Latest posts for the topic "Strategy and Tactics discussion"

Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

I think it would be cool to geek out and get a discussion on tactics going so I'll get the ball rolling and talk about my thoughts on the avril. I find the avril very useful. I probably get a third of my kills with this one weapon. I toss my grenade and rocket launchers at the start of a wave so that I have one click of the mouse wheel between the flak and avril, allowing me to switch between the two very easily. I didn't start using the avril much until I got loaded weapons 5 because if I got a negative grenade launcher or Rocket, it was clumsy to get to the avril with the mouse wheel. Some people are much more "adaptable" than I am, though. The conventional use of the avril, as it's used in Onslaught, is to fire and zoom-lock on the opponent (like the Manta or Raptor). In Invasion, I find it's more useful to fire a shot and track it in without zooming. This maintains your peripheral vision and allows you to instantly switch to your next target once you take out the first. It also allows you to switch targets on the fly. Like say a titan is a medium-long distance and you fire an avril, then one spawns at a short distance. Obviously, you want that shot to go to the closer titan. All you have to do is aim at the closer one and the avril will change course. I only lock when the target is particularly far away and other players don't appear too focused on it (like a gas bag up in the rafters). And speaking of distance, in Onslaught that's more often what the avril is - a distance weapon. In Invasion, I've found it most useful as a mid and short range weapon. First, it's because Invasion is too fast-paced for the slow avril to go halfway across the map. By the time it gets there the monster is dead and you wasted a lot of time. Second, it will lock on and kill a lot of mid-tier stuff in one hit. A brute can take three or four shots from the flak, while one avril will usually do the job. As long as the bad guy goes down with one hit, the long reload time of the avril is less of an issue. You can work around the reload time, however, even when it does come into play. For example, let's say you approach two brutes and a nali. You switch to avril and fire it at the brute. You only need to track the shot to the point that it's likely going to hit the brute. You switch to the flak and take out the nali. You switch back to the avril (which is ready to fire again) and take out the last brute. This, opposed to three or four flak shots per brute. Against opponents that use shields, such as queens, you can fire the avril past the queen and then site it so the avril does a 180 and hits the queen from behind. I don't use this one much because I am usually in too close, but I see others use it all the time. Another use of the avril is to set up a kind of "combo" attack. This is very useful against titans. It works because of the way monsters typically react to you. On the one hand, if you're the only player in a room and a monster spawns, more than likely it will come after you. On the other hand, if the monster is down the hall, it might just stand there. In the latter case, if you shoot at it, it will probably come after you. So monsters typically react to you because you're either close to them or because you're shooting at them. Some do a sidestep, some shoot, some charge you, some dodge, etc. Once they start moving, they are more difficult to hit. With a titan, the worst thing it can be doing is throwing rocks at you. At the same time, if you don't take down a titan pretty quick, another player with a triple will finish it off. So the more damage you can concentrate right at the beginning, the better, if only to collect a good amount of exp. The first thing I do is look for titans in mid or short range, and moreover, at the start of a titan wave I try to be somewhere on the map that facilitates this. I fire the avril and only track it long enough to be reasonably certain it will hit (not hard to do). I switch to the flak and start firing. Usually the first flak shot and avril will hit about the same time and then I get one or two more flak shots before the titan has a chance to truly "react". And at that point, the titan is already half dead. This is not quite as fast as using a flak with a triple but it's pretty close. A variation on this is to fire the avril, activate the triple, switch to flak and finish the job. Most titans will go down with one avril and one or at most, two flak shots, assuming your damage bonus is maxed. If you time it right and shut off the triple, you won't lose much adrenaline either. The combo attack can also be used against warlords. When they are mid-distance away, you fire the avril and then switch to the flak at close range. If you have a triple, the warlords will usually go down with one avril. So that's how I use the avril in a nutshell. I'd really like to hear other opinions and strategies out there.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Okinesu — GMT

Great points man. Here are some thing I have learned: On using the AVRiL I detest the reload and firing latency on the AVRiL, so in open, outdoor levels where (AVRil-seeking) monsters appear often, I will usually fire an AVRiL across the level even if there is no monster present. In this way, if one appears, I already have a shell in the air, and I can redirect it's course easily and get a quicker kill. On Brutes Brutes are my favorite enemy to kill. They are slow and not terribly accurate. If I see one from afar, I will alt-fire minigun it down, but if it is within a few meters of myself, I switch to the flak cannon and go to town. Because the Brute's rate of fire is so high, I find it easy to jump up and primary-fire at the Brute with the flak, then when he fires his missles upwards, fall to the ground and crouch, firing again to finish him off. In this way, no rockets can get to you because the Brute has no idea what to aim for. On the minigun Dru pointed out (and it seems to be the case) the for long-distance fights, using the secondary fire on the minigun is best because it is not nearly as innacurate as the primary fire. It also does more damage (although there is a slower rate of fire). If an enemy is close, I will use the primary fire, as it dispatches more bullets per second, and accuracy is not an issue. I will also use the secondary fire on smaller enemies such as the two flyers and the bugs.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Tidu! — GMT

Just a few things I use: Rage rocks. Whenever I have one, I always use it. especially on titan waves, because your heatlh could be 1 the entire wave, and the same outcome would occur if you had 300 health. The assault rifle is very useful. If I have a Rage +10 or something with a high damage bonus, the grenades are incredibly effective. I have resupply 1 and I don't think I could run out of grenades; they resupply faster than I can shoot them. Nali headshots are what I live for. You get an incredible bonus from it (10 experience) and when you get 8 of them, you get 100 more experience for a Head Hunter. I see Nali most on Waves 2, 5, 10, and a ton on 16 (though you'll probably be fending off warlords) I have my lightning gun bound to the "z" key (since classic sniper can't be bound) so I can whip it out fast, since they don't last very long. Classic Sniper Rifle is much better than the Lightning for head shotting nalis, since you get two chances. If you're off a little bit with the lightning, you'll still hit them and get an instant kill. The classic rifle is a little more merciful. That's all I've got.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Gafwyn — GMT

Great topic and much needed. The avril discussion is much appriciated because I (and I'm sure many other newer RPG players) was stuck with preconceptions about the avril as an Onslaught weapon and wasn't comfortable with it as an Invasion weapon. Thanks!

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Here's how I use the Mine Layer, another favorite of mine. I like this weapon so much I programmed a button on my mouse for it. Another I have programmed is the flak. I can switch between the two very quickly. In order to do this, I have to toss my Bio Rifle and pick it up again (if I want to keep it). This switches the order between the bio and mines so that when you hit your keybind, you'll go to the mines first. Otherwise, you have to double-tap your keybind to get the mines. If you play UT or any FPS games with any regularity, you really owe it to yourself to get a mouse with at least a couple extra buttons. I've seen them for as little as $20 at 800dpi. If you don't want to do this, you can program a keyboard key as well. For anything I'm describing to work for you, you need to have "instant" access to the mines in your control scheme, and that either means key-binding or mouse binding unless you're a robot and can mouse scroll like a champ. First thing's first - a lot of people think the mine layer is a "no skill" weapon. I even heard this a lot when I played onlaught. Obviously, I don't agree. If you don't use the mines strategically, they won't help you much. In other cases, they'll kill you. A simple use of the mines is to cover you when you snipe. You fire a couple behind you and then snipe away. Don't place them too close, though. If a nali runs up on you, the mines will lunge at both you and the nali and explode. Sometimes this is enough to kill you if the nali was able to hurt you as well. Mines work very well in this capacity because 1) they react relatively quickly (pets are much slower to react and save you) and 2) they have 360 degree "vision". Nothing can sneak up on a mine. Key binding is very important because mines must be used in volume. Since you only get two at a time, that means you will be switching back to them constantly to fire more. A lot of people will throw a couple mines while they wait for the wave to start and that's it - they don't use the mines for the rest of the wave. To get the most out of them, you have to fire them a lot. Mines are a "downtime" weapon. In those short expanses of time when you're not actively shooting at anything, that's when you fire out the mines, or check on their status if you threw some down previously. It's automatic at this point for me, but if I kill something and if there is nothing in my peripheral vision and nothing super close on the radar, I'll bring up mines to see if I need to lay more while simultaneously running in the direction that the radar dictates. But I would never stop shooting at a brute to check in on my mines. As far as I can tell, monsters ignore the mines and only focus on human players. In onslaught, if I see mines chasing me, obviously I'll run away or shoot at them. The monsters just run right into them. This is a good thing to note if a nali is chasing you with a shield gun. You can just drop a mine as you're retreating and since the nali will generally take a straight path to try and get you, the mine will deal with it. Another use of mines is to "control space". For example, you are in one room with a room to your left. You run to the entrance of the other room and fire two mines into it and return to the first. By doing so, you've increased your "coverage" area. Anything coming from the left is likely to be injured or dead. A good place for your mines is at intersections and generally speaking, not close to the walls. If a monster is just around the corner from your mine, your mine will lunge at the wall and detonate. Another type of space control, mines are also great for choke points, and in the case of invasion, high-traffic areas. For example, there's one Invasion level that has one elevator from a lower level to a higher one. (I think it's called the Deck or Deck 17). This is the only way the bad guys can come up and attack you. So you place the mines near the elevator. On A-China, there is only one door that the enemies use to get in and out of the city. That's where I'd put my mines and concentrate my fire. You have to use the mines strategically or you will quickly hit a point of diminishing returns at higher levels. A lot of learning where and when comes from experience and practice. If you just throw down your mines randomly, 1) You won't get much benefit from them, and 2) You'll waste a lot of time throwing and checking up on them (either visually or by switching to the weapon). Since invasion is an extremely fast-paced game, even this small amount of time is significant. Do you check your mines or shoot at something way down-screen with your shock? If you're a good shot (I'm not) then probably the shock is the way to go. Again, experience and your own play style dictate the flow. I also like to set up combo kills with the mines. If a monster is not focused on you, that is the best time to do as much damage as possible. Take a metal skaarj, for example. The moment you shoot it, it starts running around like crazy and is much more difficult to hit and takes much longer to kill. If you hit it with even a mini round, you activate the running around like crazy routine. But you didn't do a whole lot of damage and now you have to chase it down. Idealy, I would rather run right up to it and fire the flak at point blank. Running around or not, it's mostly dead at that point and easy to finish. Of course, since other players are also shooting at the monster, you don't often have the luxury of running all the way up on the bad guy and you have to compromise. The only way to figure out what to shoot and when is through experience. Adding the mines to this equation, when I'm at distance from the monster, I lob two mines in its general area (remember, monsters basically ignore the mines), switch to flak and fire away. The flak and mines hit the bad guy all within an extremely short amount of time, usually before it has the chance to focus on me, shoot at me or go running around and become difficult to hit. So by firing two mines and then firing the flak, I'm coordinating three attacks to hit all at once, not three flak shots that fire one after the other. Ultimately, this has a similar effect as null entropy or freezing. You get to attack the monster while it's stationary as opposed to moving. A great level for this is IfullTower, since there is a lot of open space. You can use this same combo with great effect on titans, warlords and queens either by itself or by working in the triple. You'll learn to fire the mines just far enough away from the bad guy, activate the triple and then finish with flak. Ignoring dmg bonus, I think that's about 700 dmg - before the monster even turns toward you. Well, that's all I can think of for now. I'd love to hear ideas about the shock or link, since I'm terrible with those guns. Addition: I also forgot one other great thing about mines. They greatly increase your chances of getting bonus exp from kill combos. Often times you'll kill a couple bad guys and get nothing to shoot at for 10 seconds, then kill something else and get DOUBLE KILL. Somewhere in the interval, your mines killed something and kept the combo timer going.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Tidu! wrote:

Just a few things I use: Rage rocks. Whenever I have one, I always use it. especially on titan waves, because your heatlh could be 1 the entire wave, and the same outcome would occur if you had 300 health.

I've been really curious about the Rage weapons because they do so much damage. But at the same time, I totally rely on vamp to pull me through. I'll have to play with it for awhile and see if I can adapt. Rage 10 plus triple dmg is 600 percent dmg. :-o I think for the avril, since I'm not firing it constantly, it would be quite useful.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Okinesu — GMT

Alright! Well, after typing for a good 20 minutes, I promptly closed the window with all the text. So I typed it up here, check it out!

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Okinesu wrote:

Alright! Well, after typing for a good 20 minutes, I promptly closed the window with all the text. So I typed it up here, check it out!

