Beginner

 

Quake 3 Hook Tutorial

 

Written by Grish

 

www.grish.6x.to

 


1. Introduction

1. Offhand Hook
2. Better Connection and Fov
3. Cluster Grenade
4. Rocket Turret

 


2. Game without enemy

1. First Steps (Hook training)
2. The Gatherer (Health, Armor & Ammo)
3. The Sounds of Quake (Headphones)
4. The Hunter (Go get him!)
5. Hook Control (Advanced techniques)


3. Game with enemy

1. Eye contact (Do the aimbot!)
2. Where does speed come from? (Save yourself!)
3. Tactical Op's (Never follow!)
4. Right weapon to the right time (Weapon switching)
5. Hook & Shoot (Advanced techniques)


4. Game with multiple enemies

1. Chaining (2-3 enemies)
2. How to dodge The Bullets, baby! (Full server)
3. Where to shoot (Focus!)


5. Accuracy

1. Rail
2. NoHook
3. Practice, practice, practice


6. For the PROs

1. Motivation
2. How to stay in a good shape
3. Switching styles
4. Know the enemy
5. Fool the enemy (Advanced 1vs1 strategy)


7. Appendix

1. List of Rules: Dos and Don'ts
2. List of Servers: Rule 'em all!
3. The difference between servers
4. ZZZ's and CFG's







1. Introduction

 

1. Offhand Hook


Quake 3 with (fast) hook is one of the FASTEST video games ever. Hook is like a spiderman rope. You can shoot it on a wall and it drags you towards it. It looks like the lightning gun on most mods, but it's not a weapon. You can bind it to any key on your keyboard or even your mousebutton.

 


But first you need to go to the CONSOLE. You get there by pressing the key UNDER the "ESC-key" to the LEFT of the "1-key". Your screen is now SPLIT: on the top half you see the console, on the bottom you see whats goin' on in the game.
To get the hook workin' you need to type:
/bind [any_key] +button5

Replace [any_key] by a key of your choice, for example:
/bind mouse2 +button5
or
/bind SHIFT +button5
or
/bind e +button5

OK, once you have done this you can return to game by pressing the console key again. Enjoy hook!

 

If you still dont know how to install the offhand hook, visit the Offhand Hook Tutorial Website: www.q3hook.6x.to.
Its translated into 19 languages at the moment.

 


2. Connection & FOV


You have already learned how to get to the console, now you can also try a few other cmds. These are ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY (you will get a BETTER PING):
/snaps 30
/rate 25000

Or try this one (you get to see more of the quake environment):
/cg_fov 120
(default is 90)

 

3. Clustergrenade

 

To bind your remote button for the clustergrenade open your console (the console button is under the 'esc' button) and type "/bind x +bang" to bind the remote button on button 'x', but you can choose any other key "/bind {key} +bang".
The Cgrenade can be destroyed by all weapons that have splashdamage (e.g. Rocketlauncher, Plasmagun, BFG).

 



4. Rocket Turret

 

The turret is an unmovable rocket station marked with a flag. It will shoot automatic rockets on the enemy.

The score belongs to the player who spawned the turret.
It takes damage by explosions. The turret can be destroyed by all weapons.

 

 


2. Game without enemy

The first part is supposed to set the groundwork of this tutorial. As of yet, combat strategies are neglected.

2.1 First steps (Hook training)

After you tried hook yourself you can now begin to use hook professionally. The BIGGEST MISTAKE beginners make is to use too long hooks. If you hook a long way other players can actually see where you are going and shoot you right from the spot.

The big thing about Q3 HOOK is to use hook to SAVE your LIFE. When you use LONG HOOKS you RISK YOUR LIFE, it's simply dumb. So USE ONLY SHORT HOOKS, which is much faster and harder for your enemies to get ya.

You need to learn a few things as a beginner. Firstly, DON'T hang on the walls! Camping is a NOOB style of game, and it's very EASY TO FRAG you from the wall. Especially with weapons that have splash damage.

Secondly, when you hook somewhere on the wall you need to TURN ARROUND quickly so you don't face the wall. Practice that a lot as a beginner! Try it on q3dm1! Hook on one of the statues and turn arround. Then hook to the other statue. Try to do that as fast as you can.

After all, DON'T hook too fast in the beginning! If you see professional players hooking as fast as shit, DON'T imitate it! You can do that later, when you get better. Try learning to HOOK very ACCURATE at first!

2.2 The Gatherer (Health, Armor & Ammo)

Hook is also a strong tool to reach places in the map which are far away from you. BUT you still have to use short hooks. Try to use a lot of short hooks instead of 1 long hook to fly through the map.

