Hi. I'm kind of a Nexuiz newbie (about two, three months). Is there some kind of special trick for aiming the shotgun, or making your shot more effective?

I'm going to end up sounding like a whiny noob, but I've focused very hard on trying to aim well, and it doesn't seem to make a difference. I'll shoot at someone fifteen times, then he will notice me, turn around, and finish me off in two shots.

I've been told that the left and right click shotgun are each better fit for different ranges. But it doesn't seem to make any practical difference in my game play.

i dont know of any tricks in particular to aim the shotgun, but maybe you feel its not hitting because you are too far away from your target. It as quite a big spread, so past a certain distance it will hit almost randomly and not very often. I dont even bother using it on a big open map unless my target is at a very close range.

I find that keeping your eye focused on the crosshair helps a bunch, especially with hitscan weapons like the nex.

Also if you are playing in 2.5 the shotgun is now a ballistic weapon, which means you have to lead the target.
In other words: point where he will be , not where he is at, and only by just a little bit.
Can be interesting trying to hit a target that is changing direction very fast...

There IS a few things you need to know to be able to aim well.

There are two types of guns in Nexuiz. Hitscan and non hitscan.

Hitscan weapons weapons hit instantly when you fire, Additionally they are usually anti-lagged. What this means in practical terms are: when you use a hitscan weapon, you should aim straight onto your target, regardless of distance and your ping.

Hitscan weapons are: Shotgun, Machinegun, Nex, (camping) Rifle.
Note: hitscan visual tracers can be misleading, no not try to aim using these.

Non hitscan you have to compensate for target speed, travel time and ping. eg predict/lead your shots. All weapons except the ones mentioned above are non hitscan.


As for the shotty in particular, here's what i do.
Use primary most of the time. It has less spread and you loose less time per failed attack. Only use secondary when your really close and your somewhat confident that you will hit. Try to predict your enemy and put your cross where you think he will be the next time you can fire. Close range weapons, like the shotty, means your target it moving across your screen very fast, often to fast to keep your cross dead on all the time. You can use this to your advantage. make sure you move parallel to your enemy until you can fire, then make a short pause or move towards / away while firing.

Shotgun, camping rifle and uzi are almost hitscan (pellets travel at very high speed).
Real hitscan weapon is nex.

Shotgun's secondary sucks (SCNR). Don't use it unless your enemy is noob or cornered.

Alien wrote:Shotgun, camping rifle and uzi are almost hitscan (pellets travel at very high speed).
Real hitscan weapon is nex.

No they are hitscan. (with g_antilag_bullets, and that's default on)

Shotgun's secondary sucks (SCNR). Don't use it unless your enemy is noob or cornered.

Get it right and its really good. your just not good at getting it right

Alien wrote:Shotgun's secondary sucks (SCNR). Don't use it unless your enemy is noob or cornered.

Holy shit!
Secondary is pure love!

You might also want to read the file: Nexuiz/Docs/basics.html It contains lots of tips and tricks, some trying to help you get better sight and aim.

For the rest, i think there have been quite good tips already Welcome and have fun

My main tip to get good at aiming is just to shoot EVERYTHING. If you see a target, take a shot. If your using the nex you may get a kill

I would recommend a low sens (12cm for a 180 at least), an fov of 100-120, and a small green dot for a crosshair (on all weapons)

TwEaK: Thats just preferences. Some of the top Q3 player still use fov 90 Well i would not want to change from the 105 i use but as a higher fov makes stuff appear smaller it might not help everyone. Its a good tip though.

The same goes for the crosshair. I prefer the Circle with Dot becuase the Circle is big and makes myself aware of the crosshair all the time without need to concentrate on it. With some guns that huge thing is enough to aim with, while the dot allows for really exact aiming with with the nexgun.

But you are right, a lot of people do what you said with the crosshair, i just want to add some more ideas about what could be good for our new guy

There have been a few people that have switched to my specific crosshair (green dot, thin black outline) that have had an immediate noticable improvement in aim.

http://files.filefront.com/crosshair12t ... einfo.html

I stick to white dot, green attracts too much attention imo. I still feel however that you need to predict slightly with shotgun, eventho its antilagged, no idea why. :/

I prefer a green enemy model and yellow crosshair which looks like that +

if your nex is good at small distance, you won't have problems with shotty on small distance

I use the shotty alot. Also recording long shots with it. Don't lead your shots I was in a bad habit of this when i started playing and i've since corrected it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK-YexpwfvU

If you look close you can see the lead with the laser and then I correct and get the very small red dot lined up for the long distance shotgun kill. I'm surprised to hear about so many people not using it. Sometimes it's all you got. Aim dead on and take your shot.

there must be a trick other than using the crosshairs to aim. especially when dancing at close range with matched weapons and getting pwnd every time.

Here are my pointers. I'm an average aimer, but used to be a total newbie (read: could not hit anything). But, nowadays I can do most things, with the exception of middair mortars/electros (I'm also useless with the laser. ).