A lot of good stuff for players to consider. I do some of those things. But for example, my aim isn't the greatest and a widened FOV just exacerbates that. I ran at around 105 for about a month, but eventually went back to 90. Minimal HUD - definately. It took some time to get used to not seeing the weapon bar, but I countered that with custom crosshairs. I use different, highly visible crosshairs for each of my main weapons so I always know what I have equipped. I have the super weapons hot-keyed, but so as to avoid accidently firing one (in case I hit the key by mistake), I use a super-huge crosshair that is impossible to miss.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

deidog — GMT

320 wrote:

I've been really curious about the Rage weapons because they do so much damage. But at the same time, I totally rely on vamp to pull me through. I'll have to play with it for awhile and see if I can adapt. Rage 10 plus triple dmg is 600 percent dmg. :-o I think for the avril, since I'm not firing it constantly, it would be quite useful.

So far I've found that the best way to use the rage (my god I love the rage flack) is to save up the adrenaline get good and filled up for a boss round (For example I love using it on titan rounds) then do the combo for booster and let loose with the rage. Between booster and vamp your health should stay good and with the massive damage of the rage you can clean house on those titans and therefor keep your adrenaline/booster going through it all.

Strategy and Tactics discussion

Fro13 — GMT

320 wrote:

I find the avril very useful.

I'm right there with ya. I use the avril all the time. Shoot the avril and finish it off with a flak or lightning(depends on how far you are). Hit a titan or queen with a avril with a triple, then shoot them with a lightning or flak right when the avril hits, knocks'em down flat. If your the right distance away, you can shoot a avril, then secondary flak, then primary flak, and they all hit the same time (no triple needed here). That's a sweet way to knockout a titan, very satisfying.:wink: I got speed switch 2 just for that doing that stuff. I switch weapons alot, no need to worry about rate of fire when you can use 3 "slow" power guns in succession (Avril, lightning, flak). If there was a speed switch 3, I would buy it. If I'm close enough (which is most of the time), I don't even try and lock onto them. I just fire the avril toward the monsters and start shooting it with other guns. If they are far a way, I'll do they same thing except lock on when the avril gets over there. I pretty much only use 4 guns; flak, avril, lightning, and rocket. Most of my kill will come from the first three. I do use the link and mini, but that in special circumstances involving a triple. Ok, thats my "secret" to success, speed switch.:wink:

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Continuum — GMT

Just an added note to the switching of weapons, if you fire an avril and then switch to say a poison bio rifle before the avril hits (or any other weapon type) the magic effect from the weapon you are currently holding is applied to the avril.. works with mines too

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Spacey — GMT

I would first like to take a moment to thank 320 for starting this thread. I think there will be things that all of us, and especially the newer players will be able to come away with if it goes the way I think it will. In this one, I am going to post some strategy about the weapons themselves. Now, I know folks have already mentioned the possibility of some weapons being "spammy" or "no skill" weapons. I will note that for almost (if not) every weapon, you will find folks who will grumble about this. Back when I was playing UT99 with a couple of groups, which included several folks who played on the pro-tour servers, I saw this a number of times. One of the "more experienced" players complained (a more accurate description would be he B****ed and moaned) about my use of the flak and ripper. I challenged him to several maps where he would use nothing but and I would use just the AR (aka "pea shooter"). After a few maps of doing nothing but getting him to fire at me (which resulted in numerous self kills), I switched to a different tactic, where I would instead sneak up behind him and assassinate him with one to the back of the head. After that, he B'ed and moaned, but not about my using spammy noob weapons! At this point, I want to point out a few general points of strategy WRT weapons: 0) There is **almost** no such thing as a truely spammy noob weapon. Every weapon takes some amount of skill either to kill opponents, or not to kill oneself. The closest weapon to a truely spammy weapon is the gravity vortex (one of the wicked/chaos weapons). Given a kill radius of perhaps 150ft or more which lasts 10 seconds or more I lost track of the number of times folks would get 15-20 kills with this weapon on just one shot. Yes, it takes quite a bit of skill not to kill yourself and your teammates with this weapon. But depending on the game, sometimes that matters much less, if any. 1) If you want to become a better player, improve your skill with **all** weapons. The more you know about them, how to use them, your limitations with them, etc., the better off you will be. With LW, it is easy to forget about this, but sometimes you do not have the weapon you want or really need. Or another weapon would work better. As 320 pointed out, the mine layer is a great way of controlling your perimiter (like in the sniper nests on BoomBoom), or killing bugs which are around some sort of corner. But without the mine layer, you can also accomplish similar results with the flak (splash damage works around corners) or goo (though it has a short lifetime). Then there is firing the deemer and detonating it close enough to only take 10-25hp of self damage while severely hurting that group of warlords coming at you with all their guns firing. Or using the avril to lock onto those pesky razor flys or gas bags which are far enough away that you can barely see them. One suggestion on how to improve this knowledge/skill... play an entire game or two using just that one weapon, if possible. When I have gotten into practice with the sniper or lg, I have had folks think I had an aim-bot on the medium/small maps where I could see clear across the map. And remember, different maps, game types, waves, situations, etc... different weapons. 2) People need to give some thoughts to customizing their weapons priorities and turning off auto-switch. Let me repeat this in a slightly different way to stress it even more...To survive better, you must change your weapons priorities and turn off auto-switching. Running out of ammo and finding yourself firing the deemer you picked up some time ago at a nali point blank is insane/stupid at best, and guarenteed to get folks quite angry at you when you kill them along with that nali and yourself. Backing across the deemer while firing and having it automatically switch to it is just as bad. But any weapons change while under attack is just as bad. The deemer and other super weapons should be at a priority below that of your translocator, and auto-switching should be off. Go into your settings and change this right now!!! For those of you who play non-INV games, there are ultra nasty tricks you can do to folks if they forget this. Tricks such as tossing a RL with one round at someone, they switch, fire and switch again, while you pound away at them. Or tossing a deemer at someone while you are being harassed by them and their teammates (they get 1 kill, but loose more than one). The list goes on... 3) When you want to switch to a particular weapon, you should be able to switch immediately to that weapon, rather than having to scroll through all your weapons. And you should be able to switch while continuing to move, and switching to your higher priority weapons should be easier than switching to your lower priority ones. Yes, ONS weapons like the grenades, avril and mines complicate this. That is one reason why I tend to toss the grenades, given how keys bound to weapons switching seem to totally ignore weapons priorities (flak is like #2 on my list, while grenades are down near the TL). But I have bound the TL and switch to best weapon functionallity to a couple of mouse buttons as well as other keys. And I also took advantage of the fact that I have my left hand on the arrow keys with quick, easy access to most of the numeric keypad to bind those keys to my weapons. So my RL is 4, Flak is 7, with the shock, link and sniper/lg right in that quick/easy area, and things like the deemer and goo are a bit more of a reach. A quick reach with my left index finger is all it takes, and I can continue to move while doing so. 4) I have mentioned it elsewhere, but I will say it again. Customize your weapons crosshairs, and if you can manage, get rid of the weapon in your display. The first part of this is the crosshairs. When you think about it, for some weapons, it does not matter if you have a huge crosshair on your screen, and in fact, sometimes it is a good thing and will help you say things like "Oops..not the deemer!" But for weapons like the sniper, a big crosshair reduces your accuracy. For my sniper/lg and RL, I actually use single dot crosshairs of different colors, while the mini, link, flak and others use others which are slightly larger, open and different shapes/colors. Then my super weapons use the large crosshairs which look more like drafting targets than not. But the end result is that I can stand on top of the tower in Face Classic and still do a decent job of picking off man-sized bugs like nali and skaarj with no scoping in. As for why no weapons being visible...it may not still be the case, but in UT99 and UT2K3, weapons switching was faster if you did not have your weapons showing up. But even more importantly, by making the weapons invisible, you don't create a blind spot. The result is things like being able to lob flak grenades on a high arc and see where they are hitting. It may take some getting used to, especially when only looking at the cross hairs (manditory for this), but once you do. :D 5) This one is specific to RPG itself, and so I list it last. If you have deployed weapons like the mines, or even a primary fired deemer, if you switch to a different weapon after firing, you stand a very good chance of having the magical abilities of your new weapon apply to the one you just fired. I have seen mines vorpal kill, and am fairly certain I have vamped on a "normal" redeemer. Geez...imagine doing a primary fire deemer then switching to that vorpal 10 lg while running double magic (making it a +20) before it hits. :twisted: Well, that should be enough for folks to digest for now...more later.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Sour_Grape — GMT

Sorry to highjack the thread with a noob question, but... I thought the double magic was broken. It never doubled a weapon like a max magic. So, does it double all my weapons as my adrenaline ticks off? Thanks in advance.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Continuum wrote:

Just an added note to the switching of weapons, if you fire an avril and then switch to say a poison bio rifle before the avril hits (or any other weapon type) the magic effect from the weapon you are currently holding is applied to the avril.. works with mines too

That's a good point. I don't alter my strategy around weapons very much unless I've got something really nice or really bad. Like if I get a vorpal avril, I'll make sure the avril rocket impacts before switching to another weapon. Normally I wouldn't care. That's why I'll give away a vorpal shock on most levels, particularly smaller ones. I'm just not very good with it and the clunkiness I introduce trying to bring it up and aim it usually means I'm way too late. I don't like the shock for other reasons, though. It's too weak. It takes three shock hits to equal one lightning and even with a triple it seems to take an eternity to down a titan. I think also, this is one of the reasons LA players have it tougher - they have to alter their weapon strategy from round to round depending on what's available and what people give them. Of course, on the flip side, I think a LA player probably ends up more rounded. To each their own. EDIT: Suffice to say, I don't currently agree with what I wrote in this post. For LA, shock is a very powerful weapon. For example, with LA, shock + triple will usually beat an avril when killing a brute if there's any sort of distance involved. It's higher rate of fire helps with poor ping or poor aim.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Spacey wrote:

5) This one is specific to RPG itself, and so I list it last. If you have deployed weapons like the mines, or even a primary fired deemer, if you switch to a different weapon after firing, you stand a very good chance of having the magical abilities of your new weapon apply to the one you just fired. I have seen mines vorpal kill, and am fairly certain I have vamped on a "normal" redeemer. Geez...imagine doing a primary fire deemer then switching to that vorpal 10 lg while running double magic (making it a +20) before it hits. :twisted:

If I have a triple, I activate it when I fire a deemer. Up till now I haven't considered "maximizing" the equation and seeking out a weapon for that added bonus dmg, but with the rage weapons, this is something I'd like to start doing.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Waves 1 - 5: On small maps I use flak/mines. On mid and large maps, I use Lightning/mines. If I plan to focus and try to get as many points/exp as possible, I don't hand out weapons on wave 1 (sometimes don't even check to see what they are, really). 1. It eats into the wave. 2. The players who could use the good wep I would hand out (newer players) are often still downloading the map and not even in the game yet, and 3. Your best chances for artifacts are in the early waves. I could be wrong, but I believe there's an artifact limit so once people are loaded up with boots of flights and electro magnets (and don't toss them), you're usually out of luck for a triple.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Okinesu — GMT

I'd like to chime in and add that 320's bit on mines has gotten me to pay more attention to them, and now I get about 10 more kills per game. Thanks!

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Spacey — GMT

320 wrote:

That's a good point. I don't alter my strategy around weapons very much unless I've got something really nice or really bad. Like if I get a vorpal avril, I'll make sure the avril rocket impacts before switching to another weapon. Normally I wouldn't care. That's why I'll give away a vorpal shock on most levels, particularly smaller ones. I'm just not very good with it and the clunkiness I introduce trying to bring it up and aim it usually means I'm way too late. I don't like the shock for other reasons, though. It's too weak. It takes three shock hits to equal one lightning and even with a triple it seems to take an eternity to down a titan. I think also, this is one of the reasons LA players have it tougher - they have to alter their weapon strategy from round to round depending on what's available and what people give them. Of course, on the flip side, I think a LA player probably ends up more rounded. To each their own.

