[speed running] The Key to Speed There are varying methods on how to gain speed. This section will basically just expand on the strafe jumping section and focus on how to gain speed in your jumps. Now when it came to learning the speed part of strafe jumping, I was fortunate enough to learn from the "pros" back in the day (clawback and Flatley). Back in those days, not everyone could strafe jump, let alone speed run. And when I came across the knowledge that they had presented, I was fascinated when I caught on to it. This was again before the days of OSP and the ch_drawspeed, so there was no real judge of speed aside from the early defrag mod. And defrag is a great tool nowadays to learn any aspect of tricking. If you're wondering what defrag is, wander over to the links section when you get a chance and read all about it from their site. Anyways, back to the point. When I learned what the "secret" to speed was, I intently focused on that aspect for months. And everyone that asks me how I developed my speed, was I literally practiced strafe jumping for 6-8 months back in the day. While everyone else was out honing their weapon skills, I was learning the key to speed. And it paid off in those days, cause maybe one out of every 15-20 people could run like the wind. Nowadays, just about everyone knows how to strafe jump, and knows the tricks to get the speed. This has changed the face of CTF the past year. In the old days, a flag runner could get in and out and leave everyone else in his wake. His duty was get the flag, and run like the wind... I found my role. But once quake 3 started to show it's age, and people caught on, you could run like the wind, and still have the enemy on your ass. This began sort of a separation in the community... sort of a Darwinian evolution. The guys who could run like the wind and still frag continued to play. The ones that either didn't get into strafe jumping, or lost interest, were weeded out. It used to be one guy in a clan was fast and would run flags... now that everyone can run, you're seeing roles that aren't as narrow on the ctf field anymore. A flag D will now chase you and keep up with you. So now when everyone is up to speed in the arena, I now have to deal with the fact that I have no aim. So, what I'm suggesting is to not only practice speed, but to make sure you can still frag at the same time. Speed is good, and speed is fun, but no matter how fast you are, you can't outrun a rail. ;) So, the key to speed: Timing and angles. Also a little map knowledge. The timing part should already be covered from the strafe jumping tutorial. So we will not focus on that, but just mention it. Time your jumps when you land! Just a tap on the jump key/button. No matter how fast you're going, the "rhythm" is the same as long as you're on level ground. Once you add inclines and declines, it obviously changes. So make sure to get the timing down before going any further in this section. Also, remember to hold forward AND a strafe key. Angles: As mentioned in the strafe jumping tutorial, all those 45 degree angles, and on the next jump, move it another degree or two further. That is the key to speed. This is what I call the "sweet spot". The angle is not a constant value. It changes with every jump. Now the pros out there that know the q3 engine and the q3 code, can dig deeper into it, but I don't know all that mumbo jumbo... but what I do know is that the sweet spot is easy to find, but hard to keep. Before I let loose the demo and the map, I'm going to dive deeper into speed running. The Sweet Spot The easiest way to find the sweet spot is through trial and error. Load up the OSP or defrag mod and make sure the command to show your speed is on. Then find a map with a LONG hallway, or load up the grid map (below). Put yourself against the wall, and start strafe jumping to the other end... remembering that your first jump or two, you should be facing about 45 degrees INTO the wall. Now just keep holding forward and the appropriate strafe key. If you hit the sweet spot, you'll see your ups increase with every jump. If it does not, or it stops increasing, keep strafe jumping and now move your mouse very slightly a degree or so. Again, the sweet spot is not a constant value, so you'll have to play around to find it every so often. It has been said that the sweet spot "angle" increases slightly as your speed increases. What I usually do is move the mouse very slightly around in a circle... like a few pixels at a time. The movements don't have to be big, the smallest movement can get you right back into the sweet spot. Move the mouse + a few degrees, - a few degrees, up a little, down a little... just keep moving it till you find it again. A good sweet spot can get you over 1000ups in no time. Now these speed increases aren't coming from your jumping, they are coming from the angle you use while you are in the air... so that should be the best time to try moving your mouse. Speed is all about the angle in the air. This applies to air control as well. Try it out.. load up OSP, find a map with an accel pad or something, and shoot across it normal without holding a button and looking straight. Notice your ups. Now go on the same accel pad, hold forward + strafe. Notice the ups was higher? Now do it again, this time hold forward and strafe again.. and the strafe key you're holding slowly move your mouse in the same direction... now while you're course isn't linear anymore, I bet your ups was higher. So there you have it. There isn't a whole lot I can tell you about speed running and the sweet spot cause it will be different all the time. It's just one of those thing that you have to find on your own, get used to it, learn it, practice it, and practice it often. Below is the link to the grid map off one of my webspaces. This map is/was highly used throughout the tricking community as sort of a test, or basis for how fast you could go. It's a simple map; One LONG hallway... so long in fact that it gets buggy and stutters alot. You'll just have to get over that. But it's great practice for finding the sweet spot, which in my demo below, I got lucky to find it, and able to stick in it most of the time. The screenshot to the left shows me at 2838ups with about one jump to go before I do a faceplant into the wall. 2800ups is pretty damn fast. I'm not sure what the fastest is on the grid map, but I know it isn't me, but what I got is not