Sir Xazm's Warzone League Guide
Foreword
There’s a lot of basic information in this guide. There’s also a lot of advanced and sneaky information too. A lot of the information is Warzone League specific, while a lot of it can also be carried over and used in regular Warzone. Hopefully if you bother to read it you will learn something new about wzl and wz in general.
Differences from Warzone
The number of flags that teams have actually matters in wzl. Starting at 20 minutes into the game, and every 10 minutes after that, teams get 1 point for every flag they have (dropped or not). Games last 90 minutes max. At the end of 90 minutes, if there was no winner, each team keeps their accrued points. If a team wins, that team gets 64 points, and all the other teams keep their accrued points.
A lot of strategy is going to be based on the number of flags a team has. Teams that find 5+ flags at start of games might keep 10 d for the whole 90 minutes; teams that have no flags near the 10 minute marks will be 10 manning the base with most flags; etc. Just keep in mind that having flags matters, and the 10-minute marks are important.
Start of Game
At the start of the game you need to do four things immediately:
1) Pick up any flags you can. If you see a flag, pick it up, duh.
2) Green like mad. The faster you green, the faster your team can find flags and the better chance they will have of keeping them.
3) Get a good base. Decide what base or bases you want before the game starts. At the start of the game you need one pilot to start flying to each of them. If you find yourself close, start hauling ass and tell the team which one you are getting, so everyone else can focus on greening and getting flags.
4) Attack reds. Only do this if you do not have a flag, someone’s already said they are getting a base, you have enough green to make for real ships, and the red is alone or semi alone. You must avoid having half the team chasing a red that you have little or no chance of killing when you don’t have the first 3 items covered.
One of the best ships for doing all those things is a Jav. Javs have almost as much speed with 0 bounty as other ships have with full bounty. With the Jav’s speed you can cover more map area and have a better chance of finding flags, you can get from one green to the next faster, if you get flags you have a better chance of keeping them, you can fly to a base faster, and if you do chase a red, you have a much better chance of getting him. After the initial flag/base grab is done, you can recycle into a wider variety of ships as base allows.
Defense
There are basically three types of defense in warzone: heavy d, medium d, and light d. Knowing how and when to use which type of defense is very important.
Heavy Defense is generally around 7-10 pilots actively helping defend. You will want to use heavy d in situations such as: if your team is being attacked a lot or if your team has reason to believe a big attack is incoming. If your base is getting attacked over and over by various groups of attackers, get heavy d set up asap. If you have most flags, think you might have been portaled, have most points, see a cloaker from a team that has no flags near your base, or have any other reason to expect a big attack, get heavy d set up asap. Also remember that a lot of d is nothing but perception. If your base is being harassed by a lot of small attacks or solo cloakers, simply having a large show of force on d for a few minutes can discourage those attackers enough to leave your base and attack the other sometimes.
Medium d is 4-6 pilots actively helping defend. If you are not having big problems with attacks at base, but don’t want to risk a blitzkrieg attack by an enemy, medium d is often the best choice. Medium d usually gives your base enough time to call for reinforcements and it also gives your o more players so they will have more options than suicide flag grab attempts.
Light d is 1-3 pilots at base. This is obviously the most risky defensive setup a team can have, but it gives the huge advantage of a large offensive force. Light d should keep up mines and maybe a bomb line to discourage solo attackers, but their primary job will be to rep large attacks and call for help asap when large attacks come. If you go light d, make sure your d pilots all have reps, with 1-2 of them staying close to door of base to rep the huge attacks. Sometimes it might be worth the risk to drop all the way down to 1 d. Only do this if base is 100% clear and base is in an out of the way location, so enemy wont spawn right next to or fly real easily to your base. If your team is crazy enough to go down to a single person on d, the only thing he can do is call early as possible and cross his fingers if an attack comes.
Always remember that you only need 1 person to make offensive calls. If you aren’t specifically needed on offense and you do not need any greens, go to base and reinforce it until o calls.
When in base, keep mines fresh and spread out, and keep bomb lines going (if base has any good ones). Be careful where you mine and bomb line; don't do either on any common fall back spots or you'll end up tking everyone. Mines and bomb lines won't stop a 10 man attack, but they are a sure fire way of keeping the attack callers from getting in very deep before they have to call or die. Mines are also the best way to stop laggers/tankers. Laggers might not see your bullets/bombs for up to a second after you shoot them, but they are almost guaranteed to see mines exactly where they were placed. Keep mines fresh!
The biggest thing d will have to worry about is enemy attack callers. They will almost always have reps and use them to get in as deep as they can before they call. Never let an enemy get between you and the flags. If you do, they will rep you and call for help, and everyone that comes to help will also rep until they get in as deep and as fast as they can get. Always be mindful of where you will go if an enemy on your screen should rep at any instant; good attack callers will always know where you're going to go when they rep you, and use it against you when you let them.
Good offensive pilots will also try to lure you out of base. It is almost always a bad idea to leave base to duel or dog fight. Always remember that flags are your top priority, and the best defense is when you are between the enemy and your flags. If you leave base and are successful at chasing off 2 vulchers, 3 other attack callers could just walk in right behind you and screw base. A lot of vets still don’t realize that some vulchers actually help the base they are vulching, by killing pilots on the third team that get near. The only good time to go outside and engage the enemy is if someone outside poses more of a threat than someone at our front door, such as if someone outside is actively killing defenders that are inside base. If a vulcher or wall bomber has your base by the short and curlies and is actively killing your defenders, someone will need to go deal with him.
One of the most critical moments of wzl games will be when offence calls attacks. Defenders need to accurately gauge just how many pilots d can spare for an attack at any given time. If you have heavy d and there’s even 1 person on radar, be very cautions about leaving base for enemy. Good attack callers are going to be waiting for the exact second 4+ people warp out of a base to call an attack. It is very helpful to know which teams have players near your base, and how many flags those teams have. If you see a cloaker from a team that has no flags, you should know that they will call a 10 man attack if they see a lot of your defense leave base.
After a major attack at base, no one should leave base until it's 100% clear no matter what. A lot of vets still consider base clear when most of the enemy are dead. This can be a huge tactical error. Base should only be considered clear when 1) all the enemy are pushed out the front door 2) mines are refreshed and bomb lines are taken up and 3) when enough perma d are in place to defend properly. When that's done, o can get back to work and people in need of green can start greening.
You must have antiwarp on at all times. To ensure this is the case, you need anyone that is running antiwarp to 1) tell the team they have aw on and 2) tell the team when they turn it off for any reason including death. If you say you have aw on at base, no one else is going to bother to do it unless you tell the team you turned it off. Make very certain you tell the team when you do turn anti off.
You must have x at base. 99% of the time this isn't an issue as most teams usually have x and most players usually toggle it constantly. If greens dick you over and you end up with no x on anyone, regreening x becomes top priority. You will need 2-4 ships to immediately ship change and regreen (if base isn't already in deep shit). You aren't going to want to do what happens in warzone games where everyone ignores the fact that team has no x as if it's no big deal.
Reps are a must have for d. Most teams will regreen for reps when they attack, but most teams don't ever bother to keep reps fresh on d, which puts them at a huge disadvantage when a big attack comes repping in. A team with full reps on d can easily hold off an attack long enough for the win by simply using the reps alone. Reps are also a must if you are front line defense and see a turret come up; just rep them away, back up, call for help. Or if you see someone with shields come running up to base; you almost always want to rep shielded players, depending on how fresh the shields are and how greened they are atm (ignore this if shields are still removed from wzl). If you have no reps, recycle as base allows and green them up. If you are perma d, you need to make extra certain you keep your reps fresh as much as possible.
All bricks should go to base. A good 95% of the times bricks are used on offence, the team only gets a small advantage. However, bricks used at home are 99% guaranteed to save a base when the shit hits the fan. If you green a brick, consider yourself on perma d till you use/lose it.
One of the most under-used defensive strategies is portaling in your own base. If you have a portal and the enemy doesn’t have your base antied, you can lay a portal, bullet rush right up to the enemy’s face, and warp back to safety. You can usually kill 1-2 enemy off with little to no risk if you do this right.
Defenders should constantly keep offence and greeners updated on base status. Aside from the common 'safe at base', 'yellow alert at base', and 'red alert at base' updates, you need to get in the habit of relaying just what exactly is happening at base. ‘3 attackers 6 defense’ (or simply 3/6) is more specific than 'yellow alert'. ‘Base is 100% clear, nothing on radar’ is a lot more accurate than 'safe at base'. It is also very helpful to relay how many people are dying on d. If you tell the team ‘four defenders just died at base’, offence will know you need time to green before calling an attack. The more accurate picture you can paint for offence and greeners, the better chance you have of sneaking in attack calls or getting help at d before things get out of hand.
