Intro
This is a newly updated version of the strategy
guide I wrote about 2 years ago (in 2000). I was quite pleased
to know that many people appreciated my league guide, so I
decided to re-release it with some new material.
I'd like to take this opportunity to share some of my league
experience with you, the reader, to help you with your league
play. Doing well in league is far from easy; it takes a lot
of dedication, practice, quick reflexes, intelligent decisions,
and strategizing. I hope to fulfill my goal through this article
by hopefully giving you a better understanding and appreciation
of the game of Subspace and of league games. Enjoy.
Pre-Game
Macros are very important. When you are deep
in a game and have little time to type because you are busy
fighting your opponent, macros bring you an easy way to communicate
to a teammate. It is important to make them as simple as possible,
usually people ignore long macros that try to say a lot in
them, it's just not worth the time to read a long macro when
the other team is gunning for you and a tenth of a second
can mean life or death. It's easier to be observant and just
go where your team is going, if your team is well organized
and stays together, then you will not need to read many macros
at all. The only macros that really make a difference are
the "regroup", "safe", "not safe", "anti on", "anti off",
and the "help" macro. Putting your coordinates in your macros
is of course, important.
Also choosing the right ship combination for your team is
crucial. Having 3 warbirds and a weasel is one of the most
effective combinations in league games. More than 2 weasels,
in my experience at least, should be avoided as your warbird
opponents can easily out-fly your weasels. As a general rule,
having at least 3 warbirds is crucial as a backbone to most
teams as their mobility and versatility outperforms all other
ships. Having a weasel/cloaker combination for example may
allow for a shock advantage, but a good warbird team can adjust
and steal the advantage of any less agile team.
Practice
Practice makes perfect, but to many pilots,
it is just a way to pass the time. Unfortunately, nobody learns
this way. When you play in a scrimmage, always try to have
a game plan in mind. Some examples of this are staying with
your team more closely, sticking with a particular wingman,
being as offensive as possible (popular in many pracs), focusing
on vulching, or backing up your teammates better. Any of these
are good, depending on your goals. Mindlessly playing in a
practice won't get you anywhere. Don't be afraid to take risks
in a practice, to change strategies, to push the envelope
to the maximum so you have a better idea of your limits when
match time comes. It's better to go 0-3 in a practice and
learn something important than to go 6-0 and to learn nothing
about your own game play.
Duel
Dueling skill is one of the most important
and usually neglected skill in Pro League today. A duel, which
is a 1 on 1 battle to the end can be interpreted as practicing
your offense skills and ability to recover and dodge in preparation
for a real league game. Almost all of the best league players
are good duelers with few exceptions. For the longest time,
I thought that dueling was a useless skill until I started
to duel myself. Dueling teaches you how to attack your enemy,
from the first shot to finishing him with the last shot. It
teaches you to aim and to make every bomb and bullet count.
It also teaches you the all important skill of taking advantage
of momentum. Understanding the intricacies of momentum/spacing
advantages often makes the difference between a good player
and a great player or a great player and a star player. Learn
how to duel, and duel well.
Subbing
It is very important that the whole squad
understands the situation of subbing and the requirements
the squad captain puts upon his players before every league
game. This is important to avoid confusion, anger, and arguing
during a league game. Always have a game plan in mind in terms
of subbing and always tell the team what that game
plan will be and make sure they agree with it. Before every
game, make sure that the 4 starters are clearly known to everybody,
and it is always good to pick a 1st, 2nd and 3rd sub before
the game to clear up confusion.
In my current squad, whenever the captain (me) starts in a
game, I always choose a trustworthy teammate in spectator
mode to be the acting captain for the duration of the game
(or until he gets subbed in himself). I tell him what will
be the subbing order and if I'm organized enough, I'll tell
him when to sub out a person. When he knows all this clearly
after we start, he will be the acting captain and make all
of the decisions. Just make sure that the rest of the team
knows that he is the acting captain during the game so that
they will respect his authority. This is good for me because
I will not have to worry about being captain when I'm busy
playing and will be able to concentrate more effectively.