With hook you can be anywhere in the map in a few seconds. Use this to COLLECT Health, Armor & Ammo. If you collect it all you will get a BIG ADVANTAGE in game because you get stronger and your enemy gets weaker. Why? Because you steal everything and he can't take any if he really needs it.

When you have your Health & Armor full you can take more hits. They will be shootin' ya, but you just won't die. Kill 'em and survive, then go and collect new Health & Armor. And if you survive a long time in game, you will probably run out of ammo. So make sure that you always pick up the weapon your enemy drops when you kill him.

The best way to collect a lot of health and armor is to know the best route through the map. Try to find all health and armor in a map and then think about how to collect it all in a short and fast way.

2.3 The Sounds of Quake (Headphones)

Listening to where the enemy hooks, runs and picks up collectables is essential in Q3. According to ZEXX, HEADPHONES ARE 50% OF THE GAME. In fast hook situations you often can't see anything (cos it's just too fast). USE THE SOUNDS you hear so you don't get confused and SHOOT WHERE YOU HEAR THE ENEMY HOOKING.

To train your headphone skills, try to make no sounds yourself. In other words walk without sound (SHIFT by default) or crouch and don't use hook too much. Listen to the sounds of quake and try to figure out which door your enemy will burst out from.

In some servers you can also rail through walls; a big part of successfully railing through walls is listening.

If you like to listen to music during play, I suggest you to turn the volume down a lil so you can still hear the sounds of quake.


2.4 The Hunter (Go get him!)

Once you know how to succesfully use the sounds and to fly through the map in mega speed, try to focus on FINDING VICTIMS TO FRAG as fast as you can.

Sometimes you respawn on places that are empty. All you can do is pick up some collectables. But what you really want to do is to frag people. So use the hook and the sounds (and your MEMORY, cos you probably know WHO fragged you and WHERE) to get to a place with some victims to kill.

2.5 Hook control (Advanced Techniques)


It is very important that you DON'T hook at random places otherwise you might get stuck. The right hooks you can only find by experience (playing & spectating), but also try to THINK about it; you need to evaluate a feeling for the map. Use the map the best you can. Anyway, I'd like to explain to you two nice techniques:

 


Sling Shot


The Sling shot is probably the best way to hook (except you play a rail monster on a rail map). It works like that: Hook somewhere and LET GO off the hook BEFORE you get pulled the complete way. When you do it correctly you will be FLYING through the air.

You can do it in every map, but to train it I suggest you q3dm17. Just hook on the edges of the platforms and then fly. After that you can try to sling shot on walls in all maps.

 


Hook Jump


I guess you know what the Rocket Jump is: a shot on the ground and a jump at the right time and you jump much higher than with normal jump.

Hook Jump is similar to this. But you don't jump high with this, you jump VERY FAST and VERY FAR. Just do this: HOOK on the GROUND a little bit AHEAD OF YOU and right after that JUMP and LET GO off the hook (like with the sling shot).

Hook Jump is a nice way to enter a room because the other players won't even notice you coming in: you are too fast. It can also be used for HOOK SLIDES. An introduction to hook slides can be found on my website in the "piece of art" demo.

 


The good thing about sling shot and hook jump is that you don't give yourself away with the hook. with normal hooks everyone can see your hook and shoot you. but when you don't complete the hook and let go before you are pulled to the end it is more irritating]

Some more advanced techniques that also involve other players will be explained later.

 


3. Game with enemy

Of course the gameplay changes drastically when you run into an enemy. This part deals with the basics of 1vs1 games (which is also basic knowledge for games with multiple enemies).


3.1 Eye contact (Do the aimbot!)

Maybe you have already spectated an aimbot. What does an aimbot do? An aimbot keeps the enemy in his crosshair no matter what happens. Try to do that as well. It's very hard and of course nobody can do it as perfect as an aimbot, but it's very important that you try to shoot your enemy in every situation.

No matter what happens, you always need to know where your enemy is (use the sounds!) and keep eye contact. Try to get a "feeling for the space and the enemy" (as SNOOP says).


3.2 Where does speed come from? (Save yourself!)

In the first steps I told you not to hook too fast... NOW we're going to get FAST. A lot of noob hook players just keep pressing their hook button and hook like they are crazy. That's NOT what we want. You DON'T have to use hook that much actually.

If you hook fast it's good for your defence. But you also want to be an aggressive fragger (see above chapter). How do we combine these two things?

Well, if you spect an experienced player you might notice that from his perspective it doesn't look that fast. It looks relaxed and accurate.

