Help for the Cannon Fodder

[Storm_Shadow]

There are a good many of us (myself included) who have never played UT before but are going to give it a shot for the good of the community here. However, I've thus far found it quite unlike anything I've played before.

Would some of you grizzled veterans in the know be interested in helping out your stat pad targets by providing information for a guide (eg. UT3 for Dummies)? Specifically:

1) What are the different game play modes (and their abbreviations)?

2) What are some of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the different weapons?

Thanks!

[baconoclock]

I'll be watching this thread. I havent played ut2k4 for a long while, I am woefully out of practice and cant remember what half the vehicles/ weapons do!

[Apache Warrior]

I have never played much but, I think the most important thing is to constantly move. If you stop you are dead.
Apache

[{CLR} Naillik]

I have never played much but, I think the most important thing is to constantly move. If you stop you are dead.
Apache

yuppers. run around, and if you see someone, shoot em =D
Bunny hopping is good!

[fizbanrt]

Here is just a general concept, quick and dirty, of the weapons you'll encounter in the demo maps currently available. Others can feel free to elaborate on, or pick apart, what i've posted about the weapons. One of our resident grease monkies will need to go over the vehicles.


Game Types (in the demo)
DeathMatch (DM) - Free for all fragfest
Team DeathMatch (TDM) - Team-based frag fest
Vehicle Capture the Flag (vCTF) - Capture the flag, with vehicles.

Weapons
Impact Hammer - Melee weapon; charge it up by holding down primary fire. A full charge will splatter most people. Alt fire has an EMP function, haven't used it yet. You normally will spawn with this weapon available.

Enforcer - Standard issue sidearm. Fairly powerful, but low rate of fire. You can pickup two if you kill somebody else while their enforcer is out. Secondary fire is a "burst" shot, mainly for close combat. You normally will spawn with this weapon available.

Bio Rifle - Primary fire sends gobs of goo. Secondary fire lets you "charge up" a full glob, and it will generally take out full health and decently armored people if you get a direct hit. You can also use it to stick the goo to the enviroment for a short time, so if you're being chased you can lay down a "trap" of sorts in a door way or cooridor.

Shock Rifle - Hitscan Weapon. Can be effective at short or long range. Primary fire is a beam weapon, has a slight "push back" effect on those who are hit. Secondary fire sends a slower moving ball of energy. If you hit the ball with a primary fire hit, you will trigger a shock combo which will do a fairly substantial chunk of damage in the immediate area around the explosion.

Link Gun - Primary fire is a pulse weapon. Short to medium range under most circumstances. Long range is viable against stationary target, such as a vehicle. Secondray fire is a beam weapon. Secondary fire can be used to heal vehicles in vCTF. You can also "link up" with other people using secondary fire to increase the power behind the primary person (i.e. the one who is actually healing/dealing damage).

Stinger Minigun - Hitscan weapon. Primary fire is a, um, minigun. High rate of fire. Secondary fire is a slower rate of fire, single projectile with a harder punch. Also has a "push back" I believe.

Flak Cannon - Shot-gun like primary fire, sends flak shells in a cone. Secondary fire throws a molten ball of crap that will explode on contact with anything (yourself included). Can arc the fire of the flak ball. Mainly a short range weapon.

Rocket Launcher - Primary fire is a single fire rocket. Alt fire will spin up three rockets and then fire them in a fan shape. If you hold down primary fire at release, it will make the rockets spiral.

Sniper Rifle - Hitscan weapon. Hits hard, slow rate of fire. Use secondary to zoom, primary fire to take off peoples heads. Less use on a DM map, especially a small one. It CAN be used in close quarters, but it is definately not designed for it.

Redeemer - Portable nuke warhead. Primary fire is "fire and forget". Secondary fire allows you to guide the warhead (but your character remains a nice standing target). Will explode on impact, or in the case of secondary guidance, if you hit the primary fire key as well.

Longbow AVRiL - Anti-vehicle rocket. Fire and forget primary mode. Secondary fire will "lock on" to vehicles and act as a laser guide for the rocket.

Power-ups
Jump Boots - Increases your next three jumps. Press your jump key a second time after your initial jump to activate

Thigh Pads - Armor pickup

Armored Helmet - Armor pickup

Armor Vest - Armor pickup

Damage Amp - Increased damage for 30 seconds. Can be "knocked off" a player and picked up by another. Death or secondary fire on the impact hammer should do the trick

[CHOPS123]

Same here....Im still learning the weapons and map.....What the heck does the Impact hammer do? Do u ever use it? I found it impossible to snipe in these game....I wonder why they even put that weapon in? Also the bio gun seem kinda stupid. But I have had some fun so far...Had a few MEGA KILLS etc.....Also the Jump boots? Ive grabbed them but my jump seemed the same?

ps Thanks Fiz you posted while I was posting

[Starfire]

Vehicles present in demo(there are many more in retail version):

Tank: pretty self explanatory. Driver primary fire is, well, like a tank and secondary fire is zoom; don't know if there is a second seat but if so primary fire is machine gun.

Raptor: single seat; primary fire is plasma cannon, secondary fire is homing missles on vehicles.

Manta: single seat though possible to "hitch" a ride on top but supposedly not as many as in 2k4. Primary fire is plasma balls, secondary is crouch--at least on mine.

Hellbender: 2 seater; primary fire of driver is chains of shock balls that can be link-exploded with secondary fire; 2 person fires plasma balls I think.

Scorpion: single seat; primary fire lobs flak grenades and secondary fire opens blades on frontend to decapitate ground troups.