Flanking base is a lot more delicate tactic than most people think. Calling a flank at your own base can completely destroy an enemy attack, but it can also be the sole reason base falls. The surest and safest defense a base can have is a fortified front where everyone on the team is together, between the flags and the enemy. Flanks can only help a base if there's already enough d in place to halt the enemy advancement. If you fly to base and notice there's several more attackers than defenders, do not call for help on the flank; center d needs as many reinforcements as they can get as quick as they can get them. If base is calling for a flank and you are near, fly there and call flank if it looks like a good call. The team only wants 1 pilot to fly in to call a flank; everyone else out of base needs to be greening like mad. So if you see someone ahead of you flying to base, or someone’s already calling for a flank, back off and green or attach to base/flank. Having several pilots fly to base when the shit is hitting the fan is a huge tactical error.
When base calls for help break off everything and get to base asap. Base should always come first. There may be exceptions to this, but every one of them carries a huge risk to your base’s flags.
Offence
There are several offensive strategies that can be used to great effect. They include: 1 person calling attacks, a few players working together to call an attack, specific designated attackers, etc. You will need to know your team’s and your players’ strengths and weaknesses when deciding which one is best for your team.
Having a single attack caller has both advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages include allowing heavy d and having the whole team tick 1 player by default the whole game. Many attacks can be called just as well with 1 player as with 5 players, so there’s no point in lowering your d till you have to. There are also disadvantages to having a single attack caller. When attack caller is dead, no one’s in place to call easy attacks if the opportunity arises. Some bases and defenses also require more than a single pilot to crack.
Having several players on offense also has advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is that offense can work together coordinating reps with attack calls, stealing and setting up critical vulch holes before attack calls, luring some enemy defense out of base, etc. The obvious disadvantage is the more dedicated o you have, the less dedicated d you will have.
When you are using light d or have no flags (and no team is winning atm), you have a lot more freedom to coordinate huge attacks. You will want to be ten man attacking (or close to it) in these situations. Avoid suicide rushing or doing small 1-2 man attacks when you have a lot of people free to attack.
When you have the luxury of a big attack force, keep these things in mind:
1) Attack together, die together, green together. Repeat till you get flags. Recycle and regreen if you need reps. Ten man greening only takes about 60 seconds till you are ready to attack. You don’t need and actually don’t want 100 bounty when you ten man attack. It’s much better to attack as soon as a ship is greened than to keep greening up to 100. The first pilots to die will be greening like mad and the pilots that are still attacking might get replacement reps, full charges, and other toys while they are still deep in enemy.
2) Keep in mind that wzl points are given out at the 10-minute marks. If you are pounding a base over and over, you’ll want to make sure you are fully greened hopefully with two reps each and 100% ready to hit that base hard near the 8m-8m30s mark. You can message the bot with !status at any time to see where exactly it’s clock is at.
3) Generally you will only need one levi at most to pound the walls. In some bases, outside wall bombing will be pointless. And in a few bases you may want 2+ levis wall bombing. General rule of thumb should be to have one levi wall bombing, wall mining, wall bomb floating.
4) Some bases have strategic vulch holes. You’ll want to get someone on those using a lanc or levi or maybe a weasel.
5) Wall bombing and using vulch holes will help weaken a defense, but what’s going to take or lose a base is the main attack force. Aside from the wall bomber and vulch hole bombers, everyone else needs to be together in a fortified front and pushing in. The push in is the most important part of the attack, so you need as many as you can get for it. If you have 2 wall miners, 2 vulchers, 1 wall bomber, and 1 guy off dueling/dog fighting, there is no way you will ever be able to push into a base.
6) We may want an anchor at enemy, especially if you are getting close to the flags and the battle has become a contest of who can green and attach faster. But if you choose to be an anchor, keep in mind that the main attack force that’s pushing forward is what’s going to take a base. The more pilots you have that are holding back and trying to stay safe, the less pilots you have that are pushing in and getting to those flags.
There are several things you need to keep in mind when choosing who to attack. The two biggest factors to keep in mind are which team has the most flags and which team is stronger. Some things to keep in mind:
1) If your team ends up with the most flags, any team with out flags will most likely focus on you, giving you a lot less freedom to attack.
2) If you attack the stronger of two enemies, you risk them (a strong team) 10 manning you right after.
3) If you attack the weaker of two enemies, you risk the remaining stronger team flanking you for a win. Even if that does not happen, you will be flanking a weak team attacking a strong team for last flags, which might not help you much at all. And that’s only if the weak team doesn’t decide to focus on you in the first place.
4) Always keep in mind how many flags your team has, how many flags each of the other teams have, how strong both of the other teams are compared to each other and to your team, what the other teams will do if you take either team’s flags (will either team most likely attack you or focus on the third team?), and then use this information to decide who to attack.
One of the key strategies and most critical times of a game in wzl is flanking an enemy just after they finish attacking another base. Expect to get flanked just after you finish attacking a base and reach the flags, and plan to flank enemies as they also finish an attack and just reach the flags. You need to change our strategy depending on who has flags atm.
When flags are split 3 ways:
When you are the flankers, you need to time your flank very carefully. You must attack them at the moment their combined forces are at their weakest. When you are the ones that are about to get flanked at an attack, you need to keep an eye on your backs. If the 3rd team isn’t behind you, then you can go balls out and get the flags. If there’s even 1 pilot behind you, you must watch your back as you work in. Mining enemy base as you push in can slow down a flank. Having even one pilot watching your backs, preferably with reps, holding off a flank as long as possible, can mean the difference between keeping the flags you just won and losing them. Always stay aware of anyone behind you when you are attacking. In either situation, the one thing you want to avoid at all costs is a big fight with team A while you are trying to take team B’s flags.
When flags are split 2 ways:
Flanking when flags are split only two ways will changes things a bit. If you are the team with no flags, your top priority will be to stop any chance of a flank. If you take a base and are so weak that the third team can walk right in and take your flags, they will win the game. If flags are split two ways and you have no flags and you are attacking a base, kill anyone on the third team that comes up behind you on sight. If you are one of the two teams with flags, you must be ready to flank asap if the other team with flags gets attacked. Soon as the team with no flags commits to attacking the other team with flags, you will want be flanking them and hopefully winning the game.
When flags are split 1 way and you aren’t the ones winning:
If one team has all 8 flags, the first team to show up to their base and call an attack must be allowed to get in as far as they can with out interference from a flank. If another team beats you to the winning base, let that team attack as best as they can and do as much damage to the winning team as they can. If the team before you is not making any progress for whatever reason when timer starts getting down to 30-40 seconds, that’s when you will want to go in regardless. If you are the first team at enemy, go in fast and hard. If it’s obvious you can’t stop the team from winning for whatever reason, you need to do as much damage to them as you possibly can and let the second team come in behind after your team is dead. Your only hope in this situation is that the second team can reset the flag timer (even if they take the base and get all 8), so you can have enough time to regreen and try again. Always remember your top priority is getting the flags; avoid getting caught up in a flank fest with the other losing team at all costs.
Communication is key in offense. Attack callers should have a full set of attack macros and use them, including: ‘How Is Base? I need a status update!’, ‘TICK ME NOW’, and ‘ENEMY IS HERE %coord’. Base should be feeding attackers and greeners info on how clear it is, ranging from 'all hell is breaking loose' to 'base is 100% clear'. If base hasn't updated in a while, attacker needs to ask how base is before calling an attack. Also, attacker should be aware of how many pilots are greened or not. If base is saying it’s clear, but you know you just lost five pilots on d, you won’t get much if any help if you call an attack. Attackers should be ticked by default, but using a 'tick me now' macro even 5 seconds before a call will get faster attaches on call. Attack caller might need help loosening up defense at an enemy base with things such as repping bomb lines and mines, luring defenders out of base, levi wall bombing, etc. If attack caller needs help, he should ask someone in priv msg. Don't msg freq asking for someone to help rep as you might pull 4 bored defenders away from base prematurely. If attack caller asks for your help, do what he wants you to (exception being you can't leave base atm).