The secret is to do the aimbot (like explained above), relax and aim. THEN, when you shot one or two times, hook away to save yourself IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOUR LAST SHOT!
Q3 is a "fire & forget" game. This means when you have fired your rocket, stop thinking about it and focus on your defence! Only stand still while aiming!

Also, the place where you hook to be safe should be not too easy to turn to for your enemy. Maybe you don't hook just once, but two or three times to irritate the enemy a little bit. When he is also hooking he might get easily confused.

Then, turn to your enemy as fast as you can and start shooting again before you start saving yourself again. All of this happens in only a second, this game is about reaction time!

It is a lil bit like an F1 race. Although the cars are speeding like hell on the straight sectors, they still have to slow down when they are taking curves. So, SLOW DOWN to aim and then INSTANTLY INCREASE your speed to save yourself!

It takes A LOT OF EXPERIENCE to know how long you can stay in the same place without getting hit and it depends from enemy to enemy.

3.3 Tactical Op's (Never follow!)

This is a lesson SNOOP and I learned by FLUFFY{PnP}, on old PnP Death Hook server:
There are two possible situations in general Q3 games. Either you are in the same room as your enemy, or you are not. If you are aware of this you can play with these situations to get an advantage in the game.

Let's say you are in a battle situation and suddenly your enemy hooks out of the room, maybe after you have hit him. Most players (NOOBs) would go right after him, because he could try to find some health or armor, right?

BUT if you go after him, you might find yourself in a TRAP. Your ENEMY HAS MULTIPLE OPTIONS to find a position to frag you. When you enter the room, he could be ABOVE THE DOOR or BEHIND A STATUE or maybe even in the NEXT ROOM trying to hook through the whole map in a circle to come from BEHIND YOU!

The message is: DON'T follow your enemy, when he runs away!


What you CAN do:
- Go the other way (IF there is another way)
- Follow him, BUT without hook and without making sounds and BE AWARE that it could be a TRAP
- Stay in the room, collect health & armor
- Stay in the room, set up your own trap
- If railing through walls is possible, try it!

So next time, when you are in a battle situation think about this chapter.
Try to run and set a trap, or be aware if your enemy runs away.

3.4 Right weapon to the right time (Weapon switching)

I first saw the weapon switching used to gain advantages when I played VS MISZAG[XP]. He was using rockets most of the time but in some situations he switched to grenades which led to my death.. However, if you wanna see the weapon switching performed perfectly I suggest you watch GOTASSJUICE on GOTASSHOOK server.

What's most important is that you switch to the RIGHT WEAPON TO THE RIGHT TIME. Rocket launcher is an allround weapon, so if you are not sure what do to, you should just switch to rocktets. If you have good accuracy you can also take railgun as your standard weapon.

If your enemy is flying in the air a lot, making use of sling shots, you should switch to rail gun. If he is on the ground a lot or hanging on the walls you should use a weapon with splash damage like rockets (or bfg).

When you are close to your enemy and he is not hanging on the walls, use shotgun. If the server supports usual grenades without specials, use these when you and your enemy are in seperate rooms with a door in between.

If you can get rewards when you kill with specific weapons and you already have hurt your enemy, use one of these weapons!

Anyway, you need to learn when to use which weapon by trying it out in different situations. But DON'T switch your weapon too often when this confuses yourself.


3.5 Hook & Shoot (Advanced techniques)


Although your main technique should be "shooting as long as you are safe, then hook away" (II.2), there are some techniques that can be very effective. Here are three of them:

 


XP Style


I call this XP style, because in the old days most XP players used this kind of offence. They used hook to get close to the enemy and shot at the same time.

Hook ON your enemy and FIRE at the SAME TIME. You have to learn when exactly to shoot, so you don't hurt yourself (this also depends on server settings!). Usually you fire a lil bit later than you hook, because your hook doesn't have to be 100% accurate. But when you shoot, be as accurate as you can! When you shoot a few msecs after you hook, it is often more accurate.

ADVANTAGES: You don't lose track of your enemy and your accuracy is high, because hook & shot focus on the same place. Also it's a good defence against other players because you are always moving.

DISADVANTAGES: You can easily hurt yourself and your enemy can spot you easily. If he stays in the same place until he sees you, he just needs to shoot straight in front of him to hurt you. This attack is USELESS against PRO RAILERS. It is not always a good defence against other enemies, because when another player aims at the same victim, he might kill you instead of your victim, or even both!

All in all you should only use this kind of attack when your victim is not far away, in front of (or hanging on) a wall (to make use of splash damage) and not looking in your direction.

