• Fisume's Xonotic CTF guide is another helpful one on how to be a good team player online.
  
• Halogene's Basic basics, or what I wish someone had told me half a year ago is a great example of me not RTFMing.
  

• First of all, there's an outside Wiki that has some very nice information that's not available yet in the official wiki. I've found it quite helpful. (See my discussion with Mr. Bougo about potentially porting the contents back to the official place.)
  
  
• Another great source is this forum itself. Well, you already know this since you are reading it.
  
  
• I actually learnd most of the things in the game from other players. A very special thank to -z- (and FireClaw and too many others to include) who warmly welcomed me and spent a lot of time answering my questions and showing me how to do things in the game.
  
  
• I heard that the QuakeNet IRC Network and freenode are where many experienced players hangout, but I haven't used IRC for more than 2 decades so I can't share much about it yet.
  
  
• -z- and other players had shared and exchanged a lot of valuable information in the Nexuis days. Much of it still applies to Xonotic.
  

• Ammo: There are only four types of ammo in the game: shells, bullets, cells (think battery cells), and rockets. Different weapons can share the same ammo. For example, both Motar and Hagar use rockets as their ammo. It wasn't obvious to me because in the other FPS that I played, each weapon has its own specific ammo. The wiki page on weapon lists all the weapons and their corresponding types of ammo.
  
• Tuba: See this thread about the details. I like the humor here a lot. It affects the projectile -- I take it means the tuba's high amplitude and low frequencies would bend the air space so much that bullets cannot fly straight through it.
  
• Weapon switching: When two or more weapons occupy the same shortcut, pressing the shortcut switches among them. (For example, Tuba and Laser both use "1" as the default hotkey.)
  
• When pressing the bind key of the weapon that I don't have yet, its location will show in the HUD. (tip from -z-)
  
• Remember to try the secondary fire on weapons (tip from -z-)
  
• When other players start making sounds of pain, it means they are almost dead. Attack! (tip from -z-)
  
• When using Mortar, aim at the enemy's feet. It's mentioned in Halogene's Newbie Corner, but I didn't quite understand why. -z- and Freat explained to me that, ideally, I want the rockets to directly hit the enemy body, but since I don't aim well, by shooting the rockets toward the enemy's feet, even if I miss the feet, the rockets will explode on the nearby ground, still causing damage. -z- also recommends comboing, with an alt fire Mortar followed by a primary fire, to create more damage.
  
• Hook: @Splat showed me that you can shoot the hook at another player and drag that player around. That player can then use the laser to shoot at you to untie it.
  

• Buffs are relatively new so they are still changing. Mario provided this doc for the SMB mod.
  

• The 6 icons in the spectate mode are useful to see what keys other players are pressing. See the picture for what they stand for. (thanks @Skiddzie)
  
    spec_icons.png (Size: 114.42 KB / Downloads: 421)
  
• I had problem knowing which team I belong to in the beginning of the game, especially when the scoreboard has too many players. @sev pointed out that the info is right on the HUD.
  
  

• To climb a ladder, look up and go forward. I had tried jumping frenetically in vain.
  
• I noticed most players just keep holding the jumping key most of the time.
  
• -z- showed me how he uses laser to gain speed, with 3 very fast actions in a row: turn back, shoot on the wall (or the ground) in the back, and then turn forward again to continue. He uses this to outrun other players to compete for, say, a Mega Health item.
  
• One gets a bit of speed burst when doing a little turn and jump from a stopped position. (tip from -z-)
  
• Sl@va showed me to use the console command "slowmo 0.5" to practice movement at a slower speed. Super helpful!
  
• Gandalf showed me that an effective strafe movement requires smooth mouse movements. I was turning my mouse abruptly and that slowed me down.
  
  

• In CTF, you can laser shoot a dropped flag from under the surface. The impact of the laser will throw the flag up into the air. This is particularly useful when your flag is on the edge of some surface and you want to return it to the base by dropping it into the void.
  
