Quake III Arena UnFreeZe moveset demo tutorial

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well as I was recently testing the server these days and since I had completed probably the hardest ones I thought that may be it would be a good idea to create a mini guide here about the basic set of movements that you can find at them on a more organized way to help the community better understand the game. as stated previously, all the demos were recorded live at the server with pretty much average everything (connection, laptop, screen, mouse, keyboard, settings) so that means that there's no special requirements to be able to perform them. it's also important to note that these are just basic isolated examples to get the idea of how it works, obviously real uses will be more complex and they can be combined as well.

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Strafe Jump

strafe jumping is the essential and really only movement technique available on standard Quake III Arena settings that therefore everyone should at least be familiar with. you can think of strafe jumping on Quake III Arena just as drifting on your car only that the lateral momentum generated instead of being loss on friction as on drifting it gets added to your linear velocity allowing you thus to move faster and hence make longer jumps that you wouldn't be able to otherwise. the technique itself consist of jumping at a small angle and/or in a small circular motion instead of just straight and eventually slightly correcting the trajectory as needed with the strafe keys. the angle amplitude is the key to the technique, too high or too low of a angle and it will kill you momentum and/or completely mess up your trajectory so it has to be just the right one for each case as well as any trajectory corrections that should always be minimal. overall a easy to understand technique but a very difficult to really master one that will probably take lots of practice to perform well. overall the vast majority of maps, if not all, feature some sort of strafe jumps or another typically to gain better access to the key items. some classic examples of that are the classic bridge to rail on pro-q3dm6, the red armor jump on hub3aeroq3 or the mega health on cpm11a as shown on the video for reference.

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Doube Jump

double jumps commonly refereed as (modern) "ramp jumps" too are a traditional Quake series movement typically seen at cpm on the Quake III Arena scene. the technique principle is quite simple, by rapidly jumping twice in succession the second immediate jump gets a slight jump height boost. the time window for this jump height boost is short therefore you need to look for specific map geometries and game situations that allows for such rapid consecutive jumps. there's typically three common situations that enable double jumps.

the first one and the most common are any of the stairs or small ledges at the maps and pretty much any small height difference at the maps it's susceptible to be used for double jumping in one way or another. the most basic example of this is taking the red armor at wdw3team (aka cpm9) or the promode alternative route to take the red armor on hub3aeroq3 through the stairs as shown on the video. basically you just need to approach those and quickly double-click/tap your jump button/key, both the double-click/tap timing as well as the approach and trajectories are key for the technique to work as intended. if possible generally a oblique and/or circular approach/trajectory will work better than just hitting those head on as that will allow for better timing and control.

the second common one are narrow spaces with a short ceiling where jumping there will cause a collision that almost instantly take you down so you can just jump right away again. a classic example of this is the alternative route to take the mega health from the mid floor through the flame platform by combining two double jumps in cpm11a as show on the video. as on the previous point, proper timing and trajectory/angles are key obviously.

the third and last common opportunity for double jumps are the teleporters, to easily get the small jump height boost at the exit you just have to jump before taking them, that's all. these ones are probably not as relevant as the previous two but still there's plenty of good opportunities for uses beside the unpredictability that adds to your enemy and improvement in mobility. a good such example is skipping the stairs to take the yellow armor/top floor right after the teleporter exit on cpm11a as shown on the video. of the common tier here this type is clearly the easiest to perform.

overall a very adaptable and versatile technique virtually required to be able to play the vast majority of custom maps but that also works surprisingly well on the Quake III Arena standard maps with lots of new routes and exciting tricks to discover.

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Ramp Jump

(classic) ramp jumps although not a big part of mainline Quake III Arena are a important physic common seen on the early Quake series games. in contrast with the "ramp jumps" (i.e. double jumps) on the previous point these don't really require anything else beside "jumping" when going uphill a ramp to perform them. what happens is just that when going uphill a ramp part of your forward velocity gets converted into vertical momentum that then gets transferred to your jump momentum at the time of jumping thus resulting in a higher than "normal" (flat) jump. therefore such boost instead of being a fixed amount as on the previous point here it obviously depends on your forward speed at the time of jumping as well as the slope of the ramp from where you jump. as said although not a big part of Quake III Arena overall many custom maps do make use of them in one way or another. in particular it stands the many custom maps that feature ramps on the edge of the stairs just for that purpose. some classic examples of this are obviously ospdm1 that as a Quake II based map, q2dm1, do feature a heavy use of ramps, the classic q3dm13 variations center platform ledge jumps or mrcq3t4 for example that also features a generous amount of ramps all across the map as shown on the video.

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Double Ramp Jump

double ramp jumps although not a different technique as the previous ones due its importance it still deserves a separated point. once you have understood the two previous points this one is pretty much straight forward, a double ramp jump just consists in performing a double jump on a ramp thus gaining both boosts. as usual the speed at what you hit the ramp and the slope of it will determine your jump boost but the most fancy jumps consists indeed on double ramp jumps. obviously as being a combined technique that likely it's gonna require as well some level of strafing before hitting the ramp this one is significantly more difficult to perform than the previous ones still it should be accessible to most. overall it's real use might be limited to just a few specific jumps but it's still nevertheless a interesting technique to at least know. one of the most basic examples is the entrance at the Japanese Castles to quickly skip the stairs while a more notable example is the lower-upper level jump on cpm11a as shown on the video.

