Don't think of the lower right bar as "Jetpack power" as much as "personal energy". Deployable items use this, as well as the jetpack. Hacking, reviving and resupplying will go faster is you have available energy.
When dropping a deployable like a turret, wall or mine you will need at least 50% of the bar full. If you are dropping a supply pack for a teammate, about 25%. If you want to hack anything, techs will use 50% of a full bar (and half the time) and other classes use a full bar.
Don't worry much about the bars on the left. The bars on the right impact you and your team, so those you gotta watch.
About the minimap:
- Enemy vehicles and players will not appear on it.
- Friendly vehicles appear in team color. Unoccupied vehicles are white.
- Friendly players appear in white/black icons. Rangers are crosses, techs are wrenches, gunners are bullets.
- Players needing supplies show a green icon indicating the type of resupply they need. Players needing revival show a green skull. In the HUD, the resupply icons are yellow and the skull is white.
Other tips:
=========================
To be "1337", you need to master the Sprint-Dodge-Boost combo. First hold the sprint key, then dodge, and tap the jump key in mid dodge (ala 2k3). Whammo... serious distance boost. Remember to release the sprint in mid air so it recharges a little. You generally only have enough juice for 2 of these before you gotta recharge your energy, so don't go nuts. Don't bother using it to go uphill. Use it to start catching up with a running player. Also good for getting out of "close quarters" fights where you are getting your butt kicked.
Hack EVERYTHING. If you can hack it, do. It slows the other team down and helps your teammates. Hack on the way to the enemy base, hack on the way back. Hack. Hack. Hack.
"Base rapes" are a common tactic, where one team gets the advantage and then simply camps on your front door. This happens very often when you don't have any deploy points that get you past enemy territory. If your team is getting base-raped, do EVERYTHING in your power to ignore it. Go waaay the heck past it. The other team is so focused on the front of your base that you need to take the opportunity to get past the enemy lines and hack a deploy point as close to *their* base as possible. Use a ranger for speed if you can't get a raptor, and drop your smoke grenades whenever the action starts pointing in your direction.
Get GOOD at getting into vehicle turrets. They are still useable when the vehicle is not in motion, and they will save your ass. Remember to get the heck out of the vehicle when it hits 50% health...
When you are done using a vehicle that spawned at your base, blow it up. This spawns a new one at your base for your teammates to use. If you leave it in the field, you cripple your team or worse... it could be used against you. This tactic works in reverse... taking the enemy's vehicles out of their base slows them down. For instance, XMP-Sirocco will often see the Juggernauts in each base used for defense. If you steal the Juggernaut and hide it somewhere, you hurt their defensive capability.
Tech forcewalls are useful in pretty much only the following circumstances:
- temporary protection from snipers while you hack, revive a teammate or set up turrets
- clogging an artifact node to slow down the enemy invaders
- stopping incoming vehicles (still waiting for someone to try pulling a "tripwire" manuver with this)
- surrounding a teleporter (to stop enemies from exiting easily) or a jumppad (to stop enemies from using it... 3 around the pads in your base on Nakoja does a lot to stop attackers).
You can walk through a friendly forcewall by "using" it. When it turns green, you can walk/shoot through it. So can enemies though. And if you haven't figured it out yet, you don't want to be in the middle of that field when its no longer green.
That's enough for this segment. I'll post my "n00bs guide to turrets" below.
______________________________
A turret's cone of view covers the area you are facing when you place it. If you want a turret to fire in a certain direction, you should be facing in that direction.
Place multiple turrets at angles to provide cross fire. Consider the following quick, cheesy diagram:
[X]
Think of it not as an X in brackets, but as a room with 4 turrets in it. If all 4 turrets are angled towards the center of the room, they will all aim and fire at someone walking in, while they need to look in all 4 directions to hit the turret.
Place turrets high. They'll be harder to jump over, and cover more area. Rocket turrets are most effective when up high, since the rocket explosion will splash damage opponents. You also don't want to place turrets anywhere that a vehicle can run them over or shoot them easily.
Try to place them so there is no wall/hill directly behind them where grenades/rockets can land for splash damage.
----------------------------
Turret spammage:
Machine gun turrets are more effective than rocket turrets in open areas. They are small, so harder to hit from a distance... and they are also your best chance of hitting a ranger (who moves through faster than rocket turrets can track).
Machine gun turrets are especially effective in the base on Nakoja when positioned right, as they will track and hit airborne targets (the guys on the bounce pads).
You can pick up turrets using the Hack/Use key. If a turret is damaged, or facing the wrong way, use it to pick it up and place it again. You can also "stockpile" turrets at a resupply point by:
1. place turret
2. resupply
3. repeat 1 and 2 until you have a bunch of turrets humming away
4. pick them all up.
