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BZ2 Tips and Strategy Hints :.
1. Moving Builders (and other slow units) Quickly:
A way to move a Builder rapidly: I've tried everything I can thing of based on
this limited info and end up doing nothing but damaging the Builder. How is this
done? Also, is it possible playing ISDF to quickly move the Constructor? When
you
morph sonic blast it becomes "Sonic Wave". You can push any unit around without
damaging it using sonic wave. It's great for pushing units into the drink or
simply keeping them from getting where they are going. Especially some enemy
Maulers headed for a Spire or the Matriarch. No , you cannot move ISDF
Constructors since ISDF tech-tree does not offer a Sonic Wave.
2. A Deeper Analysis Comparing Laser To Gauss Gun:
Laser combat does more damage than gauss assault at the same fire rate; however,
gauss assault has fifty percent greater range. Laser assault does more damage
than gauss combat per second, but gauss combat has 20m range advantage. Gauss
combat does more damage per second than laser combat at the same AI range. Laser
assault does fifty percent more damage every two seconds than gauss assault,
though gauss assault reaches almost twice the range. Laser AI ranges match
weapon
limit: 120m for combat, 100m for assault. gauss AI ranges are shorter than
weapon
limit: 120m combat (150m limit), 185m assault (190m limit). Gauss combat is
better, think Sentries. Laser assault is better, but what AI vehicle is going to
use it? If you're driving a walker, stick with Laser.
3. Regarding Scion Sentries:
Seems that Scions either use them a lot or not at all. In the past couple of
weeks I've started to make use of this under-utilized, underappreciated unit.
They're really fast, relatively cheap, and can go just about anywhere you can.
4. Scion Tip - How to use Sentries:
In the early game...all you need is two pools. Throw up a kiln and you're in
business.
i. Take out guardians/turrets with your solar flares then send in 2 or 3
sentries
to destroy the extractor (no sense using up your own scout's limited ammo).
These
little suckers can hit and run before the enemy knows what's happened. When they
morph to assault, they can do some good damage against buildings.
ii. Later in the game, give 'em the right shields, and make a mixed squad of ion
guns and some EMP-bearing sentries. When you get close to an enemy tank, send in
those sentries first, then come along with your arc/ion cycling. Those quick-
moving sentries can really discombobulate your enemy when he's zapped by the
EMPs. Almost guarantees you'll be able to hit the player with at least 2 more
arc
zaps, as he tries to get away. (I said, almost.)
iii. When you're far from base, fresh new ion Sentries can get to you faster
than
any other unit. When it's time to attack the enemy buildings, a swarm of them
can
really help out the offense. They tend to get spread out when travelling, so
it's
best to bring them to a nav nearby first. Let them all gather 'round, then send
them in.
iv. Use [Sentries] to distract/destroy turrets and GTs when sending other units
in to attack buildings. They're fragile but can buy you the time needed to get
maulers past those defenses.
5. In a hurry to get somewhere special, fast?:
Hop in a Sentry. Late in the game when your enemy is in a Sabre, you'll leave
him
eating your dust. And he probably won't even expect you to be in a Sentry when
there's Warriors or Scouts in the area.
6. Using Blink Effectively:
I always use the Blink I don't know wy more people don't!!! I make people regret
pucking all there GT's in front and For ISDF puting all their power in the back
of the base. Just drive hold the blink "BLOOM" You are on the other side of
their
taking out there power. Then all the GT's are just really big and costy
paperweights. Any way I was doing this and they Kicked me with the message "I
Don't Know how you are doing that. Ether your lag is really high or you are
hacked" LOL I love the Blink.
7. Learn To Fly(not to be confused with piloting):
You should learn how to fly the ship. Basically, you turn your auto leveling
off,
and run up a mountain, turn the ships nose to the ground and hit reverse. Easier
said than done, but you will get the hang of it. The way I see it, flying is a
learned skill, and is one of the hardest to learn skills in the game. It's much
harder to fly a scout or MB well, than it is to drive it on the ground. I don't
see it as unbalancing because I am capable of going after someone flying if I
have to, but in most cases it's not necessary. I'd rather keep a bunch of
service
trucks going, and let the guy fly bomb all they want.
i. In Response:
Here are my reasons playing Auto-Level OFF against Auto-Level ON. i) Fighting
officially sucks -Normally when staying ground bound, the only reason someone
would stick to a cliff is because of partial cover and the ability to get away
by
dodging enemy fire with a big leap. Now, when people fight, ALO'ers (auto-level
off'ers as I call them) they look for the nearest cliff like a life line for an
opportunity to jump in the air and fire down at them. Now, I've experienced this
WAY more than once, and have gotten good at anticipating and evading it, but I
still think it's kind of silly, stupid, and unintentional within the games
limitations to have a scout flying in the air pointing down firing on others.
That isn't a hovertank, and if a flying vehicle can do that, it shouldn't be
able
to point straight down. The intention was ground battle, and I'll be damned
every
time someone wants to take it to the sky; they can suck my shadowers. However:
Using an ALO jump, an ALO'er can go much farther and reach places normal Auto-
leveled players cannot, or have an incredibly hard time reaching. Such places
are
like the tops of cliffs, or jumping from mountain to mountain etc. etc. I ALWAYS
play auto-level off. All my friends do to. I love the freedom and improved
Mortar
range.
ii. Regarding Turrents:
Learn how the turrets track ships, you need to learn how to kill turrets. People
do this in various ways. I have seen pilots start flying from a standstill
position and then hover of the turret and kill it. I still can't really do this
very well and I am very jealous of the thugs who do. Another way is to just
circle the turret and kill it. This is a bit more conventional but needs some
practice. Turrets are easy to destroy because they can't point straight up.
Attack them from the air (see Flying).
8. Using Jammers As Scion:
If you are playing Scion, if you build a jammer, you can then build a spire on
top of it. The enemy has to to kill the jammer first in order to kill the spire.
but remember, always put a turret near the lung so those rats that try to kill
the lung will get toasted. Jammers I find are very useful for something -
locking
out pools. A scavenger cannot be ordered to deploy on a pool if there is a
jammer
within 250 meters of it. That can be very nasty, for example: A player has a
pool
with 2 gun towers guarding it, and comes and beats you off whenever you try to
take it out. You just build a spire 250m away, and build a jammer. Now order a
mauler to go get his ext (3 mauler hits, easy), and he has a pretty hard job to
get that pool back, having to get past your spire, destroy your jammer, get a
new
scav built and order it to deploy. You might just build another jammer by then
too. Some negative feedback on Jammers in Spires: Building a Jammer inside a
Spire isn't in the same category as having a TURRET inside a pool. The deployed
Extractor protects the turret, keeping it from being damaged while it toasts
you.
The Jammer in the spire takes almost nothing to kill and doesn't do much more
than look cool.... Seriously, that's what started that. The Jammer just LOOKS
like it should be part of a Spire, and is one of the few buildings that
doesn't 'own' the terrain around it, allowing you to build a Spire around it. I
happen to feel 'someone' out there wanted it thus. I ran some tests with the
jammer and was unable to find that it did anything useful. I put it in proximity
of stuff and nothing was protected from the bomber. I had one built right in an
ISDF base, then built a RT close by (i.e. in radar range), which was able to
take
it out. So it didn't stop me from ordering a unit to attack when it was close to
the jammer. I built then next to a target and ordered the bomber to attack. So
it
didn't stop me from ordering the AI to attack when it was close to the target.
Apparently it only masks objects from appearing on the radar screen, which is
pretty useless since they are visually quite obvious. Sorta like a non-mobile
red
field. Big deal!
9. Study the Build Plan:
Learn the build trees. Hate to admit this, but it took me a long time to realize
what the minimun build requirements were for building a bomber bay. I would
always try and build everything possible before I even attempted to build the
bomber bay.
10. On Setting Nav Points:
Don’t set them closer than 10-30 meters to the pool. It will obscure the pool
region on the map with a blue mark making it very difficult to see if the
extractor is set or not to all your teammates. The larger the map the more
distance needed for clarity. If you put your nav on top of pool, you can get
teammates killed as they frustratedly try to place the scav on pool and it keeps
locking on to the nav point instead. Your teammate will have manuever about more
predictably, and have to get much closer to the pool to set it, leading to
easier
deaths for opposition. Don’t set your nav on top of a teammates nav for the same
reason, it turns his green mark on his map to a blue smudge. When I set a pool
nav its also has a secondary use. Its positioning is also selected for a single
turret at the pool, for late game remote pool takedown by turret or other unit.
