Rating: 4

This is a work about how ‘hand to hand’ fight aliens, when it comes down to you vs something big, and all you have is a shotgun and light armor. In FPS games, there are generally 2 good types of players: the sniper (long range) and the berserker (close range). The sniper is a master of long-range aim, with good ping and a powerful, quick shot. Sniping occasionally works in this game, but since so few weapons are capable of killing an alien with one shot, and fewer still have zoom, close range combat is often preferable.

1. Keybind some of your favourite weapon configurations. For s1, I prefer the shotgun and some light armour, and that’s all. Here’s the keybind for that:

bind 1 "echo Best Melee Gear Locked And Loaded;sell weapons;sell upgrades;buy prifle;itemact prifle;buy shotgun;itemact shotgun;buy rifle; itemact rifle; buy larmour;buy helmet; buy gren; buy battpack" 

That code sells everything you have, and buys the best of either the pulse rifle, the shotgun, or the rifle. It then buys in this order (and is limited by credits, stage): light armour, helmet, grenade, and battery pack.

ZEL: “I spent a while customizing my equipment binds, and it works fine. There are however other options available. I spotted a great series of bind combinations (a buy script) on tremulous.info that I’ve grown to prefer over my previously customized equipment setup binds because its more flexible.”

Get the Buy Script from here: http://www.tremulous.info/index.php?module=feature&action=show&id=12

“I made a couple small changes to the script personally, and you may find you would like to as well. I set the right arrow to be light armor and helmet instead of a blank configuration because I got tired of manually removing battery/jetpack. In addition I switched the binds on the “M” (default medpack use) key with that of the “F” (default “roar”) key to make using the medkit easier. To roar, I now have to press “M” but its saved my life more than a few times.”

Go to your “base” folder within your “tremulous” folder. Open autogen.cfg using wordpad. Copy and paste these binds into the document, and delete those binds they replace (if any). Then “save as” something else (mine is autozel.cfg). To activate your binds on a server (if they’re not already activated) open the console and type “/exec autozel.cfg” (whatever you’ve changed the file name to. If you’d like to change it back jsut type “/exec autogen.cfg” Here are my binds. If you’d like to use them just follow the above instructions.

bind 0 "sell weapons;buy ackit;buy ckit;itemact ackit;itemact ckit" 
bind 1 "sell weapons;buy psaw;itemact blaster;itemact psaw" 
bind 2 "sell weapons;buy rifle;itemact rifle" 
bind 3 "sell weapons;buy shotgun;itemact shotgun" 
bind 4 "sell weapons;buy lgun;itemact lgun;buy ammo" 
bind 5 "sell weapons;buy chaingun;itemact chaingun" 
bind 6 "sell weapons;buy mdriver;itemact mdriver;buy ammo" 
bind 7 "sell weapons;buy prifle;itemact prifle;buy ammo" 
bind 8 "sell weapons;buy flamer;itemact flamer;buy ammo" 
bind 9 "sell weapons;buy lcannon;itemact lcannon;buy ammo" 

bind UPARROW "sell bsuit;sell battpack;buy jetpack;buy helmet;buy larmour" 
bind DOWNARROW "sell bsuit;sell jetpack;buy battpack;buy helmet;buy larmour" 
bind LEFTARROW "sell upgrades;buy bsuit" 
bind RIGHTARROW "sell upgrades;sell bsuit;buy larmour;buy helmet;" 

bind f "itemact medkit" 
bind g "sell gren;itemact gren;buy gren" 
bind m "+button3" 

As the link mentions this turns your number keys into an old fps weapon select system, and the arrow keys into different armor setups. Once you get used to a buyscript like this it greatly speeds up your game playing as a human. No need to frantically buy armor and a weapon while your base is being destroyed around you.

The above code in the Text Configuration Setup section covers the two important things that I think you need to have most conveniently bound when you are fighting. The latter, the buy script, is great because it means that you can respawn, buy all your things in 1 second, and get back to your enemy. You’ll notice that there is no battle suit in the script – I believe that this slows you down too much, and strips you of too many valuable things like sight (helmet – which is key for me), mobility, and the ability to carry a jet pack/battery pack. Naturally, if you know what you’ll be up against, you might decide that you don’t want to use this set of items. Use your best judgment, but here are my suggestions for various enemies:

Dretch: rifle, pulse rifle, shotgun (wait for them to jump at your face, then shoot right at them – that’s a kill if you hit – and sidestep immediately after. That means that if you don’t get them, they won’t kill you.), lasgun, armour, and the helmet is a must, because not only will it help you find the hiding dretch, but it also keeps your head warm (and safe).

