Welcome to my Wulfram page.
It is intended as a supplement to Bolt-Action's excellent Player's
Guide. Here, I will discuss the more advanced tactics used in
Wulfram, and other game-play related information that isn't mentioned explicitly
by Bolt-Action. Here are the number of people who have viewed this
page:
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My Wulfram Disscussion Forum]
I. Armament.
A. What to use.
B. When to use it.
C. How to conserve ammo and energy.
II. Basic Tactics.
A. Moving and "Cloaking".
B. Using the Autocannon, Pulse Shell, and
how to snipe.
C. Using the different types of weapons.
D. Travelling.
E. Utilizing the different views.
F. Building bases.
1. Energy units.
2. Repair and refuel
pads.
3. Flak Turrets.
4. Darklights.
5. Mines.
6. Building new
bases.
G. "Cargo Monkeys"
III. Advanced Tactics.
A. Caltrop Rushes
1. How to use them
and how not to use them.
2. How to defend
against them.
B. Strategies employed by advanced players.
C. How to have fun with the text system.
D. Mines! Mines! Mines!
E. Missiles.
F. Quick stat reports.
G. Saving targets.
H. "Uplink Bombing"
I. The "arc" method of sniping.
IV. Other things to know.
A. "Pumping", bombardment, and ships.
B. How to use the link.
C. Psychological stuff: how to scare off
enemies.
D. How the game is won.
E. Health and energy: top rechargers.
F. Level names and descriptions.
G. Screenshots
V. Conclusion
A. Words to live by.
B. Useful keyboard combinations.
C. How to get the most out of Wulfram.
VI. Player Tactics.
A. Mining: Benjamyn's guide for intended
victims.
I. Armament
A. What to use.
There are many different
combinations of weapons that are useful in Wulfram. Certain people
prefer one kind of weapon over another. It's all a matter of personal
preference. In fact, some people call you "cheap" just because you
carry 5 Hunters/Missiles or 10 Piercers! The pad limit for the weapons
are as follows: Piercers, 30, Thumpers, 20, Hunters, 15, Caltrops, 100,
and Mines, 15.
Here are some good combinations
of weapons to carry around:
5 Hunters, 1 Mine
4 Hunters, 2 Thumpers
10 Piercers
2 Piercers, 2 Thumpers, 2 Hunters
18 Caltrops, 4 Piercers
48 Caltrops
2 Hunters, 5 Piercers
In my opinion, Thumpers
just plain suck. They only do 50 damage, weigh MORE than Piercers,
and don't disorient enemies as much as they claim. Hunters are the
best missiles, because they cause 200 damage and track 1 second after launch,
which means that you can hit an enemy over a hill. They also have
extremely long range, but have one disadvantage: they can be targeted by
the "I" key. It should also be noted that simply jumping at the right
time, "J", will dissuade most missiles. However, jumping uses up
lot's of energy.
Piercers are pretty good.
They do approximately 100 damage and fly moderately fast. However,
each weapon has a weight for the missile and then an additional weight
for the launcher. For Caltrops and Piercers the launchers weigh a
lot, so it can be hard to combine them with other weapons for good effect.
Caltrops have good uses which will be discussed later. You can carry
a maximum of 11 Mines, which should be noted.
B. When to use weapons.
The first thing to be
considered when using weapons is the experience of the enemy. If
you are playing a really advanced player, don't expect missiles at long
range to work, and expect him/her to get out of a Caltrop cloud in a jiffy.
With a newbie, however, almost anything works, because the newbie hasn't
mastered all of the keys and can't utilize them all at once. With
an experienced player, don't bother using missiles unless they are distracted
or are at close range. Caltrops only work well in restricted alleys
or to close off a back passage.
Mines are extremely useful.
They do almost 250 damage and last the whole game unless otherwise blow
up. In the beginning of the game they are vital for stopping rushes,
and in the later parts of the game they are just as useful for covering
back alleys. Hunters are well utilized for long-range attacks.
More about using weapons can be found in the advanced tactics section.
If the enemy is in range (500m or less) and in sight, hold down the Autocannon
while shooting off all kinds of missiles and using the Pulse Shell.
