I'm looking for a duel tutorial

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Patrol1985
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I'm looking for a duel tutorial

Post by Patrol1985 »

I've noticed that performance tweaking tutorials are stickied to this forum (which is great and helped me a lot), but I haven't been able to find a duel tutorial for UT99 yet.

As far as UT99 goes, I'm still a low-skilled player and don't understand a lot of stuff. Which weapons should be used in which situations? How to play when you're out of control (i.e. your opponent has taken the shield belt and / or keg of health)? When to use the dodge and when not? Where can I find tips concerning specific maps (turbine, deck16, curse, codex)? Is there any system (IRC channel / bot) which allows to quickly find a duel player to play? How to spectate someone from FPP (and not TPP)? How to record a demo? Are there any essential commands and tweaks (those which affect visibility, network performance, input lag, knockback on getting hit, etc.)

All this basic stuff that I know how to handle in different games (I'm mainly a Quake player), but just don't know where to learn it from in case of UT99.

Is there such a tutorial? Any form will do - written or a series of videos, just something a bad player like me could use.

If there is such a document, I humbly recommend it to get stickied for future reference for players like me :)
rsbloom44
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Re: I'm looking for a duel tutorial

Post by rsbloom44 »

The only guide that I know of is by flocutus.

http://digdilem.org/ut/utbible/
maximdymok
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Re: I'm looking for a duel tutorial

Post by maximdymok »

Well, I don't really know of any tutorials, but I can give you a few tips:

First off, there's no keg in 1v1 maps. So you don't have to worry about that. Now, shield belt is a very important item so you should TIME it - it spawns every 55 seconds, so if you take it or hear someone else take it you add +5 seconds on the clock and you know when it spawns next time, so you can either challenge for it (if you have 100 armor/suspect enemy is weak) or set up a trap (get a shock combo ready and wait in the boots alcove on Deck, for example, and combo the enemy if they mindlessly run for shield belt).

If you are out of control, your best bet is to try to stack up using vials and 100 armor and try to figure out the belt timing, challenging it next time you have a good enough stack. Either you will take the belt and establish control, or you will at least damage the enemy enough to where you can be a threat to them with no armor.
Best tip about this - don't mindlessly attack an opponent that's in control right off the spawn. It might seem like a good idea since you could quickly regain control (and indeed, sometimes you can if you get lucky) but it's usually better to die 2-3 times while trying to stack up and play defensively, instead of dying 10 times at which point you pretty much have no chance to win the match at all. The latter is what generally happens if you mindlessly attack while out of control. If you are only 2-3 frags behind, you can usually get them back in time unless you are playing Liandri (that map is extremely defensive, some games end up being 1-0. So you have to try to not die right off the bat, or you might never catch up again)

Weapons are pretty self explanatory and the only way to learn how to use them is by practice. Rockets and Flak are good for close range, tight corner fights. Flak is pretty good at swinging control in your favor as one primary hit with all shards nullifies shield, I believe.

However in open areas it depends on luck a lot whether you hit with it or not, weapons like minigun and pulse + good dodging are better in this situation. These two are also very useful for finishing off your opponent - if you flaked someone in the face and they are now at low health, it is more reliable to use a fast firing weapon like mini or pulse to finish them off, instead of risking missing several times with high damage, slow firing weapons like Flak and RL.

Sniper is misleadingly good in close range and sometimes it's better to stick with it even if someone closed in on you with a close range weapon instead of trying to switch weapons - if you have good aim, you can pop their head off easily; switching weapons could take a while if you just fired. This is one of the most important weapons to master.

Shock rifle is very important as well, combos do massive damage and primary can be used to fight off a sniper player (pushback throws off their aim). If someone closes in on you with flak or rockets, spam Shock alt (cores), as they block most projectiles and have pushback.

When you spawn, use Enforcer instead of Impact Hammer - it's pretty powerful if you have good aim and doesn't reveal your position like charging the IH does.

