From this thread on AcmeCTF.com: http://www.acmectf.com/forum/index.php/topic,4224.0.html

“When it comes to in-game strategy, I’m known for making the worst decisions.  Don’t take my word for it? Ask Bonkers. Quake 2 is the only game I play, and I want to get better, if not to make games on AcmeCTF more fun, than just to kill more people on tastyspleen dm. I have questions that I have been googling answers to with no luck. I am going to own up to listening to Targets youtube videos while playing trying to understand strategy better.  Basically, I don’t have an uninterrupted series of Quake 2 learning stretching back to the golden days, and in between now and then, I smoked a lot of pot.  Sometimes in game I’m like a child who has wandered into an R rated movie with no conception of what  is happening.  It seems like Quake 2 has been trending away from a slower, more deliberate style of play that allowed for more thought to be put into the gameplay, towards a more kinetic movement and aim dominated focus.  I could spend forever getting better at aim and movement, and still not have what players like Target, Bonkers and The Cleaner have… the mental game!

I am asking for some help!  Here are some questions:

How do you toggle player id in the HUD? For example, if I am looking at Cleaner, I want it to say Cleaner above my crosshairs.

How do you spectate on tastyspleen, for example in dm or railz?

When you first spawn, what are the five or so first priorities? How do you order them? (get armor, get railgun, get to position, etc)

How do you weigh the importance of caution? What are the benefits of increasing caution and what are the risks?

When you double jump the crate in q2dm1, or the Edge CTF, what are you aiming for and how many times are you tapping jump?

Did you ever play on Chilean servers back in the day with air control?

How do you practice using sound to your advantage?

In FFA Dm and CTF, when sound is less of a factor due to higher number of players, do you collect all items and ammo to deprive opponent or not?  Only certain items?

If you’ve been playing continuously since the golden era, what are you thinking about in terms of moving your skills up?

How much mental energy do you spend on thinking versus moving and aiming?

Do you find yourself working patterns and do you see those patterns changing over time?

That’s it for now. Thanks in advance for any responses.” –Reefer

Housefly replied: “Good questions, I’ll take the first four:

How do you toggle player id in the HUD? For example, if I am looking at Cleaner, I want it to say Cleaner above my crosshairs.

Don’t believe you can. I only allow 2 brightskins for each team, male and female. One of the MANY great things about the kaching client was the ability to forceskins on certain players, so in a 10v10 game where i wanted to keep an eye on one or two players i could force a different brightskin on them.

How do you spectate on tastyspleen, for example in dm or railz?

observe or observer or spectator 1 doesn’t work?

When you first spawn, what are the five or so first priorities? How do you order them? (get armor, get railgun, get to position, etc)

All depends on the position you are playing, what is currently happening with the flags, where you spawned and what was happening when you died. If you mean the first spawn at the start of the game getting the techs is all that matters.

How do you weigh the importance of caution? What are the benefits of increasing caution and what are the risks?

I don’t use caution unless I have flag or a good tech.

Target replied:

“Team spec” and “observer 1” usually work on most servers. One or the other.

EDIT: The DM server doesn’t have spectator mode. It was never build in by iD when they made Q2 (from my understanding) but was incorporated with mods. CMIIW

Not sure about the railz server, but it might be the same thing

When you first spawn, what are the five or so first priorities? How do you order them? (get armor, get railgun, get to position, etc

This depends on what position you plan on playing, but most maps I go for armor first. I think that’s wrong, and I should be looking for techs, but I always seem to go for armor. Caco – YA. Clones – RA. Variations – YA if I spawn in base, Quad if I don’t (Sometimes if I spawn hyper I will grab YA and go enemy water for their Mega, maybe even grab flag). Bletey’s – depends on spawn. PS if in PS room, Chain and RA in chain room, quad anywhere else. Neuro is the only map where I go for PS first, and that’s because I think I am fast enough to get it over most other players. I will drop it for D if it’s someone good (and keep the 2nd for myself. Some games I just try to hoard all PS’s and can be quite annoying). Lust – Cluster at spawn. I have been going for YA and then checking Gren launcher/SSG for techs. If you have a map in particular, lemme know.

As far as other priorities, quad should always be first. If you aren’t getting quad, you should be helping.

How do you weigh the importance of caution? What are the benefits of increasing caution and what are the risks?

I may not be the best one to answer this. I sometimes run when I should fight, fight when I should run. Sometimes I chase FC when there is little chance to kill them, sometimes I go back to D when I could likely kill them. Although, again, I feel like I am fast enough that I can catch most players with the flag, so I chase often.