This can take a while due to low energy recharge rates, but its much better than "taking a trip to the store" when you need to set up strong defenses in a remote location and your gunners just joined the beta yesterday and don't speak English.
---------------------------------
Its better to place a few smart turrets then tons of sloppy ones. Each energy source can handle about 6-8 turrets before you start seeing drain (on a full server... far less when only a few people are playing). Think about the best positions for a wide area of coverage before you start dropping them.
______________________________
Classes:
Ranger is all speed and hitscan. Using the sniper rifle is godly (2 shots kills anything) but takes some skill to track properly in the current high-ping environment. Smoke grenade is VERY useful, if only to fuxor your opponent's framerate. Its good to drop one on a generator or deploy point before you start hacking. Heals players by getting in close range, looking at them and "using" them or dropping a supply pack (heals 25 points). Maintains pretty much the same capabilities for the whole game, least energy-dependent of the classes. Most effective at long range, can be effective up-close if you're VERY nimble with the controls. I do not advise using this class until you master the other ones though.
Techs are the best all-around class, especially if you're new. The assault rifle is good if you can track a moving target, 2ndary is ok for deployable destruction, but its largely weak. The shotgun is the key weapon... the primary doesn't show hits well, but it has a fairly fast rate of fire and a longer ranger than you think. The secondary is good for blinding the opponent and eventually killing them. Both modes are at their most effective within 6 feet, though the secondary will kill you as well at point-blank. The emp grenades damage player shields and vehicles (2-4 direct hits kills vehicles). The poison grenades can be deadly in a box, and covers a large area. Good for getting people to move. Recharges player shields by getting close and "using" them, or dropping a supply pack (only charges a few points at a time).
Gunner is a good choice for new players. Slow hack and move speed, but makes up for it with sheer firepower, toughness and infinite ammo (once your team has enough energy to turn on supply packs). Resupplies other players by getting close and "using" them, or dropping a supply pack. Rocket primary is most effective, and best used while airborne or up high. 2 direct/near direct hits kills a ranger at full health. 3 kills a tech. Takes 5 to kill another gunner tough.... gunner vs gunner fights can take a while. Rocket secondary locks on to targets .... can move across multiple targets too. Not very useful mode though... unless you just want to get someone's attention. Decent vs slow vehicles. The flamethrower is excellent at VERY close range, but remember to stop flaming when you don't know where your target is.
Gunner incendiary grenades do a lot of damage (they used to do much more) and are good for cooking a target running after you. The 2ndary grenade, concussion, will toss targets (VERY FAR if they are airborne) and blind them. Useful vs rangers and pursuing groups. The more direct the hit, the longer the blindness lasts. This hurts you too though.... so keep it at a distance.
Gunners and techs are highly complementary. Gunners give more turrets and walls to the techs in areas away from resupply points, and techs keep gunner shields at full power. Rangers are generally the rear support or the forward scout, keeping distance from the other two and then coming in to heal or revive when necessary. If you can team up as a triad and communicate properly, you can do a LOT in the game. If any one of a group of three survives, all three can go a long time without redeploying.... revive the other 2, and then everyone can resupply each other. Remember that the only way to resupply yourself is with a supply pack though.... gotta hack those generators.
---------------------------------------
Strategy:
My typical opener:
- Spawn near the raptor (if there is a choice and it is available)
- Drive/run to the nearest generator and hack it(start earning that energy)
- Hack the deploy point closest to the enemy base (speed up my teammates and myself if I die)
- Grab an artifact from the enemy base
- Hack an enemy generator on the way back
- Hack an enemy deploy point on the way back
- register the artifact
You can't always open this regularly, and your strategy will change based on the map. You may instead set yourself up to specifically foil this strategy.... kill the enemy hackers before they get their first generator or deploy point, and you can really mess up their flow.
Hack the deploy point closest to a generator before trying to hack the generator. Otherwise, enemies will spawn and retake the generator from you easily. For example, one generator in XMP-Lowlands has a deploy point right on top!
Watch the team energy indicators... yours and the opponent's. At 800, all functions are available. For each 50 down until 500, the team gains/loses a function. If the other team has artifacts but doesn't have 800 energy, hack those generators! That keeps their carriers sweating bullets, and if you control the generators you will see wave after wave of enemies throw themselves at you desperately trying to get the gen.... big fun. The same applies if the enemy is turret spamming... hacking 1-2 generators can tank their energy in a real hurry.
Always make sure you have at least one deploy point outside the base. If you don't you'll find yourselves getting trapped in the base area easily....
Every one of the stock map bases has multiple angles of approach. Learn them all, and take the high roads... the high road is the road that lets you clear out the turret farms.