Dragoon: shotgun, pulse rifle, chaingun (I’ve had interesting luck with the chaingun – I believe that since they are such a large enemy they get hit a lot, and therefore, their vision is blurred a lot. It makes it a lot more difficult for it to pounce you, so your work with sidestepping and avoiding is made easier – on the other hand, it blurs your vision too.), and get as much armour as you can.

Maurader: lasgun, chaingun, rifle, NOT the shotgun, and of course armour and the helmet. Although the shotgun is good for mauraders, it is useless when they run away – you can’t catch them no matter how fast a human you are. They will get away if you try to hunt them with a shotgun. You need range, hense the lasgun, chaingun, and rifle. The pulse rifle is too slow, as is the lucifer cannon.

Tyrant: pulse rifle, lucifer cannon, pain saw, battle suit. I suggest the battle suit here because chances are you’ll spot the tyrant easily, and you’ll be killed quickly without one. Continued elsewhere. No chars.

The prerequisite to being able to set the stage for a fight efficiently is knowing the map. You can gain knowledge in a few different ways, but I prefer playing the map through a few times.

Setting the stage means getting the opponent out of their safety zone and into yours. The general rule for this is that aliens prefer small areas, so they can kill quickly (such as halls, small rooms, etc.) and humans often do better in open areas. Stairs also give humans a massive advantage as they allow you to maneuver more (for example, if a goon is in front of you and you’re up some stairs a bit, you can jump on their back or just plain over them).

The nice thing about a shotgun is that you can still win in a tight space if you can keep your head and aim well. Its still better to have an open area so that you don’t hit things as you’re trying to dodge.

To set the stage, either maneuver the enemy from a nearby area into your area, or simply wait in your safety zone and hope that something comes pouncing towards you.

For the first trick, here is an example: you’re on transit, in start of the hall right to the left of the human base. A goon comes hurdling towards you. You shoot, and step in such a way that you get out of the hall and into the open. Here, you have the advantage.

For the second, you simply wait in the open area with a shotgun.

Remember to avoid obstacles, small bits of wall that stick out, and dretches that you could trip over if not careful.

Even if the human is better than the alien, he should remember that that does not assure victory. As a part of setting the stage for the battle, one should set up the exit signs – if the battle is going badly because of re-enforcements, poor luck, or lack of ammo/health at the start, one should make a bolt for the exit. (Or the experienced combatant can edge towards the exit.) In tremulous, a human can sometimes outrun an alien, using sprint (default is ‘x’). This is especially true for running away from dretches, unless they are jumping to keep up with the human.

Good escape routes include:

• Having some turrets down the hall
• A tight space in which a dragoon cannot fit (such as under stairs or in some hard-to-find cracks.)
• Flying away with a jet pack
• Calling for help
• Jumping down a hole
• Obviously dropping a grenade, sitting on it until the enemy backs away, running in the opposite direction
• Jumping down (or over a rail) to one’s base or exit.

Dragoons are considered the “we have a problem” enemy in trem for their ability to take out many opponents without dying (in S1 especially), unlike dretches that can take out one or two humans before getting killed by a turret or another human. There are two options to eliminating the threat of goons: you can keep on top of lower classes to prevent them from evolving, or you can learn the shotgun dance to face them directly. We will cover option two because you will have to face a goon eventually and even one goon can be devastating on public oriented servers, which mostly have little coordinated teamwork (and many feeders).

The premise of the shotgun dance is simple: You strafe left and right to avoid the swinging head of a prowling goon trying to lay a chomp down on you. New players often try to run past the dragoon or strafe in only one direction. The first method actually helps the dragoon because you are moving into its range. The second method is better, but it is very predictable and the experienced dragoon can lead its strike to where it thinks you are moving. Variability is key, that’s why you must strafe in both directions.

You shouldn’t start strafing right away when you encounter a goon from a distance. It’s a waste of effort when you are already out of its range, and I find it’s also easier for them to redirect themselves towards you. Instead you should try to get in one initial burst from your shotgun (or S1 weapon of choice) before the goon pounces in to close the distance between you. Watching for the pounce is critical, because at S1 a fully charged pounce can kill you by itself, so say bye bye to any dance. You should look for the hind legs of the goon, which bend when charging for a pounce. Dodging the pounce is merely sidestepping in one direction from its predicted path, but be sure to step away far enough because some goons are good enough to quickly spin around and chomp you after landing.