So its usually on a slight rise near the pool, on the side nearest my base, so
the turret doesnt make a slowdown as it attempts to manuever past the set
extractor. I've killed many enemys turrets because they were dispatched so their
final spot was 2 zigs around the extractor, giving me another 10 seconds to get
it before it deploys. Setting navs with the travel path in mind can lead to
quicker traveling scavs if you lead them in the straighest lines possible. Every
time they zig to turn a corner, they slow down. If there are other AI near it as
it makes path decisions, both AI will be confused and jostle and even contribute
to game lag. If you set a nav incorrectly, its easily fixed by selecting the nav
to highlight it and then hit delete key. Learn how to use the topography of the
maps and place your nav points in the right spots. A great way to learn this is
to copy cat a vet and just place your navs where the vet will place his or hers.
This is very important because misplaced navs are very useless. Plus, always
place a nav at your service bay. Early in the game, place a Nav Point at your
Rec’s spawning point. This way, you can send damaged vehicles to pick up POD’s
automatically. Later, however, the recycler apron nav is a general "base" nav,
not used to pick up a power-up (in case the base is attacked, I can send stuff
there, or if I just need to get a scav out of danger, I'll send it to there).
For
me it's nothing to send a smoking turret to the recycler apron (even in battle),
rather than just let it be destroyed. It's no more micromanagement than playing
the game itself. Of course I don't really use that nav once the service bay is
up. I always find that having a nav point next to every pool is useful when
using
empty's to help you. This way, instead of looking around for a scav to order
attacked, before driving off to some other corner of the map to distract the
enemy, you can just order the scout to the nav. It's still easy to have nav1 on
your service bay, by simply deleting nav1 and re-placing it at your bay. One
person says to always try to keep Nav 1 for the dower/service bay. Just a bit of
consistency. But others argue that setting your Service Bay to nav beacon slot 2
would save you even more effort. Then you just have to press 2 twice and you're
done. Nav1 is the recycler apron (for power ups), nav2 is the service bay
(always). Nav beacons can be given custom names but does anyone actually take
the
time in a game to use this feature? I would love to name the nav points, but who
has time to jump into they relay bunker and type all that in. Is there a way to
name the navs while you are still in your ship?? No response has yet been
submitted. Determining Direction Using Navpoints: It does not matter about
having
your navpoint N1 at your service bay, just press tilde key (`) then choose the
navpoint that is on your service bay and press enter. It will highlite it on
your
map so you wont get confused in action. Also, if you have a few navpoints and
your not where you are, you can highlite a few important navpoints to get your
bearings.
11. On Pushing Vehicles:
I have noticed that pushing scavs into the water seems to be acceptable. So you
new guys out there - learn how to push scavs into the water. Plus, learn how to
push your builder when you are scion. If you use the sonic blast weapon and hit
the morph key, you then activate the sonic wave - well, this is a great method
to
push the builders clear across any map in no time. However, doing the old spire
walk is considered a no no among the elite players, its kinda cheap. But, you
know what would be cool is if you can somehow push your builder into a enemy
base
and deconstruct their rec, that would be hilarous. Highly improbable way to win
however.
12. Fleeing The Scene?:
If you try and run away from danger then you should always point your nose down
to the ground and hit your thrusters. If you see any types of hills you should
jump them.
13. Flarius Gets Nasty:
Flarius has a Nasty Little Trick website at - Nasty Strat
14. On Scav management:
When a deployed scav is killed it yields 4 scrap bits or 20 scrap verses the 10
for an undeployed. An advanced pilot tells his scav to pick up that loose before
he sets it. This quick influx of loose quickly pays for the scav if it should be
lost due to the small delay, and is a good bonus if not. I try to report that 20
in loose is coming when I can, this often allows us to get our chains that much
quicker. Or a much needed GT gets built in the nick of time. If I see that the
enemys pilots are setting scavs on pools without tidying up first I follow this
procedure. Pound on the poor enemy scav until its hull is red. Let it set,
triggering the scrap production delay from new deployment. Once its fully
transformed into an extractor, put it out of its misery. My scav picks up the
victims 20 and then I set it. Now my meter stops, but its at a good spot, with
enough to build something and 10 seconds to get to base. Letting the enemy scav
set results an extra 10 for my side with a tidy bonus of stopping scrap flow for
10 seconds to enemys coffers (effectively a 10 scrap penalty for them).
15. Using Mortar Bikes:
You don't need to fly a bike to take out the defenses and I normally don't. The
bike is just incredibly agile and shadowers don't lock on very easy. If the
commander gives me an MDM bike as soon as it's available, then the base defenses
will be down shortly. And I can get a bike before you can get plenty of service
trucks which you will lose anyway. However I hardly ever ask for an MDM bike,
because it really doesn't make for a good game. One of two things happen when
the
bike appears. Either the other team gets upset because it's all going down too
fast. Or the other team has a good bike pilot and they start returning the
favor.
The reason the bike is so much more insideous is that it is so difficult to kill
whether it's attacking or running. I can stop a Sabre from mortaring nearly as
soon as I engage it. It's difficult to stop a bike from mortaring even while you
are attacking it. Naturally this is only applicable to team strat. There are
usually too many things to do for the commander to be in a bike. But when
ordering something like a mortar bike to attack the enemy scavenger, it is a
little more time consuming to order it to attack the extractor itself, though if
you do that you will make the most of the mortar bike's range. You can usually
get it to sit 200m away making the enemy confused for at least a little while
until they are discovered, and when they are (you'll see the red dot) then they
get a 200m headstart back home. However, ordering the MB to a navpoint near the
scav is a sure way to get them slaughtered when discovered (see Setting Nav
Points).
16. Turrets In Service Bays:
Building a turret in the centre of your service bay is, I find, better than a
gun
tower/spire. Why? Turrets penetrate armour better than towers, especially when
given chainguns/gauss guns. A turret in a service bay is very rarely killable
without destroying the service bay. MDM's will hit the turret, but it repairs.
MDM's will bounce off the bay, making the combo less vulnerable than a tower.
Finally you can change the armament of a turret in bay to react to scion
shields,
or enemy tactics. In Argument: Can’t Turrents in Service Bays be view as using
the same lame cheater’s tactic as putting Turrents in Pools is consider
currently? After all, if the Service Bay constantly repairs the Turrent, how can
anyone be expected to beat it?
17. Using Armory/Forge to Disable Turrents or
Other Stationary Vehicles:
Make weak weapons (i.e. EMP Lockdown) and throw it at a enemy
Turrent/Guardian/Towers. EMP Lockdown in a turret makes a weapon called EMP
Stream. It has a range of 40m, and if it constantly paints it's target, it stops
it's target from using it's weapons. What could be more useless in a turret?
This
can obviously be a good counter to Turrets in Service Bays.
18. On Spire Walking:
Although considered by most as a cheap way of playing, if a player spire-walks
you, and you're a half-decent player (one who actually knows the construction
tree), bear in mind that he probably does NOT have a base, or base defense. As a
scion, I can *always* beat a fast-spire-walker with 1 mauler, destroying their
recycler, and with it their chances of success. As ISDF, I use an assault tank
with mortars.
19. On ISDF Bombers:
Whenever you see an enemy bomber in a team game, target it with ‘T’ on your
keyboard, then tell the other players to attack your target via the menus. This
will show the bomber up as a big red dot on their HUD and radar until you issue
another order. Assuming you never issue another order, a commander will always
know when the bomber is coming - which will make him very happy. Shoot At Bombs:
When a bomber is not destroyed, it will deposit it's bomb. You then have a
window
of about 1.5 seconds to destroy the bomb in mid-air. It has about twice the
health of a crate, and if destroyed deals no damage whatsoever. Obviously this
can be so useful it can sometimes make the difference between victory and
defeat.
If you target the bomber, it will be un-targetted as soon as it goes out of
radar
range. scouts have pretty long radar ranges for units (about 300 I think). Com
bunkers have very long ranges (500?), but overseer arrays have absolutely huge
ones(800?). If you want to tell your teammates where the bombers is, don't just
target it, since you will lose the target when you get some distance from it.
You
must actually use the 'attack my target' command from the menu. And remember...
paint the bomber AND NOT the bomber bay! If enemy has bomber, one teamate should
be constantly scouting enemy base and painting bomber for entire team. No other
painting should occur during bomber threats, so as to not risk losing the bomber
target. Everyone should mirror bomber paint.
20. Learn The Scion Shields:
Especially in a scion v scion, shields are usually the key to scion success.
Just
remember that kinetic weapons (AT-stabs, SP-stabs, chainguns, quills) are
usually
quite penetrating, reducing the usefulness of deflection shields. (Deflection
acts as armour against these weapons, but these weapons penetrate that armour
pretty well.) I personally NEVER find a use for stasis shields, but a newbie
could well find these easier to manage, and they are certainly not a bad choice.