I have always been one to alter my game strategy, and I am not referring to the differences between say DM and TDM (or DM and LMS). When I was playing primarily games like DM, TDM, and LMS in UT99, depending on what map was being played, what weapons/relics were involved, and the scores, I could play totally different game styles. For example, I tended (and still do to some degree) to be a in-your-face player, primarily using the flak. But on a map like Deck16, I would be sure to get the deemer and go after groups of opponents, and sometimes sniping. Other maps, I would find a nice spot where I was difficult to see/hit, but where I could see lots of folks going by who would go nuts as I picked em off with head shot after head shot (or dropped a goo bomb on their head, or...). Then on maps like Heal Pod and Lilandri Core, I would do things like popping from door to door rocket sniping. But throw in the relics, and things could change dramatically. I preferred to have the regen relic, but throw in vengence, which you could only tell that someone had after you killed them and saw the big bouncing skull ghosting above their corpse, and things changed dramatically. If I did not have it, I did lots of around the corner type kills, and sniped from around columns. And if I had it...watch out. I was very good at running around, doing quick heals by swapping back and forth between vengence and regen, and if running low and seeing a group of players, jumping right in the middle and going BOOM! I heard more explitives over that one, when I would many times net 4-6 kills (or more). Now, for our typical INV map, the first wave for me is almost always running around getting weapons (I have LA), quickly cycling through a few select weapons while I pick them up to see if I have vamp, vorpal or energy, and otherwise trying to stay alive. With LW, it was more along the lines of get in with the bugs and try to get the MWM and perhaps a few other key artifacts. And as for which weapons to go for first, it is generally some order of rockets, flak, shock, and sniper/lg. Given the nature of the deemer and painter, I will also go after them if they are on the map, as I have saved my bacon quite a few times with them, and I will also go after the avril if it is around as well (slow reload, but hits like a truck). But once I have the main weapons, I will go more towards killing as many bugs as I can to get adren to try to get rid of bad weapons, try to get good ones (particularly the vamp, vorp and energy), and then max them. Given my druthers, I would have a vamp +7 or energy +3 RL, the opposite as my flak, and then a vorpal +10 sniper (or LG). Shock could be what ever of the three or infinite, given I tend to use it in combo mode to kill multiple bugs. As for how I use those weapons, I will try for head shots on nalis when they are around, and depending on factors like cover, map size and such, either hammer the queens, warlords and titans with rockets from a distance (locking when possible), or hitting the titans with the sniper/lg to keep them from throwing as much as possible. Used to be I would try to get someplace where I could snipe or lob flak grenades while making it difficult to be hit when they were around, but the anti-camper mod keeps hammering me when I try that, so that is out. And if we are looking at VINV, I will generally try to be in a raptor during the waves with warlords, queens and titans. BTW...I am going to have to finish putting up a page on the BEL clan web site to present the numbers on the various weapons, such as fire rate, damage and such. It is amazing how folks view the weapons, but the numbers do not necessarily agree with them. For example (these are all the base values), the primary shock damage is 45hp/shot, with a fire rate of 1.6 shots/sec, yielding 75hp/sec damage. For seconary fire, IIRC these numbers are 45hp/shot, .55 shots/sec and 25hp/sec. But combo...for a direct hit, the numbers are 245hp/shot, around .5shots/sec and 120/sec (dropping to 160 for 120hp/sec at the edge of the combo ball). For the LG, these numbers are instead 70hp/shot, .7 shots/sec and 50hp/sec, doubling for head shots. And for the sniper, these are 38hp/shot, .9shots/sec, and 34hp/sec, again doubling for head shots. But while the sniper seems the least of the weapons, it does not get reflected like can often happen with the shock and occasionally with the LG (yes, you can vorpal yourself with a vorpal shock). Oh, and for the link, the numbers are 22hp/shot, 5.7shots/sec, and 126hp/sec for primary and 90hp/sec for the secondary, before linking. But again, reflecting is a factor.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Continuum — GMT

Waves 1-5: I usually use one of three weapons, lightning gun is the first choice. You can kill almost everything with 1 shot if damage is maxed out and Ive also found that gettting headshots is fairly easy if you run up right in front of a nali so I usually end up with quite a bit of adren built up fairly fast that way. Second choice is the shock rifle, you get extra points now for the shock combo and it will take out anything that you see in those waves. Third is the RL if I get any type of damage bonus on it I can kill anything with one or two shots from it and with maxed wep speed the rate of fire is pretty high, it just doesnt work well from a distance (or up close) I guess I'd also use the flak if it was a good one or if I ended up with an inf link/mini that would probably be my weapon of choice.

Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Fro13 wrote:

I got speed switch 2 just for that doing that stuff. I switch weapons alot, no need to worry about rate of fire when you can use 3 "slow" power guns in succession (Avril, lightning, flak). If there was a speed switch 3, I would buy it.

Agreed, anyone who plays aggresively should consider this skill. In addition, Awareness also has a lot of benefits. By knowing the monsters' health, you can be much calculated/confident. I've run headlong into four or five titans because I saw they were all near death. I've run away because they were all very healthy... :D

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

I'm curious to know what LW players think of adrenaline. For me, it has basically one purpose: to power the triple. On rare occasions I'll use it for booster. Of course, I say this but everyone knows I'm not much of a wave 16 player. :oops: As far as adren and the triple goes, I store up for waves 6, 12, 14 and 16. I'll also use some on wave 11 if I get the opportunity. I only have about 107 adren, but that usually is enough. I might run out at some point during a titan wave and have to take one down "the old fashioned way" but then I'm back in the swing of things. Obviously, if you max your adren that's ideal, but in deciding how to spend my points, I think I could get by with around 140 and rarely bottom out. On the other hand, I don't use the globe much. It burns adren *so* fast and I think a well-placed transloc is probably more effective in the end. I'd probably think differently if artifacts were bindable, though.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Dr.Stimpack — GMT

I occasionally form a moving gang of players on the later waves, and it's a great tactic if one person is using a null entropy weapon. Warlords get cut down incredibly fast and nalis rarely get within damage distance (a solid wall of flak helps). As for general strategy, I tend to use the minigun and link gun sparingly since I have 1 resupply (I play adrenaline and I usually try to make one of these infinity). Nalis have godlike dodging on the last wave, so I usually try and play cheap by using hitscan weapons or something explosive. Triple damage vs double magic modifier is a tough call if you're holding a maxed out vorpal weapon, but I tend to go with the triple and a flak if it's a small map, and a double magic vorpal if it's a large map with open areas. Boots of flight are underrated and underused; they're awesome on space themed maps with deadly falls and they give you instant air control. If you play adrenaline, using them as a final escape to fight off a large horde of monsters is kinda tricky. If you circle around with them in midair, sooner or later a rock will peg you right in the head. You need to constantly adjust your vertical axis to maintain your airborne dodging power. Just try not to go too high with these on a titan wave; I went tower hopping during wave 6 with these on DM-Helmzdeep, and a stray rock ended up landing on Soupman at the beginning of wave 7 just as he respawned (sorry Soup). If you have adrenaline to spare, playing around with the magic weapon maker and the translocator yields varied results. A translocator of Force or Protection is really useful when running away from hordes of monsters, but they're not covered by Denial 3 (infinity translocators also do not work). A secondary use for magic weapon makering the translocator is to automatically recall the teleport beacon. If you fired your beacon in a pool of acid, you can use the magic weapon maker on it and have the beacon returned. This is also a useful last resort tactic if you're not sure if your beacon is damaged or not and you absolutely need the translocator to be working again.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Dr.Stimpack wrote:

If you fired your beacon in a pool of acid, you can use the magic weapon maker on it and have the beacon returned. This is also a useful last resort tactic if you're not sure if your beacon is damaged or not and you absolutely need the translocator to be working again.

Wow, awesome tip.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Spacey — GMT

320 wrote:

Dr.Stimpack wrote:

If you fired your beacon in a pool of acid, you can use the magic weapon maker on it and have the beacon returned. This is also a useful last resort tactic if you're not sure if your beacon is damaged or not and you absolutely need the translocator to be working again.
Wow, awesome tip.

I agree...great way to recover that translocator that landed off the map, or which you launched into the lava, or ummm....the coffee! :wink: Thanks!!

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

la_bomba — GMT

Thanks for the teleporter tip, learn something every day! Personally, I love a game with teamwork. Sometimes, late at night, there may be a full game, but it's basically 20 players of which 18 are brand new. Everyone's out to kill things and are competing with each other. Yes there's competition in the game but a game with teamwork is sooooo much better. I've seen link chains 4 or 5 people long just run around the map. If the front dies, the next take's their place. I make it a purpose to change directions if I see someone low on health to try and act as a meat shield or distraction. Usually I end up dieing instead, but hey, sometimes it works. Healing guns, HEAL PEOPLE. I use to heal whenever there was a break between waves, but now that healing gives xp I'll play an entire game and get relatively few kills, spending the entire time healing (assuming I get a good healing gun at the beginning). I've seen a direct result from doing this... 1. Yes, my points in a game will drop from the 400-600ish I usually get to maybe 50, but that's okay. 2. I actually get more xp from healing others than fighting (assuming those hurt STAY STILL and I don't get like a healing shield or granade that are a pain to simply shot and fire). 3. The team members last longer before dying, if they die at all. I've seen people heal others and that person that would have died actually pull through a wave by themselves (ex: everyone else dies, last person). 4. Sure helps the LA people out. W/o regen or vamp it's sometimes hard to survive, but their efficiency increases exponentially when someone's standing behind them healing. I've watched scores increase, games last longer, and with enough team work I've played a couple games were 4 people (no bots) beat wave 16. A side note on team work: Healing is a two way deal. Not counting Nali and their instant kill, my largest complaint are people who are almost dead and low on health, or could use an hp "topping off" actually run away when I shot them! It says on the HUD that they've been healed and they still run away. I've seen some players actually make u-turn's to avoid my healing! There's other ways too. When people die they can still spectate, on the harder waves why not act as recon for those still playing? This happens sometimes, but is a definite benefit to request it more often. Lastly, "deemer/ion up" is a popular thing to say, but that's teamwork too. Sure helps me out. Just wish I knew were it was half the time, lol. Or am I wrong and does teamwork suck?

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Spacey — GMT

As a LA player, I know that my health is one of my problem areas, especially if I am in a in-the-face mode where I get right up on top of the bug. Even with my health maxed out so that I start at 300, there are times I definitely can use healing, especially if I have a rage weapon. But there are times when I will "run away", as I am so far down and it is late enough in a wave where I would be better off ghosting (and restarting with 300 health) than to take up the resources getting healed. As for my adren, it is up to almost 190, which means that I can almost make a weapon, wait a few and try it again. So I spend quite a bit of adren in trying to make what I referred to as a VVE weapon...Vamp, Vorpal or Energy. Vamp gets me health, Vorpal kills the big bugs like the Titans (those waves I tend to use the double magic or triple), and energy makes it so I can do my thing. If I get a normal + weapon on either rocket or flak, I will max it out to a +5, and generally work the others until I have my VVEs. Now Rage weapons have complicated this, and I am almost as much in love with it as with the vorpal, if I can get enough health (like with a vamp rocket, or flak). So now it is more like VVER. :D So here is my favorite weapon lineup... Vamp rocket or flak Energy (or rage) flak or rocket Vorpal LG or Sniper Any other weapons I can get as vamp, max normal + or energy, or a healing flak (for self heals) Oh...and throw in a infinite shock or RL from time to time, and I am quite happy. But notice up until now I have not mentioned the shock. It is definitely a weapon for using in combo mode. But a vorpal shock is asking for trouble, as I have vorpaled myself reflecting it off of a queen or metal skarjj. And I will also again mention that the LG or sniper is great for titan waves...hitting them just before they throw helps keep the rocks from flying quite so much. Do it with a VVER, and it can be even better. So if you see me in, and you have a VVER weapon you are willing to part with, or happen to have a lg, sniper, flak, or rocket where there is not one, feel free to toss it my way. ;) And with denial 3, it is rare I will not finish up the map with it!

la_bomba wrote:

Thanks for the teleporter tip, learn something every day! ... 4. Sure helps the LA people out. W/o regen or vamp it's sometimes hard to survive, but their efficiency increases exponentially when someone's standing behind them healing. ... A side note on team work: Healing is a two way deal. Not counting Nali and their instant kill, my largest complaint are people who are almost dead and low on health, or could use an hp "topping off" actually run away when I shot them! It says on the HUD that they've been healed and they still run away. I've seen some players actually make u-turn's to avoid my healing! There's other ways too. When people die they can still spectate, on the harder waves why not act as recon for those still playing? This happens sometimes, but is a definite benefit to request it more often. Lastly, "deemer/ion up" is a popular thing to say, but that's teamwork too. Sure helps me out. Just wish I knew were it was half the time, lol. Or am I wrong and does teamwork suck?