While greening semi near an enemy base, anyone might notice a good target of opportunity. If you are greening near an enemy base and notice all their d just died or left or lagged out or whatever and you think it's a perfect opportunity to call an emergency attack, go ahead and call it. But do it the same as your regular offence players: make sure base is okay or semi okay atm (use a How Is Base?! macro if need be), use a TICK ME NOW macro (don't expect much help or any quick help if you don't let team know what you're planning), and make sure offence is not currently calling attack at a different base (accidentally attacking 2 bases at the same time will get you laughed out of league).
When attacking always keep focused on the flags. Don’t get suckered into dueling a single defender or get obsessed with getting a few easy and slow kills on some non-critical vulch hole. Always remember flags are top priority. If you are killing 1 defender in the time it takes 2 of them to green up and get back to base, chances are you’re wasting your time.
When you have several people attacking an enemy base, someone should keep antiwarp on at all times. Defensive portals are the same as getting a free kill with little to no risk; keep them antied to prevent this. Anti will also prevent them from portaling the base and warping out, only to bring a turret right back 20 seconds after you take the base.
Turret attacks can often get many pilots in close to the enemy before they realize they are under heavy attack. A lot of attack callers however do not understand that turret attacks are surprise attacks. The moment the first defender sees you, he will be calling for major help at base. If you can’t get the turret up to the front door or past it before you are seen, you might as well just call a regular attack. Also keep in mind that spec coaching is allowed. The second someone in spec sees you are making a turret, chances are the team you are near knows about it. You can still use turrets, but they have to be damn fast from the moment of the first attach till you enter enemy base. The same goes for portal attacks. If you set a portal and tell the team to get on you and then wait 30s before you warp, you will insta-die because their team will have known you were coming. If you lay a portal and get out, spam your ‘tick me now!’ macro, then 5-10 seconds before you plan to warp, spam ‘turret me now!’.
Greening
The key to winning is greening. Green fast and green hard. Always try to out-green the enemy. Fast greening can make the difference between winning and losing bases when things heat up.
Where you green is as important as how fast you green.
If there are greens near base, you can stay near base and green; the first hand knowledge of how base is faring can be invaluable.
If there are greens near an enemy base, you can green there and keep an eye on how strong their defense is. You can find targets of opportunity if you're greening near enemy bases, but don't get suckered into dueling or vulching their defenders. When greening near an enemy, you don't want to get to close unless you are going to call an attack. The closer you get to their front door, the more likely they are to keep heavy d and call for help. If you see they have strong d, back to the edge of radar and continue to green outside of antiwarp radius, ready to help base if it calls, ready to move in fast and call an attack if all their d leaves or dies.
Don’t go to d or o if you aren't greened enough. Lots of old school vets still go to base with completely worthless ships. You aren't greened till you have a weapon that will be effective, usually yellow or blue bouncy bullets or specialty prox bombs, and until you have enough recharge to use your weapons. If you attach to someone with 30 bounty but with non-bouncy red bullets with no prox bombs and 34% recharge, you're probably a dumbass.
If you need to green x or reps or anything and you already have 100 bounty, recycle and green. Don’t keep greening for specific items after 100 bounty, you’ll get them 10x’s faster if you recycle and green.
Ships
Most warzone pilots get comfortable with one single ship and never use any of the other 7 ships no matter what. A team that ends up using very limited types of ships denies itself several advantages. If you are certain you can only fly one single ship, then stick with it. If you know you are decent at multiple ships, keep these advantages and disadvantages in mind (some stat specifics may be out dated):
Warbird advantages: Warbird's only advantage is its maneuverability. This advantage is huge when dueling or fighting in big open spaces where you can move around a lot. The maneuverability can also help very skilled pilots dodge better even in tighter spaces.
Warbird disadvantages: Most bases don't have wide open spaces, and most pilots are not crazy skilled enough to dodge 30 bullets better in tight corridors using a wb as opposed to other ships. It's the default ship of most ss pilots, which makes it very overused. Several other ships are better suited for warzone in many situations, but maneuverability junkies refuse to get out of them.
Jav advantages: Jav's only advantage is speed. On d the speed can be used to shoot bullets/bombs farther and faster in some bases. On o it can shoot bullets/bombs farther and faster, and it can also help get in deep faster. Jav is pure $ when it comes to running away with flags or chasing someone with flags in the open. It's speed and the fact that everyone has/uses x makes it one of the best ships for double-rep flag-rushing dk suicide runs. Javs start with almost as much speed as other ships have when they are fully greened.
Jav disadvantages: A lot of tight and complicated bases can completely negate any advantage of the Jav's speed.
Spider advantages: Awesome for cloaking flags at enemy base. Can be used effectively as an out-front/flanking ship at defense.
Spider disadvantage: Most teams always have x and always check x constantly now a days.
Levi advantages: Big badda boom bombs. Some bases in wz were designed to allow and even almost necessitate the use of wall bombing from outside to push d back to center of base; levi is by far the best ship for wall bombing. Well scattered levi mines on d are a cloaker/attack caller's second worst enemy. Level 3 bombs are extremely deadly on bomb lines. Levi has a max recharge and energy level bonus of +50, starts with level 1 bombs, and can lay 5 mines as opposed to the standard 4. Levi is also an uncommon ship in warzone, which gives good levi pilots an extra edge.
Levi disadvantages: Level 3 mines and bombs are the leading cause of tks *cough* mojo *cough*. Level 3 mines and bombs cost a bit more to use than other ships’ level 2 mines and bombs.
Terrier advantages: Double bullets in tight bases = pure $. Most all bases are designed so mass bullets can do great damage. Terrier is by far the best ship when using a bullet defense. Terrier starts with level 2 bullets, and terrier multifire bullets fire slightly faster than other ships’ multifire bullets.
Terrier disadvantages: Lot of vets just don't use them, probably because they are known as noobie ships. Noobies can get in one and are instantly decent warzone pilots. But by the same token, good pilots that get in terriers are instantly godly warzone pilots. Terrier normal guns fire slightly slower than other guns, and terrier multifire bullets cost a little more than other ships’ multifire.
Weasel advantages: EMP mmm. A well placed EMP can screw a whole team either on o or on d. Also the only ship that should be used for wall bombing aside from the levi. Best quick-kill ship because of no bomb-bullet delay. Well scattered EMP mines on d are a cloaker/attack caller's worst enemy. Can see mines on radar, reporting mine status on d or picking the best attack route on o. Weasel is tied with lanc for the second most under used ship in warzone, which gives good weasel pilots a very nice edge.
Weasel disadvantages: EMP mines and bombs are the second leading cause of tks. A repped EMP near your team can screw your whole d or o. No shrap on the mines/bombs. No shrap on o means each miss is a complete waste as opposed to other bombs getting a shrap burst. No shrap on d means EMP mines cannot be used with rep/shrap bounce back in mind; they must be placed in direct paths or they are useless.
Lanc advantages: Only ship with bouncy bombs. Lobbing bombs around corners while trying to take or keep a base is an invaluable advantage; a must have ship for any team both on o and on d. Lanc mines and bombs bounce when repped, so enemy reppers can end up with mines in their face even after they rep. Tied with weasel for second most underused ship in warzone, giving good lanc pilots a very nice edge.
Lanc disadvantages: Poorly aimed bounce bombs often end up hurting your team.
Shark advantages: +50 max energy. Starts with cloak/stealth, which can be useful if you know for a fact enemy has no x.
Shark disadvantages: Costs 3x’s more to use cloak than spider does. Does not have the maneuverability of the wb like in some zones. Main ability is cloak, but the extra energy cost to cloak makes it far inferior to the spider. Most underused ship in wz, but for good reason, it’s practically worthless.
Your team is going to want a good mix of ships at all times. You also will need to get into the habit of changing ships as needed. When attacking and defending if you notice you are at a point in a base that screams 'use terrier here' or 'use lanc here', then when you die, change into the best ship for that moment.
You want a good mix of ships and a large supply of lancs, levis, and terriers at base. If base needs a lanc, levi, terrier, or whatever, and you look around and notice you're one of four spiders on d... sc and green up, duh.
Toys
Some things to keep in mind with toys:
Bursts: The first one to use a burst gives away that the whole team probably has bursts. If you see someone burst at your base, tell your team that enemy has bursts. If you are at enemy, remember that the moment the first person bursts, the secret is out and they will be a lot more reluctant to get close to you.
Repels: Repels are a must for both offence and defense. Refer to Defense and Offence sections for more on Repels.
