Banshee Handling I

There are three main travel vectors along which a Banshee can move:

(1) Forward, with or without rotation
(2) Hovering in place (done by holding the “back” key—will induce a slight rearward motion, but for combat purposes, is sufficiently close to a hover)
(3) Falling straight down by gravity (done by releasing all throttle)

Most pilots only account for the first. Some use the second. Rarely is the third seen.

Hovering is mostly useful when no motion is desired, whether to facilitate a stable firing platform or because, simply, you’re in the best place at the moment. An example is when bombarding another Banshee that has gotten stuck against the terrain.

Falling is a rare secret. When you first use it, it will be a trick, but mastery will come when it progresses to a seamless piece of your combat maneuvering. Basically, it is another angle of movement to supplement forward movement, one that classic flight sim’ers will not comprehend. Use it to fire from a constant x,y coordinate point yet still engage in some degree of evasive motion; use it for more complex mobility; use it to “strafe vertically,” the only planar motion a Banshee is capable of.

A falling Banshee can turn faster than a hovering Banshee, and a hovering Banshee can turn faster than a flying Banshee.

Understand, however, that both hovering and dropping are weaker defensively than flying; being less mobile, you are easier to target than a circling aircraft. However, against all but the most skilled of opponents, this will not be an issue; your opponent will simply continue circling or “stunting,” allowing you to train continuous fire on him.

Of course, you should never remain in one position, or even one “system of motion” for very long. Change constantly. Always imagine what you would do to an enemy that was doing what you’re doing; would you be an easy target or a hard one?

Remember leading. Even on a lagless server, both plasma fire and fuel rods have relatively slow travel time, especially in the rapid timespaces of air combat. The VAST MAJORITY of shots fired in the air (those that are meant to hit, and not merely the result of the fire key being held while one maneuvers) are useless solely because they are not properly led. You must fire considerably ahead of any target, taking into account both your vector and your opponent’s.

The most advantageous position in an air-to-air battle is below your opponent with a clear shot into his underbelly. This seems unlikely, but does happen, usually when the opponent begins a misguided hover and you take advantage of it by hovering yourself below them, firing with impunity. This position is shockingly devastating; a single fuel rod and a smattering of plasma will kill a target instantly. The reason is because you are hitting the pilot, not the plane. Smaug’s Bane. Because of the unusual nature of this position, it is more an attack of opportunity than something to seek. You cannot take it, but they may give it to you.

The secondmost superior position is on the immediate tail of your opponent, firing into their rear. This is the classic dogfighter’s tactic, and perfectly sound; however, it will rarely last long, unless the enemy has another agenda and would rather fly than fight.

The thirdmost preferred position is above the opponent or beside him, firing into his roof or flanks. Like a wrestler’s side mount, there is no inherent advantage to this, but it can cause effective damage. This is the bread and butter of rough-and-tumble realistic battle; in any dogfight lasting more than a few moments (which is an ambush), the majority of the damage will be done from a slanting side angle.

Head to head is an equal position, and dangerous; it will likely only last for a few seconds, usually in the beginning of the engagement or in a recommencement, when the opposing Banshees “charge.” If you can aim better, you will do better. The drop is a useful way to both clear oncoming shots, pump fire into the other Banshee, and possible establish a bottom position.

One of the most key concepts, and vital skills, of a Banshee pilot is “the circle.” This is the iconic template wherein both pilots attempt to attain the tail of the other, ending up spinning in an eternal circle, like ouroboros consuming its tail. Both aircraft have perfectly equal minimum turning radii, and equal weapons; this is a stalemate that accomplishes nothing. Generally, neither Banshee can hit the other, due to the speed of the circle and the lack of sufficient lead. Therefore, a quintessential and defining skillset of the Banshee pilot must be to “break the circle,” to dominate and end the stalemate. Virtually all dogfights begin here, and some end here. It is a vital skill.

The best way to break the circle is not to enter it. When only one pilot is circling, it is a weak form; the free pilot can fire at the circler without fear and with ease. However, clearly it is an uncommon enemy that will circle for your leisure without a reason. In the end, though, the simplest way to beat the circle is to break the rules. “If you are losing at a game, change the game.” Upset the circle by moving on other axes (dropping will GENERALLY be preferable to hovering, as it lends a degree of evasion, as well as increases your turnspeed and establishes potential bottom angles). Don’t remain there long; static reliance on any position or technique is asking to be shot down. Quickly segue into more motion, remembering the positions of dominance.

Ground targets are both a Banshee’s greatest strength and greatest weakness. Remember that the rules are different on the ground, and you cannot expect to apply the concepts of air battle to a strafing run.

When attacking targets that are on foot, it is best to bombard them with a stream of plasma, hit with a fuel rod (all while diving toward them), and promptly smear them into the ground with your Banshee, in a single, clean impact. The least desirable attack is to miss your dive, and begin to spin gawkishly on the ground, attempting to squirm around until you hit your target. Clearly, the ideal attack is one from a distance, but this is rarely viable; Banshee weapons can take a surprisingly long time to kill, and you are fairly vulnerably even to hand weapons. Also, you will generally have other things to do. The impact crush is the only fast and effective means of an instant kill.

If you approach from the back or the target does not see you, consider charging them sans fire and crushing them by surprise, or dropping from above. If they are on a cliff, consider swooping up from below (perhaps unseen) and “ledging” them off—or coming from the other direction and forcing them to step off the edge to their death.

If YOU are on foot and are attacked from the air, your best options are heavy weapons—the rocket launcher or perhaps the fuel rod cannon, or, for the daring, the flame thrower. In the absence of these, your best friend will be the shotgun. When the Banshee tries to bulldog you, dodge by jumping and running (jumping is vital against a skilled attacker!) and constantly pump the shotgun into them at close range. It will take time, depending on how close you are when you fire your shots, but eventually you will blow the pilot out of the Banshee.

Plasma grenades against Banshees are difficult but sometimes effective. With these, as with heavy weapons, wait for the Banshee to bulldog into the ground before you fire at the motionless target. Frag grenades are style weapons, almost never feasible against a Banshee.

If you are the pilot attacking the infantry who has a rocket launcher, fuel rod, etc., do not enter or attempt to crush. Make diving attack runs like a WWII fighter, firing at them until they die.

When using a Banshee to attack a tank, remember several things. The tank’s strength is an attack that can kill you immediately. Its weakness is a difficulty in maneuvering, and the challenge of aiming its slow-reloading shot to hit a flying Banshee. Needless to say, if you are slow or predictable in your flight, or stop to drop or hover at any point, or simply fly in a straight, linear course when approaching the tank, it will hit you with ease. If you can see it fire (a long contrail, like a sniper rigle), then you can count the reload until the next shot is available, approximately four seconds. When the reload is complete, execute a sharp evasive action, such as a diagonal, diving cycle. With luck, you will dodge the next shot, and will be able to continue your approach.

Upon reaching the tank, you have two choices. DIRECTLY above the tank, you will be invulnerable; the tank’s turret cannot elevate to this angle, and you can hover and fire straight down until it dies. It needs wariness and care to maintain this position. If you can see the exposed driver of the tank, aim for him.

The second option is to proceed into a position immediately behind the tank’s turret, with its barrel facing the opposite direction, and fire straight into the tank. The turret will try to turn and face you, but the stun effect of your plasma will hinder it—not enough to stop it, though. You will have to adjust your position by moving, or hope to kill it before it can bring the barrel to bear, or, ideally, get so close that the rotation of the turret actually pushes you, keeping you in a safe position. No matter what your position, you will need two full fuel rod shots and a barrage of plasma to make your kill. Usually, the second fuel rod will come just in time, saving your knickers.

The last method of preventing the shot, not recommended, is to simply stay so close and tight to the tank that it cannot manage to put the barrel into you; it is literally too long. Like all infighting, this is playing with fire, but may sometimes force itself upon you.

Attacking a Warthog is fairly basic, though you must be careful if it is manned with a gunner (again, the drop is a good defense while you attack, and a straight flight is not). Your goal is to disrupt the Warthog’s base by hitting the ground beside, behind, or in front of it with a fuel rod; the Warthog will flip, causing damage and giving you infantry to deal with. Proceed to level them with clean sweeps. Another option is to fly DIRECTLY above the vehicle, where the gunner, like that of a tank, cannot target you.

Attacking a Ghost is similar to a Warthog, with two exceptions: They are dangerous, and they are difficult to flip. Because they fire the same stuff you do, you must be careful not to fly down to the same plane as them; they can damage you. Rather, stay high and above, where, like a tank or Warthog, they cannot target. Because they hover, they will be tough to flip; if you manage it, immediately swoop in and flatten the driver. If not, continue pestering them with plasma and fuel rods until they die. Do not try to flip the Ghost with a wing, if you can have a choice.

Attacking a Shade is dangerous because of the power of their fire, and because they are essentially designed to combat targets like you. Treat them like a tank, and approach them in the same manner; once you have acquire the hovering-above position, dispatch them identically to the #1 tank method. They cannot aim up.

Do not underestimate them; they can kill you.

If the gunner, seeing his fate, absconds from the turret to attack in another manner, he will be badly hurt already; continue your barrage, and only swoop to crush if he steadfastly refuses to die.

Dogfighting against multiple Banshees is a difficult art. The best scenario is when several of them cycle away for long enough for you to target one, dispatch it, then move to the next. If one gets caught in terrain, hovers, or is otherwise indisposed (especially if you have an underbelly shot), you can remove him from the fight quickly. However, this is largely chance. While common wisdom in a mob attack is to concentrate on one attacker until he is destroyed, then move to the next (with the idea that three attackers at 2/3 health each will kill you just as dead as if they had full health, whereas if you focused that damage on one attacker, he would be destroyed, yielding one less gunner trying to kill you), this is not always possible in the chaotic madness of a multiple-Banshee air battle (and it will be chaotic, incredibly so—keeping your calm, your aim, and your mousepad is a practiced skill). Often, while focusing on one target, he will spin away or get lost in the chaos, forcing you to find another—or he may wheel off and disengage, so that while you follow him to kill, another attacker acquires your tail and shoots you just as you are shooting his partner. Devotion is impossible with multiple attackers, as devotion implies predictability and doggedness, which will get you killed. You must be able to attack and focus fire on single targets, but only in the short term, and if your opportunity is lost, to move immediately to the next. Your kills will come from lucky breaks, underbelly shots or mistakes; they will not come from the long battles of attrition so common in one-on-one dogfights. I have no more to say on multiple attackers except that practice and fluidity will serve you well in them, as in all things. I must study them more and see whether they suggest more efficient tactics.

Always beware of becoming so engaged in an air battle that you do not see the tank or infantry aiming at you. Remember your goals: If in Slayer, you merely want kills, so if you see an easier target you can take, do not be afraid to grab it. If you have another objective (CTF, KotH), remember why you are here, and think if this fight serves it or hinders it.

If you can equip yourself with one or two heavy, brutally simple weapons (RL, fuel rod, etc.), you will be able, if needed, to dismount your Banshee and pursue a fleeing infantryman, or deal with a pesky ground target (motionless tanks are good targets, as they will not expect you), or even get the drop on a Banshee that will not anticipate a land attack and, if you dismount quickly when they wheel away and hold your fire until they wheel back for another attack, may not notice that your Banshee is empty until too late. If they get stuck on a tree or rock, best of all.

The most effective configuration of Banshees is to fly in “wings” of two. If both pilots are skilled, this is a devastating formation; one pilot should be the flight leader and one the wingman, with the flight leader flying where he chooses and the wingman following closely (not too near, so as not to be taken by the same tank shot, but quite close still). When engaging the same target, one method of preventing friendly fire is for one Banshee to attack from generally high, the other to stay generally low. Be careful with fuel rods, which can kill anybody.

Practice, study, and learn. Enjoy the skies.

– Brandon “vector40” Oto

Banshee Handling II: Crash and Flow

[Please note: This is intended as a companion piece to the previous article, with more advanced concepts that build on those already established. If you have not already read the previous piece, please do so now.]

The two central yet opposing forces at work when piloting a Banshee are “crashing” and “flowing.”

