less_retarded_wiki/xonotic.md

Xonotic

Xonotic is a free as in freedom fast multiplayer arena first-person-shooter game similar to e.g. Quake. It runs on GNU/Linux, Winshit, BSD and other systems. It is one of the best libre games, i.e. games that are completely free by both code and data/content. It is available under GPLv3. Its gameplay, graphics and customizability are pretty great, it may well be the best in the AFPS genre, even compared to AAA proprietary games -- this kind of quality is very rare among libre/noncommercial games.

{ I've been playing Xonotic for years, it's really an excellent game. I've met a lot of nice people there as the players are usually programmers and people looking for FOSS. The gameplay is addictive and relaxing and you can have a great chat during the game. Of course it's kind of bloated but Xonotic is a masterpiece. ~drummyfish }

The game builds on old ideas and mechanics but adds new weapons, mechanics, ideas and modes -- apart from the traditional deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, complete the stage (defrag, racing without shooting) and competitive mode (duel), there are a number of new fun modes such as clan arena (team round-based mode without self-damage and items), freeze tag, key hunt, last man standing and even Nexball -- football in Xonotic!

Xonotic was forked from a game called Nexuiz after a trademark controversy (basically in 2010 the guy who started the project and abandoned it later, an ass called Lee Vermeulen, came back and secretly sold the trademark to some shit company named Illfonic). Nexuiz itself was created on top of liberated Quake 1 engine, so Xonotic still bears a lot Quake's legacy, however it masterfully expands on its core principles and makes the gameplay even better. For example rockets shot by rocket launcher can be guided with mouse while holding down the left button which adds a new skill element. New types of weapons were added to the classic AFPS weapons (e.g. the infamous electro, a meme spamming weapon used by noobs for its forgiveness of lack of skill). Movement physics was also modified to give better air control and faster movement as a result.

The game's modified Quake 1 engine is called Darkplaces. It can be highly customized and modded. Just like in other Quake engine games, there are many console commands (e.g. cvars) to alter almost anything about the game. Advanced programming can be done using QuakeC. Maps can be created e.g. with netradiant.

Xonotic is similar to other libre AFPS games such as OpenArena and Red Eclipse. Of these Xonotic clearly looks the most professional, it has the best "graphics" in the modern sense but still offers the option to turn all the fanciness off. OpenArena, based on Quake 3 engine, is simpler, both technologically and in gameplay, and its movement is slower and with different physics. While OpenArena just basically clones Quake 3, Xonotic is more of an actually new and original game with new ideas and style. Similar thing could be said about Red Eclipse, however it's not as polished and shows some infection with SJW poison.

{ OpenArena is great too. ~drummyfish }

As of 2022 the game has a small but pretty active community of regular players, centered mostly in Europe. There are regulars playing every day, pros, noobs, famous spammers, campers and trolls. Nice conversations can be had during games. There are memes and inside jokes. The community is pretty neat. Xonotic also has a very dedicated defrag ("racing with no shooting") community. There have also been a few small tournament with real cash prizes in Xonotic.

The GOAT of Xonotic is probably Dodger, his skill was just too high even above other pros.

Great news is the development and main servers have so far not been infected by the SJW poison and (as of 2023) allow a great amount of free speech -- another rarity. Even the game itself contains speech that SJWs would consider "offensive", there are e.g. voice lines calling other players "pussies" and "retards". This is great.

Tips'n'tricks

Here are some pro tips to git gud, impress your frens and generally have more fun.

