For the New Soldat Players

[VijchtiDoodah]

This is a thread for all of you new players out there who don’t want to spend your first few days of Soldat figuring out the basics. It explains concepts that weren’t covered in the manual, that are too detailed in the manual to be understood, or commonly made mistakes.


Table of Contents

• Customization
• Basics of Gameplay
• Weapons
• Powerups
• Game Modes
• Gaming Etiquette
• Registering

Customization

When you begin to play, don’t just rush online immediately without first checking things out. Initially, you should start up Soldat and then click on the ‘Player’ tab. It will show you a few things that you can change:

Name: This is how people will know you in the game, it'll show up for your teammates and on your opponents screen and the death console when either you kill them or they kill you.

Controls: These let you customize your control scheme if you wish to change it, although I would recommend keeping the default keys because they're simple and easy to use.

Don’t worry about the rest…it’s all in the manual.

Now that you have everything customized, you should jump in the game and begin to get a feel of how things work


Basics of Gameplay

Movement: Whatever controls you chose will move you in that direction. But there are some more advanced combinations of controls that will move you much faster.

Jump/Skipping: If you want to quickly move across a map, running alone is not enough. What you want to do is to hold down your direction keys and then jump in that direction (default W). After you hit the ground immediately jump again. To move even faster than that, hold down the direction key, hit the jump key, and then press your jet boost key (default right mouse button) for a short period of time (it gets used up). You can experiment to see how long after a jump you should press the jet key and for how long to hold it to see what moves you fastest.

Jump/Jetting: If you want to get to an area up high, just jetting there usually won’t get you far enough. Instead, use the technique above but without the directional keys – hit the jump key, then hit the jet boost and hold it down. While jetting through the air you can move sideways by hitting your directional keys. If you run out of jet, let go of the key and it will begin to replenish (it will replenish faster if your feet are touching the ground).

Jumping Up Hill: If you use any of the techniques above chances are that you'll actually end up going slower up a hill, so here's a solution that'll actually propel you extremely fast: While running up hills, repeatedly press the jump button as fast as you can. If it is at just the right angle (and remember that not all hills allow you to do this), you'll move across the hill and launch over the top while barely losing any speed until you land again.


Weapons

Crosshair: This is what your mouse controls. It shows you where you are aiming and, if you place it over another player, it will give you their name and (if they are friendly) their current health shown in a percentage. If they are an enemy, it will show you their name in red as long as they aren’t crouched or prone.

Shooting: It isn’t as simple as placing your crosshair on the enemy and shooting. The bullets will be pulled downward by gravity over a period of time so, depending on how far your opponent is and what gun you are using, you will want to aim a little higher than your opponent. Also, your weapons will become less accurate while you shoot or are being hit (the bink effect) causing dramatic changes in almost all weapons.

Specific Uses: Each weapon has its merits. But all weapons have unlimited ammo. You should always pick different weapons depending on the conditions of the map and never forget to swap your secondary weapons for a better one when you spot another primary on the ground.

Weapon Specifics:
This will give you information about each weapon, such as:
Type - Does the gun fire one shot for each mouse click or can you hold the button down
Reload Time - The relative time it takes to completely reload after shooting all of your bullets (the spas can reload single bullets at a time)
Hits to Kill - How many hits on the body a person will take before dying (This doesn't take into account head shots. Also, if a weapon shoots more than one bullet at once the result is if all hit)
Range - How far you should be from your enemy to be accurate.

1.3 introduced the weapons editor, so, while the default settings may match this table, weapons modded servers will have widely varying settings.

Knife - This weapon is special because it never needs to be reloaded, but the damage that it deals can vary. When you press the fire key you will stab out in front of you for a one hit kill. Alternatively, you can press your drop weapon key to charge the knife until either you let go or it hits the maximum charge. Once it's let go, it will be hurled at an enemy and, depending on the speed of the knife upon impact, deal a great amount of damage.

Grenades - This is one of the most useful weapons in the game because you can throw them while using your other weapons. Just click your 'Grenade' key (default E) and release. The grenade will be thrown a certain distance away depending on the angle that you released them and how long you held the button down.

