Explodet Bombing

[Fartface]

PLEASE NOTE: I wrote this guide before Woken posted his on the forums, and didn’t bother editing out parts he had already covered. Therefore, some of this routes I show may contain some repetitive material. Hopefully this guide will serve as a helpful addition to Woken’s guide.
ALSO: I really don’t wanna deal with hate so if you think this guide is a waste of time, don’t think I’m qualified to write it, etc., please keep it to yourself. What I’d like to see are helpful suggestions, constructive criticism, and friendly debates.

Introduction
Hi everyone! My name is Fartface and I’m making this short guide to tell you about bombing with the explodet (the fat plane). Bombing with the explodet isn’t easy—you need to have a basic understanding for how the plane works in order to do it, so I wouldn’t recommend trying this tactic until after a few months of playing the explodet. Even then, this tactic isn’t a great idea for competitive play and certainly not for ladder, where people might rage at you for bombing with what, from their perspective, is the worst bomber in the game. However, explodet bombing can be great for last resort partial or even full base hits: if the bomb runner on your team dies, you can pick up the bomb and do a fast lob to the base (more about that later). Alternate names for this guide could include [G] Last Resort Bombing and [G] Having fun in public servers. I’m by no means the best player at this tactic, and I’m sure that some players like Stormich and Loli have used these explodet bombing routes before. But as far as I know, they aren’t planning to write a guide about it, so I’ll just do the best I can.

Perks
If you plan to bomb with the explodet (or at least be capable of doing so if needed), perk choices are fairly obvious. I recommend Remote Mine, Flexible Wings, and Turbocharger. Remote Mine makes mine boosting off of walls a lot easier, and it isn’t even possible to do long lobs with Director or Thermobarics. Flexible Wings make it far easier to maneuver yourself in front of walls and your own mines, and if you’re bombing you shouldn’t need to repair anyway. Turbocharger allows you to continue pooping out mines, which is the key to explodet bombing. Luckily, Remote Mine/ Flexible Wings/ Turbocharger is a great setup for competitive play as well, so you can play seriously while still being ready for the last resort.

Mine-Boosts
1) Wall Boost: The first thing you need to learn in order to gain speed with this otherwise slow plane is mine boosting off of walls. To do this, line yourself up in front of a wall and shoot a mine behind you to shoot yourself forwards. This tactic is useful to surprise your enemy—if the opposing team is bearing down upon you, you can do a quick wall boost and get right past them if you’re lucky. Beware: each time you boost off of a wall, you self-inflict a small amount of damage, so only boost when necessary. Once you get used to the motion, try to line yourself up with a wall without having to slow down too much. I don’t include a video of mine boosting off of walls because it’s pretty basic stuff that players do all the time.
2) Mine Lobs: This starts to get tricky, but it can be a perfect way to surprise the opposing team. To perform what I call a mine lob, you MUST equip remote mine. In order to mine lob, you poop out a mine in a certain spot, circle back to it (this is where flexible wings becomes priceless), and detonate the mine while you are right in front of it. Set the angle at which you want the bomb to fly before you detonate the mine. Usually mine lobs are done from afar as last resort bombs, because if you are close enough, wall boosting is far less risky. Therefore, to make the bomb travel the maximum distance, press S a split second after pressing D to detonate your mine—press them almost simultaneously. The force from your mine enters the bomb, making it go fast and straight with minimum arc. This makes the bomb very difficult to predict and therefore block. Only do this as a last resort because half of the time, if not more, your bomb will miss the base entirely.

Maps
I understand that the mine lobbing may not make perfect sense to you in words, so below I have included drawings of the routes you can take on 12 of the official maps as well as short video clips of me performing them (to show you that it’s possible). I didn’t include Planepark, Underpark, or Nuclear because I couldn’t find any useful lobbing routes there. I also excluded Bowsercastle, Scrapyard, and Justice because they are only ladder maps, and I strongly recommend keeping away from this tactic in ladder. On Hills—well, suffice it to say that on Hills you can probably lob the bomb from anywhere on the map and hit the base. One thing to remember for all of these maps is that you can hopefully catch the opposing team off guard with the first few lobs (when you release a bomb from afar the other team won’t be expecting it to come to their base), but repeating them over and over again will start getting less and less viable as the other team knows what to prepare for. I recorded the videos in an empty server because it’s easier and faster than doing it in a 7v7 public server. The circles marked on my drawings are where you should place the mine, and the arrow is the path that the bomb should follow. Infinite thanks to Pieface for helping with the screenshots and videos.


1) Asteroids: There aren’t a lot of great routes on asteroids: the top routes that I show should be used for last resort, and the ones through the small crack in the asteroids are just ones that I thought were cool but are all but impossible in 7v7 or even 5v5 play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE3aDaINc60


2) Cave: The top routes that I drew are actually viable. These are some of the routes that you can feel free to pick up the bomb and purposefully use it there, unless if your team asks you to stop. The bottom routes are more difficult—you have to get the angle exactly right so only try it for last resort play. Also note that because of the rock placement, the yellow team will have an easier time using the top route while the green team will have more space for the bottom route.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h96N9wjJL98


3) Core: The top routes here are somewhat difficult to master but very hard for the opposing team to block; because this map has a communal bomb feel free to use it right away. The bottom routes are incredibly hard to use 5v5 and up so keep them for last resort if your bomb is stranded down there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHY9RvLQ8xk


4) Fallout: The top routes here are amazingly effective once you are able to hit the gap consistently, mostly because lobbing from your own side of that gray slab is very safe. The opposing team will have trouble getting the hang of blocking the bomb there, too. The bottom routes: last resort play only.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgmNbpuOfLc

[Fartface]