C. How to conserve ammo.
This one should be fairly
obvious. Don't shoot Thumpers and Piercers when you don't have a
direct lign of sight to the enemy. However, advanced players might
use this tactic to scare the enemies or because they anticipate the enemy
peeking his head out. The Autocannon should not be shot indiscriminately
because it uses up a fair amount of energy. The Pulse Shell also
uses a lot of energy. Traveling too fast and/or too high can also
use up energy. Using the jump feature also uses up energy.
Energy is in short supply, it seems, when you are in the middle of battle.
Additionally, Caltrops
can also be preserved, to much effect. Simply using a couple of Caltrops
will have your enemy fleeing backwards, giving you time to recuperate.
Only deploy all of your Caltrops when you are looking for a kill, and usually
only when in a restricted area unless you know what you're doing.
I have actually gained some fame for killing so many people with Caltrops,
but that is a different story.
II. Basic Tactics
A. Moving and "Cloaking"
In Wulfram, there are
two variables to control while moving: speed and altitude. More of
either will use up more Energy, and you will start losing Energy from travelling
fast. Combine this with Pulse Shells, jumping, and the Autocannon,
and you're a sitting duck really soon. Here are some useful tidbits
about moving.
As you know already Q
and Z control altitude and + and - control cruising speed. Holding
down SHIFT makes you go real fast while holding down CTRL makes you go
real slow. However, holding down SHIFT and Q, Z, +, or - will make
it do both of those faster, i.e. decreasing speed at a greater rate and
vice versa. High altitudes are useful for rough terrain, getting
a better angle on something, blowing up mines, etc.
Some advanced players
simply use Q and Z to avoid Pulse Shells. Other use J or duck behind
a hill. But one of the most strategic things you can do in Wulfram
is cloak. Here's how it works. Simply hold down Z until you
land. Simple, right? Wrong. Enemies that already had
you targeted still have you targeted. Now you're a sitting duck with
no radar image. More about cloaking can be found in the Advanced
Tactics section.
B. Using the Autocannon,
Pulse Shell, and how to snipe.
I was talking to some
players the other day and they said Wulfram is getting cheap. He
defined cheap as when someone launches 10 Piercers without even bothering
with the Autocannon. The Autocannon can hit anything in your screen
500M or less away with a direct line of sight. However, the chance
of hitting the enemy directly changes with the distance of your enemy,
whether they're moving or not and how fast, and how close the enemy is
to the sights in the middle of your screen. Yep, that last one is
correct. Many people don't know about it and don't make much good
use out of the Autocannon.
The Autocannon uses up
Energy, sure, but it should always be firing when you have "a reasonably
good chance of hitting the enemy". Of course it is always a judgement
issue. Perhaps a Pulse would be a better expenditure of Energy when
you have practically none left. Anyway, an excellent strategy is
to go in blazing the Autocannon, holding down the numbers of missiles and
caltrops that you have, and using the mouse to aim and fire the pulse shell.
Does that sound like a lot? Hell, yeah! The only way to get
good is to practice.
When someone mentions
sniping in Wulfram, they are always talking about the pulse shell, which
has a range of about 1500 meters, as of V1.03. The pulse shell can
be used at point blank range for up to 300 damage or as a "sniping rifle"
which does a bit less damage from far away (due to inaccuracy of the shot).
Simply zoom in on your enemy, PageUp and PageDown, get him/her in the targeting
reticle using the mouse, then fire by either pressing 1 or utilizing the
right mouse button. Of course there is much more to sniping, such
as using a or two missile at the same time, shooting down opponent's pulse
shells with pulse shells (I've seen this done!). One time I was fighting
a guy so advanced that every time I shot a pulse shell he shot one and
they canceled out in mid air. He kept on doing this while firing
missiles and I was forced to retreat.
C. Using the different types
of weapons.
No, I'm not talking about
the Autocannon or Pulse Shell here, but the missiles and mines. I've
already described these weapons, so here are some good uses for them.
Piercers and Thumpers are good intercept weapons when you are taking on
a rushing tank from the side. They also serve as distractions, forcing
the defending player to jump, hide, etc. Of course all weapons are
best used when there are teammates on your side to create covering fire
or serve as distractions. Here's something that I've seen advanced
players do: shoot Piercers and Thumpers to neutralize Hunters. I
tried it. It works.
I happen to love mines.