SPMA: 1 seater; primary and secondary fire as in hellbender; if you hit spacebar, it sets up as an artillery weapon===primary fire lobs up targeting camera that suspends in air; mouse moves targeting icon within the vision of camera while secondary fire brings about a dozen bombs covering the target area.

Hoverboard: built-in to your character on all vehicle-gametypes by hitting Q. While on hoverboard you can grapple onto friendly vehicles with primary fire to catch a faster ride. Only vehicle that you can ride and carry the flag????

Anyone with additions/corrections add for me.

[drunken_chef]

I have never played much but, I think the most important thing is to constantly move. If you stop you are dead.
Apache

yuppers. run around, and if you see someone, shoot em =D
Bunny hopping is good!

dodging is better. i am usually laughing the whole time i DM becaus eof all the hoppers.

[Storm_Shadow]

dodging is better. i am usually laughing the whole time i DM becaus eof all the hoppers.

Initial impressions have me tending to agree with you. I tried jumping a few times and.... *SPLAT* I'd get blown out of the air. The few times I actually saw the assailant long enough to know I was in trouble (before I died), I was dodging.

That I was also shooting (a lot) and hitting nothing need not be mentioned.

[PandaGod]

Yes but jumping can be good sometimes if you're near a wall so that you can jump off the wall too.

[CarbonFire]

Additions/changes.

For vehicles, you can change seats by hitting the number keys (1,2,3, etc).Each seat usually has its own weapon, though only seat 1 allows you to drive the vehicle.

You can't ride on the mantas wings anymore, the jets will suck you in (though you may be able to ride on top).

Raptor missles only lock onto other air vehicles, such as other raptors, Mantas, Cicadas and Furies. They still do damage in dumb-fire mode though. Note you have to have an air target already in your sights for the missles to lock on.

Hoverboard is great for fast movement, but you get incapacitated for a short time if you're hit by even a single bullet (you get knocked down). If you expect to be hit, its better to disengage the board and run on foot until you either deal with the threat or get behind cover. Also note you can hitch a ride on any vehicle, even Raptors (skysurfing ftw )

Hellbender 2nd seat is a plasma cannon (hitscan). In 2k4 this had either a quick shot or a charged shot. In UT3, I'm not sure the charged shot works anymore

Scorpions are GREAT for taking out Mantas and low-flying raptors. I think their primary fire might still home-in on nearby targets like it did in 2k4.

Link gun - so far I've been unsuccessful in trying to "link" with another person. Multiple people can heal the same target, but for some reason the linking thing has never worked for me in UT3

Stinger Minigun secondary fire can pin enemies to a nearby wall, like the crossbow from HL2.

Redeemer and Longbow AVRiL rockets can be shot down. If you see one, whip out your Stinger and make short work of it. Also note Raptor missles can lock onto incoming AVRiL missles as well.

AVRiL missles can lock onto any target of your choosing using the weapon's secondary fire painter. This can be done before you fire, or even after as the rocket is in the air (great for bypassing a hellbender's primary fire, or catching a raptor or manta off-guard)

[Rand{CLR}]

Vehicles present in demo(there are many more in retail version):

Tank: pretty self explanatory. Driver primary fire is, well, like a tank and secondary fire is zoom; don't know if there is a second seat but if so primary fire is machine gun.

There is a gunner seat; their secondary is zoom, as is the primary. They're called Goliaths, so if you see that name, it means "tank."

Manta: single seat though possible to "hitch" a ride on top but supposedly not as many as in 2k4. Primary fire is plasma balls, secondary is crouch--at least on mine.

Mantas are great for running folks over, and "pancaking" them. If you jump up (use space), and use the secondary, and time it just right, you can turn a player into a virtual pancake, which is great fun. Take a look at the graphics when you crouch: very cool air effects.

Hellbender: 2 seater; primary fire of driver is chains of shock balls that can be link-exploded with secondary fire; 2 person fires plasma balls I think.

The second seat is exactly like the third seat in UTk4. You can zoom in with the secondary, and use primary to fire laser charges. Hold for more powerful charges. Very powerful at full strength, and from a strategic position.

SPMA: 1 seater; primary and secondary fire as in hellbender; if you hit spacebar, it sets up as an artillery weapon===primary fire lobs up targeting camera that suspends in air; mouse moves targeting icon within the vision of camera while secondary fire brings about a dozen bombs covering the target area.

They added "hellfire" to the name, as in Hellfire SPMA. Newer folks may use both or either name. Vets will call them "Spammers." When launching the targeting camera, hit the button a second time when it gets where you want it to be to have it deploy. Try to get them in a place that is hard to spot but which allows you a view of target area. Takes practice.

There is something with this version that seems to change the size of the target icon; I think it's got some new function that may include tracking, or changing the size of the target area, but we don't know how to use it yet.

-Rand

[0r4ng1n4]

if you click 2 times with the rocket launcher after holding the alt-fire, it will throw 3 nades.

[Starfire]

if you click 2 times with the rocket launcher after holding the alt-fire, it will throw 3 nades.

Ooooh! Have to try that one

[{CLR} Naillik]

dodging is better. i am usually laughing the whole time i DM becaus eof all the hoppers.

Initial impressions have me tending to agree with you. I tried jumping a few times and.... *SPLAT* I'd get blown out of the air. The few times I actually saw the assailant long enough to know I was in trouble (before I died), I was dodging.

That I was also shooting (a lot) and hitting nothing need not be mentioned.

proabably because everyone's so used to people bunny hopping so they know the trick by now