Spill the beans!

[5i1ent/3ob]

Deemer noobs are faced with 2 options. 1-They either get slaughtered, gather their gibs and leave, never to return. 2-They get slaughtered, but stick it out and eventually become competitive.
I think most of us can remember how tough and frustrating the stick it out part can be.
I was thinking about Fuzz Ball last night and he's certainly one of those tough it out guys, but he's slap in the middle of that frustrating phase. It's rough! You want to play better and you're willing to work at it, but you aren't getting any answers that help.
Sorry to say, I'm not exactly the answer man when it comes to UT, but I'm going to start this thread with the hopes that everyone else adds to the list anything they can think of that might help folks out.
Try not to think of it as giving up your secrets because those who stick with the game will eventually learn them all anyway. Instead, think of it as a way to keep new players in the game by showing them it can be done and that we're willing to help them learn how.

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Get used to using the strafe keys as a way to facilitate aiming. This way instead of having only the mouse movement to aim with, you now have that AND the added control of side to side movement by using the right and left strafe controls on your keyboard. This will allow you to zero in on a target faster, easier and with more control, plus it aids in tracking a moving target.

Before you approach a corner to run around it, turn your avatar body 90 degrees and side strafe around the corner so that you are facing the direction of possible enemy before you even round the corner. This allows you to react faster whether it be to fire, return fire or duck away for safety. As an example, if you are approaching a corner which will result in a right turn you would before reaching the corner turn your avatar body 90 degrees to the right and then use the left strafe to pass the corner's edge. You will already be pointing in the direction you will need to shoot.

Use your deemer as a way to block incoming missiles by shooting at nearby walls and objects. The concussion from your shot will make any other missiles headed your way explode before they get you.
Needless to say, you have to be far enough away from your own concussion to survive this technique. This method is also useful to get rid of someone on your tail. Say you're running through a passageway into another room. Before you enter the new room or section, shoot one at a wall or object behind you and it will clear out following missiles and players.

In certain maps it may be of benefit to combine shooting techniques. For example, if you're at an intersection of 3 hallways you can shoot straight shots down two of them and then guide the third down the remaining hallway.
Once you get used to this you can get a sort of rhythm going and not only make kills, but also maintain defensive protection at the same time.

Suicide before capture - I'd rather blow myself up than offer up a frag, so when you see a missile headed your way and you know you aren't going to escape, you might as well pop one into the ground in front of you and take yourself out. It doesn't do much for you in the way of points, but sometimes it's better than letting a point be added to another players score.

When you're hiding and guiding try not to give your position away by guiding your missile out into the open right away. Instead try to take your missile on a little detour and let it pop into visibility somewhere away from where you actually are. For example, if you're high on a building top it might be best to guide your missile straight down the building's side so that it's not immediately in view to someone hiding and watching.
Also, many of the buildings and other structures have ledges/lips and of you guide your missiles under those ledges they will not be visible to someone perched higher up watching and looking for where missiles are originating from.

If you're in a map where spraying will benefit you make sure you relocate soon after releasing your volley. No since in hanging around because shooters will be returning fire to wherever the spray came from and hunters (MEAT!) will be translocating that way shortly too.

Utilize every advantage you can. Don't pass up the invisibility. Instead learn where they are in every map and make running past them a part of your route. Same thing with gravity boots....if you see them grab em. Even if you don't care about them, taking them will make the item no longer available to another player who might care a lot.

Although I've never been able to explain this, some computers seem to have a need to 'see' a map before they're able to cache everything smoothly. If this is the case with yours, when you first join a map and everyone's waiting for the game to begin, take that time to fly around and 'see' as much of the map as you can before the game starts. This will load the particulars to cache and you'll be ready.

If during a match a player seems to be sweeping the floor from some great location you aren't aware of and you aren't able to tell where he is by looking at his post game position, quickly open up the console, type in 'reconnect' and when you rejoin the map you will be free to move all through it. Locate the player in question and see for yourself where he is. Of course, the time between matches is limited so you have to be fast.

We all know it's frustrating to weed out someone who is camping, but you have two choices. You can keep trying and die several times before succeeding or you can let him do his thing and avoid his trap completely by spending time doing damage elsewhere. Superior players like MEAT and KK often meet with immediate success when dealing with a camper, but folks like you and me will usually die several times before getting anywhere. All I'm saying is make sure it's worth it to you.

Play using headphones and take advantage of the outstanding stereo separation of the UT audio. You will be easily able to hear missile and players approaching and know from where they come because the separation is more distinguishable with headphones whereas much of that info gets lost in the air with speakers.

Sometimes bots are better to watch than to kill. A bot will often shoot at a wall or object someone is hiding behind thus giving away their position.

This one I'll ask you to take with a grain of salt, but I've noticed that bots seem less likely to attack me when I'm crouching. I've had bots spawn in next to me and walk away like I wasn't even there. This could be nothing more than the sensitivity certain bots are set on, but until I know better I'll keep crouching.

PLEASE ADD YOUR EXPERIENCES TO THIS LIST. IT WOULD BE MOST APPRECIATED:)

[gopostal]

It's one thing to read it but it's quite another to see it. MEAT showed me more in 5 minutes than I've learned in several hours of play. I know his bag of tricks is deep but he fed me enough info to really help me deal with the "frustrating" hump (I'm right there with Fuzz).

Perhaps a night together on a server sans bots where it will be teaching for a map or two? I could run a teamspeak server if you guys want to use voice.

[Killer Klownz]

Suicide before capture - I'd rather blow myself up than offer up a frag, so when you see a missile headed your way and you know you aren't going to escape, you might as well pop one into the ground in front of you and take yourself out. It doesn't do much for you in the way of points, but sometimes it's better than letting a point be added to another players score.

What happened to the whole "Sportsmanship, goodwill, GG" stuff? If your gonna eat a redeemer eat it like a man. Go down fighting. Don't take the easy way out . . .


BOTS: When Klownz engages a bot Klownz will shoot to either side of the bot and not directly at them. The bot will be shooting directly at you so if you shoot directly at them, redeemers collide, usually causing the bot to blow itself up (and maybe yourself), costing you a kill. This is especially important on RVH and MRS where the bots tend to be pretty cranky. Klownz also uses this technique on live players.

JUMP BOOTS: Always grab these. They help you jump, help cushion you when you fall off a building, and you can deny another player those boots. Shooting from above them (while jumping in the air) is tactically better. Also remember if a player is jumping and shooting down at you, that player has to land somewhere so aim there, not directly at the player.

[5i1ent/3ob]

What happened to the whole "Sportsmanship, goodwill, GG" stuff?

I didn't think blowing myself up was a sign of poor sportsmanship lol. No more than teleporting to safety before a missile hits you. Clearly it works to piss some ppl off though

[Fuzz_Ball]

It all makes good sense, /3ob!
Some of which is how I "Think" I play already.
Familiarity of the maps is a big help and knowing the sweet spots.
There are SO MANY I haven't played STILL.
Flushing the camper/sprayers out is always a challenge too.
With a few hardware tweaks, I'm taking out more humans today!

This is cool. Thanks for your help!

[BIOMECH]

I've never played on redeemer servers, but a trick I picked up from UT2004 Invasion is to guide your nuke to the target from behind then above as often the monster will turn around and it's shot will miss as you fly upwards.Detonate as soon as the rocket is close enough to kill.

Kind of obvious, but it works on the AI and as such bots are probably vulnerable to it...