Hover Junkers

Hover Junkers

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Tips and Tricks for Surviving in the Wasteland
By HappyGoCrazee
We have a lot of people in the wild with access to the game, so I've gotten the chance to play with and against a lot of different playstyles outside what I face here in the office. So I've learned a thing or two about doing well in this game.
   
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Controls
There's a video tutorial available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6LCEoCiV7g
It's also available in-game via a button in the casket measuring room.

Touchpad: Click disengages piloting when driving a ship, and unlocks guns for reloading. When hand is out, clicking different regions of the touchpad makes various gestures. When the Gravity Welder is out, you can navigate the menu screen on the Welder's backside with the touchpad.

Menu button: This is the button above the touchpad. Hold down to bring up the gun grid. Hover hand over desired item, and release to switch to that item.

Trigger: Used to grab objects when your hand is on a grabbable object, including loot. Make a point gesture if hand is out and not touching a grabbable object. Fires when a weapon is out.

Side buttons: Squeeze to use VOIP. Make sure it is enabled in the bar. Also makes middle finger gesture when hand is out.

Piloting: Switch to the Gravity Welder (the teal colored gun). You can either place it in the directly on the control console, or point the welder at it and pull the trigger to enable piloting. Tilt the controller in the direction you want to go, and hold the trigger for gas. Click the touchpad to disengage the engine when piloting.

Reloading: Each gun reloads differently. For the Revolver, click the touchpad to release the cylinder. Then move your thumb around the touchpad to replace your bullets. Flick your hand to reengage the cylinder. For the shotgun, click the touchpad to crack open the barrel and click three more times to replace each shell. Flick your hand to lock the barrel back in.
Gunplay
- Practice reloading. When you and your opponent have both scored a headshot on each other at close range and it's all down to who gets off the next shot, having a quick reload is key.

- The revolver has perfect accuracy if you fire it slowly. Wait a split second between shots to let the gun's recoil settle.

- The shotgun's pellets don't do as much damage as a bullet. Think of it more as anti-ship than anti-pilot.

- Use the Target Practice range to get used to the gun mechanics. Not just the reload, but aiming too. There's an explosive trap thrower to practice hitting moving targets, or you can see how many bottles you can take out without missing.

- Body shots take a lot of hits to kill, but headshots take only two. One if you nail it right between the eyes.

- Use shotguns to whittle down ships' HP, or destroy cover. The shotguns excel at stripping loot off of a heavily fortified ship and can deal heavy damage to the hull, but aren't as efficient for taking out enemy pilots. Choose your weapon wisely.

- Watch your head! Good rule of thumb: if you can see them, they can see you.

- Quickly tapping the switch weapon button will pull out your previous weapon. Use this to swap between your two favorites in a hurry.
Ships and Movement
- Experiment with different ships. Every ship has different cover layouts; some may fit your playstyle better than others. Also don't be afraid of different sizes. Large ships give you a lot of room to move around and surprise your opponent, but smaller ships are much easier to fortify.

- You can access everything on your ship at range. Your Gravity Welder can take control of the ship, move loot, and even turn the radio on and off from a distance. Use the touchpad to move loot farther away from you if you can't reach a placement point.

- Get cover! Your lootbox starts the match with loot to start out with, so attach it to your ship as fast as possible. Extract more from buried shipping crates scattered around the level.
- Loot is a key element of play. It not only grants you cover, but feeding it to your Loot Chute recovers some of your ship's HP and earns you points.

- Ships can be destroyed either by killing the crew, or taking it's HP down to 0. A green bar on your ship's control console displays your ship's HP.

- If an enemy likes to flee and won't engage in combat, shotgunning their ship to destruction can be a good tactic.

- Deposit all your loot at the last minute! Your ship probably has a lot attached to it, and those extra points can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

- Be careful when securing shipping containers. It's easy to get snuck up on while pulling it up with your Gravity Welder, especially if you don't have a co-pilot.