Develop a Strategy
A pre-game discussion of general strategy
in your league game is very important. For one, it helps your
team gain confidence as they feel prepared for your opponents,
and they know what their roles are during the game. Getting
an effective strategy together is not easy and requires a
lot of personal observation. First you need to get a general
feel for your team's abilities and weaknesses. If your team
is generally offensive, then you need to prepare a strategy
that would best fit their abilities so they can perform to
the best of their capabilities during the game. The best thing
to do is to classify your players into different categories,
the three most common are the offensive player, the vulcher,
and the backstabber. When you have classified them, experiment
with different lineups to see who works best with whom. In
general, it's good to have one or two offensive players with
the rest being vulchers.
Then there are general strategies you can experiment with
to see what fits your team best. There's the buddy system,
where your starters are grouped in teams of two, each teammate
in a group has to cover the other teammate. The advantage
of this strategy is that there is less responsibility given
to the players, since they only have to make sure one teammate
is ok and not the entire three. Another possible strategy
is called follow the leader. This is when the squad selects
a "leader" that will be followed religiously by the other
three players. You can select this leader by his or her capabilities,
and depending if you want an offensive game or not. It's works
great in theory however after 10-15 minutes of play, it's
hard to keep the focus on following one pilot the entire game.
Basically follow the leader is just another way to make your
starters focus and bomb the same target, which is fundamental
in order to win in league.
Another strategy is the classic backstabbing combination.
How it works is that there will be one brave player that will
always try to sneak behind the enemy group and attack them
from their weak spot while the other 3 players attack them
from their front side. Theoretically what's supposed to happen
is that the backstabber will confuse the enemy group, distracting
them from their lobbing and force them to attack the loner.
That's when the other 3 swoop in and attack the enemy while
attaining momentum. The backstabber can also swoop in and
force the enemy to deflect bombs and precious attention to
the backstabber while the other 3 attack with little resistance.
This is a risky strategy as the backstabber has to be exceedingly
talented or extremely lagged in order to avoid certain death
by purposefully getting isolated by the enemy. But if the
backstabber can take the punishment, the other 3 players can
have a field day attacking the disoriented enemy. Great current
examples of solid backstabbers are CookieM and Rage. They
both have great talent at breaking up enemy positions single-handedly
while simultaneously deflecting attention away from the main
attacking force. If you want to see this strategy in action,
take notes from those two players.
Another strategy is what I call the bomb wall. Use this only
if you face an extremely aggressive opponent that takes no
prisoners when attacking you. What happens is all four players
group together behind some kind of structure and simply create
a wall of bombs, impenetrable to the opposing team. When they
eventually get through it by either a backstabber breaking
up the group or some other method, the group has to retreat
and find the next structure to hide behind. The key is to
keep the group in the middle of the map at all times since
the corners will be almost certain trouble for your team with
this strategy. The idea is that the opposing team will become
increasingly frustrated with the bomb wall, and increasingly
take greater and greater risks to create an attack. Therefore
the more desperate they get, the easier it will be to pick
them off. When a backstabber gets too close, a leader will
direct the team to attack him to death. With this strategy,
having someone to direct the team's flight path is crucial
since maintaining the bomb wall requires all 4 players contributing
to it. Be warned, this is still a highly experimental strategy,
which requires a lot of patience. But in my opinion, it's
worth testing out against an aggressive team.
One last strategy I'd like to point out is the most basic
of all and perhaps the most effective of all. Lob bombs when
the other team lobs. Do not chase any opponents by
yourself, if you see yourself flying towards an enemy without
backup, back off. If there are opportunities to attack, let's
say a loner over-extends, then everyone chases and
attacks the loner. If you are not accustomed to your other
teammates, then it's preferable for someone to tell you "attack
my target!", "chase the loner!" something like that. After
he's dead or repped or out of your teams range, go right back
to your original position of lobbing. This is a waiting game,
attack if the opportunities are good, and never chase without
backup. Sounds simple isn't it? But performing it in a real
league game is a very different story. It's takes dedication
in order to be comfortable with your other teammates, sensing
attacking possibilities takes coordination among your team
and there could be a lot of frustration when nobody follows
you. Remember, try not to get frustrated, keep on trying to
develop that teamwork with your teammates, and the results
will come.
