Victimise - we come from alpha to steal your women and rape your cattle

For beginners, dueling is a matter of aim and timing. For pros, dueling is a matter of intimidation, confidence, and patience. You need to have the first before you can gain the second.
The basis of dueling is energy management. You want to have more energy than your opponent at all times. The lower energy you both have, the more important this becomes. If you have less you would normally take defensive tactics that conserve energy. This includes single fire gunning, running, and skimming bombs. If you have more you would normally take offensive tactics such as gunning, gun rushes, and offensive positioning. Something most people don't realize is that dueling is not a matter of who hits whom more often. It's all about who has more energy. You shooting at me with two bombs and missing twice is the same as if I shot you with a bomb myself. You hitting me with ten bombs in a row doesn't do any good if those bombs are so spread out that I charge faster than you hit me.

An equally important factor is mentality. If you think you are going to lose, you probably will. Intimidated opponents shoot less and are less likely to exploit mistakes. There are times when I've dueled opponents in the past where I had less energy than they did almost the whole time yet they were the ones running. If you have your opponent thinking only of his own survival you can keep shooting without regard to energy usage and do so in aggressive postures. This is the strongest type attack possible, usually gets the kill, and is purely based on mentality. Overconfidence is also bad however. Overconfidence leads you to take more vulnerable attack positions, to use energy more quickly than is wise, and to concentrate less. Overconfident opponents are especially susceptible to turning and gunning. When you duel, the best possible mentality is to neither expect to win nor lose. Simply concentrate on the situation. If you have to think one way or the other though, it's better to think you are going to win.

General Dueling Tactics:

Intimidation Tactics

Don't run. Dodge. This will give you the appearance of fearlessness.

Skim bombs whenever possible to give the appearance of invulnerablitiy.

Stay close to your opponent. If they start backing up, follow even closer. If they charge in smack them and stay close again.

Never let up. Keep firing single guns to keep your opponent off balance while they try to charge. Anticipate your opponent's moves and move there before them.

Anger your opponent. An angry, frusterated opponent has worse concentration and is more likely to take bad risks.

Advanced Tactics

Shoot where your opponent will dodge to, not where they will be if they kept the same velocity. You'll find with experience that people have a tendency to do the same types of dodges in the same general situation.

Likewise, do not be predictable in your dodging! Do the unexpected and you'll have the best opportunity to fully dodge and get a firing opportunity in.

Beginners generally dodge in one direction. Advanced duelers generally dodge in that direction, then immediately reverse (feint). With beginners, shoot normally. With advanced duelers, wait till they do the reverse for the feint before shooting. You'll hit 70% of the time if you learn this simple trick.

Remember the psychology aspect of the game. Don't fire bombs to keep your opponent away; fire bombs to kill your opponent. If you find yourself getting nervous and defensive, your opponent is probably also overconfident. Use this to your advantage.

Try to avoid flying past your opponent when you throw bombs. You'll be more likely to succeed in this and 'stick' to them if you fire bombs from a closer range and a closer velocity. The key to pulling this off is getting your opponent to be defensive and so more predictable.

If you are using a spider of a shark, hit cloak when you are both near 0 velocity and are going for the charge. You opponent will have to take 1/4 a second to hit X-Radar, during which time he/she will not be shooting. This is the same as a free firing opportunity for you and a lost one for him.

Beating runners and cowards

Let them come to you! Act hurt or otherwise occupied. When they charge in you get the chance for a good series of hits, and might be able to finish them if you are quick enough when they turn to run.

Don't chase them just because they run. If they don't come back to vulch stay in the general area and wait for them to make a mistake.

Turn and gun tactics is 90% of what you have to worry about. Keep an eye open for this.

Match their velocity, but not their path. They'll usually waste several mines while you do this.

The best way to beat pure runners is by surprise. If you lose the element of surprise, get two or three friends to help you. If you manage to lead them into a closed area you have a good chance of getting the kill also.

Purposely make 'mistakes' such as the lure tactic.

Use multifire at long ranges. Throwing bombs wastes too much energy. Singlefire is too easy to dodge. Mutlifire however, improves spread with range and can bounce off surroundings.

Beating agressive players and shaking pursuit

Run down narrow corridors laying mines.

Wait for a rush, and hit them hard. Act like you are going to run again, and when they take the bait kill them.

If you plan to fight, don't back up. Keep confident, if you start backing up you lose the ability to accelerate to dodge while you opponent has double the ability to do this. Your bombs are also very easy to dodge this way.

Killing Negkillers

Mine the safe zones. If know their general area maintain the element of surprise by mining first and attacking second.

Get a spectator to help you find them.

Be patient. Don't try for all out attacks. This is what they are waiting for. Think to yourself of it as any other duel and act accordingly.

Negkillers love to run. A leviathan is best for chasing runners.

Negkillers love to turn and gun. A weasel is best against this tactic.

As with any runner get friends if you can. Even the worst negkillers are hard to kill when they run after every hit.

Keep antiwarp on. This prevents regular warping and stops portals as well.

Killing Negs

he best method is with bombs at medium range. Maintain range, while accelerating your bombs to hit and deaccelerating to not overshoot. You don't have to worry much about gunrushes to counter this.

Some negs or runners go towards the nearest safe zone or doorway. Anticipate this before they turn that way and fire AT the doorway or safe zone. As often as not they wind up kiling themselves going in anyway.

If negs run into asteroid fields, maintain close range but don't fire unless you get a sure hit. The easiest way to lose the neg is to overshoot and bounce off a rock.

Use a leviathan, spider, or shark for best results.

Offensive Dueling Tactics:

3 Bomb/Bullet:

Speed: Slow

Vulnerability: High

Difficulty: Extremely High

Damage: 1800

Range: Variable, usually medium

Technique: Accelerate in a straight line from 1/2 maximum speed or less while firing bullets. After the third bullet shoot a bomb.

Counter: Fire single bomb and dodge then gun rush

This is a difficult to achieve type of fire that if successfully executed will result in 1800 damage, thus killing anybody instantly. This tactic takes superb aim and usually requires the element of surprise. Best done with the Warbird.

Doubled up Bullets:

Speed: Medium

Vulnerability: Medium

Difficulty: High

Damage: 600-1000

Range: Medium

Technique: Accelerate in a straight line shooting two or more bullets possibly until maximum velocity is reached.

