Subject: VO: Viper 2 FAQ ver 1.0
From: [email protected] (Alan Tan)
Date: Sat, 29 Jun 1996 18:53:25 GMT
Message-ID: <[email protected]>

Viper FAQ ver 1.0

by Alan Tan

This is a FAQ that focus mainly on vs humans Techniques for Viper.
If you require general information on how to play the game, look for
it at
http://www.singnet.com.sg/~ctan40/ There is a fairly good webpage on
Virtual On.


General Information.

I assume you know how to dash and jump, if not.... sigh. One can stop
dashing
by dashing by dashing in the opposite direction during the dash,
provided one has
not fired in dash. Jump cancel can be done by pressing the sticks
inwards, provided
on has not shot in air or have not reached the apex of the jump. These
two are VERY IMPORTANT techniques, esp the jump cancel for Viper.

Terms I'll be using
Walk= Both joystick in one direction
Dash= Movement with the dash button
side dash=right or left+ dash button
forward dash=forward (inclusive of diagonals)+dash
backward dash=Back (inclusive of diagonals)+dash
Central weapon= Both fire buttons
Right weapon= Right button
Left weapon=left button

Way to win
Hit the opponent and try not to get hit. If you are playing scrubs or
you have just
played the game a few times, the easiest way to win is to take temjin
and fire his
right weapon repeatedly while walking. When opponent shoots, wait for
the shots
to come close, dash to dodge and shoot.The whole point is keep firing
and dun get
hit. If you want to procede to a new level, you must ensure that your
shots have a
higher chance of hitting. Timing is the key. There are two ways to
ensure a hit.
1) After the opponent has commited himself to a dash, you can dash in
a SPECIFIC
direction as to ensure your shots have a high chance of hitting (if he
dun dash cancel)
and at the very least, you will not get hit. I'll called this thrust
vectoring. The whole
point is dash in a direction such that the opponent is moving AWAY
from your
perspective, while you are moving sideways from his perspective. Look
at the web
page I've mentioned for diagrams. It's hard to explain, you have to
play and keep
an eye out on when you get hit and when you hit.
2) Hitting the opponent when he freezes. Opponent will freeze for
VARYING amounts
of time after a Jump or a dash if he did not cancel them. The whole
point of the
game is to time your shots such that it reached the opponent when he
freezes.
You have to play long enough to judge how fast your shots are and when
the
opponent will freeze. One point to note, some characters, notably
Temjin, can
shot at ANYTIME during their dash and so their timing is easier as you
DO NOT
have to time your dash, only when to hit the fire buttons. Other
characters, notably
Feiyan, will release her shots at a specific time of her dash
IRREGARDLESS of when
you hit your fire buttons. Thus, you have to time the beginning of
your dash instead.
This two are the BASIC fundamentals of the vs game. As you can see,
both
techniques require your opponent to dash FIRST. very impt point.

Things that you can do during a dash freeze.
During a dash freeze, there are certain things you can do earlier than
others, ie it allows
you to regain mobility earlier.
1) Fire a central weapon. During the freeze, you can fire your central
weapon before you
can dash or fire the other two weapons. One can cancel the fire of a
central weapon
by dashing. So one can actually dash, shoot, central weapon fire then
cancel by dash.
In this way you can MAYBE recover slighly faster. Anyway you have the
added
advantage of a powerful shot that might kill projectiles coming your
way. BTW, only
a central shot that was fired while you mech is standing still can be
canceled, ie a
crouch central shot or one that is fired while walking cannot be
cancelled. This is of
dire importance to Viper as you Freezes for a LONG time if a do a
walking Homing
and Viper just CANNOT afford to get hit.
2) Jump. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR VIPER AND BBB. The advantage of
doing
a jump after a dash shot is that 1) you recover faster 2) you regain
sight of opponent.
Unless you are a mech with good air capability (Viper+BBB) you run the
risk of getting
shot in the air and unless you are Viper or BBB, it is usually very
stupid to fire in the
air as once you land you are LIKELY to get hit.



Specific info for Viper

Viper is my main character just like Lion in VF2. One must understand
how each of
Viper's weapon works under diiffent conditions.