Click "link" below from the front page to see the entire article.

Crashing is the hard edge of flight, the driving, combative, plunging energy that knocks into opponents, overturns vehicles, and overwhelms enemies with a mentality of “attack, attack, attack.” Your only defense is to kill with shocking speed and to force your enemy’s attentions onto his own survival rather than your demise. You are a shotgun, a cannon, a tank; you are a truck running someone over in an alley; you are a thousand attacks from a thousand attackers all concentrating on one man.

Flowing is the soft edge of flight, more aikido than blitzkrieg. You are smooth and accepting, allowing incoming forces to “shed” off you without confronting them directly. (Obviously, this is not literal; in Halo, any shot that hits you will damage you. But think larger—you aren’t dodging bullets, you’re dodging attacks.) You are water and wind; the stronger the attack, the weaker the resistance. Stopping or moving erratically or awkwardly is completely contrary to your goals. The highest success is to seek always the path of least resistance.

To successfully combine both crashing and flowing is the art of the Banshee pilot. They will never mix, though they may switch from one to the other in a heartbeat. An example: Charging a tank on Death Island that is parked a long, long way into the ocean. As you approach, you keep track of shots fired and dodge smoothly when they come anew. Anything you fire is a potshot, not aimed so much as pointed. You are fleeting and ghostly. Upon reaching the tank, however, you turn from the wind to the boulder, crashing into the tank’s blind side and pounding it with fire. Your goal now is to overwhelm him, and any distance you gain is to his advantage (allowing him to take a bearing and kill you) rather than your own. You have flipped from flowing around his deadly attacks to crashing into him as you offer your own.

Crashing is generally more utilized against ground targets, whereas flowing is generally used against other Banshees. However, this is no hard-and-fast rule, and you may change a hundred times within a single duel. Rocket-, fuel rod-, or plasma grenade-wielding infantry should be treated with “flow” energy, because of their danger. One way of looking at it is to offer an enemy who is deadly (a tank, a rocket) with flowing energy, whereas an enemy who you outgun (yet who, like any opponent, can kill you eventually if you shirk him) with fast, crashing energy.

Enough philosophy.

UNDERFIRING

It is easy to look at a Banshee a thousand times, yet never truly see how it is constructed.

One easily and commonly missed fact is that a Banshee’s fire (both fuel rods and plasma) do not emit from its front. They fire forward, of course, and are more frontward than backward, but in actuality, they are emitted from the underside of the Banshee—from the bottom.

This has interesting applications once you understand it. For instance, if one Banshee is “parked” on top of another, with both firing, who is dominant? The top Banshee is hitting with his shots; the bottom is not. Though both are in danger (from splash damage if nothing else), this temporary situation is controlled by the Banshee in the mount.

Other applications are against vehicles; if, in the heat of the battle, you have charged and found yourself actually on top of a tank, touching, you need not worry, so long as it cannot target you. Fire at will, and you will hit.

You will need some degree of “targeting,” of course; the guns do not fire straight down. But in the right position, you can hit targets who would not even realize you were aiming at them, because they intercept your shots barely after they leave your guns. The position most relevant to these situations is what I call the “anvil,” and it shows up most with semi-skilled pilots who rely on the technique of dropping (discussed in the previous article).

CHARGING

Often a Banshee battle will be opened by one pilot noticing the other before he himself is noticed, closing to range, and firing while he continues to advance. The other pilot, warned by the incoming plasma, turns and charge toward the threat, firing as well. As they arrow toward each other, they will eventually approach battle ranges, and enter the whirling arena of Banshee combat.

However, crucial damage can be dealt during the initial charge, and being able to effectively execute your assault during this phase can yield a deadly advantage. There are inumerable occasions when one pilot will actually be killed before the charge is over, from a perfectly placed fuel rod and a few bolts of plasma. Though this is rare, you can still drop shields, possibly remove health, and establish a dominant position by the time the charge has ended.

The only true way to hone the charge is to practice it, but there are a few methods that may serve as a core for your own style. A classic technique is to close to medium range, then fire a fuel rod and immediately drop. Besides establishing a temporary bottom position, this tends to clear the path of your opponents own fuel rod, which is invariably fired; it is an instinctual reaction to a head-on-head charge to fire a fuel rod, and the main difficulty in executing this is timing the drop properly to avoid the incoming fire. The other difficulty is properly aiming your own shot, which can be challenging. If, upon dropping, your enemy continues his course, flying overhead, simply spin up into a chase position and continue firing. It is assumed that you are firing plasma throughout the entire battle, of course.

(Beware experienced opponents who will see your drop as nothing more than an opportunity to place easily-aimed and easily-led fire into you. Always remember the vulnerability of being predictable.)

A second method for ending the charge is to enter range, promptly fire a fuel rod, and spin away off-line. Timing is crucial here; your intent is to fire the fuel rod and then temporarily ignore your opponent as you avoid his fire. After evading, you turn back and reacquire. Properly executed, this is the most successful means of evading the oncoming fuel rod (which otherwise will hit you more often than not) when battling skilled pilots. However, it can be very difficult to hit with your own shot at the ranges needed.

OVERTURNING

The “circle” is the trademark identifier of a Banshee duel, and understanding it is key to victory. However, it is frequently assumed that each pilot is in fact turning as tightly as he is able, and that this is the cause of the symmetrical circle.

This is often not the case. Due mostly to the newly analog nature of the now-generally-used mouse for Halo PC controlling, it is common that Banshees can actually be steered more tightly than the pilot realizes.

With a controller and stick, turning is simple; you may simply push the stick in the desired direction until it stops. However, a mouse is infinitely “pushable,” and if you do not understand the actual limits of your aircraft, you may be shortchanging your turning radius.

The next time you find yourself in a circle, try repositioning your mouse and “overturning” past where you think you can. You may be surprised.

(To the controller-wielding PC users who are snickering: Don’t be too pleased. Unless your controller is tuned correctly, you may never be able to surpass your current supposed turning limit.)

Above all things, remember leading.

GROUNDWORK

Taking another page from the martial arts sector, I have coined the term “groundwork” to name the act of a Banshee attempting to crush an infantryman after a failed initial attempt (warned against in the previous article). Unfortunately, this is sometimes unavoidable, though it is always dangerous.

There are essentially three kinds of crushes: A straight, clean charge or drop that mashes the footman into the dirt; a squirming, awkward mosey that manages to hit him at an unusual angle after much effort; and a tight, wheeling turn that catches your target with the wing.

The first is ideal (except against a heavily-armed target, whom you should not be attempting to crush at all). The second is common in beginner pilots who are not aware of their own mortality, and occurs in skilled pilots, too, who are too lazy or too hurried to properly break off a failed crush and begin anew. The third, however, is the preferred method of salvaging a “failed” #1 crush that has brought you to ground level, yet has failed to kill. It consists of gaining enough altitude to take you off ground friction, then spinning as tightly as possible, attempting to collide into the target, usually with your wing. This is very difficult indeed, and requires an acute sense of angles and distance to even attempt. However, when properly done, it is a fast and effective way to finish your target, and far superior to the sliding, worming #2 method, which breaks the cardinal rule of Banshee survivability: To stay off the ground.

VISIBILITY CONTROL

One eminently difficult tactical problem is that of attacking and killing a target who is on foot, yet not armed with a heavy weapon (a rocket launcher, fuel rod gun, or others)—rather, he is carrying a light yet long-range and most importantly, constant tool such as a pistol. The disadvantage of these light weapons is their relatively little damage. The advantage, however, is that—unlike nearly any heavy weapon—they can fire instantly and constantly. A rocket, though deadly, takes time to fire and time to reload. A swooping attack that brings you to bear only long enough to fire a well-placed fuel rod, then immediately turns away and evades (repeating until the target is killed) is very difficult to counter with such a weapon, unless the footman is very lucky, very skilled, or in an advantageous position. However, if he is wielding a pistol, he can begin firing from a very long range (beyond your own effective range), and continue to do so as long as you are in view. These constant shots will both disrupt you (due to the stinging, flinching shots) and will kill you faster than you would like to think. Two clips should be sufficient. Although a Banshee at medium range, undamaged, can generally close and kill a pistol-wielding infantryman before dying (so long as he crushes effectively; if he begins to “worm,” all bets are off), the trouble is more pressing when you are otherwise engaged; dueling another Banshee, crushing another footman, attacking a tank, or anything else. It is very unpleasant to kill a tank, your shields down, then get shot out of their air by a pistoleer you cannot even see.

The only factor on your side is the fact that most players do not understand the excessive leading needed by long-range pistoling. It is entirely possible, even easy, to pump entire clips into Banshees at range, but to do so requires that you understand the leading required, particularly under lag.

From the point of view of Banshees, there is no good solution to this, save to practice rapidly acquiring your target, rapidly closing with continuous fire, and crushing swiftly and smoothly (watching out for grenades and terrain obstructions). However, one tool that may serve to your advantage is to control your target’s visibility. Consider: With your airborne position, your enemy must incline his view to see and shoot at you. Generally, he will also retreat backwards as he fires, attempting to gain more time to fire as you approach.

However, with his view on you and fleeing backwards, he has no idea where he is going, and will often walk off a cliff or under a vehicle.

If he butts up against any solid object, take the advantage to fuel rod him, as his backrest will ensure that the shot detonates on or near him, rather than a possible overshoot.

EVASION

The best way to study evasive motion is to study the way you already move from an outside perspective. If you can have a friend film your attacks, watch carefully and consider how you would deal with a pilot doing exactly what you are doing. How difficult would it be to kill him? How would you do it? Adjust your style accordingly.

Failing films, simply observe the methods of those whom you fight against. Eventually you will gain an overall sense for the methods you use, and can recognize them in others. Again, consider the techniques you use to counter them, and devise counter-counters.

One oddity is that the underside of a Banshee is seemingly the easiest side to target. A tank or gunner with your broad belly to aim at will have better odds of a hit than when viewing your side or some angle. Also, of course, the deadly belly shot (mentioned previously) is possible from this angle, though it is important to understand how rare and difficult this truly is (despite the apparent views of some that it is an instant, failproof knockout). The angle is very narrow and the margin of error very slim. However, even without this advantage, firing into the belly is effective, so you need not worry about an instantly devastating kill.

The most common error among new pilots is the assumption that quick (or slow) turns back and forth, up and down, will allow them to shake or avoid a Banshee on their tail. This is utterly false, unless your chaser is very poor indeed, and probably a relic from classic flight sims. Any evasion less than complete, wheeling turns that remove you from the tail’s field of vision, require significant retargeting on his part, and allow you to return fire, is useless and only creates more opportunity to be shot at.

Always, always, always remember that anything static, unchanging, or predictable is also vulnerable. Do not rely on anything as “your way”; techniques like the drop are useful, but if you use them overmuch are holes in your game that can be exploited by a skilled player. Reliance on anything, whether a drop, a spin, a hover, or another tactic, is deadly. Keep changing and keep moving.

PLANES OF MOTION

Banshee motion can be categorized into four basic groups.

Class 1 motion is no motion at all; it is a parked or hovering Banshee. This is a sitting duck.

Class 2 motion is linear, a predictable, straight flight. This is dropping vertically, flying arrow-straight, and diving down or spiking up. Class 2 flight is more evasive than Class 1, but not much so; leading and aiming is very easy for enemies to conceptualize, and the only real misses will be from poor execution.

Class 3 motion is rotational in addition to linear. It includes turning in a plane, allowing more complex movement than Class 2 travel. For reasons difficult to understand, turning motion is infinitely more difficult to target against than linear motion (though beware of turns so tight that you stay inside your own diameter, letting incoming fire hit you with little to no correction).

Class 4 motion is dynamic, with turns in multiple planes, combined smoothly with linear motion. This is what all pilots should strive for at all times, not only when in danger. It is this ability they are unique in, and they should take full advantage of it. Ignore concepts of up/down, left/right; you are free within the air, and should move like a sheet of paper caught in a gust of wind. Hitting such targets is an extraordinary task.