Decoys: Poorly used toy for the most part, but it can be very effective if used intelligently. On d you can use decoys to fool the enemy into thinking you have more defense that you really do. Float them slowly or unmoving for best effect on d; if you decoy at top speed, the decoy will bounce all over and enemy will know it’s a fake. On offence you can use decoys to fool the enemy into thinking a huge attack is coming, so they call back some of their attackers to defense. Another good tactic for decoys is the decoy-stealth fake. Mostly used when running away with a flag: just decoy, stealth, change direction, and hope everyone follows the decoy instead of you. Decoy-stealth can also be used well on offence; get in semi close moving slowly or stopped, decoy-stealth, run straight in fast as possible. Hopefully they don’t toggle x between the time you decoyed and the time you hit their front door.
Thors: If team has thors, save them for mass thor attack; don’t throw them away one at a time unless you have good reason to. Thor attacks are best used on turrets. A good turret thor attack can win a game. Lot of vets still don’t realize how big thor prox is. Be sure not to use them in the middle of any base when you’re too close to enemy.
Rockets: Great for chasing down reds in center, or getting away if you have a flag in center. Double-rep/rocket combo is great for getting deep in enemy bases quickly. Decoy-stealth with double-rep/rocket is an awesome combo for getting deep into enemy bases quickly. Can be used with a portal on defense to mow down enemy quickly with little to no risk.
Portals: Don’t make the common vet mistake of portaling an enemy base and flying out when you still have plenty of offence attacking. If you are still attacking, stay and fight. The only time you should attempt to portal and run out is if you are the last or nearly the last one at enemy. And if you haul ass out, they are going to know they were portaled. Make it look semi-sly: slowly retreat, toss a few bombs, hope someone follows you, dog fight him for 5 seconds, then casually leave. Or get off their full screen, decoy, attach to someone in base. Keep in mind that some bases are longer than antiwarp radius. If you can’t lay a portal on one side, you might be able to lay one on the other side. Refer to Offence section for how to best call for portal-turret attacks in wzl. Refer to Defense section for how to use portals for free kills at base.
Shields (currently unavailable in wzl): A big mistake lots of pilots make when they have shields is to use their weapons. Shields should be used to tank as much as you can. If you’re shooting when you have shields, you’re depleting your energy, which is exactly what shields are meant to prevent. On offence, just tank as much as you can on your way to the flags. Let anyone else back you up on the killing. If base is in trouble and you get shields, don’t hesitate to go home. One shielded player can save a base by simply standing at the front line and tanking everything for a minute. At enemy or base, everyone else should be following the shielded player close, letting him tank, while everyone else does all the killing.
Communication
If you aren't communicating with the team, you're playing with yourself. Everyone needs a full set of macros. Lots of vets get pissy on this subject, but the fact is if you don't tell the team wtf you're doing, they can't read your mind. And if you take the time to type out these common team msgs every time, you're a hopeless noob.
Basic wz macros include:
1) safe at base %coord -- Make sure you are safe when you use this.
2) yellow alert at base %coord -- Be as safe as you can when you use this.
3) red alert at base %coord -- Be as safe as you can when you use this.
4) who is at base?! %bounty %flags -- Base needs to respond to these instantly. Be sure you are safe and not currently engaged on the front line if you respond.
5) enemy?! %bounty -- If offence isn’t actively calling for help, hopefully they can respond with which enemy they are focusing on, where that enemy is, and how that enemy looks atm.
6) enemy is here! %coord -- Be as safe as you can when you use this.
7) greening %bounty % flags %coord -- Use this especially if you need the green. Can get more help greening if you let team know you need it, and o needs to know how many people need greens when they are making calls.
8) tick me now! -- USE IT, or expect to get fewer, slower, and late attaches.
9) how is base?! what is base status?! -- Base needs to respond as quickly and accurately as possible when this is asked.
10) %tickname needs help now! -- Careful using this one. Best used if you know for a fact that someone on the team needs help but that person may not be able to call for help themselves (they are last at base and dodging like mad, they just dked and have flags as a neg in center, etc). Never use it to override a help at base call, unless the person you have ticked is in base. The %tickname should come before the word ‘help’ because if you just had lots of people calling for help, a lot of the time players only see the ‘help’ and attach to whoever’s using this macro.
11) i’m dead don't attach! -- Use it especially if you were calling for help just before you died.
12) %red %coord -- Lots of pilots like to use ‘RED %red %coord’, but when used and there are no reds on radar, it still looks like you are calling red. Then when they get attaches and there are no reds, they take the time to type out ‘gone’ or ‘don’t attach’. It’s much simpler and less likely to misdirect pilots with a plain old ‘%red %coord’ macro.
13) :bot:!lag %tickname -- Use it religiously, especially on people near base.
14) help me now! %coord %flags %bounty %energy -- General distress call. Don't use it if 'help base' or 'enemy is here' are more fitting for the situation. Don’t over use it, save it for extreme critical times when help is needed damn fast. Careful not to override base calls with it.
15) xxxx! check x at base! -- Use it if you’re the first to see a cloaker near base.
16) bounty check! %bounty -- Need everyone to respond to these. Will be used mostly by offence before attack calls.
The %coord in the macros is a must. You need to let the team know where you are when you ask them to attach to you.
The more you communicate what you are doing and what’s going on, the more you can work as a team, the more effective you will be.
Refer to Defense section for more on communicating with your team while on d. Refer to Offence section for more on communicating with your team while on o.
Spec Coaching
Spec Coaches are a must. Every game you need someone on team to tell you where flags are, which enemy has flags, how well defended enemy bases are, which enemy is attacking which atm, where flags are at the start of games, where flags are lagged/tked out, when turrets are spotted or portals are suspected, and anything else relevant during a game. Spec coaches are going to be at least as important if not more important than any single player in game. Spec coaching is allowed in wzl, and I guarantee other teams will be using them. You are at a decent sized disadvantage if you aren't getting this info fed to your team too.
Side note: if you do not have a spec coach, you will still need to keep track of enemy as much as you possibly can. If you notice an enemy base that hasn’t been mentioned yet, fly in and see who it is, how many flags they got, and roughly how well it’s defended. Tell the team, then get back to greening or base. You need to keep track of enemy location as much as possible. If you lose base and some team is winning, you can fly directly to them if you know where they are. If you know where enemy is and see a half dozen death messages from a single team, you need to know exactly where that base is so you can get there asap.
Morale
Subspace is full of egos, and the better the pilots get, the bigger the egos get. Never let your ego get in the way of good teamwork. You have to constantly work together to win.
Don’t get in pissing matches with other teammates. If someone’s doing something they shouldn’t be doing, or not doing something they should be doing, or for whatever reason you have a problem with them, do not let it degenerate into a pissing contest during games. Priv msg your team captain if there are any problems between yourselves during games and let the captain deal with it.
When you are losing: Do not demoralize the team by saying ‘game over, we’ve lost’ if the music starts and you aren’t winning. The game isn’t over no matter what till you hear the ding. You should expect everyone to be at their best and working their hardest when things look their worst.
Final Note
There are exceptions to just about every strategy listed here, and about a thousand other tactics and strategies that relate to warzone. The only way to be familiar with every single nuance of wz and be prepared to do the best thing at any given time is if you play wz religiously. So go play!
Rules in Short
1) Must use continuum, not subspace.
2) Do what refs tell you to even if it's stupid. Don't talk shit with refs even if they are being stupid. If refs do something stupid and you lose you can appeal. If you talk shit to refs, you can get banned regardless of appeal outcome.
3) Do not use cheat programs.
4) Do not go in a safe zone if you have flags.
5) Do not ship change for any reason if you have flags.
6) Do not quit if you have flags.
7) Do not spec if you have flags.
8) Do not change freqs if you have flags.
9) Do not purposefully tk a flag carrier.
10) Don't log into wzl with a second comp.
11) Don’t neg obsessively (sorry fluff).
12) Breaking any rule will get you kicked for the whole game (and maybe season), your team will lose the spot for that game, and the whole team can get kicked out of league.
13) Full list of rules are at http://www.wzctf.com/league/rules.cfm
Credits
Written by Sir Xazm.
Thanks to Antelope and Heatstroke for helping proof read and giving suggestions.
Thanks to Yarekim for his miscellaneous help.
Thanks to Perkins for the ship info.
Thanks to Fluff for being so damn sexy, even if he is worthless.
Thanks to everyone on Washed Up that gave general game strategy suggestions throughout the season.
Thanks to my cat Doofus for leaving me alone long enough to type this up.
Special thanks to Nova for assuring me that no one will ever bother to read all this.