21. Surprise!!!:
Be ready to see something new. Never accuse a player of cheating or hacking when
he does something you don't believe possible. There are always things in this
game people have never found (for example, I found a tactic a tiny bit less
useful than tipping a tank forwards, tonight.). It's best just to ask how
someone
does something. If he doesn't tell you, try your best to play against him in
future, and study him 'till you know it.
22. On Making Big Units Harder To Take Out:
In a walker or assault tank, equip the cannon hardpoint with plasma stabbers.
The
proximity damage will make them able to damage a strafing scout that they could
not hit otherwise.
23. On Targeting Enemy Vehicles:
The other thing you should always be aware of is the targeting of the enemy. I
can't tell you how many times I would target an enemy scout to just have a
newbie
go after him and die. When teammates target a scout, you should assess wether or
not he wants you to actually attack or just be aware of the situation. Normally
when someone targets an enemy ship for me, I target the ship for my teammate
right away. Now remember, some targets have more importance than others, and you
can have only one target at a time. So if someone targets the bomber, never
target anything else after that. Always have the bomber targeted. And the target
should be a chain event. Once someone targets the bomber, then the person who
has
it on their target scope, should then have everyone on his team targeted to the
bomber. Hope that made sense. How To Target Vehicles: Let’s cover targeting from
the beginning. First hit your F10 and F9 key to select your 2 wings. Now point
at
a target and press from your Command Menu "Attack My Target". A red highlight
will follow target where ever it goes on map, no matter the range. It only stays
visible for them, you lose it as soon as your radar range is exceeded. A good
teammate will mirror the "paint" so that the guy who first painted target also
gets a lock that covers the entire map. In fact that may be the only reason that
he painted the target at all, to keep track of a commander for example. You can
mirror targets painted for you without range limitations. Don't automatically
assume that "attack my target" means exactly that and go chasing wildly after it
on your own. If you paint another target after the first, the first mark
or "paint" will transfer to new target and the wing you selected will lose the
lock on the first one (including "go to" chain, etc.). You get one paint from
each wing that will stay until target is destroyed or transfered to another
target, so its possible to have up to 3 marks tracking on your map. Targeting
has
great value in the initial dogfight, if the whole team selects one target and
concentrates fire, and repeats process untill entire opposing team is out of
ships. If a wing has targeted an extractor, its likely he has shot it red
already
and ran out of ammo. Another note on painting: When you paint friendly targets,
it will say defend my target and be highlited in blue. If a commander says
defend
my target and paints a constructor he's trying to get out in the field, often
the
best defense is to lead the fight away from that area so the constructor doesn't
get discovered. If you are in possesion of service trucks and receive a "defend
friendly target", it could be a request to get it serviced. If you're a
commander, a common way your pilots will tell you that a turret is undeployed in
your base is to paint it for you. They are busy doing their job, and thats often
the only warning you will get (and lucky to get that). Also pilots can indicate
to each other exactly which scav it is they would like passed to them. Every now
and then I've received "service my target", not sure how this is different from
defend command, maybe someone else knows how to specify repair.
24. Monitoring Wingman Vehicles:
By selecting one of your wings you can see bargraphs of his health and his ammo
and use this to make strategic decisions based on his hull and ammo load. Tilde
Key (~): Also, while your wing is selected pressing the tilde key gives you a
list of all units in his possesion, an easy way to see who has a spare tank and
who doesn’t. About the tilde key thing - can you command your thug's units? NO
YOU CAN"T.
25. Concentrate Fire On Enemy Ships:
Remember that it's better to have 2 healhty enemies rather then 3 damged. This
is
because it only costs your oppenent 2 scrap for a POD and a little bit of time.
However, a new scout costs 20 scrap, loss of FAF missiles, a lot of time or loss
of sniper rifle. Plus, in this case, you would have only two opponents shooting
at you instead of taking damage from three ships!
26. Undefended Pools:
If an enemy scout is attacking a undefended pools. Leave him alone. Don't go
shooting with what Saint calls "ring around the rosie" with him. In the
strategic
element of the game, the more the enemy has you occupied defending targets and
your own base, the more time his commander has to establish a base and his
resources. I have had plenty of games with vets that all we did for a good part
of the game is to kill each others scavs. I know this sound boring but if you
let
the good enemy have the resources he needs, you are sure to lose. Plus, if you
see an enemy extractor plus a enemy scavs picking up scrap around that pool,
kill
the roving scav first because 1) its easier to kill 2) the enemy can't quickly
deploy it after you kill the current extractor.
27. Defending Extractors:
If you have a wingman, you can defend a scav...but you have to each take a side
and stay there. That way, no matter where the attacker goes, he's getting shot.
Try to overcome the urge to strafe around with him...not only will you interfere
with your wingman, you won't be able to hit the attacker near as much as if you
just kept to your side.
28. Tips On How To Practice:
I usually play 1 player, then play over a LAN with close friends (and
clanmates).
Only if the game is well and truly extraordinary do I play it online, and I
quickly learn a lot of things I didn't know before! (Especially on BZ2 -
everything from builders walking up cliffs, to flying, to guntower-
wobblekilling!) It's sometimes nicer to play the game without knowing any cheap
tactics for a while.
29. Using Drop Off Points:
I've noticed a lot of veteran commanders neglecting the drop off points feature
that Pandi gave us in 1.2 patch. This is a very handy feature accessed under the
recylers command list, the tilde key activates it. What it does is allow you to
set the new spot that units coming out of rec drive go to. This is a great tool
to help make life a bit more difficult for snipers as turrets barely pause at
all
before flying to the drop off point when they are made. Since a commander should
be in the field with his men as much as he can, this also allows him to decide
where the next turret should be deployed ahead of time. He can then go fight
with
his wings, build a turret and know that it will settle into the proper spot to
fend off the followers that are now pursuing him back to base. If you get scav
tangle during a protracted scav war, moving the drop off point to the front of
base can help. Consider the path between the rec and the drop off point to
minimize turns for best flow. The factory also has a drop off point, so your
rocket tanks can now go straight from production to the service bay without any
help from you. A Note From Ken Miller: I'm glad someone finally noticed the Drop
Off point. It was a "bonus" I put in there one day because it was really easy to
write, and I thought it would be cool. I figured it couldn't hurt, since DR2
uses
it to good effect.
30. Luring Enemy Scavs:
Don’t forget to lure scavengers to your base (or other heavily defended site),
all you have to do is blow up an empty scout. You can then easily destroy many a
wandering scav that keeps trying automatically to get at 10 measly scrap deep
inside your base.
31. Tweaking Texture Detail (DogMeat here. I am copying this verbatum since I
have no experience doing this tweak.):
Speaking of graphics, one little "trick of the trade" that I discovered and use
myself, is to "create" more texture detail by using a lesser texture filtering.
yeah this ain't a game skill trick but rather a game settings trick. by default,
i believe bz2 is at "linearmiplinear" which tends to do a lot of bilinear
filtering, creating a "fuzziness" to the model and terrain textures. what i do
is
change it to "linear" and it clears up the textures somewhat, sorta like
clearing
your sinuses... it just clears up the filtering to expose more original texture
detail. the sacrifice is that linear filtering exposes laddering and waviness
that is inherent in this level of tex filter, but the sacrifice ain't too great
and you do get a better clearer picture. with linear, the waviness of the
terrain
as you move around is more provocative in lesser resolutions, like 640x480, but
less apparent at 1024x768, which is the resolution i run bz2 in, or higher. and
changing it to linear is great especially when you are using the small textures
pak, where the textures are already fuzzy-looking. console command is:
vid.filter.linear to take off tex filtering ompletely, use: vid.filter.nearest.
Any pandemic programmers may wish to elaborate some more.
32. Placing Nav Points For Scions:
Placing the nav above the matriarch's head still works ok, but I don't like it
being up there, so I place it in advance. I tell the matriarch to deploy, then
remember the wireframe to place the nav exactly. You get used to doing it
second-
nature after a few goes. The problem with scions using this tactic is the fact
that a scion pod appears slightly below ground level, and this causes scion
units
to p*ss about a bit while trying to get to the pod. On the Matriarch service
nav,
if you aim nav closer to center of rec floor to compensate for floor vs ground
height differences, you can nail that pod spawn spot everytime with practice.
Its
a good idea to remove those navs once you get dower or bay, since they hide pods
rather effectively.
33. Deploying Rec At Start Of Game:
At start, select Rec and use wireframe option to orient its position. Deploy
without moving it; this will save precious seconds at the start. When Rec (and
Factory, too) is deployed, select it and use the ~ key to set the drop off
point.
