basically every man for himself, 3 or more players will constitute an ffa the lead can
change many times in an ffa, but when the time is up or the fraglimit reached, the guy
with the most frags at that point is the winner. its kill or be killed, and it can be very
difficult to stay alive for even a few seconds in big games, however there are some
important pointers we can give you.

1) know the level - there are usually at most about a dozen spawn points on any
given level, when you die you will 'spawn' randomly at one of these points. good level
knowledge will ensure you instantly know which way to go for good weapons, powerups,
armor, health, etc..

2) prey on the weak - your aim is to get as many frags as quickly as possible,
therefore shoot at the weak - the players who have just spawned, those who are already
low, players who are engaged in fighting each other (stand back and blast away at them)

3) always be killing - don't worry about trying to stay alive, armor is desirable
but not essential , the key is to be constantly killing other players all the time, you
yourself are extremely expendable. the second you spawn you should be heading straight
towards a good ffa weapon (e.g. plasma gun, rocket launcher) and get shooting straight
away.



more hints...



- in large rooms with alot of players, avoid firing randomly, instead concentrate your
fire on one or two players, especially if those players are ahead of you in frags.

- the rocket launcher is an excellent ffa weapon, its even more powerful when used from a
height advantage, firing down on your opponents.

- the plasma gun is lethal, especially when you are on level ground with other players.

- getting quad will ensure you plenty of frags, but you instantly become more of a target
(if you kill the quad guy you can pick it up)

- look for hotspots in the level, areas where players conjugate or use frequently (there
may be many spawns points, or good weapons available) then stand back and fire into the
crowds.





duels

duels or one-on-ones are very different from ffa's. you only have one opponent to contend
with, so it is all your skills versus his. good aim, movement and level knowledge are
essential in a one-on-one, but it takes alot more than that to make a good dueller...



aim - always try and better your shot, become more accurate, try and be equally
good with all weapons, as you play you will actually learn shots and where to shoot in
certain situations.



movement - practice fast, clean movement around the level, avoid touching or
hitting walls, doorways, etc. more importantly learn to dodge, be as random as possible
while at the same time trying to move into a better position than your opponent. for
instance, the railgun fires once every 1.5 seconds, therefore if you can time it, the best
way to dodge is to make a sharp movement every 1.5 seconds, the more you play, the easier
this will get. another example is when a player is attacking you with the lightning gun,
he will find it harder to track you if you are strafing left and right very quickly rather
than if you are doing big long strafes left and right.



confidence - be confident in your shot, your ability to dodge and move around the
level. having a high level of confidence will give you the upper hand in many situations.



plan ahead - try and predict what your opponent is going to do, where he will go.
this will help you set up traps for him, cut him off, and reduce his options.



style - develop your own style of play; defensive, aggressive, a mix of the two.



experience - play as many different players as possible, you should then learn how
to contend with differing styles, different skill levels - getting beaten by someone
better than you may not always be fun, but it is one of the fastest methods of becoming a
much better dueller.



aim and weapon selection - constantly be trying to improve your aim, you can always
get more accurate. good weapon choice is essential, the weapon changes are slow, but the
right choice of weapon at the right time could make the difference (e.g. a railshot at
long range, and as you come in closer, a switch to the shotgun to finish him off)



level knowledge - this is more than just knowing where all the items and spawn
points are, you must know predictable route patterns (where he will go in certain
situations) the quickest routes, how to run two armors at once (armors with a spawn time
of 25 seconds are extremely desirable in duels, with practice you can learn to 'run' the
armors, denying them to your opponent) having a good understanding of the level is one of
the most important factors in predicting where you opponent will be.



timing - good timing is essential, if you can tell when your opponent is just about
to come around a corner, you can fire rockets at that corner, the better your timing, the
harder you will hit him.



player prediction - chances are your enemy will act very much like you in most
situations, if you can visualise what he is doing and where he is going and how long it is
taking him (good experience and level knowledge will help) then you can literally attack
him when he has his back turned. this may sound difficult, but for instance, when your
opponent is badly injured he will go for health, put yourself in his shoes and go for the
nearest health to him, most likely you will meet him there.





teamplay

teamplay (wars) brings the whole concept of having team mates into the fray. the most
common form of teamplay is the 4v4 (4 players versus 4 players) and in quake3 it is split
into the red team and blue team. unlike duels or ffa's, you now have teammates to worry
about...



- learn never to shoot your teammates, there are many different situations, and sometimes
it is simply unavoidable.



- don't grab everything, remember you are playing for the team not just yourself, leave
items for teammates, this can actually be harder than it sounds.



- be dependable, holding the same area all the time may become monotonous, but its
absolutely essential to winning wars.



- since so many resources are shared with the team, fighting on low health will become
more common, as will weapon denial (choosing the right moment to switch to a lower weapon
before you die in order not to lose a strong weapon to the enemy)



- try and coordinate with your team, if the team is going for quad, then you should be
ready to move in with them.



- learn how to fight against an enemy with your teammate, i.e. don't get in the way,
triangulate your fire.



- become efficient at timing items, be able to land on quad the second it spawns and with
weapons spawning every 30 seconds, you should be able to look at the timer (cg_drawtimer
1) and know roughly when the next weapon is going to spawn.



- learn the general tactics for a level, these can be found on the net, or from watching
demos of top clans in actions, or you can devise some yourself