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Here's a few basic tips for the translocator. Particularly for new players, the translocator is your get out of jail free card. When you're just starting out, you'll find that you can hang till a certain wave and then you start getting stomped. I remember early on I was fine until wave 6 (a titan wave) and then I'd get killed. Then, from wave 7 onward, I would die almost every wave. As I got better and my stats improved, I'd be good until wave 10, and then once again get smacked around after that. The first thing I did was bind my tranlocator to my mouse wheel button so that it was always at the ready when I needed it. Your trans has to be instantly at the ready at all times. Then, in the wave before the wave I usually started dying on, I would start hunting for a place to put it. Finding a good spot just takes knowing the maps. But if you're dead anyway, you should spectate the high level players (particularly the Artifacts/junkie players) on wave 16 because they know the good spots. When finding a spot, the first consideration is whether or not it's safe. The second consideration is the goodies nearby. Most of the time you don't get both. Particularly at lower levels, on the tough waves, plant your trans somewhere and go hunting. At the very first sign of being in trouble, transloc out of there. Plant your trans again and repeat. Since exp is based on damage, your only goal is to just get some damage on the monsters and stay alive. Another important use of the trans is in getting health, powerups, etc. Again, this is why you need it instantly at the ready. I see players running for powerups all the time only to get swooped on by someone who translocs in and grabs the power up. Whether or not you think this is "rude", the fact remains it's a fast-paced game and you have to move fast or lose out. When you see something you want or need, pull out your trans and get there as quickly as you can.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

[KitFox] — GMT

Im also a LA freak. 1) Weapons. For the First 5 Waves, ill try building my weapons. I try to put a very good magic effect on my weapons of choice. Shock, Link, Mini, Flak. And i max it. If i am lucky and its still not wave 6, i try to get a healing Rocket. And max it. 2) EXP I bound my Sniper gun to mouse 5 side button. As soon as i see a Nali i run and HUG it very fast and headshot it. By wave 4 i get my Head Hunter Bonus. 3) Try to Survive. On subsequent waves. i try to keep my Adrhenaline high and use the Tripple damage on Titans/Queens/Warlords. If i ever get in trouble i switch on Inbvulnerability, and try to flee. -- Most of the time, i fail to succeed to #3. And i end up loosing all my weapons and unable to do anything on maps without Ammo. But this is gonna change, once i get Ghost, Denial 3, Resupply and ... and... :P

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Maximus — GMT

[KitFox wrote:

But this is gonna change, once i get Ghost, Denial 3, Resupply and ... and... :P

Try getting it in reverse order. :P

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Spacey — GMT

Continuum wrote:

Waves 1-5: ... Third is the RL if I get any type of damage bonus on it I can kill anything with one or two shots from it and with maxed wep speed the rate of fire is pretty high, it just doesnt work well from a distance (or up close) I guess I'd also use the flak if it was a good one or if I ended up with an inf link/mini that would probably be my weapon of choice.

I don't know why it does not work well from a distance for you, but I agree that it is almost suicidal to use it up close. I used to drive friends nuts by peeking around a corner, doing what I call "rocket sniping". This is where you get a rocket lock while loading all three rounds, and then disappearing back around the corner once they went flying. On Lillandri (sp), Healpod, or a few of the other UT99 maps, they would go nuts trying to find me in a DM/TDM/LMS match, as they never know where I was going to next be shooting from. And in INV, the same technique works for many of the bugs, though some of them can manage to dodge about 50% of the time.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

[KitFox] — GMT

Try getting it in reverse order.

Someone say here that Denial dont work with Ghost when Ghost is bought second. http://www.disastrousconsequences.com/dcforum/posts/list/1291.page For Resupply, well, i know i would like to buy it first, but Infinity do the job well for now :)

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Triple Damage: Here's some info for the newer players. The first time I tried the triple, it went through my adrenaline so fast I thought, "Nice, but too limited". I stuck with Booster for a long time. Sometimes I'd make a pet. Later, I realized I could turn the triple on and off. :shock: Once you realize that, there's no mystery around using the triple. There's just two things: 1) Bind inventoryactivate to a key you can instantly reach. 2) Get used to turning it on and off. Once I understood it worked that way, along with invincibility, lightning rod, electro magnet, etc. my score and exp jumped about 500 points overnight. The first thing I did was bind it to an easier-to-access key. Originally it was the Use key ('U') so I moved it to 'R'. That's easy to reach in a regular WASD format. It's really important that you can hit the key instantly. Once you get the hang of it, you will turn the triple on and off a lot. To bind the key, go into your control setup and look for an item called "Activate Current Inventory Item", it's different from the 'Use' key. You can also bind it in your user.ini file with InventoryActivate. Currently I have mine bound to a mouse key. In my user.ini it looks like this: Mouse4=InventoryActivate To turn the triple on, you hit this key. To turn it off, you hit the same key. It's a toggle, in other words. To throw away an artifact, you open up the Console by hitting the tilde key (~) and then type 'tossartifact' as all one word. To switch to the next artifact, you hit the bracket keys ( ']' ). When you activate the triple, it has to run for two or three seconds (figure around 20 adrenaline worth), you can't turn it on for just an instant. It would be too powerful if that were the case (heck it's probably too powerful anyway!). The first thing about the triple is you have to actually get one, unless you're a loaded artifacts player. You have the best chances in the first couple waves. Some people aren't in the game because they're downloading the map (make sure you've got the map packs so you aren't one of them). There's also lots of weak critters that you can kill quickly. Each one you kill can drop something. Another way to get one is if another player, particularly a Loaded Artifacts player, dies. LA guys are like pinatas and all sorts of great stuff pops out when a titan rock hits them. :D When you go to grab the triple, very likely you'll have to wade through the lessar artifacts to get one, such as boots of flight or electro magnet. Under normal circumstances, you can only get three artifacts but there's a little trick. If you stand over an artifact, when it starts to disapear, you'll pick it up anyway! If you do the texas two-step over the pile of artifacts, you can pick up several this way. As far as actually using it, I save up adren for the tougher waves. The triple will take down bad guys so fast you can charge them outright while firing. At lower levels, you might want to hang back with a Shock or lightning and use it, though. This way, you'll rack up considerably more exp. The moment the bad guy goes down you shut off the triple and look for the next monster. This part takes practice because of the two or three second minimum duration I mentioned before. You might kill a bad guy instantly and hit the "off" button but the triple won't turn off. You need to hit the "off" button again after those required seconds have passed or the triple will run your adrenaline down to zero. When you get comfortable turning the triple on and off, you will get progresively more daring. The first few times you use the triple, expect to run out of adrenaline very quickly as you fumble to turn it on and off and forget to turn it off. Once you get good, though, you can make the triple last at least half the wave with 100 adrenaline if you play it right. Each titan you take down gets you an additional 16 adren. I believe you need a minimum of 14 adren to turn it on. I played with 107 adren up until recently and did fine. Someone asked me today if you can use the triple with the deemer, and as far as I know the answer is yes. I always click mine on when I fire and see the deemer about to impact. Three deemers is always better than one, unless you happen to be too close...

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Chyster — GMT

Now if I can only find that elusive quad damage...............

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Kill some titans. Get some exp. Marry head chearleader. Get a pony. 1) It's counterintuitive, but most of the time you are safest from titans out in the open. Most people want to go hide somewhere. The titan throws a rock into your hidey-hole and it bounces around the walls until it kills you. Some maps don't offer a lot of open space, though. High places are good when the map has no ceiling. Other times, people stand next to walls and a titan spawns above them. Now the titan has a big advantage! 2) Never linger on stairs or ramps. You're just asking to get stepped on. Use your trans to get to higher places, not the stairs. 3) If you hang with a group, a rock intended for someone else is going to hit you. You basically want to go it alone. It's okay to work around other players but don't play as a tight group. 4) If you don't use the radar you will always die on titan stages. 5) If you don't keep moving you will always die on titan stages. Hop back and forth. Throw in some random dodges. 5) Titans are very non-lethal *until* they are throwing rocks at you. This sounds obvious but it's not. If you want to play it extra safe, run away when a titan is throwing rocks at you and look for one that is throwing rocks at somebody else. As long as its attention is not on you, you're pretty safe. Try running right up to it and shoot it until it starts to turn in your direction, at which point you back off to medium distance and get ready to dodge rocks. You'll get the titan to half health before the rocks start coming. Another variation: shoot it a few times at point blank with the flak, switch to trans and haul outta there. Leave the rest for somebody else. You'll still get good exp out of the deal. 6) Learn to use the triple. Even fraidy cats can get good exp from titans at long range with a shock + triple or lightning + triple. If you have a triple damage, a good strat on medium and small maps is to rush down the titan with the flak. Don't stand far away! Get right up on it and keep firing and hopping around. It will go down really fast. The triple is the "secret" that high level players use to rack up a ton of points and exp on titan rounds. The triple does three things: 1) the titan is dead in three or four shots and no longer a threat. 2) Even if the player doesn't get the kill shot (and the points/adren that go with that), they still did a lot damage to the titan and therefore earn a lot of exp. 3) The player can move onto the next titan very quickly and repeat. To get lots of exp you not only have to kill stuff, but kill stuff quickly! 7) LW fraidy cats can get a lot of exp with the Avril. The trick is not to aim your avril directly at the titan (unless you're point blank). If you're far away, whip your crosshair upward before you fire, so that your avril goes high and then dive bombs the titan. Otherwise the titan will block your avril shot with its rock. 8 ) The grenade launcher can be quite powerful for low level players. While the higher level players have the titan's attention, you can run up behind and shoot three or four grenades at its butt and detonate them for a lot of exp. Just be ready to run... Don't try to fire 8 grenades at the titan unless you have it all to yourself. If you do, most likely it is also throwing rocks at you and grenades are a really bad idea. Shoot at most three or four and quickly detonate them, then run away. 9) You can shield gun a titan in the butt in the same way. But don't hang around! Get your fully charged shot off, maybe a quick follow up and then get out of there. Or better yet, transloc away. Find another titan that's not paying attention to you and repeat. 10) If you don't have a triple and are up against two or more titans, that's a risky scenario. Try to keep the odds to one on one. Sometimes you can do this on small maps by just going around a corner so that only one can throw rocks at you while the other is stuck behind him. 11) If you like to look death in the face and fight five titans at once, you should try the Awareness skill. This will tell you which titans are healthy and which are almost dead. 12) The titans throw rocks in a pattern. I hear a lot of people say that the titan "didn't make the throwing motion!" True, but they throw the rocks at very regular intervals. If you're going one-on-one with a titan, stay at medium range (about the max distance the flak can be used effectively) and you'll pick the pattern and timing up. 13) As a titan wave is winding down, switch to your shock or lightning and pick up a few exp by tagging the few remaining down screen. 14) The ligntning gun (and I think the sniper rifle as well) will "stuff" the titans when they throw rocks. This isn't 100% succesful but works okay. Advanced Strat: If you don't have a triple you can fire an avril at medium or long range at a titan while you rush it down and then switch to flak. This will get it to 50% health instantaneously. In some situations you can lob two mines, avril and then flak. Advanced strat: If you are fighting in a tight space, you wait for it to throw a rock, dodge it and run up to it. If you get close enough, it will try to smack you, which is not lethal. You can easily dodge the smack, all the while still firing. This basically "negates" an attack from it.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Fraggerman — GMT

320 wrote:

The first thing I did was bind it to an easier-to-access key. Originally it was the Use key ('U') so I moved it to 'R'. That's easy to reach in a regular WASD format. It's really important that you can hit the key instantly. Once you get the hang of it, you will turn the triple on and off a lot. To bind the key, go into your control setup and look for an item called "Activate Current Inventory Item", it's different from the 'Use' key. You can also bind it in your user.ini file with InventoryActivate. Currently I have mine bound to a mouse key. In my user.ini it looks like this: Mouse4=InventoryActivate To turn the triple on, you hit this key. To turn it off, you hit the same key. It's a toggle, in other words. To throw away an artifact, you open up the Console by hitting the tilde key (~) and then type 'tossartifact' as all one word. To switch to the next artifact, you hit the bracket keys ( ']' ).

See http://www.disastrousconsequences.com/dcforum/posts/list/1231.page for the genuine key binding answers. :twisted:

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

MeanDevil — GMT

320 wrote:

The triple is the "secret" that high level players use to rack up a ton of points and exp on titan rounds.

Ssshh 320! Don't let everyone know about the triple! Now there's gunna be a mad rush for em! What you should be saying is: the best strategy is to run at the monsters, shooting with what ever comes to hand and if you pass MeanDevil on the way, hand him your triple :D

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

MeanDevil wrote:

320 wrote:

The triple is the "secret" that high level players use to rack up a ton of points and exp on titan rounds.
Ssshh 320! Don't let everyone know about the triple! Now there's gunna be a mad rush for em! What you should be saying is: the best strategy is to run at the monsters, shooting with what ever comes to hand and if you pass MeanDevil on the way, hand him your triple :D

Don't worry Mean. I won't give up the most powerful strategy in the game, you know, the one that involves the boots of flight, assault rifle and the nali bunny. We'll keep that one hush hush. Bob's your uncle. Cheerio. I've said too much already. This post will self destruct in 5 - 4 - 3...