• When you shoot your hook onto a wall, turn the mouse so that you don't face the hook itself -- instead, keep an angle between the hook/chain and the front view. For example, if I shoot my hook to a wall on my northeast, I want to face and move toward north. In practice, one shoots the hook to the northeast wall, let go of it, and then shoots the hook to the northwest wall, let go of it, and then shoots again on another wall on the northeast, while moving north.
  
• @Luigi also gave me a practice tip: shoot the hook at some high and thin tower, and practice moving around the tower by changing the front facing direction (by combing the mouse and the strafe keys).
  
• When landing, shoot the hook slightly in front of the landing point. That pulling keeps one fast and low.
  
• However, when using the hook to gain speed, remember to let go of the hook immediately. Otherwise, it slows one down. @Luigi described it as a .0000001-second hooking. In practice, his fast movement consists of jumping and many many 0000001-second hooking. The important part is to let go of the hook immediately.
  

• -z- recommends sharpening one's skill with a game of just two players. It's a more purer environment to establish one's hiding, moving, defending, and attacking strategies.
  

• f4cing_worlds is a map remixed by -z- in Nexuiz days. It has 4 bases. When I played this map, there were only two teams, so each team has two bases to protect, and the enemy has two bases to steal from. I was very confused when I was watching the flag and my team kept scoring somewhere else. (thanks, -z-)
  
• gasoline_powered_3team is a map for a 3-team CTF in Xonotic. (thanks, -z-)
  

• -z- recommends keeping the health and the armor at least above 100 at all times. They can go up to 200 so whenever possible, stock up. He priorotize armor over health if he has at least 50 health points. For me, I deinitely need to have more than 50 to survive any encounter.
  
• -z- suggested that I think about how I move in a map. Move towards to an item that I want to have and don't want my enemy to have.
  
• Crouching and moving side-to-side is a good way to distract other players and make it harder for them to hit me. (tip from -z-)
  

• To call a vote, use the console command 'vhelp' to learn about various voting options.
  
• In chat, I can use TAB to autocomplete a player's ID. For example, if I type "-" and hit TAB, it'll become "-z-" (if he's in the game).
  
• The game stats website is a good place to see the history of each server, each game, and each player.
  
• BlaXpirit's Console Tips & Tricks has some advanced info on console commands.
  

(04-02-2015, 08:37 PM)BuddyFriendGuy Wrote: [*]-z- pointed out some info written by the Nexiuz community still applies to Xonotic.

(04-02-2015, 08:37 PM)BuddyFriendGuy Wrote: [*]In a 4-way CTF map with two teams, each team has two bases to protect, and the enemy has two bases to steal from. I was very confused when I was watching the flag and my team kept scoring somewhere else.

(04-02-2015, 08:37 PM)BuddyFriendGuy Wrote: [*]-z- recommends the Arena mode to really learn. It's a more purer environment to establish one's hiding, moving, defending, and attacking strategies.

(04-03-2015, 06:51 AM)GoregeousGuy Wrote: I would also recommend you to learn trickjumps, there are ramps and tiny platforms on almost every map, that can lead to to a special item very fast or that help you escape from an enemy.

(04-03-2015, 06:29 AM)Halogene Wrote: You might want to check out the Newbie Corner?

(04-03-2015, 11:38 AM)-z- Wrote: As Halogene mentioned, the Newbie Corner is a great guide but I think it's important that we also understand the organic experience of learning as not every player will start out there... or even want to read all that before playing.

...

I think this is a great post and it can get us thinking about outreach and education a bit differently.

(04-03-2015, 11:38 AM)-z- Wrote: All that said, I just want to make a few corrections.

(04-03-2015, 11:38 AM)-z- Wrote:

(04-02-2015, 08:37 PM)BuddyFriendGuy Wrote: [*]-z- recommends the Arena mode to really learn. It's a more purer environment to establish one's hiding, moving, defending, and attacking strategies.

Duel* a 1v1. There are two types of popular Arena modes on the servers, Clan Arena (CA) and Weapon Arena (WA). The are similar in the fact that you are given all weapons at start. In CA it's round based TDM where when you die, you're dead for that round. WA is DM with all weapons, kind of like warm up mode.