Counter: Fire single bomb and dodge

Since the later bullets will have a higher velocity than those before they will eventually catch up. Because of this, the normal delay between bullet hits is negated and your opponent loses that second or so of recharge. For three bullets, if you can maneuver to the perfect range and hold your opponent for the second it takes this can do up to 1000 damage with only 200 overall energy cost. This can also be done with two bullets for a faster but less effective attack.

Doubled up Bombs:

Speed: Very Slow

Vulnerability: Very High

Difficulty: Medium to High

Damage: 400-2400

Range: Long to Extremely Long

Technique: Accelerate in a straight line shooting two or more bombs until maximum velocity is reached.

Counter: Dodge and gun rush

This is a common tactic in bases to get quick kills. It is easy to do as a random vulch as well although harder as a killing maneuver. Done perfectly, you will time all three bombs to reach the same area at the same time, which also happens to be where your opponent is located at the time. This is not usually done in dogfights except possibly as the opening fire. This is more effective with the Leviathan.

Non-linear Doubled up Bombs:

Speed: Very Slow

Vulnerability: High

Difficulty: Extremely High

Damage: 400-2400

Range: Extremely Long

Technique: Pick a spot from 1 to 45 degrees off your velocity vector to fire at. Shoot your bombs at this spot while modifying thrust if necessary to keep within firing range and ensure your bombs will hit this spot at the same time. Correctly done, your first bomb will be slower because of the arc of the fire but still slightly faster than your ship. Your second bomb should be slightly faster than your first bomb, and your arc should be less. The velocity vector of your last bomb should be very close to that of your ship and should be fastest of all. All bombs should overlap at the same spot at the same time at the spot you chose to fire at..
Counter: Dodge the bombs and try for a direct hit bomb yourself

This leaves you much less vulnerable than the standard method of doubling up bombs because you fly in a parabola. However, it is one of the hardest techniques in the game. It also requires your target be far away, near the edge of the large radar.

Turn and gun:

Speed: Very Fast

Vulnerability: Medium

Difficulty: Easy

Damage: 400-1500

Range: Extremely Close

Technique: When an opponent is following too closely while you are running, you quickly turn to face them and gun while accelerating through them.

Counter: Keep your concentration and bomb when your opponent attempts this. Afterwards gun rush if your opponent doesn't start running fast enough.

This is the favorite tactic of runners and negkillers. This takes so little time that you can usually get free hits. Done at longer range it will do more damage while making you more vulnerable. Done at closer range you will be less vulnerable but do less damage. Best done with the Warbird.

Gun Rush:

Speed: Medium-Fast

Vulnerability: Medium to high

Difficulty: High

Damage: 400-2000

Range: Close

Technique: Face your opponent and charge through them while firing guns. Doesn't work if your relative angular velocity is too high when initiated.

Counter: Quick positioning dodge, then counter rush

This move can kill if done correctly, but is unlikely to succeed. Works best against slow opponents or if you have much more energy than your opponent. The closer you are when you do this the better, and the better you manage to double up your bullets the more damage you will do. Done from medium range will certainly result in getting hit by a direct hit bomb. Done from long range will not only get you hit by a direct hit bomb but will also enable your opponent to counter rush and probably kill you. The most important secret is the lower your relative angular velocity the easier it will be to hit your opponent.

Single Bullet/Dodge:

Speed: Very Fast

Vulnerability: Very Low

Difficulty: Low

Damage: 200-300

Range: Medium

Technique: Fire a bullet to directly hit your opponent (usually with a small bit of acceleration first) and IMMEDIATELY dodge.
Counter: Gun rush at opponent's anticipated location.

This takes little energy and usually suffices to keep your opponent off balance long enough for you to charge. Can also be done to hold off aggressive opponents, or to make your opponent make a mistake.

Fencing: (Warbird only)

Speed: Fast

Vulnerability: Medium

Difficulty: Very High

Damage: 300-1400

Range: Close to very close

Technique: Stay at close range to your opponent firing doubled up bullets while dodging them yourself.

Counter: Fencing

This is the art of gunning/dodging at extremely close range. Only a Warbird can manage this. This is the perfect situation to take advantage of mistakes. Your opponent is too close to run without risk and too far to bomb or mine. This is the best way for the Warbird to kill non-Warbird ships.

Direct Hit Bombing:

Speed: Variable

Vulnerability: Usually High

Difficulty: Very Easy (if your opponent makes a mistake)

Damage: 800

Range: Medium

Technique: Fire a bomb when your opponent makes a mistake

Counter: Not making mistakes in the first place

This tactics usually involves your opponent making a mistake, such as charging of some sort as happens with gun rushes, or inattentiveness.

Bullet positioning with bombing:

Speed: Medium

Vulnerability: Medium

Difficulty: Extremely High

Damage: 400-500

Range: Medium

Technique: Fire one or two bullets with perfect accuracy. Immediately fire a bomb where your opponent would have to be if he/she turned to dodge the bullets.

Counter: Wait for charge then gun rush

This only works when your opponent is very low on energy (300 or less) and running at full speed. It is also inefficient and at best costs 1:1. If done right several times in a row you can get the kill even against an opponent openly running.

Lure: (Warbird Only)

Speed: Fast

Vulnerability: High

Difficulty: High

Damage: 1400 or more, usually death

Range: Close

Technique: Close Range/Skim a bomb and then fully turn around and run. Your opponent will chase you firing guns 90% of the time. Keep at close range, dodge the first one or two bullets, then either turn and gun or do a reverse fire.
Counter: Don't fall for it

This works best against aggressive gunners, especially negkillers. Since you have the element of surprise AND the positioning advantage at that point you'll win the gun fight. If your opponent does not react fast enough or is overly aggressive he/she will be dead before he/she knows what's happening.

Defensive Dueling Tactics

Reverse fire:

Vulnerability: Low

Difficulty: Medium

Damage: 1000 or more, usually death

Range: Close

Technique: When an opponent gun rushes you, reverse and turn so the back of your ship faces away from the opponent's movement vector while keeping your nose pointed at them and firing bullets.

Counter: Jerk to the side, then continue firing straight in or use a bomb.

With this move, for the first second or so, while your opponent's angular velocity is matching yours, your opponent will be shooting where you WERE while you will be shooting where your opponent IS. Because of this, and the element of surprise, you can get anywhere from three to all of the bullets into your opponent before you get hit yourself. This ONLY works at close range however. Done at very close range, you will only get two or three bullets in and your opponent will rush past you. Done at too far range and you will wind up moving parallel TOWARDS the opponent's initial bullets and be worse off than if you had done nothing.

