Teamplay Guide

Introduction

This guide was originally written by ui and taken from QuakeWorld.nu post right here!
Feel free to add / correct anything written here. That's the reason this "article" got wikified (well that and make it available to everyone).

Basics

Basically, a decent 4on4 team relies on a few factors:

- individual skill (on a tactical level, this can decide the outcome of a specific situation, though it will not win a game)
- knowledge of the maps (basically, how you get from point A to point B quickly, and so on. more on this below)
- an understanding of the complex workings of firepower distribution (eg dm3, being the only guy on the map with an RL, you should get RA and try to pass a few armors on to your mates aswell, etc)
- understanding of the basic teamsays (need, coming, get quad and so on)
- desire to win (if you've played a map for 4 minutes and still haven't got a single frag, DO NOT GIVE UP. keep tryin and you WILL start fragging. giving up means losing!)
- realizing one's limits. If you have 0/100 and SG, maybe your teammate with 200/200 RLG should take the quad instead?
- correct usage of reporting, and reading other people's reports
- timing items and powerups. Knowing how to do this is crucial; more on this later.

ITEM TIMINGS

Pent: spawns at game start. Spawns 5 minutes after the last time it was picked up, or 4:30 after it runs out.
Ring: spawns at game start. Spawns 5 minutes after pickup.
Quad: spawns at game start. Thereafter it spawns ONE MINUTE after being picked up. Killing the Quad half a second after it's picked up does not shorten the time until the next spawn.
Armors: 20 seconds after last pickup. The red armor offers much better protection than the others; 150 RA is worth more than 150 YA, and 100 RA is worh a LOT more than 100 GA.
Mega: 20 seconds after running out. The person who picks it up boosts his health by 100; if his health was 100 when he picked it up, it will become 200. After 5 seconds the mega will start to decrease at a rate of 1 hp/sec. If the player has picked up multiple megas, he can boost his health to a maximum of 250 although the decrease rate will increase with 1 hp/sec for each mega picked up. After the player has reverted to 100 hp or less, the mega will respawn after 20 seconds. (Naturally, this means that several megas will spawn simultaneously if one player has picked up several of them before).
Ammo: 30 seconds. (Note: 4on4 uses DMM1, 1on1/2on2 uses DMM3 and then the ammo spawn time is 15 seconds)
Health: 20 seconds.

TEAMSAYS

Crucial teamsays include the following:

SWITCH [location] - this basically means that the person needs someone to come and take over whatever he's doing atm, be it defending tele on dm2 or maybe safekeeping ra on dm3. The reasons may vary; a report in conjunction can indicate low ammo level or perhaps low health.
HELP [location] - holy moley this place is being overrun. Help! Don't use this in situations where it doesn't really matter whether or not you die (e g when you run headlong into ra-mega with 200/100 and no weapon and face three rl enemies), since this will just clutter the mm2 and make things harder for everyone else. DO use it if you're defending something important, like tele on dm2, and you are holding enemies off but just barely.
GET [PENT/QUAD/RING] - well, what do you think? Use in conjunction with a "QUAD ON [time]" command if you have one, so your mates know when to go for it.
ENEMY @ [location] - can be used to report enemies at a specific point of interest, like "ENEMY @ big". This can mean a difference to the quadrunner or maybe someone defending a spot which the enemy will soon reach.
NEED [AMMO/ARMOR/RL/HEALTH] - well doh. Don't misuse this; don't take everything you come across on the map just because you happen to be there.
COMING [location] - this might be a good idea to say when you're running somewhere your mates might be expecting the wrong kind of company. Or simply a way of saying "I want that thing" about something that was just pointed out by a mate.
POINT @ [location] - this will show up like "RA @ RA-TOP", "RL @ LOW" and so on depending on what you point out. Use it to tell your mates that there is something available that you don't need or you think they need better than you. If noone replies with a COMING, make sure you pick it up yourself if there is a risk of the enemy getting it instead.
SAFE [location] - this essentially tells your mates that this particular area is cool, and that they can divert their attention elsewhere.
LOST [location] E:X - DO NOT USE THIS EXCESSIVELY. Basically this tells the team that an area is hot and that you just died there. The E:X shows up as E:2 to the team if there are 2 enemies close by where you died, and so on. If it's very important, like losing tele on dm2, use this in conjunction with the next command:
ATTACK [location] E:X - tells your mates to attack a specific location. Like the LOST command, don't overuse it.
REPORT - shows up like "UI 200R/100 RLG @ RA-TOP" or something like that. Don't report excessively, but do it if you suspect a teammate might shoot you or something like that. Also, it can be a quick way to sort out arguments regarding who should get the next spawn of something, like an RL. You should be able to read and understand a report message in much less than a second.

Now, about those maps...

E1M2

The key to e1m2 lies in a combination of defending the area spanning from ya to quad, and saving packs and ammo for your mates. There are even fewer weapons on this map than on dm3 (a single rl, gl, two sng and one ssg), and there is no ra. The lack of armors make this a very lethal map, and because there are so few weapons it's imperative that you save packs. The rl room is also very vulnerable to attacks which makes it a dangerous place to linger, so it's important to keep an eye on the gameclock. Being a map with a lot of narrow passages, such as gl-stairs, quad-stairs and spikes, it's not uncommon to suddenly find 5-6 players killed within a few seconds of an attack. A single player with ya and rl can fend off multiple attackers coming through these passages without breaking a sweat. This leads to fierce sg battles, often in the gl and/or quad rooms. If things are going bad it can be a good idea to assign two players to simply roam the map together and try to spot and kill rl enemies. When constantly outnumbered, they will wear down quickly, and they are also more likely to make mistakes. Meanwhile, make sure the other two teammates are attempting to gain control of ya and quad and manage to keep stacked.