These above strategies are just some examples, not to be followed
to the letter. Overall, it's very important to have some sort
of gameplan before playing a league game. Make sure you know
what kind of style of play you are going up against so you
can plan to counter their strengths and attack their weaknesses.
Know what questions to ask yourselves. If the enemies are
a lobbing team, can we employ the backstabbing strategy or
buddy system? If our opponents are aggressive, then maybe
we should look to employ some sort of bomb wall to counter
their offense. Overall, find a strategy that suits your team
and don't be afraid to experiment.
GO!
Stay Together
You've probably heard this before from teammates
and others. This is one of the most important things to do
during the game. If your team is spread out, you will be easy
pickings for the opponent when they single you out one at
a time, force your repels, and eventually crush you. Staying
together means knowing where all of your teammates are at
all times, knowing where you are, and being close enough when
the opportunity arises to help a teammate attack a common
target. Also, when one of your teammates are in trouble, you
should be in the position of helping him. Balance is key to
keeping a good formation, if you are too close, then you will
be an easy target for lobbing, because the enemy will just
throw bombs in your general direction with the possibility
of hitting more than one of you at a time, it's like hitting
two birds with one stone. If you are too far apart, the enemy
can break you up easier, and use the classic divide and conquer
tactics, which work really well in this game. Staying together
is not the only thing that is important to create a good formation,
there is also a mental aspect to this. We are all very selfish
out there when we play in a real league game, we all want
good records without dying, and get recognized by your peers
as a good player. But sometimes this feeling of selfishness/self
preservation can hurt you more than help. Even if you know
that you are the best player on the squad, you still need
your teammates to help you out. Only a coordinated effort
by the team is the only sure way to soundly beat your opponent.
Another trick to help your team to stay together is yelling
out directions like "GO UP", "GO DOWN", "GO LEFT", "GO RIGHT"
on your frequency to direct your team into going one way instead
of doing a guessing game of where your team will be next.
That is especially helpful when your team is in retreat or
is in a really bad position in the map. Help your teammates
as much as possible, attack the target that your teammate
is attacking, don't risk it all so you can be the big hero.
Focus on One Target
This strategy complements with staying together,
not only do you have to be within reach of your teammates,
but if you combine this with always focusing on attacking
one target, you will be a formidable foe indeed. This is a
rule I use a lot in real league games, whenever your teammates
decide to attack a pilot, you attack it too. It takes discipline,
and sometimes in the heat of a battle, you don't realize that
you are alone attacking an enemy when your teammates are nowhere
in sight. I know this has happened to me many times in practices
when unfocused. So this leads to this: even though you smell
the enemy you are chasing is close to death but you have no
teammates to back you up, resist this temptation and stop
the chase, especially if his friends are relatively close
by. This is so important in the beginning of the game, because
the very first kills can decide the fate of the game and if
you miscalculate your attack when alone, you can pay dearly
for your mistake. Something I do in the beginning of the game
is to remain very neutral and steady in the first half, get
a feel for the game, get a feel for your opponents, and how
your team is reacting to them. Don't be fooled by a lure,
with the weakened opponent being the bait, wanting you to
attack; if you do, his teammates will rip you apart. Early
in the game, you will not really know what is a good kill
opportunity or one that is not, so try to hold back your urges
to kill, and analyze and keep tabs on your opponents' moves.
Cautiously get a feel for knowing when to attack or not. Also
selecting a weakened enemy out of your opponents and singling
him out is a very powerful tool and strategy that many squads
use. Whenever an opponent is low in repels or has a death
or two, message your teammates to attack that target and stay
on him until he is out of the game. This will cause extra
strain and pressure on that enemy, hopefully forcing him out
of the game for a powerplay. Your teammates in spectator mode
should work to help the people who are playing by using target
macros like showing the coordinates of the target and making
energy macros like "%tickname is RED". These macros are incredibly
useful in clutch situations in league games. Play smart, use
your head when in the game, I know that sometimes it can get
a little chaotic, control your actions, don't let the events
control you.
