Any tips for a newbie?

[NovaFlame]

I havent been able to play much and Ive only played a couple times. Im starting to get better but does anyone have any tips/tricks i should follow. thanks in advance.

[vibes]

Practice Practice Practice

Armor Armor Armor

From one n00b to another   

Peace

[NovaFlame]

Alright thanks for the tip seeyah online.

[myamagical]

Play a lot & practice. This way, you learn all sorts of maps and how to use the weapons properly > which ones are the most effective and in what kind of situation. For example, you don't want to be using a rocket launcher when you have 20 health points because you may blow yourself (and your opponent if you're lucky) up.

Also, if you ask for help while you're on a server, people will help you out. For example, a simple question like: "how did you do that jump?" will allow you to learn a lot of neat jumps and other nifty tricks! (This usually works best when there's only a few people on the server or just you and the semi-pro player) Or, you could contact someone outside of the game and meet up on an empty server to practice.

I suggest for you play FFA to work on your aim and then establish the technique of switching between weapons, example: rail > supershot gun/chain. example: bind shift "use blaster; use shotgun; use machinegun; use hyperblaster; use super shotgun; use chaingun"

Additionally, some people are always willing to help new players improve their game by making tweaks to their config/quake 2 settings. (I am not one of these people. I just stick with whatever settings people suggest me to use and if I like it I keep it.)

[The Dreaming Dragon]

http://www.fileplanet.com/35414/30000/fileinfo/Eraser-Bot-1.01-(FINAL!)

The Eraser-bot. You can practise with these on the standard maps until you get a feel for the weapons and where the powerups are located and such.And you can turn off their snide comments too.Things are sometimes different in the tastyspleen maps,but getting a general idea of where things are and how the guns function will help you a lot.

(get my skin too!)

http://tastyspleen.net/quake/forums/index.php?topic=270.0

[X'tyfe]

the eraser bot is far from a real players skill. there pretty stupid they just dont make the kind of movements a real player would
you really wouldnt be learning much from them. theres such a difference between players skill and style
the bots are pretty mucht he same for the most part

[Punk_FAS]

Setup is very very important IMO.  You need to have your keys properly setup, left mouse fire, right mouse jump, etc.  And a good mouse and mouse pad helps a lot.  Mainly though, practice is the #1 ingredient to improving.

[daelmun]

Also have good visual settings, so the maps aren't too dark.

gl_modulate
vid_gamma
intensity

NB: remember to type vid_restart in console after changing any of these settings!


And another good way of learning how to play is watching demos or spectating good players on servers some, just to get the idea what the game is all about.

Being a newbie is damn fun though, so much to learn and a lot of stuff that will make you go "wow!"

[[BTF]Gator]

Learn strategy, sound, aim, and jumping.

My play tends to migrate towards mutant and the stock dm maps, but its pretty much the same for all maps.

Strategy:

Spawn, grab nearest gun and find some armor, then try to grab mega and any other guns in between, then grab Red armor or more armor, finally i look for the best gun for the map.  Once built up properly, it is difficult to be taken down.  Try to control all the armor and power ups on the map.  Even if weak, grab the powershield.  If you die, at least you dont allow it in the possession of your opponents.  Things you really dont want in your opponents hands above all others: invinciibilty, power shield, quad.

When stepping of the spawn, take in your surroundings.  The first thing i take in, is what opponents are around, and what guns are in thier hands.  You need to see if anyone around has the rail in thier hands.  This will dictate how you move.  Never run in a straight line, it makes you extremely easy prey.  Once off the spawn, if nobody has a rail make haste for a gun/armor.  If someone does have a railgun, prepare to take the time to do the dance of death until you have cover or get around a corner.  The rail has a long firing rate, so it gives you lots of time to move, then dodge.  A great tactic with the rail is to run in a straight line unitl about .5 seconds before it can fire, then reverse direction.  They almost always miss, in fact you can do this almost all day even with some better players and not get hit.  Then get around a corner and carry on with your mission.

Example: DM3 spawn at mg.  Run to rail, run to mega, run to yellow armor, jump to rl, rjump to invincibilty, grab quad, then continue to control the yellow armor and mega while also grabbing the hyperblaster and supershotgun.  The gl is nice for removing mega lovers.

DM1 spawn at lower rl, run gor mega room ya, mega, lower ya, rl, ss, chain, then control the mega room.  Dont ever bother going after the rail on DM1 by choice if you can grab the mega and get control of the mega room.  Once in control of the mega room, you can control the entire map.  People will bring you any other guns you want(rail)

DM2 spawn at shotgun, grab ra/rail/bfg, go for mega gathering ss.  quad, red armor, then continue to control the mega and red armor from the elevetor.  Maximum fph can also come from keeping control of the rocket launcher.  Depends on the players on the server.  If people are just playing "lemmings of death" at the rocket launcher, it will easier to rack up a score just sitting on the ledge by the rl picking them off in air or landing at rl or in the water.  Usually the number of players on the map determines how this map will go.  More then six people and it tends to migrate to the rl.  Six or less and it tends to migrate to the ra/elevator.

DM4 BFG, BFG, BFG.  LOL.

DM5 spawn at gl, grab mega, grab quad, grab rail, grab chain or ss depending on sound, control mega and red armor from there out.  Most importantly control red armor, then quad, then mega.

DM6 Red armor, rail, SS, quad, repeat.  Control ra/ya.

DM7 Red armor, rl, ra, ra, ra, ra.