I have found so many uses for them. Sure, they're great for base
defense, but I'm sure you can think of more creative defenses. Whenever
I get to a Refuel Pad I first check for mines. They're good to put
around a base to blow up intruders, around a Skypump, defending an important
area, and tripping up enemies. One of my favorite moments was when
I ran around my enemy, dropping not caltrops but mines in a circle around
him. I then hid behind a hill and waited for a death message to come
up in the text box. Unfortunately he saw the mines and jumped clear
of them, but I hunted him down with the Autocannon and killed him.
Caltrops will be discussed in more detail later.
D. Travelling.
This section is about
how to move efficiently and purposefully. Any pilot's most useful
tool is the area map, M. Although it won't detect landed enemies
or enemies covered by a Darklight, it will detect any enemy trying to sneak
around the edge or placing a skypump in your home base's sector.
Travelling is yet another
judgement issue. If you just came off a pad and have full Energy,
don't hesitate to run on full against an incoming player, or a player deploying
a pump, building a base, etc. If you just won a skirmish on the front
lines and don't have much Energy, you might not be able to reach your target
in time. Once again, altitude does affect energy usage, so try to
stay low if it is at all possible.
Then there is the issue
of going over non-flat terrain. Certain terrain features simply can't
be climbed, such as straight-up walls, etc. Going to high altitudes
will help with the lesser walls. Certain long, low ditches can even
be jumped across. Jumping is a good skill to get familiarized with
simply because it is so useful. Then there's what happened in a one
hour no-rushing game: bungee jumping! Simply go straight down a steep
incline and hold down J until all of your Energy is used up. We also
figured how to travel upside-down and stuff like that, but I'll leave figuring
that out up to you.
E. Utilizing the different
views.
There are different views
in Wulfram that can be used at different times. F2 toggles through
the cockpit view, outside-rear view, and 30 degrees side outside rear view.
Using [ and ] while in external view have a different zoom feature than
PageUp and PageDown. F3 toggles between full-screen and instrumentation
mode, and F4 turns pitch lines on and off.
Personally, the only view I ever use is the inside
the cockpit view. I find it hard to do battle, in Wulfram, from outside
the tank, though that is just my opinion. The pitch lines do nothing
to help you and simply clutter up the cockpit. I have never encountered
a moment in Wulfram where the pitch lines have actually help me.
Now, the differences between full-screen mode
and instrumentation mode aren't that great, but there are advantages/disadvantages
to both views. The full-screen mode has a larger field for the actual
in-game play. However, all that's changing is the resolution, not
the field-of-view, so it really shouldn't matter, unless you have terrible
eyesight...
Now of course the advantages of instrumentation
mode are tremendous. In addition to the normal radar, you get a close-range
radar, ideal for dogfights, and a mini-full map. In effect, you won't
have to press M a lot, though it is impossible to tell the difference between
enemy units and cargo from the mini-map, which is not good. Once
I discovered the instrumentation mode I never switched back, and it wasn't
tough to get used to the slightly smaller screen.
F. Building bases.
Ahh, building bases,
the main thing in Wulfram besides dogfighting. This is extremely
important, as advanced players can reduce poorly-constructed bases to rubble
in seconds. Here's a description of what I do when I enter a newly
created game. First of all, I rush to the nearest refuel and fill
up on 11 mines. Then I run around, installing all cargo. After
that I deploy the mines, then pick up some weapons and defend the base.
Enemies are always likely to rush at the very beginning of a game.
1. Energy units.
| Energy units are the
most essential building in Wulfram. Without them, anything except
for Darklights and Sky Pumps turn neutral. When attacking a base,
attackers first go for the flak turrets, then the NRG unit, and finally
destroy the neutral repair pads and refuel pads. It is always a good
idea to deploy a back-up NRG in case of an attack. On a side note,
NRGs can be used to take control of neutral buildings or even Sky Pumps
and Darklights that aren't powered by their own NRG. NRG units have
700HP and take 8 minutes to build. |
 |
2. Repair and refuel pads.
| Repair pads allow tanks
to warp into the game, and also rapidly repair one's health when landed
on. Refuel pads rapidly regenerate fuel and allow a tank to fill
up on weapons. The repair pad is one very important structure.