- Team up with someone. In Team Deathmatch, you can join another players' ship on your team. This will result in having one less ship on your team, but having two people can be a devastating combo.

- You can revive a fallen co-pilot by pulling them out of coffins found in shipping containers. Morbid....

- Your team colors are shown by the color of players' names above their ships as well as wooden flags on the back of their ships.

- The gravity of the ships' hover systems cause ships to slow down when at close range. It can be very difficult to escape this gravity slow, so use it to trap fleeing enemies but watch out that you don't get caught yourself!

- If you're outnumbered, try keeping distance from your opponents and avoid their gravity wells. Keeping your speed up and whittling their ship's HP down with the shotgun can sometimes be more effective than a straight up firefight.

- Use altitude to your advantage, especially if you're low on cover. Finding higher ground makes cover out of more of your ship, and allows you to shoot over other ships' cover as well.

- Don't forget to use your minimap! It's always up while piloting, and shows both allied and enemy ships. Pull it up while not piloting using the interface on the back of the Gravity Welder.
9 Comments
HappyGoCrazee  [author] 24 May, 2016 @ 8:00pm 
The flare gun is mostly for fun. That said, it is a 1 shot kill (over time) with a headshot. It's bright center and smoke also obscure vision.
The Law 24 May, 2016 @ 3:16pm 
Ah, I see! I tried shooting my own ship with the shotgun, and it does slowly whittle down its HP. I do think it would be cool if the ship did a special animation when its HP ran out (the balloon blowing up first, or the whole ship falling to the ground) to make it easier to tell.

Another question: What would you say is currently the main use for the flare gun? I like to start fights by lobbing one at the enemy (sometimes catching junk on fire, occasionally hitting the actual player) and don't often see any huge effect other than a decent amount of damage if I manage to land a headshot with it. Is it mostly just a utility item, used for saying "Here I am!"?
HappyGoCrazee  [author] 24 May, 2016 @ 2:09pm 
It can take awhile to tkae down a ship's HP, but they all have the same health. If you want to test, shoot the floor on your own ship and see how long it takes. You won't see a big difference between a player kill and a ship kill (especially at range) but if it's a co-op ship and both enemies suddenly drop at once, it was probably a ship kill.

It's not designed to be the best way to take an enemy down, but it's safe to do from behind cover or if you're outnumbered.
The Law 22 May, 2016 @ 9:23pm 
Just got my Vive (and Hover Junkers) two days ago and am loving it! I do wonder about the ship-destroying aspect, though. I know that the shotgun is supposed to be good at destroying ships (and I often destroy player-placed cover with it), but about how many shots does it take to destroy the ship itself? Do different ships have different amounts of health? Do I have to shoot a particular part of the ship (the bottom, perhaps) to deal damage to it? Is there any visible difference between a player kill and a ship kill? (I've killed players at medium range with the shotgun, and wasn't sure if I killed them or if I destroyed their ship)

I've dumped A LOT of lead into single ships using the shotgun (gotta love those glowing red barrels) without them blowing up, so I just wasn't sure if there was something that I was missing.
Maxwell 15 May, 2016 @ 8:47am 
Ahhh I see. Didn't know that yet. Thanks!!
HappyGoCrazee  [author] 14 May, 2016 @ 12:50pm 
@Maxwell On the top of the Captain's Console, next to the timer, is a vaccuum tube looking thing called a Loot Chute. You can put loot into this and it will eat the loot, healing your ship and earning you points. Taking all of your cover at the end and putting it in there can provide a sudden burst of points.
Maxwell 14 May, 2016 @ 5:01am 
Good guide with a lot of info! Thansk.

What does "Deposit all your loot at the last minute! Your ship probably has a lot attached to it, and those extra points can mean the difference between victory and defeat." exactly mean? Can you explain this further. Do you mean to store all your junk-cover-items back into your box before the round ends?
VoodooDE 24 Apr, 2016 @ 1:19pm 
Nice, thank you
the darkness that meows 17 Apr, 2016 @ 7:30pm 
nice guide