This very handy new feature new feature can be changed as base gets set up.
34. Gauss Gun Usage:
While playing the computer (doesn't work well in a human v human), try giving a
sentry or a warrior a gauss gun, then throwing a shield pod to be picked up
*after* the gauss gun is installed. For some reason this causes the gauss gun to
fire 2-3 times more rapidly, making it one incredibly powerful weapon. Shame
it's
ammo consumption is so poor.
35. A Note On Recycling Usable Buildings:
One players said, “Though I did Recycler my Factory to get Bomber Bay faster.”
Another’s response was, “Interesting tactic, but where do you draw the line at
scrap cheating?”
36. On Confusing Your Opponent:
Always have at least one AI unit at your command (especially a mortar bike, but
an empty scout with an AI pilot does ok). Then place one nav at your service bay
deck, that's all. Delete all other navs. Here's the trick... if you find an
enemy
scavenger, and its undefended, tell your stray MB (or pack of them, if you like)
to attack it and IMMEDIATELY draw the opponent's attention by shooting something
nearby, perhaps another pool. Buy his time and dance around the pool or whatnot,
then when the pool you ordered to be destroyed earlier is gone, quickly hit the
Ctrl-group of the units, then 2 then 1, and they will go back to the bay.
Remember, AI units are less affected by lag than we are, and will most likely be
able to escape from the enemy in a laggy game. Plus if they are discovered, you
can instinctively press ctrl group 2 1 to run home, and, while knowing your
enemy
is distracted, proceed to attack one of his other pools. Try to split your
opponent's attention, but play him into your hands. Make him go where you want
him to go. This same technique can also be used by pilots. Find a stray
scavenger
close to the enemy base, and fire on the scav enough rounds to cause their radar
to go BEEP BEEP and they realize the scav is under attack. Since it's close by,
someone will surely run out of the base looking for a fight, until they realize
you are right behind them, and after firing the four rounds into the enemy's
scav, you hid nearby silent in wait and got him in the rear. See? Play them into
your hands. I will part with one more... placing more attractive targets (like
assault tanks) alone somewhere with a scav next to it will attract your enemy.
Since they are rather simple to take down even with a stock empty this will draw
them away as they hack at its armor for a minute. This is a PERFECT diversion
and
can give you enough time to do something nasty to their base, at the cost of an
assault tank (of course, the scavenger is there to pick up his remains, not a
complete loss).
37. Arranging Your Command Groups:
Similarly I shuffle F keys around, to try to keep F1-F4 for combat units. F1 for
my #1 squad at the moment; scavs and turrets get relegated down to F7 8 or 9
(depending on the number of teammates).Builders on F5 and F6. Another opinion on
groups: I always put my first Constructor/Builder at F1. Then F2 - F4 initially
is for Turrents to defend Pools which are coincidently labeled Nav2 - Nav4
(Nav1,
of course is Service Bay/Rec Apron). That way, I know if a Turrent assigned F2
is
being attacked that my pool at Nav2 is being invaded. Then F5-F8 are assigned to
attack groups with F5 usually assigned to my personal wingmen. In SP games I
then
use F9 for Bomber and always F10 for Service Truck. In MP games my Service Truck
is assigned to F8. The basic thought is that I do not break up my group by
number
necessarially, but rather by how the F keys are physically separated on the
keyboard. Using the separation helps in the heat of battle knowing which key you
need to hit without really taking your eyes off the screen.
38. The Dead Pool: Time Virus
The infamous "dead pool". This has been the scourge of many a good strat. It is
caused by moving a scav off the pool at the exact instant it is setting. A lot
of
players knew this already but what a lot don't know is you can fix it if you act
quickly.
When you see a scav exhibiting the deploying animation as it travels, this is
the
source scav of a dead pool. If you target that source scav, you can see who the
dufus is who broke it. To repair the pool you must tell the source scav to pick
you up, and you personally drive it to the broken pool and deploy it. The pool
will now be repaired.
To avoid this in the first place you can do a couple things to help. Try to give
scavs to one designated pilot (scavenger sergeant) so he can keep track of them
and be careful to not move off them pools. And when I set a scav I assign it to
a
special group so I know its set and dont accidently tell any of that group to
scavenge.
39. Dealing With Mr. Clumsy: Time Virus
How many times have you told your constructor to build defenses as you saw the
red dots appear on radar, only to have it do a little dance instead and you lose
half your base as a result. Well you can bump him to speed things up but its not
random bumping that does it. Each time you disturb him expect a 1 to 3 second
dance penalty for the offense. So your bump should instead be one long smooth
push similar to pushing a scav in water.
The constructor is easily confused by other AI in your base, especially turrets.
Should they encounter, the constructor will dance for anything from 3 seconds to
5 minutes until the turret may decide to undeploy and move for him. The turrets
almost never redeploy after this courtesy making them prime sniper bait. You can
avoid the turret undeploying if its directly in the builders only path by
pushing
the builder up and over the turret. This helps the with the builders inevitable
confusion and also prevents the turret from undeploying. The builder seems to
prefer the path along the line between build tiles and if your turrets are
deployed completely within a tile that is built already, there is much less
chance they will undeploy for Mr. Clumsy.
The other thing that confuses builders is dual pathing problems. If you tell
your
builder to build something exactly diagonaly across your recycler, expect a lot
of dancing as it decides which way to go and finally makes its way around kitty
corner. A bump in one direction can help. I've found that if you must bump your
builder, then the best way is to bump it to the center of another build tile
entirely. Now watch it for 3 seconds to see if it snaps out of it, usually that
one tile bump is all it needs to recalculate a path and gather its wits. If you
need to bump it again, do it a minimum length of another tile.
So there are some good times to bump your builder, but if its path is
unobstructed and it doesnt seem confused, you are probably better off letting it
waddle along at its own pace. The bumped speed is only about 10% faster and you
must account for the inevitable dance.
40. Scav Stunning: Time Virus
Every time a scav is shot at it often will stop scavenging, so if you want them
to keep picking up as they are under fire, tell them repeatedly to scavenge. The
reverse can be used to slow enemy scavs from vaccuming your precious loose by
sprinkling them all with gunfire before concentrating your efforts on your main
target.
41. Satellite Resources: Time Virus
When a commander gives you scavs, dont set the pools local to base. Thats his
job. Get them set as far as possible from base. The farther a scav is from home,
the more its worth. Everythings cost must have the time component factored in,
not just its basic scrap cost. Likewise killing enemy scavs, the most valuable
are the ones farthest from enemy base. ALWAYS move your scavs out of base to a
remote nav when commander gives them to you. They obstruct defenses, confuse
builders and other AI, add to general base lag and are generally unsightly. A
tidy base is an efficient base.
42. Turrets on Crack: Time Virus
If you see a turret undeployed in your base, often a headbutt by you will remind
it to deploy again. This can be alot quicker than typing to commander that hes
got an undeployed turret.
43. Kill Extra Scavs First: Fly135
Kill the wandering scavs before you kill the pool. I prefer to take all scavs
and
extractors down to red before killing any of them. Get back and get a load of
ammo and then kill them all. That way the enemy doesn't get the scrap which
results when you kill one at a time. In the meantime you should be moving some
scavs into the area for reaping the big harvest of loose scrap.
44. Got Scav? Don't Leave Home w/o One!: LoC Mattroxx
When I'm commanding, I try to make sure that each thug has at least one scav at
all times; but sometimes they don't do anything with the scav and it just sits,
useless, in the base. When I'm a thug, I always want to have at least one scav
nearby. they have so many uses.
-scoop up results of dogfights
-default target for enemy AI units
-good to use as 'shield' to duck behind when fighting
-decoy to draw fire from enemy defenses while you toast them
ASAP after knocking out enemy extractor, deploy your own scav on the pool. Even
if it's close to enemy base and won't last long, it will draw a lot of attention
from your opposing commander.
45. Shut Up, Biatch!: Time Virus
Tired of the nagging Betty always telling you your base is under attack? Units
lost, bla bla bla. Like you didnt know... If you put wave files in your addons
directory with the right names, they will replace the nagging ladys voice for
various warnings. I chose a low key pleasant muted beep for my replacement sound
of base under attack. Much less stressful than a woman naggin me constantly.
The files names and the warning they will replace:
abetty1.wav unit lost
abetty2.wav defensive unit lost
abetty3.wav offensive unit lost
abetty4.wav scavenger lost
abetty6.wav base under attack
abetty7.wav ammo depleted
abetty9.wav damage critical
abetty11.wav power lost
abetty14.wav building lost
icomm01.wav is the background radio chatter when in a relay bunker... replace
with your favorite bunker commanders music.
