About the Guide and the Author
My name is LaenZero, and I am a poor pilot playing games of skill. At the time this guide was written, I had about 50 days of in-match time, a 1.18 win/loss ratio, and an omelette for breakfast. I play mostly in t3 but I’ve played a fair amount of t5 for quests. As of the time the guide was written, the efficacy of the tactics presented here does not change between the tiers.
Detonation is probably my favorite game mode in the game right now, as it’s probably the one that has the most room for strategy, jebaiting, and mindgames. I’d really like to see more objective based game modes in the game rather than the chaotic firefiestas that most games end up being. I thought I’d write up a guide on what I think is the most effective way to win in Detonation.
The Basics
We’ll start with the basics. As by the official page:
On 3/2/2013 at 9:12 AM, Error18512 said:
Game mode information:
- Each team spawns on one side of the battlefield
- Each team has 3 stations on their side
- At the beginning a neutral EM-bomb is located in the middle of the battlefield. Max. amount of bombs on the battlefield: 2
- You need to destroy enemy stations using the bombs
- Shooting a station won’t damage it
- In order to pick up a bomb, you need to fly close to it, within 300 metres
- In order to plant a bomb on an enemy station you need to fly close to the station while carrying the bomb
- While carrying the bomb, your ship speed and afterburner speed will be reduced
- Using modules that make you invincible or invisible for a certain time or warp your ship to another location will make the bomb drop
- Unlimited respawn
Winning conditions:
- Destroy all enemy stations.
- If the time runs out, the team which destroyed the most stations wins. If both teams have the same amount of stations remaining, the team with more kills wins the battle.
It should also be noted here that if the bomb remains un-captured, yet in a location other than it’s original spawn point, after about a minute and a second or two, the bomb will teleport back to the center. This can allow for some interesting game play, though I have yet to see anyone actually abusing this mechanic.
Simple, right? You grab the boomboom, run up to their station, and blow it up. Rinse and repeat until you win the game… Right? WRONG. Actually no, not quite wrong. There are some pilots who can either kill everything, or dodge every single bullet on the way there (or both). If there is one of these pilots on your team, or you are one of those pilots, disregard this guide, you can just brute force the victory. If however, you are like me, a sad pilot with pincers for hands, you can still usually win by out thinking your opponent.
A Poor Pilots No Scheiss Sherlock Foundational Concepts
1. Defense is easier than offense.
- Given that respawn times are equal for both teams, and that you are defending on your side of the map, ships killed in defense will return to the fight faster than ships killed on offense.
2. Player carried bombs are not marked on the map, only on the Player.
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If you fly off the radar of all the enemy team, they will not know where you are.
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They can make educated guesses though. If a member of the enemy team has the bomb and is not marked on the map, you can be almost sure as hell that they’;re vroomvrooming along some back route toward your station.
3. Two bombs are better than one.
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Given that all allied players are marked on the map, having both bombs frequently grants more vision of bombs than having only one.
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Given that there are a finite amount of players on the enemy team having two bombs results in a lower amount of defending players per bomb.
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It should also be noted that players frequently go ham for the bomb, allowing you to farm more kills.
4. The more stations you destroy, the harder it is to destroy stations.
- Given that there are a consistent ratio of players between teams, the amount of players guarding each station per player attacking the station will increase as the amount of stations decreases.
5. The enemy will find it challenging to win if they have no bombs.
- In a situation where you have destroyed more stations than your opponents, you will win the game when time runs out. Therefore, given that there are a max of two bombs on the map, if you retain control of both bombs in such a situation, your enemies literally cannot win.
A Poor Pilots General Game Plan for the Detonation
Step 1: Obtain the first bomb. Whether you just flap over to the boomboom really fast, or kill the person who did it faster, the result is the same. Unless you are at least 90% sure you can deliver the bomb without interruption, you should probably wait until your team has control (and thus, vision) of both bombs, to attempt to deliver it. It should be noted that if the second bomb has not yet spawned, it is sometimes correct to rush it to their station, especially if their team has a lot of slow ships that will not be able to stop you.
Step 2: Have a teammate obtain the second bomb. See above, replace “you” with “they”.
Step 3: Take a look at the kills, and communicate with/observe your teammate.