Skimming: (Warbird Only - Positioning tactic)

Vulnerability: Low

Difficulty: High

Damage: One to one energy loss - Position advantage

Range: Medium

Technique: Dodge bombs at the extreme edges of the explosion maintaining a close/medium range to your opponent.

Counter: Don't be too trigger happy

With this move your opponent will spend as much energy shooting and you take in damage. Neither player will gain energy advantage, but the skimmer gains positional advantage. The player firing bombs can easily make a mistake (close range bombs or susceptibility to gun rushes) which the skimmer will be always ready to take advantage of.

Ducking:

Vulnerability: Medium

Difficulty: Medium

Damage: 600-1200

Range: Close/Medium

Technique: When you are not moving and somebody is trying to gun rush you from the side, thrust forward long enough to make your opponent turn to adjust. Immediately reverse thrust before the first shots hit you (ducking the bullets). If timed right, as you drop down your opponent will fly past you, with your nose right under their ship. Forward thrust and fire into them, doubling up bullets if possible.

Counter: Reverse fire when your opponent tries to shoot at you after the duck.

This move is most effective with the warbird since it relies on the quickness of the thrust. It highly depends on the aggressivness of your opponent so is best done when the rate of closure between your ships is high and your opponent is not trying to dodge.

Inside Slip:

Vulnerability: Low

Difficulty: Medium but opportunities are rare

Damage: Death

Range: Medium

Technique: This depends mainly on seeing the opportunity and taking advantage of it as it is hard to setup. The following conditions must exist: You are moving at medium speed, your opponent is moving at full speed in the same direction as you but with distance still decreasing, the minimum distance your opponents position will be is medium, and your opponent shoots a bomb at or behind. When these conditions exist, rather than back up behind the bomb or back away accelerate forward past the bomb (and match your opponent's velocity). Once you hit full speed do a gun rush at your opponent. He will only be able to slow down or maintain velocity and will be unable to immediately shoot guns. Even if your opponent does shoot guns he will be behind you in energy by the cost of a missed bomb. Either way, your opponent will be easy to hit and will most likely lose a direct gun battle. This technique results 75% of the time in a kill.

Counter: Back up as soon as your opponent slips the bomb.

This technique does two things at once: Dodges a bomb and sets up for a perfect gun rush. This sometimes happens in duels when your opponent tries to attack but is too nervous to close the distance. It also sometimes occurs near walls when your opponent who you are chasing will alternately slow down then speed up along the wall.

Close Range Bombs:

Vulnerability: Medium

Difficulty: Medium

Damage: Energy Advantage

Range: Close

Technique: Manipulate your opponent into firing bombs at close range

Counter: Don't be too trigger happy

Most people don't realize that if you shoot a bomb and your own ship registers damage AT ALL the total energy loss for yourself is greater than that of your opponent. Not only does your opponent lose that much less energy, but you lose that much more. This rarely happens at such a range as to cause instant death for the player firing, but it happens quite often close enough to gain an energy advantage for the player dodging.

Feint:

Vulnerability: Low

Difficulty: Low

Damage: Enemy loses energy by cost of a bomb

Range: Medium

Technique: When both you and your opponent are at near zero velocity facing each other, rather than firing a bomb as anticipated turn to a 90 degree angle and thrust in an anticipatory dodge.

Counter: Delayed Gun Rush

Your hopefully opponent will fire a bomb straight at you (as in counter to a gun rush or as the only possible move at that range) and miss. This situation happens most often after you charge past each other and both turn to face each other.

Weaving:

Vulnerability: Low

Difficulty: High

Damage: Usually none

Range: Medium

Technique: When chasing or closing in on an opponent rather than rushing at them head on weave the nose of your ship back and forth between 45 clockwise and counterclockwise relative to your opponent.. Every time your nose passes them fire a bullet..

Counter: Dodge the Bullets; No counter to defensive part

This is a defensive maneuver that gives you inherent dodging ability making it much harder for your opponent to guess where to shoot and providing automatic bomb skimming..

Preemptive bombing:

Vulnerability: Low

Difficulty: Easy

Damage: 500-600

Range: Medium

Technique: Shoot a bomb as soon as you guess your opponent will advance an attack. Shoot the bomb before the opponent starts to move and he'll charge into it.

Counter: Feint

This works best against agressive opponents. A miss results in the loss of energy cost of one bomb

Sir Xazm's Warzone League Guide

Foreword

There’s a lot of basic information in this guide. There’s also a lot of advanced and sneaky information too. A lot of the information is Warzone League specific, while a lot of it can also be carried over and used in regular Warzone. Hopefully if you bother to read it you will learn something new about wzl and wz in general.

Differences from Warzone

The number of flags that teams have actually matters in wzl. Starting at 20 minutes into the game, and every 10 minutes after that, teams get 1 point for every flag they have (dropped or not). Games last 90 minutes max. At the end of 90 minutes, if there was no winner, each team keeps their accrued points. If a team wins, that team gets 64 points, and all the other teams keep their accrued points.

A lot of strategy is going to be based on the number of flags a team has. Teams that find 5+ flags at start of games might keep 10 d for the whole 90 minutes; teams that have no flags near the 10 minute marks will be 10 manning the base with most flags; etc. Just keep in mind that having flags matters, and the 10-minute marks are important.

Start of Game

At the start of the game you need to do four things immediately:

1) Pick up any flags you can. If you see a flag, pick it up, duh.

2) Green like mad. The faster you green, the faster your team can find flags and the better chance they will have of keeping them.

3) Get a good base. Decide what base or bases you want before the game starts. At the start of the game you need one pilot to start flying to each of them. If you find yourself close, start hauling ass and tell the team which one you are getting, so everyone else can focus on greening and getting flags.

4) Attack reds. Only do this if you do not have a flag, someone’s already said they are getting a base, you have enough green to make for real ships, and the red is alone or semi alone. You must avoid having half the team chasing a red that you have little or no chance of killing when you don’t have the first 3 items covered.

One of the best ships for doing all those things is a Jav. Javs have almost as much speed with 0 bounty as other ships have with full bounty. With the Jav’s speed you can cover more map area and have a better chance of finding flags, you can get from one green to the next faster, if you get flags you have a better chance of keeping them, you can fly to a base faster, and if you do chase a red, you have a much better chance of getting him. After the initial flag/base grab is done, you can recycle into a wider variety of ships as base allows.