1. Moving Builders (and other slow units) Quickly:
A way to move a Builder rapidly: I've tried everything I can thing of based on
this limited info and end up doing nothing but damaging the Builder. How is this
done? Also, is it possible playing ISDF to quickly move the Constructor? When
you
morph sonic blast it becomes "Sonic Wave". You can push any unit around without
damaging it using sonic wave. It's great for pushing units into the drink or
simply keeping them from getting where they are going. Especially some enemy
Maulers headed for a Spire or the Matriarch. No , you cannot move ISDF
Constructors since ISDF tech-tree does not offer a Sonic Wave.
2. A Deeper Analysis Comparing Laser To Gauss Gun:
Laser combat does more damage than gauss assault at the same fire rate; however,
gauss assault has fifty percent greater range. Laser assault does more damage
than gauss combat per second, but gauss combat has 20m range advantage. Gauss
combat does more damage per second than laser combat at the same AI range. Laser
assault does fifty percent more damage every two seconds than gauss assault,
though gauss assault reaches almost twice the range. Laser AI ranges match
weapon
limit: 120m for combat, 100m for assault. gauss AI ranges are shorter than
weapon
limit: 120m combat (150m limit), 185m assault (190m limit). Gauss combat is
better, think Sentries. Laser assault is better, but what AI vehicle is going to
use it? If you're driving a walker, stick with Laser.
3. Regarding Scion Sentries:
Seems that Scions either use them a lot or not at all. In the past couple of
weeks I've started to make use of this under-utilized, underappreciated unit.
They're really fast, relatively cheap, and can go just about anywhere you can.
4. Scion Tip - How to use Sentries:
In the early game...all you need is two pools. Throw up a kiln and you're in
business.
i. Take out guardians/turrets with your solar flares then send in 2 or 3
sentries
to destroy the extractor (no sense using up your own scout's limited ammo).
These
little suckers can hit and run before the enemy knows what's happened. When they
morph to assault, they can do some good damage against buildings.
ii. Later in the game, give 'em the right shields, and make a mixed squad of ion
guns and some EMP-bearing sentries. When you get close to an enemy tank, send in
those sentries first, then come along with your arc/ion cycling. Those quick-
moving sentries can really discombobulate your enemy when he's zapped by the
EMPs. Almost guarantees you'll be able to hit the player with at least 2 more
arc
zaps, as he tries to get away. (I said, almost.)
iii. When you're far from base, fresh new ion Sentries can get to you faster
than
any other unit. When it's time to attack the enemy buildings, a swarm of them
can
really help out the offense. They tend to get spread out when travelling, so
it's
best to bring them to a nav nearby first. Let them all gather 'round, then send
them in.
iv. Use [Sentries] to distract/destroy turrets and GTs when sending other units
in to attack buildings. They're fragile but can buy you the time needed to get
maulers past those defenses.
5. In a hurry to get somewhere special, fast?:
Hop in a Sentry. Late in the game when your enemy is in a Sabre, you'll leave
him
eating your dust. And he probably won't even expect you to be in a Sentry when
there's Warriors or Scouts in the area.
6. Using Blink Effectively:
I always use the Blink I don't know wy more people don't!!! I make people regret
pucking all there GT's in front and For ISDF puting all their power in the back
of the base. Just drive hold the blink "BLOOM" You are on the other side of
their
taking out there power. Then all the GT's are just really big and costy
paperweights. Any way I was doing this and they Kicked me with the message "I
Don't Know how you are doing that. Ether your lag is really high or you are
hacked" LOL I love the Blink.
7. Learn To Fly(not to be confused with piloting):
You should learn how to fly the ship. Basically, you turn your auto leveling
off,
and run up a mountain, turn the ships nose to the ground and hit reverse. Easier
said than done, but you will get the hang of it. The way I see it, flying is a
learned skill, and is one of the hardest to learn skills in the game. It's much
harder to fly a scout or MB well, than it is to drive it on the ground. I don't
see it as unbalancing because I am capable of going after someone flying if I
have to, but in most cases it's not necessary. I'd rather keep a bunch of
service
trucks going, and let the guy fly bomb all they want.
i. In Response:
Here are my reasons playing Auto-Level OFF against Auto-Level ON. i) Fighting
officially sucks -Normally when staying ground bound, the only reason someone
would stick to a cliff is because of partial cover and the ability to get away
by
dodging enemy fire with a big leap. Now, when people fight, ALO'ers (auto-level
off'ers as I call them) they look for the nearest cliff like a life line for an
opportunity to jump in the air and fire down at them. Now, I've experienced this
WAY more than once, and have gotten good at anticipating and evading it, but I
still think it's kind of silly, stupid, and unintentional within the games
limitations to have a scout flying in the air pointing down firing on others.
That isn't a hovertank, and if a flying vehicle can do that, it shouldn't be
able
to point straight down. The intention was ground battle, and I'll be damned
every
time someone wants to take it to the sky; they can suck my shadowers. However:
Using an ALO jump, an ALO'er can go much farther and reach places normal Auto-
leveled players cannot, or have an incredibly hard time reaching. Such places
are
like the tops of cliffs, or jumping from mountain to mountain etc. etc. I ALWAYS
play auto-level off. All my friends do to. I love the freedom and improved
Mortar
range.
ii. Regarding Turrents:
Learn how the turrets track ships, you need to learn how to kill turrets. People
do this in various ways. I have seen pilots start flying from a standstill
position and then hover of the turret and kill it. I still can't really do this
very well and I am very jealous of the thugs who do. Another way is to just
circle the turret and kill it. This is a bit more conventional but needs some
practice. Turrets are easy to destroy because they can't point straight up.
Attack them from the air (see Flying).
8. Using Jammers As Scion:
If you are playing Scion, if you build a jammer, you can then build a spire on
top of it. The enemy has to to kill the jammer first in order to kill the spire.
but remember, always put a turret near the lung so those rats that try to kill
the lung will get toasted. Jammers I find are very useful for something -
locking
out pools. A scavenger cannot be ordered to deploy on a pool if there is a
jammer
within 250 meters of it. That can be very nasty, for example: A player has a
pool
with 2 gun towers guarding it, and comes and beats you off whenever you try to
take it out. You just build a spire 250m away, and build a jammer. Now order a
mauler to go get his ext (3 mauler hits, easy), and he has a pretty hard job to
get that pool back, having to get past your spire, destroy your jammer, get a
new
scav built and order it to deploy. You might just build another jammer by then
too. Some negative feedback on Jammers in Spires: Building a Jammer inside a
Spire isn't in the same category as having a TURRET inside a pool. The deployed
Extractor protects the turret, keeping it from being damaged while it toasts
you.
The Jammer in the spire takes almost nothing to kill and doesn't do much more
than look cool.... Seriously, that's what started that. The Jammer just LOOKS
like it should be part of a Spire, and is one of the few buildings that
doesn't 'own' the terrain around it, allowing you to build a Spire around it. I
happen to feel 'someone' out there wanted it thus. I ran some tests with the
jammer and was unable to find that it did anything useful. I put it in proximity
of stuff and nothing was protected from the bomber. I had one built right in an
ISDF base, then built a RT close by (i.e. in radar range), which was able to
take
it out. So it didn't stop me from ordering a unit to attack when it was close to
the jammer. I built then next to a target and ordered the bomber to attack. So
it
didn't stop me from ordering the AI to attack when it was close to the target.
Apparently it only masks objects from appearing on the radar screen, which is
pretty useless since they are visually quite obvious. Sorta like a non-mobile
red
field. Big deal!
9. Study the Build Plan:
Learn the build trees. Hate to admit this, but it took me a long time to realize
what the minimun build requirements were for building a bomber bay. I would
always try and build everything possible before I even attempted to build the
bomber bay.
10. On Setting Nav Points:
Don’t set them closer than 10-30 meters to the pool. It will obscure the pool
region on the map with a blue mark making it very difficult to see if the
extractor is set or not to all your teammates. The larger the map the more
distance needed for clarity. If you put your nav on top of pool, you can get
teammates killed as they frustratedly try to place the scav on pool and it keeps
locking on to the nav point instead. Your teammate will have manuever about more
predictably, and have to get much closer to the pool to set it, leading to
easier
deaths for opposition. Don’t set your nav on top of a teammates nav for the same
reason, it turns his green mark on his map to a blue smudge. When I set a pool
nav its also has a secondary use. Its positioning is also selected for a single
turret at the pool, for late game remote pool takedown by turret or other unit.