Special Techniques: There are a few weapons that you can use in alternate ways. But be aware that a lot of people don't like it when you use the weapons these ways and use is strongly discouraged, if the other players ask you to stop you should.
-M79/Grenade Jumping: If you want to jump really high or move extremely fast, you can harmlessly bounce off of explosions. This takes a lot of practice, but what you do is actually very simple. With the M79, you will have to jump into the air and then point your gun down and fire so that the explosion propels you away. With the grenades, you will have to throw a grenade, and then time your jump over the grenade perfectly so that it explodes when you are over it. As of 1.3.1, the m79 deals 30% more self-damage, so this technique is much more difficult.
-Minigun Surfing: If you want to get extremely high or move across the level quickly, you can select your minigun and shoot it in the opposite direction that you want to go. It will push you back faster and faster, however, once you reach your destination, you will be completely out of ammo.

Ricochet: As you shoot many bullets, you will notice that some of them bounce off of the surfaces in the level. This is called ricochet. It is very useful to kill opponents in tunnels as you don’t have to aim directly at them. However, ricochets only occur if your bullets hit the surface at a very acute angle.

Reloading: If there are no enemies around and you have a spent clip, reload so that when you do encounter some you will have plenty of bullets to kill them with.


Powerups

While they can play a crucial role in the outcome of the game, they can also deter your performance if not used correctly.

Medikits/Grenades (/): These crates can only be picked up if nobody else is currently standing on them, so be sure not to hover around them for too long otherwise your teammates won’t be able to get any.

Flame God (): Normally a great powerup, but only if you didn’t already have a better weapon. It can only be used at a moderate range and sets your enemies ablaze. Also, in Deathmatch or Pointmatch this powerup makes you invulnerable.

Berserker (): This makes your shots more powerful. Leave it for your teammates to pick up if you aren’t carrying a fully automatic weapon. It is completely wasted on Barrets because those already bring about a one hit kill.


Game Modes

There are several concepts to remember when playing in certain modes.

Rambomatch: If you don’t have the bow, then don’t run around killing everyone you see. You won’t get any points for it and the other players will get extremely frustrated with you. Also, keep in mind that the arrows pass directly through colliders so, even though you'll feel safe hiding behind a crate, it won't do you any good.

Capture the Flag: You gain the enemy flag by touching the stick at the end of it. Be aware that when you have the flag, everyone on the opposing team will try to kill you. You should try to bring it back to your own flag (generally where you spawned) so that your team can get its due points. However, you won’t be able to return the flag unless your own flag is already in your base.


Gaming Etiquette

Although there aren’t any set rules for online play, you should always follow a code of behavior. The Soldat community is fairly small and if you misbehave you will be remembered and possibly banned from a number of servers as your reputation grows.

Camping: The act of sitting in one position for an extended period of time usually with a Barret. Although technically not a bad thing, if you do it often or for a very long time, some people might get upset at you.

Barreting: Most people don’t like the way that a good player can kill with only one hit repeatedly, so if you are accused of barreting, simply switch your weapon and learn how to use the new one.

Gloating: Nobody likes a player who brags about their score or kills. Don’t do it.

Shooting Friendlies: A very annoying behavior because it not only pushes your teammates around, but it severely effects their accuracy and inhibits their ability to defend themselves.

Shooting the Flag: In Capture the Flag and Infiltration games, the flags can easily be hit by your bullets and moved to a new location. If you get bored, don’t shoot the flag around because it will generally move it to a location where the enemy can get to it a lot easier. Not only that, but it also makes the score box show a Flag Missing sign so that your teammates think that they have to rescue the flag.

Hacking: All you script-kiddies out there should know by now that everyone hates you.  If you really want to use hacks in a game, feel free to create a multiplayer action game in which skill is determined not by how well you play, but by how well you mess up the code that you've spent a signifant portion of your life writing (or by how well you use someone else's program to do all the work for you).  Better yet, show off your skills by hacking an EA game.  Their programers love it when you do that.


Registering

Downloading and playing the program is completely free, but if you like it, you are encouraged to donate $14 to the creator of the program so that he may continue working on updates.
If you do decide to register, you will be given several privileges that other players won’t have such as:

• Adding your own music to listen to
• Accessing custom interfaces (changing the HUD and the look of the game)
• And getting custom jet flame colors
• And more!

