| UT Tips |
| Like all FPS games there are a few basic tactics that you must learn to play Unreal Tournament successfully: |
| Keep Moving |
| One of the most important tactic to remember when playing Unreal Tournament is to keep moving. The slower pace of projectiles such as rockets and flak and the abundance of large outdoor maps means that by simply adopting a perpetual ‘moving target’ strategy, you’ll be far harder to hit - and in many cases, you’ll be able to dodge enemy fire with ease. Sniping would seem to be the one time when being stationary would be an advantage. Don’t even think about it, though. Camping in seemingly hidden places and racking up a few quick kills will soon draw the attention (and the wrath) of human players and bots alike. By consistently returning to a ‘safe’ sniping spot, reasonably skilled opponents will soon set up defensive fire in team games, or will simply target your location regularly during deathmatch. Far better to rotate your sniping posts as often as possible - strafing and checking your back constantly between reloads. If enemies can’t determine where sniper fire is coming from, they can’t devise a worthwhile strategy against it. The more basic Quake II strategy of jumping while in the midst of an intimate melee works less well in Unreal Tournament, due to the way the weapons work (the majority of them feature a secondary method of fire that spreads the damage). Try jumping to avoid a close shot from a Flak Cannon, the secondary fire of the Pulse Gun, or even the time-delayed payload of the Biorifle - you’ll soon discover it’s no easy matter. No, the only written rule for UT is that you must keep moving to survive. The final athletic trick at your disposal is the ‘dodging’ manoeuvre - essentially a quick jump to the side executed by double-tapping a directional strafe key. There’s no doubt it’s a useful move that can outwit unsuspecting opponents, but the twitchy nature of many players’ keyboard skills can often see your character performing a wholly unplanned hop when negotiating tight corners. It’s an annoyance that becomes a big problem when playing on the low-grav outdoor areas: one wrong jump can send you floating away to instant death. |
| Get Your Keys Right |
| Like many FPS in UT you can refine your config file. All of the game’s settings can be altered from within a simple text file located in the game’s ‘system’ directory called user.ini, make sure you have a back up of the default file, before you alter it! You can bind orders like "hold this position" or "cover me" to keys, within the game by going to Preferences/ Input/ Speech Binder. Doing this, avoids lengthy pauses mid-game while you command your team, especially important in games like domination and capture the flag. Also, make sure you can cycle between weapons quickly and easily using one key, ideally a mouse scroll wheel, and have your weapon switching preferences set in the Weapon Preferences menu. |
| Know Your Weapons |
| There are 11 weapons in UT, learn them all, they all have advantages and disadvantages. They also all have a secondary mode of fire, which can be as useful as the primary mode. The best way to learn a specific weapon is to simply practice using it, play levels using only one weapon, until you know the weapon inside and out and it becomes an extension of your mouse. Check out the weapons. |
| Know The Maps |
| Know the level you are playing, know the objective i.e. capture the flag or assult and know where everything is, like the weapons, the enemy flag etc. Check out the maps. |
| Know Your Opponents |
| Finally get to know your opponents. If you can, learn about them before your battle, of course this is not always possible with human opponents, but you can learn as you go. If you can spot and take advantage of their weaknesses before they take advantage of yours, you have a good chance of winning. A good idea is to vary your tactics and which weapons you use, this will keep your opponents guessing and constantly looking over their shoulder, giving you the advantage. |