 


Baracuda Style


This is a variation of the XP style which I saw for the first time while spectating BARACUDA[XP].

You start similar to XP style: Hook ON your enemy, shoot at the same time, but then, BEFORE you get drawn all the way to your enemy, turn left (or right) while using one or more side-hooks. So your shot is going straight ahead, but you are going in a curve. You can then turn arround (maybe hanging on the wall) to find your enemy and start hooking & shooting again.

ADVANTAGES: You can use this also when your enemy is a lil bit far away, your first hook can even be long, because you will use one or two other hooks (which should be short). This technique is a nice combination of the usual XP style and the "Safe Yourself!"-technique (II.2).

DISADVANTAGES: You lose track of your enemy during hooking and turning arround. When you ONLY use THIS technique, your enemy might notice it and find a way to use it against you. Your hooking causes attention to other players who can frag you easily when you stop hooking.

I think this is a good technique that you can make use of from time to time in all maps except space maps. It works very well against crazy speed-hookers, because you can use their hook sounds to locate them after you have used this technique.

 


Reverse-Baracuda Style


Here you use a side-hook before you start shooting. Hook on a wall/floor/ceiling in the direction of your enemy, somewhere he is not looking at. THEN use normal XP style, or simple shot.

It is important that all this happens in ONE MOVEMENT, maybe you do not even complete the side hook before you use the XP technique. Like ronaldinho in football, you make him think you go right, but you don't - all in one move!

ADVANTAGES: Good defence and you do not lose track of your enemy. The advance is you KNOW where you are hooking, so you can IMAGINE where you have to aim, before your side-hook is complete. But your enemy has to watch where you go and then turn to you.

DISADVANTAGES: When your enemy makes use of hook during this technique you WILL lose track. Your shot is not as accurate as normal XP style, because after your first side-hook, you need to aim again.

When your enemy stays in his position it is a very effective technique. You cannot use it against players that hook too much, because they will be gone after your side-hook and the advantage that you can imagine their position is not available anymore.


4. Game with multiple enemies

In the Hook & Shoot chapter I already mentioned some things to be aware of when facing multiple enemies. In this part I will explain some useful techniques for crowded games.


4.1 Chaining (2-3 enemies)

When you are in a situation with only a few enemies, you can try to remember all positions of all enemies. This is important to use the chaining-technique. Let's say there are only two enemies. When they are shooting each other, you can stay in a position where they both cannot frag you, but you can frag them. THIS is the SITUATION that YOU WANT.

The reason why I call this chaining is that in games with a few enemies there are often scenarios like that:
Player A shoots at player B, who shoots at player C, who shoots at player D, etc..
So it is a CHAIN OF PLAYERS shooting at each other.

In games with only a few players you need to MAKE SURE that YOU ARE at the END of the chain and NOT in the middle. In other words: everyone is shooting at (and getting shot by) another player except you. You only shoot at a player but do not get shot at. Get it?

So in order to use chaining and always to be at the end of the chain you need to know the positions of all other players in the map, so that nobody can surprise you from behind.

This is a good defence strategy but only possible against a small amount of enemies.

4.2 How to dodge The Bullets, baby! (Full server)

When there are more enemies you cannot remember all positions. So you need another strategy in order to survive a massacre. Let's analyze a situation where a lot of players are in a room, all hooking and shooting.

Everything is happening very fast and noone has time to think. In this situation it is all about reflexes and instincts. One instinct of human beeings is that they tend to pay their attention to things that are moving.

So if you move (= hook) too much it is more likely that one of your enemies pays attention to (= frags) you. The same happens when you use only a few but too long hooks (which was the first thing I mentioned in this tutorial).

What happens when you do NOT hook at all (camping)? At first you have time to aim, but when you stay in the same position all the time, it is very likely that one of the other players notices you and then you get killed easily, because as a Q3 player he has the reflex to frag you as fast as possible.

So now you know what NOT to do, what CAN you do? The key is to find a combination of hooking a lot and not hooking at all. When you are in a good shape and maybe in a FLOW it is LIKE CAMPING, but IN FACT you are moving VERY FAST.

You need to try to dodge the bullets with SHORT SIDE-HOOKS, only some SMALL MOVEMENTS to the RIGHT TIME, like Muhammad Ali. Then turn, aim and shoot, but RIGHT AFTER your last shot: side-hook again. Only take time aiming, after your shot: don't lose time! And DO NOT FORGET that this game has 3 DIMENSIONS: You can go right-left, up-down or back-forth.

Maybe you already played on rail servers. Defence is similar there. Everybody goes right-left-right-left so it is hard to get them. Find a way to "translate" this defence to hook servers!

