[G] The Complete Loopy Guide

[Herodadotus]

Originally Posted by Tosconi

well it is definitely a different playing style. Tbh, after the whole duel things gets to its end, I'm pretty sure, I'll come back to heavy armor.

repare drone in tdb, well really don't know. In a normal match - you either get killed right away (like when explodet crushes you into a wall), or you take the health after killing someone (because the heavy armor was on).

still I actually feel myself quite comfortable without the HA, since I enjoyed the demo for a pretty long time in the past and got used to not having any special perks.

My thoughts exactly.

I play flexible wings with an acid loopy in TBD, and it works pretty good on the defensive side of the game, surprisingly enough.

[A doughnut]

jesus christ this guide is huge!

btw, when i play loopy i play df loopy with repair and when i want spam i play ultracapacitator.

[tgleaf]

Mini guide to Acid Loopy

1. In addition to damaging other planes, acid weakens their armor for a short time. This means that your shots and your teammates' shots become more effective. Hence the relatively high number of assists that acid loopies get. Acid is also helpful for killing planes that escape from you because of obstacles or maneuverability. If they are not at full strength when hit with acid, they may escape you and still die.

2. Use acid on clumps of planes, as it will affect each enemy plane equally.

3. Shoot acid into empty spaces before planes arrive there. This can be useful for controlling choke points, but also at ball spawn moments when enemy planes are heading for the ball. I also shoot acid into the goal or goal area when shooting from a distance in case an enemy plane catches my shot.

4. Use acid to defeat trailing planes. Shoot acid ahead of you while being followed. The trailing plane(s) will go through it and get damaged and weakened.

5. Use acid to defeat shields. Yep, this is possible. There are two ways to do it. You can get behind the shielded plane and shoot them with acid, of course. The second way is to shoot acid against a wall/obstacle right before the shielded plane goes past it. You can combine this with #4 above to damage and weaken a shielded plane that is trailing you.

6. Use acid as a death maneuver. If you are smoking and about to die, shoot acid at another plane or into an empty space where enemies are heading.

Versus specific planes: Against explodets, acid can weaken them enough for you to kill them with normal shots, or for nearby teammates to kill them when weakened. Be aware that repair explodets may recover before you can kill them. Against time-anchor mirandas, shoot acid into the space where they last were. When they try to anchor back, they will run into the acid and get damaged/weakened.

[beast...]

why no spamming :P

[tgleaf]

Are you talking about spamming acid? Yes, spamming can be effective at damaging multiple planes flying through areas of the map, but if you're spamming acid, you're (a) going to run out of energy for those crucial times you really need the acid (e.g. when the ball carrier passes near), and (b) you're not controlling the map at choke points or clearing the enemy goal area (two great uses for acid). Also, I didn't mention this in the guide but acid can be useful for taking out potential pass receivers or potential loose bomb grabbers (e.g. a loopy/biplane trailing a bomb-carrying miranda).

So spamming isn't really effective as an acid loopy, but I definitely do spam it from time to time (usually the only reason for this is if my team has mostly died and I need to buy time by threatening the other team with acid splashes. A timely shot of acid can sometimes scare a plane away from an area even if it doesn't hit the plane.

[Pieface]

Great guide, moving this to the completed section! The only thing I went ahead and changed (since eth isn't active anymore) is the fact that the Loopy is the second most fragile plane, not the first.

[Stormich]

I think this was meant more as randa has 180 and anchor not HP wise

[vtec500]

I just bought the game, so thank you eth for the loopy guide. It's helping me quite a lot. Nice name btw

[ufo]

do u go to virginia tech, mr vtec500?

[Evan20000]

I thought his name referred to a brand of children's phonics education devices. >.>

[ufo]

hooked on monkey phonics?

