~B~1Boom Ball X Help Files~B~2

Table of Contents:

1) Greetings
2) Weapons
3) Play
4) Strategy
6) Tips
7) Lingo
8) Misc. Info
9) Credits/Notes

~B~1Greetings~B~2

Hola!

Hopefully this Help File will be of some use to you.  Boom Ball X, hereafter known as BBX, is a great zone.  You may, however, need to dedicate some time to learning it before you realize its full potential.  Enjoy!


~B~1Weapons~B~6

Boom Balls are the main weapon in BBX.  Boom Ball's are the only weapon that causes any physical damage.  Boom Balls do 30 Health damage and 500 Energy Drain.  You may carry 3 of these at any given time.

~2Sticky bombs do no physical damage, but cause players hit by the bomb to be "stuck" for a short period of time.  While the player can drift and fire weapons, thrust controls do not respond.  You may carry 1 of these at any given time.

~6Deflectors are devices which will repel all enemy weapons hurled at you.  Deflected Boom Balls can still kill you and your team-mates.  Deflectors also drain the energy of enemy units if they are close enough when it is 'fired'.  You are allowed to carry one of these.

~2Jump is technically not a weapon, but can be used to augment the power of your weapons.  Jump and deflectors can be used in tandem or one after the other to avoid boom balls and sticky bombs.  Jump also must be used to score down the center on the goal.  Jump uses 100 energy and takes a few seconds to reload.

~B~1Play~B~2

Play in BBX is very simple although at first glance it may seem difficult to understand what is happening.  You will be on one of two teams, either Ice Demons or Tachyons.  You begin the game in the 'off-court' area. 

~6When you are in the 'off-court' there are 3 warp points which will take you onto the 'pitch' these are named 'Goal' , 'Back' and 'Fore'.  'Goal' will take you to the section where you need to defend your goal.  'Back' will take you to the section where you will need to get the ball past the opponents back players and to your teams fore players, you will also need to intercept the balls from the opposing teams backs who will be trying to get the ball to their fore players.  'Fore' you will be receiving the Ball from your backs and trying to get it into the goal of your opponents.

~2The overall goal is to shoot the Ball into the other team's 'Goal'.  A game is won when either team scores 5 goals or if your team is winning at the end of the time limit, when your team wins you will gain experience points.

~6The * (asterisk) sign next to a players name on the player list denotes that they are currently in possession of the ball.

~B~1Strategy~B~2

Your area ('Fore' 'Back' 'Goal') will not always possess the Ball but it is always useful for you to be killing the players in the next area along from you towards where the Ball is, this will help your teammates do their job.

~6Holding down Shift will increase your speed though it will use energy, this can be used to intercept Balls and just before passing will increase your speed and therefore the speed of the Ball.

~2Holding down the Shift key also applies to Boom Balls.  Boom Balls bounce and are thrown farther/faster when you are moving faster yourself.  Try building up your momentum, then throwing a Boom Ball, it will go much faster and farther.  Since Boom Balls bounce, you can hit them off walls to get them into protected crannies in order to hit a hiding player.

~6Do not forget you do not always need to pass area to area you can just pass between other people in your area if you do not have a route through the enemy players.

~2The Ball must be taken control of within a few seconds of it being released.  If no one goes to get the Ball and take control of it soon enough, it will automatically respawn along the centre line in between the two 'Back' sections of the map.  

~6Balls on the centre, grey line, can be taken control of by anyone.  Balls on the red or blue 'pitch' can only be taken control of by their respective teams.

~2Too many cooks spoils the... ugh... 'Goal'?  Too many goalies means you have to fight over the limited amount of weapons that will spawn, AND that there aren't many people in the 'Back' and 'Fore' sections.

~6Before shooting a ball through a certain area, try softening up their defences.  If you kill all their players first, they won't be able to stop the ball.  Remember, if your Sticky Bomb someone, they can still take control of the ball if it passes by close enough, and they can still launch Boom Balls at you.

~2Jump can be a very useful, and hard to master, tool.  Using Jump you can shoot things over the opposing team's players.  Jumping and shooting is the only way you can score down the center portion of the goal.

~B~1Tips~B~2

Staying motionless is near impossible, rather than trying to remain still, simply attempt to control your drifting.

~6In the 'Goal' areas, most of the weapons spawn near the goal box itself.

~2Even if you cannot see Ball on your screen, because you can only see a small portion of the map, you can still know where the ball is and who is in control.  You will notice a flashing symbol that looks much like '{' on the edge of your screen.  It follows the ball around, so you will be able to tell if the ball is above, equal to, or below your position.  Also, it will flash white and yellow when your team controls the ball, and white and red when the opposing team controls the ball.

~6It is easier to intercept the Ball when you are on the opposite side from where it is launched, this gives you more time to intercept it.  Using a deflector against the Ball is only useful in preventing goals, else it simply sends the Ball back to the enemy.

~2If you use a Deflector along the line dividing two parts of the map (where your team and another teams area's meet) it is possible to zap the energy of nearby opposing units.  

~6It never hurts to commend someone on a good pass or intercept or goal or anything.  A 'good shot' here and there never hurts anyone.  If someone makes a mistake, a polite correction may be in order.  No one, however, will listen to you if you curse and scream at them.

~2When playing 'Goal', hug the back wall as much as possible.  If you stay close to the opposing team's 'Back', then you can expect to get blasted a lot more often.  

~2Most importantly, have fun!

~B~1Lingo~B~2

Boom Ball X specific language:

~6'The Ball', acts like a soccer or rugby ball, it looks like an encased skull (EDITOR NOTE: This is what it should look like in the future)

~2'Crease', the yellow box around the outside of the actual goal-area inside of 'Goal'

~6'Gray Line', the thick, gray line that seperates areas of the map.  You can reach just a bit over the crease into the opposing teams zone order to capture the ball.

~2'Column', a column looks like it is out of a pinball machine.  It can be shot over with a jump shot.

~2BBX is an acronym for Boom Ball X

~6BBXL is an acronym for Boom Ball X League

~B~1Misc. Info~B~2

You can only change zones after you die.  This is not an error, it is part of the game design, without this feature, every player would zone hop to wherever the Ball is at.

~6BBX League Referees cannot give out experience to you in the public arenas.  No matter how much you beg, they won't give you experience, period.  

~2If a Referee or Moderator instructs you to do something, do it.  They always have a good reason, which will become apparent to you eventually, there is no point to getting into a fight with them, which you will always ultimately lose.  Referees have many choices for which to deal with trouble-makers, but they'd rather everyone has a nice day.  Pleading with Refs/Mods only works if you send them donuts.

~6You can post your comments, questions and ideas about BBX on the infantryzone.com forums (http://bbs.infantryzone.com --> Zone Forums --> Boom Ball X Forum)

~B~1Credits/Notes~B~2

~2Gommy can be contacted at bbx@gomms.demon.co.uk.  Gommy is co-coordinator for the Boom Ball X Leauge, please address comments/questions about BBXL to him.

~6Greenrolo.com used to own something a long time ago, but now he just sucks.  Contact him with ~Bpertinent~B (that means IMPORTANT) information relating to this Help File at docmarcel@aol.com  

~1Created: May.19.2000
Revised: June.2.2000

Draft: 11