SYN Southpaw
New member
Got this from another site, but it's pretty good, so I thought I'd post it here. Enjoy.
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Also, before I begin, this, in no way, is going to improve you in a FFA on Midship. By reading this, you are only acquiring the knowledge one may see as necessary to do so. You are the one that must apply this knowledge to the game, and improve. Furthermore, I strongly advise that you do not try to absorb and implement all of this into your game at once, because then your head would explode. Do things one by one, if you plan on trying at all.
I’ll start of with something very, very, very simple. This would happen to be reloading. Take a look at yourself when you’re playing. Do you just reload after every kill you get when there is no one in sight? If so, that’s a bad habit. You should only be reloading in two situations. One would be if you don’t feel you have enough ammo in your clip to kill someone that might come at you. Then you don’t have a choice but to reload. The other situation, though, is when you have almost complete cover. With radar on, this is very easy to know, as many people do not crouch and take themselves off the radar.
There are, however, a few ways to make cover for yourself so you can reload. I’ll discuss two. First, is the blatantly obvious one. Get behind a wall. I hope that you already knew that. A second way, which is very useful if you’re in a base, would be to throw a grenade towards the door opposite you, or lift opposite you, if you prefer. That provides cover from the side which you cannot see the radar for, and don’t know if anyone is going to walk into. At the same time, you can pair that grenade throw with a quick grenade reload for an even more effective combination for cover and quickness of the reload. This can be used in many spots on the map, but the base is probably the most common place I find myself using the tactic, because it’s really the only place you can’t see people approaching you from your radar.
Now that you’ve learned a thing or two regarding reloading, next I want to talk about another common issue, strafing. I’ve received a few gameplays from people who will remain nameless, but I didn’t see them strafe enough. Watch a gameplay of yourself. Never should you, when being shot at, be going in one direction. That makes it far too easy for them to pick up an easy kill, that is, if they strafe. That’s why going up lift is such a big risk. You may see yourself be 4 shotted every time versus good players. People don’t miss after a certain point. Try to concentrate, and maybe try a little circle strafing in some games, if you don’t always already. Remember, if you’re harder to hit, the more time you’ll have for the kill, so you’re under less pressure to four shot every time. And if you think you already strafe all the time, try actually thinking, every time you’re in an encounter, to just strafe. See how harder it is for your opponent. Strafing, I feel, is one of the hardest things to implement, because he has to become subconscious. It’s not something you’re going to be able to think about when implementing other aspects of your game, because you’d confuse the two.
Next, I have a very, very easy and useful thing, but I’ve found that lots of players aren’t aware of it. If you tap the A button proceeding your death, it switches the camera from your dead body to another player in the game. This also works for team games, but you only get to see your teammates, not the other team. However, it can be one of the most useful things, because you might know where to chuck a grenade off the spawn if you see a player with low shields, for the easy kill. It might also tell you the location of a player with a shotgun, so that you don’t stumble into his trap.
Now I’d like to address something I’ve seen grow and grow in popularity. People, stop doing the Ogre twitch. If you were asked the question why you do it, you probably wouldn’t even know. What I’m talking of is the little jerking of the control stick when you spawn, or at the start of the game. That was done to recalibrate analog sticks in the days of Halo 1. People who did it then simply carried the habit over to Halo 2, where it’s not really necessary. If you do it in habit, and don’t think about it at all, that’s fine, but if you think about it in the slightest, then you shouldn’t be doing it. Stop. It only distracts you. And even now, players that did it purposely in Halo 1 really don’t do it as much as they once had in Halo 2.
One last thing before I really divulge. Grenades cannot be used far too freely. Don’t throw 3 or 4 grenades into one spot one after another. It’s just a waste of time and supplies. Instead, use your grenades to open up paths which you plan to walk in. If a player is hit, and you come into him, then he cannot hope to survive, as you are already a few shots up, if he has any shields at all. In addition to that, plan your routes around the map strategically, so that when you walk along them, you go past grenade spawns, and pick them up. Grenades are probably the second most useful tool on a list not containing BR. I’ll discuss the first later.