----------------------------------------
There ya go. Massive repository of knowledge from a beta tester. Read. 0wN.
When dropping a deployable like a turret, wall or mine you will need at least 50% of the bar full. If you are dropping a supply pack for a teammate, about 25%. If you want to hack anything, techs will use 50% of a full bar (and half the time) and other classes use a full bar.
Don't worry much about the bars on the left. The bars on the right impact you and your team, so those you gotta watch.
About the minimap:
- Enemy vehicles and players will not appear on it.
- Friendly vehicles appear in team color. Unoccupied vehicles are white.
- Friendly players appear in white/black icons. Rangers are crosses, techs are wrenches, gunners are bullets.
- Players needing supplies show a green icon indicating the type of resupply they need. Players needing revival show a green skull. In the HUD, the resupply icons are yellow and the skull is white.
Other tips:
=========================
To be "1337", you need to master the Sprint-Dodge-Boost combo. First hold the sprint key, then dodge, and tap the jump key in mid dodge (ala 2k3). Whammo... serious distance boost. Remember to release the sprint in mid air so it recharges a little. You generally only have enough juice for 2 of these before you gotta recharge your energy, so don't go nuts. Don't bother using it to go uphill. Use it to start catching up with a running player. Also good for getting out of "close quarters" fights where you are getting your butt kicked.
Hack EVERYTHING. If you can hack it, do. It slows the other team down and helps your teammates. Hack on the way to the enemy base, hack on the way back. Hack. Hack. Hack.
"Base rapes" are a common tactic, where one team gets the advantage and then simply camps on your front door. This happens very often when you don't have any deploy points that get you past enemy territory. If your team is getting base-raped, do EVERYTHING in your power to ignore it. Go waaay the heck past it. The other team is so focused on the front of your base that you need to take the opportunity to get past the enemy lines and hack a deploy point as close to *their* base as possible. Use a ranger for speed if you can't get a raptor, and drop your smoke grenades whenever the action starts pointing in your direction.
Get GOOD at getting into vehicle turrets. They are still useable when the vehicle is not in motion, and they will save your ass. Remember to get the heck out of the vehicle when it hits 50% health...
When you are done using a vehicle that spawned at your base, blow it up. This spawns a new one at your base for your teammates to use. If you leave it in the field, you cripple your team or worse... it could be used against you. This tactic works in reverse... taking the enemy's vehicles out of their base slows them down. For instance, XMP-Sirocco will often see the Juggernauts in each base used for defense. If you steal the Juggernaut and hide it somewhere, you hurt their defensive capability.
Tech forcewalls are useful in pretty much only the following circumstances:
- temporary protection from snipers while you hack, revive a teammate or set up turrets
- clogging an artifact node to slow down the enemy invaders
- stopping incoming vehicles (still waiting for someone to try pulling a "tripwire" manuver with this)
- surrounding a teleporter (to stop enemies from exiting easily) or a jumppad (to stop enemies from using it... 3 around the pads in your base on Nakoja does a lot to stop attackers).
You can walk through a friendly forcewall by "using" it. When it turns green, you can walk/shoot through it. So can enemies though. And if you haven't figured it out yet, you don't want to be in the middle of that field when its no longer green.
That's enough for this segment. I'll post my "n00bs guide to turrets" below.
______________________________
A turret's cone of view covers the area you are facing when you place it. If you want a turret to fire in a certain direction, you should be facing in that direction.
Place multiple turrets at angles to provide cross fire. Consider the following quick, cheesy diagram:
[X]
Think of it not as an X in brackets, but as a room with 4 turrets in it. If all 4 turrets are angled towards the center of the room, they will all aim and fire at someone walking in, while they need to look in all 4 directions to hit the turret.
Place turrets high. They'll be harder to jump over, and cover more area. Rocket turrets are most effective when up high, since the rocket explosion will splash damage opponents. You also don't want to place turrets anywhere that a vehicle can run them over or shoot them easily.
Try to place them so there is no wall/hill directly behind them where grenades/rockets can land for splash damage.
----------------------------
Turret spammage:
Machine gun turrets are more effective than rocket turrets in open areas. They are small, so harder to hit from a distance... and they are also your best chance of hitting a ranger (who moves through faster than rocket turrets can track).
Machine gun turrets are especially effective in the base on Nakoja when positioned right, as they will track and hit airborne targets (the guys on the bounce pads).
You can pick up turrets using the Hack/Use key. If a turret is damaged, or facing the wrong way, use it to pick it up and place it again. You can also "stockpile" turrets at a resupply point by:
1. place turret
2. resupply
3. repeat 1 and 2 until you have a bunch of turrets humming away
4. pick them all up.