4.3 Where to shoot (Focus!)


When I was in a full server hook game for the first time I was overwhelmed by the situation. Everybody was hooking so fast and shooting! I could not see what was going on because it was just too much happening at the same time. I just did not know WHERE TO SHOOT.

The key is to FOCUS ONLY ON ONE TARGET, especially when you are not using rail. This TARGET can be A PLACE in the map or A PLAYER. For NOOBS it might be easier to find out which place in the map most players hook and then always shoot there to get some frags.

Of course it is more effective to concentrate on a player. When you get in the room, PICK A PLAYER and SHOOT. When he hooks away, KEEP TRACK of him! You see where he is hooking, aim THERE! Do NOT focus on a second player, ESPECIALLY when you already have caused the first target some damage!

Of course this doesn't concern you when you are using rail and MAYBE SOMETIMES it can be useful to switch to an easier target, BUT you will LOSE CONTROL of the situation if you do it. Anyway, everything happens very fast, you will have no time to make those kind of decisions. Use your intuition!

ANOTHER WAY is to wait until you see a (medium or long) hook and shoot there. This is useful when you hook a lot, or used the baracuda technique. But it is useless when your enemies use sling shots and short hooks.


5. Accuracy

One of the biggest secrets of becoming a pro is to get a killer accuracy. So I decided to include a part that exclusively deals with accuracy.


5.1 Rail

The best way to gain more accuracy is to play on rail servers. Maybe you like servers with fast rail, like on most hook servers. Then you must NOT shoot too fast! Get your enemy in your crosshair, THEN shoot. Do NOT shoot all the time! You want to build up accuracy!

When you are good on rail servers, try hook & rail servers. There you learn to be accurate AND use hook to safe yourself, plus you learn to be accurate with players flying all over the map pretty fast.

When you play on rail servers with no unlag-mod and you have a high ping it is good training for rocket or bfg accuracy.

When you are good enough in hooking and railing at the same time go to normal hook servers and play only with rail! It is different from hook & rail servers, because your enemies use a different defence.

5.2 NoHook

Another good way to build up more accuracy is to play without hook...on HOOK SERVERS!! When you do not use hook you need to focus on your OFFENCE, on KILLING other players. Watch the other players and especially their hook, try to find out where they WILL BE in the next second and shoot THERE.

Of course you will get killed more easily, but your accuracy gets better! It is GOOD training. Also, when playing without hook, you might notice some situations where it would have been better to use JUST ONE LITTLE HOOK to get away before you got killed. That is exactly what was described in 2.2. By NOT using hook you can learn how long you can stand still without getting hit.

5.3 Practice, practice, practice

Of course the only way to get more accuracy is to keep practicing. This means when you are playing, don't shoot when you don't have a target. When you just shoot everywhere hoping that one of your shots will be a hit you will NOT get better!

Always look for your enemy and only shoot when you are sure. It is normal that you will get killed a lot and lose a lot in the beginning. Don't get disappointed by that! You have to play against better players to get better!

If you follow this guide and never give up you will notice that you are getting better!


6. For the PROs

Hence this tutorial should be of use for all kinds of players I decided to include a part that is adressed to experienced players. Maybe you find some points that you didn't think of yourself yet...


6.1 Motivation

This is maybe the MOST IMPORTANT PART of this tutorial. A lot of games are lost because of this. Imagine two players that are equal in terms of reflex, accuracy, speed and strategy. In a 1vs1 game, who do you think would win? Of course the player that had a BETTER DAY!

If YOU are HIGHLY MOTIVATED and ABSOLUTELY HAPPY you can win against a better player, IF only HE has had a BAD FURSTRATING DAY. So your mental strength plays a BIG ROLE!

When you are up against a player that you never have beaten, you might probably think "Omg, I can never beat him, so why should I even try?", but THAT's the way you will LOSE FOR SURE.

Maybe when the game starts you do not think like that. You have played a few good games with other players before and you think "Maybe this time I will get him". Then the game starts, maybe you even frag him once or twice, BUT THEN he takes the lead and YOU START TO DOUBT that you can win. AND THAT'S WHY YOU LOSE!

OR maybe it is 25:23 for him, which means you are ONLY TWO frags behind. Which is no problem, BUT THEN you get fragged two times and you hear "Three frags left!". You start to get NERVOUS, you will DESPERATELY TRY to win now. But THAT's the way to lose. In the end it's 30:23 and it looks like a clear win for him.

So, if you wanna win, you will have to BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN WIN! DON'T let your feelings get involved in the game! DON'T get disappointed when you die! Always RELAX, be SMART, THINK about how you can win and DON'T GIVE UP TOO EARLY!