bad at all. The main thing to remember is to make very small mouse movements. And once you get the hang of making those mouse movements fluidly, on short runs, you'll gain a lot of speed, and that speed is crucial if you want to be a fast flag runner in CTF. The speed is also key in making alot of gaps in maps easy to overcome. «Click Here for the grid map!» map name: grid.pk3; place in baseq3 folder «Click Here for the Demo!» demo name: gridrun; map used: grid; place this map in your ".../osp/demos" folder and turn on ch_drawspeed Alternating and Map Knowledge Another topic on speed is whether to alternate every jump, every other, every 3, etc etc. It has also been said, that the time to alternate is just after the jump (in the air). So if you start left, after you jump immediately switch to right so that most of your air time is done in that direction, and the same when you switch back to the left. In maps like grid, I find it easier to do every other. Every third jump you'll find yourself on the wall, and every jump (for me anyways) leaves more room for error in finding the sweet spot EVERY time you switch directions... so I usually do every other jump (I say usually because sometimes one jump I end up to close to the wall, or sometimes I can squeeze 3 jumps in before I switch to the other direction). Now on tournament maps and standard maps of league play... the decision is all based on the map. Usually 3 jumps you're going to hit a wall or a ledge or something. Here's a demo showing alternating every jump and every other: «Click Here for the Demo!» demo name: RMRalternate; map used: q3dm4 So that's where map knowledge comes into play a bit. That's why I always stress running maps to get to know them. Know how many jumps it is to cross the middle... know how many jumps to get to this point, and when to do a CSJ to cut a corner. Map knowledge also comes into play with falling and using slopes to gain speed. If you have a map where you can run and fall from a ledge, use the air control and mouse movement to gain speed while falling (yep it works!). Also, when you land, that speed will transfer into your speed of running if you time your jump correctly. Some maps even have downhill slopes or little ledges with slants in them... those will give you speed as well. Fall off onto them or jump onto them, and watch you'll gain some speed. Some slopes give more than others, again, map knowledge. These are all things I look for in maps and what I try to do when I run maps. I find ways to gain as much speed as I can using everything in the map. And when the time comes, to use a weapon. Weapons and Speed Ok, so that weapon thing came out of no where. But it's true. There are various uses of weapons and speed: some by your own hand; some by teammates; some by enemies. I'll touch on the last two first. Lots of times in Instagib CTF (ictf), you'll find your teammates will shoot you in the back to make you soar across the map. A rail in the back is like an instant 1000ups. Other times, in all weapon CTF, a lightning gun or rail to the back will propel you. Now I don't advise these methods at all, cause they do throw you and your rhythm off. So please, don't shoot your teammates in the back unless they request it, or if it's absolutely necessary (wxs1 is a good example of when TO shoot your teammates in the back). Now when enemies shoot you in the back, you can't complain, I mean they are only doing their job. But anything they shoot at you, rail to machinegun, will increase your speed (while decreasing your health). If you have the armor and health to take it, USE IT! But enemies have a way of not only shooting you in the back, but from the sides and front! How dare they! So keep that in mind when you're running... you may have to counter any shots being fired at you.. and while grabbing a flag and running like the wind may be fun, sometimes you just have to turn and fight. Run all you want, if you don't have your crosshair on them, theirs is on you. Now last but not least on speed... we're going to dust off our trusty rocket launcher. Not only can a rocket splash propel you up in the air, over great distances, and up and over varying heights using angles, but they can make you fast! I don't know if there's a term that describes this other than a "rocket jump"... but I sometimes call it a wall rocket or a wall jump. Whatever the name is, here's how you do it. Pull out the ol' rocket launcher... walk up to a wall, look straight at it, jump and shoot like a rjump, except you're not looking down, you're looking straight. Not sure what I'm getting at? Well the demo will help once you view it. But using the splash of the rocket to give you a quick boost is a great way of gaining speed, when you need it. You don't always have to use walls, you can do an angled rjump, remembering the higher you go, the slower you are, and the more rails that will cut through your torso. So aim that rocket a ways behind you so that you get speed and a little bit of air. The wall trick is slightly harder. While the method is the same, it's the angle that will matter. If you're angle is looking down, it's going to send you up cause you are jumping remember. If you're looking to high.. you're just going to send yourself into the ground.. so keep it somewhat straight, or very slightly down angled. Here's a demo of what I mean. «Click Here for the Demo!» demo name: RMRwallspeed; map used: q3wcp6 So now you get the picture. You can cover alot of ground doing a wall rocket... jump... thingy. Just make sure you have health ;) I didn't expect this section to be so long, but I felt that speed running in quake 3 these days, is just as important as aim. Knowing how to strafe jump properly can separate the good players from the great ones. Having speed at your side, means you can cover more map in less time. In 1v1 settings, it can aid you in controlling those armors and megahealths. Can also aid you in getting the edge on an opponent on a respawn. If you can get to him before he can load up, you can dominate him all that much easier. Speed is also essential in CTF. As I've described alot of, CTF players are all knowledgeable in strafe running and map knowledge, so knowing the same stuff will keep you in the game longer. Speed is also fun in tricking, and that is what this site is all about. Now with only two sections left to the art of tricking, lets see what they have in store for us, shall we?