ARMOR
By Creedo.
Yay!
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Armor might still be the best bot in the game. It's the choice of megapros.
It's cbchui's main mobile (cbchui has been white dragon/#1 rank in gunbound on
many occasions). It's what I pick when I absolutely have to win, and don't want
anyone to be able to exploit a weakness on me or force me into a situation where
I've got no shot. It's powerful, flexible, and has great defense (it can
survive two boomer thor duals). It has some minor weaknesses (delay mostly)
but aside from that, there's no reason NOT to pick armor.
So if you want to learn it, here we go:
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Armor's weapons:
Shot 1: Weak, but low delay compared to his other shots. Use it when you can
steal an extra turn vs an opponent who has about +800 or more delay relative to
you. You should also be aware of situations where using shot 2 might give the
enemy 2 turns in a row, and use shot 1 instead... for example let's say the
turn list looks like this:
You: 760 (your turn) next enemy: +40 (they're next)
If you use shot 2 here, and the enemy counterattacks with shot 1, they will
probably get 2 turns in a row on you. Therefore you must use shot 1 to ensure
that doesn't happen. When the delay number I see by my target is lower than
100 (either +100 or -100) then I will often choose shot 1 to either try to
get two turns in a row on them or prevent them from doing it to me.
Shot 1 is also great for bunging, it makes a big hole (like ice/nak/cake/others)
but more importantly it can damage the land under an enemy if it hits them
directly. Many shots in the game cannot do that. So use shot 1 if the enemy is
on a sliver of land and you want to bunge them, or intentionally miss it very
close to the enemy to drop them down a large distance and dig them closer to the
bottom of the land. From certain positions, a shot 1 placed right at the foot
of your enemy will cause them to be stuck with no shot because they've been
holed: http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/Armor_angle.jpg
Shot 1 delay: 770
Typical damage: 150
Shot 2: This is your main weapon. It's strong, but has very high delay.
Since a recent update, it's slower than almost any other shot 2. Your main
idea with armor is to pound away with shot 2 until the enemy has less than half
their life left, then dual shot 2 to finish them off. The damage is typically
about 240 for a nice hit, so 2 duals almost kills them. If you have an enemy
with low HP/defense and you hit just right with your duals, you can kill them
in two turns. Otherwise you should assume you can't do that and you'll end up
doing something like: shot 1, shot 2, shot 2, dual shot 2 (kill). Depending on
how carefully you play delay and which items are available, you may only need 3
turns to kill, but be careful tossing out dual shot 2's. Armor's item delay
increased by 40, so when you use a dual combined with your very slow shot 2,
this leaves you helpless for several turns. It used to be that your dual delay
was low enough that if the enemy attacked first, you could shoot back with a
dual and not give up 2 turns in a row to the enemy. That is no longer true.
Every dual+shot 2 that you do will give the enemy at least 2 turns, and often
3 turns in a row against you, so duals should be saved to make a sure kill.
It's more important than ever not to show off with duals when you're not sure
it's a guaranteed hit.
Shot 2 delay: 990
Typical damage: 240
SS: This is a good SS, fairly high damage (not quite as high as boomer/sate but
higher than almost everyone else's). Use it when you want to do good damage
without committing to a high delay dual, or when items are locked out and you
can't use a dual. It's nice because the delay is a bit less than any dual, so if
an enemy opens up the game with a dual you can respond with the SS and beat their
delay. The only catch to the shot is that it requires about 1.8 seconds of airtime
before it 'opens up'... if you just shotgun it or don't keep it in the air long
enough, it does crappy damage (around 200). Once it opens the missile will
transform and cause a huge explosion when it lands. The large explosion means you
can miss a little and still get a bit of damage from it.
SS delay: 1320
Typical damage: 400
A quick note on damage, delay, etc:
Damage is based on how clean your hit is, and whether or not your shot was
partially blocked by dirt. The damages I give are based on a solid center hit
using true angle vs a mobile with average defense. In some conditions your shot
will do more or less. I'd say your best shot 1 will be 180 dmg and a miracle
shot 2 will do 300ish. One other important note on damage: your aiming slice
has a solid, bright green part and a faded, washed out pale green part. The
solid green in the middle of your aim slice is called 'true' angle, any shots
where your pointer is in this solid green part will do full, normal damage.