Bio Rifle and Ripper are mostly good for spam and defense only, but you can get lucky shots with them; use them only if you don't have other weapons. Bio primary is pretty much useless, use charged up secondaries and try to predict where your opponent is going (shoot at armor, weapons, boots). Minigun primary is only good for long range if you have good aim, otherwise use secondary. Pulse primary is useless, use only secondary. Sniper is best to use without zoom as it has a bug where it zooms in all the way even if you don't want to, and most maps are small enough to get by without it.

Dodging should be used to traverse the map faster but should be used sparingly when fighting. When facing opponents with Flak or Rockets, unless in very close quarters, try to evade them with just strafing, and dodge once in a while right before you think they will fire. Against Shock primary, Sniper, Enforcer - strafe is your best bet, it's fine to dodge sometimes to throw them off, but most of the time dodging makes you more predictable. Shock combos can be dodged with dodges if you already see one flying at you and can't walk out of its range, but if someone is trying to predict where you are going with cores, you can strafe back and forth to throw them off, and if they shoot a core in the middle of your strafing pattern, you can dodge out of the way. After you land a dodge, you are completely still for a moment, so that's why it is best to use strafe sometimes.

About maps - sorry, I can't really give much advice here. Just practice and you should get better. You need to know where the pickups are.

To change the perspective you are spectating from, open console (~) and type "behindview 0" or "behindview 1" without quotes.
To record demo, in console type "demorec name" and it will start a demo, saving it to your UnrealTournament/System folder. There's a good tool called Demo Manager, that can simplify the demoing process and get rid of some demo bugs, http://medor.no-ip.org/index.php?dir=To ... demo34.rar

Essential commands are for example disabling red screen for visibility (the flashes you get when you are damaged). Type "preferences" and hit enter in console, then make sure ScreenFlashes is set to False.
For network performance you can't do much, just play around with the "netspeed xxxx" command, where xxxx is a value up to 20000. Don't try anything below 6000 or you will probably get lag, it depends on your internet connection and the server but most people use either something around 10000 or 20000.
Input lag - just make sure SwapInterval is set to 0 in your ini/preferences under your renderer (I assume you already got one of the new ones like D3D9 or OGL, that should be in the performance tweaks tutorials) and Vsync isn't enabled in your drivers.
Finally play around with the setting FrameRateLimit in your ini/preferences - I use 1 below my monitor's refresh rate, you might find best results with something else - like your exact refresh, or 10 above that, etc. This affects how much screen tearing you get and should stop some lags on servers due to variable CPU clock.

Also if you are serious about competitive games like UT99 and Quake, you should get a 144hz LCD or a CRT if you haven't already. They can improve your aim.

For IRC channels these are some competitive UT99 ones, they aren't 1v1 only but if you ask around I'm sure you can find someone to play.
#nwpug #tdmpickups #mlut #ipug #upug #puglatino #ownedwell

Anyways, hopefully this is helpful, if you have any more questions you can ask me, I'm not great at duel but I can try to help :D
z4tan
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Re: I'm looking for a duel tutorial

Post by z4tan »

Very good, i have question, maximdymonk, why is better CRT with 144hz? is just for speed actualice? why no 200hz for example?
maximdymok
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Re: I'm looking for a duel tutorial

Post by maximdymok »

z4tan wrote:Very good, i have question, maximdymonk, why is better CRT with 144hz? is just for speed actualice? why no 200hz for example?
No no, higher refresh rate is always better. I mean 120hz/144hz LCD monitors, that's the highest they go. Or you can use a CRT, most go to 160hz, some 180, a few 200hz. Mine does 160 and I'm happy with it, doubt there is much improvement in going to 200hz.

Higher refresh rate means there is less input lag, and motion feel smoother. My aim improved a lot going from 60hz to 160hz.
Patrol1985
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Re: I'm looking for a duel tutorial

Post by Patrol1985 »

rsbloom44 wrote:The only guide that I know of is by flocutus.

http://digdilem.org/ut/utbible/
That's exactly the kind of document I was looking for - thank you!
maximdymok wrote:<lots of tips here>
Thank you for your whole post maximdymok - I found it very helpful! Recently I've played a few games with a more experienced player and I had problem with two things: his constant dodging and abusing the shock rifle. I never thought that dodging actually has a slight "cooldown" so I should aim at the opponent right after they land, instead of trying to hit them mid-maneuver. As for the shock rifle I'm not really sure how to counter it yet. I thought that closing the distance would be a good idea, but then the opponent usually spams secondary-fire and it's surprisingly effective. Mid-range should be avoided because that's where the shock combo shows its power. It seems the only "good" idea is to keep the distance as long as possible and use the sniper rifle. According to Flocutus's document, the shock rifle doesn't deal that much damage with its primary mode (it's more about the immense knockback it seems, than dealing damage) so maybe that's the way to go.