To see the full list of benefits for registering, please visit the official Soldat website and register today!

If you have any further questions or more things that new players should know, please add a post or PM me or any of the current Need Help? Report Bugs! moderators.

[jettlarue]

good. but maybe putting in stuff about that hacking or cheating is against the rules, and camping is looked down upon, and maybe a bit about friendly fire. but for whats written its pretty good

[VijchtiDoodah]

Friendly fire and camping are already in there, and refraining from using hacks or cheats is common sense...Although, I'm continually suprised by the general lack of intelligence in the Soldat community and I'm almost certain I've heard people use the "I didn't know it was wrong" defence before.

[edak]

Nice guide man. I hope I don't see any more Majors

[Eagles_Arrows]

Or Soldiers.

[PK_FIRE]

Nicely created guide you made there. Hopefully, people will actually start taking the things in your guide into consideration for a change.

[ElephantHunter]

Camping: The act of sitting in one position for an extended period of time usually with a Barret. Although technically not a bad thing, if you do it often or for a very long time, people will get extremely upset at you.

Eh, this isn't wikipedia or anything, but "people will get extremely mad at you"? Sounds slightly bias. I'm a strong supporter of camping, and a decent camping player myself. Not only is whining about camping rude, but it ruins the spirit of gameplay.

Just thought that I would throw my opinion out there.

[Anoi]

Yeah, this is pretty similar to the first. I haven't played in quite a while and it's really good to see someone take the initiative to do this. I wish I had this when I first encountered Soldat. I do miss the days...

[VijchtiDoodah]

ElephantHunter:

Camping: The act of sitting in one position for an extended period of time usually with a Barret. Although technically not a bad thing, if you do it often or for a very long time, some people might get upset at you.

That's probably more appropriate.

Yeah, this is pretty similar to the first.

Haha, it's almost identical to the first, I've only made minor changes over time.  But thanks for the appreciation.

[Le MeSsiE {neo}]

Nice thread
Do you think so the range of m79 is "close"?
On the servers there is 3-4 m79 for 10 players. Usually as used as barret.

[Fraggy]

hmm i don't recon the reloading time for the spas as slow, i never reload it to 7.. don't need to really..

[VijchtiDoodah]

Le Messie, the range is how close you need to be accurate.  I don't really care if it is used a lot, but most of the time an average player will miss if they aren't fairly close to whoever they're shooting at.

[zyxstand]

flab asked me to put my topic here:
Add a list of common abbreviations used in soldat.  I cam up with 5 off the top of my head:

inc = incoming
cap = capture (score)
efc = enemy flag carrier
ffc = friendly flag carrier
esc = escaping

If you find more (or other people) please add them to the list!

[air139]

script kiddies no pride... they can't write their own code...

[Nylo]

   Nicely written.  Props for the weapon chart.   

[FliesLikeABrick]

if vijcht comes in here to edits this, I'd suggest he makes a bunch of links to entries in http://wiki.soldat.nl for his topics and a bunch of things, as well as perhaps contributes a bunch of his writing to the wiki and updates existing entries there

[VijchtiDoodah]

 Nicely written. Props for the weapon chart.

I believe the weapon chart was originally Kaz's, but I may be wrong.

[Jessica]

Thanks for the guide, it helped me a lot! And it helped me understand the game a lot more! I would suggest this guide to anybody that has just started, it rocks! 

[CardBoardWarrior]

This is a really good guide, nice work.

[Alamo]

Nice work. But do you really believe that people who don't change their name before entering the game read this?

[VijchtiDoodah]

No, but it's here just in case a few find it.  If all else fails, someone will enter the game without changing their name and a nice forumer could tell them that this little guide is here for their benefit.

[nosyg]

Nice guide, I don't think a lot of people will read this.. but It's still a great job.

[reckon]

If youre on myspace, you should join Soldat Soldiers.
Its the oldest Soldat related group on there.
Edit: and to whoever made that soldat thing for myspace, that is clearly not a picture of MM, so this person needs a banishment for failing.

