Tips for newbies

[MDRIVER]

nope, humans can sprint foward and shoot, it is an annoying thing, they can also run away and shoot behind them

[ChaosSquirrel]

Humans' greatest ability is the sprint. It allows you to hide behind the turrets after a head bite, outrun chasers, and generally be a major pain. Which, in this case, is good.

In addition, Tremulous is *NOT* the standard FPS. No-one cares about cheap tactics. Usually.

[daenyth]

On the subject of "cheap tactics", be careful where you use what. I personally think that, for example, spawn camping is a valid strategy (BEFORE S3); the enemy team shouldn't have built an unprotected spawn. Other people will try to votekick you for spawn camping. It depends who you play with. In any case, spawn camping when you have a chance to end the game by killing the spawn is bad. But often I see aliens make a forward egg they can't defend and then whine when humans farm stage two from it.

[Rocinante]

I tend to agree with you, daenyth.  If aliens put an egg out somewhere unprotected, and a human or two camps it for easy stage-ups, that's one thing.  But when anyone hovers around the only remaining spawn and kills people just "for the lulz" I tend to end the match for them.

[ChaosSquirrel]

Of course, but there are cheap tactics, and then there are cheap tricks. Shooting someone as they spawn is a trick, where as using the maps, camping (in some cases, e.g. Transit) etc. are tactics. Use your head, it really depends on: Would I think it was fair if I were on the other team?

[Le Compilateur]

Yes, I agree as well (to the spawn camping). My 2¢:

Spawn camping is a good strategy in S1 and S2, since it gives you easy kills (disputable; many players hate killwhores) and easy stageups (yup). At S3, however, it loses all its value as a "good strategy" and becomes a "cheap tactic". SD usually happens sometime into S3, and by then, you should be focusing on eliminating the enemy team as a whole rather than killing individual players just for the fragcount (seeing as you already have a sizable amount of kills, unless you were building/are a noob/suck at aiming). BTW I have nothing against noobs, I'm still something of a noob and everybody was a noob at some point.

I also have some advice for new/fairly new players. Use saybinds sparingly, if you value your reputation — on servers that allow vote-muting or if there are admins around, you will get muted for flooding the chat. Saying the same thing over and over again does not increase the chances of someone seeing it, it merely makes them hate you. Also, if you have something you don't want the other team to see or if it only concerns your team, use team chat! I have singlehandedly hunted down every last egg/telenode and builder because the other team broadcasted their plans in public chat.

If there is something you want to say to someone and it does not concern anyone else, PM them. This can be done with /m <name> <message> or /msg <name> <message> (try both; some servers use /m and some servers use /msg).

Oh, and I absolutely despise people who build a ring of turrets around the last egg, since it is frustrating and does not help either team in the slightest.

Sorry about the long post but I had a lot to say.

P.S. Speaking of the "gg" bind... What the hell does "gg" mean? I edited this in after ChaosSquirrel posted about it, since making a low-content post with just this question would be obnoxious.

[ChaosSquirrel]

Saybinds should only be used for informative binds. The "gg" bind is not only pointless, but annoying to see. Saybinds should only be used by experts of etiquette or co-ordination. Not random people. Just type it!

[UniqPhoeniX]

gg=good game

[Le Compilateur]

Thanks. I've seen that after many a game, and always wondered what it meant.

Strange how people spam "gg" after one-sided games that last about three minutes.

[Kaleo]

It's etiquette

[Le Compilateur]

Ummm... How is spamming "gg" after an awful game "etiquette"?

Is it that the losing team might get offended?

[Rocinante]

I think the issue is that it's etiquette after any game to say "good game" to your opponents.  However I think it's obnoxious when the game was less than three minutes long, and the losers lost because of some stupid thing, and the winners are spamming 'gg'.

Then again, I don't play on places where I don't have !mute, so I just use that.  Sometimes after the next map starts as a pre-emptive STFU :>

[Le Compilateur]

Hmm. I like the idea of a preemptive STFU.

[ChaosSquirrel]

The point is, binding "gg" is more work than just typing it. Should have clarified.

[Le Compilateur]

If someone spams "gg" after an awful game, I respond with "nvgg" (not very good game). Then I tell them to STFU and see the match for what it really was.

Another thing I hate: when someone says "gg" in the middle of a game which is clearly far from over.

[ChaosSquirrel]

I've said gg at random times. By accident. I was confused.  It turns out it was just a uncalled/unnoticed base move.

[Le Compilateur]

How could you not notice your base being moved?