When you double jump the crate in q2dm1, or the Edge CTF, what are you aiming for and how many times are you tapping jump?

“The crate”? If you are talking near mega, the little box and the medium box (that has railgun on it). If I aim at the corner, I can jump to the medium box in one jump (it almost glitches to the medium box). Aimed at the same spot if I hit the jump again (fast) it will double jump to the tall box. Then you can do a little circle jump to mega. You can do a harder circle jump to YA (it’s pretty hard, and I can’t do it with any consistency like others can). You can also double jump the stairs (near blue chain) up to YA. It’s hard to do (and I mostly end up on the little box just below it) but it can help you cover ground while still having a weapon out.

EDIT: Check this out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxqYezKLgro

Did you ever play on Chilean servers back in the day with air control?

No.

How do you practice using sound to your advantage?

“Practice”? I don’t know that I ever practiced it. You can hear people (especially with head phones) and know where they are coming from. I sometimes hear people pick up railgun outside of red base in caco and shoot the left corner before they turn it. I am sure people have thought I cheated or spammed, but it’s timing.

I have got used to hearing players moan in game. You can tell if they are low and know to change weapons. I also notice if they have no armor when I shoot them (due to the color of their blood) and know to change as well.

In FFA Dm and CTF, when sound is less of a factor due to higher number of players, do you collect all items and ammo to deprive opponent or not?  Only certain items?

I make it a point on Bletey’s that I collect every pack of cells I see. I usually try to grab rockets & shards as well. I find 2 things ridiculous; 1) players who spawn in hallway and run into base without grabbing any shards and 2) when I run into enemy base after grabbing shards, having someone rail me to ~4-8HP and then try to 2nd rail me. I have grabbed Rocket Launch and killed defense who continue trying to rail me instead of switching weapons to finish me off. There is a machine gun in base. Use it.

I am always hoarding shit whenever I can. I may never use the shotgun, but I always pick it up (even just for the 10 extra shells for my SSG)

If you’ve been playing continuously since the golden era, what are you thinking about in terms of moving your skills up?

I have taken breaks here and there. I worked a long time on fundamentals. I am not that great at other mods, because I don’t know how players are going to react. In DM, they could go anywhere at any time for any reason. I mean, they are going to try to get items (Mega, Armor, etc) but in general there is no goals. In CTF they are going to go for flag, they are going to try to escape to save their tech, or they are chasing FC. I know where they are going, and how they plan on doing it, and I force them into shitty engagements. If someone is running around like an idiot, I can’t hit them with a rail. If they are grappling into my base 100mph, I will almost always hit them. I can predict where they are going, and tag them.

Also, I started playing RA2 a few years ago, and despite never playing it before, I did very well pretty fast. Not top notch by any means, but I was often first on my team. I think that really helped me with weapons and when to swap. People don’t play it as often, but if you see people on, you should try it a bit more.

Lastly, I spent a lot of time working on my grappling. I have a hard time grappling on my own server (if I want to check out something or just fuck around) because the timing is off (compared to 70 ping). Work on grapple and work on jumping. Jump mod could help (but it’s really hard)

How much mental energy do you spend on thinking versus moving and aiming?

I used to spend a lot of time thinking. Worrying about other players. I would have Amp and then see “x player” and consider if I should fight, or just run to get away with my tech. Now I #YOLO. I don’t give any shits. I don’t know if that’s made me a better or worse player, but I could have 10HP with Doc and still stay & fight. IDK if that answers your question…

Do you find yourself working patterns and do you see those patterns changing over time?

The only real difference is that I peek. This is more from playing CS. Like on clones, I will stand the bottom of hall and peek up top. If there is someone there I will shoot and then step back into mid before they can shoot back. I work corners better than your mom!

Other than that, the #1 one thing I can suggest is stacking up. Sometimes I notice people spawn in the enemy base on Clones, grab the flag, and make a run for it (where the enemy isn’t there). Why not wait for RA? Or 2x RA? Sometimes people are in a big hurry to get nowhere. If I spawn in enemy base, no one is around and the enemy _doesn’t_ have our flag, I will usually grab RL and wait for 2x armors before grabbing flag. I have gotten a few techs from unaware enemies grappling up for armor with no clue I was there.

Also, if you haven’t read it yet, I posted some tips in a thread in this same forum. It might be worth a read. If I didn’t answer your question, please rephrase and I will try again.

<3 Talgo