Neopets (Online) Deckball: The Manic-Depressant Strategy Document written by PyroFalkon (pyrofalkon@hotmail.com) Latest Update: 1st Day of Storing, Y5 (1 November 2003) Current Version: 1.0b +---------------+ |+-------------+| ||LATEST UPDATE|| |+-------------+| +---------------+ v1.0b (1 November 2003) It's been nearly a year, but unfortunately my site is down for the count. Luckily, IGN has decided to host my FAQs too, so it's all good. A new copyright notice is the only change. +-------------------+ |+-----------------+| ||TABLE OF CONTENTS|| |+-----------------+| +-------------------+ 1. Intro 2. The Two Key Points 3. The Basic Theory a. Know Physics b. Know Yourself 4. Power-ups and Random Events 5. Playing Defense (the Depressant) a. The Corner Self-Score 6. Playing Offense (the Manic) 7. Playing Passively (the Double-Depressant) 8. Version History 9. Copyright Info 10. Contact Info +----------+ |+--------+| ||1. INTRO|| |+--------+| +----------+ Welcome, my fellow Neopets owners, to the very strategy that can make the difference between whether you get a dubloon coin from Deckball: Survival or having to submit a score of sub-five goals. This strategy is mine, created completely from my own trial and error of the game. It's based on the hardest difficulty (Captain), so I know it works. It has led me to many dubloons of all denominations, not to mention several thousand Neopoints. This strategy is not cheating in any way. It is just that: merely a strategy. As such, it's not flawless, and it will not work 100% of the time. However, it also very flexible, and you should alter it as you need to fit your own playing style. Also, with power-ups and such in the game, the unexpected can happen. I've done my best to prepare you for whether the power-ups will help or hurt, but there is always the possibility that your own view on them may be different. Either way, my goal is not to conform your playing style to mine, but rather to complement your playing style with some techniques that will give you that edge to carry you to victory. +-----------------------+ |+---------------------+| ||2. THE TWO KEY POINTS|| |+---------------------+| +-----------------------+ There are two glaring things that you need to realize, no matter what your strategy. First of all, Mirgle, your enemy, is purely offensive. He will never kick the ball toward the sides if he can help it. His aim will always be to the right, where your goal resides. He won't always kick it toward your goal specifically, but he favors kicking it to the right far more than kicking it up or down. Second of all, Mirgle is almost as intelligent as a bowl of wet fermented cheese. He has several glaring disadvantages that you can completely exploit, including his complete ignorance of strategy. Again, his sole purpose is to try to kick the ball to the right, regardless of whether it's in his best interest to or not. In fact, even if you or a wall is in his way, he'll still try to kick it right. This is ridiculously glaring, even on the hardest difficulty. I talk about how precisely to exploit this later. +---------------------+ |+-------------------+| ||3. THE BASIC THEORY|| |+-------------------+| +---------------------+ In all contests that feature only two participants, role should be split between offense and defense. Just what the ratio is depends on the skill of both players, the game being played, and whatever strategy or counter-strategy each player may have. In Deckball, Mirgle relies entirely on offense. This means that if you also go completely offensive, one bad bounce will make your goal wide open since he's always shooting for it anyway. Since this is Survival mode, and the game ends when you're scored on, you should not leave your chances of victory up to bad bounces and lucky shots. Keep the odds in your favor by being defensive. Mathematically, you should play 100% defensively since Mirgle plays 100% offensively. However, if you never play offense, you'll never score, which means the whole time will be spent in an infinite stalemate. You should also not play 50/50. Since Mirgle is going at you aggressively, being too aggressive, even partially aggressive, is unwise. Without the ability to stop and turn on a dime, you can get out of position very easily. The ideal ratio is about 75% defensive and 25% offensive. This ratio represents the amount of the field you should cover. On the deck of the ship, you can see a line between the two goals. This is a great 50-yard line of sorts. Since you're playing 25% offensive, you should go no more than a quarter downfield from your goal. In other words, stay less than halfway between your own goal and the center line of the court. +----------------+ |3a. Know Physics| +----------------+ In real life, if a round object strikes a flat surface, it will ricochet off at an angle identical to impact regardless of speed. Deckball defies real-life physics, however. While the angle is close to