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You can see here the blast radius of the rocket jump


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Aiming

Well boyz and girlz, this tactic can only be mastered with TIME. If you don't spend time in the SIM, then don't complain that you can't shoot :)

First off, every weapon in Daikatana is unique and has different firing characteristics. Many say that certain guns suck... Beware my friends.... C4 Vizatergo, Ion Cannon, Cycler-6 and the Distruptor Glove will fuck you up bad. For now we will cover these guns of the demo till the full is released. There are so many firing tactics that I will only cover the basics to get you guys going and brush up on some advanced ones.

1) ROCKET LAUNCHER ARIMING

This bad boy is the weapon of choice for elite players, so get use to this one. It fires high power twin rockets and has a quick/medium reload time. It is, for the demo, the most powerful single shot gun to have. Along with it's power it also has a large blast radius so even shots that are not pin point accurate can still get the job done by shooting in the general area of the target and hitting them with the "Splash" of the explosion.


Need to bug out fast!


Leading off the Target

This is the most important point to hitting your target. The rocket takes time to travel since it is a slow/medium moving exploding projectile. Shooting directly at your target while it is in motion is pointless. By the time the rocket reaches him, he is already ahead of your shot. You have to shoot into the targets path so that they run into your rocket blast. The further the target is away from you, the more length you need to lead off. This must be done with every shot you do, no matter where you are. FOCUS above all.... then FIRE.... don't just react and hope. You need to know where your rocket will hit.... although guessing will get your frag, it's not what you want - trust me. If you hit your target and he goes flying into the air, PREDICT where he will land and shoot there before he gets there to hit him again. Some enemies will fly high after you hit them and they will slide up along side buildings. You can hit them there too, don't wait for them to land on the ground. If your reloaded and they are still up there.... Concentrate of their trajectory and lead them off with a shot again and watch them fly off again into another direction. This is called the "ping pong" effect


This tactic of leading off is most used from roof tops and long range areas where you can see an unexpecting target. Your first shot in this case is the most important since it's the one that will make or break your advantage. If you miss, you'll put yourself at a disadvantage..... now your target knows your there and you still need to reload (ooops is right). You need to make sure you hit him and then rush in for the kill while he is still confused and shook up. Practice this "leading off" all the time! It is key to becoming elite. If your target is running towards you..... shoot the rocket between you and him in the middle for example. If he is running away from you in a straight line, your best shot would be a direct shot to the back or if you know where he is running too, then the lead off shot would be better. Again I stress.... Practice, practice, practice and time, time, time in the SIM.

Window/Door Frame Rocket Shots

Shooting from windows, doors or any area with a frame for you to shoot though must be taken with care. Since the gun is slung on your right, you can really hurt or kill yourself by shooting it to the right since the rockets need space to fly out. Shooting to the left can be done accurately and the rockets can pass out in front of you and passed the frame and follow the path of your crosshair exactly. On the other hand, the right side will not.... you need to space yourself more from the right hand side frame so you have room for your big ass gun to fit in the frame with your body. You cannot peek around the right corner wall and shoot cause your rockets will just splash in front of you and ouch you up for sure. Even though the crosshairs are aiming outside of the right-hand frame, you still need to give space (like a foot) between your crosshair and the right-hand frame edge for the rockets to exit the gun without going off against the wall. Again, on the left you CAN peek around the wall or frame and as long as your crosshairs just pass the frame, your in business.... Practice what is possible and what is not by yourself and don't get nervous in the heat of battle and forget OR you'll get "So and So becomes bored of life." and a -1 frag for you bro.

Do Not Fire Until Fired Upon

This is a tactic that should be exercised and focused daily. Not all situation call for you to wait to be fired at. If you have time to dodge a rocket then you can wait for your enemy to shoot first. It's all about range and location for this tactic. If you are standing in the street and another player comes around the corner with his hungry rocket launcher....WAIT! You could just jump into the dog fight or you can pause and focus for a 1/2 sec. This brief time you spend pausing and focusing is what gives your the upper hand. Most players don't think in a dog fight.... they react! Don't let yourself become the reaction (EFFECT) but become the CAUSE. You can dictate how the battle will move on if you can master this skill young Jedi.