Special Weapon
Viper's Dash: Can only be done with full ammo. Fly and tap forward and
hit two fire
buttons. Does lots of damage and VERY HOMING. Uses of this move will
be
discussed later in Ariel combat.

Right weapon (Vulcan)
This is Vulcan's main armament. It is weak but recharges fast.
Walking
Standing or walking while pressing the right button will give you a
long stream of weak
shots. They are NOT homing so fast character like Feiyan or Arpharmd
can just walk
to dodge them. They does little damage but little damge is better than
no damge.
The bulk of your damage to the opponent will come from you missles,
homing and
Viper's Dash. But this weapon is far from useless. This weapon
recharges fast and
thus you can use it more freely. Firing the weapon is not to kill the
opponent but
to irrtate him so that he MUST walk or dash to avoid the shots and
thus maybe
giving you a chance to hit him with something more puinch. At the very
least, it
doesn't hurt you a bit to shoot your vulcan so shoot it. One thing
good about
Viper is that he can dodge most shots by just walking. In the
meantime, he  can
fire back at the opponent, gaining initiative if the slower opponent
is forced to dash.
Side dash
Side dash gives three short streams of vulcan. Quite useless actually
as the damage
potential is not worth the freeze after your dash shot. Used only when
you got nothing
else to fire. mm..... one point to note, the dash shot freeze is
different depending on
which weapon you have fired.
foward/back dash
This gives you a long stream of shots. Quite useless too. Firstly,
forward dash is
dangerous to execute and if one has the chance to do it, it is better
to do something
more damaging like homing as your shots are quite likely to hit due to
thrust
vectoring. Back dash is REALLY STUPID. Period.
In flight
In the air you get three short streams of shots. Quite a good option
if you do not
have ammo for homing as the three streams comes out FAST and are quite
difficult
to dodge. The shots are weak but could mean a HUGE differance if time
is running
out and the opponent is leading by a whisker. On the whole, it is
better to cancel
your flight instead of risking the Freeze when you land.
crouch (pressing sticks inwards and fire)
does a short stream of shots. Crouch shots do not require time to
start firing, That
means you can execute a crouch shot immediately when you are walking
and
firing something. Example, Viper is walking and firing his vulcan, he
wants to
fire his missiles. Normally he have to stop firing his vulcan and WAIT
for sometime
before his missiles can be fired. Alternatively, he can do a crouch
shot which
comes out immediately. There are two kinds of crouch shot. a
stationary crouch
and a moving crouch. A moving crouch is done by first walking sideways
and
immediately closing in the sticks for a crouch shot. Needless to say,
a moving
crouching is MUCH better. BTW, you cannot do a moving crouch Homing.

Left Weapon (7-way missiles)
Each weapon have its own uses and the 7way missiles is very strong in
close to
mid range. However the missiles are slow and not very homing so their
power
lies in their numbers.
Walking
Very useful in close to mid range as it is virtually impossible to
dodge 7 missiles
at close range. Useful at longer ranges when used in combination with
homing.
Fire the missiles, force opponent to dodge and use you homing to try
to catch
the opponent when he recovers. One thing to note, if you do a walking
homing
you cannot move for quite an appreciable amount of time. This problem
can be
solved by actually stoppong first then fire or fire your missiles
while ending your
walk behind cover, then fire homing.
Side dash
Side dash missiles gives the missiles a partial upwards velocity in
the beginning
allowing them to go over obstructions. The upwards velocity will cause
the
missiles to miss at very close range and thus in this case there exist
a minimum
range. This minimum range is shoter than that if standing/sidedash
homing.
Useful if there are obstructions between you and the opponent.
Forward dash
This is a power move that can be used to punish opponent in a freeze,
esp a
flight freeze. Time your dash so that you get near when the opponent
stops
and you fire at close to point-blank range, as close as possible. If
all goes
right almost all the 7 missiles will hit giving you very substantial
damage.
Here I need to mention something that is of great importance. When you
fire a weapon in a dash, you mech will turn to face the opponent. How
much the mech turns before releasing his shots is of great importance.
Certain
weapons like Arpharmd shotgun fire almost immediately without turning
(one
of Arpharmd weakness, as Arparmd Cannot do a forward dash shot up
close)
while others like Feiyan's left weapons turn completely to face the
opponent before
releasing any shots. Needless to say, it better to fire at the
opponent. In the
case of 7way missiles, you will release you first missile without much
turning
and then the 2nd, the 3rd all the while turning to face the opponent.
From my
experience, if you forward dash past the opponent and hit your
missiles, the
first 2 will be airballs while the rest should be on target so its not
that bad.
Back dash
This give you a ball of missiles similar to what you get in flight.
Utterly useless.
Flight
Gives a one ball of missiles. Good vs ariel opponent in close range as
the wide
area of the ball ensures a almost certain hit. A homing is better vs
ariel opponent
at mid range. Other than that this move should not be used as the ball
of missiles
are VERY easy to dodge and slow.
Crouch
Looks identical to standing missiles except the missiles supposedly
start from
another direction (Left to right or right to left, I've forgot) Not
much differance I
guess but of course it has the advantage of being a crouch shot (look
at crouch
vulcan for discussion on crouch shots).