The ya room is the most essential part of e1m2. It's easy to defend - enemies coming from spikes will make lots of noise, anyone coming via gl-stairs is easily spammed to death with rl. A bigger threat then is people coming from under the catwalk from spikes - they can be hard to see and can sometimes get sneak shots at you, and also people dropping down to sng can surprise you from beneath. Most often it's good to stand top of the ya, but far out close to the ledge. This way you won't automatically pick up the ya when it spawns, but you will be able to pick it up quickly if an enemy approaches. Passing armors on to your mates is essential - within 60 seconds (one quad cycle) the whole team can be stacked with ya if one guy already has it and defends ya properly.

The quadrunner must strive to have ya when he takes quad. If he doesn't, he should backtrack to ya and clear out gl on the way, and then move back towards cross and try to clear it out. If he has ya and rl, and teammates are holding ya, he should clear out cross and mega (can be tricky if the enemy camps mega-above with rl and/or gl) and then move through bridge room and finally go to ya and pick it up. If the team is not in control of ya this is the highest priority, and an attempt should be made to flood it from several directions if possible. It's likely that one enemy will stand on top of ya and wait for people to come from spikes and/or gl-stairs - if one of your mates run via spikes, you can quickly jump down gl-stairs and shoot a quad rocket at the guy standing at ya, effectively ripping him a new one. Alternatively, spam grenades down the gl-stairs and have a mate go via sng and try to attack from beneath.

Getting the RL can be tricky. While the room is small and accessible from three different ways (it's actually possible to come up from cross-water, either by jumping on a mate or by rocket-/grenadejumping), it also has a spawn point between the two water entrances. In addition to this, it's quite easy to shoot into the room from different angles. Most often, it's not worth hanging around in the rl room. Instead, try to time it and go there a few seconds before the next spawn (coming early means you'll have time to assess the situation and take out the poor enemy who just spawned there and is waiting in vain for that rl). Be mindful that the enemy will be thinking the same thing; *sometimes* it can be a good idea to camp out here for awhile (but only if you are not needed elsewhere, like at ya!) and smash any enemies trying to get the rl. If you do this for awhile the enemies are sure to send an rl guy your way (if they have one), in which case you will be focusing their attention away from ya and quad. But again, this is not very common - more often so than not you will find yourself standing into the wall for 25 seconds, while your team gets killed because you're not there, and they will spawn next to you (or telefrag you if you're careless).

When you're going for the rl, try to stack up on other stuff like armor (at least make sure you grab the ga), sng or ssg, and some rockets. This way you'll have a greater chance of survival in case there are enemies at rl. Also, if you don't get there right on time, you can afford to wait and can hold your ground somewhat against enemies.

Should the game turn out to be very even and the time is nearing the end, and your team has a slight lead, it's possible to withdraw into a defensive position, either at start or mega. Defending start is quite easy since there are a lot of places one can stand and have an advantage at anyone coming from either bridge (try standing among the boxes in the far side of the room, or on the arch over the door) or from rl (stand on the arch or in the window; reach it by jumping on the angled part of the pillar). The mega also has its advantages; it's possible to stand on mega-above and spam grenades and rockets towards cross. Also, it's possible to rocketjump up to even higher levels in this room, although it's almost never used in games because it often does more damage than good. If and when the entrance to mega is breached, the team can retreat to mega-exit and try to defend it (although this means you will be left with only an sng, a few shells and 30 health; try to avoid this unless there's 20 seconds left of the game).

Handy moves on e1m2:

- Kill enemies leaving rl by standing in the quad room, in the arch that is closest to quad-stairs, and shoot grenades at the far wall of the stairs in such an angle that they bounce down into cross-water. If you can't make the shot, stand on the top of quad-stairs and shoot directly, however this will expose you to fire from cross.
- Make sneak attacks on ya from beneath. Walk silently in the water from water-spikes (don't bunnyjump). Either try to kill off any enemy attempting to get the ya, or simply rocketjump up and snatch it directly.
- Stand behind the tele exit by the ga. You will not get telefragged, and you get a free shot at anyone going through the tele beneath ya.
- If you fall down into the water at gl-sng and miss picking up the sng, you can run from ya-water and jump right when you go through the arch. There's a small ramp in the floor that will make you jump just high enough to reach the sng ledge.
- Predictive shots: When you're chasing an enemy into the mega room and he goes for one of the teleports, shoot a rocket at the mega. He'll probably try to go there and the rocket has a good chance of hitting him. If you're feeling brave, shoot closer to the teleport exit (there is one on each side; the tele on the left side of the room leads to the exit at the right, and vice versa) and you might get a direct hit.
- Float around in the cross-water right under the ledge of the rl room and fill it up with grenades.
- When you have quad, roam the ya-gl-quad-cross area (if you're not needed on a specific place); this way you'll cover a lot of spawn points and will most likely rack up on frags.
- When you are alone at quad and the enemies are closing in, consider hiding in the quad-box. It's a place frequently overlooked, and with a bit of luck you'll be able to snatch quad and the enemies will cry.

Credits

ui - Original writer
Dakoth
Ake Vader

Other Guides

1on1
[1] - Thresh's Quake Bible (sure it's old, but wtf)
[2] - Inertia's advanced Aerowalk strategy

Teamplay

[3] - Bunny's teamplay guide
[4] - QW for freshies. (No longer online, but can still be found in ezQuake. Includes loads more besides teamplay.)

Movement
[5] - Cinclant's bunnyjump guide

[6] Other Links