Some practice routines for SSG and SG
There are practice routines which seem to help people build skill in certain kinds of aiming. They are a lot simpler to show in a recording than to explain, so I show them to you in the intermed.lmp demo, as well as the explanation in this manual.
I show you these practice routines when we enter the SSG and Shotgun-Specific Handling Area, this is the third door down the West Wing.
The first practice routine is with the super-shotgun, moving around the 2 spaced pillars, and shooting on the opposite sides of the pillars.
The second one is straferunning past the pillar, then pivotting hard and SSGing it. This is called a "swing shot." Do this on both sides of the pillar.
The third one is really the harder of the group: using single shotgun to shoot either side of the single pillar, while keeping rhythm. This is an excellent thing to learn to do. Start with small 2-shot segments at first, as needed, then move up to doing it back and forth on one side, then finally, doing it all the way around the pillar repeatedly. And switching directions, eventually. Learning to do this well will give you good single-shotgun skills...and when you're in someone's face who has a supershotgun, and they just missed...you'll really want to be able to use the weapon to save your ass.
Some swingshot details:
A swingshot is when your opponant quickly moves past you, and you pivot around in an instant and fire at them, without a delay between your pivot and your firing. There are actually several kinds of swingshots, and they are executed differently. Advanced players may not feel the difference because they have practiced so hard that they no longer appreciate they differences, they do them correctly and automatically.
(1) A "short swingshot" is when you are straferunning angled in one direction, your opponant moves past you on your side you are angled toward, and you pivot rapidly in that same direction. For example, if you are straferunning angled to the left, and your opponant pops around the corner in front of you and darts past you on your left, and you pivot hard to the left and fire the instant after you are turned. The distance of the pivot required to make a short swingshot is the shortest distance of the swingshots.
Click for movie demonstrating a short swingshot
(586 K download, about 3 minutes on a 33.6 modem)
(2) A "long swingshot" is when you are straferunning angled in one direction, and your opponant moves past you on the opposite side. This swingshot is executed once again in the direction that follows the opponant's movement, but the distance to be turned is longer.
Click for movie demonstrating a long swingshot
(728k K download, about 4 minutes on a 33.6 modem)
(3) A 'reverse swingshot" is typically used as an alternative to making a long swingshot. You are straferunning angled one way, the opponant passes you quickly on your other side, and you pivot hard in the direction you are angled toward to make your shot at him.
Click for movie demonstrating a reverse swingshot
(806 K download, about 4.5 minutes on a 33.6 modem)
Some people might ask: Why would it benefit someone's swingshot to practice with two pillars like this? What this does is, the non-attacked pillar provides you with a means to know where your intended target is, and you get to make the correct execution of your swingshot onto your unseen target. With a real opponant, you have other, different visual references as well as sounds which, as you gain experience, you will be able to use to judge his location and direction of movement. The situation with the pillars is similar enough to the in-game situation to provide a practice environment for the different kinds of swingshots.
In game, you don't think about these differences between these three executions, and never have time to decide which you are going to do. The opporatunities for swingshots come almost instantly, and your execution is equally as rapid. The opponant buzzes past you and you slam a swingshot virtually automatically, without thinking or being aware that there was a choice.It is still beneficial to recognize, while practicing your SSG alone, that these are three seperate manuvers, and practice them as such when using movement past pillars to simulate an opponant's position. In game you don't pay attention to which one you did though, it happens too fast.
