Entropy Guide
Written by Suncho
DESCRIPTION:
Entropy is a 2 Team Mod involving special rooms in the level.
OBJECT:
Take over all the special rooms in the level.
RULES:
Each special room belongs one of the two teams. The color of the room
corresponds to the color of the team it belongs to. The blue rooms belong to the
blue team, and the red rooms belong to the red team. Each room has a function
and only performs its function for its respective team.
There are 3 types of rooms:
Energy Room: This rooms is like a typical energy center except of course it's
your team's color instead of yellow and blinky. Also it refills energy at a
slightly slower rate. You can tell energy rooms from the other rooms by the
picture of an energy powerup on the wall.
Repair Room: The same as an energy room except it does shields instead. These
rooms are distinguished by the logo of a wrench and a cross on the wall.
Virus Room (Laboratory): This room spawns virus powerups. Viruses are funky
looking metal wiry round things that you can pick up like other powerups. Their
use will be described later in this post. There is a maximum of 4 viruses in one
virus room at a time and a maximum of 16 viruses floating around in all the
virus rooms of one team combined. This doesn't count the viruses people have on
them.
It is possible to steal the other teams rooms and make them perform their
functions for your team instead. The object of the game is steal all of the
opposing team's rooms. Once you got 'em all your team has won.
Using Virii:
In order to convert one of your opposing team's rooms you must have at least 5
virii on you. You must enter the opposing team's room and remain completely
still inside it for 3 seconds. When you enter the room a timer will appear and
start at 3 seconds. If you stay still it counts down. If you move it gets reset
to 3. When it reaches zero the room changes color and starts performing its
function for your team. Beware though for you take damage when inside one of the
other team's rooms. It sounds like getting hit with omega or overcharging the
fusion and can be heard a mile 'round.
Getting Virii:
If you try to pick up a virus you might notice that it won't let you. The
problem is that your virus capacity is zero. You'll notice that under the team
names is a virus capacity indicator. It shows (how many viruses you have)/(how
many you can have). When you start the game your virus capacity will be zero.
But for each kill you get it goes up by 2. So in order to take a room, you need
at least 3 kills in a row (which will give you a capacity of 6). If you die or
suicide your virus capacity gets reset to zero.
Always a Virus Room:
If a team's final virus room is converted and they have other rooms remaining,
one of the energy or repair rooms is permanently converted to a virus rooms so
they still have a chance at winning the game.
GAME OVERVIEW:
In Entropy there are basically 4 different States:
1. Neither team has cap (enough viruses to take a room).
2. One or more people on your team team has cap.
3. One or more people on opposing team has cap.
4. Both Teams have cap.
State #1 (Nocap State):
Everyone on your team should go around killing people and trying to get cap.
State #2 (Ourcap State):
Do the same stuff as State #1 except the guy who has cap should be trying to
take rooms from the other team. Be patient though. If they're on to you run,
come back, and try again. Dying is a lot worse than barely squeezing in a
takeover. If they both seem equally likely then don't stay.
State #3 (Theircap State):
One designated person will be trying to get cap (has to have good piloting
skills). The rest of the team will be individually guarding preassigned rooms so
they don't get taken over by the enemy. Which rooms our team owns will change
over time so the assignments will change. One of two things will happen. Either
the person designated to attain cap will, resulting in State #4, or the person
on the opposing team who has cap will be killed by one of the people guarding
resulting in state #1.
State #4 (Reset State):
This is the "reset state". The person who has cap on your team should not be
trying to take additional rooms because he risks dying and the other team can
just take them back. That's what happens during this state. The losing team
takes back all their rooms and if either team takes something from the other, it
is taken back. People (except the guy with cap) should be going after the other
team's guy with cap. They don't need to guard because your guy with cap can just
take everything back.