If none are left, tanks cannot enter the game, and it becomes a shooting
fest until all the players on that team are killed. Then the game
ends. Repair pads are vital and should be protected. The refuel
pad isn't nearly as vital. Instead, it allows one to get special
weapons or spend less time waiting for fuel to recharge. These are
prime targets, as enemies without good weapons are easier to defeat in
combat. Refuel pads have 450HP while repair pads have 750HP.
Refuel pads take 7:00 to build and repair pads take five minutes to build. |
 |
3. Flak Turrets
| Flak Turrets are extremely
useful but also suck at the same time. Since they only have 550HP,
an advanced player can take one out easily through a combination of missiles/Autocannon/pulse
shells. However, with a player doing damage to the attacker along
the way, a Flak Turret should have no problem with a player. Flak
Turrets, however, cause friendly fire damage to everything, so they should
not, I repeat should not, be placed in the middle of a base. They
clear huge crowds of Caltrops and automatically shoot at incoming missiles.
Remember, however, that a base protected by only flak Turrets will succumb
quickly. Flak turrets take six minutes to build. In addition,
Bolt-Action is confused as to whether these are Sentry Cannon or Flak Turrets
(they are the same thing). Flak Turrets take six minutes to build. |
 |
4. Darklights.
| Darklights have a measly 250HP, and die easily. They do block
radar, however, which is their special flair. Place them in a base
to prevent enemies from scoping your base out through radar. These
should also be the first building placed when building a secret base.
However, they do cost 9 minutes to build, which is the most expensive building
in Wulfram. D/L's are the most expensive structure in the game at
an amazing 10:30 minutes! |
 |
5. Mines.
Mines are essential to almost every base's defense. They do a quick
amount of damage, about 60% as of V1.03. They are wisely placed outside
the ring of flaks as a barrier, or are useful inside the base for when
an enemy gets real close. They can block off accessways to bases,
ambush enemy units, or make the enemies waste time. Simply put, mines
have the most uses of any weapon in Wulfram.
Mines also have some less-utilized uses. In a game where Tourney
mode never happens (i.e. Tourney mode=32 players while the max game size
is 30), I love to have buddies eliminate all of the bad guys, then I run
in and lay mines on their repair pads! You've never heard such cries
of "CHEAP!" until you sit on a Refuel Pad and launch 15 Missiles at an
enemy in the middle of nowhere with no cover in sight (vary the launch
angle each time so that the Missiles arrive in one big pack - this takes
practice).
6. Building new bases.
Building new bases, or at least ones near the enemies, requires a couple
of tanks. One carries the NRG unit while others carry Flak Turrets.
A repair pad is soon added, and to become a fully-functional base, it needs
a refuel pad. To carry this out in utmost stealth, a Darklight should
be the first structure placed. New bases are built for several reasons.
In the map craterc, for example, teams usually try to get huge bases in
the middle fortress. The reason is simple: it is an awesome place
for a base. On other maps, forward bases are built on large expanses
of raised land, like mountain. I once saw a base like this that was
invincible due to clever use of flak turrets and mines.
Another reason new bases are built is for security. That way, not
all of the eggs are in the same basket, and players have more choices of
starting places for different scenarios. The reason for building
a base is retreat. If a main base is being pummeled and whittled
away, the linker on that team will begin to look for a suitable place,
far behind the front lines, that is more safe than the current base.
G.
"Cargo Monkeys."
Cargo monkeys are usually beginners who the linker orders around to do
chores. For example, a linker might say "Go pump E4" or "Go fetch
that Flak Turret and bring it to me" (translation: I don't trust you with
the placement of this flak). Fetching cargo is a boring and menial
task that is only spicened up when one gets attacked.
However, there are some moments in the game when something is very critical,
say, replacing the last Repair Pad or pumping a critical square.
In this case, the linker will send his most trusted, and best, teammates
to do the chore. For example, placing a pump and guarding it in the
enemy base's square for Bombardment. Believe it or not, this was
me at one point, and I did not disappoint, though the ship did die before
it was able to bombard the enemy sector. Missions like these are
generally not assigned to "cargo monkeys".
III.
Advanced Tactics
A.
Caltrop Rushes
1. How and how not to use caltrop rushes.
Caltrop rushes can be extremely effective or they can bomb, for given reasons.
