UAKE

Basic tips for free-for-all (FFA) deathmatch play:

• Keep moving.  If you stop, you die.
• Use mouselook, +mlook in the console.  Add it to your CFG.  You can spot keyboard players by how slowly they turn, and by multiple missed shots while you're busy typing a message.
• If you get hit, don't be brave.  Run away.  Keep your health and armor at 100 or higher.  Every time you die you have to waste time rearming yourself.
• This is important enough that I'm going to repeat it, keep your armor and health at 100 or higher.  Without armor, you're a one-shot kill if hit with a rocket.
• Learn the level. You have to know where stuff is.
• Don't stand next to a wall.  A near miss will still cause damage.  Away from a wall misses are more likely to be harmless.
• Since you're using the mouse to steer, use keys to strafe sideways.  That way you can aim at your target while remaining a difficult target yourself.
• Use the crosshair, type crosshair 1 in the console.  Add it to your CFG.
• Pick up backpacks.  This will give you more ammo and keep it away from the opponents.  This is known as scavenging, or in a water level, backpack fishing.
• Pick up the good weapons, even if you already have one.  To keep them away from opponents.  (This one rarely applies anymore.  Most servers are set with permanent weapons.)

The first four or five make the biggest difference.  We've seen several players become noticeably better all of a sudden when they switched to mouselook and learned not to be brave.  And even the best players get stomped if they don't know the level as well as their opponents.

To learn a level, start up regular Quake (not QW) and start a multiplayer game.   This will let you run around the level without anyone else.  Learn how to get to the goodies.  Learn where you can rocket-jump.  Also, in QW, get on a server and change to spectator mode (observe in the Gamespy menu.)  See what the best players are doing.  Also see what the worst players are doing and try not to do the same.

For more info on the console.

More advanced tips:

• Be relentless.  If you get the upper hand, keep chasing them.  Anticipate their move toward health and deny them.
• When being chased, try to double back on your opponent.  If you can find a niche or dark spot right around a corner then your pursuer might run right by you without seeing you, giving you time to find health, armor and weapons.
• For cheap frags in a water level, try to discharge the lightning gun when there are multiple people in the water.  You'll die, but you should end up with a net gain in the attack.  If you do it a lot, though, people will hate you.  It's nearly as lame a tactic as camping.
• Similarly, if you're about to die and there's no escape, run right up to your opponent in the hopes that the coup de grace rocket will kill him, too, nullifying the frag.   This is known as the hug of death.
• Learn to rocket-jump (RJ).  Often the good artifacts (pent, quad, etc.) require a time-consuming route past mosh pits or camper sites.  Often they can also be reached with an easy RJ.
• Learn where each level's mosh pit is (the high-traffic area where there always seems to be several people duking it out.)  Try to avoid this area as much as possible.   You often take a lot of damage from shots intended for someone else.   Exception: If you're a T1/T3 player, you may have the ping and bandwidth necessary to enjoy a huge advantage in such a large crowd.
• Similarly, if you hear a battle nearby, don't go charging into the middle of it.  Try to pick off all the participants from long range without them even knowing what's happening.   This is known as batting cleanup.  If you don't have any armor, don't do this.  You're a one-shot kill to the back if you're fixated on the distant battle and not moving defensively.
• Conversely, when in a pitched battle, watch for shots coming from an odd direction.   If that starts happening, try to abandon the fight so that the long range shooter is left with only your opponent as a target.
• Listen for the sounds others make.  So you can predict where they'll be heading next.  Be prepared to be accused of camping if you master this.
• If you have rockets or if you know you're near some, take blind shots at spawn points, into high traffic areas, and just before rounding a corner.  Even if you don't kill the guy you'll have a head start on the damage.
• Near your movement keys, bind keys to switch weapons up (impulse 10) and down (impulse 12) and one to switch to your favorite weapon (in my case, the rocket launcher.)
• Learn to jump-turn.  This is a good way to get items out of dead-ends.  Facing the wall does you no good.  As you approach the item, jump-turn so you're facing back toward the action as you pick up the item.
• The jump-turn is also a good way to switch to backpedaling to harass someone chasing you.  You really have to know the level to get through it backwards.
• Try to time your route so that you pass by the good stuff just as it's appearing.   This is another one that generates accusations of camping.
• Vary your route so that others can't predict your next move based on sounds.
• Turn off auto-aim (in the Gamespy player profile dialog) so that your shots don't go sailing harmlessly past if you're only slightly off.
• When in a close-in fight with a rocket-launcher, aim at the floor behind your opponent.  He'll take more damage than you, and your shots won't go sailing harmlessly past.

During teamplay:

• Camp on the powerful weapons and artifacts.  It's despised during FFA, but it's expected during teamplay.
• Apparently, most clan matches nowadays have respawning weapons.  Learn the respawn times of the good weapons and make sure to scarf them up to keep them away from your opponents.
• Practice.  A lot.  Teamplay is a different game than FFA.  Find open servers with the competition patch (rare) or play a lot of CTF.  The team concepts mostly carry over.
• Stick with your teammates.  The combined firepower against a lone opponent will make short work of him.
• Try not to shoot your teammates.  Even with no friendly fire, your shots will wear down teammates armor, leaving them vulnerable to your opponents.
• Bind a key to "messagemode2".  This will send messages to only your teammates.
• Bind keys (in our case, we conference call) to quickly pass info.  For example, "Rocket room secured", "Rocket room overrun", "In water", "Going to discharge", etc.

1 v 1:

• I find 1v1 too often entirely lopsided, so I almost never play it.  But some of the basic concepts are well known.
• Learn the level.
• Camp.
• Listen to sounds your opponent is making.
• Avoid betraying your position by picking up unnecessary ammo.
• Use sounds to spoof your opponent as to your current intentions.

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