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Maximus — GMT

320 wrote:

This post will self destruct in 5 - 4 - 3...

Good thing it ran out of batteries. Phew. :P :D :wink:

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

As an addendum to the titan strategy, I've been playing with a new one the last couple days. Fro13 actually mentioned it in his post so this is just to re-emphasize that so far it's quite effective! This is for when you're shooting at a titan that is farther away from you. You fire an avril and then switch to the lightning gun or sniper rifle and hit it with a follow up shot. With a triple, this will usually take them down (assuming your damage bonus is maxed). The best thing about it is that normally if I fire an avril + triple at a titan with full health, it gets them down to almost dead. Then some other player is able to beat me to the kill shot because I'm too far away and the follow up avril shot is too slow. That means I lose the adren and points. Grrr... :evil: To get the most from this, I hotkeyed the lightning to my F key, which is just to the right in a WASD setup. I did this because when I used the mouse wheel to switch to lightning, I tend to lose my aim. You can zoom lock the avril, hit the hot key and the lightning is thus already aimed perfectly at the target. You have to be comfortable with the avril and fast weapon switching but the payoff is worth it.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Maximus — GMT

I personally remapped nearly all keys. I use numpad instead of WASD and all weapons are mapped close to the numpad directional keys (Num 8,4,5 and 6). That way I can switch to each weapon instantly without the need to use mousewheel.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

A little experiment with Retaliation. Most people claim this skill is worthless so I did a little experiment to see for sure. I bought five levels of retaliation (100 skill points). Retaliation takes into account your dmg bonus and reduction, as well as your opponent's. FWIW, I have both of those stats maxed. Then I went on a couple small maps and didn't shoot at all, I just let the monsters beat me up. After 16 waves (and a pretty good beating), I checked to see how many experience points I'd gained. I gained about 40 - 50 over 16 waves. That's practically nothing. A couple things, though. First, since I wasn't shooting back, on the tougher waves I'd usually die. In a normal match, I'd be getting health back from vamp and losing it again. So in a normal match, the real amount is probably 70 - 100, which is still practically nothing but better. In the description, it says you can't kill stuff with retaliation alone. This is true, with one exception that I know of. If a nali shield guns you when it's low on health, the retaliation will kill it. I did this twice with no one else around. The only benefit I can think of with retaliation is that some monsters which might barely require three shots would be dropped down to two shots, saving you a shot. At level 10, this might be worth it and I might look into it again later. So in summary, this skill is only going to be useful to the extremely high level LW player who wants to squeeze out a few extra kills from the round. For everyone else, it's worthless.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Here's a quick bit of info because I noticed that not everyone is aware of this. I could be wrong with a couple details so speak up if I am. If you fire a couple vampiric mines and then switch to your flak -2, the mines are now -2 and no longer vamp. Or let's say you fire some healing grenades at a player and then switch to your flak to detonate them by shooting them. They won't heal. When you use weapons in this manner, the mines, grenades, etc. will take on the properties of the weapon you switched to. They only retain their original magic when they are in your hand. Another thing. When you fire a deamer with the primary shot, you immediately switch to another weapon (your best weapon). Your redeamer will take on the properties of that weapon. For example, I had a rage 10 flak recently and fired the deemer. I auto-switched to the flak and when the deemer hit (I wasn't caught in the blast ) I lost 200 health. So if you get a healing deamer, the only way to make the healing part work is to fire it with the secondary shot and guide it in. That way you still have the weapon in hand at the moment of impact. Now the fun stuff. While this sometimes creates a disadvantage, it also creates advantages. For example, let's say you fire a plain avril at a titan. Before it impacts, you switched to your +5 flak. Now the avril is +5. Or say you fire a couple mines and then switch to your vorpal 10 shock. Now your mines are vorpal 10. Let's say you have a vorpal 10 avril but a plain flak. In that case, you want to make sure the avril impacts before switching to flak. Let's say you get a healing avril +1. It takes forever to heal someone with that. So you switch to grenade launcher and cover the player with grenades. Then you switch to avril and shoot him with it. It will detonate all the grenades, which are now also healing, and do the job in no time. You can also do the same thing by throwing mines at a players feet.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Fro13 — GMT

To with 320 up there, I find it fun to shoot a flak ball strait up into the air and then switch to a knockback weapon, and right before it lands at my feet, jump. If you do it just right, you can shoot up really high. It's really fun(I think so anyway). Good way to waste time in-between waves.:wink: I also like to make vorpal mines and deemers(usually only get 1 or 2 pops with the deemer).

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Szlat — GMT

320 wrote:

When you fire a deamer with the primary shot, you immediately switch to another weapon (your best weapon). Your redeamer will take on the properties of that weapon.

I find it particularly useful as a medic if there are a lot of people needing healing just to fire the redeemer into the middle of them, and switch to the medic weapon before it hits. Lots of health all round :)

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Here's a LA strat. After the upcoming changes, it may no longer be viable. A lot of people think LA should get regen or vamp. With this strat, at higher levels, LA gets regen 5! Most high level LA players already know this strat, but I notice there are a lot of people (mostly LW) that feel LA should get "more". So, I hope by posting this it helps people realize that when people push the strategies to the limit and maximize the benefits of each class, the classes are a bit more alike than most realize. When you get your adren and adren skills very high, LA can run booster and the triple dmg at the same time with adren to spare. I watched some high level artifact players doing this on titan waves or wave 12 (tougher waves - a high lvl LA player doesn't have a prob staying alive on the other waves), but I had a few questions about it, which recently I got answered. On the tough waves, as long as you kill stuff at a fast enough rate, you can run both. The combination of high energy leach skill and surge make it possible. If you're still alive at the end of the wave, and before the start of the next, you can suicide and ghost (ghost 3). This sets the LA player back at 300 health and shuts off the booster, conserving the remaining adren and getting the drip back going. Ghost gets refreshed when the next round starts. I was able to pull off this strategy with my low level artifact char in a more limited sense with a good energy weapon (since I got resupply). A variation on this is pretty obvious. If you're playing LA and find yourself without much health at the end of the wave but haven't ghosted yet, you simply suicide before the wave ends to get an instant health replenish (another thing people say LA should get), rather than wasting time looking for health. This is especially useful if no medic is available or can't be found. The boost is actually better than regen 5 because it takes you to +50 over base health and then continues to build your shield. This allows LA players to play much more aggresively on the tougher waves. I haven't tried this with my LW char, yet, but I think it might also be possible with a high energy flak.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Szlat — GMT

A different thought. Because the damage done by the poison effect of a poison weapon is not adjusted by the monsters damage reduction, it could be a great use to high level players when fighting alone on wave 16. If you hit a monster with a +4 poison, over 4 seconds it will take 35% of the monsters health. So before you leap in with the piercing flak, spray them all first with a poison mini or link. Then by the time you get to the second or third, they will be a bit easier.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

I made this low-tech artifact bar as a visual aid for switching artifacts and taped it to the bottom of my monitor. The first is with all the artifacts, the second is without the usual throw-away artifacts. Since I have the triple selected almost all the time, I put the number of clicks away to the other items on top.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Szlat wrote:

A different thought. Because the damage done by the poison effect of a poison weapon is not adjusted by the monsters damage reduction, it could be a great use to high level players when fighting alone on wave 16. If you hit a monster with a +4 poison, over 4 seconds it will take 35% of the monsters health. So before you leap in with the piercing flak, spray them all first with a poison mini or link. Then by the time you get to the second or third, they will be a bit easier.

This is a great strategy. Kitfox and I have been looking into the possibilities for Artifacts players. An Artifact player can make a +4 poison into +5 and then use double magic to make it a +10. Kohanx explained the poison equation to me a little better:

Health * Curve^(Modifier-1) * BasePercentage Curve is 1.3, and Base Percentage is 0.05, so Health * 1.3^(Modifier-1) / 20 So say their health was 100, and you had a +4 Poison, 1.3^3 = 2.197, that*100 = 219.7, and divided by 20 is 10.985, which truncates to 10. 100*1.3^3/20 = 10 Poison lasts for four seconds, and deals that formula once every second.

So if you plug in for +10, you get: 1.3^(10-1)*.05 = .53 So poison 10 does 53% dmg per tick. Against a Titan, a +10 would do this: Tick 1: 900 > 423 Tick 2: 423 > 224.19 Tick 3 224 > 118.72 Tick 4 118.72 > 62 I tested this with +8 (don't have enough adren for +10 yet) and was able to kill titans with three shots from a shock rifle (spaced out over time, of course). So on those ridiculous vinv titan waves, poison is your friend. :D

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Grizzled_Imposter — GMT

OK This is a strat for lower lvl characters, you need awareness to pull it off, but it is well worth it. I have found that the multi-kills come much easier when you know about how much health the monsters have. Especialy when you dont have much damage bonus. I wondered for a long time there why it seemed like every time I got a powerful monster almost whittled down a higher level character whould scream by, fire the flack once and be on his way, with awareness you too can do this. (i call this a hop by flacking) First, don't concentrate on one monster. Always fire at the most damaged monster you can, second, use a rapid rate of fire weapon like a mini. With this stratagy you will be able to finish off more monsters, get the bonus experiance and extra adr. for finishing off the monster.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

My LA char is coming into its own. The potential is there, I just have to focus and decide what to do with it. Here's a powerful keybind I used with LW (and still use with LA): Aliases[36]=(Command="SwitchWeapon x | OnRelease switchtobestweapon",Alias="youralias") This keybind allows switching between multiple powerful weapons without penalty, and to set up combos easily.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

