[G] How to get Into Competitive Altitude

[Smushface]

Hello everyone. For those of you that do not know me, I go by Smushface in game and have been playing on and off for about two years now. I'm currently playing for the TBD clan, Lobstars, and the Ball clan, Team This Team That, both of which are relatively well-respected clans in the competitive community.

The intention of this guide is to get fairly newer players who are interested in upping their gaming experience, integrated as quickly and seamlessly as possible into the competitive community. This guide will focus on not only the steps you should take in improving your game but also the mentality and the approach you should have. Parts of this guide will consist of my opinions and personal recommendations so feel free to disagree with me if you feel the need.

Why Should You Play Competitive Altitude

Competitive Altitude is without a doubt, the peak of the Altitude gaming experience. Sure, its fun to mess around in pubs, play king of the hill, or the coop servers, but competitive Altitude will give you the highest level of play, and to those of us who participate, that means fun. Yes, I know Altitude is "just a game" but many of us consider gaming a hobby and to us its better to be have fun and be good at a hobby then just diddle around, merely looking for a way to make the minutes tick by.

How Competitive Altitude is Organized

The first is Clan play. Clan play involves either starting anew or joining up with one of the many clans that Altitude has to offer and then playing in one of the several player-run leagues. Currently the biggest and longest running league is Altitude ProLeague (APL) which is currently in the playoffs of the 4th season. This is a 5v5 TBD league. The main 6v6 ball league is Skyleague which is approaching its third season. There have also been small leagues here and there like the Final Frontier League (FFL) and the Summer League, but it looks like APL and Skyleague have become the two main outlets for Clan play.

The other element of competitive play is Altitude Ladder which you can read more about at http://www.altitudeladder.net/ and in the Altitude Ladder subforum. Basically, ladder is a player-run system that rates you based on your Win-Loss record in either TBD ladder or Ball ladder. Then the system uses this rating to create teams so that there is some semblance to balance (aka a good match). This is easily the most common form of competitive Altitude and I will bring up ladder again later on in the guide.

NB: The two main game modes of competition are 5v5 TBD and 6v6 Ball.

Mindset and Attitude
You are not god's gift to Altitude. No one cares to put up with your bs. This is a multiplayer game with people. And I know we're all socially awkward nerds. You've got your high pitch voice pre-pubescent nerds, acne-covered high school nerds, your lonely alcoholic college nerds, and your creepy too old to be playing a 2D cartoon shooter nerds. Nonetheless, there is a lot of inter-human interaction at the heart of this game. So the general norm is to act mature and don't be a diva. I cannot emphasize this enough. You will receive a lot of criticism, see a lot smack talk, be the mercy of nerd-rage but if you take it all in stride, make a concerted effort to improve yourself, and eventually become a solid player who isn't a pain to be around, then you will gain respect.

Competitive Plane Setups

Alright, now the breakdown of what you should do. First, choose a plane. Peruse the Guide forum for a more in depth look into plane comps, but here's the general gist. There are 3 light planes (Loopy, Biplane, and Miranda) and 2 Heavy planes (Bomber and Explodet). For TBD, most teams usually fields either 3 light planes and 2 heavies or 2 lights and 3 heavies.

TBD plane setups:

Due to recent buffs, Biplane has seen a lot more success in competitive TBD. Generally, I think HC is the way to go, but I have seen really top tier players see some success with dogfighter and recoilless. The thing about biplane is that it is really unforgiving and you need to be an excellent player to pull it off.

Loopy is very useful and versatile and good loopy players are always coveted. Get comfortable playing both acid and double fire (not tracker) to add some variety to your game.

Miranda is also a fantastic plane and you'll see a lot of times field at least one. The red perks basically break down to Trickster being good vs. light planes, Lazer being good vs. Heavy planes, and Time Anchor being primarily for bomb running.

Bomber is a great plane which is easy to learn, difficult to master. Good bomber players are always in demand. Play with Flak. Suppressor if you must. Stay away from dumb bombs.

Explodet is the backbone of any team. Good explodets can easily find a spot on a team, great explodets are sought after by the best clans. You really can't go wrong with any of the three red perks on this plane, but I personally think its between Thermobarics and Remote Mines.

