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.
MAPS
See the 4on4 section of these pages: (credits below)
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
Misc
[6] Other Links
Links
- Teamplaywiki page