This can take a while due to low energy recharge rates, but its much better than "taking a trip to the store" when you need to set up strong defenses in a remote location and your gunners just joined the beta yesterday and don't speak English.
---------------------------------
Its better to place a few smart turrets then tons of sloppy ones. Each energy source can handle about 6-8 turrets before you start seeing drain (on a full server... far less when only a few people are playing). Think about the best positions for a wide area of coverage before you start dropping them.
______________________________
Classes:
Ranger is all speed and hitscan. Using the sniper rifle is godly (2 shots kills anything) but takes some skill to track properly in the current high-ping environment. Smoke grenade is VERY useful, if only to fuxor your opponent's framerate. Its good to drop one on a generator or deploy point before you start hacking. Heals players by getting in close range, looking at them and "using" them or dropping a supply pack (heals 25 points). Maintains pretty much the same capabilities for the whole game, least energy-dependent of the classes. Most effective at long range, can be effective up-close if you're VERY nimble with the controls. I do not advise using this class until you master the other ones though.
Techs are the best all-around class, especially if you're new. The assault rifle is good if you can track a moving target, 2ndary is ok for deployable destruction, but its largely weak. The shotgun is the key weapon... the primary doesn't show hits well, but it has a fairly fast rate of fire and a longer ranger than you think. The secondary is good for blinding the opponent and eventually killing them. Both modes are at their most effective within 6 feet, though the secondary will kill you as well at point-blank. The emp grenades damage player shields and vehicles (2-4 direct hits kills vehicles). The poison grenades can be deadly in a box, and covers a large area. Good for getting people to move. Recharges player shields by getting close and "using" them, or dropping a supply pack (only charges a few points at a time).
Gunner is a good choice for new players. Slow hack and move speed, but makes up for it with sheer firepower, toughness and infinite ammo (once your team has enough energy to turn on supply packs). Resupplies other players by getting close and "using" them, or dropping a supply pack. Rocket primary is most effective, and best used while airborne or up high. 2 direct/near direct hits kills a ranger at full health. 3 kills a tech. Takes 5 to kill another gunner tough.... gunner vs gunner fights can take a while. Rocket secondary locks on to targets .... can move across multiple targets too. Not very useful mode though... unless you just want to get someone's attention. Decent vs slow vehicles. The flamethrower is excellent at VERY close range, but remember to stop flaming when you don't know where your target is.
Gunner incendiary grenades do a lot of damage (they used to do much more) and are good for cooking a target running after you. The 2ndary grenade, concussion, will toss targets (VERY FAR if they are airborne) and blind them. Useful vs rangers and pursuing groups. The more direct the hit, the longer the blindness lasts. This hurts you too though.... so keep it at a distance.
Gunners and techs are highly complementary. Gunners give more turrets and walls to the techs in areas away from resupply points, and techs keep gunner shields at full power. Rangers are generally the rear support or the forward scout, keeping distance from the other two and then coming in to heal or revive when necessary. If you can team up as a triad and communicate properly, you can do a LOT in the game. If any one of a group of three survives, all three can go a long time without redeploying.... revive the other 2, and then everyone can resupply each other. Remember that the only way to resupply yourself is with a supply pack though.... gotta hack those generators.
---------------------------------------
Strategy:
My typical opener:
- Spawn near the raptor (if there is a choice and it is available)
- Drive/run to the nearest generator and hack it(start earning that energy)
- Hack the deploy point closest to the enemy base (speed up my teammates and myself if I die)
- Grab an artifact from the enemy base
- Hack an enemy generator on the way back
- Hack an enemy deploy point on the way back
- register the artifact
You can't always open this regularly, and your strategy will change based on the map. You may instead set yourself up to specifically foil this strategy.... kill the enemy hackers before they get their first generator or deploy point, and you can really mess up their flow.
Hack the deploy point closest to a generator before trying to hack the generator. Otherwise, enemies will spawn and retake the generator from you easily. For example, one generator in XMP-Lowlands has a deploy point right on top!
Watch the team energy indicators... yours and the opponent's. At 800, all functions are available. For each 50 down until 500, the team gains/loses a function. If the other team has artifacts but doesn't have 800 energy, hack those generators! That keeps their carriers sweating bullets, and if you control the generators you will see wave after wave of enemies throw themselves at you desperately trying to get the gen.... big fun. The same applies if the enemy is turret spamming... hacking 1-2 generators can tank their energy in a real hurry.
Always make sure you have at least one deploy point outside the base. If you don't you'll find yourselves getting trapped in the base area easily....
Every one of the stock map bases has multiple angles of approach. Learn them all, and take the high roads... the high road is the road that lets you clear out the turret farms.
----------------------------------------
There ya go. Massive repository of knowledge from a beta tester. Read. 0wN.
