SSCU Trench Wars Shark Guide

SSCU Trench Wars Shark Guide by Mattey

Ok, first of all the sharks outlook has to be different than any other ship-player in this game. Everyone looks at their ship when they play, the key to sharking is to focus on the most important part of the map (which is usually where the enemy team is pushing.) If you want to be good at most ships in Trench Wars then you won’t want to shark. This shift of focus will throw off your aim if you play shark long enough.

That said: let’s get down to the basics.

KEYS to success! (GET IT!?)

If f7 is your attach key you’re a newb and shouldn’t even hold my jock-strap in ?go base. There are so many reasons this shouldn’t be your attach key. So many suckers will say “oh sir Mattey, I get along just fine with f7 as my attach key, I’ve had it like that for a decade I can’t change now!” Wrong. You have to move your hands into a disadvantageous position if your hands are on the f keys. Change it to something that is close to where your hands are placed when repping/flying around. A common attach key is something like z. Another reason f keys are terrible for attach keys is the boost-detach. Often times when I’m going through the lower tube, I will put the little compass thing you see when attached facing north, hold up and boost and detach, I will go ahead of the terrier and rep all of the badly aimed bullets my bad opponents have shot. This is impossible if your attach key is an f key.

Shift-ctrl should not be your rep key. It should be any single button you are comfortable with. Hitting two buttons takes more time, and milliseconds matter when you’re reacting to a ridiculous trasher bullet that starts 2 inches from his ship. My rep key is just ctrl.

Rotation:

Ok, people talk about timing all the time, and most people by now know what it means, but as a background: there are 2 sharks, 6 reps and a terrier and 5 spiders to protect. What will you do soldier? You take turns with your partner shark, he reps 3 times and dies as quickly as possible, while he is respawning you protect your team for the next 5 seconds as best you can and die as soon as possible. Sounds easy right? Once again your simple mind was wrong. This is the biggest mistake I see amongst novice sharks. They will attach/detach immediately (because they are newbs, NOBODY should do this) while I have a rep. I won’t be in position to rep the bullet that will kill them out of their way, so they just don’t rep and die getting zero reps off. You want to save reps as much as possible, but you still need to protect both yourself and the terr. I see too many people too hung up on rotation, they will save reps and the team will die. This part just takes a lot of practice to determine when you need to “waste” a rep for the betterment of the team.

Caveat part 1: Always try to rep for your partner shark if he has 3 reps. For example if you’re attacking cram and bullets go by you that are going to hit either your shark or your terr you HAVE to rep them. If it’s aimed at one spider that you don’t like (what’s up cripple!) then you don’t necessarily have to rep them. But if it’s going at your partner shark and he has to waste a rep then you have failed your team.

Watch the Kill-cam!

If you’re too busy finishing your six-pack between deaths then shark is not the right ship for you. So many times I see terrible sharks lamenting their “constant doas,” well that’s just as much your fault as the terrs mister. Watch the kill cam the entire time you’re dead. You will see when bullets are flying at your terr right before you respawn. If you respawn while bullets are flying right at your terr WAIT a half-second and attach. If your terr is being chased it’s usually best to attach and rep at the same time.

Positions of Power!

You want to place your shark in a position where you can both protect your team the most and possibly push the opposing team in a position of weakness. Stronger positions are your terr being parallel or above the flag. Positions of weakness are being below the flag. I wish I was more computer savvy so I could show you exactly where to go, but in a flag room battle you want to get your shark in positions where if the opposing shark repels you, you hit a wall without going too far out of position. Being under the bar or in the ear are places where sharks should never be in a flag room battle. If this paragraph doesn’t make any sense PM me and I’ll explain in game.

When attacking cram you want to be on the opposite bar the opposing shark is on, so if he’s on the right, you want to hug the upper-most left bar, applying the same principle. When repped, you want to move as little as possible, in this as well as cheap-tail pursuits, bars are your friend.

Mining (for newbies)

Don’t mine.

Mining (for people that have lost at least 10 bds)

Mine in positions where they can’t be used against you (usually against walls.) It is almost always preferable to bomb though, since they are much more difficult to use.

Watching your partner shark

I always know exactly how many reps my partner shark has. I watch him during my kill cams and the majority of the time before he dies (referring to the rotation section, this is where novice sharks fuck-up, they focus too much on their partner and die while zero-repping.) I always know which mines are his because I watch him like a hawk almost the entire game.

Caveat #2: I also know how many repels my enemy sharks have and which mines belong to them. The more you shark the more you get the idea of where you should be looking and watching, which also takes away from your aim (referring to the first paragraph.)

Watch Bursts

Again this is more of a practice thing than anything, but often times I rep bursts before they even hit walls.