Work Those Lobbing Skills
In a lobbing situation, the most important
thing is not the bombing itself or how many bombs you shoot,
but it's all in positioning. Shooting a few bombs where
the enemy doesn't necessarily expect is very important. In
a lobbing game, before you do anything, analyze the whole
situation. Recognize what part of the map you are in, recognize
where your team is generally located and flying around, and
know where your enemy is grouped together. Always analyze
the radar in this situation, look out for opportunities of
weakness from your enemies, trust me, there will be some.
With this information, you will know where their bombing lines
are, so you can avoid them, know when their bombs come in,
at what intervals, etc. Now with this information, you can
lob bomb while feeling safer doing it. Surprise is one of
your biggest weapons, don't shoot where they will expect you
to shoot, shoot them where they feel safe from you, keep them
on their toes. Patience is key in being successful here, wait
for your opportunities, don't push too hard for results or
else you might pay for it. If you get an opponent down, only
attack when you have backup. Again, staying together is key
for this to work well.
As I already stated, gathering as much information as you
can is key to winning a lobbing war. It can get very frustrating
at times, but remember, it's equally frustrating to your opponents!
Playing smart is key here. Often what I notice with more novice
players is that when they are in a lobbing situation, they
just mindlessly throw bombs here and there, not hitting much
of anything. This is an ineffective way of using your precious
energy. In a league game, using your brain instead of pure
hand eye coordination is very important. Don't lob a bomb
somewhere just for the sake of lobbing, or just for the sake
that you are full energy - lob a bomb that you KNOW will hit
a target. Remember that using your energy to shoot in a league
game is a strategic decision, the more you shoot, the more
vulnerable you'll be to potential counter-attacking-remember,
they will be trying to surprise you too.
When Down a Pilot
It will happen, one time or another, so be
prepared for it to happen. Right after you see a teammate
die or lag out, move back, stop attacking, anything except
carrying on your attack as if nothing happened. Don't hesitate,
regroup back with your teammates, get into a defensive position
and await your fallen teammate. Timing is very important,
depending on how well you are organized, you can be back in
the game fighting with all players in a matter of seconds.
But a less skillful team could really fall apart in this situation.
With a man down, your opponents can really take advantage
and if you aren't together with your teammates, they can take
you apart, burning repels or even cause another death. Keep
your cool as a team and you'll be fine. The same goes for
someone who lags out, try to hang back, fend off the enemy
as much as possible, and stay in the middle of the map and
hope for the best until your teammate comes back in.
If you are the person that dies, remember to chill out. Many
times I see players die out, then when they regroup they want
immediate revenge. That's no good because for one you tend
to take too many chances and could get yourself killed again!
Best thing to do is to take deep breaths and get back to your
original gameplan. If you're the captain of the team and if
you see someone dying out quickly, it's your job to calm him
down if he has trouble doing it himself. If he dies again
trying to seek revenge, don't hesitate to immediately sub
him out before he goes 0-3 and loses the game for you.
Playing the Game
It's good to keep it safe, so in a real game,
before I shoot, I always try to have my energy level to its
fullest or close to full strength. This ensures my safety,
in case somebody vulches me after I shoot, I will still have
enough left to survive. This is especially important to do
if you are running anti-warp. Don't overshoot, unless you
are sure that you won't be vulched, if the killing
opportunity is just too good to be true, then maybe it is.
Just as a side note I recently timed how long it takes for
a ship to recover to full power with only 100 energy left
and using items such as anti-warp, x-radar and stealth as
the variables. What I found out is quite interesting. For
the Warbird and Weasel(it's the same), both ships take 13
seconds to return to full after 100 energy without anything
on. It takes 14 seconds to return to full with anti-warp on.
It takes 15 seconds to return to full with x-radar on. It
takes a full 19 seconds to recover from 100 energy with stealth
on. With anti-warp and x-radar on at the same time, I found
out that it takes 15.90 seconds to recover to full energy.
It takes 21 seconds to recover to full with anti-warp + stealth
on. And finally for the insane player, it will interest you
that it takes 24 seconds to reach full energy with anti-warp,
x-radar and stealth on.