I've been so cocky lately. LOL... it 's all good. Back it and stack it. So I'll break off a piece. Let's talk about some combos... Combos are, in my opinion, one of the most fun aspects of the game and create such depth - really, a critical component and the pinnacle of strategy and execution. It's a whole new world of play that is sadly not taken advantage of by most players in this game. It's mostly endemic to RPG INV. The ridiculous combos available in the LW class are what I miss most about that class when playing LA. First off, what the heck is a combo anyway? Seems to be some mystery. I'm not talking about the shock combo. A combo is when you chain two or more attacks, in very close succession, to hit a monster at the same time, or nearly the same time, within a very small time window. Now, how can that be possible? How can you hit a monster with the link and shock at the same time, for example? Take a weapon like the avril. You can fire it and it takes TIME to reach the target. Also, the refire rate is very slow. So in that short time space, you can switch to another weapon, such as primary flak, and fire it. If you time it right.... BANG! The avril and primary flak hit the bad guy at the same time. Two big dmg weapons with relatively slow refire rates. But you take advantage of the high dmg of both weapons, such that refire rate means much less. When you're really "on", that refire rate disappears to nothing. Okay, so why does this matter? What's the difference, really, if you get those two attacks to hit at the same time or not? Three reasons. The first is this thing called "agro". Agro is a term from my EQ days but it applies to invasion as well. In short, when you've "got agro" it means you have a monster's attention. You got the monster pissed off for some reason and now it is reacting to you. I haven't explored all the dynamics of agro in INV, but I know some general rules. 1) If you shoot a monster, you will get agro. 2) If you are near a monster, you will get agro. It may also be the case that if you are low on health, a monster will go after you before it goes after a healthy player nearby. This I'm not sure of. But regardless, when you get agro, the monster REACTS and that's the important part. Take a skaarj, for example. You fire the mini at it but you have terrible aim. You only hit it with one bullet. You did next to zero dmg. But that's enough. Now you have that monster's attention and what does it do? It starts running around like a nut and starts shooting at you. Now the monster is moving, and more difficult to hit, and killing you. Finally you killed it, but it took ten seconds to get the job done and you took 50 dmg in the process and you spent half your mini ammo. And then, if you're like me, you spend another second or two patting yourself on the back for being so awesome and marvelling at your greatness and staring in the mirror flexing your muscles. But I digress... But uh oh. I put that same bad guy down in one second, maybe less. Guess what I'm doing with the other nine seconds? Here's the thing. You want to take agro out of the equation as much as possible. So that's where combos come in. If you can time those multiple attacks to hit at the same time, the monster is dead. You got agro for 1/50th of a second before the monster bit it. It's not moving, it's not shooting and you're off on your merry way to the next bad guy. Reason number 2, there are other players all around you trying to get kills, too. Let's say you got a plain flak and you see a brute. You shoot it with your flak, but it's gonna take four shots to ultimately put that chubby boy down at the distance you're at. So you fire one shot and some other player fires a shot, then you fire the third shot, and the other guy fires the fourth shot. Who got the kill? And the adren? And the points? If you could pick, of those four shots, which two would you prefer? The first and second? Or the third and fourth? So by concentrating big damage into a very small time window, you greatly increase your chances of getting the kill shot (and the majority of exp and the adren award). Reason number 3 is that all-important kill shot. Now, if you happen to luck out and be carrying a triple, getting that kill is very important as it means more fuel for the triple. And the more fuel you got? That's right, even more devastation you can drop! This is important, because on the tough monsters, it doesn't matter if you got the first shot in. It matters that you were the guy that dropped that sucker. LW players don't get any adren at all for dmg, and LA players with Surge 2 get 2x the adren award for a given bad guy. Even though LA has fewer combo options, it's balanced because LA has energy leach, and that means they get exp for dmg alone (a truckload, in fact). There's actually a reason number 4, for LW players. Fact is, in any given game some LW players will be carrying the mighty triple and others won't be. So if LW player X can dish out triple dmg while you can't, how are you gonna compete? Seems like a no win. But then you're busting some mad combos to close that gap! And if you're a smart LW player with no triple, you're probably hovering in either a high spawn area or near the double damage... The coolest thing about combos? They take skill and practice. They require the player to execute with precision. The rewards are there but not for "joe lucky" or "joe sloppy". This is why they add so much depth to the game. It's not like someone lucks out and busts combos with any consistenty to win. Nope. You gotta be a thinking player and you gotta execute with precision. And when you win? You know it wasn't an accident. Man, you earned it baby! So let's get down to brass tacks: the essential elements of execution. 1 . First, at a minimum, you need speed switcher 1. SW2 is better. The whole point of a combo is switching between weapons and taking advantage of that time window I described above. The less time doing weapon switching, the more combo options open up. 2. While not entirely necessary, the Awareness skill is a huge help. When you know the monster's health, you know which combo to execute. Is it the full-blown 5-hit that uses three weps? Or is it the much faster 2-hit with just the flak? If you don't know the monster's health, well, you don't know. 3. Keybinds. I described in past posts the importance of having INSTANT access to a weapon of choice for a given situation. A far-away bad guy, a close-up bad guy, etc. Ya gotta whip it out! If hitting a keybind isn't for you, or you think it's "cheap" or you like the shock and that's it, well, then combos ain't your thing. 4. The radar is clutch. On a titan wave, for example, you can judge your distance and position from the bad guys with the radar. Again, this will dictate greatly your combo choices. Distance = time = combo choice. 5. Max Weapon Speed. So how do you get started? You start with the basics, you start small. The simplest combo is this: alt flak + primary flak. Requires no keybinds or speed switcher and just one weapon. You see a titan at medium distance and it's chucking rocks at another guy (i.e. you don't have agro!). Your primary flak fire is mediocre at this distance, so you aim up a bit and lob a flak ball at it as you're running up, then immediately follow with primary flak. The ball and primary flak hit at the same time. Big damage! When that's second nature, you do the same thing but hit the triple. You're still in the minor leagues, but you should see the potential at this point. When you're good with that, you mix in the avril. Fire avril at the right distance, alt flak, then primary flak (remember keybinds?). Without a triple, that does about 60% dmg to a titan. With a triple... Then you get free-flow: Lob 2 mines + Avril + alt flak + primary flak. Triple + avril + alt flak = dead. At a distance, Triple + avril + lightning. 3 rockets + avril + alt flak + primary flak. Takes skill, positioning and timing. No triple required. With practice, all of this will eventually become natural and part of your everyday repertoire. Now, the observant reader noticed something about this post. There is no talk of flak 5s or vorpals or magic weapons of any sort. Sure, that stuff helps. But if you deliver the combo, stuff just dies. So when you work the combos and the keybinds, you can always be good. You won't be thinking of the next map lucking out with good weps you might get. You'll deliver the beatdown every time. And dang it feels good to be gangsta.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

[KitFox] — GMT

This is where my skill caint go. I did not practice enough changing weapons. I end up using Flak, Shock, and Lightning/Sniper. I throw every other weapons out. When mob is far i use Sniper/Shock then Switchy to Flak to finish it off. But this writing 320 sure is awesome, but must take a LOT of practice to perfect it. Now i can understand how LW can be fun to play too, those combos are definatelly unavailable to LA. Thats why i went on another strategy that i can use 100% of the time, and it rely on moving very very fast in the map. Ill try that Strategy to see if i can adapt it to LA.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Fro13 — GMT

wow 320, that's like almost exactly what I do. I was never able to put it all into words though. =D> props =D> One thing to add, is that I do take into account what magical properties my weapons have. If I have a nice lighting gun(like a vorpal 10), I'll make sure that my combos all land with my lighting out. You can take anything out when you can land a combo with that lighting gun out to finish the job. Imagine an avril, flak ball, flak shot(hard to fit this is), and a lightning blast all hitting the same time with the +10 property on it. That will take anything down.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Mach10 — GMT

Occasionally I'll combo two weps, but generally I'll stick with a decent shock until I get combo master and then to my flak after that. Don't have speed switcher yet, but I intend to after I get Ghost 3. If I can ever get back onto the server I'll definitly be attempting some of these combos.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Fro13 wrote:

wow 320, that's like almost exactly what I do. I was never able to put it all into words though. =D> props =D>

:lol: that's cause I ripped a lot of it off you! :wink: Yay spectator mode! But actually, the way I happened upon all of this was because way back before I even had LW1 and the anti-camp mod wasn't in place, I saw all these people just chucking mines from a hiding spot. I thought, what if I could keep playing as I always do but work the mines in? So when I finally got LW2, I set up a keybind for the mines. Man, it worked like a charm! My little spidery death nuggets were earning me some sweet cheddar. But as the action heated up I would switch to mines to toss a couple when suddenly a titan spawns in front of me. So I had to go back to hit the flak keybind in a jiffy. After doing this a few times, it just happened. I was throwing 2 mines at the titan's feet and following with flak. It's kind of funny because right around this same time I figured out how to use the triple. I had no idea, for the longest time, that you could turn it on and off. So I combined my mine strat with the triple at almost the exact same time, and I blew past my top score by over 1000 points the very next map. I remember I joined a game around wave 15 and my jaw dropped. Some dude had about a billion points, WAY higher than I'd ever scored, and I was winning pretty often by then and proud of my little mine strategy. So I went into spectator mode and I was even more confused. What? The avril? The lightning gun? Why the heck would anybody use those weapons? They suck! But now you know the rest of that story!

One thing to add, is that I do take into account what magical properties my weapons have. If I have a nice lighting gun(like a vorpal 10), I'll make sure that my combos all land with my lighting out. You can take anything out when you can land a combo with that lighting gun out to finish the job. Imagine an avril, flak ball, flak shot(hard to fit this is), and a lightning blast all hitting the same time with the +10 property on it. That will take anything down.

Yeah, I do this, too. Even more depth to the whole deal. The cool thing is if you get a nice avril, just lean a little more toward that. Got a good flak? Lean toward the flak. It just takes some minor tweaks in the timing. But now you got two good weapons instead of one! Since I've been playing LA lately, I'm a combo-less wonder. I dusted off my LW char last night and I was blowing them left and right. Kitfox, I was playing around with the rocket launcher last night on my LA char and there's some good stuff. Like Triple + triple rocket + lightning. I used plain weps. It's fast, kills from a distance and buries a titan instantly. I'm so awful with the RL, though, since I haven't used it since UT99. :oops: But if I get better with it, it will be a nice addition to the avril on LW if the avril is still on reload time...

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Grizzled_Imposter — GMT

Not that 320 or Fro13 need to worry about this one, but I discovered it the hard way: if you are in big time trouble from Queens and your trans is broke, fire your bio gun at the ground while back peddeling. It still damages them even if their shild is up and most of the time they wont walk on it! I have been able to get away from groups of Skaarj as well, but they tend to jump the line. also, for those of you that dont have the avril, goop gun does nearly as much damage, but does not have the utility, I tend to use it on mid sized maps when there are a lot of folks on and its hard to find a creature to yourself, charge bio up, line up on a big bug, release and switch fire another weapon.... last thing, when you need to rack up adrennaline fast and dont have the junky skills or an energy weapon.....use the shield gun, you get extra adrennaline from shield kills or maybe its just that you always end up finishing the alien so you get the award for the kill, either way it works.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

One thing I notice on a regular basis about many "mid-tier" players (and I don't mean mid-level) is the overwhelming reliance on the flak cannon. The flak is definately bread and butter, but to continually improve, you have to expand your repertoire with a *distance* weapon. In fact, it's odd. Most of the top players I see started with something *other* than the flak. They find a niche for several levels where they can do well, but realize they need to expand at some point, and that normally gravitate to towards the flak. But the "true-blue flak" players seem to never branch out. They just go back to the same old thing, expecting more the next time. Seriously, I got a lot of dis when I explained the triple, but the triple is just the beginning. So let's take the triple to the next level. It's more than just something to be used with the flak. The most effective distance weapons, in my opinion, are the shock and lightning gun. The avril is also a great distance weapon, but it's a hybrid of sorts. It's effective both near and far, does huge damage and is great for combos. I already talked about the avril though, so I'll leave it at that. The sniper is good in certain scenarios (like a vorpal). As a LW 5 player, if you spawn with a crappy LG but get a sniper that is +3 or above, you might want to go with the sniper. One of the biggest problems with the sniper is that many monsters that take one shot to kill will take two with the sniper. Like a nali, for examle, since nali are not affected by the magic on the weapon. Try it, sometime. The next time you luck out, shoot a nali with a vorpal 10 shock or sniper. It *should* be dead in one shot, but it won't be. It takes a follow up shot. You might as well have shot it with a shock -3. Also, it's tough to track your shots with the sniper rifle, so your aiming efficiency is hindered. And so on. I talked about keybinds in a former post. You need instant access to a weapon of choice. I can't emphasize that enough. If I didn't use keybinds, my score would drop by 500 - 800 points overnight. If you do one thing, and one thing only, map keybinds to your favorite weapons and learn them. Bind the shock or the lightning gun to a key you can instantly hit. This may be a problem with arrow key players, since they have to do the reach-over to the number pad. For WASD players, you have plenty of options. The next problem posed by this idea is aim. The majority of players have mediocre aim, and I'm not talking smack, because for a very long time, I had horrific aim. I played (and still play, actually) a totally smash-mouth LW game. LA is a different story. There were four things I did to change that predicament: 1. Keybinding. The faster you can pull out that distance wep, the more time you have to aim (speed switcher 2 helps as well). Nothing is faster than a keybind you can instantly access when you need it. Having more time to aim compensates for my own lack of *ability* to aim. Nine times out of ten, my lack of ability vs. you running halfway across the map with your trusty flak 5 = I win. 2. Practice. It takes practice with these precision weapons to get good and fast with them. You have to figure a couple weeks of fairly solid play before you start to see returns. Expect your score might drop in the meantime as you fumble with your aim and keybinds. One step back, two steps forward. 3. I got a gaming mouse pad. This will run you about 15 - 20 bucks. I know it sounds like a gimmick, but it makes a tremendous difference. I use the Func pad and I highly recommend it. You can get them from newegg.com. 4. A gaming mouse. I use the Logitech MX518. It's a 1600 dpi mouse. Combined with the Func Pad, it is very powerful. If you play fps games on a regular basis, you really owe it to yourself to buy a good gaming mouse with good resolution. Think about it, with all the hours you spend playing UT, the investment is well worth it. Now, if you're using an old-skool ball mouse, well, just call it a day. Technology has advanced. Okay, so the distance weapons, by and large, don't deal a whole lot of damage. But that's only before you do the math. Take a LG for example. I believe the base damage is 70. Then add your maxed damage bonus. That gets it to 98. Now triple damage it and you get 294. Then take into account it can typically go to +5 (+6 for LA). +5 gets it to 147. Now throw in the triple. That's a cool 441. And then figure the best-case scenario, which is a vorpal or rage 10. Then with a triple you got 588! It goes up even further for LA players that can afford the +1. In gameplay, these numbers are weighed against the enemy's Damage Reduction, of course. But the point still stands. Lightning + triple or shock + triple is a very powerful solution and should be part of your arsenal if you want to improve.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

TheElectrician — GMT

320 wrote:

Lightning + triple or shock + triple is a very powerful solution and should be part of your arsenal if you want to improve.