identical, the ball has a tendency to flatten out on the ricochet. I have not fully calculated the precise difference; it may be 15 degrees, or a few more, or a few less, or it may vary. The point is that there *will* be a small amount of flattening out, so anticipate it. One thing I can assure you is that ball will not spin. This means it will always travel in a straight line, no matter what angle it comes off a wall or kick. If you draw an imaginary line through the ball, you can predict where it will go and approximately what angle it will ricochet off of. This is the most helpful if the ball bounces off a side wall and you need to judge where to be to block it as it comes to your goal. +-----------------+ |3b. Know Yourself| +-----------------+ There are two things you need to know about yourself and your enemy: movement and kicking area. Your movement is completely momentum-based. You cannot stop on a dime. While you can rotate no matter what way you're traveling, you cannot turn sharply and will in fact sweep around corners. Mirgle seems to be pretty aware of this. He tends to sweep around the ball if he has the time, though he doesn't have a good grasp on the turning radius. The turning radius is of course based on your speed and just how sharply you want to turn. No matter what, there is no way you can make a 90-degree turn. If you anticipate going full speed, one way is to start turning one away from the destination point, then immediately turn back toward it. This is like powersliding in rally car races (Ever play Gran Turismo 3? You'll know what I'm talking about.). Of course, you won't always have the room to do that, and it takes longer besides. The best way to turn is to tap your up arrow until you're oriented in the direction you want to go, then jam it to get your speed back. The apex of the curve is where you want to jam the up button. Like a race car, you'll accelerate out of the turn and be at full speed within a moment. The momentum also hinders your ability to turn around. Some players opt to turn the whole way through, but this just wastes time and puts them even more out of position. If you need to make a fast turn around, the best way is to release the up button, rotate 180 degrees, then jam it again. You won't be at full speed for a moment, but it still takes less time than trying to make the curve. Playing defensively though, you should never be in a position where you need to make this kind of turn. The other thing you have to keep in mind about yourself is your kicking area. Even though you and Mirgle have legs, they are irrelevant in relation to the direction and speed of your kick. When two round objects collide, the results are the same: they will bounce off each other at the same angle of which they impacted. Assuming speeds are the same, if one of the objects is heavier, it will not move as far as the other. If they are of equal weight, they will bounce at equal distances. In Deckball, the ball has no weight, and you have an infinite weight in comparison. So, on impact, you will not move, but the ball will. You and Mirgle have equal weight, so you'll both move on impact. The speeds of the ricochet, be it the ball or the other player, depends wholly on the speed of the objects on impact. To kick the ball the farthest, make sure you're traveling full speed in the same direction. Going full speed down and having the ball hit your left side won't send it anywhere. A collision of the players acts the same way. Whichever is moving faster will send the other moving farther. This can be used defensively. If Mirgle is somewhere that you don't want him, break from your goal area and bump him. You obviously want to do this when you're sure the ball won't come flying back and score against you. Pushing Mirgle, even for a split second, may allow the ball the time to get into his goal. +--------------------------------+ |+------------------------------+| ||4. POWER-UPS AND RANDOM EVENTS|| |+------------------------------+| +--------------------------------+ +-------+ |Cracker| +-------+ I don't know about you, but to me the cracker looks more like a manhole cover. It will either speed you up if you get it, or slow Mirgle down if he gets it. Either way, you get a speed advantage. Mirgle knows this and will try to avoid touching it. The cracker is a double-edged sword. While it may increase your speed, allowing you to move quicker to block the ball or push Mirgle, is also makes it harder to do fine movements if you're off target by a pixel or two. This is where your playing style supersedes mine. If you play more offensively, I would suggest getting the cracker and moving into Manic Mode, explained far below. I personally rely on defense, and I want that fine touch of my speed, so I avoid crackers entirely. If Mirgle hits the cracker, go into Manic Mode. +------+ |Anchor| +------+ It will either slow you down if you touch it, or speed Mirgle if he touches it. This