Okay, to divulge into the topic. Here we go. Ask yourself this question, do you find a good percentage of your kills coming from button glitches, such as BXB, BXR, BXRB, or RRX? If so, you need to change. Those glitches, as I know I’ve stated elsewhere, are only to fine tune your game to get it just that little bit better than the next guy. It’s sort of like a game of soccer, if you will. A team can have all their moves down, Maradonas, Crife Turns, Jukes, everything, but if they don’t have enough energy and endurance to run the entire game, they’re going to get beat every time. The energy and endurance, in this situation of FFA on Midship, would be your actual aiming ability with your BR and grenades. What I’d recommend doing there, would be to either play FFA’s and just not use button glitches, or play FFA’s without grenades. Both will help you, and once you play a few days of that, you’ll notice improvement.
Nextly, I want to describe something that Overswarm has done very well, but adapt it. However, he deserves some credit. This is about your playstyle. Do you always go positive, but not win FFA’s? Do you try not to die, purposely? This is one of the biggest problems I’ve found with some players. They play FFA’s like they would team games, very cautiously, and with regard for their life. Wake up, kids, you can’t do that. A successful player MUST be able to change his or her playstyle for the gametype which they are playing, which in this case, if FFA. You cannot wait for players to come to you. You cannot have regard for your life. FFA is about putting pressure on your opponents, and if you’re able to do that, you’ll get kills. You have to be clutch. You have to be sporadic. You have to be a bear, as OS describes it. That type of player, the one that jumps out after forcing you into throwing a grenade, the one that catches you in a reload, the one that just bugs the crap out of you until you give chase and fall into a grenade trap, that is the successful type. That is the type which you must become.
Okay, now that we have that in place, I want to talk about the intensity with which you play. Are you on the edge of your seat, ready for anything kids can throw at you? Or are you a more laid back FFA player. I know of a few good laid back ones, but if you really want to improve, get your adrenaline rushing, and play with some intensity. To do this, you always have to have confidence that you can outsmart, out BR, and surprise your opponent. Jumping out from behind walls with no shields is on great way, as a player must react to what’s going on. A lot of times, by the time that happens, they’re dead if you can destroy them with a 4 shot, or maybe even less if they are already hit. Try doing some things out of the ordinary, that you wouldn’t normally do, because if you don’t expect yourself to do it, your opponent certainly won’t.
Alright, so let’s go back a little bit here. Disregarding battle rifles, I said the second most important thing in a FFA is grenades. So what’s the first, you ask? Well, the first, you may not expect it, but it is walls. Walls and barriers on Midship are the most important thing in an MLG FFA, or any gametype there, or anywhere for that matter. What do walls provide? Well, they provide cover, as I stated earlier. Yes, that cover is great for reloading. But if you can have cover, and your opponent doesn’t, unless your opponent is a mind reader, then you have an extremely high chance of winning the encounter, even if they catch you off guard and you are a shot down off the bat.
How is this possible? Well, think about it. If you can hit your opponent with ease, but they cannot hit you easily, then it’s an easy kill. If you’re at Pink 2 fighting a guy at Center 2, then it really should be an easy kill for you. If it’s not, we have a problem.
So how does cover help you do this? Before I answer, I’m going to make a list of locations and how well covered you are. I’ll rate the cover on a scale of 1-10, 1 being the worst.
• Top Red / Blue Base – 4 – It provides decent cover, but the fact that you can be attacked from any of 4 directions at any time, makes me not like the top of bases way too much.
• Under Red / Blue Base – 8 – Both of these provide excellent cover, as you can really only be attacked if someone is actually down there with you. On a side note, players usually only enter these areas when their shields are low, so you shouldn’t have too hard of a time with them, if that is the case.
• Bottom Center and in Front of Red / Blue Base – 2 – Although there are crates and floaty stalks to gain cover from, you are able to be hit from virtually anywhere on the map, at any given time, so even if you have cover from one side, there are a bunch of others to which you are exposed. If you spawn here, get cover as soon as you can.
• Below Sword Spawn (Top Center) – 2 – You have great cover here – from kids at the aforementioned location. And kids don’t usually stay there long. The only positive thing about top center are the little things sticking up around the sides. They can provide some cover.