Defense

There are basically three types of defense in warzone: heavy d, medium d, and light d. Knowing how and when to use which type of defense is very important.

Heavy Defense is generally around 7-10 pilots actively helping defend. You will want to use heavy d in situations such as: if your team is being attacked a lot or if your team has reason to believe a big attack is incoming. If your base is getting attacked over and over by various groups of attackers, get heavy d set up asap. If you have most flags, think you might have been portaled, have most points, see a cloaker from a team that has no flags near your base, or have any other reason to expect a big attack, get heavy d set up asap. Also remember that a lot of d is nothing but perception. If your base is being harassed by a lot of small attacks or solo cloakers, simply having a large show of force on d for a few minutes can discourage those attackers enough to leave your base and attack the other sometimes.

Medium d is 4-6 pilots actively helping defend. If you are not having big problems with attacks at base, but don’t want to risk a blitzkrieg attack by an enemy, medium d is often the best choice. Medium d usually gives your base enough time to call for reinforcements and it also gives your o more players so they will have more options than suicide flag grab attempts.

Light d is 1-3 pilots at base. This is obviously the most risky defensive setup a team can have, but it gives the huge advantage of a large offensive force. Light d should keep up mines and maybe a bomb line to discourage solo attackers, but their primary job will be to rep large attacks and call for help asap when large attacks come. If you go light d, make sure your d pilots all have reps, with 1-2 of them staying close to door of base to rep the huge attacks. Sometimes it might be worth the risk to drop all the way down to 1 d. Only do this if base is 100% clear and base is in an out of the way location, so enemy wont spawn right next to or fly real easily to your base. If your team is crazy enough to go down to a single person on d, the only thing he can do is call early as possible and cross his fingers if an attack comes.

Always remember that you only need 1 person to make offensive calls. If you aren’t specifically needed on offense and you do not need any greens, go to base and reinforce it until o calls.

When in base, keep mines fresh and spread out, and keep bomb lines going (if base has any good ones). Be careful where you mine and bomb line; don't do either on any common fall back spots or you'll end up tking everyone. Mines and bomb lines won't stop a 10 man attack, but they are a sure fire way of keeping the attack callers from getting in very deep before they have to call or die. Mines are also the best way to stop laggers/tankers. Laggers might not see your bullets/bombs for up to a second after you shoot them, but they are almost guaranteed to see mines exactly where they were placed. Keep mines fresh!

The biggest thing d will have to worry about is enemy attack callers. They will almost always have reps and use them to get in as deep as they can before they call. Never let an enemy get between you and the flags. If you do, they will rep you and call for help, and everyone that comes to help will also rep until they get in as deep and as fast as they can get. Always be mindful of where you will go if an enemy on your screen should rep at any instant; good attack callers will always know where you're going to go when they rep you, and use it against you when you let them.

Good offensive pilots will also try to lure you out of base. It is almost always a bad idea to leave base to duel or dog fight. Always remember that flags are your top priority, and the best defense is when you are between the enemy and your flags. If you leave base and are successful at chasing off 2 vulchers, 3 other attack callers could just walk in right behind you and screw base. A lot of vets still don’t realize that some vulchers actually help the base they are vulching, by killing pilots on the third team that get near. The only good time to go outside and engage the enemy is if someone outside poses more of a threat than someone at our front door, such as if someone outside is actively killing defenders that are inside base. If a vulcher or wall bomber has your base by the short and curlies and is actively killing your defenders, someone will need to go deal with him.

One of the most critical moments of wzl games will be when offence calls attacks. Defenders need to accurately gauge just how many pilots d can spare for an attack at any given time. If you have heavy d and there’s even 1 person on radar, be very cautions about leaving base for enemy. Good attack callers are going to be waiting for the exact second 4+ people warp out of a base to call an attack. It is very helpful to know which teams have players near your base, and how many flags those teams have. If you see a cloaker from a team that has no flags, you should know that they will call a 10 man attack if they see a lot of your defense leave base.

After a major attack at base, no one should leave base until it's 100% clear no matter what. A lot of vets still consider base clear when most of the enemy are dead. This can be a huge tactical error. Base should only be considered clear when 1) all the enemy are pushed out the front door 2) mines are refreshed and bomb lines are taken up and 3) when enough perma d are in place to defend properly. When that's done, o can get back to work and people in need of green can start greening.

You must have antiwarp on at all times. To ensure this is the case, you need anyone that is running antiwarp to 1) tell the team they have aw on and 2) tell the team when they turn it off for any reason including death. If you say you have aw on at base, no one else is going to bother to do it unless you tell the team you turned it off. Make very certain you tell the team when you do turn anti off.

You must have x at base. 99% of the time this isn't an issue as most teams usually have x and most players usually toggle it constantly. If greens dick you over and you end up with no x on anyone, regreening x becomes top priority. You will need 2-4 ships to immediately ship change and regreen (if base isn't already in deep shit). You aren't going to want to do what happens in warzone games where everyone ignores the fact that team has no x as if it's no big deal.

Reps are a must have for d. Most teams will regreen for reps when they attack, but most teams don't ever bother to keep reps fresh on d, which puts them at a huge disadvantage when a big attack comes repping in. A team with full reps on d can easily hold off an attack long enough for the win by simply using the reps alone. Reps are also a must if you are front line defense and see a turret come up; just rep them away, back up, call for help. Or if you see someone with shields come running up to base; you almost always want to rep shielded players, depending on how fresh the shields are and how greened they are atm (ignore this if shields are still removed from wzl). If you have no reps, recycle as base allows and green them up. If you are perma d, you need to make extra certain you keep your reps fresh as much as possible.

All bricks should go to base. A good 95% of the times bricks are used on offence, the team only gets a small advantage. However, bricks used at home are 99% guaranteed to save a base when the shit hits the fan. If you green a brick, consider yourself on perma d till you use/lose it.

One of the most under-used defensive strategies is portaling in your own base. If you have a portal and the enemy doesn’t have your base antied, you can lay a portal, bullet rush right up to the enemy’s face, and warp back to safety. You can usually kill 1-2 enemy off with little to no risk if you do this right.