STRATEGY:
Unlike anarchy, entropy is a game of patience. Wait for the right time to strike
and unlike CTF where you have something to lose if you're not guarding the
opposing flag base, it's good to coordinate all attacks and go in waves in
Entropy. Normally you should try to stay as close to your team's base (the side
of the level with all your rooms) as much of the time as possible. This forces
the other team to come to you meaning they have to fly all the way back to their
base to refill on shields and energy. When you're close or in your team's base
the supply lines are shorter which is always a good thing in war.
It's usually good to go after the rooms the other team has the fewest of. For
example in Steel Vapor each team starts with a single energy room. This should
be a primary target. If they end up having no shields or no energy that's a big
advantage for your team.
Don't get hung up on how many kills you have. In Entropy it's important to focus
on not dying rather than kiling. If you're hurt, then run back to the repair
room. The reason you try not to get killed is more to prevent the other team
from getting viruses than to protect your own virus load. Keep that in mind. If
you have no choice but to die, make it a suicide. Your team won't lose any
points for dying, but your opponent's virus capacity goes up if you're killed by
him.
At least one person on your team should be using f7 to see who on the other team
has enough kills in a row to take a room. Page up and page down scroll through
the players on the list. The entire team should be kept up to date through Roger
Wilco as to who has cap and who doesn't.
When going into the other team's base to take a room, if anyone shoots at you
immediately turn and run back because they most likely have noticed you, know
that you have enough viri to take a room, and will try to kill you. It's always
more wise to run away and try again later because if you fail you'll have to go
through the whole process of getting kills again. In order to prevent the other
team from noticing you, a cloak is often wise. Sometimes it's even advisable to
wait and find a cloak before you go in. If we're in state #2 and you yourself
don't have cap, you should announce over Roger Wilco so the person who does have
cap can get it. Even so, whether the person with the virus load has a cloak or
not, it is best to go in with your whole team so as to provide multiple targets.
Another strategy which is which works when full hudnames are off is mixing up
with people on your team who are using the same ship. That way the other team
might go after the wrong guy and by the time they figure out what happened the
room is taken. This increases the chances that your the package will be
delivered. On the flip side it's usually good to try to memorize what ships
everyone on the other team is in so you can know who to go after. =)
Don't attack people when they're in their shield room unless you plan on hitting
them with a lot of secondaries, because unless you kill them fast, they'll just
regain the shields they lose. Impact Mortars, Frags, Black Sharks, Mega's, and
Napalm should do the trick if someone is hiding in there. But remember, no
primary weapon alone is able to do the job. Sometimes having them cornered in a
shield room is an advantage. The reverse is also true. Hiding in shield rooms is
often the only option when under heavy fire, but it does narrow your options.
Sometimes you need to stay in there to survive which means your enemies know
exactly where you are. If they don't have mad napalm rockets then you're ok
though.
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Exploit the other team's chain.
Try to avoid confrontations with the players who you know can beat you instead
focus on people you think you can take. A kill is a kill. It doesn't matter who
you kill. You still get the same virus capacity bonus. If you stay away from the
'strong' links then you don't have to worry about those pilots getting enough
viruses either. If you ARE the weakest link, g'bye!
It is often wise to have one team "coordinator" who coordinates the effort. He
should announce all attacks, and keep the team updated on the opposing team's
kill streaks via Roger Wilco or team chat. He should also be keeping track which
ships which opponents are in so they can be more easily identified. The primary
targets are the people who have enough kills to take a room. This person should
be an experienced Entropy player.
Remember that Entropy probably looks more complicated than it really is. Most of
what's been written here is common sense. Just play a few games and you'll get
the hang of it. Most people who learn really like it, but more people need to
learn. When learning the game don't get caught up on memorizing these tips. Just
remember the rules and you can check back here for reference.
POSITIONS:
Most people will should a preassigned room(s) to guard and there should be one
person designated to try to get cap in state #3 (TheirCap) but that's it. Also
if hudnames are off it's sometimes wise for the entire team to use the same ship
so the opponents can't tell you apart. You may also want to single your
opponents out by which ships they're in and use text taunts to notify the team
which type of ship has cap on the other team.