• Sword Spawn – 5 – You have cover from everywhere on the map, except for Pink Side and Carbine Side. However, those two are heavily fought over, so I can’t rate sword spawn very high. It does help with kids in bases though.
• Carbine 2 – 5 – You’ve definitely got great cover from bases in terms of shooting, but the fact that if you use your scope and can’t see radar to shoot in a base, that someone at Carbine 3 may drop down and assassinate you, or someone may throw a grenade to you from a base, leads me to dislike Carbine 2 most of the time.
• Carbine 3 – 3 – When you’re here, you have almost no cover, except really for the support beams and the bubbles. They can’t guard you from 2 guys shooting at once though. Then you die. Because you have no immediate cover, and you can be shot or grenaded from all over the map.
• Pink 1 – 5 – Pink 1 provides great cover from bases and from Carbine side most of the time, but it is a very easy place to grenade from almost anywhere, and I don’t like that. Grenades lead to quick death.
• Pink 2 – 7 – Although it can be attacked from multiple sides, Pink 2 is just an awesome place to be. You can almost always get immediate cover, to the point where your opponent must grenade you.\
• Pink 3 – 2 – On Xbox Live, I’ll give this a 2. On LAN it’s a 1. You can shoot at Pink 3 or grenade it from anywhere. I wouldn’t advise going there, unless in a team game, really. You die as soon as you get one kill.
So that’s basically how well your cover is from places around Midship. However, cover is nothing without that all important ability to use your most prominent playstyle, and kill as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. Now, I’ll put together how easily kills can come from certain locations. If you combine the following with the cover ratings, you’ll understand technically the locals people want to get to on Midship, and why.
• Top Red / Blue Base – 5 – You’ll find players popping in and out of bases quite often, not to mention the kids that come up lift. With some precise nades and good use of your radar, you can definitely make money off of being in a base.
• Under Red / Blue Base – 2 – Even though players may come down here with low shields, you won’t rack up kills as often as you would at some other location. Also, you don’t really have an escape route where you can survive.
• Bottom Center and in Front of Red / Blue Base – 2 – There are some excellent grenade spasm that you can use here, but that’s about all there is. You have virtually no angle on players that are above you, and they won’t die to you, hardly ever. If you’re here, move.
• Below Sword Spawn (Top Center) – 9 – This is by far the quickest way to pick up kills. If you need points, and you need them fast, Top Center is where it’s at. You can see anyone, virtually anywhere on the map. And you can break up fights quite easily for easy doubles, and chain them too.
• Sword Spawn – 5 – You have quite the view of the entire map here, but at the same time, you have to give up cover to be able to see it. Kills come easy, but at a price.
• Carbine 2 – 5 – Carbine 2 provides some great views of the map. Not only can you quickly access Carbine 3, but you can also look into bases if you poke out the front. People with low shields may come here too.
• Carbine 3 – 7 – Carbine 3 is one of the best places to be on the map. You have a great view of both bases, and Pink 2. You also have easy grenades should someone approach you.
• Pink 1 – 4 – Although you can pick off kills a lot of times, there are better places to be. Plus, if there is someone at Pink 2 or 3, chances are they’ll get the headshot, since they’re above you.
• Pink 2 – 8 – This area provides an excellent view of the entire map including bases, Carbine side, Bottom Center, and Pink 1. Definitely a quick kill-getter.
• Pink 3 – 9 – While you may die fast up there, Pink 3 provides an awesome view of Midship, and you can look almost anywhere to pick someone off for an easy kill.
Well, there you have it. Combine what I have said about the cover in these locations, and how easy it is to pick up kills, and you see easily why Pink 2 is by far the greatest place to be in a FFA. Bet you didn’t think of that way before.