Defenders should constantly keep offence and greeners updated on base status. Aside from the common 'safe at base', 'yellow alert at base', and 'red alert at base' updates, you need to get in the habit of relaying just what exactly is happening at base. ‘3 attackers 6 defense’ (or simply 3/6) is more specific than 'yellow alert'. ‘Base is 100% clear, nothing on radar’ is a lot more accurate than 'safe at base'. It is also very helpful to relay how many people are dying on d. If you tell the team ‘four defenders just died at base’, offence will know you need time to green before calling an attack. The more accurate picture you can paint for offence and greeners, the better chance you have of sneaking in attack calls or getting help at d before things get out of hand.

Flanking base is a lot more delicate tactic than most people think. Calling a flank at your own base can completely destroy an enemy attack, but it can also be the sole reason base falls. The surest and safest defense a base can have is a fortified front where everyone on the team is together, between the flags and the enemy. Flanks can only help a base if there's already enough d in place to halt the enemy advancement. If you fly to base and notice there's several more attackers than defenders, do not call for help on the flank; center d needs as many reinforcements as they can get as quick as they can get them. If base is calling for a flank and you are near, fly there and call flank if it looks like a good call. The team only wants 1 pilot to fly in to call a flank; everyone else out of base needs to be greening like mad. So if you see someone ahead of you flying to base, or someone’s already calling for a flank, back off and green or attach to base/flank. Having several pilots fly to base when the shit is hitting the fan is a huge tactical error.

When base calls for help break off everything and get to base asap. Base should always come first. There may be exceptions to this, but every one of them carries a huge risk to your base’s flags.

Offence

There are several offensive strategies that can be used to great effect. They include: 1 person calling attacks, a few players working together to call an attack, specific designated attackers, etc. You will need to know your team’s and your players’ strengths and weaknesses when deciding which one is best for your team.

Having a single attack caller has both advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages include allowing heavy d and having the whole team tick 1 player by default the whole game. Many attacks can be called just as well with 1 player as with 5 players, so there’s no point in lowering your d till you have to. There are also disadvantages to having a single attack caller. When attack caller is dead, no one’s in place to call easy attacks if the opportunity arises. Some bases and defenses also require more than a single pilot to crack.

Having several players on offense also has advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is that offense can work together coordinating reps with attack calls, stealing and setting up critical vulch holes before attack calls, luring some enemy defense out of base, etc. The obvious disadvantage is the more dedicated o you have, the less dedicated d you will have.

When you are using light d or have no flags (and no team is winning atm), you have a lot more freedom to coordinate huge attacks. You will want to be ten man attacking (or close to it) in these situations. Avoid suicide rushing or doing small 1-2 man attacks when you have a lot of people free to attack.

When you have the luxury of a big attack force, keep these things in mind:

1) Attack together, die together, green together. Repeat till you get flags. Recycle and regreen if you need reps. Ten man greening only takes about 60 seconds till you are ready to attack. You don’t need and actually don’t want 100 bounty when you ten man attack. It’s much better to attack as soon as a ship is greened than to keep greening up to 100. The first pilots to die will be greening like mad and the pilots that are still attacking might get replacement reps, full charges, and other toys while they are still deep in enemy.

2) Keep in mind that wzl points are given out at the 10-minute marks. If you are pounding a base over and over, you’ll want to make sure you are fully greened hopefully with two reps each and 100% ready to hit that base hard near the 8m-8m30s mark. You can message the bot with !status at any time to see where exactly it’s clock is at.

3) Generally you will only need one levi at most to pound the walls. In some bases, outside wall bombing will be pointless. And in a few bases you may want 2+ levis wall bombing. General rule of thumb should be to have one levi wall bombing, wall mining, wall bomb floating.

4) Some bases have strategic vulch holes. You’ll want to get someone on those using a lanc or levi or maybe a weasel.

5) Wall bombing and using vulch holes will help weaken a defense, but what’s going to take or lose a base is the main attack force. Aside from the wall bomber and vulch hole bombers, everyone else needs to be together in a fortified front and pushing in. The push in is the most important part of the attack, so you need as many as you can get for it. If you have 2 wall miners, 2 vulchers, 1 wall bomber, and 1 guy off dueling/dog fighting, there is no way you will ever be able to push into a base.

6) We may want an anchor at enemy, especially if you are getting close to the flags and the battle has become a contest of who can green and attach faster. But if you choose to be an anchor, keep in mind that the main attack force that’s pushing forward is what’s going to take a base. The more pilots you have that are holding back and trying to stay safe, the less pilots you have that are pushing in and getting to those flags.

There are several things you need to keep in mind when choosing who to attack. The two biggest factors to keep in mind are which team has the most flags and which team is stronger. Some things to keep in mind:

1) If your team ends up with the most flags, any team with out flags will most likely focus on you, giving you a lot less freedom to attack.

2) If you attack the stronger of two enemies, you risk them (a strong team) 10 manning you right after.

3) If you attack the weaker of two enemies, you risk the remaining stronger team flanking you for a win. Even if that does not happen, you will be flanking a weak team attacking a strong team for last flags, which might not help you much at all. And that’s only if the weak team doesn’t decide to focus on you in the first place.

4) Always keep in mind how many flags your team has, how many flags each of the other teams have, how strong both of the other teams are compared to each other and to your team, what the other teams will do if you take either team’s flags (will either team most likely attack you or focus on the third team?), and then use this information to decide who to attack.

One of the key strategies and most critical times of a game in wzl is flanking an enemy just after they finish attacking another base. Expect to get flanked just after you finish attacking a base and reach the flags, and plan to flank enemies as they also finish an attack and just reach the flags. You need to change our strategy depending on who has flags atm.

When flags are split 3 ways:

When you are the flankers, you need to time your flank very carefully. You must attack them at the moment their combined forces are at their weakest. When you are the ones that are about to get flanked at an attack, you need to keep an eye on your backs. If the 3rd team isn’t behind you, then you can go balls out and get the flags. If there’s even 1 pilot behind you, you must watch your back as you work in. Mining enemy base as you push in can slow down a flank. Having even one pilot watching your backs, preferably with reps, holding off a flank as long as possible, can mean the difference between keeping the flags you just won and losing them. Always stay aware of anyone behind you when you are attacking. In either situation, the one thing you want to avoid at all costs is a big fight with team A while you are trying to take team B’s flags.

When flags are split 2 ways:

Flanking when flags are split only two ways will changes things a bit. If you are the team with no flags, your top priority will be to stop any chance of a flank. If you take a base and are so weak that the third team can walk right in and take your flags, they will win the game. If flags are split two ways and you have no flags and you are attacking a base, kill anyone on the third team that comes up behind you on sight. If you are one of the two teams with flags, you must be ready to flank asap if the other team with flags gets attacked. Soon as the team with no flags commits to attacking the other team with flags, you will want be flanking them and hopefully winning the game.