If you play poker you maybe know what it means to be ON TILT. The same can happen in Q3, so don't let it happen to you.

I can only give you these advices but it is hard to actually do it, I know by experience ;-)

6.2 How to stay in a good shape

It is needless to say that if you play a lot you will stay in a good shape, but I'd like to give you some tips that can maybe help you.

Try playing on a HIGH PING server BEFORE you start playing on your favourite server. With a high ping you have to think about what will happen in the future, because your game is delayed. After some games, if your mind got used to thinking ahead in the game, connect to your favourite server where you have a better ping. It will feel a lot easier and you will play better.

Also try to play equal times on servers that need accuracy and those that need speed.

If you play only with noobs, you will become a noob! It's true, you need to PLAY AGAINST other GOOD PLAYERS, players that CAN BEAT YOU. Not only to learn, but also to stay fit. You NEED big challanges to be a pro.

If you plan to play a longer session, go to spect sometimes and relax. When you play non-stop, it is normal that you will get TIRED and lose after some time.

6.3 Switching styles

In 1vs1 games it is very important that your enemy can't predict your moves. This involves both strategic and battle situation movements. If you can surprise the enemy 30 times you win the game. Of course it's not that easy..

So if you want to be unpredictable it is necessary that you SWITCH YOUR STYLE of playing. Maybe start off by hooking like you are crazy, then don't hook at all and walk through the map in stealth mode. If you spot him, shoot and safe-your-life, run away and set a trap. Run away again, then return immediately and use only the XP technique, then maybe throw in some rocket jumps (if your enemy doesn't use railgun ;-).

You get the idea. If you play always the same the enemy will get used to your style and maybe find a way to beat you. But if you always switch your style he never knows what is going to happen next.


6.4 Know the enemy

When you see an enemy it's always useful to identify him first. Especially in games with more than one enemy. I'm going to list up some typical player categories:

 


The NOOB


Easy to identify, most of them don't use hook, or camp with hook hanging on the walls. They have bad reaction time so there is NO NEED TO HURRY. Relax and frag him accurately and with routine. XP technique works very well.

 


The crazy hooker


Easy to identify, he is hooking very fast but his hooks are not accurate. He frags only with luck, but it is hard to frag him. So if there are other players, FRAG THE EASIER TARGETS FIRST. But when you HAVE to frag him: DON'T use hook too much and relax, watching his hook. He has to stop somewhere and there you get him. He NEEDS your hook to find you, so resist the urge to hook TOO much.

 


Weak defence, good offence


If you find one of these players you should definetly try to FRAG HIM FIRST. If you don't, he will only steal your victims. Do NOT use XP teqchnique against these players.

 


Progressing amateur


Don't underestimate this kind of player. It is good when you relax and play with routine, BUT it's possible that he beats you when the server is full AND you don't pay attention. If it is 1vs1 you should be aggressive at first. Because if he gets killed a lot in the beginning, he doesn't believe in winning.

 


The PRO


The best you can do is to play the best you can ;-) Use all of your tricks and all of your accuracy. Don't be an easy target. If you know this player from recent games, maybe you know what he is playing like. Try to collect some facts about all the PROs that you play against, so you can use it against them.

6.5 Fool the enemy (Advanced 1vs1 strategy)

This last chapter deals with the psychological aspect of 1vs1 Q3 hook games. And psychology plays a role in the game, it's almost like poker. Anyway, all of this is pretty much worthless on space maps.

When you are playing 1vs1 against a PRO you have to expect that the combat scenes are pretty short. This is because he kills you whenever he senses your position. So either you kill him first and QUICK or you get killed.

So because the fight sequences are short there is more time that you and your PRO opponent spend in SEPERATE ROOMS of the map. In almost all rooms of Q3 there are two or more ways to get to your enemy. Try to use this to your advantage!

Let's say there are only two ways, left or right (i.e. inside of q3dm1). In the beginning of the game your opponent might not realize you are playing a psychological game. So when you shoot a few times through the door of the left way and then hook AS FAST AS YOU CAN taking the right way, you might surprise him from behind as he is only paying attention to the other door.

Of course he will not let you fool him a second time, right? WRONG! When you notice that he expects you to come from the way that you did not shoot through, start coming from where you have been shooting!

Or maybe he will try to outplay you with his hook speed. Like this: You shoot right and go left. But when you enter the room he is not there, trying to go through the map to come from behind you (like you were trying). If you happen to play against a player that tries to beat psychological games with hook speed, try this: shoot left and hook to HIDE ABOVE the same door. Now, when he tries to come through the door, he is an easy target for a part-time-camper ;-) Sometimes the fastest way to move trough the whole map in a circle, is NOT to move AT ALL.