In an interesting quirk, it is my belief that non-horizontal turning is actually tighter than simple Class 3 spins. Try adding a diagonal angle to your wheeling turns for tighter, faster movement (for instance, when charging a tank and evading fire).

Class 4 movement is very difficult in tight quarters, which is the reason that a followed Banshee should never enter a tunnel or other small arena; they will have no room to maneuver. Do not expect to “ambush” an unaware attacker—by this time, you will have the most damage, and them the advantage.

EXTREMELY CLOSE QUARTERS

Extremely close quarters Banshee dogfighting (which I sometimes call “Banshee grappling”) is a wholly different game than open-air battle. Usually occuring in tunnels or other tight locations, but sometimes showing up between two low-mobility pilots in the air (such as pilots who are both overly reliant on the drop, and often end up together on the ground), ECQ Banshee fighting is much more about angles, weights, and pre-existing advantages than it is about maneuver and aim. Frequently, the scenario will be both Banshees head-to-head, pressing and firing and hoping to kill the other before they themselves are killed.

This is unavoidable muddled, and to borrow a term from an old instructor of mine, creates “uncertain outcomes.” The best pilot may be killed by the worst. Skill is overshadowed by luck.

You may attempt to break this “clinch,” but it can be difficult to do so, particularly in a low-maneuverability environment. Also, be aware of how slowly a Banshee accelerates before it can gain speed, and that while you attempt to break away and reposition, you will be vulnerable to coup de grace fire.

Practice these situations over and over to acquire a basic sense of the “weights” and angular energy a Banshee exerts. If you can break past your opponent, you can often wheel and finish him before he can correct; it is the face-on pissing match that has no real winners, and breaking it without exposing yourself to danger is always worthwhile.

Skilled targeting of vulnerable spots can be an ace of your sleeve, but should not be relied on.

Beyond that, the player who enters an ECQ clinch with the most health and/or shields will win.

In similar ECQ situations where you nonetheless are able to move, the winner will be the pilot with the greatest familiarity and comfort with tactical movement and the feel of their vehicle. Very strange situations with rocks, walls, Banshees, trees, and so forth will sometimes occur, and it is vital to be able to take any environment into stride and manipulate it in a way you can trust. Practice, practice, practice.

Nothing more for now. Consider these contents, use what works and reject the rest, and see if the general concepts make sense to you.

Feel free to email me with any questions. Enjoy the skies.

— Brandon “vector40” Oto

Banshee Handling III: Applying Reality

[This is the third article in a series. It deals with highly advanced concepts that build on those already established in the previous articles (one, two). If you have not yet read the previous articles, please do so; they are available on this site. Keep in mind that “more advanced” does not mean “more effective,” and that in fact it means nearly the opposite—while you can be effective and skilled with a grasp of basic concepts and no knowledge of advanced techniques, knowledge of advanced techniques will be useless without basic familiarity.]

Sometimes it is easy to overthink the entire process and concept of flying. In reality, there is nothing elaborate about it; it is simply moving and shooting while not being anchored by the ground. The controls are straightforward, the idea is basic, and the execution is a little tricky but essentially simple. As a result, just about anybody can fly a Banshee.

Skilled, experienced pilots will scoff and make the point that beginner pilots, those who are “not serious” (in other words, those who care more about other aspects of the game, and view flying much as a pilot might view sniping), are not real opponents and not worthy of sharing their air. The truth, though, is that the best pilot in the world can be killed by the worst pilot in the world. It is not chess; it is not arm wrestling or sprinting or rock skipping. It is not a pure shoving match of skill-on-skill. Anyone who flies, or even who menaces a Banshee without entering one himself (a ground attacker, for instance) has danger granted to them by the nature of the game. In Halo, all men are truly created equal, and here, “equal” means “deadly.” The manner and effectiveness with which the player acquits himself will do a great deal to affect his overall performance—by the end of the game, the skilled player will likely have a high score, the unskilled player a low one. Yet this is merely probability, and in the short term reality is less likely to adhere to statistical tendencies.

The worst player has guns, and grenades, and vehicles, and all manner of damaging tools. Like a baby with a razor blade, he need not be skilled at all with his tools to cause terrible damage with them; a blind man can fire a tank and kill you.

Thus it is important to remember that although one can train, study, and become highly skilled, comfortable, and experienced with a Banshee—or indeed with any other facet of Halo—in the end, all he is doing is improving his odds. You may always be beaten.

Sometimes when I’m feeling good I’ll call myself “The world’s second best Banshee pilot.” I’m being smartassed, of course, but the point is valid: There’s always somebody better, and they don’t need to be better over a thousand games—just right now, as they shoot at you.

Let’s get down to brass tacks.

RAMMING

A Banshee can shoot plasma and fuel rods. However, it can also kill with its body, using the laws of Halo physics in its favor (namely that “a moving vehicle will kill anybody it hits”). I have touched on this before, but not on a subtler facet of it: Ramming against a target not to kill, but to effect a tactical advantage.

Obviously, running over a target on foot is an effective tactic, as it will kill instantly. If your target is ensconced in another vehicle, however—another Banshee, a Warthog, even on foot but taking cover behind a vehicle—hitting it will not cause damage. There are no fender benders in the Halo universe.

However, that does not mean that the concept of “ramming” within intervehicular combat is useless. Improving your position and upsetting your opponent’s is always valuable, and moreover, there is nothing wrong with striking another vehicle, so you need not worry about controlling your momentum. If charging another Banshee or swarming on a vehicle, don’t be afraid to crash into them as you enter, knocking them around with the mass of your body; ground targets can be upset or their movement controlled by this, and air targets can have their territory “stolen” from them as you enter and dominate. (Targets on foot, of course, will simply be killed.)

Do not look for this, but do not be afraid of it. You are the king of sky; move aggressively and with a constant assumption of the upper hand.

PLASMA FREEZING

Plasma fire, whether from a plasma rifle, a Ghost, or a Banshee, has a unique characteristic: Aside from damaging your target, it will also create a momentary “stun” effect, freezing and preventing effective movement or offensive action. It only lasts a moment, but because of the rapid-fire nature of most plasma weapons (including the Banshee guns), if a steady stream of fire can be directed into a target, it will seriously disrupt their ability to respond; if combined with evasive motion on your part, their only real hope will be to escape from the plasma, something which will itself be hindered by the stun. (Though beware that stunning does not prevent firing a weapon, so don’t walk into their sights.)

Realistically, escape will usually happen, because unless they are in a very bad position indeed there is nothing preventing them from breaking the stun for the crucial moment needed to reestablish even footing. However, in the meantime, you can create a healthy edge that may be the advantage you need.

The most vital element in a good plasma freeze is continuous fire, and for this reason it will usually not be possible in an already-begun battle—both sides will be moving and attacking, and will not stand still for you to dump fire into them. However, if you can surprise them, it becomes much more likely. Consider a situation where you sight an enemy about to enter a Banshee. Obviously, you will fire, both plasma at the target and a fuel rod either at the person (for damage) or at the parked Banshee (to possibly overturn it and prevent his mount). However, if and when he arrives and is about to enter, should you fire at him or at the vehicle? Fire at the vehicle, even if you waste a moment or two of plasma on an empty shell; the moment he “bonds” with it, he will enter both your damage and your stun, and the slow take-off of a Banshee will keep him in the stun for several seconds at least. If he is already damaged, you should be able to kill him easily in this time, and if you can direct a fuel rod into him then you can nearly destroy him even with full health.

You will rarely achieve an effective freeze on an infantry target, merely because plasma is not a sniper rifle, and cannot hit such a small target 100% of the time. (Of course, infantry will die under direct plasma fire before long anyhow.) The best targets are vehicles. Look for ambushes and surprise attacks; while firing as soon as you notice an enemy and maintaining fire all the way until you close is a valid tactic, first observe and decide whether they’ve noticed you. If not, can you approach from a blind side and get near without them seeing, then unleash a devastating attack which will not only damage but also impair their response by stunning?

DEFENSIVE INTERVALS

I have said before that passive defense has no place as a technique or as a mindset in Banshee piloting, or indeed in any other facet of Halo. By “passive” defense, of course, I refer to anything intended to keep you alive by any other method except killing your attacker.

Because I still believe this, I have named this section “defensive intervals” rather than “defensive tactics” or the like; the difference is semantic, but helps emphasize that while these brief intervals may occur, they are nothing but momentary pauses, and while they exist nobody is winning—at best, both sides break even.

A defensive interval is when you intentionally insert a break into a confrontation. This may be for a variety of reasons, but due to the nature of combat in Halo, will most often be to allow you to recharge your shields after a heavy assault. Try as you might, sometimes your opponent will get the best of you, and while you can always try to simply kill them before they finish you off, occasionally it can be wiser to break for a moment and let yourself breathe.

The obvious flaw in this tactic is that while you are recharging, reorienting, and reacquiring, your attacker will also be, and (unless he is a fool) when you do reengage him he will be no worse off than you. For this reason a defensive interval is an undesirable, last-ditch decision, and not preferred. Of course, if your opponent is actually more skilled, than no matter how many times you disengage and reengage, his chances will be better than yours, so you would be better off searching for a more unfair means of confronting him.

The only requirement of a defensive interval is that neither combatant be able to damage the other. If your enemy can damage you, then it is obviously not a very useful move, and if you can damage him, then it merely an advantageous offensive position, not a defensive interval. However, if neither side can attack, if only for a few seconds, then you can take the time to recuperate before wheeling back with new fury.

Defensive intervals are highly situation-dependent, but certain constants can be looked for. When dogfighting, the wrong technique is to simply turn tail and run; unless your opponent is very poor, he will simply follow and kill you. You cannot outrun anybody in identical vehicles. You may be able to outmaneuver him, if you are in tight quarters, and this can be effective—if you can keep enough obstacles and turns between you to prevent him from hitting you, you will be successful. In open air, one useful interval is to intentionally enter the classic symmetrical circle. While the circle is usually avoided, due to its “fairness” (e.g. neither side has an advantage), this nature becomes an asset when you seek only to survive, not to attack. Since most pilots (save experts) will maintain the circle, with no thought to break it and no skill to dominate it, you can keep twirling around happily and mostly safely until you are ready to reengage.

(Establishing a defensive interval from other positions is outside the scope of this article, but as food for thought, players should consider this: When on foot, what can you do to momentarily remove yourself from combat? Can a slight peak in terrain block line-of-sight between you and your opponent? Can a confusing arena let you slip into a corner and remain undetected for a second or two?)

SHIELD FLARE

This is the most straightforward and unfettered stage-trick piece of knowledge I will ever write about here, so enjoy it.

Whether or not you notice it, when you damage a player enough to drop his shields, his shields will emit a momentary “flare” of light, their dying gasp before disappearing. (This is most noticeable when sniping; if you hit but do not kill, do you notice a flash of light?) Of course, all hits to a shielded target will make the shields glow and course with light, but a dying shield flare is characteristic, and, fortunately, is especially noticeable when the player is in a Banshee. Look toward the rear, where the legs are visible (and where you are hopefully shooting into, from a dominant rear position). The flash will “float” out from the vehicle, and you will rarely miss it if you know what to look for.

Why is this useful? Halo is one-half tactics and one-half strategy, and a vital element of stategy is intelligence. If you know your opponent’s status (in this case, 0 shields), you can plan your strategies based on that knowledge, and tactics flow from proper strategy. I will not elaborate on the specifics of the proper response to a shield flare, since they can vary from “nothing at all” to many complex strings of attacks, but I will say that an enemy nearly dead will usually merit a stronger attack than one barely harmed.

HIDING THE STEEL

The name for this technique is stolen from other sources, and in fact the technique itself was familiarized to me mainly by goatrope of HBO and Subnova. The concept is relatively simple, and like all good tactics, is scalable to be effective against both skilled and unskilled opponents. This is not a Banshee methodology, but rather intended for anti-Banshee use, something I will sometimes discuss mainly because in a busy game the only way to get a Banshee is to win it.

