HOW TO: Help your team in Strat - A guide for strat newbies

[Zero Angel]

Taking a noob into a strat is a pretty big risk for many Strat hosts (for various reasons, including team balancing and a certain troll who keeps changing his IP address), however newbies to strat can still occassionally get in, all it takes is persistence to establish yourself as a regular. That said, I would recommend very new players to play some MPI and deathmatch and get a decent handle on basic gameplay concepts before diving into strat, as there are many players in there that play at a very high level.

Also, NEVER do the following things unless you want to develop a bad name for yourself and get kicked from future strat games:
- Don't rejoin for ships
- Don't kamikaze into a team of multiple ships, the enemy's turrets, etc. Learn to play carefully and tactically.
- Don't team kill (causing a veteran teammate to lose their sniper rifle will be bad for you)
- Do not nag or berate your commander. Letting him know you need pods, chains, scavs, etc is fine. But most veteran coms are aware of their teams needs and do the best they can to balance that with getting resources and teching up.
- Be prepared to wait in the lobby and do not continuously nag the host to start. Many hosts require certain conditions to be fulfilled before they start the game, this typically means the game being filled to a certain minimum even number of players, each side having a commander and teams being properly balanced. I'm not gonna lie to you when I say that it's not unusual to sit 20 minutes in a lobby waiting for a game to fill up during slow times of the day or waiting for teams to be sorted.

That's pretty much it for basic strat etiquette. Follow those rules and other hosts will begin to recognize you as a player that is worthy of playing in their server.

[APCs r Evil]

Do not nag or berate your commander. Letting him know you need pods, chains, scavs, etc is fine. But most veteran coms are aware of their teams needs and do the best they can to balance that with getting resources and teching up.

That is a very important one. I also like to let the commander know when there are no pods on the bay, you never know when someone is going to come flying through at 0.5% with an enemy hot on his tail.

Three more to add:
- Never be immobile. Randomly push W, A, S, D and E while moving your mouse up and down when you're not actually moving somewhere, like when you're on the Service Bay or waiting for a weapon crate. You must always assume there is a sniper waiting for you to hold still for that split second. (This becomes a natural habit over time, I even do it when not playing against a human enemy, it even carries over into other games sometimes.)

- When you eventually get a fully teched-out vehicle, always assume there's an enemy pilot hanging around waiting to steal it, so don't get out of it. And whatever you do, don't get out of your full tech vehicle IN the enemy base. Someone did that to me with a full-tech, Blink equipped Warrior in a base FULL of enemy pilots once, I almost had a heart attack and he got demoted to Blink-less Scouts.

- Only use the Service Bay/Dower when time is not an issue. Pods are always faster, unless you have <10-20% damage.

[Zero Angel]

- Never be immobile. Randomly push W, A, S, D and E while moving your mouse up and down when you're not actually moving somewhere, like when you're on the Service Bay or waiting for a weapon crate. You must always assume there is a sniper waiting for you to hold still for that split second. (This becomes a natural habit over time, I even do it when not playing against a human enemy, it even carries over into other games sometimes.)

Indeed.

Most people learn that the hard way though, and that's fine. You can only get sniped so many times until you learn to constantly move your vehicle at all times -- thats why you see veteran players constantly jiggle their ships even when they are doing something as passive as healing on the bay or waiting for powerups. I personally am a decent sniper and noobs who stop even for a few seconds are my favorite source of free ships.

PRO TIP: It's possible to text chat while moving. Simply go in the direction you want to go, and while (still) holding your movement key, hit [enter] to start chatting and your ship will be on autopilot while you chat. If your ship gets stuck on autopilot, simply tap [esc] twice and your movement will be restored to normal.

[Col Klink]

I've played mostly IA's and some offline MPI and fair pretty well, but playing with other humans is very different in terms of game play. Vets could take some noobs under their wings to help get them some better online game experience. Noobs already have some experience with the AI it's the human aspect that we have problems overcoming. This kind of experience only comes with that kind of interaction with other humans otherwise what's the point playing online games? Any possibility of so called experienced players cutting some slack to less experienced players participate? Thanks.