5) Focus: The top routes should mainly be used for last resort, but if the opposing team is all dead feel free to do a quick and straight lob from there before they spawn. Bottom routes: last resort only.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1pff4WjHGM


6) Grotto: Because this map has a communal bomb, feel free to use these central routes if your teammates give you permission or are dead. It’s a great alternative to just dropping the bomb.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FTQVBXEUPE


7) Heights: The central routes are totally viable for competitive play, just be sure to angle the bomb a bit upwards to get a full hit rather than a partial one. Bottom routes: last resort only.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6nNaLW7ai8


8) Locomotion: These routes are incredibly useful; use them whenever you can. They bring the bomb to the opposite base with speed and style in a very hard-to-block lob.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hma4cTnf7cQ

[Fartface]

9) Lostcity: These central routes can be useful if you are confident that you can aim the bomb to the base; use them if they opposing team is all dead and you want to get in a quick bomb hit. Flexible wings are vital here; it is difficult to place the mine and circle back to it even with them and all but impossible without.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjEIsCuVso8


10) Mayhem: The top routes here are good for quick hits when the opposing team is dead or behind you. Be sure not to put any angle on these ones because you want them to go straight forwards and down. The central routes are good for last resort fast bombing. You can also get the central turret from there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4gI2YkRAcg


11) Middleground: The central routes will be used uncommonly because usually it is a waste of time to go there to place your mine. They work great, though. Bottom routes: last resort only.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfpBzX6vmo4


12) Woods: This one is pretty obvious; use it if you think you save time after placing the mine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5lp0NgdKrg

[Fartface]

<[`Reserved`]>

[Kuja900]

Ogod someone get me my meds.

[Wok3N^]

I thought my guide was a troll. omg at this lol.

[Beagle]

Pretty pictures

[Evan20000]

Please don't encourage any more of this on ladder. It's like the Intervention Quickscope of Altitude. One person does it once, and suddenly everyone wants to do it (And fails hard at it).

[Smushface]

Things like this is why we need a subforum for guides to be peer-reviewed, discussed, edited, and then moderator approved.

[Beagle]

HURR HURR VETERAN CIRCLEJERK LETS ALL MOCK THINGS TOGETHER AND FEEL GOOD ABOUT OURSELVES

me first me first, i hate change and new ideas

[evilarsenal]

Originally Posted by Beagle

HURR HURR VETERAN CIRCLEJERK LETS ALL MOCK THINGS TOGETHER AND FEEL GOOD ABOUT OURSELVES

me first me first, i hate change and new ideas

me and beagle already started where is everyone

[wolf'j'max]

ofc. its bad when people camp the bomb at ladder but say ur 1 v 5 and you have your mine ready then you can try it right?

(second one on asteroids is nice lol)

[matattack]

explodet bombing and mine hop bombing are kinda different tho no?
i mean thats a lot of work putting into directions of mine hopping so thats kinda nice to see i guess but this is not how explodets should ordinarily bomb i thinks.
relying on the long lobs and boosts are very risky but regular bombings with several mine hops can help a lot in regular matches. tho obviously a miranda/bip/loops does the job much better.
oh also, are there any good routes to hop with thermo mines off of objects?
remote is the easiest obviously but can thermo do it well?

[Kuja900]

Originally Posted by Smushface

Things like this is why we need a subforum for guides to be peer-reviewed, discussed, edited, and then moderator approved.

Not sure if you were active at the time but a ways back we actually deleted a guide from here because its content was actually so bad that it was deemed harmful to new players.

[wolf'j'max]

Originally Posted by matattack

explodet bombing and mine hop bombing are kinda different tho no?
i mean thats a lot of work putting into directions of mine hopping so thats kinda nice to see i guess but this is not how explodets should ordinarily bomb i thinks.
relying on the long lobs and boosts are very risky but regular bombings with several mine hops can help a lot in regular matches. tho obviously a miranda/bip/loops does the job much better.
oh also, are there any good routes to hop with thermo mines off of objects?
remote is the easiest obviously but can thermo do it well?

asteroids is not too hard, you can hop up fast by taking the main and big asteroid with the two turrets right above your base. then hop off the middle asteroids which slings you to their base.

[Smushface]

Originally Posted by Beagle

HURR HURR VETERAN CIRCLEJERK LETS ALL MOCK THINGS TOGETHER AND FEEL GOOD ABOUT OURSELVES

me first me first, i hate change and new ideas

I still blame you for the reverse biplane HC fad thats still lingering.

[Beagle]

Originally Posted by Smushface

I still blame you for the reverse biplane HC fad thats still lingering.

In 18 days it'll be that guide's first birthday, I don't think it's a fad if its still going after a year

[mikesol]

I don't really know why everyone is qqing - personally I find the guide to be helpful in a fun sort of way. Sure it's causing people to do bad things (sometimes) - but if you recall when Beagle wrote his guide - everyone played reverse biplane (pretty horribly) for the next few weeks. When I wrote my time anchor guide people did similar things.

I really appreciate seeing where the most common explodet lobs are coming from so I know what I can do to block them and where I can expect them at. While not always useful, these can be amazingly executed in professional play.

Anyway - get off your high horses. Just because it's not the "best" way to play as deemed by any of you - does not mean it can not be useful when used properly.


Edit: I like this one much better than Woken's (no offense bud). There is a lot more content here and it's a lot more useful as a guide than the other mine hop guide. Perhaps they can be fused together?

[Wok3N^]

Haha completely understandable. I kinda did mine as a troll so it wasn't meant to be fully in depth.

[SkyTiger]

lol. awesome. Very nice! That is more routes that i have known before!
gj. gj. off to practicing! haha

*Two other useful routes i know of:
1) high up in heights
2) Middle of map for middleground

[REDDRAGON]

this guide is a must read

[Slender]

loco