The washed out green at the edges of your aim slice is called weak angle.
This does about 20% less damage. You therefore should always try to use true
angle, which may require moving armor to get your pointer high or low enough.
Note that the SS is all solid green/true angle, but also has less angle range
than the other shots.
Delay is fixed, and for every second you take to shoot, the delay for your shot
will have 10 points added. Certain items also add to your delay. For example a
normal SS fired with no delay is 1320 'time units'. If you used 3 seconds to
fire the shot, you are now using 1320+30 time units, so that's 1350 time units.
If you use a dual+ item with armor's shot 1, you are adding 250 delay to your
natural delay of 780. Dual+ is therefore 1,030 delay as long as you use shot 1
first. That means dual+ delay is only 100 more than using a normal shot 2.
There's a myth some players spread that doing shot 2 first gives better damage.
This is a lie. Use 1 first, but be aware that sometimes the large bunge effect
from shot 1 can cause the enemy to drop, which may make the shot 2 miss.
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Other strengths and weaknesses:
PROS:
-Decent movement (climb and move distance).
-Decent aiming slice; combined with your movement, getting angle is easy.
-Massive defense - you can survive two duals, and even 2 duals with thor.
-Decent bunging, it's there for situations that call for it.
-Shot 2 is very user friendly, it can miss a bit and still cause damage. Shot
1 also can miss a bit and nick a nearly dead enemy for the kill. Neither shot
has special requirements or unusual aiming techniques, they just hit directly.
CONS:
-Big shot 2 delay means you'll probably give the enemy 2 turns in a row on you
at some point. Dual shot 2's are now very risky and you may die if you use a
dual and fail to kill the enemy.
-Shot 2 is still your best weapon, but the angle range on it was decreased. The
true angle for shot 2 is now small and that makes it hard to rely on high angle
formula shots (since getting a high angle with shot 2 usually means resorting
to your weak angle)
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HOW TO ACTUALLY USE ARMOR
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Armor can be used several ways:
1. Use cbchui-type fixed power formulas to aim all your shots.
2. Use lemontears-type fixed angle formulas to aim all your shots.
3. For some wind conditions or shooting over 1 screen, use 3 and 4 bar formulas.
4. Just use feel to aim.
I prefer method 1, with a little bit of 2, 3, and 4 thrown in for specific
situations where using 2.4 fixed power makes no sense.
My shooting plan:
-If I am very close to an enemy and can just shoot using feel to make guaranteed
hits on them, I'll do that.
-If I'm far away from my targets and can get a decent angle, I use that angle to
start aiming using the 2.4 bar fixed power method. I will usually fire an SS on
my first turn to hit the best logical target (or the easiest one).
-If I'm far away from my targets and cannot get a good angle, I position myself
on level ground to use angle 35 and try to calculate the power needed to hit
whichever target I think is best. This is a mix of using certain power
'landmarks' (like Lemontears and PhantomD's) and using plain old feel.
-If I'm very far away, or if the wind is too strong to allow a 2.4 bar shot to
reach my target, I will use a 3 bar shooting formula.
-I try to always use true angle, so if I can't use fixed power formulas without
resorting to using my weak angle, I either switch to angle 35 or 60 and take
a guess at the power needed to make my shot.
HOW TO AIM
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Fixed power formula:
Using this means simply shooting with the same amount of power every time: 2.4
bars. To aim your shot, you simply choose different angles to hit different
locations on the screen. You do not use just 1 angle over and over again, you're
usually going to be changing the angle every single shot. You need to change
the angle to compensate for different winds, and of course you need to know how
to aim your shot in 0 wind. Once you master the formula, you can glance at
the enemy and be able to pick the correct angle needed to hit them in 0 wind.
Then you can glance at the wind and raise or lower your angle to adjust for
wind. All you need to do once you have the correct angle picked out is shoot.
