[G] List's Guide to Laser Randa

[Demuyt]

This is not my work. Creds go to "listie" who requested this to be posted.

List's Guide to Laser Randa

The Miranda is one of the funnest planes to play on Altitude. It is the most
maneuverable ship available and each of it's primary perk choices have
distinctly different strategies of play.

I will be discussing the Laser perk of course, however I may mention some tips
for trickster or comparisons throughout the guide. I will not be mentioning TA
because there are already guides on TA and I don't personally play TA at all.

Ok, first let's talk about perk setup. You may not realize but the Miranda is
actually the weakest ship in the game (yes it's weaker than the loopy, by
far. This is why most Randas do more hit-and-run or sniper based tactics.
The Laser randa can employ both hit-and-run tactics and close-combat. The
laser is designed for close combat.

Hull perks (green perks):
Repair Lot's of Randas use repair. I have 2 big reasons why I don't:
#1 Randas with repair can be 1-hit by other randas (1-hit is when you
warp+shoot at same time). #2 There is normally an abundance of health on the
map, from dead enemies or pickups or your base in TBD mode. Therefore it's a
bit of a waste of a perk, in my mind. The one exception being COOP mode but
that is obvious.

Heavy Armour This is my favorite hull perk. Heavy Armour is the best
choice for Laser Randa because unlike other Randas, you need to get in close
to do maximum damage, so you need to be able to take a couple more hits than
you would if sitting back and sniping. This also protects you from getting
1-hit killed by other randas (unless they have bars and you don't). As I
explained above there is plenty of health on the maps so don't be afraid to
run away and fight again another day after recharging.

Bouncy Bouncy is a training perk, I don't recommend using it in
actual games. I also don't recommend using it after you've got the basics of
flight down, because it promotes bad flying patterns (allows you to sit on the
floor and lets you hit walls etc..). As a Randa one of your main defenses is
maneuvering, so you need to be really good at flying without crashing/hitting
walls. That said, there are certain situations when bouncy can give you an
added edge. Mainly on small maps with hard walls vs Whales


Auxiliary perks (blue perks):
Turborecharge This will be your bread-and-butter perk. Main setup I use 99%
of the time is Laser-Heavy-Turbo. This is, in my opinion, the best Laser setup
available (other than ACE if you got 3 gold..). The Heavy lets you take more
hits while you're dishing out the pain and the turbo makes up for the horrible
fact that your energy doesn't recharge while your laser is firing (they ****ed
us over in the latest patch guys ). Randas need to watch/manage their energy
consumption far more than any other plane, with turbo you get a bit more
bounce-back ability so you can keep fighting and not have to run home. My
general rule is, turbo lets you control the map, ultra lets you make
assassinations and has amazing hit-and-run capabilities with the extra warp
energy. Ultra is also often preferred for 1DM games because of the extra power
you can deal out more damage at once (but then need to runaway to recharge),
to a single target.

Reverse Has no place in a laser randa setup. This perk is more for TA
and other planes. I don't see any benefits from using Reverse with a plane
that can already turn around on a dime

Ultracapacitor As I mentioned above this perk will let you do more damage at
a single point in time. This perk gives you 30 more energy allowing you to do
another warp without recharging. This also means you can do a 1 hit with 3
attacks at once killing stronger planes than you would normally. To perform
this you need to have max energy. Then charge up a shot, right before the shot
is fully charged to laser, release and DOUBLE warp (up twice at full
throttle). This will hit the enemy 3 times, once from the shot and once from
each warp. This is a very good trick in 1DM and can sometimes be useful in TBD
or team games as well. It takes some practice to pull it off, practice on
bots. Your play style will determine if you use ultra or turbo. Hit-and-run
ultra is better, for aggressive offensive play (my style) you will likely want
turbo.

Ace I could probably write a whole guide on the Ace perk. This perk is
is the best perk in the game. Each bar you get increases your damage, turning
ability, speed, health and energy recharge by 3%. This means with 3 GOLD bars
you will have a 27% increase to all these stats. 3 gold = 9 bars. This perk
also lets you gain bars faster needing only 8 points per bar, instead of 10.
I don't usually advise using this perk in a serious game. This perk is mainly
fun to play but not practical in most games (especially not BALL). It is the
best perk for COOP though. The reason is that until you get at least silver
bars this perk doesn't do much for you (remember planes without ace still get
2% per bar stat increases). In a serious game with players at your same level
or above, you will likely not be alive long enough to get the benefits. One
exception is that if you can manage this perk in a TBD game AND run a bomb
with it (which is hard without the extra energy you get from turbo/ultra) you
will do extra damage to the base, maximum being 39 damage with 3 gold, or 40
damage if it's your second bomb at 3 GOLD. This normally pisses off the enemy
quite well when they're base is at 37% and you destroy it in 1 bomb ))

Tactics
You are like a samurai. You must never draw your laser unless you mean to use
it. I'm going to repeat that statement because it's the most important rule to
live by when playing laser randa. You must NEVER draw your laser, unless you
mean to USE IT!