[Zero Angel]

Everyone has had trouble getting into vet games, even I did in 2002 when I was a noob. You just have to keep trying it.

[Fulmen]

I've played mostly IA's and some offline MPI and fair pretty well, but playing with other humans is very different in terms of game play. Vets could take some noobs under their wings to help get them some better online game experience. Noobs already have some experience with the AI it's the human aspect that we have problems overcoming. This kind of experience only comes with that kind of interaction with other humans otherwise what's the point playing online games? Any possibility of so called experienced players cutting some slack to less experienced players participate? Thanks.

New players with a humble and mature attitude and the will to learn how to play well against other players are always welcome. Most of the time these days there aren't enough good players around to fill a 5v5 strat without a couple newbs thrown in.

[MrTwosheds]

The best way is to host your own, then you only have the problem of keeping the vets out...

Do not nag or berate your commander. Letting him know you need pods, chains, scavs, etc is fine. But most veteran coms are aware of their teams needs and do the best they can to balance that with getting resources and teching up.

Unfortunately there are a few "vets" around who don't seem to understand this, and nag, criticise and make abusive remarks to any commander who does not do exactly what they would do. There are also some extremely selfish players who think they are so good that they don't need to work as a team, they tend to get expensive very quickly and can actually cripple your sides advancement by wasting too many ships. 1.3 is not 1.2, pumping out empty scouts to keep a team on the field often fails as a strategy, due to their inability to "fly away" from trouble as they could in 1.2.

[Zero Angel]

Unfortunately there are a few "vets" around who don't seem to understand this, and nag, criticise and make abusive remarks to any commander who does not do exactly what they would do.

True. It's still a major faux pas though -- some people just cant control childlike emotions. I can't stand when people berate their commanders and yet rarely command themselves -- I know I can occassionally get upset at my commander's incompetence but at least I know that he is at least commanding, so I do not try to humiliate him for doing poorly. It is also a major motivator for me to command myself sometimes -- or thank a commander for doing well.

There are also some extremely selfish players who think they are so good that they don't need to work as a team, they tend to get expensive very quickly and can actually cripple your sides advancement by wasting too many ships. 1.3 is not 1.2, pumping out empty scouts to keep a team on the field often fails as a strategy, due to their inability to "fly away" from trouble as they could in 1.2.

The game dynamics of 1.3 have changed considerably when it comes to escaping. I know in 1.2 it was decently easy to escape combat. In fact if you immediately recognized you were in a bad situation (ie: an enemy ship firing laser at you), you could almost always escape by making a quick tactical decision, using the sides of cliffs to increase thrust when running parallel to them as well as use the air to escape from being surrounded. However now its much more difficult to escape if you are alone and get surprised by the enemy -- this means that 'sticking' is more important than ever just to keep your ship alive. When I first started playing 1.3, I died a LOT because I relied too much on fast running, ghosting, and flying. I could be a little bit of a 'one man army', flying through a group of enemies to distract them while my teammates pulled off a flanking attack on the group who now has their attention on me -- and playing with the 'newer' vets of 1.3 was a humbling experience cuz I thought I was hot **** in 1.2, yet constantly died because I escaped a little too late in 1.3. The downside to all of that though is that commanders must build more ships instead of more defense. I think that is equally as bothersome, at least from a commander's perspective.

[Ded10c]

When "stuck" in autpilot, it is far faster to simply press that directional key again as opposed to a double-escape.

