation Red forum, and I think they're a good set to start us off. If you have more tips, please post them here. May make this a sticky if people like it You can set the camera to a true top-down view in the game options. Some players will be more comfortable with this viewpoint. Weapons in this type of game are relatively balanced. This means there isn't one weapon which is a lot better than others for everyone. You might feel a Minigun is a lot more useful than a Glock handgun, but both have advantages (minigun has superior ammo capacity) and disadvantages (the minigun is slow to reload during which you are vulnerable). The trick is simply to discover which weapon fits best with your playstyle. Some people prefer the Mac10, some the AA12, some the M1024 shotgun, etc. You can set the difficulty level by pressing the TAB key and using the slider with the mouse or the left/right arrow keys. High difficulty will give you more Xp per kill and you will level up faster and get perks quicker. But higher difficulty will also mean more zombies, faster zombies and higher zombie damage. Low difficulty will give you much less Xp per kill which means longer games but it will also take you longer to collect perks. NOTE: To prevent players from constantly changing the difficulty while playing, you can only change the difficulty for the first minute of every game. Barricade and Free Play modes feel very different. Start playing in the mode you feel most comfortable with. Both will get you used to the overall gameplay. There are different types of Barricade maps, some of which require you to protect an individual or a particular breach point. In Single Player, choosing a stronger but heavy weapon from the start of the game may slow you down. You will get attacked by zombies - you die. Try selecting light weapons such as the MP5 or Nailgun, and then when you get your movement speed up/one level, change to AK47, M4.. You might like to move backwards while shooting, but that will slow you down (as in real life). As a beginner, try to mainly shoot zombies in front of you while turning/shooting around you. That will prevent zombies from catching up with you in the meantime. Use the Remote Detonator perk to kill a batch of zombies ahead of where you are moving. It comes with 2 free grenades as well. In coop, you can also use remote grenades to kill zombies around your friend without having to move close to them. The Orange/Red Zombies pack exposives and detonate when near. Always shoot them from a distance. You can pick the Negotiator perk to make them slower to explode. When you pick up Heavy Ammo, you can attack with such weapons as the M240B. At this stage you are still vulnerable towards enemies behind you, so you should still attack forward while running/avoiding their attacks. In single player mode, the Minigun can become the cause of early death unless your movement and reload speed are at their max. The AK47 is a good enough weapon to avoid this, so it's not a bad idea to use an AK47 as a primary and have the Minigun as a spare. The Minigun + Heavy Ammo is very useful to clear large amounts of zombies without reloading. It's advisable to aim for faster reload and movement perks and pick up Amor, Regeneration and Messy. You may pass on Hand of God/Saw Blades/etc. and take Lone Wolf instead depending on your play style. A perk such as Hand of God (the kind which helps you increase your kill count) doesn't mean much unless you get to later levels when you've collected a good set of base perks. Hand of God-type attacking perks are mainly 'Kill Helpers' for those who can survive long enough. They're mainly useful to increase your scores. If you are going for a short game of survival, Lone Wolf is good enough. When you pick up a weapon you intend to use, make sure to lock it so that you won't pick up others. But be careful about locking a weapon at the beginning when you're not used to toggling it on/off - you might fail to pick up a weapon you want, and you don't want to run back into a pack of zombies to try to pick it up. Later in the game, you pick up items dropped from more frequent bosses, so it's a must to have Boss Power which doubles the drop from a boss. Same goes for Man of the Moment. If you do not like pausing the game to pick perks, create an Auto Perk list and play in that mode. You can create up to three Auto Perk lists. Use them for different objectives, for example List #1 for Free Play, List #2 for Barricade Mode, List #3 for Achievements, etc. The stackable Ghost perks are essential and used by almost every high scoring player. Make sure you select these to clear the screen of zombies whenever you pick up a Ghost powerup. This means choosing perks such as Mirror Image, Strike Team and Wild Bunch. Last edited by SnowBrigade: 04-09-2012 at 10:29 AM.

08-14-2010, 10:46 AM	#2
xX_Renegade_Xx Join Date: Nov 2009 Reputation: 1862 Posts: 4,423	Some of the things I've found so far: No Longer Needed. Watch your sentries ammunition, if it starts to fall low lead a zombie towards it to use the last few rounds then re-arm it as soon as you can, this is effective on barricade mode (warehouse) just before the next horde arrives, use the last few zombies to use the ammunition up so you have a fully armed sentry for the next wave. Remote detonator can be a life saver if you're rearming and don't have time to pick off a running zombie that's made it past the sentry guns, use the remote detonator to stop them reaching the breach point. Last edited by xX_Renegade_Xx: 01-22-2012 at 12:30 PM. Reason: Removed a zombie boss description.

08-14-2010, 11:03 AM	#3
SnowBrigade DiezelPower Join Date: Sep 2009 Reputation: 735 Posts: 2,983	And courtesy of Syncourt: In Barricade Mode remember you can reload the sentry guns by standing near them. The red bar under the sentry guns indicates the ammunition in the gun. If the bar is flashing, the sentry is either out of ammo or still in the middle of reloading. The Gray bar indicates the upgrade status of the sentry. When it is full they will upgrade into weapon stations (a more powerful form of turret).

08-14-2010, 11:23 AM	#5
roman2838 Join Date: Dec 2008 Reputation: 5 Posts: 220	Friendly Fire is essential, get it ASAP. There's no easier way to get some room then heaving Friendly Fire and shoot a boomer

08-14-2010, 03:43 PM	#6
JK_DC Join Date: Jan 2009 Reputation: 193 Posts: 2,209	Remember to use the mines at the exits on barricade mode. Even if they get by you and the sentry guns they will have a present waiting for them.

08-15-2010, 07:51 AM	#8
ColdSeer Join Date: Feb 2010 Reputation: 45 Posts: 756	Nice posts SnowBrigade and Syncourt, I'll give you +rep as soon as I "spread some reputation arround". Edit: Nvm, done.

08-15-2010, 07:53 AM	#9
WaZzUp115 Join Date: Sep 2007 Reputation: 69 Posts: 1,261	Always keep moving and start jump-diving when reloading to avoid getting hit Perhaps these could be added in-game somewhere, like the main menu?

10-29-2010, 05:38 AM	#12
Syncourt Join Date: Feb 2008 Reputation: 132 Posts: 2,050	Bump for new players. Some good info here.

10-29-2010, 10:35 PM	#15
Whodigiya Join Date: Aug 2009 Reputation: 44 Posts: 224	Is kick diving still possible? I haven't been able to play in a while. If so, I've found it to be extremely useful when reloading and retreating. Kick diving deals damage so it's still useful even if you've got trailblazer. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe trailblazer deals any damage.) I think one of the most obvious and useful tips I can provide is make sure you play around with the camera. Zooming in and out can really help you get a feel of the battlefield when you're running around. If you can get heavy ammo and dexterity I'd say pick up an AA-12 ASAP. It's one of the best shotguns for clearing crowds and the tight bullet spread is great for slaughtering bosses from a safe distance. Triage is a toss-up. It's worse than Regeneration if you have over 50% health, but it's great if you fall below that. That said, if you have full health and it's still early in the game then stick with Regeneration. If you really can't stay over 50% then go for Triage. The Berretta is awesome. I choose it over certain "stronger" weapons very often. It rocks the house early on and has more staying power than the Glock19 in my opinion.