Okay, so what’s the relationship of having accessible cover with the amount of people which you have to kill? Well, this involves a third element. The final element is strafing. I have about 5 different types of strafing, but right now, I’ll tell of the relevant one. This one, I call cover strafing. You may have another name for it, but here’s what it is: If you’ve ever seen shook on3’s Third Montage, at the part where he is at Carbine 2 and Out – BR’s both OGREs one after another, this is the perfect example of cover strafing. Basically, the principle is get behind a wall, pop out for a second, pop off a couple rounds, and then repeat. If you are able to do this, and your opponent isn’t, it’s an easy kill for you.
Now, to pair this with yet another thing. As I said earlier, in the playstyles part, about trying to catch your opponent throwing a grenade or reloading, this is the time to do so. When a player retreats behind a wall, the instinctful reaction is to throw a grenade or reload your gun. This is your chance, if you are a shot down, to pop out and just house them. It should be an easy kill. A lot of times, it’s unexpected, and gives you the huge advantage you’re looking for.
So how does all this cover and kills business apply to playstyles? That’s a very easy question. Say you’re at Pink 2. The game is close to ending, and you want it to be over. However, you’re down by a kill or two, and you know that if you don’t get fast kills, it could be over really quickly, and not in your favor. At this point, I’d move on out to Top Center, disregard cover, and take the chance of getting those few kills that I need.
Basically, what I meant about being able to change your playstyle earlier, was that you have to be able to adapt to any given situation. If you’re dictating the pace of the game, then just chill where you’re at. However, if someone is gaining on you, or increasing their lead, you have to make a move, and try to best them at their own game.
Above all, the most important thing to do in Midship FFA is to always keep thinking, and keep your mind on its toes. You have to know when you need to change your playstyle. You need to know when button glitches are appropriate. You need to know when you need to move from one location to another, and why. You need to know when to throw those grenades, and where. You need to know what you’re doing at all times. All of those come with experience, and the more practice you get with them, the better you’ll become. If you don’t think at all during a FFA, and you just play, then you could be doing better. So next time you’re playing a FFA on Midship, or anywhere, for that matter, think about what you’re doing, and try and apply what I’ve discussed here, if you’re interested in becoming better.
And for the record, I tried to be very vague in writing this, nothing specific to myself, or any of my friends. This is all general stuff, that I really would hope everyone would know, but sadly, not everyone does. So that is my motive.
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Also, before I begin, this, in no way, is going to improve you in a FFA on Midship. By reading this, you are only acquiring the knowledge one may see as necessary to do so. You are the one that must apply this knowledge to the game, and improve. Furthermore, I strongly advise that you do not try to absorb and implement all of this into your game at once, because then your head would explode. Do things one by one, if you plan on trying at all.
I’ll start of with something very, very, very simple. This would happen to be reloading. Take a look at yourself when you’re playing. Do you just reload after every kill you get when there is no one in sight? If so, that’s a bad habit. You should only be reloading in two situations. One would be if you don’t feel you have enough ammo in your clip to kill someone that might come at you. Then you don’t have a choice but to reload. The other situation, though, is when you have almost complete cover. With radar on, this is very easy to know, as many people do not crouch and take themselves off the radar.
There are, however, a few ways to make cover for yourself so you can reload. I’ll discuss two. First, is the blatantly obvious one. Get behind a wall. I hope that you already knew that. A second way, which is very useful if you’re in a base, would be to throw a grenade towards the door opposite you, or lift opposite you, if you prefer. That provides cover from the side which you cannot see the radar for, and don’t know if anyone is going to walk into. At the same time, you can pair that grenade throw with a quick grenade reload for an even more effective combination for cover and quickness of the reload. This can be used in many spots on the map, but the base is probably the most common place I find myself using the tactic, because it’s really the only place you can’t see people approaching you from your radar.
Now that you’ve learned a thing or two regarding reloading, next I want to talk about another common issue, strafing. I’ve received a few gameplays from people who will remain nameless, but I didn’t see them strafe enough. Watch a gameplay of yourself. Never should you, when being shot at, be going in one direction. That makes it far too easy for them to pick up an easy kill, that is, if they strafe. That’s why going up lift is such a big risk. You may see yourself be 4 shotted every time versus good players. People don’t miss after a certain point. Try to concentrate, and maybe try a little circle strafing in some games, if you don’t always already. Remember, if you’re harder to hit, the more time you’ll have for the kill, so you’re under less pressure to four shot every time. And if you think you already strafe all the time, try actually thinking, every time you’re in an encounter, to just strafe. See how harder it is for your opponent. Strafing, I feel, is one of the hardest things to implement, because he has to become subconscious. It’s not something you’re going to be able to think about when implementing other aspects of your game, because you’d confuse the two.