There’s a lot of basic information in this guide. There’s also a lot of advanced and sneaky information too. A lot of the information is Warzone League specific, while a lot of it can also be carried over and used in regular Warzone. Hopefully if you bother to read it you will learn something new about wzl and wz in general.
Differences from Warzone
The number of flags that teams have actually matters in wzl. Starting at 20 minutes into the game, and every 10 minutes after that, teams get 1 point for every flag they have (dropped or not). Games last 90 minutes max. At the end of 90 minutes, if there was no winner, each team keeps their accrued points. If a team wins, that team gets 64 points, and all the other teams keep their accrued points.
A lot of strategy is going to be based on the number of flags a team has. Teams that find 5+ flags at start of games might keep 10 d for the whole 90 minutes; teams that have no flags near the 10 minute marks will be 10 manning the base with most flags; etc. Just keep in mind that having flags matters, and the 10-minute marks are important.
Start of Game
At the start of the game you need to do four things immediately:
1) Pick up any flags you can. If you see a flag, pick it up, duh.
2) Green like mad. The faster you green, the faster your team can find flags and the better chance they will have of keeping them.
3) Get a good base. Decide what base or bases you want before the game starts. At the start of the game you need one pilot to start flying to each of them. If you find yourself close, start hauling ass and tell the team which one you are getting, so everyone else can focus on greening and getting flags.
4) Attack reds. Only do this if you do not have a flag, someone’s already said they are getting a base, you have enough green to make for real ships, and the red is alone or semi alone. You must avoid having half the team chasing a red that you have little or no chance of killing when you don’t have the first 3 items covered.
One of the best ships for doing all those things is a Jav. Javs have almost as much speed with 0 bounty as other ships have with full bounty. With the Jav’s speed you can cover more map area and have a better chance of finding flags, you can get from one green to the next faster, if you get flags you have a better chance of keeping them, you can fly to a base faster, and if you do chase a red, you have a much better chance of getting him. After the initial flag/base grab is done, you can recycle into a wider variety of ships as base allows.
Defense
There are basically three types of defense in warzone: heavy d, medium d, and light d. Knowing how and when to use which type of defense is very important.
Heavy Defense is generally around 7-10 pilots actively helping defend. You will want to use heavy d in situations such as: if your team is being attacked a lot or if your team has reason to believe a big attack is incoming. If your base is getting attacked over and over by various groups of attackers, get heavy d set up asap. If you have most flags, think you might have been portaled, have most points, see a cloaker from a team that has no flags near your base, or have any other reason to expect a big attack, get heavy d set up asap. Also remember that a lot of d is nothing but perception. If your base is being harassed by a lot of small attacks or solo cloakers, simply having a large show of force on d for a few minutes can discourage those attackers enough to leave your base and attack the other sometimes.
Medium d is 4-6 pilots actively helping defend. If you are not having big problems with attacks at base, but don’t want to risk a blitzkrieg attack by an enemy, medium d is often the best choice. Medium d usually gives your base enough time to call for reinforcements and it also gives your o more players so they will have more options than suicide flag grab attempts.
Light d is 1-3 pilots at base. This is obviously the most risky defensive setup a team can have, but it gives the huge advantage of a large offensive force. Light d should keep up mines and maybe a bomb line to discourage solo attackers, but their primary job will be to rep large attacks and call for help asap when large attacks come. If you go light d, make sure your d pilots all have reps, with 1-2 of them staying close to door of base to rep the huge attacks. Sometimes it might be worth the risk to drop all the way down to 1 d. Only do this if base is 100% clear and base is in an out of the way location, so enemy wont spawn right next to or fly real easily to your base. If your team is crazy enough to go down to a single person on d, the only thing he can do is call early as possible and cross his fingers if an attack comes.
Always remember that you only need 1 person to make offensive calls. If you aren’t specifically needed on offense and you do not need any greens, go to base and reinforce it until o calls.
When in base, keep mines fresh and spread out, and keep bomb lines going (if base has any good ones). Be careful where you mine and bomb line; don't do either on any common fall back spots or you'll end up tking everyone. Mines and bomb lines won't stop a 10 man attack, but they are a sure fire way of keeping the attack callers from getting in very deep before they have to call or die. Mines are also the best way to stop laggers/tankers. Laggers might not see your bullets/bombs for up to a second after you shoot them, but they are almost guaranteed to see mines exactly where they were placed. Keep mines fresh!
The biggest thing d will have to worry about is enemy attack callers. They will almost always have reps and use them to get in as deep as they can before they call. Never let an enemy get between you and the flags. If you do, they will rep you and call for help, and everyone that comes to help will also rep until they get in as deep and as fast as they can get. Always be mindful of where you will go if an enemy on your screen should rep at any instant; good attack callers will always know where you're going to go when they rep you, and use it against you when you let them.
Good offensive pilots will also try to lure you out of base. It is almost always a bad idea to leave base to duel or dog fight. Always remember that flags are your top priority, and the best defense is when you are between the enemy and your flags. If you leave base and are successful at chasing off 2 vulchers, 3 other attack callers could just walk in right behind you and screw base. A lot of vets still don’t realize that some vulchers actually help the base they are vulching, by killing pilots on the third team that get near. The only good time to go outside and engage the enemy is if someone outside poses more of a threat than someone at our front door, such as if someone outside is actively killing defenders that are inside base. If a vulcher or wall bomber has your base by the short and curlies and is actively killing your defenders, someone will need to go deal with him.
One of the most critical moments of wzl games will be when offence calls attacks. Defenders need to accurately gauge just how many pilots d can spare for an attack at any given time. If you have heavy d and there’s even 1 person on radar, be very cautions about leaving base for enemy. Good attack callers are going to be waiting for the exact second 4+ people warp out of a base to call an attack. It is very helpful to know which teams have players near your base, and how many flags those teams have. If you see a cloaker from a team that has no flags, you should know that they will call a 10 man attack if they see a lot of your defense leave base.
After a major attack at base, no one should leave base until it's 100% clear no matter what. A lot of vets still consider base clear when most of the enemy are dead. This can be a huge tactical error. Base should only be considered clear when 1) all the enemy are pushed out the front door 2) mines are refreshed and bomb lines are taken up and 3) when enough perma d are in place to defend properly. When that's done, o can get back to work and people in need of green can start greening.
You must have antiwarp on at all times. To ensure this is the case, you need anyone that is running antiwarp to 1) tell the team they have aw on and 2) tell the team when they turn it off for any reason including death. If you say you have aw on at base, no one else is going to bother to do it unless you tell the team you turned it off. Make very certain you tell the team when you do turn anti off.
You must have x at base. 99% of the time this isn't an issue as most teams usually have x and most players usually toggle it constantly. If greens dick you over and you end up with no x on anyone, regreening x becomes top priority. You will need 2-4 ships to immediately ship change and regreen (if base isn't already in deep shit). You aren't going to want to do what happens in warzone games where everyone ignores the fact that team has no x as if it's no big deal.
Reps are a must have for d. Most teams will regreen for reps when they attack, but most teams don't ever bother to keep reps fresh on d, which puts them at a huge disadvantage when a big attack comes repping in. A team with full reps on d can easily hold off an attack long enough for the win by simply using the reps alone. Reps are also a must if you are front line defense and see a turret come up; just rep them away, back up, call for help. Or if you see someone with shields come running up to base; you almost always want to rep shielded players, depending on how fresh the shields are and how greened they are atm (ignore this if shields are still removed from wzl). If you have no reps, recycle as base allows and green them up. If you are perma d, you need to make extra certain you keep your reps fresh as much as possible.
All bricks should go to base. A good 95% of the times bricks are used on offence, the team only gets a small advantage. However, bricks used at home are 99% guaranteed to save a base when the shit hits the fan. If you green a brick, consider yourself on perma d till you use/lose it.
One of the most under-used defensive strategies is portaling in your own base. If you have a portal and the enemy doesn’t have your base antied, you can lay a portal, bullet rush right up to the enemy’s face, and warp back to safety. You can usually kill 1-2 enemy off with little to no risk if you do this right.
Defenders should constantly keep offence and greeners updated on base status. Aside from the common 'safe at base', 'yellow alert at base', and 'red alert at base' updates, you need to get in the habit of relaying just what exactly is happening at base. ‘3 attackers 6 defense’ (or simply 3/6) is more specific than 'yellow alert'. ‘Base is 100% clear, nothing on radar’ is a lot more accurate than 'safe at base'. It is also very helpful to relay how many people are dying on d. If you tell the team ‘four defenders just died at base’, offence will know you need time to green before calling an attack. The more accurate picture you can paint for offence and greeners, the better chance you have of sneaking in attack calls or getting help at d before things get out of hand.