can be your best friend or your worst enemy. If you are unlucky enough to get it, you'll have to concentrate even more on defense, perhaps making the ratio 90/10 or more. With a slower speed, your shots will not move as fast, and you can't scramble back to your goal to defend. If Mirgle gets a hold of it, however (and trust me, he'll go for it), you have an advantage. You'll still be slower than him, so you may want to adjust your ratio to be a bit more defensive, but not as severely as 90/10. The biggest plus to this is the corner self-score, explained below. With added speed, Mirgle's constant kicking into the corner will make the ball shoot out and into his goal far faster than he could ever catch up to it. It wouldn't matter if caught up to it anyway, since he's too fast to make any kind of accurate turn to bump it away. +--------------------+ |Walls and Trap Doors| +--------------------+ Even if your goal is guarded by one of these, guard the goal as if the assistance wasn't there. They have a habit of disappearing at the worst times. Besides, you shouldn't get lazy on defense anyway. Also, if the enemy's goal is guarded, shoot for it anyway if you can. Again, they can disappear at weird times, and you may get lucky. In short, pretend that walls and trapdoors aren't there. +--------+ |The Mast| +--------+ This sucks. Royally. There's one very important thing to know though: Mirgle doesn't know that the mast is there! When the mast comes, make sure you set yourself steady in your defensive area and do not stray. The ball may take an odd bounce and be flung toward your goal when you least suspect it. Be wary of the blind spot that you have, since you often won't know what angle the ball is hitting the mast from it's in that top portion of the field. The corner self-score becomes very important here. The ball will not touch the mast as it heads to Mirgle's goal, but Mirgle is stupid and will normally run into the mast, which effectively blocks him from defending. +-------------------------------------+ |+-----------------------------------+| ||5. PLAYING DEFENSE (THE DEPRESSANT)|| |+-----------------------------------+| +-------------------------------------+ Playing defensively is the hardest thing you can do in this game, because it requires you to have infinite patience under all circumstances. If you can manage it, however, your reward will be goals in your favor. Since Survival mode is untimed, patience is a luxury you can afford. Basically, all other things being equal, you want to stay in the area just in front of your goal along the line nearest it. The ideal spot is directly on that line halfway between the top and bottom of the court, but you can stray if the ball comes close. Depending on the location of the ball, you'll want to stray a little higher or lower. Stay on the same half as the ball, no matter where it is on the field. +-------------------------+ |5a. The Corner Self-Score| +-------------------------+ This is the most effective way to score goals, and you don't even have to do anything. First, position yourself so you're guarding the lower edge of your goal... don't go all the way to corner of the wall, just to the corner of the goal itself. Mirgle will eventually kick the ball into the bottom-right corner. This is where things get fun. Your sole purpose here is to stand still. Mirgle will keep kicking the ball into the bottom-right corner, but it may slip and head upward. Your position prevents bad bounces, so you can't be scored on. Mirgle also has this habit of moving up and bumping you out of position, sometimes so badly that you end up at the center of your goal. If that happens, quickly get back to the original position as soon as you can, or he may wedge the ball between you and the corner of the goal, thus scoring a point. The one thing that the game physics don't emulate is that if one player continually wedges the ball between himself and the wall, he will end up passing through the ball. The ball then hits the wall and heads the other direction. This is what you want. If Mirgle passed through the ball and the angle is right, he'll score on himself. Mirgle will react to the mistake and chase the ball. If you bump him though, he will be unable to get anywhere near it. If you can't reach him, just return to the neutral position of your goal defense and await his counter attack. Mirgle, being stupid, may help you out at this point. A lot of times, the ball would have completely missed the goal. However, in Mirgle's paranoia to kick it, he ended up launching it into his own goal. This strategy sort of works from the top corner too, but not as well. What generally happens is when the ball comes loose, Mirgle won't know what to do. He'll get confused and run around in circles at the bottom of the map, and you may have to give the ball a push in the right direction. The moment you make the kick, you must return right to your neutral point. While in Depressant