The basic setting is for the player to be on foot and armed with a pistol and rocket launcher, a common scenario in Death Island (the quintessential Banshee map). The paradox of the rocket launcher is that it is both an extraordinarily effective anti-air weapon (capable of a one-shot kill to most targets) and very difficult to actually use in an AA context. A wild rocket fired against a free-air Banshee will rarely hit. I have mentioned certain methods for improving your chances of a hit, but this is one of the most useful.

Using your pistol, start firing as soon as you enter range. As I have said before, the pistol is a surprisingly effective and especially annoying weapon against Banshees, and will almost certainly provoke a response, as the opposing pilot tries to find you and remove you. If he lacks the skill or presence of mind to do so, no worry; simply keep firing until he dies.

If he comes after you, hold your ground and keep firing until he is near. He will probably come straight and easy, unafraid; if you are not moving, he will expect an easy crush-kill, and with only a pistol to contend against, he has nothing to fear.

When he is close, promptly whip out the rocket launcher and blow him out of the sky. Be careful not to let the incoming Banshee carcass kill you, as that is both ironic and embarrassing.

The beauty of this tactic is that it does not require any particular action on the part of your opponent. What if he is older and wiser, and does not close to crush, but rather assumes a heavy-weapon tactic and stays high, swooping and firing? Then you may simply keep firing with the pistol, and kill him normally, or if you are a rocket savant try to nail him at the corner of a turn.

MATCHING ENERGY

One subtle but omnipresent facet of advanced piloting is the need to “match” an opponent’s energy. I say “advanced” not because it is only relevant in advanced contexts—it is always present, whethe or not you see it—but because it will probably only be visible to experienced pilots. Of course, many will not understand it consciously, but that is no requirement unless they want to teach it to another, as I am doing now.

No matter how you fly, you will do it with a certain characteristic behavior and energy. In the introduction of the previous Banshee article, I categorized two primary types of energy while flying, “crashing” and “flowing.” Of course, many smaller subcategories exist even within these groupings, and in any given situation you will need to actively analyze how your opponent moves to judge its characteristics. It changes not only between pilots, but between games, between battles, sometimes between moments.

What’s useful about this knowledge is the ability to balance your own behavior against your enemy’s. While blindly adhering to a “trademark” style (assuming that style is effective) can do the job, you will survive longer and scratch more kills if you mold yourself around your enemy.

“Matching” energies does not mean that you mirror the way your opposite number moves. Indeed, this is frequently the wrong approach—often, the best technique is to effect the opposite energy, strong when they are weak, elusive when they are arrogant. (This should not be read as a be-all and end-all strategem; the proper match for a certain type of energy will change depending on the situation. However, this is true more often than not.) Only experience will teach you what response is appropriate for what behavior, but while complex analyses of these concepts may seem overly complicated, keep in mind that the basic precept—choosing x move correctly in y situation—is the very heart and soul of military theory, sparring, and indeed most of life.

An example of a failure to properly match energies is ai-uchi, whose name I borrow from Japanese. Ai-uchi, or “mutual slaying,” occurs most frequently when both dogfighters charge, heavily damaged, and one or both fire fuel rods from point-blank range into each other’s face. The result? Both participants die.

While this is not necessarily an undesirable outcome (dying is generally bad, but sometimes killing your opponent is the only thing that matters), it successfully illustrates the possible results of poorly-matched energy. Because you both are extremely aggressive and forward, you have attacked with no regard for your own safety, and resulted in a clash that left both of you destroyed. The solution? Better balancing, so that you let his own aggressiveness dig a hole that allows you to kill him with little danger to yourself.

MOUNT & DISMOUNT TACTICS

The Banshee is a vehicle, but it is not self-contained; the game is Halo, not Banshee-lo, and if you forget this, you become as handicapped as the cavalryman with the psychological aversion to leaving his horse. In actuality, though you should never relinquish your vehicle lightly—you will almost always survive better inside than out—useful and effective techniques can be utilized involving both the tactical mount and tactical dismount from the Banshee.

Banshee can be entered from any position that brings you close enough to their “entry” location (their rear hatch) to activate its proximity detector. In reality, this tends to mean one of three locations: Directly behind, in front, or beside. Behind is simple and easy. In front is more difficult, and involves pushing up against the “crook” where either wing meets the body; at the furthermost position forward, you will be able to enter. Beside generally means taking a running jump from the front of the Banshee, over the wing, and entering from the air; either beside or in front are the two options for mounting a Banshee when you approach from a forward angle.

If you can learn exactly how much damage it causes to fall from a given height, you will have the flexibility of dismounting a Banshee before it has actually touched the ground. Certainly it is not ideal, but if you don’t want to get hurt, this is not the game for you.

It should be understood that Banshees, like all vehicles in Halo, exhibit an unusual quality not common to most games, that of “lasting control.” If you exit a vehicle, you will discover that for a moment or two after hitting the button, you still have control of its movement, and will still take damage from hits to its body—in short, that you are still “bonded” with it. This is also true for mounting, as you will be connected to the vehicle for a second or two before actually having fully entered, and before the camera has fully switched.

When would you ever want to dismount from your Banshee, and do so with such urgency that you can’t wait to touch the ground? Consider an attack on an infantryman, who is skilled and practiced at evading crushes and may very well kill you before you can kill him with direct fire. You might consider making an approach as if to crush, then moments before impact, dismounting in the air.

What does this accomplish? Several things. To begin with, you have essentially lost none of the effectiveness of your crush. Your Banshee will continue on its same course, using the aforementioned “lingering” control (of course, you must remember to hold down the throttle until you are well and truly clear), and in actuality, if you leave early enough, may catch a moment or two of freefall, which is faster than throttled flight. (You may have noticed that you can drop faster than you can throttle downward. Halo’s physics are mysterious.) Whatever the reason, the motion of such a technique generally results in a particularly difficult-to-dodge Banshee, improving your chances of a crush.

Of course, the result may be a vehicle kill rather than a kill attributed to you. Vehicle kills are embarrassing enough to be worthwhile, though.

What if you miss? Well, while your Banshee has been flying along like a toaster, you’ve surrepticiously hit the ground behind it, and though you have taken damage, you carefully timed your fall to leave you alive. You kept moving, and as the enemy dodged the Banshee, attention diverted, were able to shoot and kill him easily. If you completely screw up and lose the element of surprise, keep the Banshee between the two of you for cover and do your best.

What else? Lately, I have been fooling with possibly the most stylish kill in the game. You make an approach on a ground target—a vehicle is the best, usually a tank for the largest target, but it can work even on infantry—and while still in the air, suddenly leave the Banshee, and as you fall, fire a rocket directly into the target. Then you either hit the ground and die, or, depending on your altitude, hit the ground and barely survive. Is this useless? Certainly it’s not a primary tactic, and more for style than for utility. In lag it is next to impossible. However, if taking out the target is more vital to your game than surviving—consider killing a flag carrier in CTF—and you’ve got a challenging target (again, a tank is the best example), then it may be the way to go. The most difficult aspect of this is reorienting yourself to the camera change and graphical lag caused by the dismount, which can disrupt your equilibrium for long enough to flatten you against the ground before able to fire. You can optimize the shot by lining up your flightpath with the target before dismounting, facing forward, in a nice, straight line, meaning that the only thing you’ll need to do after dismounting is aim down and fire. If you need to turn in midair, all bets are off.

Can you do more? Consider the need to grab a flag, pick up a powerup or ammo, or similar action without stopping. It’s possible with a Banshee just as it is with a Warthog. Fly nap-of-the-earth, scraping the dirt, in a straight line; then, just as you reach the item, hit your dismount key, keeping the throttle on. You will slip out, touch the item, then, if you time it perfectly, be able to remount without ever completely leaving the Banshee, keeping your downtime at a minimum.

Remember always that basic abilities are infinitely more useful than advanced techniques, and in fact, with a grasp of the basics, you will in time come to discover every advanced permutation of them without needing losers on the internet to write articles about them. But understanding even the basics is not enough; you must truly be comfortable with their application, and this can only come from practice, practice, and more practice.

Think, practice, and learn. Enjoy the skies.

— Brandon “vector40” Oto

Banshee Handling IV: Video

Part Four of vector40's Banshee Handling series is a video that shows various techniques.

Banshee Handling V: Evasion

After I completed my last Banshee piece (the narrated video), I felt that I was done with this series. I’d said most of what I had to say, and moreover, it was coming up to the point that I was ready to quit Halo PC in general. I had never wanted to “overstay my welcome” and linger past my prime, growing steadily less effective as a wave of new players continually reminded me of what I no longer could do.

I did in fact make an official “retirement” from the game. However, more than a year later, I found myself still picking the game up from time to time, and recently I’ve been playing regularly again. No matter how poor this game may be, I cannot help but love the Banshee. So here I am, with one final article, on a few last points regarding what I have always called the most critical skills of the capable Banshee pilot: positioning, angles, and fundamentals.

THE VERTICAL LINE

The Banshee is a highly versatile tool, capable of rotating and moving on virtually any heading. Knowing this fact, it is easy to forget that, while the Banshee can face any direction, it cannot rotate toward that direction however it pleases. There is a vertical wall past which it cannot aim, and if you are aware of this, you can exploit it.

Due to how it is designed and programmed, the Banshee cannot under ordinary circumstances aim upward past the vertical, 90 degree angle, or downward past the same. In other words, facing forward, you can look up or down as far as you want, but you can’t pivot past straight up or straight down.

The implications of this should be clear. If you are motionless and firing at an approaching enemy, and he flies directly over your head, you will track him up, up, up, then hit a wall as he passes your “vertical line,” and be unable to continue tracking him. He then has an easy time delivering fire down into your back while you have to rotate to face him, which is an unwieldy and slow proposition from a standstill. The same thinking can be applied from underneath.

It is nothing more than another derivation of the same approach you would use attacking a tank or a turret, which cannot aim up past a certain angle (it is even easier in those cases, of course, because their maximum angle is significantly less than 90 degrees); if you can get past that invisible line, you have a sector of safety until they can rotate toward you, which takes far longer than simply aiming upward. Even infantry have this line; they turn much faster than vehicles, but they still have to rotate and reacquire you, giving you precious moments.

THE CIRCLE-BREAK COUNTER

The vertical line theory can be applied to a simple but devastating technique, tailor-made for dogfighting relatively skilled opponents. You may remember that I have in past articles discussed “breaking the circle,” or ending the traditional symmetrical airborne loop wherein both pilots rotate endlessly, trying to hit each other and being unable to. I illustrated the easiest way to do this in the video, which is nothing more than to stop, hover or drop in place, while turning and firing into your opponent’s oncoming circle.

If the continued circle is an amateur’s play, and breaking the circle is advanced, then the highest level is to counter the counter, and the vertical line gives an excellent means. If your opponent breaks the circle in that way, and if the circle is a tight one (this will be impossible if he is farther away, but in that case, it is not a true circle), you need only to continue flying straight toward him, over his head, perhaps angling slightly upward. If you can get past his vertical line before he can line up his shot and fire, then you’ve got him: merely turn to aim on him, hover or drop, and put fire into his back.

This can actually be done in other situations as well—any time when your opponent hovers or drops (sacrificing the forward speed which gives him the ability to turn and evade), if you are close enough to get past him, you can pull it off. And remember that you can go underneath just as well as you can go over the top.

THE HORIZONTAL STEP

Many times before, I have mentioned how staying alive while fighting a tank or Banshee relies heavily on your ability to see the angles he can fire on and staying out of them. However, I do not think that I have emphasized enough the importance of anticipating his next angle.

Tanks are the best example of this. The best Banshee pilots can take on tanks 99 out of 100 times once they close range, and it is based wholly upon this skill of anticipation. Obviously, once you are close, your goal is to stay behind or on top of the tank, out of the firing arc of his gun; this is old news and I have discussed it many times. However, even when this is going well, and especially when it is not, the tank will be trying to turn his barrel and get you in his sights. How do you avoid it?

It seems absurdly simple, but it is not. Do not evade randomly. Evade systematically. If you are hovering just off the ground directly behind a tank, and he tries to turn left (counter-clockwise) to face you, what do you do?

You go right. You flip from hovering to throttling, you scoot around to his right side (again, counter-clockwise), keeping close, staying on the opposite side of his turret from the gun; then you can once again hover and continue firing. If he keeps turning, you scoot again. If he switches direction, so do you.

