Pickup Guide
The first step towards playing Legions competitively is participating in pickup games, also known as pickups, PUs or PUGs. Games are organized and teams are structured so that players can recognize full potential of the game rather than bumble around in the public servers. If you think you’re starting to get good, join up and start kicking ass with, or getting your ass kicked by, veteran Legions players.
InstantAction.com / PlayLegions.com
If you don’t have an Instant Action account, stop here. This guide is not for you. Go to InstantAction.com, make an account, and start playing some Legions.
Note: Sometime in the near future, PlayLegions.com will become the new portal for Fallen Empire: Legions, so be sure to save that address.
Pubbing
Playing in the public dedicated servers is a good place to cut your teeth by fighting opponents who are closer to your initial skill level. Start mastering the basic elements of movement and combat. When you get bored – and you will eventually get bored – or become frustrated with all of the noobs who can’t comprehend team strategy, then it’s time to connect with some more experienced players and start sharpening your skills and learning the deeper elements of Legions strategy.
Also, read this: Capture the Flag: The Basics
IRC
Much of the community spends time in IRC spamming YouTube links and failing to actually discuss Legions. Still, the people there are a good source of information, and can provide at least basic information about joining pickups.
Network:
- irc.quakenet.org (irc.quakenet.org:6667)
Common Channels:
- #legions
- #legions.eu
- #lpradio
Common IRC Clients:
More information:
Ventrilo
Ventrilo is a VOIP program used by gamers to communicate using speech rather than typing. It is not only required in order to play in the pickups, but the Legions Ventrilo server is more often than not the primary place that the community gathers. You’ll need a computer with a sound card and some headphones. A mic is not required, though players who can communicate with their teammates are always given preference. Download the Ventrilo client and get connected to the server. Ask people in IRC for the server information, or check out this post on the forums.
For those who have issues with highly contrasting volumes from different users (I know have), this post on a forum for a very different game has a very good technique to normalize your audio output and prevent bleeding eardrums.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=112501444
Ventrilo Etiquette
The Legions Ventrilo server rules are as follows:
Contact a Pickup Admin [PA] to get a pickup started (or start one yourself). If you have any questions or issues with players, contact Server Admins [SA].
Things that might get you banned:
- Page spamming to get someone's attention.
- TTS spamming, or using it as your primary means of communication.
- Not wearing headphones.
- Constantly switching channels.
- Excessive use of Ventrilo for non-Legions/IA related activities.
- Being a douchebag.
- Pissing off BugsPray or ThePhroo.
Please use headphones with Ventrilo. The reverb caused by speakers, especially when multiple people are speaking and multiple people are using speakers, may drive an admin to insanity, which may then result in a kick or ban if you piss off enough people.
Finally, common sense dictates that you should not be a jerk despite the fact that you’re on the internet. Don’t scream or yell into your mic. Don’t harass people or interrupt people for no reason. Failure to respect other players may result in repeatedly being kicked or even banned.
Setting up a Pickup
Participating in a pickup is fairly simple. First, connect to Ventrilo, and navigate to one of the Pickup channels, whichever one that the major of people have joined. To change channels, double-click on the channel to which you’d like to move.
Note: If you’re starting a pickup, make sure you have a viable host. Hosts must have a reasonable PC (probably a dual core with 2GB of RAM at a minimum) and an internet connect with at least a 1.5Mb upload.
Captains
Teams are picked by captains, who generally volunteer for the job after enough people get together. A third party flips a coin and one of the captains calls head or tails. The person who wins the flip chooses either first pick or map and side (color) choice.
Team selection
Teams are chosen by their respective captains, who alternate player selections until all players in the lobby are chosen or teams are full. When you are selected, move down to the appropriate Red or Blue channel and hang out until teams are fully selected.
DO NOT GO AFK DURING THE GAME SETUP.
Team Sizes
Ideally, each team should have an equal number of players. The ideal team size is 7v7. Sometimes games have less or more players, but it’s not ideal. Don’t expect to be included in a game every single time you want to play. If you and several others are left in the lobby after teams have been selected, you could always try to get another PU together. Pull some more people into Ventrilo, pick captains, and get it going.
Join server
After you join a game, be sure that you receive an invite to the InstantAction party. If you’re the Party Leader, send at least a few invites to people who can then send out the rest of the invites. Typically, you should send around three invites just in case someone crashes or has connection issues. When most or all people are in the game Lobby and are not receiving Connection Errors, then the Party Leader should start the game with a score limit of 10 and time limit of 35 minutes.
Team Strategy
Teams should plan their strategies and assign roles to individual players for around 5 minutes in game. Be sure not to grab the other team’s flag. When both teams are ready, the team captains should indicate they are ready via Global Chat. One of the captains will begin a countdown from 5. At 1, all players should respawn (Ctrl+K) at the same time and the game will begin!
Pickup Etiquette
The following is a list of guidelines that will make your life much easier during pickups:
- Be helpful.
- Listen to your team captain (or the nominal strategist) and fulfill the role assigned to you.
- Do not leave in the middle of a pickup without a damn good excuse, like connection issues or a house fire.
- Do not talk trash about your teammates.
- Don’t cry.
- Have fun.
GLHF. cvg.
-The_Phroo
The following rules must be observed when in the Pickups channel on the LP.com Ventrilo server:
- Listen to SAs, PAs, and team captains.
- Do not talk over other people, especially SAs, PAs, and team captains.
- No idling in pickup channel if you are not actively participating in the Pickup process. If you do not plan on playing or are going AFK, leave the channel immediately.
- Observe sportman-like conduct when dealing with other players. Being an asshole will result in a channel or server ban.
- Do not disrupt game play while in a pickup game. Harsh penalties will be awarded to violators.
- Do not go AFK without giving a good reason, especially during team selection or before the start of the game. If you are on a team and absolutely must leave, find a substitute.
Breaking any of these rules or causing disruptions can lead to muting, kicking, or banning from the channel or server.
<3
-The_Phroo