When flags are split 1 way and you aren’t the ones winning:

If one team has all 8 flags, the first team to show up to their base and call an attack must be allowed to get in as far as they can with out interference from a flank. If another team beats you to the winning base, let that team attack as best as they can and do as much damage to the winning team as they can. If the team before you is not making any progress for whatever reason when timer starts getting down to 30-40 seconds, that’s when you will want to go in regardless. If you are the first team at enemy, go in fast and hard. If it’s obvious you can’t stop the team from winning for whatever reason, you need to do as much damage to them as you possibly can and let the second team come in behind after your team is dead. Your only hope in this situation is that the second team can reset the flag timer (even if they take the base and get all 8), so you can have enough time to regreen and try again. Always remember your top priority is getting the flags; avoid getting caught up in a flank fest with the other losing team at all costs.

Communication is key in offense. Attack callers should have a full set of attack macros and use them, including: ‘How Is Base? I need a status update!’, ‘TICK ME NOW’, and ‘ENEMY IS HERE %coord’. Base should be feeding attackers and greeners info on how clear it is, ranging from 'all hell is breaking loose' to 'base is 100% clear'. If base hasn't updated in a while, attacker needs to ask how base is before calling an attack. Also, attacker should be aware of how many pilots are greened or not. If base is saying it’s clear, but you know you just lost five pilots on d, you won’t get much if any help if you call an attack. Attackers should be ticked by default, but using a 'tick me now' macro even 5 seconds before a call will get faster attaches on call. Attack caller might need help loosening up defense at an enemy base with things such as repping bomb lines and mines, luring defenders out of base, levi wall bombing, etc. If attack caller needs help, he should ask someone in priv msg. Don't msg freq asking for someone to help rep as you might pull 4 bored defenders away from base prematurely. If attack caller asks for your help, do what he wants you to (exception being you can't leave base atm).

While greening semi near an enemy base, anyone might notice a good target of opportunity. If you are greening near an enemy base and notice all their d just died or left or lagged out or whatever and you think it's a perfect opportunity to call an emergency attack, go ahead and call it. But do it the same as your regular offence players: make sure base is okay or semi okay atm (use a How Is Base?! macro if need be), use a TICK ME NOW macro (don't expect much help or any quick help if you don't let team know what you're planning), and make sure offence is not currently calling attack at a different base (accidentally attacking 2 bases at the same time will get you laughed out of league).

When attacking always keep focused on the flags. Don’t get suckered into dueling a single defender or get obsessed with getting a few easy and slow kills on some non-critical vulch hole. Always remember flags are top priority. If you are killing 1 defender in the time it takes 2 of them to green up and get back to base, chances are you’re wasting your time.

When you have several people attacking an enemy base, someone should keep antiwarp on at all times. Defensive portals are the same as getting a free kill with little to no risk; keep them antied to prevent this. Anti will also prevent them from portaling the base and warping out, only to bring a turret right back 20 seconds after you take the base.

Turret attacks can often get many pilots in close to the enemy before they realize they are under heavy attack. A lot of attack callers however do not understand that turret attacks are surprise attacks. The moment the first defender sees you, he will be calling for major help at base. If you can’t get the turret up to the front door or past it before you are seen, you might as well just call a regular attack. Also keep in mind that spec coaching is allowed. The second someone in spec sees you are making a turret, chances are the team you are near knows about it. You can still use turrets, but they have to be damn fast from the moment of the first attach till you enter enemy base. The same goes for portal attacks. If you set a portal and tell the team to get on you and then wait 30s before you warp, you will insta-die because their team will have known you were coming. If you lay a portal and get out, spam your ‘tick me now!’ macro, then 5-10 seconds before you plan to warp, spam ‘turret me now!’.

Greening

The key to winning is greening. Green fast and green hard. Always try to out-green the enemy. Fast greening can make the difference between winning and losing bases when things heat up.

Where you green is as important as how fast you green.

If there are greens near base, you can stay near base and green; the first hand knowledge of how base is faring can be invaluable.

If there are greens near an enemy base, you can green there and keep an eye on how strong their defense is. You can find targets of opportunity if you're greening near enemy bases, but don't get suckered into dueling or vulching their defenders. When greening near an enemy, you don't want to get to close unless you are going to call an attack. The closer you get to their front door, the more likely they are to keep heavy d and call for help. If you see they have strong d, back to the edge of radar and continue to green outside of antiwarp radius, ready to help base if it calls, ready to move in fast and call an attack if all their d leaves or dies.

Don’t go to d or o if you aren't greened enough. Lots of old school vets still go to base with completely worthless ships. You aren't greened till you have a weapon that will be effective, usually yellow or blue bouncy bullets or specialty prox bombs, and until you have enough recharge to use your weapons. If you attach to someone with 30 bounty but with non-bouncy red bullets with no prox bombs and 34% recharge, you're probably a dumbass.

If you need to green x or reps or anything and you already have 100 bounty, recycle and green. Don’t keep greening for specific items after 100 bounty, you’ll get them 10x’s faster if you recycle and green.

Ships

Most warzone pilots get comfortable with one single ship and never use any of the other 7 ships no matter what. A team that ends up using very limited types of ships denies itself several advantages. If you are certain you can only fly one single ship, then stick with it. If you know you are decent at multiple ships, keep these advantages and disadvantages in mind (some stat specifics may be out dated):

Warbird advantages: Warbird's only advantage is its maneuverability. This advantage is huge when dueling or fighting in big open spaces where you can move around a lot. The maneuverability can also help very skilled pilots dodge better even in tighter spaces.

Warbird disadvantages: Most bases don't have wide open spaces, and most pilots are not crazy skilled enough to dodge 30 bullets better in tight corridors using a wb as opposed to other ships. It's the default ship of most ss pilots, which makes it very overused. Several other ships are better suited for warzone in many situations, but maneuverability junkies refuse to get out of them.

Jav advantages: Jav's only advantage is speed. On d the speed can be used to shoot bullets/bombs farther and faster in some bases. On o it can shoot bullets/bombs farther and faster, and it can also help get in deep faster. Jav is pure $ when it comes to running away with flags or chasing someone with flags in the open. It's speed and the fact that everyone has/uses x makes it one of the best ships for double-rep flag-rushing dk suicide runs. Javs start with almost as much speed as other ships have when they are fully greened.