• Read the legendary beginner guide at https://xonotic.org/guide/.
• Point'n'click enemies to kill them.
• Do NOT fucking spam electro -- this will make you instantly hated, and rightfully so. Not only is it lame, annoying, makes you easy to kill (opponent can explode your electro balls), enforces more use of electro (electro is countered with electro) and makes the game lag, it can also hurt your teammates, even in no self/team damage modes (as opponents may explode the electro you spray around). Use it appropriately.
• Learn the weapons and make binds for each one: learn what every weapons does (good mode for this might be clan arena in which you have all the weapons from the start), bind each one around the movement keys -- it's essential you can switch weapons quickly as the game is designed to reward comboing (the most basic combo is devastator/vortex/mortar). Also note that almost every weapon has a secondary fire, for example crylink's primary fire just shoots bouncing balls while the secondary fire shoots a suction ball that can toss enemies out of the map or can be used to accelerate yourself. With devastator (rocket launcher) holding left mouse button allows guiding the rocket, right mouse button explodes the rocket in air -- learn this! Then you can easily kill enemies behind corners or flying in air.
• Learn the movement: movement is essential in Xonotic, firstly you should learn extremely basic techniques like bunnyhopping, strafe jumping and in-air controls, and secondly you should learn using weapons for movement (blaster jumps, rocket jumps, crylinkg for acceleration and climbing walls, ...). This is important not only for quick relocation, taking shortcuts, dodging enemy fire and quickly running away from enemies, it will also save you from falling into pits.
• Console: console is extremely useful in Xonotic; not only can it modify almost any aspect of the game, it also allows you to create fun macros (some people even create what could be considered cheats only with the console commands). A very important command is search x which will search for other commands and cvars, e.g. if you want to mess with resolution, do search resolution etc. There is even a small stack-based minilanguage in the console that's invoked with the rpn command -- this allows for very advanced stuff. Sadly this isn't well documented, but the thread at https://forums.xonotic.org/showthread.php?tid=2987 provides some basics.
• Make cool binds, for example you should modify the standard team messages to something more funny. One of the most basic binds is taunt so that you can insult players (e.g. bind KP_SLASH "cmd voice taunt").
• Make basic graphics settings, for example increase FOV (field of view) to at least 100, disable effects such as zoom animation (so that you can zoom quickly) etc. If you want to play seriously you should also turn off music so that you can hear enemies better. You'll also probably want to decrease your mouse sensitivity (something like 20 cm for a 360 degree turn is about right). You can also downgrade the graphics so as to make it basically look like Quake 1, either for a cool retro look or to play the game on a potato.
• Don't fall for the F11 troll -- when you ask how to do something and people respond with "press F11", don't do it, you'll humiliate yourself.
• Enable cheats with F11.
• Spin to win: you can make a cool spinning macro that makes you look like you have a seizure: e.g. bind b "toggle vid_stick_mouse; rpn /m_pitch 1 ${vid_stick_mouse} - 0.022 * =;".
• Once you have a comfy config, you can remove the write rights to it (chmod -w ~/.xonotic/data/config.cfg). This way the game won't be able to modify the config and all settings and experiments you make in the game will only be temporary, until the game restart, so you can't fuck up your settings.
• Do NOT camp, it's retarded and wastes other people's time, especially e.g. in clan arena where dead people have to wait for the end of round. Better lose quickly than win or draw by camping.
• Explosions (and bullets) go through thin walls by default, so you can e.g. kill someone hiding in the room above you by shooting the ceiling.
• Don't stand at teleport exits, so as to not get telefragged.
• If you're not doing well, complain about lag.
• You can turn off the chat in case there is some retarded conversation going on (just go to setting and HUD editor).
• Slap opponents to humiliate them: the shotgun secondary fire is a melee slap, which is the best way to kill someone, partly because it's pretty hard to do (there's a delay between the bash). Another humiliating way to eliminate opponents is to kill them with Hagar secondary or push them off the map with blaster, crylink or even Mario kill (very rare -- you jump on someone's head while he's jumping over a pit which makes him fall down). Don't forget to taunt and teabag.
• If you see someone running fast while crouching in air, run away, he's probably a pro.
• v_psycho 1, r_trippy 1 etc.
• cl_handicap can be used to make yourself weaker by specified multiplier (take more and deal less damage), either to balance the game or provide a challenge.
• v_flipped 1 flips the rendering so that you see the mirror version of the map, it basically gives you a new map for free and provides a nice challenge.
• in_pitch_min and in_pitch_max can remove the limit of looking up and down (set to e.g. -100 and 100) -- this way you can turn completely upside down which can be seen by spectators and make them think you're a cheater.
• Typing /me in chat makes the chat message be output in a different format; instead of username: message it writes *message and replaces the /me string with your username -- this can create cool and fancy messages.
• The game outputs chat into terminal, you can filter these messages out and redirect them to espeak for a fun experience :)
• Switch left and right hand for a challenge.
• Play drunk and/or high for a challenge.
• Doom challenge: disable looking up and down with console.
• { My config is at https://codeberg.org/drummyfish/my_text_data/src/branch/master/configs/xonotic_config.cfg. ~drummyfish }
• Buy premium account for extra skins and lootboxes. Just kidding :)
• some tactics/strategy/habits:
  • Chasing low health players is usually a bad idea and a mistake made by nubs: such player, if he's not a complete newbie, can just spam electro/nades behind himself and easily kill you.
  • Unpredictable movement and positioning is key to avoiding damage: nubs think that when they move fast they won't get hit -- this is only partially true, it is about just as important to move unpredictably and avoid spots that get regularly spammed by enemies. When you move from point A to B on a map and the enemy sees you doing so, you should take a randomly long short pause in doing so, or maybe even switch direction completely, otherwise he can quite accurately predict when and where you'll appear at the destination and kill you with prefire. It's a great advantage if your opponent doesn't know where you are.
  • When in fight, don't be an easy target and don't stand near a wall (this makes you be easily hit with splash damage). Try to always have a quick escape path.
  • Stay together with your teammates if you want to win. Fighting alone against multiple enemies is usually a bad idea and a quick death without dealing much damage.
  • When microcamping (camping for a short time with vortex somewhere), the only direction you can be hit from should be the one you're looking in. Nubs sometimes camp in a spot that can be seen from multiple directions -- that's just asking to be fragged.

See Also

• OpenArena