I personally love the shock + triple. Launching a shock combo (while using trip) into a mob of monsters is a great way to wipe out groups. I find it particularly useful on wave 15 when a gang of skaarj are bearing down on you.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

PhoenixFire — GMT

320 wrote:

There were four things I did to change that predicament: 1. Keybinding. The faster you can pull out that distance wep, the more time you have to aim (speed switcher 2 helps as well). Nothing is faster than a keybind you can instantly access when you need it. Having more time to aim compensates for my own lack of *ability* to aim. Nine times out of ten, my lack of ability vs. you running halfway across the map with your trusty flak 5 = I win. 2. Practice. It takes practice with these precision weapons to get good and fast with them. You have to figure a couple weeks of fairly solid play before you start to see returns. Expect your score might drop in the meantime as you fumble with your aim and keybinds. One step back, two steps forward. 3. I got a gaming mouse pad. This will run you about 15 - 20 bucks. I know it sounds like a gimmick, but it makes a tremendous difference. I use the Func pad and I highly recommend it. You can get them from newegg.com. 4. A gaming mouse. I use the Logitech MX518. It's a 1600 dpi mouse. Combined with the Func Pad, it is very powerful. If you play fps games on a regular basis, you really owe it to yourself to buy a good gaming mouse with good resolution. Think about it, with all the hours you spend playing UT, the investment is well worth it. Now, if you're using an old-skool ball mouse, well, just call it a day. Technology has advanced.

Excellent advice. Couldn't agree with you more on how important it is to be able to use hitscan (esp. lightning) effectively. The few keybinds that I posted in the keybind thread were specifically to help me switch between those types of weapons very quickly. One more simple method would add and highly recommend for improving one's aim is: Play DM! (Or TAM, if you're feeling brave) Playing DM, especially against good opponents, will up your skill with all weapons like crazy. If you watch really good players in DM, you'll see them doing what 320 has dubbed "combos" all the time (except without the avril, of course). After all, a flak will never be as effective as lightning or shock from a distance. Also, I don't remember if it was the same thread, but someone mentioned the idea of "agro" (I think 320). The same idea applies to DM, so you can practice it there as well. Nail someone with a lightning, and they'll lose 70 HP before they can even respond. Then spray them with a mini, hit the with a flak shell, shock beam/core/combo, link beam, etc. etc. etc. One more tip I haven't seen mentioned anywhere (although I may just be blind) is the dodge-jump. I cannot stress how useful the dodge-jump is, especially when compared to the "bunny-hoppers" on every server. Although most people should know what a dodge jump is, I suppose I'll explain a few basics. First of all, a dodge is a double tap in any direction. This everyone should know. A dodge-jump is merely adding on a jump during the peak of the dodge. Now: why dodge jump? The dodge jump is fast; it'll cover more ground than a bunnyhop or a basic run. I would bet that a good dodge-jumper could easily outrun someone with quickfoot 5. Therefore, when dodging rockets, shock balls, enemy fire of any sort, the dodgejump will get you much further away. It is important to note that the dodge jump DOES NOT have the vertical height of a bunny hop, and the splash radius of a rocket CANNOT be vertically dodged with a dodge jump. But who cares? A dodge jump will have you horzontally away from the splash much faster. A dodge jump is also capable of getting out of the radius of a shock combo, if that provides a good example. Finally, one more thing. A dodge jump comes in 2 forms: forward/backward dodge and side dodge. The side dodge is the one you want to be using. Why? The side dodge is longer than the forward one; the distance it covers is more useful. Furthermore using the side dodge is much smoother; the forward dodge while running gives you a clunky, stop-and-go gait. There is no jump is UT longer than the dodge-jump, other than the jump-wall dodge-jump, but that's too situationaly to be useful. Also boost-dodges.. but now we're just getting complicated. One other note: a lot of people, when the first learn to dodge jump, revert back to bunnyhopping when they shoot. NEVER DO THAT! It defeats the purpose of learning to dodge jump in the first place. Learning to dodge-jump effectively isn't easy, and I'm not insinuating that one can master it overnight. But it is definitely an excellent skill to add on to your arsenal.. although does 320 really need anymore skills? I think his score is high enough as it is /:) Finally, a few good example of people I've recently seen on the server who are good at dodge jumping include: Fro13 (but you could have guessed that), TIMMY, and Rabbit-With-C4. Watch them for how they move, if anyone wants an example. And to reiterate: DM is an excellent place to hone these skills. If anyone wants a partner, I'm always open to a DM match, although preferably not one-on-one. I'm no good at those :D

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Very well said. Yeah, I do the dodge-double jump all the time. When I see a monster it's often how I'll immediately close the distance. I used to be good at the side double-jump in ut99 when running forward. You can be running forward, whip the mouse to either side and side-dodge jump than whip it back forward. So you did a side jump but the direction was straight ahead. I'm not as good at that anymore.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Fro13 — GMT

PhoenixFire wrote:

I would bet that a good dodge-jumper could easily outrun someone with quickfoot 5.

Without quickfoot, I can keep up with people with quickfoot 5, but if they start dodge jumping or dodge jumping, they're gone.

PhoenixFire wrote:

DM is an excellent place to hone these skills. If anyone wants a partner, I'm always open to a DM match, although preferably not one-on-one. I'm no good at those :D

I'm game if you ever want to play a DM. I havn't played anything but invasion for a while, it'd be fun to play some other games. (I'm not very good at one on one either) Here's a tip, learn the levels. Naturally, you'll figure out where things like power-ups/weapons/ammo are, but you'll be leaps ahead of other people if you learn even more about the level. Find a good spot for you're trans. When you're in trouble a placed trans is a good thing to have in a good spot. Some good rules for finding a good spot are: -Don't put in a middle of a room -Don't put it where a bunch of other trans are(if more than 1 person trans' at same time, only 1 person trans to safety) -Don't put them where lots of people are(people love to stand on trans) -Ledges above doors or other places are good, beams up high, hidey holes, are usually good places. -find a spot that is close to something you would like(a couple 25 health packs are nice in a bind) Find the safe spots. If you're in trouble, go to where you know it will be safe. People usually survive alot better when they're in groups(excluding titan rounds). A safe spot could be where everyone else is or where you're trans is :wink:. It gives you a chance to recuperate. Usually if you spectate more expeirienced players, you can find out some of the more hidden safe spots. Figure out where the deathtraps are. There are levels that are more deadly than others. Some levels have lava, pits, cliffs,water.... If you have ghost, some of these pits, lava, cliffs,water...don't let you ghost. Also, ramps are deadly to be on when titans are around. with multi-storied levels, watch out for players where titans can fall. It's better to find out where these deathtraps are earlier than later. On alot of levels, the spawn points for monsters are more bunched up in certain areas. So, more monsters spawn in those areas/rooms than other parts of the map. It's hard to notice where the majority of the monsters spawn, but the rewards are worth it.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

As an addendum to the "Distance Weapon" post I put up a few days ago, I forgot three other important elements I use. First is Awareness. Awareness 1 (not 2) puts a colored health bar above enemies. This makes enemies extremely easy to spot, even at a distance. Very handy for sniping. Unfortunately, when the server is full and there are a lot of pets, there will be confusion. This means you have to use both Awareness and the radar to quickly spot enemies. Second, you might try playing with your weapon hand as invisible. This frees up a lot of screen space that is otherwise occupied by your shooter and allows you to spot the bad guys more quickly. It takes about a week to get used to not knowing which weapon you have equipped. This really goes hand-in-hand with keybinding your favorite weapons, since you will rely on the keybind and not the image of the weapon you're using to know what you're shooting. Finally, I recommend you download the Kaus crosshair pack. This pack includes some *extremely* visible crosshairs that never get lost in the shuffle when there's a lot of activity on the screen. Also very usefull for sniping. My favorite is Dot Reverse. This one is a bold, colored outer circle (which you define) and a black dot. I have one that's a sort of fuscia/hot pink color, another which is almost neon green, and another which is bright blue. My flak dot is considerably larger than my shock rifle dot. You might start with a somewhat large dot and gradually nudge it down. This will improve your aim. Or, the opposite, start with a really tiny dot, which will force you to concentrate on what you're aiming at, and then nudge it up slowly till you find the right size. This also goes hand-in-hand with keybinds. As I said, I use a different color dot for each weapon, so just by the dot I can tell what I'm shooting. For the Redeemer, I have a HUGE crosshair that says SHOOT HERE As a result, no accidental redeemer shots.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Icey — GMT

Quick question about the Avril Invasion: Is it possible to spawn with a magical Avril of Invasion? I know the default chance to spawn with a magical weapon is 33%, but I've played many-a-game with my Weapon Master with LW2, and not once has a magical Avril spawned in my inventory. I'm wondering if maybe that's because the Avril seems to have less range of magical qualities (Can't have all the enhancements other weapons can, correct me if I'm wrong, please?) or simply because I have horrible luck and the titans jinx me.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Icey wrote:

Quick question about the Avril Invasion: Is it possible to spawn with a magical Avril of Invasion? I know the default chance to spawn with a magical weapon is 33%, but I've played many-a-game with my Weapon Master with LW2, and not once has a magical Avril spawned in my inventory. I'm wondering if maybe that's because the Avril seems to have less range of magical qualities (Can't have all the enhancements other weapons can, correct me if I'm wrong, please?) or simply because I have horrible luck and the titans jinx me.

If you have questions about a particular class, the best thing is to post in the "So you want to be a (Loaded Weapons, Loaded Artifacts, etc.)" threads. To answer your question, yes, the avril can be magic. It is always magic with Loaded Weapons 4 and 5. It also has the full range of magic abilties available, including vorpal.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

A couple things about queens. Someone mentioned it's frustrating when they put up their shields and won't put them back down. There's two things you can do in this situation. The first is to shoot your flak at the queen's feet. The shots will ricochet off the ground. It might take a couple shots, but this cause the queen to drop her shield. So what I do, if I'm playing LA and have to be damage conscious, is run up and shoot at her feet until she drops the shield and then step back to avoid some damage while I finish the job. Another thing you can do is use your shield gun. The shield gun goes through the queen's shield. It won't always get the queen to drop her shield, though. If you have a triple, you should activate it. If a queen has a shield up but is focused on another player, you should run completely behind and shoot the queen in the back. This is where that double-dodge jump comes in handy. You get a lot of shots in for free and you're not in the line of fire. While on the subject of shields, the little sniper dudes can be injured through their shields with the sniper or lightning. The shield gun also works as well. A fully charged SG will kill the sniper dudes with one hit. I don't believe sniper/lightning go through queen shields, however.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Spike — GMT

You can hit a shielded queen on the face/head because it sticks out from the shield - at least that's what it appears to happen (and it may just be an illusion). I've used the minigun aimed for their face to make them drop their shield (again, it may be coincidence but I don't think so) Also, shooting the Avril up and then making it turn around to hit the queen from behind works as well (if you can't get behind it)

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

TIMMY — GMT

lol...i finally found this thread :D......this is a very good strategy topic(especialy the weapon combo bit.....i honestly never thought of getting speedswitcher skill b4 reading this thread :D) Oh well.....for my advice.............hmmm.......learn to shoot shock combos while moving........(e.g moving forward, moving straight back, while dodging, etc.) It makes u more moblie and especially on skaarj waves when mercenaries, nalis and skaarjs are overwhelming u in one spot......u can just back dodge jump while throwing a shock ball to their vicinity then shoot the ball when u've landed and finished the dodging. It's fairly useful to me especially since i don't have cautiousness skill and i can't just use the medic tactic wherein u just spam rockets on ur feet.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

kyraeu — GMT

I am not entirely sure about this, but it seems queens are at least annoyed enough to scream when you put grenades on their shields. I'm not sure if it damages them normally, but I think it does something, and I'm pretty sure I've killed at least one queen that way before. And if they drop the shield, well, blow them all up and they ought to be dead. Edit - Actually, upon further testing, grenades do NOT go through the shield. So, uh, nevermind, and sorry for wasting a post in the thread!

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Grizzled_Imposter — GMT

kyraeu said

I am not entirely sure about this, but it seems queens are at least annoyed enough to scream when you put grenades on their shields. I'm not sure if it damages them normally, but I think it does something, and I'm pretty sure I've killed at least one queen that way before. And if they drop the shield, well, blow them all up and they ought to be dead. Edit - Actually, upon further testing, grenades do NOT go through the shield. So, uh, nevermind, and sorry for wasting a post in the thread!

the grenades may not damage them through their shields, but you can load up the shield and wait until they drop it. once they do, BOOM either that or one of the true advantages of the grenade launcher that I almost never see anyone use is bouncing them off the walls. bounce the grenades off the walls behind her so that they stick to her tail, then set them off, the shield becomes moot. Honsetly, the grenade launcher is underpowered for the skill it requires to use well.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Grizzled_Imposter wrote:

kyraeu said
I am not entirely sure about this, but it seems queens are at least annoyed enough to scream when you put grenades on their shields. I'm not sure if it damages them normally, but I think it does something, and I'm pretty sure I've killed at least one queen that way before. And if they drop the shield, well, blow them all up and they ought to be dead. Edit - Actually, upon further testing, grenades do NOT go through the shield. So, uh, nevermind, and sorry for wasting a post in the thread!
the grenades may not damage them through their shields, but you can load up the shield and wait until they drop it. once they do, BOOM either that or one of the true advantages of the grenade launcher that I almost never see anyone use is bouncing them off the walls. bounce the grenades off the walls behind her so that they stick to her tail, then set them off, the shield becomes moot. Honsetly, the grenade launcher is underpowered for the skill it requires to use well.