Some non-plane specific tips.
-Do not use rubber hull as your green perk.
-Do not use Reverse Thrust. Very, very few people have used this perk with any utility and it was marginal at best.
-Do not use Ace Insticts. Again, very few people have used this perk effectively, and even then the usefulness of these players is up for debate (and if you're reading this guide for helpful tips, you're nowhere near ready to use Ace).
-There is a glut of light planes. Heavies are like bass players. No one really wants to play them but they're necessary for any band. Don't be surprised if you decide to learn say, a Miranda, and you get asked very frequently in ladder games to switch planes for the sake of plane composition.


Again, look through the guide section if you want more information about a specific plane.

Smushface's 10 Step Plan for Getting into Competitive Altitude
1) Get Level 60 and stay there. Don't Ace yet (or again for that matter).
2) Choose a plane and get the right perk set.
3) Get out of bouncy servers. If you like TBD, Officials 1-3 are usually pretty good. If you like Ball, try out Ball Dojo or the Arr ball servers. I have to emphasize this, get out of bouncy servers.
4) Play on these mid-level servers for a while. Be cognizant of how you kill other planes, how other planes kill you, energy usage, map positioning, plane roles, team comps, game mechanics, etc. etc. etc.
5) Once you've gotten about 5000 kills doing step 4, you should know the basics of your plane.
6) Go to the ladder servers. Ladder #1 and #2 are for TBD, #3 and #4 are for ball. Don't play yet. Watch. Ideally, watch players who are playing the same plane / setup as you. See what they do well. Look for positioning, energy management, team role, matchups, etc etc.
(On a side note, if you get asked to join and you're there with the intention of watching say something like, "I"m a noob and I'm just trying to pick up some tips by watching." and then if they insist on you playing to make 10 or 12 players, then you can play if you want to. If you start to get a lot of ****, then just say, "I didn't come with the intention to play, but I was asked repeatedly to get in." And if they continue berating you, then at least you know that you are in the right.)
7) Repeat step 4 and 6 as necessary.
8) Eventually, you will start to be okay at your plane. If you really have 10,000 kills or less on your plane, then you usually will not be ready for ladder. I saw a guy yesterday who claimed to perform just fine on official servers who went 3-24 as a bomber. He wasn't ready.
9) When you feel like you are more than ready to play some competitive Altitude, hop into a ladder server with the intention of playing. If you do well, congrats! If you do poorly, then maybe take some more time in watching experienced players. You might be the victim of some rage and humor at your expense. Take it in stride. Remember the act mature and don't be a diva rule. Just keep switching between playing mid-level servers, playing ladder, and watching ladder and you'll eventually get good enough to be an asset to your team.
10) Once you get comfortable enough to play in ladder, these servers just became your new home. No other servers provides such a consistent source of good games. You'll be playing with people who are better than you and know what they're doing, and that in turn will push your skills up.

[Smushface]

So once you get to step 10 and you're looking for some Clan play, there's a few things to keep in mind.
1) You probably won't get into a top tier clan. A lot of those clans are full, invite only, and do not take random applications.
2) Befriend a few players that are already on clans and maybe they can give you the low-down on their own clan or other competitive clans.
3) Remember to keep your good name. A ton of players remember and recognize a fairly large number of names. I think I could look at a list of the top 100 players of TBD ladder and state how good they are, what clan they play for, and what planes they use with a fairly high rate of accuracy. On the flip side, there are also a good number of players who have a stigma associated with their name and are still living it down. For example, a fairly noob player was an immature kid was despised by the community to the point that he fake quit the game just so he could change his name and start afresh. Don't let that happen to you.

So remember to have fun, be a good guy, take everything in stride, and push yourself to become better and you'll quickly become a part of one of the best gaming communities I know and take part in some of the most gaming fun I've ever had.