In general, it is a waste to dump caltrops against a full-energy enemy
at 300K away. He/she will have enough time to respond/launch missiles/retreat.
Caltrop rushes are effective when SHIFT-moving round an enemy, surrounding
him/her in a lethal cloud of floating mines. Caltrop clouds work
well for defense with multiple-rushers. Caltrops are generally useful
when raiding an enemy base unless they are used as a support by a close-range
sniper to distract the defenders. Combination attacks/defenses are
always effective, and most of the time Caltrops are right at home in these
combos.
2. Defending against caltrop rushes.
Defending against caltrops is either extremely easy or extremely hard.
Most of the time, when can easily SHIFT-run-J backwards, quickly moving
far from the caltrops. In a low-energy situation with lots of caltrops,
one is practically dead. To target Caltrops, simply center them in
the reticle and press U. Use the Autocannon, press U, repeat.
This is kind of impractical against 48 Caltrops unless one is moving rapidly
backwards at the same time. Pulse Shells can be used to great effect
against dense Caltrop clouds. This is a risky maneuver, however.
B.
Strategies employed by advanced players.
Advanced players learn many little tricks that they employ in games of
Wulfram. One good strategy is to just hang around someone really
good and watch what he does. Some examples include blasting pulse
shells with pulse shells, jumping across a base backwards (more about this
later), the "mountain goat" technique for climbing hills quickly.
Jumping over a base backwards is an awesome technique that most people
don't even know about. The trick is to briefly peek your head above
the hill near a base, so that all of the flaks point in your direction,
as well as all of the defending tanks. Now here's the trick: target
a critical structure, then turn around 180 degrees. Move SHIFT-backwards,
and jump across the base. Due to V1.03's changes to the jump feature,
this technique is even easier than before. When you land, simply
start blazing the Autocannon, pulse shell, and missiles. You can
easily cause 750HP of damage to a structure, since everything has to turn
around to target you.
One final strategy is the cloak-crawl. Slowly creep up to the enemy,
about a second at a time on SHIFT, then land. Keep on repeating.
Hopefully, the enemies won't be able to target you. An even better
way is to always keep a teammate closer to you than an enemy, so even if
they do press the T key at the right moment, they won't target you.
C.
How to have fun with the text system.
Not only is this fun, it can also have some tactical advantage. The
"fun" simply involves putting enough spaces between one message and another
so that the second message appears on another line. Here's what I
mean. For the purposes of this demo, _ = (space)
(Prompt): /A No, don't attack
yet! _________________________
_________________genre turns on Invulnerability
mode. |
It would show up as:
genre: No, don't attack yet!
genre turns on Invulnerability mode.
Now this is all fun and games, especially when people start inquiring about
Invulnerability mode, then shouting out questions. However, here's
an idea: Quickly cloak (land), then type in the following.
(Prompt): /A Who's wasting
missiles again? _________________
________________genre is kill 2 for psYchO. |
I'm sure you get the idea. They'll instinctively think you're dead,
so they press the T key and bingo...you're untargeted and presumed dead.
This was effectively carried out against me at one point.
D.
Mines! Mines! Mines!
This section deals with a very useful yet under-used weapon. Of course
people always put mines around the base, which is effective, but they don't
stop to think about the creative and fun uses for mines. Here are
a few examples, and I do hope that you try them, simply because they are
so much fun.
Instead of attacking with weapons, bring mines. Normally you would
run around a person and drop Caltrops if you had them, but try this with
mines. Boom. They're dead, simply because mines cause so much
damage. Be warned though, because mines won't be ready to explode
until about 1-5 seconds after you drop 'em (how long they roll around).
Mines are useful when sniping. Since snipers often don't need that
many special weapons, go to your favorite sniping position and gum all
of the entrances with mines. They should be in such a rush that they
get killed by the mines.
Here's a particularly mean use for mines: go to an enemy base that's on
a steep hill and roll the mines down the hill. Yep, that's right.
I don't believe that flaks shoot at mines, though I could be wrong, but
this is just an overall fun tactic to use. The mines roll down into
the base, lodge in buildings and holes, and caust lots of damage to the
defenders. They also take out other mines, which is useful.