Flanking base is a lot more delicate tactic than most people think. Calling a flank at your own base can completely destroy an enemy attack, but it can also be the sole reason base falls. The surest and safest defense a base can have is a fortified front where everyone on the team is together, between the flags and the enemy. Flanks can only help a base if there's already enough d in place to halt the enemy advancement. If you fly to base and notice there's several more attackers than defenders, do not call for help on the flank; center d needs as many reinforcements as they can get as quick as they can get them. If base is calling for a flank and you are near, fly there and call flank if it looks like a good call. The team only wants 1 pilot to fly in to call a flank; everyone else out of base needs to be greening like mad. So if you see someone ahead of you flying to base, or someone’s already calling for a flank, back off and green or attach to base/flank. Having several pilots fly to base when the shit is hitting the fan is a huge tactical error.
When base calls for help break off everything and get to base asap. Base should always come first. There may be exceptions to this, but every one of them carries a huge risk to your base’s flags.
Offence
There are several offensive strategies that can be used to great effect. They include: 1 person calling attacks, a few players working together to call an attack, specific designated attackers, etc. You will need to know your team’s and your players’ strengths and weaknesses when deciding which one is best for your team.
Having a single attack caller has both advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages include allowing heavy d and having the whole team tick 1 player by default the whole game. Many attacks can be called just as well with 1 player as with 5 players, so there’s no point in lowering your d till you have to. There are also disadvantages to having a single attack caller. When attack caller is dead, no one’s in place to call easy attacks if the opportunity arises. Some bases and defenses also require more than a single pilot to crack.
Having several players on offense also has advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is that offense can work together coordinating reps with attack calls, stealing and setting up critical vulch holes before attack calls, luring some enemy defense out of base, etc. The obvious disadvantage is the more dedicated o you have, the less dedicated d you will have.
When you are using light d or have no flags (and no team is winning atm), you have a lot more freedom to coordinate huge attacks. You will want to be ten man attacking (or close to it) in these situations. Avoid suicide rushing or doing small 1-2 man attacks when you have a lot of people free to attack.
When you have the luxury of a big attack force, keep these things in mind:
1) Attack together, die together, green together. Repeat till you get flags. Recycle and regreen if you need reps. Ten man greening only takes about 60 seconds till you are ready to attack. You don’t need and actually don’t want 100 bounty when you ten man attack. It’s much better to attack as soon as a ship is greened than to keep greening up to 100. The first pilots to die will be greening like mad and the pilots that are still attacking might get replacement reps, full charges, and other toys while they are still deep in enemy.
2) Keep in mind that wzl points are given out at the 10-minute marks. If you are pounding a base over and over, you’ll want to make sure you are fully greened hopefully with two reps each and 100% ready to hit that base hard near the 8m-8m30s mark. You can message the bot with !status at any time to see where exactly it’s clock is at.
3) Generally you will only need one levi at most to pound the walls. In some bases, outside wall bombing will be pointless. And in a few bases you may want 2+ levis wall bombing. General rule of thumb should be to have one levi wall bombing, wall mining, wall bomb floating.
4) Some bases have strategic vulch holes. You’ll want to get someone on those using a lanc or levi or maybe a weasel.
5) Wall bombing and using vulch holes will help weaken a defense, but what’s going to take or lose a base is the main attack force. Aside from the wall bomber and vulch hole bombers, everyone else needs to be together in a fortified front and pushing in. The push in is the most important part of the attack, so you need as many as you can get for it. If you have 2 wall miners, 2 vulchers, 1 wall bomber, and 1 guy off dueling/dog fighting, there is no way you will ever be able to push into a base.
6) We may want an anchor at enemy, especially if you are getting close to the flags and the battle has become a contest of who can green and attach faster. But if you choose to be an anchor, keep in mind that the main attack force that’s pushing forward is what’s going to take a base. The more pilots you have that are holding back and trying to stay safe, the less pilots you have that are pushing in and getting to those flags.
There are several things you need to keep in mind when choosing who to attack. The two biggest factors to keep in mind are which team has the most flags and which team is stronger. Some things to keep in mind:
1) If your team ends up with the most flags, any team with out flags will most likely focus on you, giving you a lot less freedom to attack.
2) If you attack the stronger of two enemies, you risk them (a strong team) 10 manning you right after.
3) If you attack the weaker of two enemies, you risk the remaining stronger team flanking you for a win. Even if that does not happen, you will be flanking a weak team attacking a strong team for last flags, which might not help you much at all. And that’s only if the weak team doesn’t decide to focus on you in the first place.
4) Always keep in mind how many flags your team has, how many flags each of the other teams have, how strong both of the other teams are compared to each other and to your team, what the other teams will do if you take either team’s flags (will either team most likely attack you or focus on the third team?), and then use this information to decide who to attack.
One of the key strategies and most critical times of a game in wzl is flanking an enemy just after they finish attacking another base. Expect to get flanked just after you finish attacking a base and reach the flags, and plan to flank enemies as they also finish an attack and just reach the flags. You need to change our strategy depending on who has flags atm.
When flags are split 3 ways:
When you are the flankers, you need to time your flank very carefully. You must attack them at the moment their combined forces are at their weakest. When you are the ones that are about to get flanked at an attack, you need to keep an eye on your backs. If the 3rd team isn’t behind you, then you can go balls out and get the flags. If there’s even 1 pilot behind you, you must watch your back as you work in. Mining enemy base as you push in can slow down a flank. Having even one pilot watching your backs, preferably with reps, holding off a flank as long as possible, can mean the difference between keeping the flags you just won and losing them. Always stay aware of anyone behind you when you are attacking. In either situation, the one thing you want to avoid at all costs is a big fight with team A while you are trying to take team B’s flags.
When flags are split 2 ways:
Flanking when flags are split only two ways will changes things a bit. If you are the team with no flags, your top priority will be to stop any chance of a flank. If you take a base and are so weak that the third team can walk right in and take your flags, they will win the game. If flags are split two ways and you have no flags and you are attacking a base, kill anyone on the third team that comes up behind you on sight. If you are one of the two teams with flags, you must be ready to flank asap if the other team with flags gets attacked. Soon as the team with no flags commits to attacking the other team with flags, you will want be flanking them and hopefully winning the game.
When flags are split 1 way and you aren’t the ones winning:
If one team has all 8 flags, the first team to show up to their base and call an attack must be allowed to get in as far as they can with out interference from a flank. If another team beats you to the winning base, let that team attack as best as they can and do as much damage to the winning team as they can. If the team before you is not making any progress for whatever reason when timer starts getting down to 30-40 seconds, that’s when you will want to go in regardless. If you are the first team at enemy, go in fast and hard. If it’s obvious you can’t stop the team from winning for whatever reason, you need to do as much damage to them as you possibly can and let the second team come in behind after your team is dead. Your only hope in this situation is that the second team can reset the flag timer (even if they take the base and get all 8), so you can have enough time to regreen and try again. Always remember your top priority is getting the flags; avoid getting caught up in a flank fest with the other losing team at all costs.
Communication is key in offense. Attack callers should have a full set of attack macros and use them, including: ‘How Is Base? I need a status update!’, ‘TICK ME NOW’, and ‘ENEMY IS HERE %coord’. Base should be feeding attackers and greeners info on how clear it is, ranging from 'all hell is breaking loose' to 'base is 100% clear'. If base hasn't updated in a while, attacker needs to ask how base is before calling an attack. Also, attacker should be aware of how many pilots are greened or not. If base is saying it’s clear, but you know you just lost five pilots on d, you won’t get much if any help if you call an attack. Attackers should be ticked by default, but using a 'tick me now' macro even 5 seconds before a call will get faster attaches on call. Attack caller might need help loosening up defense at an enemy base with things such as repping bomb lines and mines, luring defenders out of base, levi wall bombing, etc. If attack caller needs help, he should ask someone in priv msg. Don't msg freq asking for someone to help rep as you might pull 4 bored defenders away from base prematurely. If attack caller asks for your help, do what he wants you to (exception being you can't leave base atm).