- 3a: If you have a large lead in kills, and the station count is even, it may be worthwhile to stall station destruction altogether. Your bomb carrying ally must be on board for this, and you should communicate this intended gameplan to your team.
- 3b: If your bomb carrying ally has decided to wing it to a station, pick another station and head there fast but sneakylike, giving your team the best chance to succeed. If you split up and head to different stations by different routes, it will be more challenging for the enemy team to stop both of you. Frequently, they’ll clusterfrump and kill one guy and then there will be like one engineer frantically pinging the other one. In an optimal situation, at least one supporting ship should be with each bomb carrier. In the case that the bomb carrier dies, sometimes the supporting ship can reclaim the bomb and finish the mission, and in other cases, can maintain vision on the bomb.
Step 4: Assuming that step 3b was executed successfully (at least one station was destroyed), you should be up in stations. If not, repeat steps 1 through 3 until you are.
- 4a: The long grind begins. Gain control over the bombs as they spawn/are delivered into your hands by the enemy, and, should your allies be on board, protect them like mad so that the enemies cannot obtain them. The best way to do this is to fly the bombs to your spawn point, and make a ball of ships around the carriers. As your team dies off and respawns you can make it into a proper frigball. Even if the ship carrying the bomb dies, do not panic. It is rather hard to capture a bomb and make it out while the entire enemy team is surrounding it. If an enemy manages such a feat, do not break your formation too much, unless you only have one station remaining. Sending a few pilots to run the down is ok, but any more than that and you risk losing your other precious boomboom. You should have farmed enough kills from their failed bomb reclamation attempts to win the game anyway.
- 4b: If, however, both you and your bomb carrying ally died during Step 3, and have delivered the bombs to your enemies, this is where you need to be careful. As soon as you die, if your team no longer has vision of one or both of the bombs, communicate to your team that it is imperative that they send out scouts to search the area around the stations nearest to the site where the bomb was last seen. With some luck, your team will regain control over both of the bombs and be able to repeat steps 1 through 3 in the time remaining.
Step 5: ???
Step 6: Profit. Cry because no one actually does this, they just kill themselves over and over and over until the enemy makes a comeback or you win. Then, after playing a bunch of games like this, go write a guide on the internet on a forum that literally 3 people visit, in a section that almost no one goes to, and then end the guide with a passive aggressive rant. yep.
Closing Thoughts
You may notice that the Game Plan is labeled “General”. This is intentional, and implies that it is not a end all be all plan. Given different situations and pilots of different skill levels, you should adjust accordingly. For example, if there is a player of extremely high skill on the enemy team, it is important to have vision of that player before deciding where and when to drop bombs. You also probably shouldn’t go super ham with the bomb and give it to that player. Perhaps in such a situation, one bomb carrier can bait that player out of position, and the other can push.
You may also notice that the phrase “communicate with your teammates” is used here frequently. That’s because having a unified plan is often the best way to win. However, if you cannot communicate with them, (ie language barrier, chat banned for too much flaming, pincers for hands) judging the situation becomes extra important. Sometimes denying the enemy team and your suicidal allies one bomb while participating in the handling of the other bomb is best. Sometimes cowering in the corner of the map with the bomb is the correct choice. Sometimes killing yourself over and over participating in the dropping of the bomb alongside your allies is the only way to win. In the wise words of a pro gamer, “user your brain”. Or just get lucky. It’s tough.
Sometimes, your teammates won’t like your revolutionary ideas. They’ll say things like “I just play to have fun, sitting around isn’t really fun.” Or “What, hard to fly with pincers for hands?”. Or “LaenZero, shut up, you suck moron”. Take in these constructive criticisms, and remember the wise phrase, “When in Idiotville, do as the idiots do.” I might have that phrase wrong, but the idea is a good one overall. I cannot emphasize how important it is to realize that one bad team plan is often better than 5 individuals doing 1/5th of 5 good ones.
Anyway, I think that’s all, but if I’ve missed anything, let me know.
Edit 1 (27/9/2017 1100UTC): Clarity, detail, flow, spelling and grammar mistakes, additional thoughts on strategy.
Edit 2 (27/9/2017 730UTC): Changed edit time recording method, added additional bomb mechanics.