Most will shoot at you as a reaction to when they see you. You can take advantage of this by waiting until you see the rocket get launched and then strafe or jump quickly out of the way. NOW, this is the critical moment..... he shoots and you dodged it.... he needs to reload...... you have about a second......this is your time now..... concentrate and observe him... where is he running too?... what is his next move?..... is he trying to run away?.... now predict his move and FIRE.... (you need to shoot in front of the path he is moving in since it takes time for the rocket to reach him.... the farther he is, the more you need to "lead off" the player as discussed earlier)

If you hit him, you now have the advantage.... free time to reload since most of his time is spent losing orientation and getting confused in the blast (screen turns red and he goes flying). By the time he gains composure, you could be reloaded again..... now Calm.... Relax.... Focus... Predict his location and.... FIRE again. This thought process must be measured in milliseconds. The seasoned player can make you look like a ping pong ball... you get hit, bounce away from the blast and by the time you land again, the next rocket is on the way. So... shooting as soon as you see someone is NOT always the best choice but obviously in many circumstances will be.

This timing tactic works best when the enemy is around the corner and is shooting at you to keep you off his ass. Wait for his shot.... then come around the corner immediately after..... Calm.... Focus.... Predict and FIRE. Now you need to take cover again fast while you reload. He may react again and shoot... good that you are out of sight and reloading... Now repeat again. Using walls, building and boxes to hide while reloading is essential to staying alive for the next frag. Most newbies stand in open and don't move and only concentrate on the shot making themselves the easiest of all targets, a stationary target.

Using Splash Radius to Frag Non-Viewable targets

Understand that the rocket blast (splash) has a certain radius that can be used to hit targets out of sight. For example if someone is hiding in a room waiting for you to run in, you can hit your rockets on the ground, ceiling or wall before you enter the room. You can hear the cry of pain when he gets hit so you know where they are without seeing them. Keep you body covered by the wall and use your rocket splash to cover ground area that you can not see. But also know that they can use this same technique to hit you without seeing you, so usually the 1st shot will count and then rush in for the kill.

Compensating Crosshair For Movement

From a distance, a doorway or window can be a small target to hit. You need to make sure your mouse is clean at all times and scrolls smoothly. When you are moving around, jumping, dodging, etc., your crosshair will move with your body movement so compensation is essential. If you have your sights on a window and are ready to shoot and you jump... then shoot, you will miss it if you don't compensate your crosshair. As you jump into the air you need to dip your aim a little bit lower and then raise the aim back up as you land. Let's say your crosshair is aimed at the window as you stand still. If you shoot, your rockets will pass though the window. Now, without moving the mouse, if you jump and then shoot in the air, your rockets will hit above the window even though your sights where dead on as you just stood there. This is a basic example but applies to all the complex movements in the game. You need to seriously FOCUS when flying, moving around and shooting at the same time. Keep those crosshairs on your desired target at all times regardless of your body orientation. This is tricky and again.... you need to spend time in the SIM! One of the best ways to practice this is by selecting 2 targets, each opposing each other and with lots of distance between them like the high power tower window and the light fixture directly down the street. Start by running towards the light and then jump, turn and fire in the air at the window and land.... now run towards the window and jump, turn and fire at the light fixture. Keep doing this repetition over and over till you feel comfortable hitting the targets (this is very hard to do and will show you how much you suck at aiming :) After some time you can change targets. You can just run in the streets and spontaneously jump, turn and quickly select a target in mid air and shoot. This will sharpen your reaction and aiming skills BIG TIME!

2) ION CANNON AIMING

This baby fires rapidly and with attack is deadly. It is weak in power but makes up in it's reload speed. Amor is ineffective in protecting you from the ion cannon's blast. Having 200 armor and 100 health would only take about 2 or 3 hits to kill you since the laser only eats your health up and doesn't touch the armor level. Using the POWER powerup with laser makes for a very effective weapon.... mixing POWER and ATTACK with the laser makes for a GRIMREAPER! (one touch your dead)

Angles

The nice part about the ion cannon is that it is able to deflect off walls and still hit the target. Like the game of pool, the angles of the laser will react the same way. For every angle there is an equal and opposite angle :) If you make a mental perpendicular line from point you hit on the wall, you will see the laser bounces off at the same angle to that line in the opposite direction. If you shoot directly down this mental perpendicular line, the laser will come straight back at you. If you shoot 20 degrees on an angle to this mental line, the laser will bounce 20 degrees the opposite direction. This would be a 40 degree angle in total from your gun to the wall and then to the target. If you want to make a perfect 90 degree angle shot (right angle shot) you need to shoot 45 degrees to the wall. Like the game of pool, aiming takes practice but this gun can be awesome in close quarters combat. Indoors or outdoors, you can kill your target without seeing him. If you know he is coming around the corner you can bounce the laser off the wall and into the direction he is coming towards.