Suppose, rather than a nice, close position, you are in the air and cruising around a skilled, mobile tanker. The same theory applies. If you are making your approach from his front, and think that he will probably reload his gun in time to get off a shot before you can pass his vertical line, you can still angle away from his barrel. If he is aiming a little to your right, angle to your left. Keep skirting around the circumference of an invisible circle surrounding him. In order to continually do this while still actually firing at him, you will need to be adept at drifting, or airborne strafing (which I discussed in the video). However, if you ensure that he does not pull too far away from you (which will make the circle you are tracing so large that you cannot traverse it faster than he can rotate), you will certainly kill him.

This is a technique that can be applied widely. Try it while you are very close in a dogfight, for instance, while you are resting on the ground (such as in a tunnel on Death Island). He starts to rotate toward you. You can do many things, but what is fastest? Simply “step” in the opposite direction, making a tiny circle around him and staying in his safe zones. How about if you are blasting at a Banshee with a shotgun while it foolishly sits on the ground and tries to shoot you from a standstill? Same business: strafe around him ahead of his turn, and you will be victorious.

(An excellent way to practice this skill is the “no shooting” game: dogfight an unsuspecting opponent without ever actually firing at him, merely practicing your positioning and staying in your safe zones while “miming” fire. See how long you can stay alive.)

Finally, understand that this need not be an extended move at all. Often enough, you will find it tremendously effective to make a quick, hard jerk in the appropriate direction to avoid an acute danger. It is just a brief tug to one side, but if a barrel or fuel rod gun is about to line up on you, it is the best possible answer, as it combines evasion (they will probably shoot anyway, and miss if you have dodged) with safe positioning (if you time it properly, you will actually be staying in a safe area the entire time).

SHRUGGING

The last thing I want to mention is an old evasion of the utmost simplicity called the shrug. It is essentially nothing more than repeated horizontal steps, which is why I have grouped it with the aforementioned technique, but it is not systematic; it is a rapid series of alternating sideways jerks, back and forth while you move forward, like your Banshee is shrugging.

This can fill two roles. The first is as an evasion of last resort. If you have flown yourself into a poor situation from which there is no real escape—for instance, you have misjudged your angles in a chaotic battle, and a tank is about to get a bead on you—you can insert a series of hard shrugs to try and avoid your incoming demise. It is not an especially effective evasion; however, it is by far the quickest. The diagonal loop takes time to enter; the drop takes time to begin falling. The shrug is virtually instantaneous and can make it far more likely that you will survive your blunder.

The second role of the shrug is when you do not choose to perform some other evasion, but want to add a bit of defense to your flight. A good example is if you’ve grabbed the enemy flag, hopped into your Banshee, and are attempting to escape. You will be safe within a few moments, once you can get past a corner or a hill, but until then, you are taking fire—assault rifles, pistols, even plasma or a tank. You are certain that your chances are much better if you run than if you try to kill them all, and also better to simply get out of range than to try some fancier dodging. So you fly hard and fast, but as you do, you throw in a series of shrugs, making yourself an overall harder target. You still take fire, you still take damage, but you are much harder to hit than if you flew straight ahead, and it may make the critical difference.

Shrugging is often seen when the pilot is lazy and fighting opponents he finds unskilled, since it is easy to do and often enough to keep him alive. This is rather unwise, but to each his own. It is also helpful when you do not think there are any enemies within range and are merely travelling, but do not want to be too easy a target for any bored tanks.

HIS LAST BOW

This is almost certainly the last of these articles I will write. I have made four written Banshee tutorials, covering everything from dogfighting basics to flashy air tricks; I have made a supplementary piece about the psychology of winning and losing in competitive play; and I have made a video piece showcasing some of the more difficult-to-envision techniques.

To talk about this any more would be ridiculous. Probably nobody else, or nearly nobody, is as interested in the Halo Banshee as I am. Indeed, in a sense, this series was always written for myself as much as for any readers; I enjoyed analyzing, setting my thoughts and style out into a structure, and being able to point others toward something that might help them.

To all those who have read, those who have played, and those who appreciate that flying purple monstrosity as I do, my thanks. Enjoy yourselves, enjoy the skies, and have fun.

After all, it’s just a game.

—Brandon “vector40” Oto

Banshee Handling Supplement: Winning

In the previous three editions of this series, I have discussed numerous techniques, concepts, and mindsets to aid you in using Banshees to their greatest potential. While it may be that some readers plied this information in single-player mode, in filmmaking, or in other non-competitive arenas, it is certain that the majority of Banshee usage is applied as a means to beat other players, generally in Internet play.

This will not be another article on Banshee handling; in the next edition, I will return to that realm of discussion, for it is still pertinent and I have yet to exhaust its variation. However, this time, I will instead speak of something else: The cultural and psychological aspects surrounding victoriousness. In other words, in the past I have discussed how to win; now I will discuss how to deal with it.

It would be a fine world where "winning" was an unequivocally positive outcome, and all interactions non-zero-sum games where every participant could be equally successful. Unfortunately, it is the nature of many interactions that for there to be a winner, there must also be a loser, and most online games are examples of this-- including Halo. This calls into play the unavoidable fact that humans like to win, do not like to lose, and get upset.

If you decide that you'd like to be "a Banshee pilot" and study these tutorials hard, train heavily, and practice frequently and often against a wide variety of opponents, you will almost certainly become very good. Very good at Banshees, which may or may not mean anything to you, but in certain venues it can be a key skill, even if in others it is next to meaningless. Nowadays, I play almost exclusively on Death Island and other Banshee-friendly levels, both for the training and because to a pilot, it's simply more enjoyable. Drop me into a King of the Hill game in Chiron and it's anybody's guess who will win. But that's fine-- I neither believe nor pretend that a highly focused ability like Banshee usage means anything in the broader scheme of Halo. (In an even more general sense, of course, it's pretty silly to attribute any importance to a video game at all.) It's not Halo I enjoy so much as piloting in Halo, and it's not Halo that I'm skilled at so much as that small slice of it. I accept that.

However, that combination of specialization and hard work (innate talent may or may not have any effect-- I'm no psychologist-- but it is certainly a minor factor, relatively speaking) has left me in an unusual situation, and it's something that many of you may have to confront, especially if you take to heart these articles and improve with them. Humility is key to improvement as well as having friends, but I will speak intellectually here and be honest: I am one of the best pilots I have ever encountered. I say this not to inflate my ego, as, again, skill in a small sector of a video game is really an extraordinarily meaningless thing in life, but some people seem not to grasp this, and as a result, with skill comes a plague of problems that can make a talented operator wish he'd never been cursed with talent.

(An aside: You may find it to be an utterly fascinating phenomenon that, past a certain degree of skill, you are literally a walking, self-contained force majeure. By yourself, you are actually a force for change; you alter the course of a game by joining it, and [as I mention below, in the switching-sides game] can experience moments where you truly hold the end of the game in your grasp, and can choose what team will win simply by deciding which you will play for. No game you join will be the same for your presence. In the beginning, this is a truly baffling reality, and I believe the reason is this: Human beings, except for rare exceptions, are not accustomed to demonstrably influencing things larger than themselves. Voting is one example: While in the statistical sense, your vote certainly has a meaning, by itself you may think-- and you will be right-- that its presence, absence, or decisions are virtually meaningless to the overall outcome. People are a part of a whole, and generally cannot or do not act as a hinge by which that whole can be altered. They are a grain of sand, one small piece of a puzzle, and their actions contribute to the outcome but do not determine it.

A skilled player, particularly in the online arena, where many players are not skilled, can make his desires into reality, uninfluenced by the world around him. And this is a remarkable thing.)

If and when you find yourself winning most or every game you join, sometimes by large margins, the first problem you will face is how to handle your fellow players. Remember that Halo is a competitive game, and while it can have teams, there is little comaradery in these; for the most part, you will be surrounded by people who you are beating again and again.

It is the natural state of most Halo players (just as most competitors in any realm where a winner and a loser, better and worse can be declared) to always strive for superiority. Obviously-- a Halo match where the players did not try to win would not be very interesting! However, in the long term, what this means is that every time you meet a new player on the battlefield, you will ask yourself one question: Am I better than this guy?

There is nothing inherently wrong with this. Striving to best others is what makes you improve, and the decision that "well, I suck, and everyone's better than me" is both a cop-out and a personal excuse to avoid both the mental struggle of being at a low level and the physical effort of improving. The proper mindset is not to think you're a badazz mutha when you're playing against opponents who you are unequivocally superior to, then once somone enters who can clearly beat you, to immediately "remove yourself from the struggle" by pretending that you don't really care whether he beats you, as he's clearly somehow in a league of his own. This makes sesne when an NBA star joins your parking lot basketball game-- you don't flip out when you can't beat him, and probably you don't even compare yourself to him except in a lofty, "if only I were..." fashion. However, when this stretches to the point where you're considering everybody better than you as "unreachable," then the real result is that you've defined your realm of play in such a way that you will always be the best you meet. Why is this a problem? Because if you're the best, you'll never get better.

The Agony of Defeat

This is an article on how to handle winning, not how to handle losing, but you must understand how people lose to understand the psychological tensions behind winning.

In my experience, the most common means of coping with loss is to convince oneself that he has not actually been beaten. There are a number of ways to do this, and generally they are subconcious rather than planned-- after all, it's yourself you're trying to convince, far more than anyone else.

1. That's Cheating If your opponent is not playing by the same rules as you, he'll have an advantage that you can use to "prove" to yourself that "he's not better than me, he's just cheating." In reality, of course, while this can sometimes be justified (for example, in cases of client hacks or server exploits), far more frequently "cheating" is used to mean "anything I don't want you to do." This can mean usage of particular tactics-- such as spawn camping, sniping, bombarding, even running people over-- particular tools-- such as tanks, Banshees, rocket lauchers, or even pistols-- or just about anything else. In most cases, though, a player's definition of "cheating" tends to be highly flexible; he'll happily do just about anything, but if an opponent starts to dominate him using that same method, he'll condemn it as unfair.

It's born of frustration as well as laziness. There is truly nothing in Halo, barring extreme hacking, that is unbeatable. No tactic, tool, or style of play will yield an invincible advantage-- only skill, and even that can be outplayed using superior strategy. All that anything can do is make winning more likely, and really, that's the goal of every act taken in a game. Throwing the ball in the general direction of the hoop, in basketball, is an attempt to make scoring a basket more probable, which is itself an attempt to make winning the match more probable. Shooting you with a tank is an attempt to make winning the Halo game more probable. It's not a world-changing event.

While there is nothing wrong with personally establishing a set of rules you abide by, because you feel that violating them makes the game less fun, it is foolish and fallacious to believe that 1) Everybody else shares your rules, or 2) You will be able to win as easily as another player with no such rules. Halo itself will not favor an honorable loser, and if you're comfortable with a "moral victory," then good-- it may be all you'll have.

2. Who Cares? If a loser cannot explain away a loss by way of invented rules, he may attempt to do so by minimalizing its importance. He'll say that his finger slipped, that the lag is bad, or that you got lucky. He'll say that he hasn't played in weeks; he's having a bad day; something just isn't working! His machine is glitching. He hates this map and gametype. He could beat you if you'd stop doing/using that thing (see above). He's cleaning his apartment while he's playing. Or, if nothing else will do, he'll simply remove himself from the mental contest, stating that it doesn't really matter, he doesn't really care. (Naturally, this is the same person who would be gloating mercilessly were he to win, but because he isn't, it's best to imagine that it's not really that important after all.)

While the first reaction would be to call these excuses, and of course they are, their origins run deeper than that. They're an attempt to separate oneself from the game, creating an untouchable "core" whose identity is concrete, indelible, and cannot be affected by anything you do. In short, whatever character he has constructed for himself (generally one that involves great skill), it is not tied with the results of this game, even if he considers you inferior. Why? Because his finger slipped, he was lagging, you got lucky...