As of V1.03, mines only have 1HP, which sucks because they don't last through
anything. Luckily, mines don't cause friendly-fire damage, so huge
minefields won't chain-react. In huge dogfights with ten tanks tightly
packed, mines can work wonders. And don't forget about the possibility
of completely mining off the fort in craterc ;)
E.
Missiles.
Missiles: those very useful weapons. Either an awesome tool or a
wasted resource. Shoot at enemies far away, and most of the time
they can shoot the missiles down. Use my tips, and people will really
start yelling "CHEAP!". Of course cheap doesn't mean it isn't effective
;)
The first tactic is truly cheap. Land on a fuel pad with 15 missiles,
get 5, and target an enemy in the middle of nowhere, with no base or mountains
nearby. Fire the first batch of missiles, land, rinse and repeat
twice. Also, move the mouse around each time you shoot, so that it
isn't too easy to shoot the missiles down by continually shooting in the
same place. Ideally, you want all 15 missiles to arrive as a horde.
The technique to doing this is to start shooting really high and then move
down to shooting low.
Suppose that you are 300M away from your enemy, and he is behind a hill.
No problem. Shoot two missiles over the hill and come in with your
Autocannon and Pulse Shell blazing. Either the enemy will be distracted
by the missiles and get killed by your Autocannon, ignore the missiles
and get killed by them, or kill you then run away and shoot down the missiles
(only for the extremely advanced players).
In dogfights, missiles are extremely useful because the opponent is often
to busy to target them. Consider this: simply target an enemy, shoot
a missile straight up, go to the next enemy, and repeat until all of your
missiles are gone. This is a "cheap" tactic that will give you a
lot of kills because by the time the missiles find their targets the targets
should be severely weakened. One final technique is to simply choose
an enemy building in the middle of an attack and jettison all missiles.
With luck, the flaks will be too busy and the missiles will get through.
Be careful, though, because one flak shell can level a cloud of missiles,
caltrops, or anything else that is not a tank that has very little inherent
HP.
F.
Quick stat reports.
Stat reports are a quick way of giving commands when you are really busy.
Of course the PAUSE key is the simplest, but it doesn't say much.
Saying "mines" warns your allies to watch for mines. Saying "trops"
or "cals" warns your allies of a person using Caltrops. Saying "inbound
around side" gives your teammates an idea of where to go to defend the
base. Saying "missiles" warns your teammates to shoot down inbound
missiles.
Stat reports are a style, an art form, and you can develop almost anything
you want, as long as other people know what it means. The stat reports
I already listed are known by most players of Wulfram.
G.
Saving targets.
This is not required but useful for the advanced player. Up to four
targets can be saved as the F5-F8 keys. To save a target, select
the target and press Ctrl-F5, which will save that target as F5.
Then press F5 to recall that target. As far as I have discerned,
there are three uses for doing this. And here they are.
Attacking. Select a crucial enemy target, such as a flak, NRG, or
Darklight, and make it F5. Now select the next target, and assign
it F6. Assign the last two targets to more structures that you want
to destroy. When you go in to attack, repeatedly press the T key
and watch the close-range radar to be aware of enemies, and where mines
are. When the base is in sight, press F5, kill it, press F6, kill
it, rinse and repeat two more times or until you die. This makes
attacking extremely effective, as time isn't wasted with selecting targets.
The second use is for tagging enemies. If one person loves to cloak,
select him when he's uncloaked, give him a number, such as F5, and go on
your business. When he cloaks, you can still recall him using F5,
and achieve a target lock when you otherwise wouldn't. In one game
I had two people assigned F7 and F8 the whole time because they loved to
cloak.
The third use is trivial and unimportant. Say you have a huge base
with lots of refuel pads. Find a pad chock full of ammo, and assign
it a key. Now whenever you have to refill you know the exact location
of a good pad. OK, so that's a pretty stupid use, but it's better
than not using an F-key at all.
H.
"Uplink Bombing".
This can effectively be utilized at two different times: when you have
their uplink or when they have your's. Here's a bit of background
info, though. Once stolen, uplinks will detonate in 13 minutes, and
only the uplink's team will be notified of this time as it ticks down.
Once the uplink has been stolen, the stealer places the uplink well behind
their base in the middle of nowhere. Some effective things to do
right now would be putting mines around it, for example. One more
thing: uplinks cannot be destroyed.