[HamStar]

It's kind of hard trying to read "Reactor was deconstructed by base_mover" while battling something like two tyrants who want to eat you for dinner when all you want to do is hug the Overmind with a painsaw in your hand. And yeah, I've found myself saying gg when I've finished off the human base, only to find that some lucky ckit ran off to the other side of the map where he's built a base which only dragoons and lower can get to. *cough* Arachnid2 vent base *cough*

[Le Compilateur]

Ah...yes, I've done that too. I was a human and I had just pwned every single egg in the alien base, only to realize a single granger had planted another egg somewhere else. Meanwhile, I had about 3 HP left and went back to base to heal, only to find it was no longer there!

Hmm, I guess I can see your point.

[ChaosSquirrel]

What HamStar said. It's hard to notice when everyone's talking or trying to kill you.

[daenyth]

Going back to the subject of spawn camping at S3... It does have the benefit of making the enemy team spawn queue less effective. If they have 3 spawns, one of which is camped, then 1/3 of the time they have to go back into the queue again... which on large games can be a tangible benefit. The question however, is whether this benefit it worth the bother and lameness of camping. I personally don't know.

[temple]

Beginner humans:
Learn to run back to turrets.  When starting out, just move away from turrets a little then when under attack, run back.  Building 1 forward turret and using it as a retreat point is a good way to practice light combat with assistance from turrets

Beginner aliens:
Learn to wall walk and navigate.  No matter what other players do, running on the ceiling is always a good way to approach and stalk.  There is no substitute for it and decent humans will cut down ground dretches that aren't played by good players. 

For any player:
Get a pair of headphones and listen.  You can tell what kind of alien or what type of weapon a human has by sound.  You can't hear dretches walking or a human weapon type when they are holding their fire.  You can hear any other alien and tell its class by its footsteps or jump sound.  You can tell what weapon a human is using by its fire sound.  Sound is pretty nifty.

[ChaosSquirrel]

Actually, running back to turrets can kill you, unless you sprint. And even then, you can run out of stamina long before reaching base. However, shooting anything that moves is a good tactic. Unless, of course, they're on your team. In which case, stop shooting and kill what they're running from.

[temple]

Actually, running back to turrets can kill you, unless you sprint. And even then, you can run out of stamina long before reaching base. However, shooting anything that moves is a good tactic. Unless, of course, they're on your team. In which case, stop shooting and kill what they're running from.

Stamina takes a long time to drain.

Running back to turrets won't kill you.  Thanks for being ridiculous.

[+ OPTIMUS +]

easy to say but hard to do: don't turn your back to the enemy while running back. ever.

and when you are facing serious danger that you are not likely to make trough, instead of trying to run away while its obviously impossible, make an offensive maneuver. less likely expected, can harm more than a free kill, and if you are lucky, you can make it alive till your friend get there to help you. or you can even harvest some damage credits.

[ChaosSquirrel]

A good tactic is to always have a buddy. Then, if you die, running back to base probably wouldn't have worked.

Stamina takes a long time to drain.

Running back to turrets won't kill you.  Thanks for being ridiculous.

What if you depleted your stamina already?
Also, running back to turrets can block those precious line-of-fires.

[temple]

easy to say but hard to do: don't turn your back to the enemy while running back. ever.

and when you are facing serious danger that you are not likely to make trough, instead of trying to run away while its obviously impossible, make an offensive maneuver. less likely expected, can harm more than a free kill, and if you are lucky, you can make it alive till your friend get there to help you. or you can even harvest some damage credits.

You can sprint backwards. 

You can survive a lot.  That's why its important for beginners to *PRACTICE* retreating. 


There is no point is bringing up a lot of tactics that beginners won't understand or be able to duplicate on a server.  This isn't the 'look at my e-penis' thread.  Its supposed be for beginners.  Keep it simple.

[ChaosSquirrel]

Woah, I just realised how badly I mangled those quote boxes. Sorry for confusion.

I know. Sprinting backwards has saved me. But I didn't run to base crying for mommy, I killed three dretches and slapped on a med-kit. Turrets track slow, and can be obscured (I saw one noob trying to kill a dretch. He could have sidestepped, and the turret would have killed it.

[temple]

Woah, I just realised how badly I mangled those quote boxes. Sorry for confusion.

I know. Sprinting backwards has saved me. But I didn't run to base crying for mommy, I killed three dretches and slapped on a med-kit. Turrets track slow, and can be obscured (I saw one noob trying to kill a dretch. He could have sidestepped, and the turret would have killed it.

Beginners won't be killing 3 dretches.  This is the tips for beginners thread, right?

[ChaosSquirrel]

And does that mean that more experienced players cannot offer advice? Anyway, I'm not that good. It was an combination of

A. They lined up
B. They came in sequence, instead of one rush
C. I was ticked off

which are three things never to try.