The three basic rules you can memorize to get you started:
1. Power is ALWAYS 2.4 bars.
2. Angle 60 hits 1 screen away.
3. Angle 75 hits half a screen away.
Measuring with the screen: hold right click and drag the screen so that you're
at the edge. Then judge what angle you want to use (it's easiest to use angle 75
as a landmark, then judge how far away the enemy is from 75. If the enemy is
nearly 1 screen away, use 1 screen = angle 60 as a landmark).
-The distance from your 'all/team' button to your half power mark = angle 80
If you cannot put the all button under you because the enemy is far to the
right, put the 3rd power mark under you. From the third power mark to the right
edge of the screen is also about angle 80.
-From the all/team button to (in score) the area between the first 'team lives
remaining' button and the red number showing how many lives there are = angle 70
explanation: In score it has two buttons bottom right, "b life remaining" and
"a life remaining". To the right of these buttons are red numbers showing how
many lives you have left. Just between the button and number of lives is the
angle 70 mark. In solo or tag, it's from the all button to the left edge of
the yellow stripey area next to the "F7" button.
-left edge of screen to right edge of screen = angle 60
-left edge of screen to middle of screen = angle 75 ... to spot a perfect 75,
put yourself at the left edge of the screen so that u are halfway off the
screen. Look directly under the middle of the wind indicator at the top
of the screen... that is where an angle 75 shot will land in 0 wind.
-each 'bar' on your power meter is ~4 angles. So let's say you place yourself
above the "all" button. The enemy is 1 bar past your half power (2 bar) mark.
All to half power = angle 80
1 bar beyond = lower 4 angles
so enemy is at angle 76... almost half a screen away.
-You can't use angles lower than 60... the shot only has enough power to travel
1 screen. In fact, trying to fire angle 60 with 2.4 bars might land a little
bit short, and you may want to try 2.5 bars for angle 60 shots. If you ever do
a calculation that tells you to lose an angle lower than 60, your shot will
miss.
-Also, angle 32~35 will also go 1 screen at 2.4 power. So 2.4 power goes
about 1 screen for almost ANY angle lower than 60 I think.
ADJUSTING FOR WIND:
From my experience, adjusting for wind with any bot at any fixed power is nearly
the same. I use memorized wind adjustment formulas to figure out the angle I
need.
Wind adjustment works like this:
-Figure out the angle you need in 0 wind (i.e. for a half screen shot you'd
want to use angle 75).
-If wind is up or towards the opponent or both, raise angle to compensate. If
wind is against you or down, lower the angle to compensate. Remember that if you
are using a maximum power of 2.4 bars, you cannot reach certain distances when
wind is against you... for example if you try to hit someone at angle 70 with 20
wind against you, you will fall short always. So in moderate or strong wind
blowing against you, I recommend you abandon using the 2.4 bar formula. It's
still ok when wind is blowing towards the enemy.
-For calculating wind adjustments, look at the wind power, round down to the
nearest even number (i.e. 25 wind is really 24 wind)... then divide wind power
by a certain number. The number you use is based on wind direction.
Here's a chart showing what number to divide by for almost any given wind
direction:
http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/WindChart.jpg
Other aiming methods:
At angle 35, you can use 2.4 bars for 1 screen and about 1.7 for half a screen.
One bar of power travels about 7 distance units (15 distance units is half a
a screen, so it's a bit less than 1/4th of a screen). That fact doens't seem
that useful at first, because the shot is so close it's easy to make just
using feel alone. However I use this bit of knowledge to aim my close range
shot 2's very precisely... so that the shot is diving into the ground just as
it hits the enemy's feet. This ensures that I get the fullest possible damage
from my shot 2.
3 bar formula/banpao:
This involves shooting with nearly 3 bars of power to aim your shots.
You actually use 3 different levels of power:
Inside half a screen (not recommended): 2.8 bars
From half screen to 1 screen: 2.95 bars
Past 1 screen (1.5 screen max: 3.05 bars
The advantage to using this is that with so much power, you can make
calculated shots up to 1.5 screens away. The disadvantage is
that 3 bar shots, like full power shots, have a lot of distance between
angles and you may need to adjust your power level to hit an enemy sitting
between 2 different angles. You will also need to watch wind carefully
because the shot is spending a lot of time in the air, and the wind effect
may be greater than it would for a 2.4 bar shot.