When I say DRAW I mean charge up. When I say USE IT I mean you have the
ability to kill a plane. Do not release your laser if it means you will not
destroy the plane but just damage it. You will be left a sitting duck and they
will kill you while you're waiting for your energy to recharge.

Secondly, once you charge your laser, do not release it if you're trying to
run away. Hold on to it and run away until you can get a few seconds to
release it and recharge your energy. Again this is because your energy does
NOT recharge during the FIRING of your laser (which is fairly long). Again you
will be left a sitting duck if you release your laser while trying to run
away.

Because of these 2 important facts, I tend to only charge up my laser when I
know I will get a good kill (you learn this with practice..) or when I'm
trying to pick off runaways. Otherwise I mainly use SHOOTING tactics! This is
important to learn the laser is only used when you KNOW it will connect! If
you only learn one thing from this guide, learn that.

Don't be afraid to use your gun! The laser is the only weapon in the game that
affords you both long range attacks and serious damage ability. You can take
out heavy planes with a full laser hit. However, most of the time you will be
shooting the enemy! In fact it's often better to soften them up a bit with a
shot or two, then swoop in with a warp+laser to finish them off.

The warp+laser attack is one of my favorite combo attacks with the randa.
There are a couple ways to do it which will depend on the situation. The first
method is to just fire your laser and then warp near the end of the laser
being fired (or completely after it's done for maximum damage). Once you warp
through the enemy be sure to turn-around and finish off your laser on them.
Secondly you can charge up, warp+release laser at same time and then finish
the laser from behind the enemy (cause you warped through them). This often
confuses the enemy and is often best against planes you can't really go
toe-to-toe with such as biplanes/bombers and loopies from a distance. Don't
forget to use warp+shot too just like any other randa, again perhaps to soften
up a heavier target first, then finish off with the laser!

[Demuyt]

How to fly:
Manuevering is the bread and butter of your tactics. You must always fly in
confusing and unpredictable patterns or your enemies will pick you off
immediately. As I said earlier, the randa is the WEAKEST plane even with Heavy
Armour! 2 well placed HeavyCannon shots from a BIPlane and you're done. 1 Hit
from a gold randa and you're done. Get in front of a loopy and you're dead.
Get too close to a whale in a tight space and you're dead. Get hit with a
couple grenades from a bomber and you're dead. So what do you do? Dodge, fly
in erratic patterns. Learn to predict what the enemy thinks you're going to do
and do the opposite, then attack! It's very often I can sit in front of a HC
biplane dodging all his shots by turning around just when hes about to fire.
This comes with practice but can be a very good tactic to demoralize the enemy
and distract them. Also, whie manuevering around don't forget to warp through
the enemy whenever you get a chance, so you're manuvering and damaging the
enemy at the same time! Often you can turn the enemy completely around trying
to track you while you warp him to death.

There are couple maneuvers you can use and should learn and practice when
flying the laser randa.
1. Zero-G warp. This trick allows you to warp in a tight spot when you
can't get full throttle, most often used in COOP but sometimes useful in real
games. To perform a Zero-G warp, hold DOWN to zero out your throttle and Stall
(henc the Zero-G) and then warp. You can always warp when you're stalled which
is an extremely useful "cheat" the randa has that other planes do not.

2. Defense warp/turn-around This is when you use your warp or turn-around
ability to deflect attacks, mainly attacks from whales or rockets that would
otherwise force you off your flight trajectory. This skill takes practice to
learn because you need to turn-around RIGHT as the projectile hits you. The
end result is that you will be barely moved from your current position
(instead of thrown into a wall for example). The down side is that you will
usually lose most of your inertia (can be regained by falling down then going
back up again). This can also be used when falling/being thrown against
something if you turn-around or warp your trajectory will be halted (usually
right before you hit that wall ) and you will be saved!

3. Slicing-the-pie SWAT tactics, randa style. This maneuver is probably
something you will do naturally with practice. Most useful when being chased
and there is a corner nearby. Turn around the corner and slow down a bit. When
the enemy comes around the corner, flip around and warp through them back to
your original trjacetory. This is the basic evade tactic that I still use 90%
of the time I'm trying to escape. The one time this doesn't work too well is
when being chased by biplanes. If the biplane is good they will use their
secondary skill right when you warp through them and usually kill you
(especially Recoiless! they kill you in like .5 seconds it's insane!)

4. Charge! This one is obvious. When you unexpectantly
run into a group of enemies, sometimes your best choice is to warp through
them to get away. You must do this unpredictable though, again that is the
most important thing BE UNPREDICTABLE! If you keep doing the same tactics
every time, the enemy will learn and he'll be ready and the whole group will
fire on you at once most likely killing you. This tactic is also VERY good to
confuse/break up the enemy when they are in groups, even if you die most
likely their bomber will be killed by your teammates while the group goes
after you trying to kill you.