[Gold]

Well anybody that wants to learn to play would probally come here, dont you think?

[H31MU7]

Nicely writen If I was a new player.. I think this would of helped me greatly.

[ill get u sick ~ L]

good job i think.......i didnt read the whole thing..w8 should i read it?..am i a NOOB?...ooo no!..i  ???think i am  oo dear

[Knife]

what an awesome guide

[Yourself]

Hey, cool guide, I didn't even know how to throw a knife until I read this. Also I did not know exactly how much damage the automatic weapons did.

Nice work

[zase8]

Do you or anyone else know the exact time it takes to reload each weapon and the exact rate of fire? Also do bullets do less damage as they lose momentum? Like the further the bullet goes the less damage it does? And the exact grenade damage?

[VijchtiDoodah]

I don't know any exact details and I'm not going to list them here because that really doesn't help new players.  If you want that information, look in the weapons.ini file.

And yes, damage is based on both a damage and a speed setting.  While the damage setting is constant, speed only defines how fast the bullet is travelling when you first shoot it, but it slows down over time (hence that nice arc you get with slower weapons).  So, the longer a bullet has travelled, the less speed it has; and the less speed it has, the less damage it does (the exception is if a bullet is falling down on you).

[zase8]

Thank you for your responce.

Ofcourse, I didn't think of looking in the weapons file. Lol. I'll look into that. Thanks again.

[BlackHawK]

good job =DDD

[BlueJ]

Cool, thanks for the info on the weapons.

[WNT2CREALPAIN]

very useful info thx!

[M.rSnow]

Nice work i dint know aboute the arrow passing trew colsliders and stuff thing.

[terrorrrr]

what does "naps" mean? it hink it cheks whether someone is cheating.. pls tell me more..

[Zombeh]

You need to have a commonly mistaken for hacking section. Such as "OMG HE THREW KNIFE HAX HAX"  This is not a hack. A. with normal key configuration, hitting the F key will allow you to throw it. More precisely, Hoding the F key. Another one is: "OMG he take no damage hacker" This is usually either 1.) Lag or damage delay caused by lag, or 2.) you missed, pal. Try again.    and PLEASE don't say "AIMBOT" before the person has killed tons of people without missing even once, I was banned (and FINALLY unbanned) for this once, and as the vote started I shot an m79 over the vote-starters head, missing him.  You could make it a sub-etiqquite (I misspelled that..) section. KTHXBAI!

[Dread Lord]

it looks cool yea Alamo saying true

[haha]

eh this guide needs to be updated(4/july/07)

Downloading and playing the program is completely free, but if you like it, you are encouraged to donate $9 to the creator of the program so that he may continue working on updates.

MM increased the price to i think $15...

Flame God(): Normally a great powerup, but only if you didn’t already have a better weapon. It can only be used at a moderate range and sets your enemies ablaze. Also, in Deathmatch or Pointmatch this powerup makes you invulnerable.

it also makes you invulnerable in ctf and inf and the others....in ALL game modes

[The_Assaultr]

yer its an ok guid dude. I have been playin soldat for a couple of months now and i only found this site today

[Wormdundee]

Flame God(): Normally a great powerup, but only if you didn’t already have a better weapon. It can only be used at a moderate range and sets your enemies ablaze. Also, in Deathmatch or Pointmatch this powerup makes you invulnerable.

it also makes you invulnerable in ctf and inf and the others....in ALL game modes

You are wrong and Vij is right on this one. Flame God does not make you invulnerable in any flag-based mode (not too sure about HTF) because that would be really lame, if you were invulnerable you could just run in and out with the flag without worrying.

[Zero]

I think you should update the Registering part since there's more features now

Edit: I also think you should add what some of the words mean, like: 
         Cap=score
         EFC=Enemy Flag Carrier
         FFC=Friendly Flag Carrier

[haha]

Quote
Quote
Flame God(): Normally a great powerup, but only if you didn’t already have a better weapon. It can only be used at a moderate range and sets your enemies ablaze. Also, in Deathmatch or Pointmatch this powerup makes you invulnerable.

it also makes you invulnerable in ctf and inf and the others....in ALL game modes

You are wrong and Vij is right on this one. Flame God does not make you invulnerable in any flag-based mode (not too sure about HTF) because that would be really lame, if you were invulnerable you could just run in and out with the flag without worrying.

what do you mean? i mean i play inf and ctf every day and the flame bonus MAKES YOU INVULNERABLE. i dont get what u see.....