So its usually on a slight rise near the pool, on the side nearest my base, so
the turret doesnt make a slowdown as it attempts to manuever past the set
extractor. I've killed many enemys turrets because they were dispatched so their
final spot was 2 zigs around the extractor, giving me another 10 seconds to get
it before it deploys. Setting navs with the travel path in mind can lead to
quicker traveling scavs if you lead them in the straighest lines possible. Every
time they zig to turn a corner, they slow down. If there are other AI near it as
it makes path decisions, both AI will be confused and jostle and even contribute
to game lag. If you set a nav incorrectly, its easily fixed by selecting the nav
to highlight it and then hit delete key. Learn how to use the topography of the
maps and place your nav points in the right spots. A great way to learn this is
to copy cat a vet and just place your navs where the vet will place his or hers.
This is very important because misplaced navs are very useless. Plus, always
place a nav at your service bay. Early in the game, place a Nav Point at your
Rec’s spawning point. This way, you can send damaged vehicles to pick up POD’s
automatically. Later, however, the recycler apron nav is a general "base" nav,
not used to pick up a power-up (in case the base is attacked, I can send stuff
there, or if I just need to get a scav out of danger, I'll send it to there).
For
me it's nothing to send a smoking turret to the recycler apron (even in battle),
rather than just let it be destroyed. It's no more micromanagement than playing
the game itself. Of course I don't really use that nav once the service bay is
up. I always find that having a nav point next to every pool is useful when
using
empty's to help you. This way, instead of looking around for a scav to order
attacked, before driving off to some other corner of the map to distract the
enemy, you can just order the scout to the nav. It's still easy to have nav1 on
your service bay, by simply deleting nav1 and re-placing it at your bay. One
person says to always try to keep Nav 1 for the dower/service bay. Just a bit of
consistency. But others argue that setting your Service Bay to nav beacon slot 2
would save you even more effort. Then you just have to press 2 twice and you're
done. Nav1 is the recycler apron (for power ups), nav2 is the service bay
(always). Nav beacons can be given custom names but does anyone actually take
the
time in a game to use this feature? I would love to name the nav points, but who
has time to jump into they relay bunker and type all that in. Is there a way to
name the navs while you are still in your ship?? No response has yet been
submitted. Determining Direction Using Navpoints: It does not matter about
having
your navpoint N1 at your service bay, just press tilde key (`) then choose the
navpoint that is on your service bay and press enter. It will highlite it on
your
map so you wont get confused in action. Also, if you have a few navpoints and
your not where you are, you can highlite a few important navpoints to get your
bearings.
11. On Pushing Vehicles:
I have noticed that pushing scavs into the water seems to be acceptable. So you
new guys out there - learn how to push scavs into the water. Plus, learn how to
push your builder when you are scion. If you use the sonic blast weapon and hit
the morph key, you then activate the sonic wave - well, this is a great method
to
push the builders clear across any map in no time. However, doing the old spire
walk is considered a no no among the elite players, its kinda cheap. But, you
know what would be cool is if you can somehow push your builder into a enemy
base
and deconstruct their rec, that would be hilarous. Highly improbable way to win
however.
12. Fleeing The Scene?:
If you try and run away from danger then you should always point your nose down
to the ground and hit your thrusters. If you see any types of hills you should
jump them.
13. Flarius Gets Nasty:
Flarius has a Nasty Little Trick website at - Nasty Strat
14. On Scav management:
When a deployed scav is killed it yields 4 scrap bits or 20 scrap verses the 10
for an undeployed. An advanced pilot tells his scav to pick up that loose before
he sets it. This quick influx of loose quickly pays for the scav if it should be
lost due to the small delay, and is a good bonus if not. I try to report that 20
in loose is coming when I can, this often allows us to get our chains that much
quicker. Or a much needed GT gets built in the nick of time. If I see that the
enemys pilots are setting scavs on pools without tidying up first I follow this
procedure. Pound on the poor enemy scav until its hull is red. Let it set,
triggering the scrap production delay from new deployment. Once its fully
transformed into an extractor, put it out of its misery. My scav picks up the
victims 20 and then I set it. Now my meter stops, but its at a good spot, with
enough to build something and 10 seconds to get to base. Letting the enemy scav
set results an extra 10 for my side with a tidy bonus of stopping scrap flow for
10 seconds to enemys coffers (effectively a 10 scrap penalty for them).
15. Using Mortar Bikes:
You don't need to fly a bike to take out the defenses and I normally don't. The
bike is just incredibly agile and shadowers don't lock on very easy. If the
commander gives me an MDM bike as soon as it's available, then the base defenses
will be down shortly. And I can get a bike before you can get plenty of service
trucks which you will lose anyway. However I hardly ever ask for an MDM bike,
because it really doesn't make for a good game. One of two things happen when
the
bike appears. Either the other team gets upset because it's all going down too
fast. Or the other team has a good bike pilot and they start returning the
favor.
The reason the bike is so much more insideous is that it is so difficult to kill
whether it's attacking or running. I can stop a Sabre from mortaring nearly as
soon as I engage it. It's difficult to stop a bike from mortaring even while you
are attacking it. Naturally this is only applicable to team strat. There are
usually too many things to do for the commander to be in a bike. But when
ordering something like a mortar bike to attack the enemy scavenger, it is a
little more time consuming to order it to attack the extractor itself, though if
you do that you will make the most of the mortar bike's range. You can usually
get it to sit 200m away making the enemy confused for at least a little while
until they are discovered, and when they are (you'll see the red dot) then they
get a 200m headstart back home. However, ordering the MB to a navpoint near the
scav is a sure way to get them slaughtered when discovered (see Setting Nav
Points).
16. Turrets In Service Bays:
Building a turret in the centre of your service bay is, I find, better than a
gun
tower/spire. Why? Turrets penetrate armour better than towers, especially when
given chainguns/gauss guns. A turret in a service bay is very rarely killable
without destroying the service bay. MDM's will hit the turret, but it repairs.
MDM's will bounce off the bay, making the combo less vulnerable than a tower.
Finally you can change the armament of a turret in bay to react to scion
shields,
or enemy tactics. In Argument: Can’t Turrents in Service Bays be view as using
the same lame cheater’s tactic as putting Turrents in Pools is consider
currently? After all, if the Service Bay constantly repairs the Turrent, how can
anyone be expected to beat it?
17. Using Armory/Forge to Disable Turrents or
Other Stationary Vehicles:
Make weak weapons (i.e. EMP Lockdown) and throw it at a enemy
Turrent/Guardian/Towers. EMP Lockdown in a turret makes a weapon called EMP
Stream. It has a range of 40m, and if it constantly paints it's target, it stops
it's target from using it's weapons. What could be more useless in a turret?
This
can obviously be a good counter to Turrets in Service Bays.
18. On Spire Walking:
Although considered by most as a cheap way of playing, if a player spire-walks
you, and you're a half-decent player (one who actually knows the construction
tree), bear in mind that he probably does NOT have a base, or base defense. As a
scion, I can *always* beat a fast-spire-walker with 1 mauler, destroying their
recycler, and with it their chances of success. As ISDF, I use an assault tank
with mortars.
19. On ISDF Bombers:
Whenever you see an enemy bomber in a team game, target it with ‘T’ on your
keyboard, then tell the other players to attack your target via the menus. This
will show the bomber up as a big red dot on their HUD and radar until you issue
another order. Assuming you never issue another order, a commander will always
know when the bomber is coming - which will make him very happy. Shoot At Bombs:
When a bomber is not destroyed, it will deposit it's bomb. You then have a
window
of about 1.5 seconds to destroy the bomb in mid-air. It has about twice the
health of a crate, and if destroyed deals no damage whatsoever. Obviously this
can be so useful it can sometimes make the difference between victory and
defeat.
If you target the bomber, it will be un-targetted as soon as it goes out of
radar
range. scouts have pretty long radar ranges for units (about 300 I think). Com
bunkers have very long ranges (500?), but overseer arrays have absolutely huge
ones(800?). If you want to tell your teammates where the bombers is, don't just
target it, since you will lose the target when you get some distance from it.
You
must actually use the 'attack my target' command from the menu. And remember...
paint the bomber AND NOT the bomber bay! If enemy has bomber, one teamate should
be constantly scouting enemy base and painting bomber for entire team. No other
painting should occur during bomber threats, so as to not risk losing the bomber
target. Everyone should mirror bomber paint.
20. Learn The Scion Shields:
Especially in a scion v scion, shields are usually the key to scion success.
Just
remember that kinetic weapons (AT-stabs, SP-stabs, chainguns, quills) are
usually
quite penetrating, reducing the usefulness of deflection shields. (Deflection
acts as armour against these weapons, but these weapons penetrate that armour
pretty well.) I personally NEVER find a use for stasis shields, but a newbie
could well find these easier to manage, and they are certainly not a bad choice.