5. Fakeout TA's love this tactic. They sit at the end of their anchor
looking like a sitting duck then when you fire at them they TA and 1-hit you.
You can do this with a Laser randa too but it's a bit more difficult. You need
to turn around right before the enemy fires and then unleash your energy on
them.

vs Plane:
You will use different tactics against EACH plane matchup you will be faced
with. Here I'll give you a brief summary of what to do.

EMP loopy Most loopies will be no challenge for you once you get used to
1-hitting and dodging loopy fire (you need to dramaticly change your angle to
dodge it). There are several really good loopies however that will be a thorn
in your side. The first thing to remember when fighting loopies is DON'T GET
IN FRONT OF THEM and don't take them on head-first from a distance! If they
have time to get a full volley out on you you will likely be dead unless you
can dodge most of the shots.

ACID loopy Mostly the same tactics as above. Rule #1 against ACID: don't be
scared of the acid! If you're scared to go into the ACID and kill the loopy
you will die. The only way to survive the acid is to kill the loopy and get
his health. Don't worry, with heavy armour you'll be fine. With keep your
distance (but then again you shouldn't be using repair as I said earlier!!)

Bomber With bomber you need to be aware if they are bombs bomber or
tail-cannon bombers. This is because you need to be on whichever side of the
plane is not able to attack you, otherwise you need to be on a different angle
than the plane so they can't attack you. If they can hit you, you are likely
dead. Often it's best to attack bombers from beneath at an angle, or above at
an angle. If you get one behind you fly low, it's very hard for a bomber to
shoot downward. You can always out-turn a bomber too so keep that in-mind.

Biplane This will probaby be your most feared enemy. The biplane is designed
for dog-fighting and can dish out serious damage as HC or recoiless. The
tactics change depending on which also. Against HC your best tactic is to
warp-kill them while dodging and getting a shot in here and there when it's
safe (they're turning around or not facing you). Very rarely can you get a
laser in long enough to kill them before they get you but it is possible but
takes some luck . Against recoiless your tactics are completely different,
DO NOT GET CLOSE TO A RECOILESS. You will seriously die in .0001 seconds. You
have no chance whatsoever, do not try to warp through them, they will kill you
instantly. However, fighting them from a distance (even at laser length) is no
problem at all and you can dispatch them quickly with the laser in this case.
That said, a good recoiless will probably be the hardest enemy for you to
destroy. HC perhaps second.

Whale/Explodet Most whales will not present a challenge. The few pro whales,
however will likely be some of the hardest enemies for you to kil. This is for
2 reasons: They have an insane amount of health. They can keep firing
IMMEDIATELY after a projectile connects. This means that close range whales
that know what they're doing will likely kill you. As a result you will need
to use range-based attacks to kill these guys, in which case it becomes an
angles game again. Because you can maneuver better though you can often get
the upper hand here. For whales that are not good, just laser them while
avoiding their mines and you'll bring them down quickly. Don't be scared to
get hit by a mine or a rocket while lasering, you will kill them before they
kill you.

TA Randa Really good TAs can be very hard to beat. As hard is it might
sound, the way to beat a TA is to keep track of his anchor and to approach
from behind. The laser affords you a good trick: if you position yourself
right you will hit him with your laser and then when his TAs your laser will
still be hitting him, usually killing him at that point. Always approach from
behind, TAs can not turn around like other randas, use this to your advantage!
Also, usually in a randa battle he who releases his energy first dies. So
wait for your enemy to TA, THEN attack. There is a short period after they TA
that they can't TA again, that is the best time to attack them. A TA randa
with HEAVY is one of the hardest randas you will have to beat.

Laser Randa Believe it or not the best way to fight another laser randa is
to not use your laser Warp them, shoot them, wait until they fire their
laser and warp through it/them then turn around and shoot them/laser them
yourself. Randa on randa battles are often without laser because the Randa is
so quick and maneuverable it's hard to get the laser on them long enough to do
significant damage, but a good shot+warp is impossible to dodge.

Trickster this is sort of a combination of TA + Laser randa tactics. You
will want to mainly do shooting/1hit attacks while dodging. Most tricksters
play sniper tactics so you will likely have to also snipe back at them or try
to swoop in on them and laser them. One plus is that often Tricksters use
Repair. When using Heavy you should rush them. You will survive their 1-hit
while also 1-hitting them which will either kill them or weaken them enough
for you to turn around and finish the job. A trickster randa with Heavy armor
is going to be one of your hardest opponents.

[Mango777]

This feels like a list

It doesn't mention flexi wings at all in the green perk section...

When I saw USE IT I mean you have the
ability to kill a plane.

Don't you mean "When I say USE IT I mean you have the ability to kill a plane."

[CmdrNoval]

Transferred to Steam 5/11/17