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Sniping in Team Arena  by BEHIND_YOU December 8, 2000

The greatest thing about Quake 3 Arena is taking out that enemy player from afar before he can grab your flag or reset his. Or finding that perfect spot to ambush unsuspecting players who are after a juicy powerup or weapon. Well this same legacy continues with Quake 3: Team Arena. There are dozens of great spots to snipe or ambush from in the map that comes with the demo, and all can be accessed with your friendly neighborhood rocket-jump.

Although there are many possibilities when rocket jumping in Q3:TA, I have chosen to elaborate on the rocket-jump + jump-pad (RJJP) combination. There are four main useful spots one can access via the RJJP which are listed below.

No-man's Land

The area of map between the two bunkered sides of each team. Here there is a long bridge and four jump pads (two for red and two for blue) that lead up to the upper level of each bunker. We are interested in these. When you enter the map take note of each wall left and right of the bridge. There is a large stone trim that runs the length of each wall. If you hit the jump pads right you can just reach it. But unfortunately you can't stand on it, but no worries, those large protrusions that stick out just below it are solid and one can perch there. This is a great place to snipe but the spot could be better. Now turn toward in the direction of The Void (the pit-o-death below the bridge), see that other protrusion? Yup, you guessed it, go a head a jump to it. This spot is an unpredictable spot for anyone to take notice, but be careful because you are perched precariously above The Void, so don't do anything stupid like use the rail gun and draw a line straight to you.

Hell's Angel

Now this one is tricky and takes some practice but it can be done. The two jump pads that launch a player across the center bridge directly into enemy territory have a little trick too. If you RJJP at the right moment, (toward the end of the jump pad) you can launch yourself on top of the roof on the other side. Well not exactly the roof, but the 45-degree cut right before it. It is impossible to actually get on the roof b/c the map's extent stops there, but this is useful for turning the tables on that attacker who has been following you since you stole his flag. When you get up there you are very visible to those using the same jump pad, so kill who you gotta kill quick and get off of there.

Fire from Above

So your defending your base, got a nifty rocket launcher, and an itchy trigger finger, and what do you know... the opposing team has organized a squad of shock troops to storm the base, grab the flag and take no prisoners. Well depending on how your defenses look, your chance of survival is not great here, so take down as many peeps as you can with a high altitude assault. The jump pad right before the flag is the perfect launch for some overhead frags. Just RJJP off of it and pull back. Look down. All that chaos is now clear and it is easy to see who need to die. This gives you like 4 seconds to fire as many coherent rockets as possible. Much better than a random shot through the bloody mist of a teammate.

Into the Light

This is my favorite. At your base or the enemies (depending on how much balls you got) when you RJJP from the pad that lead to the rocket launcher, you can gain enough altitude to land on one of the overhead lights and snipe your flag and the invaluable rocket launcher. You can see the implications.

Added Boost

If you go to where the Doubler is and look up and to the right of the pillar, there is a light fixture way above the angled jump pad below. We are going to get up there. How you ask? Well, with your standard issue proximity mine.

This spot uses a different trick than the RJJP. There is a little preparation to be done before you can access it. First you need to mine yourself. This can be done by looking up, shooting a mine into the air and scooting forward to catch it. You will be told that you have been mined.

These are just some I've found, and I'm sure there are more, but remember, always use Guard when performing these tricks.

Happy Fraggin,

BEHIND_YOU

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