Next, I have a very, very easy and useful thing, but I’ve found that lots of players aren’t aware of it. If you tap the A button proceeding your death, it switches the camera from your dead body to another player in the game. This also works for team games, but you only get to see your teammates, not the other team. However, it can be one of the most useful things, because you might know where to chuck a grenade off the spawn if you see a player with low shields, for the easy kill. It might also tell you the location of a player with a shotgun, so that you don’t stumble into his trap.
Now I’d like to address something I’ve seen grow and grow in popularity. People, stop doing the Ogre twitch. If you were asked the question why you do it, you probably wouldn’t even know. What I’m talking of is the little jerking of the control stick when you spawn, or at the start of the game. That was done to recalibrate analog sticks in the days of Halo 1. People who did it then simply carried the habit over to Halo 2, where it’s not really necessary. If you do it in habit, and don’t think about it at all, that’s fine, but if you think about it in the slightest, then you shouldn’t be doing it. Stop. It only distracts you. And even now, players that did it purposely in Halo 1 really don’t do it as much as they once had in Halo 2.
One last thing before I really divulge. Grenades cannot be used far too freely. Don’t throw 3 or 4 grenades into one spot one after another. It’s just a waste of time and supplies. Instead, use your grenades to open up paths which you plan to walk in. If a player is hit, and you come into him, then he cannot hope to survive, as you are already a few shots up, if he has any shields at all. In addition to that, plan your routes around the map strategically, so that when you walk along them, you go past grenade spawns, and pick them up. Grenades are probably the second most useful tool on a list not containing BR. I’ll discuss the first later.
Okay, to divulge into the topic. Here we go. Ask yourself this question, do you find a good percentage of your kills coming from button glitches, such as BXB, BXR, BXRB, or RRX? If so, you need to change. Those glitches, as I know I’ve stated elsewhere, are only to fine tune your game to get it just that little bit better than the next guy. It’s sort of like a game of soccer, if you will. A team can have all their moves down, Maradonas, Crife Turns, Jukes, everything, but if they don’t have enough energy and endurance to run the entire game, they’re going to get beat every time. The energy and endurance, in this situation of FFA on Midship, would be your actual aiming ability with your BR and grenades. What I’d recommend doing there, would be to either play FFA’s and just not use button glitches, or play FFA’s without grenades. Both will help you, and once you play a few days of that, you’ll notice improvement.
Nextly, I want to describe something that Overswarm has done very well, but adapt it. However, he deserves some credit. This is about your playstyle. Do you always go positive, but not win FFA’s? Do you try not to die, purposely? This is one of the biggest problems I’ve found with some players. They play FFA’s like they would team games, very cautiously, and with regard for their life. Wake up, kids, you can’t do that. A successful player MUST be able to change his or her playstyle for the gametype which they are playing, which in this case, if FFA. You cannot wait for players to come to you. You cannot have regard for your life. FFA is about putting pressure on your opponents, and if you’re able to do that, you’ll get kills. You have to be clutch. You have to be sporadic. You have to be a bear, as OS describes it. That type of player, the one that jumps out after forcing you into throwing a grenade, the one that catches you in a reload, the one that just bugs the crap out of you until you give chase and fall into a grenade trap, that is the successful type. That is the type which you must become.
Okay, now that we have that in place, I want to talk about the intensity with which you play. Are you on the edge of your seat, ready for anything kids can throw at you? Or are you a more laid back FFA player. I know of a few good laid back ones, but if you really want to improve, get your adrenaline rushing, and play with some intensity. To do this, you always have to have confidence that you can outsmart, out BR, and surprise your opponent. Jumping out from behind walls with no shields is on great way, as a player must react to what’s going on. A lot of times, by the time that happens, they’re dead if you can destroy them with a 4 shot, or maybe even less if they are already hit. Try doing some things out of the ordinary, that you wouldn’t normally do, because if you don’t expect yourself to do it, your opponent certainly won’t.