21. Surprise!!!:
Be ready to see something new. Never accuse a player of cheating or hacking when
he does something you don't believe possible. There are always things in this
game people have never found (for example, I found a tactic a tiny bit less
useful than tipping a tank forwards, tonight.). It's best just to ask how
someone
does something. If he doesn't tell you, try your best to play against him in
future, and study him 'till you know it.
22. On Making Big Units Harder To Take Out:
In a walker or assault tank, equip the cannon hardpoint with plasma stabbers.
The
proximity damage will make them able to damage a strafing scout that they could
not hit otherwise.
23. On Targeting Enemy Vehicles:
The other thing you should always be aware of is the targeting of the enemy. I
can't tell you how many times I would target an enemy scout to just have a
newbie
go after him and die. When teammates target a scout, you should assess wether or
not he wants you to actually attack or just be aware of the situation. Normally
when someone targets an enemy ship for me, I target the ship for my teammate
right away. Now remember, some targets have more importance than others, and you
can have only one target at a time. So if someone targets the bomber, never
target anything else after that. Always have the bomber targeted. And the target
should be a chain event. Once someone targets the bomber, then the person who
has
it on their target scope, should then have everyone on his team targeted to the
bomber. Hope that made sense. How To Target Vehicles: Let’s cover targeting from
the beginning. First hit your F10 and F9 key to select your 2 wings. Now point
at
a target and press from your Command Menu "Attack My Target". A red highlight
will follow target where ever it goes on map, no matter the range. It only stays
visible for them, you lose it as soon as your radar range is exceeded. A good
teammate will mirror the "paint" so that the guy who first painted target also
gets a lock that covers the entire map. In fact that may be the only reason that
he painted the target at all, to keep track of a commander for example. You can
mirror targets painted for you without range limitations. Don't automatically
assume that "attack my target" means exactly that and go chasing wildly after it
on your own. If you paint another target after the first, the first mark
or "paint" will transfer to new target and the wing you selected will lose the
lock on the first one (including "go to" chain, etc.). You get one paint from
each wing that will stay until target is destroyed or transfered to another
target, so its possible to have up to 3 marks tracking on your map. Targeting
has
great value in the initial dogfight, if the whole team selects one target and
concentrates fire, and repeats process untill entire opposing team is out of
ships. If a wing has targeted an extractor, its likely he has shot it red
already
and ran out of ammo. Another note on painting: When you paint friendly targets,
it will say defend my target and be highlited in blue. If a commander says
defend
my target and paints a constructor he's trying to get out in the field, often
the
best defense is to lead the fight away from that area so the constructor doesn't
get discovered. If you are in possesion of service trucks and receive a "defend
friendly target", it could be a request to get it serviced. If you're a
commander, a common way your pilots will tell you that a turret is undeployed in
your base is to paint it for you. They are busy doing their job, and thats often
the only warning you will get (and lucky to get that). Also pilots can indicate
to each other exactly which scav it is they would like passed to them. Every now
and then I've received "service my target", not sure how this is different from
defend command, maybe someone else knows how to specify repair.
24. Monitoring Wingman Vehicles:
By selecting one of your wings you can see bargraphs of his health and his ammo
and use this to make strategic decisions based on his hull and ammo load. Tilde
Key (~): Also, while your wing is selected pressing the tilde key gives you a
list of all units in his possesion, an easy way to see who has a spare tank and
who doesn’t. About the tilde key thing - can you command your thug's units? NO
YOU CAN"T.
25. Concentrate Fire On Enemy Ships:
Remember that it's better to have 2 healhty enemies rather then 3 damged. This
is
because it only costs your oppenent 2 scrap for a POD and a little bit of time.
However, a new scout costs 20 scrap, loss of FAF missiles, a lot of time or loss
of sniper rifle. Plus, in this case, you would have only two opponents shooting
at you instead of taking damage from three ships!
26. Undefended Pools:
If an enemy scout is attacking a undefended pools. Leave him alone. Don't go
shooting with what Saint calls "ring around the rosie" with him. In the
strategic
element of the game, the more the enemy has you occupied defending targets and
your own base, the more time his commander has to establish a base and his
resources. I have had plenty of games with vets that all we did for a good part
of the game is to kill each others scavs. I know this sound boring but if you
let
the good enemy have the resources he needs, you are sure to lose. Plus, if you
see an enemy extractor plus a enemy scavs picking up scrap around that pool,
kill
the roving scav first because 1) its easier to kill 2) the enemy can't quickly
deploy it after you kill the current extractor.
27. Defending Extractors:
If you have a wingman, you can defend a scav...but you have to each take a side
and stay there. That way, no matter where the attacker goes, he's getting shot.
Try to overcome the urge to strafe around with him...not only will you interfere
with your wingman, you won't be able to hit the attacker near as much as if you
just kept to your side.
28. Tips On How To Practice:
I usually play 1 player, then play over a LAN with close friends (and
clanmates).
Only if the game is well and truly extraordinary do I play it online, and I
quickly learn a lot of things I didn't know before! (Especially on BZ2 -
everything from builders walking up cliffs, to flying, to guntower-
wobblekilling!) It's sometimes nicer to play the game without knowing any cheap
tactics for a while.
29. Using Drop Off Points:
I've noticed a lot of veteran commanders neglecting the drop off points feature
that Pandi gave us in 1.2 patch. This is a very handy feature accessed under the
recylers command list, the tilde key activates it. What it does is allow you to
set the new spot that units coming out of rec drive go to. This is a great tool
to help make life a bit more difficult for snipers as turrets barely pause at
all
before flying to the drop off point when they are made. Since a commander should
be in the field with his men as much as he can, this also allows him to decide
where the next turret should be deployed ahead of time. He can then go fight
with
his wings, build a turret and know that it will settle into the proper spot to
fend off the followers that are now pursuing him back to base. If you get scav
tangle during a protracted scav war, moving the drop off point to the front of
base can help. Consider the path between the rec and the drop off point to
minimize turns for best flow. The factory also has a drop off point, so your
rocket tanks can now go straight from production to the service bay without any
help from you. A Note From Ken Miller: I'm glad someone finally noticed the Drop
Off point. It was a "bonus" I put in there one day because it was really easy to
write, and I thought it would be cool. I figured it couldn't hurt, since DR2
uses
it to good effect.
30. Luring Enemy Scavs:
Don’t forget to lure scavengers to your base (or other heavily defended site),
all you have to do is blow up an empty scout. You can then easily destroy many a
wandering scav that keeps trying automatically to get at 10 measly scrap deep
inside your base.
31. Tweaking Texture Detail (DogMeat here. I am copying this verbatum since I
have no experience doing this tweak.):
Speaking of graphics, one little "trick of the trade" that I discovered and use
myself, is to "create" more texture detail by using a lesser texture filtering.
yeah this ain't a game skill trick but rather a game settings trick. by default,
i believe bz2 is at "linearmiplinear" which tends to do a lot of bilinear
filtering, creating a "fuzziness" to the model and terrain textures. what i do
is
change it to "linear" and it clears up the textures somewhat, sorta like
clearing
your sinuses... it just clears up the filtering to expose more original texture
detail. the sacrifice is that linear filtering exposes laddering and waviness
that is inherent in this level of tex filter, but the sacrifice ain't too great
and you do get a better clearer picture. with linear, the waviness of the
terrain
as you move around is more provocative in lesser resolutions, like 640x480, but
less apparent at 1024x768, which is the resolution i run bz2 in, or higher. and
changing it to linear is great especially when you are using the small textures
pak, where the textures are already fuzzy-looking. console command is:
vid.filter.linear to take off tex filtering ompletely, use: vid.filter.nearest.
Any pandemic programmers may wish to elaborate some more.
32. Placing Nav Points For Scions:
Placing the nav above the matriarch's head still works ok, but I don't like it
being up there, so I place it in advance. I tell the matriarch to deploy, then
remember the wireframe to place the nav exactly. You get used to doing it
second-
nature after a few goes. The problem with scions using this tactic is the fact
that a scion pod appears slightly below ground level, and this causes scion
units
to p*ss about a bit while trying to get to the pod. On the Matriarch service
nav,
if you aim nav closer to center of rec floor to compensate for floor vs ground
height differences, you can nail that pod spawn spot everytime with practice.
Its
a good idea to remove those navs once you get dower or bay, since they hide pods
rather effectively.
33. Deploying Rec At Start Of Game:
At start, select Rec and use wireframe option to orient its position. Deploy
without moving it; this will save precious seconds at the start. When Rec (and
Factory, too) is deployed, select it and use the ~ key to set the drop off
point.
