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
CustomizationWhen 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 GameplayMovement: 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.
PowerupsWhile 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 ModesThere 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 EtiquetteAlthough 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.
RegisteringDownloading 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!
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
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