[Hwo Dragon]

Awesome guide, very helpful, but you downplayed a couple of the stats. For example, on TD my winning combo is DF+Repair Drone +Turbo Charger, this way, If I get shot up, I can quickly escape, and quickly heal and recharge to get back in the action.On TBD it's your suggested loadout, because I can EMP turrets and cream em with rockets. It's all a matter of opinion, I guess.

[Ribilla]

How long have you played? In the competitive scene almost no one uses repair over HA.

[silent skies]

I enjoy Acid+Flexi+Turbo in 1DM games. If you get used to the ludicrously fast turning rate, you'll find yourself outmaneuvering multiple opponents at once, and using the acid in a scorched-earth spamming fashion can be quite effective in this mode.

[Lombard]

Originally Posted by eth

Ok, the time has come for us to look at how to beat the other planes. Every. Single. One. For these tips, I'm assuming players of equal and decent skill. Anyone can beat a newbie, right? Also, you can get easy kills with spam. I'm assuming you're playing against someone who knows to position himself well enough to avoid that(or maybe it's on the 1v1 server). Anyway, let's get to it!


vs Miranda
- This is either the easiest or the most difficult match-up. Mirandas have oh-so-little health, so a couple of quick rounds will easily finish them off. If you're an acid player, the acid alone takes around 50% health off the Miranda, and with armor reduced, you don't need a lot of rockets to finish the job. The catch is, of course, that Miranda is capable of killing Loopy in less than half a second. Let's tackle the match-up with DF first, as it is the hardest. The moment you see a Miranda you need to make a choice, either you run away or you take him on. If the Miranda is close to you and he is trickster, you need to run away, even if he's smoking black. Tricksters have the most burst damage of all Mirandas with their shot+warp combo, after which they can just turn around and warp again or spam you to death. Laser Mirandas aren't quite as deadly, so you may still choose to take them on in close combat, and if they're smoking black they're easy kills. Laser isn't going to kill you that fast. Lasers can also be juked, and if you neglected my advice and picked Flexible Wings, you can run around in circles and it will never hit you.

What you will want to do is, again, to meet them in mid-range and make absolutely sure they are EMP'd. EMP stops afterburning, and thus a good portion of their damage(from warp). From there on, try to anticipate their turns and shoot towards their future locations. A lot of Mirandas like to think they can just turn around endlessly and escape loopies that way(and sure enough, a lot of them can), so that is something you need to keep in mind. Basically, Mirandas are one of the most lethal planes in close combat for Loopy, even when EMP'd. Get them low from long-mid range however, and the kill is yours. If you're acid, you no longer have EMP, so you'll now need to go into close combat - but around obstacles. Keep acid clouds up around the corners, and the Miranda will eventually get tired and go off to greener pastures, or you'll get a kill.

vs Bomber
- Well, this is ridiculously hard. Bomber does obscene damage, and against us fragile(but strong-minded!) beings, it hurts like hell. You basically MUST attack these things from the top or at an angle, or you'll be decimated in seconds. Look out for both tail-gun and tail-cannon, as they also do enough damage to kill you in a few seconds. If you're playing against a dumb-bombs bomber, just stay at mid-long range and juke his bombs until you get an EMP hit, then move in from behind/top and finish. Otherwise, you're really in for it. This is the cat-and-mouse match-up of Altitude, as you can only do a few hits at any one time before running off to safety. It'll take you longer than usual, but this way you'll win a 1v1 against a bomber. Also, make sure you keep your angles good in these strafe runs. If you come at a bad angle and the bomber gets even one hit, you just lost your advantage(and maybe you get tilted too.. I know I do).

vs Biplane
- Ah, finally a match-up that isn't so hard. Your job here is to survive until you get an EMP hit, at which point you finish. The catch is, again, that any biplane can kill you in a second flat. What I recommend doing is sending an EMP past an obstacle, and then coming around the obstacle the other way to finish or another EMP attempt. You need to play sneaky until you get that EMP hit.