3 bar shots are suitable for:
*Enemies beyond 1 screen distance, but not as far as 2 screens away.
*Situations where the wind force holds your shot back and makes it impossible
to get the shot to travel 1 screen distance using just 2.4 bars power.
*Situations where you want to stay as close to the front of a slope as possible
(and therefore don't want to move backwards to get a lower true angle). If
you're in a situation where you're forced to use a very high angle and you
need a lower angle for the 2.4 method, you can use 3 bars instead and keep your
high angle.
3 bar shots are NOT suitable for:
*Close range shots inside half a screen.
*Any situation where 2.4 bars could easily hit (because 3 bars has a greater
chance of missing slightly because the gap between 2 angles is larger).
*Shots beyond 1.5 screen (a flat angle or full power high angles are needed).
3 bar landmarks:
1/2 screen = angle 80
1 screen = angle 70
1.5 screens = angle 60
As with 2.4, you are dividing your target area into 30 parts... 10 parts per
half screen. That means 5 parts per 1/4 screen. If it helps, 3 angles
distance using the 2.4 method is about 2 angles using the 3.1 bar method.
If you are quick with math you can convert measurements easily, example:
I can see the enemy is 18 angles away from me (so if angle 90 hits myself,
angle 72 would hit them).
To find the angle for banpao, I can just divide the distance by 3, then
multiply the result by 2. So 18/3 = 6. Then 6 * 2 = 12. The enemy is 12
angles distance from me using banpao. (so angle 78 would hit them).
ARMOR STRATEGY -
Basic: Start off the game with a single shot 1, then pound away with shot 2
until the enemy has about 40% of their life left. Finish them off with a dual
shot 2. Always attack the closest, easiest enemy, and try to stick to the
easier to use low/flat angles (but remember, always use true angle... the middle
green portion of your aiming slice).
Advanced: Learn to use fixed power shooting so that you can hit anything on the
screen with confidence. When you can do that, you can choose targets based on
which enemy it would be best to kill, not on which enemy is easiest to hit.
Open the round with your SS, since your shot 1 delay is sort of poor and you're
probably going to give up two turns in a row at some point anyway. Later
finish the enemy with a dual+ followed by a dual.
Playing delay: If you treat your matchup with a certain enemy as a 1v1, then
you have to watch your delay carefully to beat a strong player who has an easy
shot on you. Most 1v1 matchups can end after 3 or 4 turns. Here's how you
should play most matchups:
You go first -
1. Open with SS or dual+, since even opening with shot 1 will probably cause
you to lose two turns vs someone else with a faster shot 1.
2. Next fire shot 2. If everything has hit so far, and hit solidly, the
enemy should have less than half their life. If you have enough delay advantage
(i.e. the enemy shows maybe +300 delay on the turn list) use a dual+.
3. If the enemy hasn't killed you yet, fire a dual for your last shot and they
should drop dead, unless you've been missing or half-hitting.
They go first -
1. If the enemy is armor and they opened up with a slow dual, you can dual back
quickly and beat their delay, barely. Vs someone with naturally low delay like
boomer, this is pretty much impossible
2. If they opened with a fast dual, respond with a dual+ (shot 1 first) and you
can beat their delay and get another turn. If dual+ isn't available, then use
your SS.
3. If they opened up with an SS or dual+, fire shot 2 first to beat their delay,
then use a dual+ if it's available as your next shot. You should be able to get
three hits on them without losing too much delay to them.
4. If they opened with a shot 2, respond with a shot 1 to beat their delay
followed by another shot 1. You can also safely respond with dual, dual+, or
your SS. You won't beat their delay, but your delay should be low enough that
they cannot get two turns in a row on you afterwards.
5. If they opened with a shot 1, respond with a dual+ or SS. You won't be able
to shot 1 back and beat their delay unless the enemy is someone with high delay
(or someone who takes a long time to aim). If you CAN fire a fast shot 1 to beat
their delay, then make sure your second shot is a shot 1 also... otherwise you
give up so much delay that they will get two turns in a row on you later on.