• Assult
  
• Capture the Flag
  
• Clan Arena
  
• Deathmatch
  
• Domination
  
• Freeze Tag
  
• Keepaway
  
• Key Hunt
  
• Last Man Standing
  
• Nexball
  
• Onslaught
  
• Race CTS
  
• Team Deathmatch
  

(04-03-2015, 11:38 AM)-z- Wrote: By the way, I'm a male .

(04-03-2015, 11:38 AM)-z- Wrote: One thing Nexuiz had that was great was a tutorial map. I would like to organize an effort to revamp / rethink that for Xonotic. In addition a server-based map where players can learn and train together I think could help. I have some plans for this from NN's dojo I can post in another thread (not to hijack this one).

• a map to practice just laser shooting (provide nothing but the laser)
  
• a map for just the secondary fire of Shotgun (I guess by providing no bullets) to force players to practice melee
  
• a map to practice guiding for Rocket Launcher (by putting the player in a closed glass space with a small window, through which the player must learn to guide the rocket in order to hit the target, which is not directly in front of the window opening)
  
• a map to practice shooting while operating the jetpack
  
• etc.
  

• have been removed from the game (Arena, Rune)
  
• hidden in the menu as they will be removed soon (Race)
  
• hidden in the menu as they are not 100% finished yet (Invasion)
  

(04-04-2015, 04:17 AM)Mirio Wrote: The wiki is not always up-to-date, because the game is changing quite a lot of course and someone has to find the time to maintain it.

(04-04-2015, 04:17 AM)Mirio Wrote: Some modes..

• have been removed from the game (Arena, Rune)
  
• hidden in the menu as they will be removed soon (Race)
  
• hidden in the menu as they are not 100% finished yet (Invasion)
  

I'm not sure about the status of Conquest at all (a newer gamemode as well).

• Besides reading map data, can the code read other files?
  
• Besides writing into ~/.xonotic/data/data/maps/autogenerated/*.mapinfo
  can the code write to somewhere else?
  
• Does the engine/compiler sanitize the paths (or even symlinks)?
  
• Can the code send arbitrary data back to the server or anywhere?
  

(04-06-2015, 11:53 AM)Pendulla Wrote: Sweet mother of mercy, how many questions are you capable of asking in a short period of time.....

(04-06-2015, 11:53 AM)Pendulla Wrote: Welcome dude

(04-06-2015, 02:03 AM)BuddyFriendGuy Wrote: Also, is there any security concern when we run code downloaded from the server? For example:

• Besides reading map data, can the code read other files?
  
• Besides writing into ~/.xonotic/data/data/maps/autogenerated/*.mapinfo
  can the code write to somewhere else?
  
• Does the engine/compiler sanitize the paths (or even symlinks)?
  
• Can the code send arbitrary data back to the server or anywhere?
  

1. impulse255 kindly pointed me to my next area of improvement, when we were playing on my favorite map, revdm3. S/he observed that I'm pretty good at movement and map control, thus showing quite good defensive skills, but my offensive skills are surprising lacking. I was encouraged to familiarize myself with combo attack. These are the tips I learned:
   
   • Conceptually, the most import thing for me to realize is waiting for weapons to reload/recharge is a waste. It's not only a time waste but also an opportunity waste; plus, it increases the risks.
     
   • I already have keybinds to individual weapons (and dedicated keys for different combos), but I learned that I should probably just switch to each individual weapon by their kieys and build that muscle memory, rather than rely on "combo" keybinds.
     
   • Consider lower the mouse sensitivity for vortex. I never did this because it changes sensitity settings for other weapons and movement as well. impulse255 mentioned that somebody bound key to switch to vortex to also change the sensitivity setting. That is very clever. I am going to give that a try.
     
2. When I said I needed a break because my wrist hurt, nAnXiety prompted me to look up Ron Rambo Kim's video. It turned out to be very helpful.
   
   
   

(10-09-2020, 12:15 PM)Antibody Wrote: Be careful of the hackability that Xonotic affords. You'll get spoiled and will have a hard time playing other games!