Anyway, I want to preface this by saying it's important to point out some people have aiming talent and others don't. Just like in any ability. Those with incredible aim have a talent that most of us don't have. That said, there's still a lot you can do to maximize the ability you do have.

1) Good aiming is instinctual, and based more on your hand/eye/mind reacting, as well as practice. If you relax and let the gameplay "sink in", you'll start to see how people tend to move, and how to aim and fire each weapon. Conversely, if you're thinking a lot about each shot, where your crosshair is, and theorizing the possibilities of where your opponent is...you're already dead. The game moves much too fast for too much thinking!

2) Have fun! If you're stressing by not being able to hit anybody, or by dying so much, that's not good. Take a break. When you come back, your aim should be better just because you're more relaxed.

3) Get good at staying alive. You can't shoot if you're dead already. Know a map, how to get the weapons/armor/health. And keep moving!

4) This ties in with number 3. Don't "fall for the bait." Some guy attacks you, and you have a good weapon and high health, and you're determined to kill him. So you have a duel, forgetting the fact there's 10 other people on the server, some of which are likely to round a corner and kill from you behind. When you get good, you might enjoy "hunting people down" , but as a newbie I think it's much more useful to practice your ability to be hard to hit and unpredictable. Take shots at people as they come, but as soon as things get hot, you might want to leave the firefight and get more health/armor. In other words, the longer you stay alive, the more weapons/ammo/health you'll have, and therefore more opportunities to shoot at stuff.

5) Don't track a target with your mouse. It's very tiring on your hand, and is a very *conscious* effort. If you watch good players/aimers from first person (go to spectate mode), you'll see their mouse often seems to "jerk" from one point to another. Counterstrike players called this the "flick"...in other words, you don't move your crosshair over your target, you just flick your wrist the approximate distance you think would put your aim dead on and fire. You don't even let your eyes confirm whether or not your aim was correct. This saves time/energy (very important!), and makes your aiming much faster. After a while, your visual/motor system will start to automatically have a feel for how far the flick should be. This is how any type of pro gamer, or any athlete for that matter, reacts to very precise and fast stimuli: instinct.

6) Have a comfortable setting for your mouse sensitivity. Everyone's different (some like it extremely sensitive, others less so). Just make sure you can do a 180 degree turn around quickly without straining (i.e. having to pick up and move the mouse or, in the other extreme, "overturning" and making a complete revolution). This basic setup is what's allowing your opponents to turn around when they're being hit from behind and quickly return fire. Gamers make way too much a deal about mouse/mouse sensitivity though (go to any gamer forum and you'll see thread after thread on this topic). Don't obsess about your sensitivity. Your visual/motor system will get used to pretty much anything as long as it's comfortable.

7) Your mouse is only one half of your aiming! Use the WASD keys to strafe into shots, or (less commonly) jump into them. This is often a good technique when you have someone who is *just* outside your crosshair...sometimes it's easier to tap A or D instead of moving your mouse. Give it a try.

8 ) Use different weapons in a fight. This is another general gameplay tip, but does help your aim as well. A newbie always sticks with one weapon, but you will see better players switching weapons based on which would be more effective, and also to do "combos" (e.g. knock someone into the air with the Mortar, and then Nex them in middair). The more you are aware that your weapon is the best or worst for a given situation, the more you will change them up and thereby kill two birds with one stone: become a better player but also become comfortable with aiming with the different weapons right after one (like in my example above with the mortar and nex).

9)

fraggot wrote:there must be a trick other than using the crosshairs to aim. especially when dancing at close range with matched weapons and getting pwnd every time.

I feel you Fraggot! Been there, know how you feel. This probably has more to do with your opponent doing a better job of avoiding your shots, and you being unable to predict where his next move will be, rather than anything to do with aiming. Also, in "dancing" it's easy to get flustered and start spamming shots instead of paying attention to your opponents evasion techniques. Finally, in close quarters it's easy to get lucky: you'll see better players will avoid being really up close if you have a weapon such as the rocket launcher, because you could just fire at the floor and hit both of you. A little distance can help you draw a bead on the target. So, don't dance unless you know why you're doing it (i.e. you have the advantage, or don't have a choice etc.).

thanks for that! thats sounds like gold.

speaking of aiming, its very difficult to get the mouse balance right between being able to do a 180 and be steady on the aim.

also, going from box to box, playing on different computers, different setups/mice, can be a bit overwhelming.

add that i just learned about 'ping.' with bad pings, its just possible that other people are wiping me out easily because they have a few ms over me.

In regards to your mouse sensitivity issue...I'd err on the side of more sensitive rather than less (i.e. easy to do 180, but more difficult to do precise aiming). Why? Well, if you don't worry about it and keep playing, you should find you get used to the higher sensitivity.

Also, try to track your opponent less with your mouse and more with your eyes.

Doing both those things will drastically reduce hand/wrist fatigue and help you respond more quickly, IMHO.

As regards to ping, haha, great timing. Just posted a thread on that very topic.