Homing
The most powerful weapon of Viper and requires skill (timing) to use.
Standing/Walking
There is a big difference in the standing and walking homing. Even
though they
look the same, the walking Homing CANNOT be cancelled by a dash, ie
you
cannot fire the homing and immediately dash and you will be frozen for
some
time. SO NEVER do the walking homing unless you have cover. The
standing
homing on the other hand allows you to fire and run so its quite safe.
The
homing bean has a quite a big upwards initial velocity allowing it to
go over
obstructions but that also means that is it useless at close range.
The fact
that the homing goes up then down at the opponent means that it has
the
potential to hit the opponent even if he is behind cover. Thus all
depends on
you timing of your shot, release it so that it arrives when the
opponent freezes
and you should do substantial damage.
Sidedash
This sidedash homing has the same upwards velocity as that of a
standing.
Its uses is the same as the standing but with the added advantage of
allowing
you to dodge enemy shots first than counter. Basic use is that you see

opponent jump and fire, you sidedash to dodge the shot and time your
homing
to hit the opponent when he lands. Useful against people like Viper
and BBB.
Forward,Back Dash. The great thing about this shot is you do not have
to
worry about where the opponent lands, you just have to TIME your shot
and your mech will turn to face the opponent and the upward velocity
ensures
your homing will reach your target even if he is behond cover.
This give you a homing without a upwards velocity allowing for close
combat.
The forward dash shot is VERY USEFUL for viper. Firstly, viper will
turn and
face the opponent before releasing the shot and that coupled with the
homing
ability make the shot deadly accurate. One way is to dash past the
opponent
and release the shot where you opponent CANNOT see it coming. Thus he
doesn't know exactly when to dodge and will probably dodge too early,
allowing
the homing to adjust its flight and track him down.
Crouch
Identical to Walking homing as you cannot cancel by dash. As the
advantages
of a crouch shot.

Combat!!
There are basically two kinds of combat involving Viper, Ariel and
land combat.
Both are equally important. When I first started out playing Viper, I
did not
understand the importance of land combat and consequently I lost to
players
who know the weakness of Viper. That is he is VERY vulnerable at the
point
he lands. Let me discuss Ariel combat as I feel that that is more
shallow.

