TDM Q&A thread

[haunted]

So... I got a pm 2 days ago asking for advice about duel strategies and once I looked at my inbox for a bit I realized that I've received a LOT of messages like this. So instead of me putting effort into another long/lengthy reply... I had an idea(this thread).

Something I'll address primarily:

Am I top tier? No.
Am I decent enough to be very familiar with the top tier mind-set? Yes.
Do I know everything? No, and if you think I'm wrong about something make your point and i'll happily admit that i'm wrong if it's the case. Anyone can take a stab at answering questions or contesting anything I say.

I think with all the interest and heated discussions that happen about tdm this thread could be fairly active, so I'll do my best to answer everything to the best of my abilities. My girlfriend just left for a little while so I also have some extra time on my hands(once I get a mouse I swear i'm going to play some q2...  ) This may also keep people busy opposed to talking trash all the time.

here are some categorized concepts of tdm(to maybe spark some questions..):

-movement; speed, jumps, predictability, little tricks, blending your aim and movement so they compliment each other, etc.
-methodical item collection and the properly timing these items
-altering your gameplay depending on your opponent
-map knowledge

but not limited to these of course. Ask anything you want; these concepts are just a few drops of water in the bucket. I don't even care if you ask me something like 'Under what circumstances are whiney ping excuses legit?'.... because I'll have a specific and detailed answer for that even.

[reaper]

I'd like to see a demo of a well played match with little mistakes from both sides, and analysis of the choices they made.

Also maybe some maps broken down with good angles, and possible timed shots.

I see Jehar (or someone else sorry) is doing commentary over the matches, which is a great idea.  I'd like to see more added to this to add a whole new dimension to the game.

 

[VaeVictis]

i have a really hard time overcoming good chain and rail >_> its annoying... you get those slower players who dont control a map very well, that just do these insane rail shots and fuck ya up nearly instantly whenever they see you and have chain and i have a really hard time winning against that... players like gaud and kyuss just piss me off with that kinda shit and even though im sure i can control a map better and out move both, they just break out that hitscan and im fucked :/ i know controlling weapons is a good strategy for this, but on rdm2 its kinda a pain to control one or both YA, rail, chain, rl, and mh all at the same time, usually i can get one or both YAs, the Mh, RL, and either RG or CG, but they get one of those and it fucks up that entire advantage i just had and they just aim whore the hell outa me, the situation just gets significantly worse on a map like ztn2dm3 where the weapons are very spread apart and usually if im in control i cant control all 3 main weapons AND the armors as well... wtf do i need to do to beat these kids into the ground???? -.-

oh and yeah, just cause you said something...
'Under what circumstances are whiney ping excuses legit?'

[|iR|Focalor]

'Under what circumstances are whiney ping excuses legit?'

When you lose.

[Arm0r]

'Under what circumstances are whiney ping excuses legit?'

When you lose.

god damnit Foc, almost spit water all over my computer.

[Arm0r]

One question id like to know is how to properly defend against a very superior railer, and when I say very I mean VERY...many duelist are rail heavy.

[Arm0r]

...
'Under what circumstances are whiney ping excuses legit?'

some excuses are legit but should never be bitched about or used...if you lost chances are it is your fault, learn from your mistakes rather than blame them on someone/something else (not talking specifcally about you, just in general)...and if the match was a fluke and you caught some bad luck you should have no trouble on the re-match.   In my experience a duelists worst enemy is his/her own emotions...if you succumb to anger, your play will suffer...if you let the person build a trend of killing you, the match will stay that way....good/bad games all rely on you.

[|iR|Focalor]

'Under what circumstances are whiney ping excuses legit?'

When you lose.

god damnit Foc, almost spit water all over my computer.

It's true. When I win, it's "GG". When I lose, it's "MY STUPID FUCKING PING!", and I beat the mouse like a drunk hick beats his kids. What, I thought everyone did that?

[haunted]

@reaper: that would be cool for sure.

@vae: When someone is much better at hitting long distance rails than other parts of their game it's usually from setting up advantageous rail angles habitually, although I'd have to observe the person to pass any judgment whatsoever. Before I read that you were referring to ztn3, my first thought was on dm1 that I'll point out just for informational purposes: at the top level of play you are most likely dead if you go for rail without mega/cg/backpack, on dm1.

hmmm... now that I think about it, I guess I have a nack for winning matches on rage against opponents with much better rail aim than I. This is probably due to me thinking that someone who keeps +backing me with rail at long distances is relying on a crutch. This crutch is using defense to force an approach from their opposition and using elementary rail angles to punish this approach.  Fortunately it's avoidable, first I need to point out a thing or two though..

Rage is very balanced in regard to locomotion; you can get to any part of the map you want, no matter where you are, fairly quick in 90% of all situations. This works for both pursuing and retreating, depending on who is in control...so someone who is very fast, and can recognize his opponent's location on the map fairly well, can retreat fairly well v. someone who is not trying to do these things... This can allow you to get many of the items you need and control how you want to approach if you're not in control. If I'm timing items with the gameclock and succeed with my approach and killing my opponent then I will spawn rape him if he spawns close to me. If he spawns in the rail room I'll know that I picked up rg 16 seconds ago and can get there within 3-4 seconds to intercept him from getting it / own him. It gives me a great deal of confidence to know exactly what my opponent is doing, and if he's using rg as a crutch then it helps you greatly with this in a lot of situations. Speaking of situations, it's all REALLY situational when you're referring to getting into your opponent's head. All I'm saying though is if he's owning you doing the same old thing chances are he's predictable with other things as well

I'm typing this as I read your post btw, so I didn't even read 'i know controlling weapons is a good strat for this', so it's good you recognize that... as for q2rdm2, it's a rail heavy map although somewhat balanced. Ask some more specific questions about it and i'll post on it tomorrow, like specify the situations I mean(I could some now but i've been chuggling wine as I respond to this so..)