Energy management is incredibly important in games, especially
with dealing with dreaded rep-kills. When you attack and want
to kill your opponent so bad that you shoot until you're in
deep red, that's taking your own mortality into risk because
if the opponent uses his rep, he can push you back into his
teammates bombs. Sometimes you have enough time to repel those
out of the way, but most of the time the enemy rep comes as
such of a surprise that you are just not in the mindset to
repel back. Rep-kills frustrate me because they are so easily
preventable! Be patient, if you play smart they will eventually
die at your hands, don't risk being killed yourself, especially
in a tight game.
No one on one! Sometimes when you get caught up in
the game, and you've been trying this guy for the past 10-20
minutes, finally you get your chance, he's almost dead, you
know it, but…you are all alone! Almost nothing pisses me off
than seeing my teammate all alone fighting an opponent when
the rest of us are busting our butts trying to stay together
and playing like a team. This is no good, duel on your own
time, this is a league game. Again, always attacking with
backup is a must 95% of the time in order to be successful.
Doing otherwise is risking the game for your team. Remember,
chasing a loner alone weakens your teammates formation, when
you attack alone you risk your teammates safety. Teammates
are there to help you out, and since teamwork is a two-way
street, you have to do your part to back them up.
As a side note, I'd like to share with you a trick I learned
which is called the point-blank(pb) mine trick. When you rocket
someone and can't seem to finish him off with that last shot,
this trick can come in handy. It was developed in Jackpot
as it helped to give that last little damage to kill a flag
carrier as you rocketed him. It works like this: when you
rocket someone, do your usual gun attack, but once you shoot
him as much as you can before you pass him( if he's slowing
down) and still doesn't die, use your last energy to mine
him point-blank. The best time to point-blank him is when
you just surpassed him with your rocket and just when you
are about to get out of range, mine. This prevents the lucky
shot your target might give off when you mine. It goes without
saying that it would be in your best interest that no other
enemy is around you when this happens. But for the advanced
player, you can mostly calculate whether any random shots
will hit you directly after a pb mine attempt. I can only
speak for myself but this strategy has worked countless times
against unsuspecting pilots. They think that when they slow
down and just let you pass by that they can take whatever
you dish out at them and then.... BAM, you mine! This tactic
takes a lot of balls since it risks your own death in the
process, but in those cases when you just need that little
push to kill the enemy while rocketed, it just might be worth
a shot to try.
Offense
Momentum is everything in a league game. If
you have it, I can guarantee that your team will win in the
end. Momentum decides when you attack or retreat so that's
why it is an incredibly important factor to control. Momentum
can be gathered as easily by simply just hitting one of your
opponents with a bomb after he misses causing him to retreat.
The most important thing in a league game is to constantly
think how you can move forward and push your enemies back.
Seems simple enough, right? The advice is simple but actually
doing it is a very different and difficult matter. The best
way is to practice always thinking about ways to move back
your opponents in scrimmages. The most important step is to
actually change your mentality from defense to offense. Look
at all the top teams in League today like Intrepid and Interloper
, they are very offensively minded squads. Just watch them
in practice or in real games, watch how they constantly force
reps as their opponents retreat . They don't expect to win
it in 20 minutes, but they will slowly and surely weaken their
opponents, taking out their enemies one opponent at a time.
Anybody can play defensive, only the best can play offensive
too.
Turrenting! [sic]
Turreting is often ignored and considered
lame in league games. But under certain circumstances, it
works very well. The most effective strategies of turreting
is using the 2-man turret and the full 4-man turret. The 4-man
turret strategy was used frequently by Black Hole in the early
days of league, unfortunately, after them the strategy was
virtually ignored as a viable strategy in league. But recently
it has come back, the most famous example was the Requiem
vs Betrayal game where Betrayal got an early and solid lead
over Requiem by using the full 4-man turret tactic and eventually
pulled out the upset. First pre-condition for a turret to
be used effectively is first and foremost, getting the other
team to attack you. The best strategy as a pilot is bounce
off objects and turning direction toward the oncoming enemy
and spray them with bombs, if you do this right they will
either be forced to repel or even better, die. A strategy
that should be looked at more closely is turreting after you
have the game well in hand and chasing the last of your opponents.
The Javelin is basically a must in order to gain enough speed
to chase down the loners. Turreting is all about concentrating
your teammates fire to reap maximum damage on your enemies.