This very handy new feature new feature can be changed as base gets set up.
34. Gauss Gun Usage:
While playing the computer (doesn't work well in a human v human), try giving a
sentry or a warrior a gauss gun, then throwing a shield pod to be picked up
*after* the gauss gun is installed. For some reason this causes the gauss gun to
fire 2-3 times more rapidly, making it one incredibly powerful weapon. Shame
it's
ammo consumption is so poor.
35. A Note On Recycling Usable Buildings:
One players said, “Though I did Recycler my Factory to get Bomber Bay faster.”
Another’s response was, “Interesting tactic, but where do you draw the line at
scrap cheating?”
36. On Confusing Your Opponent:
Always have at least one AI unit at your command (especially a mortar bike, but
an empty scout with an AI pilot does ok). Then place one nav at your service bay
deck, that's all. Delete all other navs. Here's the trick... if you find an
enemy
scavenger, and its undefended, tell your stray MB (or pack of them, if you like)
to attack it and IMMEDIATELY draw the opponent's attention by shooting something
nearby, perhaps another pool. Buy his time and dance around the pool or whatnot,
then when the pool you ordered to be destroyed earlier is gone, quickly hit the
Ctrl-group of the units, then 2 then 1, and they will go back to the bay.
Remember, AI units are less affected by lag than we are, and will most likely be
able to escape from the enemy in a laggy game. Plus if they are discovered, you
can instinctively press ctrl group 2 1 to run home, and, while knowing your
enemy
is distracted, proceed to attack one of his other pools. Try to split your
opponent's attention, but play him into your hands. Make him go where you want
him to go. This same technique can also be used by pilots. Find a stray
scavenger
close to the enemy base, and fire on the scav enough rounds to cause their radar
to go BEEP BEEP and they realize the scav is under attack. Since it's close by,
someone will surely run out of the base looking for a fight, until they realize
you are right behind them, and after firing the four rounds into the enemy's
scav, you hid nearby silent in wait and got him in the rear. See? Play them into
your hands. I will part with one more... placing more attractive targets (like
assault tanks) alone somewhere with a scav next to it will attract your enemy.
Since they are rather simple to take down even with a stock empty this will draw
them away as they hack at its armor for a minute. This is a PERFECT diversion
and
can give you enough time to do something nasty to their base, at the cost of an
assault tank (of course, the scavenger is there to pick up his remains, not a
complete loss).
37. Arranging Your Command Groups:
Similarly I shuffle F keys around, to try to keep F1-F4 for combat units. F1 for
my #1 squad at the moment; scavs and turrets get relegated down to F7 8 or 9
(depending on the number of teammates).Builders on F5 and F6. Another opinion on
groups: I always put my first Constructor/Builder at F1. Then F2 - F4 initially
is for Turrents to defend Pools which are coincidently labeled Nav2 - Nav4
(Nav1,
of course is Service Bay/Rec Apron). That way, I know if a Turrent assigned F2
is
being attacked that my pool at Nav2 is being invaded. Then F5-F8 are assigned to
attack groups with F5 usually assigned to my personal wingmen. In SP games I
then
use F9 for Bomber and always F10 for Service Truck. In MP games my Service Truck
is assigned to F8. The basic thought is that I do not break up my group by
number
necessarially, but rather by how the F keys are physically separated on the
keyboard. Using the separation helps in the heat of battle knowing which key you
need to hit without really taking your eyes off the screen.
38. The Dead Pool: Time Virus
The infamous "dead pool". This has been the scourge of many a good strat. It is
caused by moving a scav off the pool at the exact instant it is setting. A lot
of
players knew this already but what a lot don't know is you can fix it if you act
quickly.
When you see a scav exhibiting the deploying animation as it travels, this is
the
source scav of a dead pool. If you target that source scav, you can see who the
dufus is who broke it. To repair the pool you must tell the source scav to pick
you up, and you personally drive it to the broken pool and deploy it. The pool
will now be repaired.
To avoid this in the first place you can do a couple things to help. Try to give
scavs to one designated pilot (scavenger sergeant) so he can keep track of them
and be careful to not move off them pools. And when I set a scav I assign it to
a
special group so I know its set and dont accidently tell any of that group to
scavenge.
39. Dealing With Mr. Clumsy: Time Virus
How many times have you told your constructor to build defenses as you saw the
red dots appear on radar, only to have it do a little dance instead and you lose
half your base as a result. Well you can bump him to speed things up but its not
random bumping that does it. Each time you disturb him expect a 1 to 3 second
dance penalty for the offense. So your bump should instead be one long smooth
push similar to pushing a scav in water.
The constructor is easily confused by other AI in your base, especially turrets.
Should they encounter, the constructor will dance for anything from 3 seconds to
5 minutes until the turret may decide to undeploy and move for him. The turrets
almost never redeploy after this courtesy making them prime sniper bait. You can
avoid the turret undeploying if its directly in the builders only path by
pushing
the builder up and over the turret. This helps the with the builders inevitable
confusion and also prevents the turret from undeploying. The builder seems to
prefer the path along the line between build tiles and if your turrets are
deployed completely within a tile that is built already, there is much less
chance they will undeploy for Mr. Clumsy.
The other thing that confuses builders is dual pathing problems. If you tell
your
builder to build something exactly diagonaly across your recycler, expect a lot
of dancing as it decides which way to go and finally makes its way around kitty
corner. A bump in one direction can help. I've found that if you must bump your
builder, then the best way is to bump it to the center of another build tile
entirely. Now watch it for 3 seconds to see if it snaps out of it, usually that
one tile bump is all it needs to recalculate a path and gather its wits. If you
need to bump it again, do it a minimum length of another tile.
So there are some good times to bump your builder, but if its path is
unobstructed and it doesnt seem confused, you are probably better off letting it
waddle along at its own pace. The bumped speed is only about 10% faster and you
must account for the inevitable dance.
40. Scav Stunning: Time Virus
Every time a scav is shot at it often will stop scavenging, so if you want them
to keep picking up as they are under fire, tell them repeatedly to scavenge. The
reverse can be used to slow enemy scavs from vaccuming your precious loose by
sprinkling them all with gunfire before concentrating your efforts on your main
target.
41. Satellite Resources: Time Virus
When a commander gives you scavs, dont set the pools local to base. Thats his
job. Get them set as far as possible from base. The farther a scav is from home,
the more its worth. Everythings cost must have the time component factored in,
not just its basic scrap cost. Likewise killing enemy scavs, the most valuable
are the ones farthest from enemy base. ALWAYS move your scavs out of base to a
remote nav when commander gives them to you. They obstruct defenses, confuse
builders and other AI, add to general base lag and are generally unsightly. A
tidy base is an efficient base.
42. Turrets on Crack: Time Virus
If you see a turret undeployed in your base, often a headbutt by you will remind
it to deploy again. This can be alot quicker than typing to commander that hes
got an undeployed turret.
43. Kill Extra Scavs First: Fly135
Kill the wandering scavs before you kill the pool. I prefer to take all scavs
and
extractors down to red before killing any of them. Get back and get a load of
ammo and then kill them all. That way the enemy doesn't get the scrap which
results when you kill one at a time. In the meantime you should be moving some
scavs into the area for reaping the big harvest of loose scrap.
44. Got Scav? Don't Leave Home w/o One!: LoC Mattroxx
When I'm commanding, I try to make sure that each thug has at least one scav at
all times; but sometimes they don't do anything with the scav and it just sits,
useless, in the base. When I'm a thug, I always want to have at least one scav
nearby. they have so many uses.
-scoop up results of dogfights
-default target for enemy AI units
-good to use as 'shield' to duck behind when fighting
-decoy to draw fire from enemy defenses while you toast them
ASAP after knocking out enemy extractor, deploy your own scav on the pool. Even
if it's close to enemy base and won't last long, it will draw a lot of attention
from your opposing commander.
45. Shut Up, Biatch!: Time Virus
Tired of the nagging Betty always telling you your base is under attack? Units
lost, bla bla bla. Like you didnt know... If you put wave files in your addons
directory with the right names, they will replace the nagging ladys voice for
various warnings. I chose a low key pleasant muted beep for my replacement sound
of base under attack. Much less stressful than a woman naggin me constantly.
The files names and the warning they will replace:
abetty1.wav unit lost
abetty2.wav defensive unit lost
abetty3.wav offensive unit lost
abetty4.wav scavenger lost
abetty6.wav base under attack
abetty7.wav ammo depleted
abetty9.wav damage critical
abetty11.wav power lost
abetty14.wav building lost
icomm01.wav is the background radio chatter when in a relay bunker... replace
with your favorite bunker commanders music.