Here's the first strategy. Steal the enemies' uplink, and ask about
the time until someone on the other team tells you that roughly a minute
or left is left until detonation. Count down in your head, and make
it a point to be in the enemies' base about 20 seconds, or less, if you
can count real well, before detonation. After you get killed, most
of the time, they won't realize/have the time to pick up the Uplink, thus
canceling the detonation. It will blow up in their base, causing
muchos damage.
The second method is a lot harder. After the enemies have captured
your link, you have to move it, without picking it up, into the enemies'
base. Since it is your link, you will know the exact time.
To move the Uplink, which is definitely the hardest part, you need to use
Pulse Shells and flak shells from enemy turrets. Pretty hard, but
if pulled off correctly, this is really funny. One final note: arguably
the most fun in Wulfram comes from possessing an enemy link while it explodes
and being blown 2 Km into the air ;)
I.
The "arc" method of sniping.
What is the arc method of sniping? Don't ask me too much, because
I don't know. I've asked lots of players in Wulfram, and they say
"I can't say, it's my signature move", etc. I do have a clue about
how to do it though, because I've secretly been watching them...
To send a pulse shell farther than normal, you have to remember one thing.
Pulse shells travel for 5.01 seconds. They DO NOT have a maximum
range. Therefore, to get them to travel the farthest, the tank that
shoots them must be moving fast. How to aim accurately while doing
this, I have no idea. Theoretically, it should be possible to make
a hit at 2.8 Km away if one SHIFT-travels-jumps, all while pointing at
a 45 degree angle. I have boosted my range a little with this method,
but not nearly as far as some other kills that I've seen from 1700M away!
I wrote the above section before I learned how to arc. Arcing involves
two things: a basic knowledge of geometry and a basic understanding of
how the arc works. The shell's travel is measured in time, not distance.
Because of this, a player on a mountain can achieve 4Km range by SHIFT-jumping
and shooting at the peak of the jump at about a 18 degree angle.
The best way to practice arcing is to find a safe, level position about
1,300 meters from an opponent's base. Target something weak, like
a pump, cargo, or darklight. Turn on the slope meter, F4, then move
the firing cursor to 18 degrees directly above the target. Of course
you will have to make modifications to this angle depending on elevation.
A good method is to remember the distance of the target, shoot, press U
to target the shell, and see how far it goes. By guess-and-check,
you will eventually get to the point where the shell starts hitting the
target. Remember, though, that each time a shell is shot you move
backwards, so account for that too. Then start sniping off of hills,
snipe while slightly moving, etc. Experiment and get to know what
the shell will do. The best sue is for sniping far away bases that
would be shielded from a direct shot if you were closer.
IV. Other things to know.
A. "Pumping", bombardment,
and ships.
"Pumping" consists of
deploying a skypump in a sector that is advanteous to one's team (hopefully).
Pumping is used for two reasons: double-pumping an un-occupied square will
get a new ship. Pumping other squares allows ships to travel to them.
One should, theoretically, protect the pumps until their function is served,
either in moving a ship or gaining a ship. Bombardment is what one
should order a ship to do when the ship is directly over an enemy base.
At some points of the
game, the ship would be killed quickly if it moved into the square over
the enemy's base that was surrounded by ships. In this case, it is
wise to order the bombardment, then move it into the enemies' square when
the count reaches zero.
B. How to use the link.
Ohh, this is a good one.
All too often a newbie gets his hands on the link and kills his team.
Either he/she doesn't know that they possesss the link and what it does,
or they unintentionally do something wrong. Here's the way to prevent
unwanted yelling.
First of all, to install
the link, one must pick it up, then press period twice. Go to the
map, click on uplink, then click on a ship. You can move the ship,
order structures, order bombardment, or order the ship to attack.
If you've never done this before, it's wise to ask if you can use the link,
then ask what to do with it.
C. Psychological stuff: how
to scare off enemies.
A scared opponent is
most often an easy opponent to beat. Use a few simple techniques
to accomplish this. Say things in the text box, but not not personal
attacks, for example: "//t Use an 18 degree angle to accomplish the shot
then move 15 degrees west and distract {your opponent}. I'll be waiting."
