My Xonotic Journey (things I learn as a newbie)

Hi all,

What am I trying to do?

I'm using this thread to keep a list of things I (as a newbie player to Xonotic) learn about this game from various sources, including other generous players, folks in this forum, the internet, etc. I had only played one other FPS game (World of Padman) before, and have found that, many things that are obvious to experienced players, may not be so for me.

The idea is: the process of documenting my journey as a newbie may be helpful for the official documentation.

I'll probably write a new post to this thread here whenever I learn something new, but I'll try to edit this first post of the thread to include new information for your convenience.

There is the excellent Halogene's Newbie Corner, and it contains a ton of very useful information for a beginner to become a better player. Here I'm listing things that's either not in Halogene's guide or is misread by me (and is probably going to be misread by other beginners). I don't intend to replicate the existing documentation out there, but I'm sure there will be some overlap.

By the way, two other guides you shouldn't miss:

• 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.
  

Hopefully at some point, these pieces of information can end up being included in the Wiki.

Where did I learn various things?

• 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.
  

Weapons

• 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.
  

Items

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

HUD

• 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.
  
  

Movement

• 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.
  
  

Hooking Techniques

@Luigi kindly and patiently showed me these tips and techniques on his server. It was very illuminating!

• 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.
  

Game Modes

• -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.
  

Specific Maps

• 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-)
  

General Game Playing Tips

• -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-)
  

Recording Gameplay

I found it very educational to record the gameplay for later reviewing. The best way for me so far, is to record all games as a demo file, and if there's a publish need, convert the demo into a common video format.

To automatically record every game play: Multiplayer -> Demos -> Auto record demos.
   

You can play the demos in this same menu. The demo files are relatively small (a 10-minute game produces a 5MB file for me). This wiki article has details on where the files go and how to convert them to common video formats.

Antibody also writes a blog post about compiling highlights.


Other Tips

• 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.
  

You might want to check out the Newbie Corner?

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.

Hey BuddyFriendGuy,

I think this post is an interesting take on the process of learning about the game mechanics and various features.

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.

All that said, I just want to make a few corrections.

[*]-z- pointed out some info written by the Nexiuz community still applies to Xonotic.

This was actually just a sub-community I ran with other players who enjoyed playing the game in a specific way. The old Nexuiz forums can be found archived at alienTRAP

[*]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.

This was actually in regards to a specific map, f4cing_worlds. One I remixed during the Nexuiz days prior to more than 2 team CTF existing. Xonotic now supports more than 2 team CTF, example being gasoline_powered_3team.

[*]-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.


By the way, I'm a male .


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

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).

Keep up the good work, glad to have you here in our community.

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.

Thank you. It is tricky, like its name. I've seen other players jumping super high while I got killed in my third attempt. I'm working on that.

You might want to check out the Newbie Corner?

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.

That is indeed a great guide! I did check out Halogene' guide and I am still learning from it. The things I list here are either not covered in that guide, or if they are, I must have misread them. I edited my post to clarify that.

I think that guide is excellent for beginners to become better players. However, I think we still need a basic game manual that explains, say, every single element in the HUD (say, what's pl in the scoreboard?), or even tells me that the watery thingy will harm me. I just added to my post that when I see a ladder, I need to look up and go forward; I had tried jumping frenetically.

All that said, I just want to make a few corrections.

Thank you! I corrected some of them in my post.

[*]-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.

(Were you trying to say "Duel is a 1v1"?)

Need some clarification here. I was looking for a "Duel" or a "1v1" mode in the game mode section of the Wiki, and only found two modes that are for two people: "Arena" and "1v1 Duel"; then I tried to find them in my Multiplayer->Create menu->Gametype, I can't see them. I only see:

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

Are Duel (or 1v1), or Weapon Arena just specific server configurations on Deathmatch?

By the way, I'm a male .

Corrected that, too.

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).

I'm not a good mapper; heck, actually I'm not a mapper at all, but I was actually trying to make maps for my own learning. For example:

• 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.
  

When you start that thread, I'll bring these ideas over to join the disucssion.

About the gamemodes:

Duel is not a real gamemmode (yet), it's just Deathmatch limited to 2 players. That's why it is a subitem of DM in that wiki section, but technically you could play Duel in any gamemode.
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.
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).

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.

I see.

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).

I'm quite confused by this actually, since there are servers I see players still playing races.

Does it mean I'm actually running the game code downloaded from that server?

If so, does it mean that even if the official Xonotic package does not come with the Race mode, I can still connect to those servers to Race with other players?

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?
  

Sweet mother of mercy, how many questions are you capable of asking in a short period of time.....

Welcome dude

Sweet mother of mercy, how many questions are you capable of asking in a short period of time.....

That probably means I spent too much time playing lately.

Welcome dude

Thanks! Pleasure to join.

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?
  

The security policy is as follows:

QC code can't create any symlinks.
QC code can read anything below ~/.xonotic/*/ including stuff pointed-to by symlinks (which, as the game can't create any, would have to have been placed by yourself). It can't read your private key in ~/.xonotic/*.d0si.
QC code can write anything below ~/.xonotic/data including your config.
Paths are properly sanitized according to this policy.
QC code can send arbitrary data back anywhere (by using the "connect" command).

Thanks! Added this to Wiki.

Today @Luigi showed me a few hooking techniques. I updated the first post to include them.

He's incredibly patient -- it took him 5 demonstrations for me to even understand the first tip. He tried different ways to explain things and finally I got it. I'm so very grateful!

I was posting my frozen frame problem video in another thread to ask for help, and realized I never included the video of @Luigi's lesson for me. Here it is. His generosity is inspiring and I have tried to pay it forward for other fellow new comers.

I want to share two tips I got from other players.

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.
   
   
   

Wonderful community, isn't it?

Be careful of the hackability that Xonotic affords. You'll get spoiled and will have a hard time playing other games!

Be careful of the hackability that Xonotic affords. You'll get spoiled and will have a hard time playing other games!

Not a problem if I don't play other games.  

I learned that you can reload the MG by pressing the keybind for it again. There is no seperate reload key needed (means you got one more key for a weapon bind).