If you do it well, your turret will be unstoppable. Now to
counter a turret is very simple, stop chasing and wait until
they get off their turret and start playing "normally".
Mine-Reps (Old School)
This is another strategy that is considered
lame but has been largely successful in some situations and
have given way to some very easy kills in league games. In
most league games, mines are used very infrequently, they
are largely ignored and used only in purely defensive purposes.
By neglecting them you are neglecting a potentially very effective
weapon. Try this next time you are in a league practice, just
lay 2 mines next to each other, somewhere you think that the
enemy might be. Just watch how much they try to avoid it,
by knowing this you can potentially target the enemy by predicting
where he will go in the future, or try luring the enemy closer
to the mines and if an opponent makes the mistake to be between
you and the mines, use one of your repels. In a league game,
it's best to have more than 2 mines stacked, always get a
teammate to see the stack so they can pitch in and just wait
for your opportunity to repel somebody into it. It's good
for a laugh and free kills can go a long way. And the next
time the enemy sees a big mine pile, they will think twice
before attacking you. Unfortunately league has limited mines
to only 1 per person, making mine-repelling a thing of the
past. We can only cross our fingers and hope that they bring
back the old mine settings, since this tactic is so much fun
to attempt!
When You are Down a Pilot
This is when you are in a purely defensive
mode. At this time, you are down a man or two, this is when
playing smart really counts. How do you play smart? Here are
a few things to remember when you are in this situation, retreat
when your opponents have the advantage, when you have
the advantage, attack. Yeah, this will mean that you will
sometimes look like a wuss by running away but it's more important
if you survive to attack at another time. Play smart, be patient,
sometimes you will not get an opportunity for a few minutes,
but keep on analyzing the situation, look for the opening.
Remember, the game is 60 minutes long, use every minute if
that's what it takes between winning and losing. In the end,
it's the result that really counts, not the way you have done
it.
Proper Thor Use
One of the most wasted weapons in league is
the thor. The worst thing you can do to is to waste a thor
by using it like a normal bomb. Have you ever killed anybody
like this on a regular basis? I may have killed 2 people total
in every league practice I've ever been in by just using my
thor like a normal bomb. This bomb is supposed to be used
to attack through a wall, so use it for its purpose.
Save your thor for when you know that your enemy is
very low and surprise him with a thor attack through a wall,
if you are lucky, you will force him to repel or even kill
him. Just like your repels, save your thor for a perfect time
where it will do maximum damage on your opponent.
When You're the Last Man
Standing or running in general
This is a situation when you are either all
alone and your whole team is dead or if you have been led
away from your teammates and you're getting chased down four
vs one. If you are getting chased away from your teammates,
the best thing you can do is just run away. Yeah, you
heard me right, just run, don't shoot, conserve your energy
and your repels, just run until you get back with your teammates.
If you are really in trouble and they are pressuring you too
much and you have to get out, then rocket, it's always better
to rocket than to burn a repel. Saving repels is very important
so you'll be in better shape later in the game. If you are
in deep trouble with hardly any items and you are you being
chased 4 on 1 with an enemy rocketing you, the last ditch
defense is to release your 2 decoys at once hoping to confuse
your opponents. It's worth a try and it's saved my life many
times. Sometimes it confuses your opponent enough to spray
bullets at all decoys therefore deflecting some of the damage
off of you. If you're really good, you'll completely confuse
your opponent into chasing a lone decoy, if that happens,
congratulations, you've managed a clean escape by only using
decoys.
A very important thing to remember when you are being chased
is to never fly in one direction for very long. The key to
surviving in these situations is to keep your opponents guessing,
bounce off of stuff, and once they expect you to bounce off
of something, don't. Try to use the map to your advantage,
use the walls to block enemy bombs and fly through the structures
to avoid clear bombing lines. Always try to keep them guessing,
the more offbalance you make them, the better your chances
of survival.
When you are all alone in the game, then run away, who cares
if they call you a wussy as you flee in terror, at least you're
alive. At this stage of the game you have to turn on anti
if you are to stand a chance against the oncoming hordes.