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Rocket Jump - Vertical

rocket jumping (vertical) is the basic special jump on Quake III Arena (to some extend) and the dominant movement skill on Rocket Arena 3. a basic entry level essential skill that shouldn't take much effort to learn as to perform it all you have to do is just to shot a rocket to your feet as you jump. as usual the timing and distance from the jump and the rocket explosion are key for the technique to work as intended and therefore will ultimately determine the height and trajectory/direction of your jump. in theory (vertical) rocket jumps should only be reserved to very specific special situations and/or to reach places that otherwise would be inaccessible, mostly higher levels, and used sparingly as it's the case on regular Quake III Arena. unfortunately, in practice, due common Rocket Arena 3 style rulesets that do in fact enable rocket jumps they typically end up being overused which can end up taking away from the own player's skill and game. obviously the best examples and tests for rocket jumps are found on the classic Rocket Arena 3 maps that were indeed designed specifically with that in mind as show on the video.

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Rocket Jump - Lateral

lateral rocket jumps are probably pretty much non existent on Quake III Arena but a fundamental part of Rocket Arena 3. the technique is essentially the same as on previous point only that instead of shooting down to your feet to propel you upwards you shot at a wall/corner to propel you forward. again timing and precision are key for the technique to work properly, you typically wanna aim slightly behind your forward momentum rather than "head on" for best results. as said the technique is fundamental to the Rocket Arena 3 mode where it originally comes from to dominate the vast arenas there with a fast paced movement that otherwise would be impossible. that being said, it's still a more than useful tool to master on a mode like UnFreeZe that requires as well a fast high mobility to succeed and that unfortunately most often than not it gets completely overlooked and underused. in practice, lateral rocket jumps in their most basic form are the perfect replacement for the more complex strafe jumps at Quake III Arena as shown on the classic examples in the video.

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Rocket Grenade Jump

rocket grenade jumps are virtually a exclusive feature of Rocket Arena 3 with probably not much use beyond it, still, as a notorious trick it deserved a entry on this tutorial nevertheless. the technique itself is again a variation of the rocket jump only this time being performed over a exploding grenade. as usual, timing is key for adequate results, in particular the bouncing and timing of the launched grenade is crucial for this technique. if performed properly this technique probably delivers the biggest single jump, unfortunately that comes at the cost of real functionality. in practice, there's few if any applications under normal game circumstances at the most usual maps for such a extreme jump. the technique though is relatively relevant at most of the Rocket Arena 3 maps that were designed specifically with that mind as shown on the examples in the video.

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Rocket Jumpad

rocket jumppad jumps are typically a fancy specially reserved Quake III Arena technique that is as well important to know. this one as the previous points is another rocket based special jump. this time the difference is that the rocket jump gets performed at a jumpad platform instead than on a normal surface. this one in contrast to the previous ones doesn't require jumping at all, it consists just on firing a rocket right at the impact point with the jumpad as you hit it. these are therefore very easy to perform. overall their main use is usually just limited as special tricks required to access some maps secrets although in general they provide as well great versatility and therefore are a good tactical maneuver to escape compromised situations. some classic examples of rocket jumppad jumps are found at the lower level of ra3map1 and ra3map11 main rooms as well as the notorious powerup jumppad at qfraggel2a among others as shown on the video.

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Plasma Climb

plasma wall climb is a exotic classic Quake III Arena technique. in its most basic form the technique mostly just consists on shooting plasmas at your feet as you push forward a wall. to start it first you need to jump once and then quickly release the jump button or you'll just ruin your climb. as usual to perform it properly the shooting angle as well as the proper trajectory are key. any minor corrections that you'll just have to make along the way will totally eat on your momentum therefore try to stick to the same initial direction vector as much as possible for maximum results. as with rockets there's also "lateral" (diagonal) variations on this technique, the principle for them is the same with the only difference being the movement direction. overall outside of running low on ammo, minimize exposure or other special circumstances a not so important technique in a mode like UnFreeZe that feature so many other options still one that can't be absent from any tops player repertory. it's however a lot more relevant and important on classic Quake III Arena as it's typically the case at the masters/duel servers due the lower self-damage compared to the rockets and the limited amount of them available. some classic well known examples of plasma climbs are the red armor on ztn3tourney1 as well as the upper platform climb on ra3map1 at the main room as shown on the video.

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Plasma Jump

basic plasma jumping (as opposed to climbing now) is a minor special movement technique available in classic Quake III Arena. the technique itself is just exactly the same as the a lot more common (vertical) rocket jumping only that performed with a plasma bolt instead of a rocket so it should as well be realistically easy/accessible to perform. in practice it's a bit more difficult than the rocket variant as due the plasma higher speed and more limited range/power it does require significantly more precision to successfully perform. as usual timing and, in particular, a good reaction time here, are key for the technique to properly succeed. in light of that, this one can probably be the only one of the techniques here that might be worth (and make sense) to script. overall, as said, a minor special trick available in Quake III Arena with limited use beyond very specific moments that might be more relevant in fast paced tdm games as well as the more recent quakelive game whose maps feature more complex modified architectures better suited for it. in UnFreeZe is as well a lesser technique compared to the rest however it might also serve as a perfect replacement for double jumps when these are not a option, like for example in flat surfaces, to add great dynamism and complexity to the game as the end results of both are fairly similar. the best examples of meaningful plasma jumps I believe that come from interesting shortcuts at classic tdm maps as shown in the video.