The biggest problem is they bounce. If they stuck to the first thing they hit (like the ground) they could be effective, possibly even *overpowered*. Consider that you could line an entrance with 8 grenades, then stand just to side with the avril. The moment the titan gets near you detonate the grenades with the avril, so the titan gets 8 grenades + avril spash. Ouch.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Spike — GMT

That's why (and performance) the number of mines is low so you can't drop 8 mines and take out most anything once you switch to your flak+5. Something else to try, speaking of mines, hang a grenade off your mine (or two or three) :) with more than two it may not move, but the monsters sure feel it. eek - that was horrible grammar but I'm in a hurry (at work) sorry!

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Spike wrote:

That's why (and performance) the number of mines is low so you can't drop 8 mines and take out most anything once you switch to your flak+5. Something else to try, speaking of mines, hang a grenade off your mine (or two or three) :) with more than two it may not move, but the monsters sure feel it. eek - that was horrible grammar but I'm in a hurry (at work) sorry!

That's not a bad idea going into a titan wave. Stick a couple "super mines" where the titans tend to spawn and pick up an extra couple big kills. I'll have to give that a try with my LW char.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Spike — GMT

It is certainly a fun thing to do, especially for low-level characters in maps where the mines are available - I know I got many points like that back in the early levels.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

TIMMY — GMT

Something else to try, speaking of mines, hang a grenade off your mine (or two or three) with more than two it may not move, but the monsters sure feel it.

I used to do that in my ons days.......but like u said 2 grenades would make the mines immobile while one would severely hamper its movement..........it's a fun thing to do as long as u have the time(i.e. in between matches when ur not trying to find the medic) It's only effective against big targets tho or unless the skaarj's walk right into it

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

I tried the grenade launcher mine thing today. I chucked two mines and put four grenades apiece on each one. The move really slowly when you do this. It took about twenty seconds for the mine to finally get to the titan (which was like 5 feet away) but it did finish it off. Where this would be useful is up on a ledge where titans may spawn. There's a couple places like this on Campgrounds, for example. Set up your grenade mines at the start of the wave to hopefully pick up a couple extra kills.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Sparky*USA* — GMT

I am not sure of the map, but Subie and I were on one of the small platform on the side of this space-map that the monster would launch onto. We did the same thing with sticky grenades and mines... it work pretty good, and they did not seem slow. But it was alot of work replacing them after each monster jumped onto the platform.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Spike — GMT

Sparky: one grenade stuck to a mine won't slow it down and it will move freely. However, more than two grendades will prevent it from moving at all so they become stationary and the monsters would have to just run over them (not a problem in tight areas or corridors). Another tip: hang one grenade off any mine, even those that are not yours :)

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

Spike wrote:

Sparky: one grenade stuck to a mine won't slow it down and it will move freely. However, more than two grendades will prevent it from moving at all so they become stationary and the monsters would have to just run over them (not a problem in tight areas or corridors). Another tip: hang one grenade off any mine, even those that are not yours :)

They move, just *real* slow. It's almost comical!

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

kyraeu — GMT

Random tip: If you aren't sure if your trans is broken, go into translocator view (switch to trans + press Q) and then go into behindview (default = F4). This allows you to see whether there are sparks coming out of it, or if it's still working. (It's also fun to watch your trans go flying in translocator behindview! Well, for me.)

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Spike — GMT

Good one - also, if you just look straight up while in trans-view mode, you can see the sparks if it is broken (but may be more difficult to spot)

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Spacey — GMT

Spike wrote:

Good one - also, if you just look straight up while in trans-view mode, you can see the sparks if it is broken (but may be more difficult to spot)

Up or down, you sometimes can spot it, sometimes not. I really like that behindview trick though. As for watching it go flying...yea, way cool. There are a few maps I have done that on, especially when I managed to come up with a force +5 trans. Talk about a wylde ryde! Excellent! Party on, dudes! (gee...guess I spent too much time on IMDB looking at Bill & Ted after skimming through Keanu''s roles). :D And BTW...this is a great way to try for a longer distance telefrag!

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Continuum — GMT

Last week I think I stumbled across something. Anyway I was playing and ended up running out of ammo for everything but the rl so I started to use it only instead of aiming it I would be continually moving it fairly fast (side to side for the most part) and would fire it in the general direction of a monster without stopping or changing the direction I was moving it. I started to notice almost all of my rockets were hitting the target even from clear across the map when before I'd be lucky if half the rockets hit up close. Also seemed to work for hitting monsters in the air. This didnt work for me with any other weapons though.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Vaelen — GMT

Just like to add to the idea of stationary mines here... Dropping a couple of mines and loading them with grenades is a good way to defend the rear of a small sniper space or small space with a single enterance or teleporter. Not only do you not have to worry about the mines exploding on you, but if you happen to be paying attention to another bug when one comes up behind, the explosion is usually noticeable enough to let you know to get out, or at least turn around. Face Classic is a good example of this. A couple of mines with grenades are likely to take out any unwanted visitors if placed near the teleporters. Boom Boom Bridge is another where there is only one enterance. A lot of the bugs will come up and walk right into the mines, and on the occasion where a bug teleports up, and the mines explode, you know to get moving if your attention is elsewhere. A couple of players sharing a sniper nest can lay a pretty nasty mine field to protect the flank and rear while they concentrate across the other areas of a map. As a small side note, learn to identify the different sounds in the game. Sound helps judge distance, and can also help identify some of the enemies around you when you can't immediately see them.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

320 — GMT

The mines + grenades is a great way to pick up kills, but unfortunately, the grenade key is the same as the flak and this really messes with my keybinds. In RPG, you can only reference weapon "slots", not specific weapons, i.e. rocket/avril, flak/grenade, mines/bio. So to get the same wep every time you hit the bind, you have to toss the less desirable weapon. You can switch the order, though. Like if I hit slot 3 (mines/bio), bio comes up first. If I toss bio and pick it up again, the order is reversed and mines comes up first. If I hit the slot 3 kb and then switch to another weapon, then immediately hit the kb again, I get the "second-order" weapon. But, if I do kb, switch to another weapon and *wait* a little while, I'll get the "first-order" weapon. There's some sort of event or time consideration that affects the weapon that will come up. If I can figure out what it is and if it is a user-definable value, then I could have my cake and eat it too. I'll fool around with this today. EDIT: The event I never really watched for was just switching off to another weapon. I think with the avril, though, it may switch to rocket if it's not loaded.

Strategy and Tactics discussion

James3 — GMT

i got a question how can u kill mosters quicker and get ur score up with normal loaded weapons?

Strategy and Tactics discussion

FodderFigure — GMT

James3 wrote:

i got a question how can u kill mosters quicker and get ur score up with normal loaded weapons?

See this informative thread: http://www.disastrousconsequences.com/dcforum/posts/list/1554.page

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Moof — GMT

What Fodder said. I posted a fairly detailed road map in there on how to get started and get going.

Strategy and Tactics discussion

ECHO — GMT

James3 wrote:

i got a question how can u kill mosters quicker and get ur score up with normal loaded weapons?

Your in-game name is JZ, correct? I remember this exact question being asked while in the game. Just keep in mind that buying skill xyz will not necessary result in a high score. It's something you have to work for, it doesn't just 'happen.' So I would also like to encourage you to read the strategy guides on this site. And if you feel that being a Weapons Master is not appropriate for your playing style, there are always the Adrenaline Master and Monster Master classes. (PS. Don't forget to read this :) )

Strategy and Tactics discussion

BotFodder — GMT

James3 wrote:

i got a question how can u kill mosters quicker and get ur score up with normal loaded weapons?

Personally, I hate that question. It often comes across as "is there a cheat that can get me levels?" Play the game. Read the FAQs (the Newbie one I wrote actually provides a link to Fodder's strategy thread). It's my understanding that this isn't an "easy" server and there are "easier" ones out there. If your xp/leveling rate isn't fast enough for you, I suggest you look elsewhere.

Strategy and Tactics discussion

James3 — GMT

thanks

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Tasuric — GMT

I hope this is not out of place but it has been bothering me lately.. But i find that more often than not when i connect to the server, i'm either dead or being humped by several monsters by the time i get control of my character, fallowed by a ghost and a quick death afterwards due to the 1hp thing. It only happens once per session but it's still quite annoying, is there any way to stop your character from spawning "early"?

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

ECHO — GMT

Tasuric wrote:

It only happens once per session but it's still quite annoying, is there any way to stop your character from spawning "early"?

Not to my knowledge, however you can counter the damage done by monsters at spawning by adding more HB and regeneration (if applicable). Once you reach a higher level those annoyances are no longer an issue.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Mach — GMT

ECHO wrote:

Tasuric wrote:

It only happens once per session but it's still quite annoying, is there any way to stop your character from spawning "early"?
Not to my knowledge, however you can counter the damage done by monsters at spawning by adding more HB and regeneration (if applicable). Once you reach a higher level those annoyances are no longer an issue.

Even at my level (181) I still have this problem. Many times I will be out even with Ghost 3 and Regen 5, if I'm lucky I will gain control just as I finish ghosting. Really all about luck, sometimes you will spawn in the middle of a wave and die, sometimes you will connect to a game, but not spawn till the next wave and other times you will spawn during a wave, but gain control right away.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

ECHO — GMT

Maybe I'm just lucky and usually don't end up spawning early on wave 15/16. Normally if I do get in the game and there is a horde of monsters munching on me it doesn't take much to get them off and restore my health. Even with my low level characters being wiped out from the start, in the end it's just one wave. Not that big of a deal.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Fro13 — GMT

If you lower your settings, the maps will load quicker. I can run everything on high, but I prefer to run stuff on medium because it loads so much faster. So, you can try that.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Mystic — GMT

recently during the vehicle capture the flag map. rivercanyon i think it is,. ive noticed a few problems....kinda sucks cause i realy love rpg ctf. anywho. 1, after useing the null-freezing-knockback-poisen,ect it tends to not effect the target.. ive numerously tried to null/freeze some and visa versa .and they didnt nor did i get effected by the weapons bonus.. 2. hideing the flag ....im sorry for those who beleive its strategy..but hideing the flag -giving the oppenonent no chance at scoring another point.nullifies the competition factor that ctf is based upon.i realize its hard to kill a high lvl. but thats the challenge. to adapt yourself to others styles so u can killem. 3. dunno if this is more of a issue or personal refrence..high lvl healers.. unkillable beside ultima or a vorp...not to hard to aim at the ground while running,and null is devistateing. lightning rod for adren players is horendous...lol.. ''i propose... :-@ for all ctf maps.. force the player lvls to find the average lvl and make everyone that lvl...maybe limit the null weapons to a 1-2 or 3..'' even i myself being a high lvl find it boring after awhile even if im in the lead. with my null.lol.. maybe we can think of something? ;))

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Szlat — GMT

Mystic wrote:

1, after useing the null-freezing-knockback-poisen,ect it tends to not effect the target.. ive numerously tried to null/freeze some and visa versa .and they didnt nor did i get effected by the weapons bonus..

Specifically flag carriers do not get affected by null or feeezing

Mystic wrote:

''i propose... :-@ for all ctf maps.. force the player lvls to find the average lvl and make everyone that lvl...maybe limit the null weapons to a 1-2 or 3..'' even i myself being a high lvl find it boring after awhile even if im in the lead. with my null.lol.. maybe we can think of something? ;))

Applies to all PvP games really. One really high level player can dominate the game.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Fro13 — GMT

in PvP, the lower level player gets more xp for killing a higher lvl player than a higher lvl player killing a lower. So, point wise it would be better to be higher lvl, but xp wise it would be better to be a lower lvl player.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

Mach — GMT

With the introduction of the lightning bolt, a low level LA can decimate any high level player. With the lightning rod you can get away and stay your distance and actually dodge it, one shot with the bolt and you're done. I enjoy playing PvP, but with RPG on it is nearly impossible to balance.

Re:Strategy and Tactics discussion

shoota — GMT

What i do for medic is i bind the primary and secondary fire to a certain button and just run around. Thanks for the keybinds fodder made me a lot better.