Jav disadvantages: A lot of tight and complicated bases can completely negate any advantage of the Jav's speed.

Spider advantages: Awesome for cloaking flags at enemy base. Can be used effectively as an out-front/flanking ship at defense.

Spider disadvantage: Most teams always have x and always check x constantly now a days.

Levi advantages: Big badda boom bombs. Some bases in wz were designed to allow and even almost necessitate the use of wall bombing from outside to push d back to center of base; levi is by far the best ship for wall bombing. Well scattered levi mines on d are a cloaker/attack caller's second worst enemy. Level 3 bombs are extremely deadly on bomb lines. Levi has a max recharge and energy level bonus of +50, starts with level 1 bombs, and can lay 5 mines as opposed to the standard 4. Levi is also an uncommon ship in warzone, which gives good levi pilots an extra edge.

Levi disadvantages: Level 3 mines and bombs are the leading cause of tks *cough* mojo *cough*. Level 3 mines and bombs cost a bit more to use than other ships’ level 2 mines and bombs.

Terrier advantages: Double bullets in tight bases = pure $. Most all bases are designed so mass bullets can do great damage. Terrier is by far the best ship when using a bullet defense. Terrier starts with level 2 bullets, and terrier multifire bullets fire slightly faster than other ships’ multifire bullets.

Terrier disadvantages: Lot of vets just don't use them, probably because they are known as noobie ships. Noobies can get in one and are instantly decent warzone pilots. But by the same token, good pilots that get in terriers are instantly godly warzone pilots. Terrier normal guns fire slightly slower than other guns, and terrier multifire bullets cost a little more than other ships’ multifire.

Weasel advantages: EMP mmm. A well placed EMP can screw a whole team either on o or on d. Also the only ship that should be used for wall bombing aside from the levi. Best quick-kill ship because of no bomb-bullet delay. Well scattered EMP mines on d are a cloaker/attack caller's worst enemy. Can see mines on radar, reporting mine status on d or picking the best attack route on o. Weasel is tied with lanc for the second most under used ship in warzone, which gives good weasel pilots a very nice edge.

Weasel disadvantages: EMP mines and bombs are the second leading cause of tks. A repped EMP near your team can screw your whole d or o. No shrap on the mines/bombs. No shrap on o means each miss is a complete waste as opposed to other bombs getting a shrap burst. No shrap on d means EMP mines cannot be used with rep/shrap bounce back in mind; they must be placed in direct paths or they are useless.

Lanc advantages: Only ship with bouncy bombs. Lobbing bombs around corners while trying to take or keep a base is an invaluable advantage; a must have ship for any team both on o and on d. Lanc mines and bombs bounce when repped, so enemy reppers can end up with mines in their face even after they rep. Tied with weasel for second most underused ship in warzone, giving good lanc pilots a very nice edge.

Lanc disadvantages: Poorly aimed bounce bombs often end up hurting your team.

Shark advantages: +50 max energy. Starts with cloak/stealth, which can be useful if you know for a fact enemy has no x.

Shark disadvantages: Costs 3x’s more to use cloak than spider does. Does not have the maneuverability of the wb like in some zones. Main ability is cloak, but the extra energy cost to cloak makes it far inferior to the spider. Most underused ship in wz, but for good reason, it’s practically worthless.

Your team is going to want a good mix of ships at all times. You also will need to get into the habit of changing ships as needed. When attacking and defending if you notice you are at a point in a base that screams 'use terrier here' or 'use lanc here', then when you die, change into the best ship for that moment.

You want a good mix of ships and a large supply of lancs, levis, and terriers at base. If base needs a lanc, levi, terrier, or whatever, and you look around and notice you're one of four spiders on d... sc and green up, duh.

Toys

Some things to keep in mind with toys:

Bursts: The first one to use a burst gives away that the whole team probably has bursts. If you see someone burst at your base, tell your team that enemy has bursts. If you are at enemy, remember that the moment the first person bursts, the secret is out and they will be a lot more reluctant to get close to you.

Repels: Repels are a must for both offence and defense. Refer to Defense and Offence sections for more on Repels.

Decoys: Poorly used toy for the most part, but it can be very effective if used intelligently. On d you can use decoys to fool the enemy into thinking you have more defense that you really do. Float them slowly or unmoving for best effect on d; if you decoy at top speed, the decoy will bounce all over and enemy will know it’s a fake. On offence you can use decoys to fool the enemy into thinking a huge attack is coming, so they call back some of their attackers to defense. Another good tactic for decoys is the decoy-stealth fake. Mostly used when running away with a flag: just decoy, stealth, change direction, and hope everyone follows the decoy instead of you. Decoy-stealth can also be used well on offence; get in semi close moving slowly or stopped, decoy-stealth, run straight in fast as possible. Hopefully they don’t toggle x between the time you decoyed and the time you hit their front door.

Thors: If team has thors, save them for mass thor attack; don’t throw them away one at a time unless you have good reason to. Thor attacks are best used on turrets. A good turret thor attack can win a game. Lot of vets still don’t realize how big thor prox is. Be sure not to use them in the middle of any base when you’re too close to enemy.

Rockets: Great for chasing down reds in center, or getting away if you have a flag in center. Double-rep/rocket combo is great for getting deep in enemy bases quickly. Decoy-stealth with double-rep/rocket is an awesome combo for getting deep into enemy bases quickly. Can be used with a portal on defense to mow down enemy quickly with little to no risk.

Portals: Don’t make the common vet mistake of portaling an enemy base and flying out when you still have plenty of offence attacking. If you are still attacking, stay and fight. The only time you should attempt to portal and run out is if you are the last or nearly the last one at enemy. And if you haul ass out, they are going to know they were portaled. Make it look semi-sly: slowly retreat, toss a few bombs, hope someone follows you, dog fight him for 5 seconds, then casually leave. Or get off their full screen, decoy, attach to someone in base. Keep in mind that some bases are longer than antiwarp radius. If you can’t lay a portal on one side, you might be able to lay one on the other side. Refer to Offence section for how to best call for portal-turret attacks in wzl. Refer to Defense section for how to use portals for free kills at base.