Sweeping the Area

You can seriously rack up frags without even seeing anyone :) This tactic is used best in dog fights in the street. Having ATTACK with the ion cannon wouldn't hurt either.... eg. you know there is at least two targets in the street fighting.... you are covered by a building.... start your attack with sharp angles shooting the opposing wall and slowly working your way wider and wider... now listen... you can hear the moans and groans of targets getting hit so you will know where they are by the angle you used when you hit them. This sweeping can be used indoors and outdoors... anywhere there are walls and hiding targets :)


3) CYCLER-6 SHOTGUN AIMING

You can't see these projectiles so you need to have a good feel for this gun. This shotgun is called the "cycler-6" since it spits out 6 - 12 gauge bb rounds with every trigger pull. It has a slow reload time since it needs to setup 6 shells at a time but on the other hand once fired, it sustains itself throughout the 6 shots. You can though, see the pattern it leaves in the walls, giving you an indication of the pattern size and different ranges. A shotgun pattern is a group of pellets forming a circular shape while flying though the air. The further the pellets fly, the greater the diameter of the pattern will become. At close or point blank range the pattern is very concentrated and forms a small circle (which will rip "see though" holes though bodies). From across the street you can see the pattern's diameter as being large from the imprint it makes in the wall (the pellets power dies off fast and loses it's velocity quickly). The pattern characteristic is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Although shooting long range with this gun makes for an easier and greater probability of a hit, the power level becomes weaker and weaker the further the range. At a certain distance the Cycler-6 becomes ineffective as a weapon. At close range it is devestating. No need for POWER with this bad boy at point blank range :) Firing all 6 rounds into a target at close range will kill off even a 525 health level with no armor. If you are on the ground and a target is on the roof, the cycler-6 is almost useless and if it does hit the target, the damage is very minimal.

This bad boy is best used indoors and what's nice is that you can start your shooting of the 6 rounds before you see your target. If you know he is around the corner, you can start the gun up and run around to face him hitting him with at least 4 rounds. This is possible since the gun takes almost 2 seconds to unload. Firing this gun up before you run into a room will also increase the chances of your enemy running out of the room into your flank.

Again "leading off" your target is essential to successful marksmanship.

4) C4 VIZATERGO AIMING

Although used seldom as a primary weapon, with POWER it can give you one shot frags. The key to understanding this weapon is knowing that the C4 Charges are heavy and gravity does exist... It's velocity is slow and has a heavy arc in it's trajectory. When mining at close or far range you always need to aim higher than your target. Even right in front of you, you have to aim a bit higher to hit the desired area. At long range you need to exaggerate and aim high as the C4 will arc sharply and quickly fall to the ground. Only time and practice will teach you how much more you need to aim higher at different ranges.

The aiming with this bad boy has a bit of randomness added into it's program code. Shooting into the same spot with your crosshairs will not make the mines land on top of each other. The C4 charges are not aerodynamic and will not be accurate... they will scatter a wee bit at close range and at long range, many meters.

5) DISRUPTOR GLOVE

Are you or are you not a boxer. This glove will prove just that. WOW, what a punch it delivers.... killing off a 150 health target with 2 punches can really prove useful when respawning with no gun. One key to remember here is timing and distance. The punches effective range is longer than you may think. Practice punching people from different ranges to get a feel for it but you can hit someone about 6 feet away from you and bringing your arm back goes at a medium/fast speed. Punching target's lights out with POWER is a great stress reliever as well as it makes you look crazy elite :)

I will write more on weapons tactics after the full version is released. Good luck and dammit.... PRACTICE!

PEACE!

Author: DJ CROWZNEST (AKA. DJ KAMAKAZI and DJ BLADERUNNER)
Founder of CLaN DJ

Now you know why you see red when the splash hits you

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