The Art of Chaos
An Intermediate Ship Guide
By Ace-High

Chaos is pandemonium. It is the most diverse zone in SS as far as playing style goesand for this reason many conflicts of philosophies and personalities erupt. This is a volatile zone and only those with tough skin and/or a good sense of humor survive. The community prides itself on loving to hate everyone. 

More than any other zone, Chaos is built on the premise of survival of the fittestyou will have to master every dirty trick in the book. Even if you consider yourself honorable, even if you dont resort to the lowliest of tacticsyou will need to know how to avoid them, and turn them back on your enemies. You will have to claw and scratch your way through neggers, suiciding negs, cloaking mine reppers, swarms, and turrets to get your kills and attempt to win the reset (winners are posted every two weeks in many different categories)and this is the true test of Chaos, can you outlame everyone else, or are you good enough to cut the legs out from the lamers themselves without stooping to their level?

Lag is also a fundamental part of the game; expect the unexpectednothing is stable. Getting killed because of a spike or watching a guy fly through 6 bombs are not uncommon occurrencesdont let this get to you. Theres no point in getting frustrated about something you cant control.

II. The Ships

Here are a few tips and tricks you may or may not know about each of the ships.

A. Warbird

This is the backbone ship of the zone. Its maneuverability makes it the ship of choice for most experienced pilots. This is a game where centimeters and seconds count; dodging and positioning are the key elements, making the bird the most popular ship in the flock. This is a good ship for driving turrets and for gunningrotation is very important when multiple targets are coming in from different directions. This is also the most likely choice for pilots who value piloting skill over some of the darker tactics.

B. Javelin

Even though it is the fastest ship in the game, it has very poor rotation speed. It isnt a very popular ship because of most pilots tendencies to fly really fast and not be able to turn at the moment they would most like to. However, if flown correctly, this is an extremely effective death dealer. The walls are your allies; use them to change your direction without losing your precious speed. Typical uses for it include making speedy escapes and long range, high-speed radar bombings, but it can also prove deadly in medium range duels. The main reason is that every ship in the game has exactly the same top speed, except the javelinall pilots get an instinct for how to judge their aim, but the Jav has a tendency to throw even the most skilled pilots aim off. This is a good ship for flying solo as long as you stay out of heavily populated areas. Lancing forward from low speed to high speed with guns blazing in a straight line is a common tacticbecause of the great speed variation, the bullets in Jav streams tend to overlap at a critical moment in a devastating manner; timing the overlap can catch even the most skilled players off guard--a stream of 6 or 7 bullets can often appear to be 2 or 3.

C. Spider

This is the ship I had the most disdain for for the longest time, but its far more deadly than I gave it credit for. Its incredibly cheap cloaking ability makes this the number one assassin ship. This is also the ship used for the deadly cloaker turrets.  A skillful pilot can work wonders with this ship for one reason: energy. A spiders cloak takes the same amount of energy as running x-radar. In a dueling situation a good spider pilot will often have an advantage that makes up for his lack of maneuverability. In a one on one situation, turn stealth off and stay cloaked during the whole fightthis will force the other pilot to either a) keep x on (giving you the energy advantage) or b) if he thinks hes good, turn it off every time you attack (usually causing a small hesitation). Mixing it up with stealth to keep them off balance and using anti just before going for the kill will often spell the demise of your enemies. One last note, many pilots have a strong disliking for cloakers and will go out of their way to neg or vulch one.

D. Leviathan

The most powerful mines and bombs in the game make this a ship to be reckoned with. Though this ship has earned the reputation of being a radar bombing vulcher (or vulture, meaning someone who attacks weakened targets hoping for easy kills), mine repper, and turret gunner (it excels at all these) but in the right hands it can wreak havoc in any situation. This is the ship I used for my first 2 weeks of subspace back in Oct. 97 when I was ~Demo42. I wasnt good enough to kill anyone with skill so I kept assorted mines in the area I flew in. Id never do enough damage on my own to get a kill, but many times an unexpected stray mine in the area would finish them off. Most solo Levi pilots I see these days have made it a habit of runningusing there l3s around corners and turning on weakened pursuers. These are effective tactics, but when the zone is heavily populated, long-running or camping situations will often get you killed or at least deplete your reps. The best ally of any pilot is the unexpected. In a Levi, the unexpected is your bulletsuse them! Be aware that other pilots use a Levis prox against them--they fly just in and out of the bomb/bullet gray area waiting for one close bomb (the Levs biggest weakness). Another uncommon tidbit about Levis is the fact that even though L3 bombs cost more energy to fire than L2s on other ships, laying L3 mines costs the same as laying L2 minesthis ship is made for running. If you cant keep the enemy outside the deadly L3 perimeter, stick to bullets, learn to aim, and make every single one count and the Levi will not let you down. 

E. Terrier

This ship has the stigma of being considered the newbie shipsupposedly the double fire bullets make up for inexperienced aim. The main terrier tactic for new players is lancing forward in a straight line holding the fire key down and praying to hitif a miss occurs (as usual) then fly away and recharge, rinse, repeat.  Try to keep this ship in areas with many walls...many bouncing bullets work to your advantage.

F. Weasel

The weasel is probably the most offensive ship in the game and a rocketing weasel is an enemy to be avoided at all costs. Their ability to see mines on radar and energy freezing emps are offset somewhat by the lack of shrap and mobility (which is equal to the Terrier, Lanc, Levi, and Spider). This ship is a favorite for turret hunters and swarmers. Alone, the weasel isnt particularly effective without rockets as most players have a healthy dose of caution in combat against weasels. With the unique ability to fire bullets without delay after a bomb, weasels are best used punching through the bomb/bullet gray area right after their enemy has fired a bombtiming the attack well will often give the weasel a 2 or 3 bullet advantage not to mention the possible freeze effect. However, as a vulcher or even point guard, this ships effect is unwholesome. Even a nick from an emp bomb can set up an enemy for death from any wandering enemies. The only downfall of the weasel is that failed attack attempts suck incredible amounts of energy and invariably lead to early repsits very difficult to stay alive in a weasel for extended periods of time with so many vultures around. 

G. Lancaster

This is my favorite ship that I never play. Its incredibly rare to see solo Lancs. Most of the time you will see these as the gunner of choice atop turrets which is exactly where they are most effective--random bounce kills are common when enough Lancs are working together. Using this ship alone is an art form that few possessits almost like playing pool using angles to your advantage. I really would like to see more people using this ship, but bouncing bombs just arent enough incentive to use something so lacking in mobility. Your best bet is to keep the lanc near walls at all times since open space negates the lancaster's only strength.


H. Shark

This ship is the only one that has changed significantly since the game was first created.  Currently, this ship is close-range assault ship which is slightly more maneuverable than all ships except the bird.  It's primary strength is in its guns which fire faster than all other ships.  The strategy is similar to the terrier but caters to more advanced pilots.


Best of Luck,
~Ace
