Difference between revisions of "Playing tips"

Revision as of 03:22, 24 December 2008

1. While aiming is a valid skill, in most cases it is not required to be successful in Zap. Focus on learning tactical abilities, maneuvering, and shield use over exact sharpshooting.

2. Determine and seek after your goal. Is it simply to kill opponents? Is it to capture the enemy's flag? Are you trying to retrieve flags from the opponent's base, or defend your own? Random dogfighting (except maybe in ZapMatch) is to be avoided; you should always be attempting to either perform your goal, set yourself or a teammate up so that you can, or prevent the enemy from performing theirs.

3. In Hunters or an otherwise combat-oriented game, remember that you can't always take out every opponent that comes along. If you're in a poor state energy or health-wise, and/or if you're not confident in your ability to defeat a challenger, it may be best to simply leave; keep what you have and try to build back up, so you can enter combat again in a better state.

4. Don't spend undue time on repair. Many better pilots choose to eschew it completely, leaving their bases derelict after several exchanges; while this may not always be the most solid approach, the overall idea, to spend the time you have on trying to achieve the goal and cutting out minor handicaps to the opposition, is a sound one. If you absolutely can't live without some form of repair, it may be wise to avoid repairing items much beyond a minimum; it may perform the task of distracting an opponent, doesn't cost you too much time if it doesn't, and it can be built up to higher levels later, if it doesn't take fire now.

5. While communication with teammates can be valuable if used effectively, a lot of the time it is safer to assume that your teammate probably has a clue what to do as it is. Snapping off a few quick shots here and there can be a great aid every now and then, but a surprising amount of the time it probably isn't worth the time it'll take to type it out.

6. Think of mines as investments, not so much weapons. Many better players regard them as nuisances, and are irritated by them, but not particularly slowed down -- all the same, during a lull in the action, consider placing some mines in annoying places. Where would you least want an obstacle to be, in your normal flight paths? Place it there for your opponents. It can be useful to have some mines on your side. Everyone slips up sooner or later.

7. A safe weapon arrangement for any situation is phaser/burst/mine. You can exchange any of these as you like; phasers provide overall combat use, bursts are helpful for clearing out or annoying opposing players, mines are handy little hindrances. Bouncers are to be avoided; they lose the main advantage of the phaser, low energy cost, for a little extra firing time, and bouncing, something that bursts handle fine as it is. Triples can be okay at close-range, but you usually won't have your enemy at point-blank, and there are better ways to handle immobile objects.

8. A safe module setup, for common use, is turbo/shield; turbo provides you a speed boost, which can be helpful almost anytime, and shielding is invaluable because of its protection against all enemy fire. Repair is an all right module if you have no health packs, or have no need of extra speed, but it shouldn't be used to replace shielding. Sensors allow for spy bugs, and may be a valuable boost for team play; all the same, it might not be helpful for lone wolves, and in the case of teams, probably no more than one or two people at a time should bother with it. Cloaks are very valuable defensive boosts, but are fouled by sensors. Still, if you want the element of surprise, cloaks will usually provide that; they are probably better for solo players than team, since you can be seen in team play if you're holding a flag, cloak or no.

9. Keep practicing, and play against those better than yourself, if you can. It may be frustrating in the short-term, but it usually helps in the long.