Different strategies for different modes:
SOLO MODE: Remember that once you die, that's it... no more shots for you. You
want to contribute as much useful damage as possible before you die. You also
have to be aware of the fact that pro solo players look for opportunities to
doubleteam/gangbang/rape someone. If that someone is probably going to be you,
you should dual on your first shot and don't worry about the huge delay (because
you're going to die anyway, and firing a dinky shot 1 before you die sucks).
Remember, this is only a solo strategy, generally firing a dual your first turn
is a bad idea. The delay from that is so high many players can dual you back
and beat your delay, or get three shots in a row.
SCORE: If you can see you're going to get gangbanged (as in solo mode) you
should consider dualling your first turn so you do something good before you
die. If you are pretty sure you will be left alone or only 1 enemy will try
to kill you, then play delay and treat the matchup as a 1v1 between you and
your target. Remember, help is available if your teammates are pro enough.
If you need just 1 added hit to be able to kill your enemy, don't be afraid
to use teamtalk and ask for their help. Otherwise, if you have things under
control you shouldn't ask. Also, if you are really owning your enemy and
have a large lead in life on them, you might look for situations where you
can help your teammates (or else ask them if they want help). Also...
sometimes in a score game, suicide is preferable to letting the enemy get the
kill because by suiciding you can choose a drop location right away and respawn
faster. If you're definitely going to die in the next turn or two,
then suiciding isn't a bad plan. Don't do it automatically every time though.
Sometimes it's more helpful to force the enemy to use up a turn finishing you
off, which takes some heat off of your teammates.
One other cute score trick: On maps with thin land, fire a shot 1 where you can
see the enemy will land. They'll drop into the pit and with any luck you can
actually bunge them on your next turn. You can also make a pit straight through
the bottom of the ground. If the enemy drops through that pit, they don't lose
a life, but they must waste 4 more turns before they can come back.
TAG: Just remember to F7 when your life gets low, around 40% or so. A good tag
partner for armor is turtle since both can fire using the same 2.4 bar fixed
power aiming system. Turtle also has naturally high defense like armor, and
you'll find that having the two toughest mobiles as tag partners means you live
longer than most other bots.
Other armor stuff:
-For most shots, especially on a flat map like metamine, it is best to use a
low, flat angle like 35. Both parts of your shot 2 can hit easily, and you
can judge power by feel pretty easily. The shot 2 will do best damage if it
hits right at the enemy's feet. It's hard to get that kind of hit by using
higher angles.
-From many positions, using angle 35 makes no sense, but trying to make the shot
using fixed power method isn't wise either (because it would mean using your
weak angle or the shot is so close it makes no sense to high angle it).
For these situations, I like to use angle 60. It is good to learn at least 1
highish fixed angle for armor so that you can make good, fast shots using feel
alone when there's no time or reason to calculate.
Some simple landmarks to make shooting with angle 60 easy:
1/4 screen: 1.2 bars
1/2 screen: 1.7 bars
3/4 screen: 2.2 bars
1.0 screen: 2.5 bars
To shoot at a flat angle like 35, the power levels are almost identical, just
subtract about .1 bars and you'll hit the same locations. What that means
is that there really is a lot of room for error on the angle you're using as
long as you get the power right, especially in close distances. Any angle
between 32 and 60 can cause your shot to land in the approximate locations
listed as long as you use the powers listed above, though there is that
.1 bar difference that you will need a little feeling to take care of.
-When you miss a shot using the 2.4 method, just use your power meter to guide
how many angles to change... 1 bar on your power meter is ~4 angles, so it is
easy to judge.
-Sometimes a target is between angles, or 1 wind is making you worry about
a miss... i.e. at 4 wind towards the enemy, your last shot barely hit his
rear end, and in 5 wind you're worried it will go too far. In situations
like that, don't worry about changing your angle when you know you can
easily adjust with just a tiny power difference. Use 2.3 or 2.5 bars if
you think 2.4 may miss. The 2.4 method is not just about making a good
hit on your first try, it's also about making sure your test shot is
so close to the enemy that adjusting for a miss will be quite simple.