Of course these were only a few examples. But the point is that you have to put your enemy in a state of mind in which he just doesn't know where you could be coming from OR where you could be hiding. In other words you have to judge what he is expecting you to do and then doing the opposite. Because if you surprise him, you win the fight, without a fight.

So use anything you can think of to be as CUNNING and INSIDIOUS as you can be. This is sometimes more valuable than hook speed or even reflex.


7. Appendix

 

7.1 List of Rules: Dos and Don'ts


DO use short hooks, DON'T use long hooks
DO relax and hook accurate, DON'T hook like you are crazy
DO collect health, armor and ammo, DON'T lose too much time on it though
DO use the sounds your enemies are making
DO search for victims, DON'T wait until they find you
DON'T hang on the walls all the time
DO keep track of the enemy's position AT ALL TIMES
DO relax when you aim, DON'T lose time AFTER your shot
DO use the appropriate weapon for the situation
DON'T get caught in the middle of two players
DO use small hook moves to dodge the bullets
DO concentrate on only one target at a time
DO practice a lot on your accuracy (also hook accuracy)
DON'T shoot when you don't have your target in your crosshair

 

7,2 List of Servers: Rule 'em all!

To get better it is important that you play on different servers! If you can handle all the different styles you will have a big advantage. Notice that some IPs may change... Always try to find new servers to play on!



7.3 The difference between servers

Since there are a lot of different Q3 servers which all require different strategies I decided to include a few thoughts on how to rule on different styles of hook ;-) Doing this I start with the easiest servers and end up with HG1, the supreme discipline in my opinion :P

 


Shotgun Hook


The easiest type of hook servers. All you need to do is: see the enemy FIRST. Shotgun is so fast and strong that you just need to keep fire pressed when you see an enemy or suspect that arround the next corner might be one. Because of that HEADPHONES are a great advance. You DON'T need hook very much, it is just needed to find enemies fast. Hook can't really be used to safe yourself from getting killed. So the best defence is OFFENCE here. Most shotgun servers have spawnprotection invisibility so a cfg with which it's possible to see invisible players might be of use. This crap bbox won't, cos most of the servers are pure :P

 


BFG + Hook


A little harder but still easy. It has similarities to shotgun hook because the BFG is also a strong weapon. But as opposed to shotgun it is much harder to hit someone who is in the air. So BFG JUMPS work very well here, especially BFG jumps that are executed upon a JUMP PAD.
Another difference is that you are able to USE HOOK FOR your DEFENCE, you shouldn't overuse it though. It is better to use just a few short accurate hooks every now and then. Try to get in positions in that your enemy doesn't know where you are and kind of CAMP until he sees you, THEN use a few hooks again. But if you are a real camper you will get easily fragged due to the splash damage of the BFG. Still, offence is the best defence, so be a "MOVING CAMPER".
And finally the last difference: on shotgun servers you always should keep fire pressed, but on BFG it's better to fire single shots as your accuracy will be better. You only need to hit your enemy two or three times so there is no need to keep firing when you don't know where you are or where your opponent is. The last thing I want to mention is that you can use the BFG as a kind of "radar system". If you are in a room without enemy you can just fire on all doors to check if there is someone. If you hit anything keep shooting there to block the entrance or maybe frag him.

 

PL Chaos Hook


What's characteristic for these kind of servers is that hook is pretty fast. Most players overuse it and become "crazy hookers". When you happen to play on a server in which all other players are crazy hookers, there is only one intelligent thing to do: CAMP! Most of the enemies will be hooking up on the walls and most of them will hook to the same places. So you should stay on the ground and SHOOT ON PLACES rather than players on these servers. Use hook only to find enemies or to safe yourself when a player sees you camping until you've found a new safe place to stay. Remember NOT to get caught up in their fast hooking.

--------------------------------------------------
This can also be understood as a GENERAL MESSAGE:
THE MORE YOUR ENEMIES HOOK THE LESS YOU SHOULD!
AND VICE VERSA:
THE LESS YOUR ENEMIES HOOK THE MORE YOU SHOULD!
But in 1on1 this is not always true...
--------------------------------------------------

 


Hook + Rail


Well this is obviously a harder type of servers because you will need a lot of accuracy. Stuff like XP technique: USELESS! If rail jumps work, in combat situations: USELESS! Everything that involves you falling: USELESS (except maybe space maps, but make sure to get back on the ground before your enemy notices you)! USUAL RAIL DEFENCE like on normal rail servers works pretty ok, but the opponent could use hook to end up in a position which destroys your defence. So you do the same: if the enemy goes left<->right, hook NEXT to him so that you are on the SAME LINE. Hook can also be used to get yourself out of the situation when multiple enemies are shooting at you.