Ping excuses are legit occasionally.. what circumstances? Map, opponent, and spawn. Lets say the map is dm1 and you're DaHanG(45-54 ping). Your opponent is manipulator with 9 ping(So glad kickero doesn't have 9 ping). Manipulator gets the best spawn on the map, dahang gets the worst. THIS is a PERFECTLY clear example of when ping excuses are legit. In the top level of play, dm1 *can* be won off the spawn basically....and add a good player with exceptional aim camping with 9 ping and you have quite the situation on your hands. For those of you that thing dahang would mop the floor with him in this situation... you're wrong. Which is why it's REALLY stupid and this ping excuse would be legit.

haha @ starting this post sober and ending 7 drinks deep.

[VaeVictis]

...
'Under what circumstances are whiney ping excuses legit?'

some excuses are legit but should never be bitched about or used...if you lost chances are it is your fault, learn from your mistakes rather than blame them on someone/something else (not talking specifcally about you, just in general)...and if the match was a fluke and you caught some bad luck you should have no trouble on the re-match.   In my experience a duelists worst enemy is his/her own emotions...if you succumb to anger, your play will suffer...if you let the person build a trend of killing you, the match will stay that way....good/bad games all rely on you.

problem is people take their win and run no one wants to ever rematch for that reason, they got lucky and dont want to risk a loss... and yes, your play depends entirely on you, but if your ping is wacky (too high, unstable, w/e) then when your headgame is perfect you can still miss those really needed shots that can cost you the game against a good opponent :/ i really dont even understand how playrs like damiah can own so hard with a high ping, i see his accuracies too and they aint pretty... wish i could get my headgame to that level... in usa, it seems with very few exceptions that the better players are just the players with much better aim and i would like to know how to overcome that without the ability to actually improve my aim :/

[reaper]

Damiah did say "spawn means nothing on dm1", but I don't agree with that..just because he has slick ways of retaking control, doesn't mean the opposition couldn't pressure him better.  He has lost to purri a few times like that.

[Arm0r]

...
'Under what circumstances are whiney ping excuses legit?'

some excuses are legit but should never be bitched about or used...if you lost chances are it is your fault, learn from your mistakes rather than blame them on someone/something else (not talking specifcally about you, just in general)...and if the match was a fluke and you caught some bad luck you should have no trouble on the re-match.   In my experience a duelists worst enemy is his/her own emotions...if you succumb to anger, your play will suffer...if you let the person build a trend of killing you, the match will stay that way....good/bad games all rely on you.

problem is people take their win and run no one wants to ever rematch for that reason, they got lucky and dont want to risk a loss... and yes, your play depends entirely on you, but if your ping is wacky (too high, unstable, w/e) then when your headgame is perfect you can still miss those really needed shots that can cost you the game against a good opponent :/ i really dont even understand how playrs like damiah can own so hard with a high ping, i see his accuracies too and they aint pretty... wish i could get my headgame to that level... in usa, it seems with very few exceptions that the better players are just the players with much better aim and i would like to know how to overcome that without the ability to actually improve my aim :/

'
well if they do take their win and leave just look at it as a  "to be continued"....chances are you will see this person again and you will get your win if you truley are able to beat the person.....1 game should never be an indication of skill, in fact vae, you said yourself "if it's skill you should be able to replicate it" which I totally agree with...just give it time and you usually get your rematch.

[VaeVictis]

...
'Under what circumstances are whiney ping excuses legit?'

some excuses are legit but should never be bitched about or used...if you lost chances are it is your fault, learn from your mistakes rather than blame them on someone/something else (not talking specifcally about you, just in general)...and if the match was a fluke and you caught some bad luck you should have no trouble on the re-match.   In my experience a duelists worst enemy is his/her own emotions...if you succumb to anger, your play will suffer...if you let the person build a trend of killing you, the match will stay that way....good/bad games all rely on you.

problem is people take their win and run no one wants to ever rematch for that reason, they got lucky and dont want to risk a loss... and yes, your play depends entirely on you, but if your ping is wacky (too high, unstable, w/e) then when your headgame is perfect you can still miss those really needed shots that can cost you the game against a good opponent :/ i really dont even understand how playrs like damiah can own so hard with a high ping, i see his accuracies too and they aint pretty... wish i could get my headgame to that level... in usa, it seems with very few exceptions that the better players are just the players with much better aim and i would like to know how to overcome that without the ability to actually improve my aim :/

'
well if they do take their win and leave just look at it as a  "to be continued"....chances are you will see this person again and you will get your win if you truley are able to beat the person.....1 game should never be an indication of skill, in fact vae, you said yourself "if it's skill you should be able to replicate it" which I totally agree with...just give it time and you usually get your rematch.

on that note, but completely unrelated to the thread, i beat slugs again it was pretty epic, but i dont feel like posting the demo cause there is a cup soon

[haunted]

Victories over slugs have nothing to do with this thread nor getting good at this game

[VaeVictis]

Victories over slugs have nothing to do with this thread nor getting good at this game

well fine, i have the hardest time dueling ztn2dm3, even harder when i cant rail on an off day... please explain how this map works, my control on the map isnt too shabby, its the fights that i end up losing, mostly due to accuracy deficiencies against good opponents