Now that you are in the range of the goon’s primary attack, you should start back peddling. You must pick the opportune moment to strafe either left or right (where ever there is space) and this moment will always be when the goon is a certain distance away from you. If you move too early, the goon can easily redirect itself towards you because you’ll still be in its field of view. If you move too late, well actually you won’t move at all because it will strike you. Remember, the goon has large striking range so even though its jaws may seem three feet away from you, it can still get you. This distance should not change that much with goons on a particular server, but can vary from server to server because of connection quality. By practicing you’ll get a feel of this distance and you should be able to measure it on your display instinctively.

After avoiding the initial blow, directing your movement becomes easier because the goons give you a definite visual cue. If you strafed to the right for its first attack, the goon will swing its head to the right to realign itself with you. You should predict this before it even turns, and strafe to the left. Now when the goon swings its head, it’ll be farther away from you than if it kept it moving in the same direction! Just invert the process if it comes from the left. Always remember to keep moving backwards as this happens, and its essential that you do this in an open area or in one you can keep backing up in. And don’t forget to shoot it. The safest time to fire is when the goon makes it swing. Remember you should have predicted this and strafed already.

There comes a time when you will be backed into a wall or the goon adapts to your dance. In either of these cases you’ll have to mix up your dance. Strafe left and right for different lengths of time and try moving forward as well as backward. The key here is that there is no set path that you must follow, but rather randomize your movements. Randomizing movements is harder than you think after timing your self precisely for the previous portion of the dance, and I have a hard time with it (and thus bumping into walls is my downfall). If you find that you mind is bent on following an actual step by step strategy, plan out a “fake” six step random movement pattern. Say on the first step you strafe past the goons chomp like usual, but you do it for a short time, while on the second step you strafe again but also move forward, and so on. Remember that you always have to strafe according to the goons predicted swing, so that part of the “random” dance isn’t random. Also, if you can move forward enough to get yourself out of that corner the goon has you in, then viola, you can lead the goon down the hall or room again with the easy strafe left - right pattern except in the other direction.

Keep practicing this and you will soon find that dragoons run from you, not the other way around. Note: with the advent of unlagged servers, you may have to completely re-time your strafing and mental measuring of distances. But don’t think too much about it, just practice like you did on earlier servers and you’ll get it right. Only challenge may be that you will have to time yourself to individual goons because unlagged servers affect player positions based on their individual ping. So one goon might actually be a bit further way from what you see, and another a bit closer. To avoid heartache you could completely drop the easy dance and always use the randomized dance that should work well in unlagged servers too.

• Strafing both left and right (alternate, but not in fixed intervals
• While strafing, also hold forward or back for an extra dimension of avoidance
• If the enemy is going to land a blow, jump or duck to minimize or avoid damage
• If possible, fake one way, strafe another, jump forward, and get behind the opponent
• If an inexpert dragoon is pouncing towards the human from a distance, run forward (to closer the middle of their arc), duck, and turn around. If this is done properly, one is now without damage and facing the dragoon’s back. (This is a difficult maneuver)
• If with a Lucifer cannon, perhaps take the time to shoot a full shot at the ground in front of you, this will blast you to a distance and give some light damage (around 20). Note, though, that a good dragoon will keep his distance when he sees a lucy. The dragoon will attack right after dodging a large blast.

Towards the end of the battle, even the most experienced close-combat maniac may have some doubts as to what the outcome will be. The human has fired some direct shots, the dragoon has managed some nasty chomps, and the destiny of either is uncertain. However, here are some tips as to how one’s chances could be improved:

• Don’t think about the result, think about the moment.
• If the enemy retreats, follow.
• If the enemy doesn’t follow you when you retreat, go finish it off. (Unless the risk is not worth it.)
• If the human is cornered, with nothing to do, duck or jump.
• Always keep firing and chomping if desperate. Some shots may hit.

Remember, though, that luck has a great deal to do with it. One of the combatants may snag something in the environment, or have their mouse slip out of their hand. As one practices, however, one’s chances improve. One is less likely to hit something in the environment if one has battled there before, and one is less likely to slip if one has used the same hardware for the game a lot.

Ultimately, one loses because of a lack of experience, keep trying. That’s how winning happens.