It's totally pointless if you are about to kill a guy to only
see that he warps away. Always save your energy, only shoot
when you know you will hit your target, every bit of energy
counts, avoid every bullet/bomb you can and you will be in
the best shape possible when you will be forced into a situation
where you have to shoot or die. What I do when I'm down is
usually to target one guy out of the group of chasers, the
best person for this is the person who is running anti-warp.
When I get my energy near 1700, I turn around and shoot a
lob bomb, you are not trying to kill him yet, just for him
to lose a bit of his energy so when he comes in for the kill,
you will have the advantage and not him. A good strategy
is a bomb/mine combo, if they are not dead after the mine,
then mine again, if he is too close, then gun him down. When
an opponent gets close enough, with using a rocket, with the
intent of killing you with the final blow, then it's very
important you do not get into a 1 for 1 bullet exchange gun
match. As much as possible, try to avoid 1 or 2-3 bullets
from the enemy, this will make all the difference and
give you the energy advantage. Another good thing that I use,
is by getting rep reports from my teammates on spec, I will
use that information by targeting those who are most vulnerable,
such as someone who has 0 reps and 0 rockets. Make sure you
have a few rockets in your storage for use. This is the waiting
game, keep on lobbing a bomb here and there into the oncoming
enemy, just picking at their energy, at this time of the game
the other team with their huge advantage tends to get very
sloppy, they tend to overshoot and come in close with low
energy. When an overshooting enemy comes close to you, turn
around and rocket this guy with everything with you have with
your guns wailing. This works beautifully for me, if you are
focused and are keen for more kills and keeping the fight
on. It's important to never give up, who knows what
will happen.
Proper Repel Use
In a league game, you obviously don't want
to die, that's why repels are there for you. So why do people
tend to die all the time with 1 or 2 unused repels? This is
obvious, but it is so very important to use all of your repels
when you are in trouble. Think of this, isn't it better to
live and have 0 repels than to die and have 2 repels? Sometimes
it's a guy thing, you are too much of a man to use your repels,
because if you repel, it's a sign of weakness. Another reason
why people don't use their repels at times of danger is because
they thought they could survive without using one. These days,
you can die even when you use a repel because of either lag
or somebody shoots a bomb a millisecond after you used the
repel, either way, you die. The way I deal with this in real
games is to anticipate when you are in real danger before
it even happens! With all the playing time you all had in
league, you should know now when you are in these types of
situations. People like to wait until the last second right
before death to repel, but this is not the wise action to
do. Even if you have 1700 energy but you are getting surrounded
by the enemy with a very narrow chance of escape, you just
know that your energy will be gone in a matter of seconds…….when
you realize this, repel now, don't wait until you are
down to your last 50 energy to make this decision, because
at this time even when you repel, you are not guaranteed to
survive--a rogue bullet, lag, or voodoo can kill you when
it's down to the wire. Nothing pisses me off more when you
repel and still die, so to avoid it, repel before you
are in actual trouble.
Victory is Yours. Don't
Screw Up.
After a long tough battle, you have to cut
down the other team to just one player, you have the
advantage, don't give it up. The runner generally does not
want to be called a pussy, so he fights back, best thing to
do is get him to run anti, if he's not, keep on warping until
he does. Then either you or a teammate runs stealth to drain
him down, this will help your team to hurt him even before
you start to shoot. If you have a rocket, recharge your energy
until you are full, once you have done this, wait, get in
close, don't shoot, make him concentrate on the rest of your
team, when he either messes up somehow or overshoots, rocket
him. If your aim is good and if you picked the right time
to rocket, this will work great and end the game. If you don't
have a rocket, try to fly as close as you can to him, get
him to target you, make him shoot at you while the rest of
your team is gunning and bombing his ass. Don't shoot as much
as your teammates as you will receive the brunt of his attack,
if he senses a kill from you, wait until he makes his move
towards you, when this happens, immediately start going backwards
behind the rest of your team, at this time he will be lured
and it will be too late to escape your oncoming teammates.
Remember to not get cocky in a situation where you are up
a pilot or two in a tight game, your opponents are still looking
for any openings you can give them and your job is to not
give them one. Anything can happen in a league game, keep
your guard up and bring the win home.
Game Over