Useful Links
1) Alt Bouncer. Keeps track of your permanent in-game IDs. Lets anyone keep track of people who change their names.
http://altitudegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2263

2) Clan Forum. Where most clans have a thread where they can be contacted and communicate with one another.
http://altitudegame.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=8

3) Official Recruitment Thread. Shows Clans and Players who are looking for new members / a team.
http://altitudegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4459

4) Rules of Ladder. Read these before you play.
http://altitudegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3294

5) Playoffs from the last TBD league (APL3). Just to give you an idea of what tags to watch for if you want to watch some veterans play.
http://altitudegame.com/forums/showt...tude+proleague

6) Youtube Channel of Altitude Recordings. These were done by a formerly active player, Tyr, who recorded several competitive games in both ladder and leagues, and added some of his own commentary. Most of these games are a few months old but still can be useful to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/user/tyraltitude

7) Another Youtube Channel of Altitude recording. These were done by Drunkguava with a focus on Ball.
http://www.youtube.com/user/altitudedrunkguava

[Ajuk999]

I didn't read it all - but what I did read I liked, nice Guide Smush.

[tgleaf]

Smush, I think this is really useful and for the most part well-written. Yeah, please tone it down a bit when you go through your edits. You might mention the Clan Organization forum specifically, and even the Official Recruitment Thread for Teams & Players. Nice work.

[Evan20000]

This is really good. And lol @ York's shoutout.

[ryebone]

As an addendum to keeping one's good name, I'd like to make sure people know about AltBouncer, in case they decide to act like a jackass then think they can just change their name and start fresh. WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE.

[MajorPayne257]

I like it. This definitely has a lot of potential to ease newbies into the competitive world. Thanks for the effort.

[Smushface]

Originally Posted by Evan20000

This is really good. And lol @ York's shoutout.

Do you like my shot at you?

[drunkguava]

my youtube channel has a lot of ball videos if you want to add it to the links. But I don't think there's commentary on any of them.

http://www.youtube.com/user/altitudedrunkguava

[Evan20000]

Originally Posted by Smushface

Do you like my shot at you?

I've accepted you're mad because you end games with single digit kills; it's okay. ^^

[Smushface]

So I just did some of my final edits. I'll probably talk to a ball player sometime today or tomorrow to get the low down on ball comps. But then again, I also think ball is a lot more fluid than TBD, so I might just leave out the section altogether.

Thanks for all the comments. If there's anything else you feel that I should add / change, then just let me know. I'd like to put up a complete and polished product before the weekend is over.

Also, Sin. I end with single digit kills because I'm a utility player. So, you know, I help win the game before anyone, including myself, can get to single kills. You wouldn't understand.

[Evan20000]

I totally don't understand anything about winning. Teach me your ways, oh smushy one.

[Smushface]

Askin a mod to sign off on this guide. Note that the guide is broken up in 2 different posts.

[Evan20000]

Smush, you're so bad.

>.>

Good guide, get this published.

[Evan20000]

Also, I'm apparently a bad role model. D:

I haven't been told that since I was thrown out of a preschool for doing LSD in the bathroom.

[Smushface]

The argument is that your whorish playstyle is only useful if you have a very high k/d ratio, you're the only one doing it on the team, and when push comes to shove, you stop whoring and play for the objectives.

Now these are things that you usually do but all people see at first is a sexy k/d ratio and thats what they think the style is all about instead of just a single element of it. And most of them can't break >1.25 anyways.

[Pieface]

Congratulations! Your guide has been reviewed and moved to the Completed Guides subforum. Note that I also edited your second post so that it's placed right after the OP.

[grimness]

you said teams need more bombers but ppl dont play them? well its my favorite plaine, basicly cuz it pwns all classes (exept bombets) upp front. if you combine it with ultacap u can launch 4 grenades in 1 burst raping many classes and they dont come upp front to get hammerd during rushes either. and if a hag whut they called? the one with the lAz0Rs get behind u and turn u can shoot them down cuz ur grenades weakend them. you also get a suitable amount of hp as a bomber.so ive learned how to aim theyr grenades (whitch i think ppl find hard with it) and i get pleny of kills.

[Smushface]

Edited some of my personal information and updated the Biplane tbd blip to reflect the biplane buffs.

I'm gonna add in a ball plane discussion sometime soon so I'll probably be asking around for advice / editing help in the near future.

[Evan20000]

Needs more hate on instincts players.