DM8 ya, rail, powerups, rl, chain, control powerups and listen for where the fights are.


Sound:

Each map has its own unique sounds.  Basically, we are listening for direction, and timing of jumps and pickups.  With headphones, you will always know exactly where every player on the map is (up to about four to six players for my brain, beyond that i lose placement.  Notice i prefer to play six or less people. ).  So with sound you are of course listening for direction, but the clicks of pickups and jump sounds tend to give away thier exact location and what weapons they are likely carrying.  Most importantly, sounds allow you to set up shots to catch people before they can see you.  You know where they are, but hopefully they dont know where you are.  So you can catch people coming out of doorways, around corners, and out of elevators with rockets and rails, or ss.  Basically, dont just run in a forward motion without knowing what is around the corner you are approaching.  If you know you arent built up and someone is there, best choose another path.  Most maps have three or four routes that people take.  Like deer trails basically.


Aim:

different weapons need different lead time.  You paint your target with the chaingun.  If 90 degrees from your target, dont fire at them cuz you will miss.  Lead your targets.  Also, in battle, it is important to orient your position from your opponent.  i prefer to stay at a 45 degree angle from my opponents. NEVER directly in front of them.  i dont like to be 90 degrees from them either because it makes them harder to hit.  They will be trying to dodge you, so thier direction changes will be larger at 90 degrees then 45 degrees.  Being at 45 degrees from them reduces the changes in direction they are trying to make.  Your accuracy will improve by using this tactic.  Many less missed shots.

Jumping skills:

i am the worst jumper in all of q2.  i have nothing to give here.  Talk to experienced players like daeulmun.

There is plenty of info already posted here on the forums.  Locate it, read it.  Then practice, and take some time to spec people.  Especially if you see someone cry hack about someone.  That usually means it is an experienced person and the other person doesnt understand how this person is doing something.  Spec them and find out what that is.  i learned more and faster from spectating good players like zandar and nebulous.  See how they react to sounds.

Good luck and welcome to the community.

[The Dreaming Dragon]

The Eraser bot will give this guy something to do as he learns the maps and the weapons.

Being repeatedly spawn fragged and camped may be made a little more bearable if the new player has some idea of where to go and what to shoot with.

[BadBrent]

Also, if you see this guy named adrenaline around on TastySpleen, calling him a fuckface automatically gives you skills.

[haunted]

i have jump bound to space and I think i jump fine.. soo it doesn't necesarily have to be bound to mouse2

[NovaFlame]

Alright guys thanks for all the tips. I find jumping not so much helps to aim (since I used to jump all the time) and that when in a fight (especially with rails) take cover behind a wall then jump back out and kill the person.

[[BTF]EyEsTrAiN]

I think sound knowlege is one of the best skills to learn. It goes hand in hand with map knowledge. For example, say you are on dm1, if at any time you hear a small health pick up, they MUST be down by the rail water pool as that is the only place in the map the small health packs are at. Same with the armor shards, if you hear that pickup, there are only two places the opponent could be, by the hyperblaster shards or by the mega shards. A person with good sound skills coupled with map knowledge is force to be reckoned with as it will almost seem as if they are walling you to find where you are. There has been a few times where people have called me a waller just cause I can distinguish what sounds come from where on a map. It works better when there are small amounts of people playing a map. When you get into larger amounts of people (IE vanilla), best advise is to watch your back. Know what's behind you as well as what's ahead. Don't be afraid to spam rockets at an entrance or high traffic area. For aiming, I find it easier to let the opponent jump into your crosshairs instead of trying to place them on him. Keep it steady and let them do the work for you. Every weapon has a use, fire your rockets at peoples feet to bounce them around, pull out a super shotgun to throw off someones aim. Evasion is another good one. One of the easiest things to do if someone is chasing you is while still facing forward, start backpeddling. In seeing your back facing them, most will assume you are continuing your forward momentum.  A well timed jump and they will run right under you giving their back as a most inviting target. Never follow a pattern, if you find yourself doing this, try to change it up. Like if you have a habit of strafing left after a railshot, then going right for a follow up shot, people will pick up on this and be ready. Maybe instead of going back to the right, keep going left. Be sneaky. Sometimes even jumping in place will throw people off. They expect you to jump to the right so they have their crosshair waiting for where you would land. Good luck and have fun in your future quake endeavors.   

[NovaFlame]

I think sound knowlege is one of the best skills to learn. It goes hand in hand with map knowledge. For example, say you are on dm1, if at any time you hear a small health pick up, they MUST be down by the rail water pool as that is the only place in the map the small health packs are at. Same with the armor shards, if you hear that pickup, there are only two places the opponent could be, by the hyperblaster shards or by the mega shards. A person with good sound skills coupled with map knowledge is force to be reckoned with as it will almost seem as if they are walling you to find where you are. There has been a few times where people have called me a waller just cause I can distinguish what sounds come from where on a map. It works better when there are small amounts of people playing a map. When you get into larger amounts of people (IE vanilla), best advise is to watch your back. Know what's behind you as well as what's ahead. Don't be afraid to spam rockets at an entrance or high traffic area. For aiming, I find it easier to let the opponent jump into your crosshairs instead of trying to place them on him. Keep it steady and let them do the work for you. Every weapon has a use, fire your rockets at peoples feet to bounce them around, pull out a super shotgun to throw off someones aim. Evasion is another good one. One of the easiest things to do if someone is chasing you is while still facing forward, start backpeddling. In seeing your back facing them, most will assume you are continuing your forward momentum.