Shields (currently unavailable in wzl): A big mistake lots of pilots make when they have shields is to use their weapons. Shields should be used to tank as much as you can. If you’re shooting when you have shields, you’re depleting your energy, which is exactly what shields are meant to prevent. On offence, just tank as much as you can on your way to the flags. Let anyone else back you up on the killing. If base is in trouble and you get shields, don’t hesitate to go home. One shielded player can save a base by simply standing at the front line and tanking everything for a minute. At enemy or base, everyone else should be following the shielded player close, letting him tank, while everyone else does all the killing.

Communication

If you aren't communicating with the team, you're playing with yourself. Everyone needs a full set of macros. Lots of vets get pissy on this subject, but the fact is if you don't tell the team wtf you're doing, they can't read your mind. And if you take the time to type out these common team msgs every time, you're a hopeless noob.

Basic wz macros include:

1) safe at base %coord -- Make sure you are safe when you use this.

2) yellow alert at base %coord -- Be as safe as you can when you use this.

3) red alert at base %coord -- Be as safe as you can when you use this.

4) who is at base?! %bounty %flags -- Base needs to respond to these instantly. Be sure you are safe and not currently engaged on the front line if you respond.

5) enemy?! %bounty -- If offence isn’t actively calling for help, hopefully they can respond with which enemy they are focusing on, where that enemy is, and how that enemy looks atm.

6) enemy is here! %coord -- Be as safe as you can when you use this.

7) greening %bounty % flags %coord -- Use this especially if you need the green. Can get more help greening if you let team know you need it, and o needs to know how many people need greens when they are making calls.

8) tick me now! -- USE IT, or expect to get fewer, slower, and late attaches.

9) how is base?! what is base status?! -- Base needs to respond as quickly and accurately as possible when this is asked.

10) %tickname needs help now! -- Careful using this one. Best used if you know for a fact that someone on the team needs help but that person may not be able to call for help themselves (they are last at base and dodging like mad, they just dked and have flags as a neg in center, etc). Never use it to override a help at base call, unless the person you have ticked is in base. The %tickname should come before the word ‘help’ because if you just had lots of people calling for help, a lot of the time players only see the ‘help’ and attach to whoever’s using this macro.

11) i’m dead don't attach! -- Use it especially if you were calling for help just before you died.

12) %red %coord -- Lots of pilots like to use ‘RED %red %coord’, but when used and there are no reds on radar, it still looks like you are calling red. Then when they get attaches and there are no reds, they take the time to type out ‘gone’ or ‘don’t attach’. It’s much simpler and less likely to misdirect pilots with a plain old ‘%red %coord’ macro.

13) :bot:!lag %tickname -- Use it religiously, especially on people near base.

14) help me now! %coord %flags %bounty %energy -- General distress call. Don't use it if 'help base' or 'enemy is here' are more fitting for the situation. Don’t over use it, save it for extreme critical times when help is needed damn fast. Careful not to override base calls with it.

15) xxxx! check x at base! -- Use it if you’re the first to see a cloaker near base.

16) bounty check! %bounty -- Need everyone to respond to these. Will be used mostly by offence before attack calls.

The %coord in the macros is a must. You need to let the team know where you are when you ask them to attach to you.

The more you communicate what you are doing and what’s going on, the more you can work as a team, the more effective you will be.

Refer to Defense section for more on communicating with your team while on d. Refer to Offence section for more on communicating with your team while on o.

Spec Coaching

Spec Coaches are a must. Every game you need someone on team to tell you where flags are, which enemy has flags, how well defended enemy bases are, which enemy is attacking which atm, where flags are at the start of games, where flags are lagged/tked out, when turrets are spotted or portals are suspected, and anything else relevant during a game. Spec coaches are going to be at least as important if not more important than any single player in game. Spec coaching is allowed in wzl, and I guarantee other teams will be using them. You are at a decent sized disadvantage if you aren't getting this info fed to your team too.

Side note: if you do not have a spec coach, you will still need to keep track of enemy as much as you possibly can. If you notice an enemy base that hasn’t been mentioned yet, fly in and see who it is, how many flags they got, and roughly how well it’s defended. Tell the team, then get back to greening or base. You need to keep track of enemy location as much as possible. If you lose base and some team is winning, you can fly directly to them if you know where they are. If you know where enemy is and see a half dozen death messages from a single team, you need to know exactly where that base is so you can get there asap.

Morale

Subspace is full of egos, and the better the pilots get, the bigger the egos get. Never let your ego get in the way of good teamwork. You have to constantly work together to win.

Don’t get in pissing matches with other teammates. If someone’s doing something they shouldn’t be doing, or not doing something they should be doing, or for whatever reason you have a problem with them, do not let it degenerate into a pissing contest during games. Priv msg your team captain if there are any problems between yourselves during games and let the captain deal with it.

When you are losing: Do not demoralize the team by saying ‘game over, we’ve lost’ if the music starts and you aren’t winning. The game isn’t over no matter what till you hear the ding. You should expect everyone to be at their best and working their hardest when things look their worst.

Final Note

There are exceptions to just about every strategy listed here, and about a thousand other tactics and strategies that relate to warzone. The only way to be familiar with every single nuance of wz and be prepared to do the best thing at any given time is if you play wz religiously. So go play!

Rules in Short

1) Must use continuum, not subspace.

2) Do what refs tell you to even if it's stupid. Don't talk shit with refs even if they are being stupid. If refs do something stupid and you lose you can appeal. If you talk shit to refs, you can get banned regardless of appeal outcome.

3) Do not use cheat programs.

4) Do not go in a safe zone if you have flags.

5) Do not ship change for any reason if you have flags.

6) Do not quit if you have flags.

7) Do not spec if you have flags.

8) Do not change freqs if you have flags.

9) Do not purposefully tk a flag carrier.

10) Don't log into wzl with a second comp.

11) Don’t neg obsessively (sorry fluff).

12) Breaking any rule will get you kicked for the whole game (and maybe season), your team will lose the spot for that game, and the whole team can get kicked out of league.

13) Full list of rules are at http://www.wzctf.com/league/rules.cfm

Credits

Written by Sir Xazm.

Thanks to Antelope and Heatstroke for helping proof read and giving suggestions.

Thanks to Yarekim for his miscellaneous help.

Thanks to Perkins for the ship info.

Thanks to Fluff for being so damn sexy, even if he is worthless.

Thanks to everyone on Washed Up that gave general game strategy suggestions throughout the season.

Thanks to my cat Doofus for leaving me alone long enough to type this up.

Special thanks to Nova for assuring me that no one will ever bother to read all this.

DPM's 4v4 Strategy Guide

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