Thanks again everybody and if you have further comments please share them - you've been very helpful!
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Re: I'm looking for a duel tutorial

Post by papercoffee »

I counter the shock rifle with the mini gun or the rocket launcher or the bio rifle.

-The mini gun will spam you opponent with many bullets ...he hast to endure it (without shield a dangerous thing to do) or get cover. If he go for cover isn't he able to use the combo that easily.
-The rocket launcher's second fire mode is very effective because it's unpredictable ...You will die maybe but you can get a after death kill 'cause of the bouncy grenades. very effective in narrow space combat.
-The bio rifle is the strongest of the regular weapons (for me the redeemer don't count as regular)... with the second fire mode. Hold the key and gather the goo... if you come into a fight with an opponent go into close combat (but not too close) and launch the big glob at him ...a direct hit will kill him even if he wears the shield belt. But it's very difficult to aim with this beauty. :mrgreen:

But the most awesome counter is ...with a shock rifle.
shoot his shock ball right after he did fire it at you ...you will damage him or even kill him.
Very difficult but also very satisfying. :satan:
Patrol1985
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Re: I'm looking for a duel tutorial

Post by Patrol1985 »

Thanks for the tip about the minigun Papercoffee! I thought pulse gun's secondary fire was the most effective mid-range counter for the shock combo (similarly to Quake's lightning gun), but after reading your post I checked UT's bible and it turned out that minigun's secondary fire deals a lot more damage per second than the pulse gun. Thanks again!
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papercoffee
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Re: I'm looking for a duel tutorial

Post by papercoffee »

The Pulse Rifle is a very effective allrounder ...but I prefer even the double enforcer over the Pulse Rifle.
It's my least favorite weapon after the Ripper. The Ripper can at least deal some headshots and can reach enemies around a corner... but is useless in a map with too much open space instead of hallways .

(That's why I never could get it, why the Ripper is one of the start pickup weapons on Face][ ...it doesn't make sense.)
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Hellkeeper
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Re: I'm looking for a duel tutorial

Post by Hellkeeper »

papercoffee wrote:(That's why I never could get it, why the Ripper is one of the start pickup weapons on Face][ ...it doesn't make sense.)
The ripper has quite a strong knockback. It might be useful to push an enemy over the edge to his death. But on the whole, I agree that the ripper is out of place here. I personally prefer the pulse rifle over it. As for the double enforcer, even though it's weaker than most weapons, it's actually one of my favorite :D
You must construct additional pylons.
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papercoffee
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Re: I'm looking for a duel tutorial

Post by papercoffee »

Hellkeeper wrote:
papercoffee wrote:(That's why I never could get it, why the Ripper is one of the start pickup weapons on Face][ ...it doesn't make sense.)
The ripper has quite a strong knockback. It might be useful to push an enemy over the edge to his death. But on the whole, I agree that the ripper is out of place here. I personally prefer the pulse rifle over it. As for the double enforcer, even though it's weaker than most weapons, it's actually one of my favorite :D
Yeah ...I agree on the knock-back of the Ripper but the alt-fire is too weak to really be effective on Face.

Double Enforcer is stylish :agree1: , but I'm still disappointed that Epic missed to make it Akimbo style for the third-person player model too ...you still see only one Enforcer. And many games had already dual wielded weapons at that time.
Osti3100
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Re: I'm looking for a duel tutorial

Post by Osti3100 »

maximdymok best tutorial

i look google 1 week and found nothing XD
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UnrealGGecko
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Re: I'm looking for a duel tutorial

Post by UnrealGGecko »

Osti3100, Try to avoid necro-bumping old threads (last post here was 2 years ago), ok?
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