Alright, so let’s go back a little bit here. Disregarding battle rifles, I said the second most important thing in a FFA is grenades. So what’s the first, you ask? Well, the first, you may not expect it, but it is walls. Walls and barriers on Midship are the most important thing in an MLG FFA, or any gametype there, or anywhere for that matter. What do walls provide? Well, they provide cover, as I stated earlier. Yes, that cover is great for reloading. But if you can have cover, and your opponent doesn’t, unless your opponent is a mind reader, then you have an extremely high chance of winning the encounter, even if they catch you off guard and you are a shot down off the bat.
How is this possible? Well, think about it. If you can hit your opponent with ease, but they cannot hit you easily, then it’s an easy kill. If you’re at Pink 2 fighting a guy at Center 2, then it really should be an easy kill for you. If it’s not, we have a problem.
So how does cover help you do this? Before I answer, I’m going to make a list of locations and how well covered you are. I’ll rate the cover on a scale of 1-10, 1 being the worst.
• Top Red / Blue Base – 4 – It provides decent cover, but the fact that you can be attacked from any of 4 directions at any time, makes me not like the top of bases way too much.
• Under Red / Blue Base – 8 – Both of these provide excellent cover, as you can really only be attacked if someone is actually down there with you. On a side note, players usually only enter these areas when their shields are low, so you shouldn’t have too hard of a time with them, if that is the case.
• Bottom Center and in Front of Red / Blue Base – 2 – Although there are crates and floaty stalks to gain cover from, you are able to be hit from virtually anywhere on the map, at any given time, so even if you have cover from one side, there are a bunch of others to which you are exposed. If you spawn here, get cover as soon as you can.
• Below Sword Spawn (Top Center) – 2 – You have great cover here – from kids at the aforementioned location. And kids don’t usually stay there long. The only positive thing about top center are the little things sticking up around the sides. They can provide some cover.
• Sword Spawn – 5 – You have cover from everywhere on the map, except for Pink Side and Carbine Side. However, those two are heavily fought over, so I can’t rate sword spawn very high. It does help with kids in bases though.
• Carbine 2 – 5 – You’ve definitely got great cover from bases in terms of shooting, but the fact that if you use your scope and can’t see radar to shoot in a base, that someone at Carbine 3 may drop down and assassinate you, or someone may throw a grenade to you from a base, leads me to dislike Carbine 2 most of the time.
• Carbine 3 – 3 – When you’re here, you have almost no cover, except really for the support beams and the bubbles. They can’t guard you from 2 guys shooting at once though. Then you die. Because you have no immediate cover, and you can be shot or grenaded from all over the map.
• Pink 1 – 5 – Pink 1 provides great cover from bases and from Carbine side most of the time, but it is a very easy place to grenade from almost anywhere, and I don’t like that. Grenades lead to quick death.
• Pink 2 – 7 – Although it can be attacked from multiple sides, Pink 2 is just an awesome place to be. You can almost always get immediate cover, to the point where your opponent must grenade you.\
• Pink 3 – 2 – On Xbox Live, I’ll give this a 2. On LAN it’s a 1. You can shoot at Pink 3 or grenade it from anywhere. I wouldn’t advise going there, unless in a team game, really. You die as soon as you get one kill.
So that’s basically how well your cover is from places around Midship. However, cover is nothing without that all important ability to use your most prominent playstyle, and kill as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. Now, I’ll put together how easily kills can come from certain locations. If you combine the following with the cover ratings, you’ll understand technically the locals people want to get to on Midship, and why.
• Top Red / Blue Base – 5 – You’ll find players popping in and out of bases quite often, not to mention the kids that come up lift. With some precise nades and good use of your radar, you can definitely make money off of being in a base.
• Under Red / Blue Base – 2 – Even though players may come down here with low shields, you won’t rack up kills as often as you would at some other location. Also, you don’t really have an escape route where you can survive.