 


Hell Gate 1


Ok it is REALLY HARD to become good on this server. It has a lot of specials and it takes a long time to learn how to use it all efficiently. The hook strategies and techniques needed are exactly what I have described in this entire tutorial. So I will not go into detail about hook use now.
I want to focus on REWARDS. On hg1 you can get rewards for some difficult actions:

Excellent: For an excellent you get a cluster grenade. If you get one, you should immediately switch to grenade launcher and place the nade somewhere. Good places are SPAWNING POINTS because if somebody walks over it, it will most likely kill him. Other good places are CROWDED PLACES. You can detonade it by the /bang command which can also be binded, i.e.:
/bind x bang or
/bind shift bang
After some time the grenade will explode by itself if you have not detonated it yet or if you have no bang bind :P

Impressive: For this you will get a turret. It's basically a flag with a rocket launcher which will shoot at victims for you. It spawns where you have done the impressive hit. If you are good with rail (which you should be otherwise you have not much of a chance) you should always try to GET IMPRESSIVES. How do you get impressives on purpose? Try this: just switch to rail and try to hit someone in whatever way you like. When you have hit a victim this way STOP shooting and WAIT LONG with the next shot! Because this one should be very ACCURATE. After that shot you can switch to your usual style again until you hit a target again.

Special Weapons: If you manage to kill somebody with gauntlet you will get BFG & plasma bombs and with MG you will get vortex rockets. BFG & plasma bombs work very easy just place them somewhere and when anyone gets near it, it will hurt him. After some time it will explode by itself. Good places are the same as with grenades. Vortex rockets are very cool. When you fire it, victims will get drawn towards the rocket, so that they can't escape easily.
Enough introduction, on to strategy:
I have already told you the main strategy in the chapter of switching weapons. You should try to hurt your enemy first with the rocket launcher or the shotgun and then switch to MG or gauntlet to finish him off and receive the rewards. Try to get a feeling of how much hp and armor the enemy has left and switch to MG when he is low on health.
A mean combo is this: when you have managed to get some vortex rockets, search for a victim and shoot a vortex. If he gets killed, good. But if he survives, and this happens often, you immediately switch to MG again and finish him to get more vortex rockets ;-)
A noob combo is taking quad to get easy MG kills... :P

Just one last thing concerning RAIL-THROUGH-WALL in addition to what has already been said in the sound-chapter. Railing through a wall is actually not so difficult! With usual rail you have to predict the position of the enemy in the future so you can follow him and then pull the trigger. It doesn't really matter if, in the last few msecs before you fire, your enemy disappears behind a wall.

 

7.4 ZZZ´s and CFG´s


A lot of good players prefer to play with ZZZ models. ZZZ models are models that can easily be seen. Maybe they are green or pink or whatever color you like. On my website you can find the collection made by HuXX. Just choose one and try it out. These obviously won't work on pure servers.

 

Download ZZZ Models Collection

But on NoGhost pure servers it is still possible to change the colors of your enemies to whatever color you want.
It works like this:
Download the NoGhost client. This is a .pk3 file that you have to put in your baseq3 folder. After that you have to type the following commands in your console:
/cg_forceModel 1
/cg_enemymodel keel/pm
/cg_enemycolors 2222

This will make all your enemies look like green keels. If you choose other numbers you will get other colors. The numbers are the usual Q3 color-numbers just like with names or chat messages.

You can also create a file called "autoexec.cfg" in your baseq3 folder and put the commands there. Then of course without the "/" in the beginning.

Speaking of cfg's: With cfg's you can do a lot of things. There are a lot of commands that make it easier for you to see enemies or not to get distracted by too much details. On my website you can download two cfg's.

The first one is an old one and was done by ZEXX. It turns Q3 graphics very low so that you can concentrate only on your enemies. With these low graphics it's also possible to see players that have taken invisibility. The second one is the cfg I'm using right now. It's basically a rail cfg which I got from ATROX. But I have changed it a little bit so that it works better on hook games.

 

Download zexx.cfg

 

Download grish.cfg


If you want to try one of the cfg's just extract the zip in your baseq3 folder, start Q3 and execute it with:
/exec name_of_cfg

Of course you can also put the command into an autoexec.cfg!

 

Download Mod Binds Autoexec.cfg