While greening semi near an enemy base, anyone might notice a good target of opportunity. If you are greening near an enemy base and notice all their d just died or left or lagged out or whatever and you think it's a perfect opportunity to call an emergency attack, go ahead and call it. But do it the same as your regular offence players: make sure base is okay or semi okay atm (use a How Is Base?! macro if need be), use a TICK ME NOW macro (don't expect much help or any quick help if you don't let team know what you're planning), and make sure offence is not currently calling attack at a different base (accidentally attacking 2 bases at the same time will get you laughed out of league).
When attacking always keep focused on the flags. Don’t get suckered into dueling a single defender or get obsessed with getting a few easy and slow kills on some non-critical vulch hole. Always remember flags are top priority. If you are killing 1 defender in the time it takes 2 of them to green up and get back to base, chances are you’re wasting your time.
When you have several people attacking an enemy base, someone should keep antiwarp on at all times. Defensive portals are the same as getting a free kill with little to no risk; keep them antied to prevent this. Anti will also prevent them from portaling the base and warping out, only to bring a turret right back 20 seconds after you take the base.
Turret attacks can often get many pilots in close to the enemy before they realize they are under heavy attack. A lot of attack callers however do not understand that turret attacks are surprise attacks. The moment the first defender sees you, he will be calling for major help at base. If you can’t get the turret up to the front door or past it before you are seen, you might as well just call a regular attack. Also keep in mind that spec coaching is allowed. The second someone in spec sees you are making a turret, chances are the team you are near knows about it. You can still use turrets, but they have to be damn fast from the moment of the first attach till you enter enemy base. The same goes for portal attacks. If you set a portal and tell the team to get on you and then wait 30s before you warp, you will insta-die because their team will have known you were coming. If you lay a portal and get out, spam your ‘tick me now!’ macro, then 5-10 seconds before you plan to warp, spam ‘turret me now!’.
Greening
The key to winning is greening. Green fast and green hard. Always try to out-green the enemy. Fast greening can make the difference between winning and losing bases when things heat up.
Where you green is as important as how fast you green.
If there are greens near base, you can stay near base and green; the first hand knowledge of how base is faring can be invaluable.
If there are greens near an enemy base, you can green there and keep an eye on how strong their defense is. You can find targets of opportunity if you're greening near enemy bases, but don't get suckered into dueling or vulching their defenders. When greening near an enemy, you don't want to get to close unless you are going to call an attack. The closer you get to their front door, the more likely they are to keep heavy d and call for help. If you see they have strong d, back to the edge of radar and continue to green outside of antiwarp radius, ready to help base if it calls, ready to move in fast and call an attack if all their d leaves or dies.
Don’t go to d or o if you aren't greened enough. Lots of old school vets still go to base with completely worthless ships. You aren't greened till you have a weapon that will be effective, usually yellow or blue bouncy bullets or specialty prox bombs, and until you have enough recharge to use your weapons. If you attach to someone with 30 bounty but with non-bouncy red bullets with no prox bombs and 34% recharge, you're probably a dumbass.
If you need to green x or reps or anything and you already have 100 bounty, recycle and green. Don’t keep greening for specific items after 100 bounty, you’ll get them 10x’s faster if you recycle and green.
Ships
Most warzone pilots get comfortable with one single ship and never use any of the other 7 ships no matter what. A team that ends up using very limited types of ships denies itself several advantages. If you are certain you can only fly one single ship, then stick with it. If you know you are decent at multiple ships, keep these advantages and disadvantages in mind (some stat specifics may be out dated):
Warbird advantages: Warbird's only advantage is its maneuverability. This advantage is huge when dueling or fighting in big open spaces where you can move around a lot. The maneuverability can also help very skilled pilots dodge better even in tighter spaces.
Warbird disadvantages: Most bases don't have wide open spaces, and most pilots are not crazy skilled enough to dodge 30 bullets better in tight corridors using a wb as opposed to other ships. It's the default ship of most ss pilots, which makes it very overused. Several other ships are better suited for warzone in many situations, but maneuverability junkies refuse to get out of them.
Jav advantages: Jav's only advantage is speed. On d the speed can be used to shoot bullets/bombs farther and faster in some bases. On o it can shoot bullets/bombs farther and faster, and it can also help get in deep faster. Jav is pure $ when it comes to running away with flags or chasing someone with flags in the open. It's speed and the fact that everyone has/uses x makes it one of the best ships for double-rep flag-rushing dk suicide runs. Javs start with almost as much speed as other ships have when they are fully greened.
Jav disadvantages: A lot of tight and complicated bases can completely negate any advantage of the Jav's speed.
Spider advantages: Awesome for cloaking flags at enemy base. Can be used effectively as an out-front/flanking ship at defense.
Spider disadvantage: Most teams always have x and always check x constantly now a days.
Levi advantages: Big badda boom bombs. Some bases in wz were designed to allow and even almost necessitate the use of wall bombing from outside to push d back to center of base; levi is by far the best ship for wall bombing. Well scattered levi mines on d are a cloaker/attack caller's second worst enemy. Level 3 bombs are extremely deadly on bomb lines. Levi has a max recharge and energy level bonus of +50, starts with level 1 bombs, and can lay 5 mines as opposed to the standard 4. Levi is also an uncommon ship in warzone, which gives good levi pilots an extra edge.
Levi disadvantages: Level 3 mines and bombs are the leading cause of tks *cough* mojo *cough*. Level 3 mines and bombs cost a bit more to use than other ships’ level 2 mines and bombs.
Terrier advantages: Double bullets in tight bases = pure $. Most all bases are designed so mass bullets can do great damage. Terrier is by far the best ship when using a bullet defense. Terrier starts with level 2 bullets, and terrier multifire bullets fire slightly faster than other ships’ multifire bullets.
Terrier disadvantages: Lot of vets just don't use them, probably because they are known as noobie ships. Noobies can get in one and are instantly decent warzone pilots. But by the same token, good pilots that get in terriers are instantly godly warzone pilots. Terrier normal guns fire slightly slower than other guns, and terrier multifire bullets cost a little more than other ships’ multifire.
Weasel advantages: EMP mmm. A well placed EMP can screw a whole team either on o or on d. Also the only ship that should be used for wall bombing aside from the levi. Best quick-kill ship because of no bomb-bullet delay. Well scattered EMP mines on d are a cloaker/attack caller's worst enemy. Can see mines on radar, reporting mine status on d or picking the best attack route on o. Weasel is tied with lanc for the second most under used ship in warzone, which gives good weasel pilots a very nice edge.
Weasel disadvantages: EMP mines and bombs are the second leading cause of tks. A repped EMP near your team can screw your whole d or o. No shrap on the mines/bombs. No shrap on o means each miss is a complete waste as opposed to other bombs getting a shrap burst. No shrap on d means EMP mines cannot be used with rep/shrap bounce back in mind; they must be placed in direct paths or they are useless.
Lanc advantages: Only ship with bouncy bombs. Lobbing bombs around corners while trying to take or keep a base is an invaluable advantage; a must have ship for any team both on o and on d. Lanc mines and bombs bounce when repped, so enemy reppers can end up with mines in their face even after they rep. Tied with weasel for second most underused ship in warzone, giving good lanc pilots a very nice edge.
Lanc disadvantages: Poorly aimed bounce bombs often end up hurting your team.
Shark advantages: +50 max energy. Starts with cloak/stealth, which can be useful if you know for a fact enemy has no x.
Shark disadvantages: Costs 3x’s more to use cloak than spider does. Does not have the maneuverability of the wb like in some zones. Main ability is cloak, but the extra energy cost to cloak makes it far inferior to the spider. Most underused ship in wz, but for good reason, it’s practically worthless.
Your team is going to want a good mix of ships at all times. You also will need to get into the habit of changing ships as needed. When attacking and defending if you notice you are at a point in a base that screams 'use terrier here' or 'use lanc here', then when you die, change into the best ship for that moment.
You want a good mix of ships and a large supply of lancs, levis, and terriers at base. If base needs a lanc, levi, terrier, or whatever, and you look around and notice you're one of four spiders on d... sc and green up, duh.
Toys
Some things to keep in mind with toys:
Bursts: The first one to use a burst gives away that the whole team probably has bursts. If you see someone burst at your base, tell your team that enemy has bursts. If you are at enemy, remember that the moment the first person bursts, the secret is out and they will be a lot more reluctant to get close to you.
Repels: Repels are a must for both offence and defense. Refer to Defense and Offence sections for more on Repels.