• Bottom Center and in Front of Red / Blue Base – 2 – There are some excellent grenade spasm that you can use here, but that’s about all there is. You have virtually no angle on players that are above you, and they won’t die to you, hardly ever. If you’re here, move.
• Below Sword Spawn (Top Center) – 9 – This is by far the quickest way to pick up kills. If you need points, and you need them fast, Top Center is where it’s at. You can see anyone, virtually anywhere on the map. And you can break up fights quite easily for easy doubles, and chain them too.
• Sword Spawn – 5 – You have quite the view of the entire map here, but at the same time, you have to give up cover to be able to see it. Kills come easy, but at a price.
• Carbine 2 – 5 – Carbine 2 provides some great views of the map. Not only can you quickly access Carbine 3, but you can also look into bases if you poke out the front. People with low shields may come here too.
• Carbine 3 – 7 – Carbine 3 is one of the best places to be on the map. You have a great view of both bases, and Pink 2. You also have easy grenades should someone approach you.
• Pink 1 – 4 – Although you can pick off kills a lot of times, there are better places to be. Plus, if there is someone at Pink 2 or 3, chances are they’ll get the headshot, since they’re above you.
• Pink 2 – 8 – This area provides an excellent view of the entire map including bases, Carbine side, Bottom Center, and Pink 1. Definitely a quick kill-getter.
• Pink 3 – 9 – While you may die fast up there, Pink 3 provides an awesome view of Midship, and you can look almost anywhere to pick someone off for an easy kill.
Well, there you have it. Combine what I have said about the cover in these locations, and how easy it is to pick up kills, and you see easily why Pink 2 is by far the greatest place to be in a FFA. Bet you didn’t think of that way before.
Okay, so what’s the relationship of having accessible cover with the amount of people which you have to kill? Well, this involves a third element. The final element is strafing. I have about 5 different types of strafing, but right now, I’ll tell of the relevant one. This one, I call cover strafing. You may have another name for it, but here’s what it is: If you’ve ever seen shook on3’s Third Montage, at the part where he is at Carbine 2 and Out – BR’s both OGREs one after another, this is the perfect example of cover strafing. Basically, the principle is get behind a wall, pop out for a second, pop off a couple rounds, and then repeat. If you are able to do this, and your opponent isn’t, it’s an easy kill for you.
Now, to pair this with yet another thing. As I said earlier, in the playstyles part, about trying to catch your opponent throwing a grenade or reloading, this is the time to do so. When a player retreats behind a wall, the instinctful reaction is to throw a grenade or reload your gun. This is your chance, if you are a shot down, to pop out and just house them. It should be an easy kill. A lot of times, it’s unexpected, and gives you the huge advantage you’re looking for.
So how does all this cover and kills business apply to playstyles? That’s a very easy question. Say you’re at Pink 2. The game is close to ending, and you want it to be over. However, you’re down by a kill or two, and you know that if you don’t get fast kills, it could be over really quickly, and not in your favor. At this point, I’d move on out to Top Center, disregard cover, and take the chance of getting those few kills that I need.
Basically, what I meant about being able to change your playstyle earlier, was that you have to be able to adapt to any given situation. If you’re dictating the pace of the game, then just chill where you’re at. However, if someone is gaining on you, or increasing their lead, you have to make a move, and try to best them at their own game.
Above all, the most important thing to do in Midship FFA is to always keep thinking, and keep your mind on its toes. You have to know when you need to change your playstyle. You need to know when button glitches are appropriate. You need to know when you need to move from one location to another, and why. You need to know when to throw those grenades, and where. You need to know what you’re doing at all times. All of those come with experience, and the more practice you get with them, the better you’ll become. If you don’t think at all during a FFA, and you just play, then you could be doing better. So next time you’re playing a FFA on Midship, or anywhere, for that matter, think about what you’re doing, and try and apply what I’ve discussed here, if you’re interested in becoming better.
And for the record, I tried to be very vague in writing this, nothing specific to myself, or any of my friends. This is all general stuff, that I really would hope everyone would know, but sadly, not everyone does. So that is my motive.