In one sense, it's true that one should not be unduly concerned with a CTF loss in an online game. Halo should have no great impact on the grand scheme of your life. But insofar as your gaming ability goes, removing yourself as inviolable serves only to ensure that you will never improve, instead existing in a twilight alternate reality where the actual outcomes of games are meaningless.

3. The Champion This is an unusual and insidious form of loss-management that is all the more unnerving because it is most common among friends and acquaintances, rather than the stranger vs. stranger relationship that tends to foster the other examples. Again, it involves "removing" oneself from the struggle, and thus removing the pressure to improve, but here rather than simply removing the onus, it goes so far as to transfer it to another-- your defeater.

Consider the player who sets up a friendly match with a fellow player. Friendly though it may be, or at least lacking hostility, it is still a competitive interaction, by the very nature of the game, and when he loses, his mind scrambles to justify it.

One possible solution? The mechanism of victory is transferred from the player himself to his opponent. Now, it is not he who his hopes and dreams rest upon-- it is the other player, who has already been shown to be overwhelmingly superior! So rather than expend all the time and trouble to improve himself, he will instead designate this other as his "champion." He will gloat and brag, not about his own skill, but about the other's, yielding the additional benefit of a veil of credibility and tastefulness. But really, it is not another person who he is touting, but himself, by proxy. Much like sports fans who espouse the prowess of their favorite team, the champion becomes the vehicle by which a less-capable player can attain glory vicariously.

The disadvantages of this go without saying. While it is perfectly acceptable to take pride in another's accomplishments, ask yourself why you are doing so-- is it because you share their pleasure, or because they're better than you, and you are unwilling to change that?

I will not go into more detail about the mentality of losing, but more on the importance, and the means, of playing to your full ability is available at Sirlin.net, in a four-part article called Playing to Win. Consider also these forum posts, here, and here, written by myself and going into more depth on the same subject.

The Agony of Victory

Now, for the meat of the article.

On the surface, it seems ridiculous to bemoan the fate of the winner. After all, he has something that most would love to obtain (or think they would), and certainly what, in the short term, they strive for. Every game you play is an attempt to win. Win often, and you are a winner.

That does not mean, however, that winning is intrinsically a happy state.

The greatest challenges to winning lie in learning how to handle those you have beaten. As I said, for Halo to have a winner, it must also have a loser, and the competitive nature of the game spawns a truckload of unhappy baggage with him. Yet as a winner, though it is no longer your direct burden to bear these things, you must still learn to deal with them-- indirectly. Specifically, you must be able to tolerate the losers who have felt them.

(I should take a moment to clarify that in using the terms "loser" and "winner," I make no value judgement; they refer only to their literal meanings, one who has won, one who has lost. While many losers are perfectly fine ladies and gentlemen, and many winners very much losers, that is beyond the scope of this article.)

Here are a few examples of the challenges a habitual winner must face, and some suggestions for surmounting them.

1. A Dearth of Friends

Winning is a challenge to friendship.

It takes a certain moral resilience for a friend to withstand a trouncing and not take it as a personal affront. That doesn't have to make a lot of sense, but it ties back into the basic fact that all competition is inherently competitive, and humans are human. While odds are that few of your buddies are going to swear a blood fued on your clan because you pwnz them in Blood Gulch, inserting what amounts to an element of simulated dominance can certainly strain any friendly relationship. The reasons are fairly elaborate but can be elucidated by any modern psychologist, relating to strains caused by inequalities (consider the relation between a debtor and a creditor, and why it is so rarely considered wise for friends to lend money to friends). Suffice to say that knocking your best mate upside the head all day with the oddball will probably not drive him away from you, but practically speaking, it will very likely disenchant him with the idea of more Halo.

Which leads us to...

2. A Dearth of Opponents

This is perhaps the most notable effect of winning, and it occurs in myriad forms. The clearest is the one you will also notice the fastest: People don't like to play you, so they don't.

In other words, people don't like losing, so in a stroke of genius they "change the game" and assure total victory by not playing at all. Very Zen.

Your friends, as I mentioned above, will lose interest in games, saying that there's no point and no pleasure in getting beaten time after time. They will especially say that, while losing is unfun, losing in the same way time after time is both unfun and boring and frustrating and basically lame, and if you become a Banshee aficionado you will probably spend most of your time Bansheeing them to death. So it goes.

I know and you know that dead is dead is dead, and Halo doesn't give one whit about whether you got 50 kills by crushing them with a Banshee or 50 kills in interesting, varied, and honorable duels. However, players do care, and there I can't plead ignorance; if you piss people off, they won't want to play. In a way, you should be glad; in this manner, they are able to avoid getting more and more angry until you really do have an issue on your hands that spans past the game.

Equally relevant is the effect on strangers, the average gamer who you run into on public servers. To them, you're just another drop in the online bucket, and if you quickly distinguish yourself as a skilled player, their reactions may vary-- but if "skilled player" means beating them over and over, usually in the same way, usually by tilting the playing field to your own advantage and playing to win, then they will Not Be Happy. This is the unavoidably negative flip side of the all-out playing method I advocate, which is simply that the means most conducive to winning are often not the means most conducive to human relations.

People will get mad. They will swear. They will vent. They will tell you that you're a pussy, a newb, an ass; they will cast aspersions upon your skill, telling you that your only skill lies in "hiding in the f@cking sky" and that you'd never win if you did not play to your strengths.

(Which may be true. You do what you do because it's how you win. Intentionally sabotaging your own game by doing the things you're worst at will not be a successful strategy. But again, I'm speaking now of people, not scoreboards.)

In some cases, you will piss off server admins, and in that case you will generally find yourself kicked and/or banned. "Piss off" can mean anything from killing them a few times to continued domination of the server using Machiavellian methods, but the point is that if you frustrate and anger people who have the ability to make you go away, they probably will. Just for winning? Well, yes. Unless they're training for a tournament, they're doing this for fun, and you're making it not fun.

What's more, though, is that even if most players stick around for your torch, they probably will not provide much in the way of a real game. That is to say, while there is a certain sadistic pleasure in blowing twenty infantry away with repeated sweep-crushes, matches and opponents that offer you no challenge will grow old. The love of winning, nearly ubiquitous in people and all the more so in competitors, will be challenged by the desire for interesting play. Competition seeks victory, but it is scarcely any victory at all unless it involved some kind of challenge; you could arm-wrestle a thousand first-graders without breaking a sweat, but it may not be the most rewarding accomplishment you'll have.

In other words, your greatest challenge will slowly cease to be winning, and become more and more that of finding worthy opponents. The value applies both to your sense of enjoyable play and your competitive edge; training against sheep is fine as far as it goes, but to a skilled player it offers very little, and in fact can be detrimental to your ability by encouraging poor habits and substandard technique, simply because your enemy isn't good enough to make you regret it.

The most valuable things you can find, and what you will learn to cherish above all else-- even your pride-- are good opponents, and you should hold onto them tightly. Finding such players is much of the reason for playing in public servers, rather than on private ones with friends; if you never encounter new styles, your skill will stagnate, and if you never encounter new sparring partners, you will eventually run short of playthings. If you have the good fortune to meet someone who offers a strong challenge, accept that your first reaction will always be "Is he better than me? Can I beat him?", but quickly push it aside, and move to "What can I learn from him? How can he improve my game?" Introduce yourself and exchange contact information (instant messengers are good, email is acceptable) so that you can keep in touch and arrange to play again. Keep track of the good servers that run the maps and gametypes you like, so that if you and a partner decide to meet up and practice, you'll have somewhere to go. On some occasions you will want to be alone, allowing you to focus on individual aspects of your game with only one opponent; other times you will want the increased dynamic of large games, where your ability to play Halo becomes more important than your objective skill.

At the end of the day, though, the fact remains that for players at the top of their game, there aren't many opponents who can offer a real challenge. Accept this; you took it upon yourself when you sought out skill, and you can surrender it at any time by letting your ability waste away. But you probably won't. Winning can suck, but it is addictive.

The answer to this ennui lies in seeking out other aspects of the game, new ways to apply your skill which are not zero-sum games, where everybody can win and the competitive nature is nullified. A good example of this is the article you're reading now, as well as those which preceded it. I have taken very pleasurably to teaching, helping other would-be pilots find their own skill and polish their style, both in-game and with tangential media such as these guides. When you can look past the competitive haze and see the person behind your opponent's red armor, you can realize how much more enjoyable it is to help him than to beat him. Yes, you're better. So what? Do something with it. The automatic objection is that you're cultivating possible future challengers to your sovereignty, to which I only reply that if you're not comfortable enough in your ability that you can share the space at the top with others, then you have problems that extend quite beyond Halo.

You can, of course, attempt to artificially create challenges when you are unable to find them "naturally." Uneven odds, handicaps, and similar instances of inflated difficulty are examples of this. Sometimes, in team games, I will spend time on one team, bringing them within a few points of victory, then switch teams and attempt to "beat myself," trying to bring my new team to a win before the old one can capitalize on my efforts and finish the job. Such practices scale well, using your own ability against you. And excellent training can be had by setting up two-vs.-one, three-vs.-one, and even higher-odd "gangbangs," if you can find agreeable partners. (Don't expect to win; the benefit is in discovering how to lose less.)

However, while such self-challenges can be beneficial for training and, in the short-term, more rewarding than no challenge at all, they are scarcely a substitute for truly difficult, teeth-cutting competition.

It may be that large-scale tournaments, drawing players from many regions and posing a variety of trials to them, could be a valuable way to harvest opposition, as it would seem that a hierarchical bracket with a sufficiently large base would be nearly the best method imaginable to find and cull the finest players available. However, I have not done this, and logistically it is never as easy as one would hope; perhaps soon.

3. Melancholy, Rage, Envy

In the pre-stage, losers will deny losing. They will say that you are not really beating them, are not really better than them, it is not happening. Sometimes, they never get past this stage, and it is these players, as I have said, who remain forever stagnant and convinced that their mediocre ability is the best in the world.

If they are able to accept the truth, they will then transition into a complex meld of emotions that often include unhappiness, anger, and empty justification, all stemming from the inherent jealousy of their miffed competitive edge. Other factors occur too, though, and sometimes they are unpredictable. (For example, the "champion" phenomenon I wrote of above.)

When it comes down to it, though, every player who undertakes the burden of victory-- and I do believe that, while one's inherent ability may be a factor, even a player with no born talent can, with well-conceived practice, become a master-- undertakes also the yoke of its baggage, both in the effects to his opponents, and in the indirect effects these have on himself. While perhaps one day gaming AIs will evolve to the point where they becomes indistinguishable from the best human players, or even more sophisticated, the appeal of multiplayer will never wane, and so long as you partake in it, and as long as people are people, you can never avoid these considerations. The goal, then, becomes not avoiding human nature, a losing battle, but in learning how to deal with it, both in yourself and in others.

With luck and experience, you can practice both enjoyable and advanced play for as long as you care to. It will always take maintenance, though, and work.

Much like your skill itself.

Enjoy the skies,

-- Brandon "vector40" Oto

How to Be a Dick in a Banshee

I AM CRAZY AND I WROTE ANOTHER BANSHEE ARTICLE

LOOKIT http://rampancy.net/info/articles/banshee_handling_v_evasion

Now, look. I didn't really want to do this, but there it is. And there's one last little thing that didn't even warrant inclusion there, so I'm just going to put it here.

I'm speaking, of course, of

How to Be a Dick in a Banshee

See, you play enough, often with people who really just... don't get the juices flowing, and a certain disturbingly sadistic side comes out. Maybe it's just me. But it's there and you find yourself basically toying with folks like a cat with a mouse. Consider this my confession. I'm not going to say that I've done everything here, but I've done everything here.

It should be observed that a number of these are actually useful techniques in and of themselves. Also, the first three of these are basically products of goatrope's depraved mind.

Dismount Crushes

Fly towards bad guy. Leap out of Banshee. Allow Banshee to crush bad guy.

USEFULNESS: 8. A valid tactic in its own right.

DICKERY: 6. Mainly just confusing, it's mostly annoying when you don't know how to deal with it and keep getting killed by it. If you do it really well, though, they'll get Vehicle Killed, and that can cause a suicide count, which rules.

