The Cost of Death by CTFCountryClub’s Easter Bunny
Death For Newbies
Newbie Fragged Over & Over!
When I started playing Quake2 CTF & DM, one of things that took me a while to learn was that getting killed was not as bad as it felt. I would hide, and yes sometimes I would camp in the shadows while playing DM. I wasn’t doing it to be sneaky, I was doing it because I was scared of getting fragged. (course later on I did do it to be sneaky). There were all these guys running around and they weren’t like those computer generated opponents at all. These opponents had brains, speed, agility and looked damn scary. Coming out of the shadows to confront these beings usually resulted with me either surrounding the nearby walls with panic fire or running into the lava while trying to dodge and shoot. I’m sure I was very entertaining to the other marines.
Fragged Newbie Comes Back Over & Over
After getting killed over and over, something began to change. Getting killed started to become a normal course of events. Soon I didn’t care if I died. I stopped shooting at walls and actually started to give the enemy a good fight. I became more concerned with concentrating my fire on my enemies than staying alive. I learned to put up a fight even when I knew I was probably going to die. After that I started to learn the moves. You can’t become good if you don’t practice. If you are constantly avoiding hard fights, the only thing you are practicing is avoiding fights.
Easter Bunny Starts to Get a Clue
In most other games getting killed usually has very dire consequences and penalties. In Quake2, you are expected to die… a lot. The only penalties are you lose whatever good stuff you had and whatever goal you were working towards is temporarily interrupted.You get off easy in Quake2. It is a game that says, “Hey! pick up that puny blaster, shake it off, and get your ass back in there.”
Quake 2 – A Game of Death Galore
In Quake2 death is a normal event for everybody. That’s why there are all those respawn platforms. Even the best players get killed, but they don’t care. They aren’t concerned about dying, they are concerned about winning. Dying and winning are not mutually exclusive. Dying to a seasoned vet is an inconvenience, not a failure. I have won many matches where I was the one that died the most. Dying doesn’t matter, killing does.
Death For CTF
Try to Choose Where and When you will Die
One of the things you have to learn in Quake2 is how to make a plan with your death in mind. By this I mean you have to be able assess your situation and plan a course of action. If you have full armor, the RL, a pack full of rockets and full health, you know that, before you die, you’re probably going turn a whole bunch of enemy marines into spattered watermelons. In this lucky scenario, you can have a plan that requires longevity, such as running all the away to the other side of a crowded game to provide some escort support. On the other hand… if you’re down to 5 health, have no armor and you are on a crowded server, you pretty much know you’re a double digit midget to a respawn visit. In this case you know when you’re going to die… soon. Now develop a plan including where and how and why. An example of a plan in this scenario might be: If you are in or near the enemy base grab all the resources so that they are not available to the enemy. When you finally meet your maker don’t run, fight. If you run you will almost always die immediately. If you fight you are probably still going to die, but at least you’re going to get some licks in. There have been many times where I was fragged by some guy/gal but was still able to kill him/her soon after respawning because I had already brought down his/her health from my previous hits.
Die for your Colors! The CTF Perspective
CTF is very different from a deathmatch game. It’s all about teamwork. Your life as individual is not the highest priority. The highest priority is winning as a team. If you are escorting a runner and a rocket is coming in, you had better be prepared to take it for him/her. If you are 5 health points away from a respawn ride, be prepared to give all your ammo to someone that needs it. You can’t win a game by yourself, it takes everyone to do their part to win.
The Cost of Death
That said, one thing that has to be determined during a CTF game is the value of your life and the cost of your death. If you have the hyperblaster, the time accelerator, full armor, a backpack full of ammo and full health… you are one of the most valuable players on the board. Valuable enough to have an escort. You don’t have to have the flag to deserve an escort. In big games those techs need to be guarded. These guys can determine if your team wins, especially if they are playing defense for your team. The value of someone like this is high and the cost of death would be very high if your team lost the tech to the other side. On the other hand, someone with the machine gun, moderate heath, no armor and no tech, has a cost of death that is relatively low. The highest price of the death would be the loss of support for an operation such as defense. But you can make up for this cost simply by running back to the base and picking up a machine gun on the way. Of course the more critical the operation the higher the cost. Even a marine with no armor, poor health and a blaster can have a very high cost of death if he/she is the only one left guarding the flag or is the one running the flag. So when you’re playing a game keep these things in mind. Guarding and dying for the guy carrying the flag might be something you’re already doing, but what about the other valuable players? Are you guarding that guy with the tech and hyperblaster? Are your teammates watching your back when you have the power shield, deflector, 50 rockets and the RL? Constantly be aware of the cost of your teammate’s death.
Donde Quake 2? 