EMP'd biplanes are cannon fodder and I'm sure my aged(well, actually, she's dead now) grandma could kill them, which is why you'll hear a lot of whine on EMP being overpowered. The only thing you need to watch out for is biplanes that "give up", and turn themselves into a stall, killing you on their way down. Just run away if you see this.

vs Explodet
A fairly hard match-up against a good Explodet user, though it varies strongly depending on which perks he uses. However, all Explodets do good damage, and if you're not using Heavy Armor, their rocket+mine combo will kill you, even if they don't hit 100%. If you're fighting a thermo user, that is the only time you should be flying slowly, so as to better control your plane. It is better to give up speed than crashing into walls, after all. VS Remote Mine users, you need to be especially careful with their speed/angle, so you don't end up behind them - something they will try very hard to make happen. If you're a demo-user and you're playing vs Remote Mine, you can be sure he hates you - and he'll try his best to slam you full-speed into a wall, so look out for that. "Very well, eth", you say, "but how do I kill these bastards?" At this point I honestly feel like I'm repeating myself, but: long-mid range, get that EMP in, and fight from the side. Also, in this match-up you need to control yourself very well - don't get greedy. If you can't finish him off in your first pass, chances are you'll have to wait a while for the next chance, so do that. Do not chase an Explodet unless he is extremely low on health. If he's extremely low on health and a Remote user, run away - you'll be killed with him at best.

Damage control is another important aspect of fighting Explodets - be aware of your surroundings and make sure there is room enough to get slammed around a bit. Flying up into an Explodet while putting a wall in your back is the worst thing you can do.


vs Loopy
What, you want to kill Loopies? What the hell. Ok, so I guess it's understandable, what with all the Loopies out there and all. Anyway, this fight can be reduced to a watered-down version of the biplane, except instead of killing you fast, he has EMP. The first player who gets an EMP hit wins, simple as that. You can use obstacles and juking to some degree, but all things considered you have a snowballs chance in hell of living once you're EMP'd. What I'm trying to say is: Loopy vs Loopy, the better player will win, 90% of the time.

So, you've read this far, something I admittedly expected since my Guide is so good(notice the capitalized G). I'm going to finish off with a few screenshots of map routes for strafing runs, and then I'll leave you, confident that some player, somewhere out there, got somewhat better.

Edit: links here.. sadly I can't have more than 4 images in one post.
Mayhem
The Core
Middelground
Woods

Notes
- Pictures stolen from Mikesols gallery, all credit to him Text and mutilation done by yours truly.
- I tried to use nice and friendly letters in the pictures, and I hope I succeeded.
- The stars on The Core picture are notes to mark ****ty entrance routes. Basically though, any opening where spam is abundant is a bad spot to be in(REALLY?).
- Holy **** this got long. I'd be impressed if anyone even reads all of it, lol. I have to admit I enjoy writing my thoughts about Altitude stuff though :[

nice!!
this helped me alot

[ufo]

miss eth <33

[classicallad]

Still dont get how emp has a larger range than acid, id like to see acids range buffed to encourage more people to take it seriosly.

[_TAZE_u_W/_E.M.P._BRo_]

da loopy iz da most meanueverabl plane on planet earff (tha randa iz obviouzly an alien designz so stfu), dat meanz if ur in a chase w/ da enemy an u kno wha ur doin itz EZ to fuq ppl up.

1 thin i luv 2 do if im bein chased iz 2 pretend like im divin down n then turn up n let myself stall while flippin 360, hittin em wiff da emp, an then quicklee comin out of da stall n finishin him off w/ dem rocketz

[lakospeter91]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujzfv...utu.be&t=6m52s

[_TAZE_u_W/_E.M.P._BRo_]

Originally Posted by lakospeter91

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujzfv...utu.be&t=6m52s

I don' need no fancy book learnin', i don' need no edumucation, fuq outa herr

[CmdrNoval]

Transferred to Steam Guides on 5/9/17