mode, if you strike, you only do so once and then return to being defensive. The ball may be just slightly off-target up or down, which will send it back to you, so be wary and do not let down your guard. +--------------------------------+ |+------------------------------+| ||6. PLAYING OFFENSE (THE MANIC)|| |+------------------------------+| +--------------------------------+ If you ever find yourself with a speed advantage, you may want to step up the attack. With Mirgle slow to move to block, you can quickly get shots off. Also, with his own shots slow, you'll have no problem beating the ball to your goal. Ideally, you will become the Manic after his speed was cut with a cracker and your speed was boosted with another cracker. At that point, I say abandon being the Depressant and focus totally on offense, shifting your ratio to 0/100. However, there is very little chance that this will happen. More often than not, you'll only get the speed advantage if you grab a cracker since Mirgle consistently avoids them. You should shift your ratio depending on the combination of power-ups. The ratio should determine the farthest you should go across the field. For example, let's say that you've been sped up and he's still at normal speed. Since you have the possibility of kicking it incorrectly and having a bad bounce, I say you change to 50/50. In other words, since you're playing 50% defense, then go no further downfield than the mid-deck line. Let's say however that Mirgle gets a cracker and loses speed. His shots become very slow, giving you ample time to get back to guard your goal. You can afford to be more offensive since he can't attack as well. I say shift your ratio to 25/75. With a 25% defensive ratio, go no further than halfway between the mid-deck line and Mirgle's goal. Finally, if the mast is out, adjust your strategy so that you pretend you've lost speed. So, if Mirgle loses speed and the mast comes out, they cancel each other out and you should stay with the original 75/25. +----------------------------------------------+ |+--------------------------------------------+| ||7. PLAYING PASSIVELY (THE DOUBLE-DEPRESSANT)|| |+--------------------------------------------+| +----------------------------------------------+ The worst possible thing that could happen is having a speed loss due to an anchor, Mirgle getting a speed boost because of the anchor, and the mast being out. With everything working against you, you need to stay inside the little invisible area in front of your goal. Whenever you have a speed disadvantage with the mast out, you need to stay at home. Defense becomes that much more important. Stay patient, and Mirgle will make a mistake. Shift your ratio to 100/0, and do not stray off that line in front of your goal. Just be patient, and try to force a corner self-score. +--------------------+ |+------------------+| ||8. VERSION HISTORY|| |+------------------+| +--------------------+ v1.0b (1 November 2003) It's been nearly a year, but unfortunately my site is down for the count. Luckily, IGN has decided to host my FAQs too, so it's all good. A new copyright notice is the only change. v1.0a (31 December 2002) No new information, but I've changed my legal info. I'm now carrying my guide on my own website; you can find the URL at the bottom of the document. v1.0 (22 August 2002) First release. +-------------------+ |+-----------------+| ||9. COPYRIGHT INFO|| |+-----------------+| +-------------------+ This document is copyright 2002-2003 for J. "PyroFalkon" Habib. If you plan to use any of it as part of another FAQ, you need my permission first. However, if you plan to post it on a website or e-mail it to someone or whatnot, you may do so without my permission AS LONG AS IT IS NOT ALTERED IN ANY WAY. I'd like you to drop me an e-mail so I know where you're going to take it, but I will not require you to do so. You may download it or print it at your leisure. The most updated version will always be found at these sites: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ http://faqs.ign.com/ Other sites may have up-to-date versions, but check GameFAQs or IGN first. +------------------+ |+----------------+| ||10. CONTACT INFO|| |+----------------+| +------------------+ If any information is incorrect, or you wish to submit something, please e-mail me. My address is found on the bottom of the FAQ. Credit will be given where it's due. If you submit something to me, I will credit you by the name you signed in the message body or by the name attached to your e-mail. I will also post your e-mail address unless you specifically tell me not to. If you wish to be e-mailed when this FAQ is updated, send your request to me. If you have a junk mail protector on your e-mail program, make sure you put my e-mail address on the safe list, or my messages may not get through. pyrofalkon@hotmail.com Good luck in Neopets, and score a million goals on that bowl of wet fermented cheese!