Then follow it up by saying "Oops, meant /t". Weapons can be used
to scare off opponents, such as missiles fired, even when 4Km away and
not in direct line of sight. So the missile will be wasted, but the
opponent will be scared, looking around for inbound missiles (in this section,
when I say missiles, I mean all three). A single caltrop will scare
an enemy, as will a horde of teammates. Psychological warfare is
often ignored and doesn't have many practical uses ;)
D. How the game is won.
The game can be won in
one way, with two ways to reach that objective. It's pretty simple,
really: kill all enemy tanks and all enemy repair pads. This can
be accomplished by either a tank attack that knocks out the repair pads
and then kills all opponents before more repairs are built, or, one can
take to the air and win by bombing the enemy base to hell, leaving only
the tanks to destroy. Winning by the ship method is called "strategy"
and winning by a tank war is called "rushing". Guess which happens
more often.
E. Health and energy: top
rechargers.
Health and energy DO
recharge, though only gradually. Energy recharges a lot faster than
health, and structures have all sorts of health recharge rates. Here's
an exclusive chart of recharge rates, given to me by an actual programmer
of Wulfram (I have connections).
|
Rate of Health Recharge in Wulfram
|
Hovertank 0.59 points/sec
Cargo Box 0.0
Energy Cell 0.66
Refuel Pad 1.0
Repair Pad 1.0
Flak Turret 0.54
Skypump 4.0
Darklight 0.1 |
The best way to recharge
energy is to land, while the best way to recharge health is simply to survive
(recharge rates for health do not differ during situations, all examples
disclude the use of pads). There is a small bug where a structure
gets within 1 - 3 points of being fully recharged then stops. Also,
tanks at 0 health rarely regenerate at 2 health, which is a major bug considering
that the person should by *legally* dead. Health recharges so that
base defenses can't be gradually worn away. Instead, the enemy has
to mount a large attack using teamwork to knock it out. Hovertanks'
health recharges so that tanks can work independently from pads for an
indefinite amount of time (discluding special weapons).
V. Conclusion
A. Words to live by.
There are a few final
things that I would like to say. Number one, defending is always
better than attacking and gets a better score, to boot (unless the enemy
has no defenses and lots of pads). Also, Wulfram is only a game.
Way too many people start getting involved too much, then start cursing,
and generally messing up the game for other people. And finally,
remember the unused weapons, like mines and Thumpers! They are both
very unused but have great potential.
VI. Player Tactics.
A. Mining: Benjamyn's guide
for intended victims.
This is a conditional
tactic -- it works best when you and the intended
"victim" are on opposite sides of a relatively small hill (which
are in
an abundance on Wulfram). You must also be stocked up with
mines. If
the enemy tank is coming around the hill, wait until he is fairly
near;
almost in visual range (be sure you know the layout of the hill
so you
can back around effectively!). Drop a mine, and immediately back
around
in the opposite direction. Drop a couple others as you
back out, if you
think it appropriate. Chances are, the enemy tank will
not realize the
mine being placed -- especially since you have just placed it,
and it
may not have registered a blip yet. If the enemy tank is lured
by you,
he will come around the hill and BANG right into the mine.
Immediately
rush him with cannons & pulses blazing. ( if you're quick
enough, it
should be easy to get a clear pulse shot here as son as the victim
lands)
This is the basic
idea. There are, however, other variations. If you
are climbing a hill with an enemy coming up on the other side,
dropping
a mine just on your side of the hill works just as well too --
although
the tactic works best if you are fleeing, since he'll likely
try to
follow you as directly as possible.
Also, if you're
unsure of which direction around the hill an intended
victim will take, you may mine in both directions (or above,
depending
on situation). As soon as the trap is sprung and the victim
is
destroyed, simply land on your mines. This is a very nifty
feature --
if the mine is owned by your team, you can literally pick up
the mine
and place it somewhere else. This feature is vital to mastering
the
tactic. Remember: psychological warfare on your enemies
is almost as
important as physical (or, electronic in this case). A
tactic that
works very well is to get the enemy to see mines in a certain
spot, and
when he next comes around and tries to avoid them, you have changed
the
mines' position so he runs into them again anyway. Be creative.
This
is, in my opinion, the most fun method of attacking there is.
MORE COMING SOON