[Sly]

Ego and common sense:

Many players (both new and old) possess egos. If you are a new player, I suggest you learn to control it and fast. When I was 14-17, I had an extremely big ego in the zone. I would also become defensive and rude when other players would point out my mistakes etc. Not only that, but I would become angry at other players when any rude remarks were said to me. There are many trolls in bz2 (myself included, although some are worse than others) who would love to make you angry for no particular reason. In game, I like to type on all chat frequently as if I am God himself, frequently making statements such as "GOD IM GOOD" and "WOW YOU SUCK SO MUCH GET A LIFE LMAO". I do this not because I really think I am the best, but simply to get into the enemy's head. So, if you are new, try to develop a thick skin. Some veteran players still have not shed their egos and are easily angered by the simplest of things, so try to learn the difference between joking around and actual anger. You should avoid contact with most of the *GEL* clan members, as they will frequently bash on newbies if they die. Why? Ego of course; no matter how old they become they will never be able to mature in the zone. I can't recall how many times I've seen the leader of their clan go berserk on a newer player simply because his team was losing (most of the time it's not even the newbies fault, he is just a scapegoat for anger release). Just ignore these players if they yell at you.

bz2 strats are fast paced (slower than in 1.2, but still fast). You may need a little time to adjust to all of the action, but just learn to keep an eye on the text chat, and don't respond to anger with more anger. Also note, ME USING CAPS LOCK DOESN'T indicate that I am raging (although some use it in this way) but that I simply want to get the team's attention.

[Red Spot]

...

To add to that. You'll see this in most games, though its a bit worse here, just see it as part of the fun and laugh about it. If you cant do it from the start you'll eventually learn to even apreciate the "ingame" flamewars

If you feel that you "have to" reply to some comment, dont. You'll give your foe exactly what he wants, wether thats that he wants you to take your hands of the cotrols or just agrevate you, he'll have the advantage if you give into it at that point. When for instance you're waiting for a new ship, that when you may take the 20sec to reply or make some statement of your own. Before you can fight your own battles you may want to add a few flames to NewKeys
"2 pods! .... No, I mean my own commander!"

[Col Klink]

In strat can the commander assign ships to other team members? I recall something like this quite a while back is it still ctrl F-num select unit and F-num?

[MrTwosheds]

Yes.
But it don't work for the player on f7 if you have a team of 5

[Col Klink]

Yes.
But it don't work for the player on f7 if you have a team of 5

Really? Is F7 reserved by the game itself and thanks.

[Red Spot]

I have this in my BZKeys file for years now and was under the assumption it did work, sure it doesnt?

Code: Select all

// Teammate selection
Bind("-shift -ctrl F10", "control.team.toggle1");
Bind("-shift -ctrl F9", "control.team.toggle2");
Bind("-shift -ctrl F8", "control.team.toggle3");
Bind("-shift -ctrl F7", "control.team.toggle4");

// Teammate send units
Bind("-shift +ctrl F10", "control.team.moveto1");
Bind("-shift +ctrl F9", "control.team.moveto2");
Bind("-shift +ctrl F8", "control.team.moveto3");
Bind("-shift +ctrl F7", "control.team.moveto4");

And the rest, that does work for commands.

Code: Select all

// RS-V: added key to select all grunts at once
Bind("-shift -ctrl F12", "control.team.toggle1");
Bind("-shift -ctrl F12", "control.team.toggle2");
Bind("-shift -ctrl F12", "control.team.toggle3");
Bind("-shift -ctrl F12", "control.team.toggle4");

// RS-V: added key to select all grunts minus commander at once
Bind("-shift -ctrl F11", "control.team.toggle2");
Bind("-shift -ctrl F11", "control.team.toggle3");
Bind("-shift -ctrl F11", "control.team.toggle4");

// RS-V: Teamcolor Keys
Bind("+ctrl 6", "game.teamcolors 0"); //No Teamcolors
Bind("+ctrl 7", "game.setgameprefscolors"); //Localpref colors
Bind("+ctrl 8", "game.setservercolors"); //Servers Localpref colors
Bind("+ctrl 9", "game.setdefaultcolors"); //Default teamcolors
Bind("+ctrl 0", "game.swapteamcolors"); //Swap Teamcolors