Droobie Style

From dodging and shooting to rape and positioning, all the aspects of the game work together to accomplish capturing the flag. Half the game is head knowledge, the other half reflexes and computer setup/equipment. I don’t want to make an outline of some strategies I’ve developed and how I play, so I’ll randomly list whatever comes to mind that might help some of you in the game. Note, these are the strategies I use and what works best for me, some of you will find other strategies that work best for you. The most important thing to stress is to learn to DEVELOP YOUR OWN PLAYING STYLE. No one can really “train” a person to reach his/her potential, but I can give you insight on how I play, and maybe you can pick up on some and develop them yourself.

Computer Equipment – Which mouse to use? Yes, it does make a difference. If you lean toward playing by radar and far away, you most likely rely on spreads. The classic slim Logitech design I find works better for spreads, however single/double shots work much better on the classic Microsoft Intellimouse design. I think this way because the classic Microsoft design is much more bulky, allowing you to control it more accurately with your wrist, allowing better single shots. It might give you a very slight advantage in close up play, and allows you to use single shots to cover yourself while maneuvering across the open while keeping an opponent behind a wall. This is the mouse I prefer, but each mouse/person can be different. This is a clicking thread so I put this in detail =p. The best choices for a gamer right now are the corded optical mice. They provide less delay than a wireless mouse. My wireless Microsoft 2.0 mice are crap when it comes to ARC and gaming. I only use them in the windows environment. I think wireless mice are catching up in delay time, but I haven’t tried any new Logitech wireless mice, so test it for yourself.

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Some other crap:

On all my PCs (5 can play ARC) I’ve tested enabling/disabling direct draw to increase FPS. What I noticed on every one was that after disabling, my FPS would show higher, but in fact it seemed unsually choppy, which seems pretty odd, but it was like that in all my experiments. With direct draw on, all my PCs ran like silk. Your pc may be different, but if your pc is locked at 60, 65, 70, or 75 FPS with direct draw enabled and it runs like silk, leave it that way.

Mage said in a post awhile back that he played a lot better on a 19” monitor than his 17” monitor. I’ve played on both and it really doesn’t make a difference for me. Some of you might be used to one than the other. I prefer playing on my 17” over my 19”, because my eyes don’t have to move as much to see the whole screen. It seems like a minor detail, but every little technical advantage you can get in ARC can add up to defeat an opponent.

Some other crap I found on my comp from a long time ago:

The actual game… finally
I prefer red over green for three reasons. 1) no bar on the left side, which is where you’ll be fighting 75% of the game, 2) better positioning on the majority of places on the map in my opinion (it’s a lot easier to stall base when on red than green), and 3) Since most people are right handed (I am), it’s easier to advance toward the left side of the screen. Why? Try this, put your left hand on the arrow keys like you do in ARC. Hold down the right arrow as if advancing to the right, your middle finger can only be on up or down, up and down can’t be covered simultaneously normally, and when advancing to the right you’ll have a slower reaction time dodging up/down while moving that middle finger to those 2 separate keys. Now, advancing to the left side, is much easier for me. Press the left key as if advancing left in ARC, you can slide your index finger over easily so that both of the up/down keys are covered. It will make it much easier while dodging and advancing aggressively to the left side at the same time. The reaction time is faster and you can wiggle faster, making it harder for the enemy to predict your movement.

Knowing when to frag is just as important as how to frag. The most common mistake I see in ARC, is the following position: Lets say… We’re on the green team. Picture this, your defending at your base (green base) and it is a 1v1 and you are hurt. One of your teamates spawn. This makes a 2v1 in your base, and the other 2 on your team is across the map putting pressure on red and trying to flag. With one of the teammates on green hurt, one of the two in your base (in most situations) cannot go help flag because if 1) the full-life spawner goes to help flag, base is in big trouble with his teammate smoked, and 2) if the smoker goes to help flag, the base might be secure, but try getting across the whole map without dieing can be a difficult task, and you will be a flying med pack. Here’s what you should do the majority of the time in this situation: The smoker should charge the enemy and try to kill him while the teammate who spawned should try to injure him but not kill him. A lot of the time I see the smoker taking it slow and eventually killing him, but if you do that, the flag attempt has a greater chance of failure. If the smoker charges and kills him, you have 2 people with decent health coming to help flag very soon, but if the smoker dies, the green spawner can stall red long enough for 1) The teammate who died to spawn and help flag, or 2) to rape base if it needs help. In most situations the smoker who died can go help flag with full life instead opposed to smoking. After reading what I just typed, it sounds very complicated >.< so I don’t expect anyone to understand it lmao.