Ariel combat.
Viper has great lateral movement capability in the air and thus almost
impossible to hit. One must ALWAYS be moving sideways to dodge any
potential shot. It does Viper great injustice if you were actually
shot down
in the air. The is a shot perios when Viper is rising from the ground
when he
can get shot but other than that you SHOULD NOT get hit in the air.
Once
you are in the air you can mainly do five things, first three being
firing each
of the three weapons, fourth being Viper's dash while fifth is flight
cancel.
BTW, Viper is the strongest when he is in the air above the opponent's
head, out of sight. There is not much offensive point is jumping from
far in plain sight. Thus the later discussion is based on the fact
that
you are flying above the opponent. BTW, where you land is critical so
try to find some cover where you land.
1) Shooting Vulcan. This does minor damage which unless this minor
damage is critical to the game or you are certain of very good cover
upon
landing, do not attempt this.
2) Shooting missiles: This is very strong against an opponent who is
very
close, prefably in the air whereby a certain hit is almost ensured.
Other
than that you should save your missiles. A quick flight cancel,
walking
missiles is much more powerful.
3) Shooting homing.
The basic trick Viper has is mixing up his Homing and Viper's dash.
The whole point is that the only way to dodge the Viper's dash is by
jumping which leaves the opponent vulnerable to the homing. So the
threat of getting hit by the Viper's dash coming from nowhere often
force the oponent to jump. Once he jump, fire the homing for an easy
hit.
4) Viper's dash
A powerful option for Viper in the air, a dangerous one too. The point
is ONLY do the dash above the opponent's head where he CANNOT
see it coming. To do otherwise will make you vulnerable when you
recover. If the opponent successfully jump and dodge the Dash, he
will then jump cancel and try to hit slice or hit you when you
recover.
All is not lost as the time when you lose you invulnerabililty to when
you gain mobility is quite short making the timing of the counter
difficult. Raiden is the MOST dangerous character to try a viper dash.
In fact, its just no point cuz one miss, Raiden will shoot his Lasers
which last soo long and will catch you the instant you recover,
leaving
you with a silver of life. Aprharmd and Temjin is also dangerous to
try against. The whole point is shoot more homing than Viper dash,
thus the opponent develops a habit of dashing away. Then once a while
do the Dash.
5) Doing the above tactics will give you a competent Viper but it is
the Flight cancel that will make your Viper one to be reckon with.
Firstly, although Viper is strong in the air, he is very vulnerable
when
he lands. Secondly, his LONG hangtime in the air allows the opponent
ample time to orientate after dodging Viper's shots and punish Viper.
Thirdly, good players with an idea of it is almost impossible to hit
Viper in the air will usually just concentrate on dodging Viper shots
first. So if you are directly above your opponent, GOOD players
will dash to dodge a possible homing then maybe cancel it by a jump
to dodge a possible Viper's dash. The jump will be most probably be
cencelled immediately once the opponent sees that there is no Vipers
dash coming as one is vulnerable in the air (unless one is Viper or
BBB). This series of movement is actually quite good defensively
as it keeps one really safe. Notice that the opponent will not fire
any shots which is reasonable cuz the is very little chance of hitting
viper in the air so the opponent will try to dodge then wait for you
to land. Taking advantage of your opponent's mentality, you can
flight cancel safely then upon landing release your missiles which is
very strong at close range. The whole point of flight cancel is that
it allows you to land safely by sacrificing shooting in the air, which
will most probably miss anyway if the opponent is good and follow
the above-mentioned series of movements. So when you land, you
must know the mechanics of land combat esp vectoring.

Land Combat.
Viper has VERY WEAK armour and thus will be skewered if he tries
to engage the opponent in a land only battle as he just cannot
afford to get hit. Land battles however is still a part od Viper's
arsenel and CANNOT be ignored.
From Afar.
The high offensive capability and mobility give Viper an edge in
long-distance combat. The point is fire as many shots as possible
from your three weapons and hope that one catches the opponent.
Example, walking vulcan, crouch (moving) missiles, homing, dash
vulcan. This barrage will confuse the opponent and hopefully
something will hit, most probably the dash vulcan. The point is
you are not supposed to get hit from afar as you have ample time
to see shots coming. This applies to the opponent as well but
viper has far more shots than any others adn it is through numbers
that Viper hopes to score a hit.
Mid Range
Viper is in a extremely dangerous position at mid range as he
is quite vulnerable on the ground. So the whole point is when
the opponent shoots something, fly. DON'T DASH. Try to get over
the opponent's head to set up offenseve chances. You can fire
your missiles at mid range and they are quite powerful.
Close up combat
This case occurs when you flight cancel relatively close to the
opponent. In this case the opponent should be slightly disoriented
as he is in the process of dodging you supposedly air shots. A
quick release of Homing or Missiles should ensure a hit. Use
homing if the opponent is dashing away from you madly. Use
missiles if the opponent is not disoriented and facing you.
Alternatively, if the opponent is facing you, a quick dash past
him then fire you homing is a good choice.

Playing for time out.
Viper can play for time out if you are leading by a series of flight
cancels.

Effect of stages.
Viper is the strongest in Space Dock where there is this huge
obstruction which provides great cover for Viper. Viper is the
weakest in Ruins where there is no cover.

That's all for Viper
As usual comments and flames are welcome.


Alan Tan

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