[MegamanX]

Hi I am new! i hope i am going to enjoy these forums

[puddlejumper]

http://www.soldatrs.com/

It has a guide to R/S. Everything that you need to know! R/S is a great community to get into, if you like communities that is...

[NinjaGimp369]

Hi I am new! i hope i am going to enjoy these forums

Welcome to the cause MegamanX. Enjoy your stay, if you need any help, drop me a PM and I'll see what I can do.

[.Ryan.]

Welcome dude and all new players who join 

[smithmass8]

I just started playing and my freak in soldat won't Work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   

[Amarant]

Barreting: Most people don’t like the way that a good player can kill with only one hit repeatedly, so if you are accused of barreting, simply switch your weapon and learn how to use the new one.

Actually it should say that not to mind what those newbies are whining about and having fun. There is no reason to change your weapon just because some newbies don't like it. But overall nice work man.

[miketh2005]

Update: the registration is $14.00 now

[Tough Tim]

Camping: The act of sitting in one position for an extended period of time usually with a Barret. Although technically not a bad thing, if you do it often or for a very long time, some people might get upset at you.


Ahhh, good times.� 

[Lemmings]

Hi everyone.
Finally found the soldatforums.
Hope to see u around!

[NinjaGimp369]

Hey Lemmings, welcome to the Soldat forums!

[rugburn]

hello...im rugburn..i hope to have fun on the forums as well..cya on the battlefield

[CrashMan]

Why does it say 9$ (donation) under Registration? Isn't it $13 and something-cents?

[Gotfryd]

VijchtiDoodah, Table of Contents is broken.

[Krygg]

Hey all, I'm Krygg and I'm a new player. Gotta say I really love the game and the devotion of it's players.

Thanks for the tutorial, I found the explanation of the shortcuts very helpful
But I was wondering, what are the best servers to go to if you want to learn how to play?

[BuilDaBonG]

Wow dude, thanks, this helped me a lot. But you can add a bit extra that a player suggested to me on my first ever game (like 2 days ago). He said not to stick with one gun if you're a beginner, because people know you're not a pro, so feel free to try out every weapon and get used to them. After that, choose a couple that you are very comfortable with, and try to stick with them.

That advice helped me out a lot. =)

[Chillyboarder]

Thanks man,

- Chillyboarder

[demoniac93]

Ummm, good guide really but a point was made that i support ;d
You honestly think people care about reading manuals anymore? i mean, they instantly go online no matter what, and after 2 weeks of gameplay think that they are "pro"s...
anyway, just add a word or two about spawn killing, and that camping isn't annoying, it's cowardly, not always, just when you do it while hiding behind map sceneries.

[russiankid]

wait where do you download it and how do you like start it?

[VijchtiDoodah]

http://www.soldat.pl/en/downloads

[demoniac93]

Barreting: Most people don’t like the way that a good player can kill with only one hit repeatedly, so if you are accused of barreting, simply switch your weapon and learn how to use the new one.

Actually it should say that not to mind what those newbies are whining about and having fun. There is no reason to change your weapon just because some newbies don't like it. But overall nice work man.

I agree, the solution you gave in the guide, which i just now noticed, is the wrong one, barreting to me is not even a real (not even in soldat) word, every person is free to use whatever weapon he likes to, either learn to dodge it, or bink the barretard (can't believe i said that)...

As to the bit about "being a pro" it ain't the most important thing about soldat, so what if you're a newb, tell them to f**k off in a polite way, and that soldat doesn't have any rules against being new to the game...That one just made me sick.

[echo_trail]

You realise you're replying to a post that's a year and a half old, right? I don't think he's gonna get your point.

[demoniac93]

Isn't the person who posted it active? Then he'll get it....

[echo_trail]

He was january 1st '08.

[Demonic]

*sigh

god damnit demoniac you annoy me.