Weapon Switcheroos

On foot, fire at Banshee with pistol. Attract attention. Wait until it gets close, trying to crush you, then pull rocket launcher and blast it.

Actually, just always carry a rocket launcher, but never show it to anybody. Make everyone (especially vector) assume you have one hidden up your ass or something.

USEFULNESS: 8. A valid tactic in its own right.

DICKERY: 7. Can jump to a 9 if you proceed to taunt mercilessly after the kill.

Moving Shades

Especially valuable on Death Island. Get in your Banshee. Settle your nose into one of the Shades on the side peninsulas next to each base. Push. The turret will slowly move until it has blocked the teleporter exit.

USEFULNESS: 3. The turret will respawn before very long.

DICKERY: n. Not especially annoying, but completely and totally confounding. You can't friggin move Shades.

Chatfighting

Engage in a wicked, cutthroat dogfight with some poor sap. Between shots, pop up in the air in a safe spot, and while they try to reacquire and kill you, type a line of chat, either to them or to some third player, and send it before you hit the ground. Continue this throughout the whole battle until you finish the conversation (and proceed to promptly kill them), or until they just die along the way.

USEFULNESS: 4. Basically only "useful" if you can't wait to have your chat.

DICKERY: 9. Staggeringly annoying.

Left-handery

If you are right-handed, place your mouse on the left side of the keyboard. If you are left-handed, kill yourself. Play for hours with the mouse in your off hand. Do not mention it unless someone starts complaining about unfair teams or something similar.

USEFULNESS: 4. Handy if you ever get your hand chopped off by a prostitute's ninja star, I guess.

DICKERY: 7. More of an invisible taunt. Good for giggles.

Vehicular headaches

Watch as bad guy runs across map, finally reaches vehicle, and attempts to enter it. Fire fuel rod and flip it over. Let him right it and try to enter again. Flip it over. Repeat as needed. If you are an especially cheerful individual, finish at last by flipping it off a cliff. Then kill him. Have a cigarette.

USEFULNESS: 3. There is no sane reason for doing this over and over and over.

DICKERY: 9. A masterwork of assitude.

Vehicular weaponry

Watch as bad guy runs across map, finally reaches vehicle, and attempts to enter it. Fire fuel rod and flip it onto him, flattening him into Master Pancake. Deliver wry wit.

USEFULNESS: 6. It's one way to kill them, I guess.

DICKERY: 8. Pretty upsetting.

Extended vehicular weaponry

Observe bad guy and a random, unmanned vehicle some distance away. Use fuel rods and ramming to move the vehicle toward the bad guy until it gets near, then hover somewhere and use repeated fuel rods to try and blow the vehicle into them. Best when they're just trying to desperately run away, while you chase them endlessly with a poor puppet Warthog. Continue until you succeed or until you get bored, then just kill them unceremoniously. Say nothing.

USEFULNESS: 0. What are you, a jerk?

DICKERY: 8. Would be much higher but any opponent bad enough to let you do this usually doesn't even know what's going on.

Peek-a-boo

Land in front of a bad guy and get out, keeping the Banshee between the two of you. Dodge back and forth as he fires at you, using the parked Banshee as a shield. Continue as long as possible; if he flips it over with a grenade, right it and keep going. Do not fire. Once you get bored, crouch and shoot a rocket under the Banshee, killing him.

USEFULNESS: 1. I hate you.

DICKERY: 8. Not meant for humans.

Sin of Temptation

Land Banshee in front of cognitive reject. Back off. Watch as a lightbulb sparks over his head and he decides to get in your Banshee and take off. Fire rocket into his useless sack of genes as soon as he does.

USEFULNESS: 6. Legitimate enough if you're fighting Cro-magnons.

DICKERY: 3. Seems almost like a mercy kill.

No-fire

Engage in cutthroat dogfight. Kill bad guy with no fuel rods. Alternately: kill bad guy with no plasma. Alternately: do not kill bad guy, just fly around him in circles avoiding his fire.

USEFULNESS: 7. These are actually good training drills.

DICKERY: 6. Depends on whether the other guy knows what you're doing.

The Roadblock

In CTF game, capture every flag to win but one. Grab the last flag, fly up over the enemy base, and issue a challenge. Kill everyone who comes near you.

USEFULNESS: 5. Good for practice, I guess. Or for running up your kills. Worthless for winning a game.

DICKERY: 8. Basically pure evil if people actually want to play.

The energy conservationist

Engage in dogfight or against infantry. Take them to within a hair of their death. Then fire a single shot of plasma into them, making them keel over dead. Repeat the plasma as needed if you misjudged.

USEFULNESS: 2. Pretty dumb.

DICKERY: 6. Sort of a subtle, postmodern kind of mockery.

The Asshole

Join a Christian server as "Judas" and TK. Join a Japanese server as "Hiroshima" and make deadpan gallows jokes as you kill everyone. Join a "girlz plz join" game as "boy george" and make vaguely homoerotic comments. Join a cowboy server as "Jack Twist." Etc.

USEFULNESS: -10.

DICKERY: 10. You are an asshole.

Banshee Voice Communication

This was an attempt I was making in my Banshee days (towards the end) to formulate a protocol for two-man Banshee wing voice communications. Prior to this the only way to coordinate in a wing was by feel and by occasional quick text codes, but this lacked versatility; when they released Ventrilo for Mac I was excited and set out to codify a protocol for this. Voice is fast enough for on-the-fly coordination, but only if you both have agreed on a stripped-down, unambiguous code for communicating tactical requests and data.

In any case, I banged this around a little and did a bit of testing, but it never got finished and I was fading out on HPC by this point. So it just sat around.

All I've got is the notes. Thought it might interest someone.

As always, one pilot is "lead" (flight leader), the other is "wing" (wingman). But now it's especially important because lead has actual tactical command. "Call it on the fly" to decide positions won't work; choose a lead for the whole game.

Once up, same as old: lead chooses targets and course, wing follows. Wing must stay TIGHT, as tight as possible, not closer than one wingspan (for explosion avoidance). Tightness is needed for flexibility; you can go anywhere from a tight follow, including breaking off, but you can't close a gap (since you only have one speed, which is exactly the same as your leader's) from a distance unless lead waits for you, which is possible in the air but impossible on a strike. The lead will tell the wing if he wants him to split off for an attack; otherwise, it is assumed that they will be attacking together, still in formation (which is a perfectly valid and effective tactic much of the time).

It is the wing's responsibility to keep the formation tight. If he needs the lead to slow for a bit so he can close distance, he can request it, but in general the lead cannot look back, so lead must be able to assume his wing is present. If the wing sees a target that demands engagement, he can call the lead's attention to it; if it absolutely demands immediate assault (such as an enemy actually moving to attack the formation), the wing should promptly engage WHILE informing his lead. If he wanders off without announcing it, he cannot expect the support of his lead, and both will probably die unaware that they've each suddenly become alone.

Two-man tactics can be generalized into two categories: symmetrical and asymmetrical. One person (which will be the lead) can make an attack, or whatever, while another (the wing) supports him in some manner (asymmetrical). Or, both can attack on equal footing, merely varying their directions or maneuvers on a tactical level to maximize effectiveness, but still essentially just 2x Banshee, as opposed to Banshee + 1. Both are good. Symmetrical attacks are generally fairly automatic, since that's basically how you'd fly alone; the tactical variety expanded by the commands below are mostly to give the lead asymmetrical options.

As a general rule, especially in asymmetrical attacks, the LEAD tells the WING how to support him, then swings the hammer himself. He is the impetus; the wing is his helping hand to make his plan work. He can make the wing the primary actor if that suits the moment, but that is not really how the system is built to work.

A pair of pilots who fly a great deal together in numerous situations, through thick and thin, will learn each other's styles, learn how to read their partner's intentions, and learn how to complement them. However, most will not fly together enough to reach this level, and even if they do, perhaps their level of play will not be as advanced as it could be (though this is contentious). The system presented here replaces that intuitive sense and builds on it. It is more difficult to learn, though faster, and some may find it unfun, if they are adverse to discipline in general. It DOES require that the lead (whether he's the permanent lead or you rotate often) be able to think tactically and make use of not only himself but also his "second arm," while of course not running his wing into danger or situations he wouldn't enter himself. And it DOES require that the wing be willing to receive commands from another rather than doing as he pleases, and able to do so promptly and effectively while still making himself as effective is possible (which does require initiative and imagination) within the bounds of that order. Not everyone is capable of these things.

These comm terms are designed to be as plain-english as possible while being short, unmistakeable, and concrete. They assume you have a voice link that is clear and intelligible enough that most of your lines can be spoken basically as on a telephone -- simply delivered with no worry about your listener understanding (no need to verify reception), and that allows both speakers to transmit simultaneously without "covering" each other. It also assumes you're the only two people on the channel, or at least there are few enough that there's no concern about who's addressing whom. If this is not the case, you may need to add an addressing protocol, which is beyond the scope of this article; you can borrow one from police or military standards if you'd like.

Some of this may be familiar if you have worked with a team using radios before. Some is original. All is oriented toward maximizing the fluidity, effectiveness, and speed of reactivity of the two-man team.

There are basically three types of codes here: queries (requests for information), informationals (just giving them info to keep them informed), and commands (just what they sound like, almost always give BY leads TO wings except for a few radio-related ones).

These are as plain-English as possible to make them easier to learn, however, they are still codes. In other words, the meaning of "Location?" may be easy to guess, but it is a specific, exact meaning, and there is a specific code for it. You can always instead say "So, uh... where are you now?" and get a similar effect, but it will take longer, be less clear, and require more thinking to understand. The advantage of codifying a concrete set of codes is that, once they've become second nature, they're fast to say, unmistakeable in meaning, and go straight into your action response rather than requiring you to parse them (like someone yelling "GET DOWN!" as opposed to "Excuse me, there's a dangerous situation; I suggest prostrating your body for safety."). You can still use English to describe a situation or command that there's no code for -- or more likely, to expand on a codet that doesn't quite encompass what you want to say -- but that shouldn't need to happen often. Also, these commands are common enough words that if you're in plain English, you can easily use one without meaning to; "wait" has a specific meaning, and should not be confused with "pause," for instance. Learn the codes and stick to them as much as possible.

Don't chatter, except in totally casual bullshit games, where you don't need this system anyway. Even if you're only 1% serious, it really, really does distract even the best gamer to be holding conversation while fighting, and you really, really won't play well.

STATUS MESSAGES

"Location?" -- Where are you? Response should use a pre-assigned set of codes for regions on the map, so you do not have to spend five minutes describing "that little ledge over the blue base." Location codes should be specific enough that you can refer to any exact coordinate within a brief phrase, such as "red pit," "below the balcony," or "flying from sniper's to the garage." Agree on some kind of directional system as well, be it North/South/East/West or whatever; key it to some obvious, unmistakeable, and always-accessible level reference. Variant: "Location to meet?" In this case, you've become separated, and don't actually care where they are now, you just want to know where you can rejoin. This way, they don't need to give their location, then wait around for you to show up; they can pick a spot ahead of you both and meet on the fly, losing no time. Both are useful as long as you do not confuse them; "location" really means "where are you, right now?" which can be useful for certain things.

"Are you up?/You up?/Up?" -- Do you have a Banshee? This will often be necessary in a pitched game where either or both pilots die frequently. Generally asked when you yourself are already up; the response to a negative will usually be to help find him a Banshee, the response to a positive will usually be "Location to meet?"

"Status?" -- A threefold question, usually asked by lead to wing, so he can decide where to go next -- retreat to regroup, press the attack, make a flag attempt, or whatever. When in formation, respond with, in the following order: your shields, your health, and your weapons load. Shields and health can be described as "Full" (undamaged), "Gone" (none or nearly none -- in the case of health, it obviously means nearly none, since actually gone would mean you were dead), or "Half" (anything in between); these are vague delineations that can be rounded off. Shields can also be "Over" if you have any amount of overshield. Weapons is merely what two guns you have: "fuel and rocket," "sniper and pistol," "rocket and shotgun," etc. You can use shorthand for these if you'd like, but the time and clarity saved will be minimal. Don't bother specifying ammunition unless one of your weapons is empty or nearly so, in which case label it; "rocket and empty shotgun," "empty fuel and sniper," "all empty!". If there happens to be something else special about your ammo (such as you have a huge load of sniper rounds), you can add that in plain English, but it usually doesn't matter. Don't worry about grenades. So, a status response might run, "Half, full, rocket and fuel!" If you happen to have invisibility, tack that onto the end; "Half, full, rocket and fuel, invisible."