Dominating someone close up.
As a lot of you know, I prefer playing close up rather than radaring. To be effective close up you need to know two things, 1) the enemies playing style/movement, and 2) my basic theory of fighting close up ^_^ . Usually people wont wiggle when close up, they will walk in a straight line, then turn around and walk back, then turn around again, etc. This is what they should do, and you should do to. There’s not much to know about dodging close up, its all about knowing how the enemy plays, whether they are known to shoot a stream as they start turning around and going straight, or while they are going straight. Shooting is much more important than dodging while playing close up. Look at it this way: try to kill your opponent first rather than outliving him the longest. Focus on shooting more than dodging, it’s the more important factor when just an inch away from your opponent.
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Example #1 – when you are moving in a straight line with your opponent, sometimes you need to hold your fire. Wait for them to shoot first, after they shoot, and are out of recharge, they will turn around suddenly (because moving in a straight line is considered stupid, right? ^_^ ), Have your cursor set behind them and wait for them to turn around, then fire everything, here’s a visual demonstration: You are on the bottom right, that red thing is your poorly drawn cursor.

http://members.cox.net/druettc/flash/example1.html

Example #2 – to help minimize damage
To help prevent people (who wait for you to turn around then fire a stream) from killing you faster, as you turn around, quickly turn back, they will usually go ahead and shoot behind you with a full stream and they are out of ammo leaving you with the upper hand. Note, it always depends on the situation of course, there’s no real strategy guide to ARC, its just figuring out what to do at a specific moment during game play. This is a guide to help you understand how many people play, and to show basic strategies against the common player.

Bouncies…
I was going to post a few screenshots of effective bouncies that not many people use but I could show u in a game sometime, just ask.. You might hear people say, “well, every bouncie in GO is known, its not like there are any new bouncies” the kind of bouncies they are talking about are planned bouncies, meaning you fix your mouse in a certain position, stand against the wall or by another obstacle, and fire. Smart enemies usually know where its going though. Learn to do those bouncies, but most importantly, bouncies by eye. I can show you 2-3 spots in the map that are very effective bouncies that most people don’t bother learning because they are by eye and not ‘planned.’ Bouncies are also underestimated when it comes to fighting in the open. If you have an enemies pattern down, don’t hesitate to fire a straight bouncie! Why not a laser? Bouncies travel much quicker. And the amount of recharge a bouncie takes away is minimal. When fighting in the open and using bouncies, I prefer to be within a third the screens length, once again it all depends on the situation. A lot of people also shoot lasers straight and a bouncie against the wall so they have 2 attacks coming at them from different directions at the same time. These bouncie/laser combos are very effective, even if it’s a simple 90 degree angle bounce. A lot of people use this technique. If you don’t use it much, learn how. Having the mental knowledge to judge the angle of a bouncie is crucial in games.

Nades… mmm nades…
I think grenades are underrated. If someone tries to flush you out behind a wall with a grenade, and you only have one place to go, take the nade and receive the 1/5 damage. If you go out a get hit by 1 laser, it wasn’t worth trying to avoid the shrapnels, because chances are part of a shrapnel still hit you, so it’s almost pointless revealing yourself if you know theres a stream coming that could do more harm than taking the nade. You can also use their nades to your advantage. If they throw a grenade far away at you while in the open, just rush them. You won’t take the nade’s damage and your recharge will be higher, giving you the advantage. In other words, try to make your opponent waste nades, so you can be more aggressive up close and not worry about them.

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random thoughts after posting this

#1 - Wiggling dodging strategy in airy servers reduces air damage, rather then going straight and dodging them, since your ship was never in contact of the path of the laser.

#2 - Homestar ownz all of you

#3 – Don’t forget to alt-tab out of games right after you enter them, so the cursor can go further to the right allowing you to do a lot more 'planned' bouncies and throwing nades further to the right