Decoys: Poorly used toy for the most part, but it can be very effective if used intelligently. On d you can use decoys to fool the enemy into thinking you have more defense that you really do. Float them slowly or unmoving for best effect on d; if you decoy at top speed, the decoy will bounce all over and enemy will know it’s a fake. On offence you can use decoys to fool the enemy into thinking a huge attack is coming, so they call back some of their attackers to defense. Another good tactic for decoys is the decoy-stealth fake. Mostly used when running away with a flag: just decoy, stealth, change direction, and hope everyone follows the decoy instead of you. Decoy-stealth can also be used well on offence; get in semi close moving slowly or stopped, decoy-stealth, run straight in fast as possible. Hopefully they don’t toggle x between the time you decoyed and the time you hit their front door.
Thors: If team has thors, save them for mass thor attack; don’t throw them away one at a time unless you have good reason to. Thor attacks are best used on turrets. A good turret thor attack can win a game. Lot of vets still don’t realize how big thor prox is. Be sure not to use them in the middle of any base when you’re too close to enemy.
Rockets: Great for chasing down reds in center, or getting away if you have a flag in center. Double-rep/rocket combo is great for getting deep in enemy bases quickly. Decoy-stealth with double-rep/rocket is an awesome combo for getting deep into enemy bases quickly. Can be used with a portal on defense to mow down enemy quickly with little to no risk.
Portals: Don’t make the common vet mistake of portaling an enemy base and flying out when you still have plenty of offence attacking. If you are still attacking, stay and fight. The only time you should attempt to portal and run out is if you are the last or nearly the last one at enemy. And if you haul ass out, they are going to know they were portaled. Make it look semi-sly: slowly retreat, toss a few bombs, hope someone follows you, dog fight him for 5 seconds, then casually leave. Or get off their full screen, decoy, attach to someone in base. Keep in mind that some bases are longer than antiwarp radius. If you can’t lay a portal on one side, you might be able to lay one on the other side. Refer to Offence section for how to best call for portal-turret attacks in wzl. Refer to Defense section for how to use portals for free kills at base.
Shields (currently unavailable in wzl): A big mistake lots of pilots make when they have shields is to use their weapons. Shields should be used to tank as much as you can. If you’re shooting when you have shields, you’re depleting your energy, which is exactly what shields are meant to prevent. On offence, just tank as much as you can on your way to the flags. Let anyone else back you up on the killing. If base is in trouble and you get shields, don’t hesitate to go home. One shielded player can save a base by simply standing at the front line and tanking everything for a minute. At enemy or base, everyone else should be following the shielded player close, letting him tank, while everyone else does all the killing.
Communication
If you aren't communicating with the team, you're playing with yourself. Everyone needs a full set of macros. Lots of vets get pissy on this subject, but the fact is if you don't tell the team wtf you're doing, they can't read your mind. And if you take the time to type out these common team msgs every time, you're a hopeless noob.
Basic wz macros include:
1) safe at base %coord -- Make sure you are safe when you use this.
2) yellow alert at base %coord -- Be as safe as you can when you use this.
3) red alert at base %coord -- Be as safe as you can when you use this.
4) who is at base?! %bounty %flags -- Base needs to respond to these instantly. Be sure you are safe and not currently engaged on the front line if you respond.
5) enemy?! %bounty -- If offence isn’t actively calling for help, hopefully they can respond with which enemy they are focusing on, where that enemy is, and how that enemy looks atm.
6) enemy is here! %coord -- Be as safe as you can when you use this.
7) greening %bounty % flags %coord -- Use this especially if you need the green. Can get more help greening if you let team know you need it, and o needs to know how many people need greens when they are making calls.
8) tick me now! -- USE IT, or expect to get fewer, slower, and late attaches.
9) how is base?! what is base status?! -- Base needs to respond as quickly and accurately as possible when this is asked.
10) %tickname needs help now! -- Careful using this one. Best used if you know for a fact that someone on the team needs help but that person may not be able to call for help themselves (they are last at base and dodging like mad, they just dked and have flags as a neg in center, etc). Never use it to override a help at base call, unless the person you have ticked is in base. The %tickname should come before the word ‘help’ because if you just had lots of people calling for help, a lot of the time players only see the ‘help’ and attach to whoever’s using this macro.
11) i’m dead don't attach! -- Use it especially if you were calling for help just before you died.
12) %red %coord -- Lots of pilots like to use ‘RED %red %coord’, but when used and there are no reds on radar, it still looks like you are calling red. Then when they get attaches and there are no reds, they take the time to type out ‘gone’ or ‘don’t attach’. It’s much simpler and less likely to misdirect pilots with a plain old ‘%red %coord’ macro.
13) :bot:!lag %tickname -- Use it religiously, especially on people near base.
14) help me now! %coord %flags %bounty %energy -- General distress call. Don't use it if 'help base' or 'enemy is here' are more fitting for the situation. Don’t over use it, save it for extreme critical times when help is needed damn fast. Careful not to override base calls with it.
15) xxxx! check x at base! -- Use it if you’re the first to see a cloaker near base.
16) bounty check! %bounty -- Need everyone to respond to these. Will be used mostly by offence before attack calls.
The %coord in the macros is a must. You need to let the team know where you are when you ask them to attach to you.
The more you communicate what you are doing and what’s going on, the more you can work as a team, the more effective you will be.
Refer to Defense section for more on communicating with your team while on d. Refer to Offence section for more on communicating with your team while on o.
Spec Coaching
Spec Coaches are a must. Every game you need someone on team to tell you where flags are, which enemy has flags, how well defended enemy bases are, which enemy is attacking which atm, where flags are at the start of games, where flags are lagged/tked out, when turrets are spotted or portals are suspected, and anything else relevant during a game. Spec coaches are going to be at least as important if not more important than any single player in game. Spec coaching is allowed in wzl, and I guarantee other teams will be using them. You are at a decent sized disadvantage if you aren't getting this info fed to your team too.
Side note: if you do not have a spec coach, you will still need to keep track of enemy as much as you possibly can. If you notice an enemy base that hasn’t been mentioned yet, fly in and see who it is, how many flags they got, and roughly how well it’s defended. Tell the team, then get back to greening or base. You need to keep track of enemy location as much as possible. If you lose base and some team is winning, you can fly directly to them if you know where they are. If you know where enemy is and see a half dozen death messages from a single team, you need to know exactly where that base is so you can get there asap.
Morale
Subspace is full of egos, and the better the pilots get, the bigger the egos get. Never let your ego get in the way of good teamwork. You have to constantly work together to win.
Don’t get in pissing matches with other teammates. If someone’s doing something they shouldn’t be doing, or not doing something they should be doing, or for whatever reason you have a problem with them, do not let it degenerate into a pissing contest during games. Priv msg your team captain if there are any problems between yourselves during games and let the captain deal with it.
When you are losing: Do not demoralize the team by saying ‘game over, we’ve lost’ if the music starts and you aren’t winning. The game isn’t over no matter what till you hear the ding. You should expect everyone to be at their best and working their hardest when things look their worst.
Final Note
There are exceptions to just about every strategy listed here, and about a thousand other tactics and strategies that relate to warzone. The only way to be familiar with every single nuance of wz and be prepared to do the best thing at any given time is if you play wz religiously. So go play!
Rules in Short
1) Must use continuum, not subspace.
2) Do what refs tell you to even if it's stupid. Don't talk shit with refs even if they are being stupid. If refs do something stupid and you lose you can appeal. If you talk shit to refs, you can get banned regardless of appeal outcome.
3) Do not use cheat programs.
4) Do not go in a safe zone if you have flags.
5) Do not ship change for any reason if you have flags.
6) Do not quit if you have flags.
7) Do not spec if you have flags.
8) Do not change freqs if you have flags.
9) Do not purposefully tk a flag carrier.
10) Don't log into wzl with a second comp.
11) Don’t neg obsessively (sorry fluff).
12) Breaking any rule will get you kicked for the whole game (and maybe season), your team will lose the spot for that game, and the whole team can get kicked out of league.
13) Full list of rules are at http://www.wzctf.com/league/rules.cfm
Credits
Written by Sir Xazm.
Thanks to Antelope and Heatstroke for helping proof read and giving suggestions.
Thanks to Yarekim for his miscellaneous help.
Thanks to Perkins for the ship info.
Thanks to Fluff for being so damn sexy, even if he is worthless.
Thanks to everyone on Washed Up that gave general game strategy suggestions throughout the season.
Thanks to my cat Doofus for leaving me alone long enough to type this up.
Special thanks to Nova for assuring me that no one will ever bother to read all this.