Three special responses: If you are both in the midst of a pitched battle, it is not immensely important and a waste of time to give your weapons load, so shorten your response to merely shields and health. Your partner is merely asking how you're holding up, in the same way he can check his own status by glancing at the corner of his screen.

Alternately, if you are separated and receive a status check, and cannot respond without diverting attention that would get you killed, simply give a "Wait!" This means, hold on, I'm busy. This is straightforward and needs no explanation -- your partner will not argue -- but do not abuse it. If there's any way you can respond without endangering yourself, do so, and if not, do so as soon as possible, because you're holding up his strategic decisionmaking process; the game is marching on while you are lost in your fight. If, on the other hand, you are together and you get a status check, you must respond; your lead can see how busy you are, and wouldn't be asking if he didn't need to know despite that.

There is also the special status response of "Dead!", meaning you have just died (which is a good idea to announce whether you're asked or not); after spawning you should then immediately, automatically announce your location.

"Quiet" -- Hold radio chatter (such as status or location checks, "enemy spotted" announcements, or other informational calls). Usually used when pilots are separated, involved in their individual problems, and you need to focus for a while; no traffic should be transmitted after this until the pilot who called the quiet releases it with "Go ahead." If someone calls "wait," a quiet is assumed.

"Break" -- Shut up. Used to interrupt traffic from your partner when you have something urgent. For instance, breaking into a status report: "Half, half, shot --" "Break evade."

"Cap" -- I have the flag. Usually used when separated, at least slightly. No inherent command involved, just informational.

"Defending" -- I'm guarding the base for a bit. Can be added onto a Location response, as in, "Base, defending"; that way they won't try to meet with you. Used when separated. Variation: "Defending flag carrier," if you're bodyguarding the guy with the flag. Variant: "Defend," a command.

"Flag down" -- Flag carrier is dead, flag is free. Usually used when separated, at least slightly. Informational.

"Recovering" -- I'm going to go touch the flag and recover it. Usually follows "Flag down." Informational. Variant: "Recover," a command (go get it).

"Logging" -- I'm getting guns, ammo, health, whatever. Short for "logistics." Usually used when separated, unless it's used by a lead to let his wing know where they're going. Variation: "Can we log?" or something similar, used by a wing to request a pit stop (which will either be if your lead has forgotten to keep aware of your status, which happens, or if he merely has a different idea of what "enough" is, which also happens).

ENEMY REPORTS

"<unit>,<location>,<direction or status>" -- Used to announce that you've spotted an enemy. If you're in formation, this brings it to the attention of your partner for tactical reasons; if you're separated, it lets your partner know where the bad guys are on the map, for his safety and for strategic reasons (he knows if someone's coming for the flag, say). A call would run like this: "Tank, lower tunnel, going down". The unit is tank, Banshee, hog, Ghost, Shade, or foot (infantry), and can be prefaced with a number if more than one identical unit are together. The location is usually the location code for his position, but can also be a position relative to the formation, such as "left," "high right," "behind," or "low ahead." This is especially useful when announcing Banshees, who will generally not have useful locations except "in the air." Remember, though, that relative positions will only have any meaning if you're still in a static formation; if you're both looping around in combat, "left" won't mean anything.

The last piece is optional, and can be omitted if there's nothing to say (for instance, "Two tanks, blue water" might just announce how many guys in general there are at the blue base; if I'm all the way over at red that's all I care to know. On the other hand, "Two tanks, blue water, camping" might tell me that they're way back in the water, aimed up, waiting on guard, so there's often some kind of detail you can give.). If they're moving, tell where -- "going south, going down, going through." If they're stationary, say that too -- "stationary" or "camping" ("camping" would mean specifically they are motionless and alert with a hair trigger, waiting for targets to show up and gunning them down). If a hog has a gunner and a passenger, tell that -- "gunner and passenger." If a foot has a heavy weapon, mention that -- "foot, blue deck, rockets." And so forth.

Three special calls: If you spot the unit that has your flag, the ball, or whatever, do not blend that into the description, just preface the entire call; "Flag! tank, central, going toward main tunnel."

Any called unit is assumed to be hostile, but if for whatever reason you have the need to point out a friendly unit (for instance, to let your partner know about a support player who will soon become relevant to your attack), preface with "Friendly." So: "Friendly Ghost, red pit, camping."

If you have an enemy come out of the bushes and start pissing on your ass, you can shorthand the call to " on me," meaning they're right where I am, and I'm engaging them. If you're separated, this will be meaningless unless your partner already knows your position (which he generally should). If you're in formation, this is the equivalent of the MMORPGer's "add" (or "FYI, a bad guy just joined the fight"). Only use this if they really are right in the mix; if your partner has to look to find the bad guy, you should have called a location. If you're together, but split, you can also use "<unit> on you" to indicate a bad guy who's a threat to your partner but a ways from yourself.

"Engaging" -- I'm attacking the aforementioned target. Often immediately follows a target announcement. Generally used when partners are separated, since engaging is self-evident if you're in formation. The EXCEPTION is when the wing spots an enemy (whether over yonder or "on me"), announces it, then decides that it needs to be attacked right the hell now, in which case he'll immediately announce "engaging" and go for it, letting his lead know that he just broke off. Try to avoid this; in general merely announcing them should be enough, since your lead can make the decision whether they need to be attacked or not. (He's not dumb, he knows an enemy flag carrier needs to be taken out.) The only time you should be breaking off on your own is when there is absolutely no time to wait for your lead to hear the announcement, locate the enemy, and bring the formation around; usually, this means an enemy (like a tank) just popped up and is about to blow you up.

Make an effort to announce all targets and call when you engage them; even if they're dead in five seconds, it gives your partner some idea of what you're up to and what the situation is over there.

"Defense?" -- What's the defense of the enemy base look like? Response is a series of target calls, unless the answer is just "I don't know," which is valid. Variation: "Friendly defense?" meaning what's the defense of our own base look like.

COMBAT COMMANDS

"Evade" -- Execute an immediate, hard evasive turn or maneuver. (The wheeling, three-plane diagonal turn is a good choice, if you have room.) Used most often when you've just spotted a tank lining up a shot, and you both need to dodge the immediate shot before you engage. Or perhaps there's a rocket floating toward your partner, or whatever.

"Pause" -- Arrest your forward flight for a moment (switching to a hover instead), then continue. Used by a wing that needs to close some distance. Can be used multiple times. Remember, your lead probably can't see you; it's your job to control your formation distance.

"Split" -- Leave formation and move independently. Does NOT mean to abandon the lead and go off on your own business; it just means you can leave your tight chase position and attack the target (or do whatever) however you see fit. "Split" alone is general and leaves the positioning up to the wing; "Split left," "Split right," "Split low," or "Split high" can be used to specifically instruct him where to go (head to the left, the right, drop low, spike up). "Split back" and "Split forward" can also be used (hang back a bit to open formation, or charge ahead while the lead hangs back). The lead may be doing the opposite of what you're doing, or whatever; that's his business. Can also be used out of combat, to mean simply "open up the formation"; if you're told to split (or split in a certain direction), drift off while still maintaining the same heading as your lead, but now with much more distance than you ordinarily would. Because of the difficulty in staying with your lead at these distances, splits should only be used out of combat when you're getting ready to approach an enemy or group of enemies and don't need to do any major travel maneuvering before you arrive. Descriptors like "Split wide" can be used to suggest distance, or combined, as in "Split wide right." A generic split is very common when beginning a dogfight, unless you expect it to be so easy you can just demolish him while still in formation.

"Rejoin" -- Come back to formation after a split. Lead should either hover and wait, then head off once he sees that the wing has reached him, or if they are already close together, just go ahead and let the wing request pauses if necessary to adjust distance.

"Separate" -- Leave formation and take your own control. This breaks a two-man formation and allows a wing to go do his own thing, while the lead does the same. Can be done for fun (if you're getting a little bored of the rigidity of the wing) or for strategic reasons (if the team could be better served by two independent flyers rather than one two-fisted one). There is no elaborate method of rejoining if you later want to form up again; "Location for a meet?" will imply it.

"Entering" -- I'm going in. Usually used to mean that you're about to make a try for their base or flag, or some other protected area. Merely informational in and of itself, though usually it will be paired with a command to tell your wing what to do to support you. Variant is just "Enter" as a command, meaning "you go in."

"Cover" -- Protect me while I do whatever I'm doing. This may seem like what you're doing anyway, but it's not; ordinarily you're HELPING them with what they're doing. Cover means make sure nobody causes them trouble, killing anyone who tries, but not messing with anybody else, and not bothering with whatever the lead's doing, either. Cover while they're attacking a tank doesn't mean help kill the tank; it means circle around (guarding your own safety, of course) and make sure nobody else comes up and shoots the lead in the back. Cover while they're taking the flag generally means fly around near where they landed and make sure their Banshee stays unmolested, the area stays safe, and so on. Cover while they're getting health means similar.

Variant: you can also instruct your wing to cover other people or locations. "Cover flag carrier" means watch the dude with the flag; "Cover that Banshee" means make sure nobody takes it before I get there; "Cover blue deck" means keep the blue deck clear, because I'm going to be there in a second with the flag, or whatever reason. "Cover area" just means cover the area you're currently in; "Split and cover area" is a common command if you want to keep a spot secure until you come back to it, or whatever (see "Safing" below).

"Dismount" -- Land and exit the Banshee. If not paired with any other command, it means you can do the obvious after that; help shoot this guy down, toss some grenades, whatever. Often it will be combined, though, as in "Entering; dismount and cover" (I'm going in; land, get out, and watch my ass. This is distinct from "Entering, cover" since in that case he'd stay in the air.) or "Dismount and log" (grab whatever you need down there) or whatever. The variant, of course, is "Dismounting" as an informational.

"Remount" -- Get back in and rejoin formation. If you are still airborne, "rejoin" has the same implication.

"Stealth" -- Begin flying noiselessly (without "screeching"; how to do this is discussed in the Banshee video). Important to use when attempting to sneak up on someone for a crush, or sneak into a base area without warning everyone, or whatever, since it's no good to go stealth yourself if your wing is still making noise.

"Leave stealth" -- Stop bothering with noiselessness. Joining in combat in any way has the same effect, since you're obviously not going to try to fight without making sound.

"Clear" -- Kill all enemies. Example: "Clear large tunnel." A "split" is implied here, as is a "rejoin" afterwards; this is just a targeting assignment, though it can be combined with a "Cover" to keep them in the area, such as "Clear large tunnel and cover" (kill everyone in the large tunnel, then keep them dead).

"Kill" -- Kill that enemy. Usually combined with a target announcement, unless the target is so obvious (and inconfusable with any other) that it would be needless. For example: "Tank, nest, stationary; kill it." Or if your wing notices first, Wing: "Banshee, left, incoming." Lead: "Kill." As with "clear," a "split" is implied, as is the subsequent "rejoin." While you're on this, the lead might be waiting, he might be doing something else, maybe he'll come and help later, or get a few shots in then leave; it doesn't matter, your job is the same regardless, unless he tells you to rejoin before it's done.

"Hold" -- Stop right where you are and hover. Stop INSTANTLY everything you're doing; do not fire another shot, do not move an inch until released or given another command. This is usually used when a fuckup has occurred.

"Decoy" -- Draw this guy's attention. Fly overhead or past, looking like a stupid great target; do not actually attack, at least not more than a few shots to get their attention. Act like the morons who think wandering around like target dummies is how to fly. Can be combined with a direction, just like "split" ("decoy high," "decoy left"), and should always be combined with a target, if the target is not implied (Wing: "Tank, deck, stationary." Lead: "