-Full power high angling: I don't recommend this with armor at all, it's so
much harder to aim these than it is to aim a nice flat shot, and within 1 screen
you don't need full power shots, 2.4 bars will do. If you want to high angle
anyway, or are forced to because of a bad position, Angle 79 goes a hair over 1
screen. Angle 85 lands just in front of the 1/2 screen mark, so you can use
84 not-quite-full to hit half a screen away. Also, the distance between angles
gets smaller and smaller the further you shoot. So when high angling, the
first screen can be considered 11 parts (actually a little less), each part can
be hit using angles between 79 and 90. The second screen can be considered 12
parts, and to hit those areas you would use angles between 78 and 67.
-Don't get fooled into thinking you need to adjust power/angle when you switch
to a different shot. Shot 1, Shot 2, and the SS all have the same weight even
though shot 1 travels quickly through the air and 'looks' lighter. You DO
need to watch out for the angle changing when you switch... because if you're at
the edge of your aiming angle and switch to a shot with less angle range, your
angle changes automatically.
-If you want to use the SS, angle 35 2.4 (full screen) does NOT open up in time.
Angle 60 full screen does. So if you plan to use a flat angle SS, the enemy
must be really far away, like 1.5 screens. A hurricane can keep an SS in the
air an extra half second so that flat angle SSes become possible. For example
example you can almost shotgun an SS from one end of metamine to the other
if a hurricane is in the way to keep it airborne longer.
-If you want to get a sure shot on someone and can shotgun them... do it.
But keep in mind that armor's shot bunges the enemy quite a bit, so if you try
a dual shotgun the enemy will often drop down a cm or so and make your second
shot miss. Aim low when shotgunning duals to prevent this.
-Dual shot 1 isn't very strong, but it bunges a lot and is a good way to
try to drop the enemy through some thin land when a single shot 1 probably
won't be enough.
-There are some tricks you can use to screw the enemy's angle when playing
with Armor. This can put them in a position where they have no shot or are
forced to change their aim to someone else. Some examples:
1. The enemy is on an upward slope and you can position armor right next
to them. Drop a shot 1 on their nose (don't hit directly), and they may
end up being blocked by the same hill they were using to get angle.
This can also be done with a high angle shot 1 as long as it lands perfectly.
Example: http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/Armor_angle1.jpg
2. If you do a dual+, usually you will use 1 followed by 2. But if you have
an enemy with a low-positioned angle like A.sate, you might try using 2, then
1... and miss a little in front of the enemy. My crappy photoshopped pic
is not perfect but it gives you an idea of what I'm talking about.
Shot 2 makes a narrow hole, and the enemy ends up clinging to the back of the
slope that this hole created. Then shot 1 comes in, makes a large 'underhole',
and your enemy with any luck falls into that hole. Even if they don't they
are forced to move backwards or shoot backwards to get a decent angle.
Example: http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/Armor_angle2.jpg
-Follow general gunbound strategy and play smart. Don't use shot 2 if shot 1 is
enough. Don't high angle when fixed power is enough. Don't use more than you
need to for a kill. Don't toss out a dual when you're not very sure on the hit.
Don't aim for enemies who are very close to teammates. Don't use a fancy shot
when a shotgun will do. You get the picture.
-Packing items: I use two duals and a dual+. Teleport used to be important to
me, but I find the better I get the less I need to use it. If you want to keep
a teleport in your pack, use dual, dual+, teleport. Dual+ is too good not to
use, and dual is important for finishing off enemies with more than 300ish hp.
-Practicing: The perfect practice settings are 1v1, jewel mode, death 40,
SSdeath, solo/score, no items except maybe wind change. You have multiple
targets to aim at in jewel mode and that makes it great for practicing the 2.4
shooting method. Metamine is a good map for practice because it's large enough
and has frequent wind changes so you can learn how to adjust for various wind
changes. It also is easy to get angle on that map. Miramo town is also good
because it's a large map and you can practice 3.1 bar shots or high angles.
Ok, that's it, I hope this is helpful.