
The MOD Squad
AIRMAIL!AirMail is a mutator for Postal 2 Multiplayer based on the Rune Quake mod, made by the immortal Rick Foltz AKA Kamek. Download the MOD here: www.gopostal.com/edteam/downloads/AM3-142a.rar Packages will appear in various spots on the map. Inside each package is a random powerup. Only one powerup may be held at a time. Some powerups are automatic, while others must be activated to use. Airmail has long been one of the most popular game mods for postal 2 stp, and currently has 2 servers running it, one in Holland and one in the USA. If you have not tired it yet then shame on you! Just look for ‘airmail’ in the server name. There is one problem with airmail, and that is there is so much going on and so many different ways to use the many powerups, It can be a steep learning curve for most people. But fear not, Kamek wrote a complete strategy guide for us all. Noobs and veterans alike might learn a few things from this ultimate guide to airmail! The Complete Airmail Player's Guide By Kamek The balancing system First off, the balancing system. What is it? Well, if you've ever played Super Mario Kart or any of its derivatives, you'll note that you will never get a lightning bolt when you're in first or second place. You'll always get bananas or green turtle shells. The game is rigged so that you get the stronger powerups when you're in the back of the pack. AirMail++'s balancing system works the same way. Before AM++, leading players could get stuff like the starman and berserker when they certainly didn't need it. Now, leading players won't get those items unless they somehow obtain one from a lower-ranking player. AirMail powerups are arranged into four "rarity" categories: Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Rarest. Common powerups include the basics: Air Jordans, Teleporter, Regen, and the like. Uncommon powerups are a bit stronger: Lightning and Fire magic, Thief, Jack, and so on. Rare powerups are the three "timed supers" (Shadow, Starman, Triangle of Zinthar) and Pandora's Box. And there is only one Rarest powerup: the Berserker. Your ranking determines what kind of powerups you are able to pick up. In AM++, your ranking is calculated as a percentile. If you're the leading player, you're the 100th percentile. If you're in the absolute middle of the pack, you're the 50th percentile. And if you're in dead last, you're the 0th percentile. Your percentile determines what types of powerups are available when you grab a "virgin" Air Mail package. A virgin Air Mail package is a package that has just spawned and has not been touched yet. When you touch that package, a powerup is assigned to it and added to your inventory. If you throw that powerup, regardless of what it is, you or anyone else can pick it up again and it will be that same powerup. Both virgin and non-virgin powerups will disappear after a set period of time. The percentiles are as such: Common: 25th - 100th All this boils down to is the lower you are in the rankings, the better chance you have of getting that berserker or starman. There's also an "Assist Bottom Feeder" option. That option is currently disabled. However, if it is enabled, the bottom feeder (the player in dead last) will get nothing but Berserkers. Regardless of the percentile settings, bots can only pick up common powerups -- no more berserkers or starmen on Moronics. Without further ado, on to the powerups! COMMON POWERUPS
Air Jordans are a great general-purpose powerup. If you're on defense, you can escape easily. If you're on offense, you can prevent your enemy from escaping. Use your agility to trap your enemy with your shotgun or your noobstick (rocket launcher). Air Jordans really shine on the rats maps, where enhanced movement is a plus. You'll be able to jump to various locations normally accessible only via lifts or teleporters. Also, the reduced gravity will greatly help your jump height.
Arcade Machines may seem useless, but you can actually do a lot with them. First of all, they can explode if shot enough. Explosions cause damage. Secondly, they can impede someone's progress. Place one in a doorway to keep the enemy at bay while you escape. But the best use of the Arcade Machine is to take advantage of its instant-spawning properties. If placed correctly, you can trap an enemy inside the machine temporarily. While they're trapped, they'll be unable to move, and extremely susceptible to a shotgun blast to the noggin. It's also a good way to piss people off -- trap them and then escape. They'll be stuck until the engine code warps them out of the trap.
Pistol: 1 bullet every 0.5 second As an added bonus, if you max out on any ammo (except for smeg ammo) while holding the Auto-Ammo powerup, you'll automatically obtain that weapon. It is a fine thing to pull out a holy hand grenade on a non-SW map. Auto-Ammo has many uses. It's great for spamming scissors, grenades, cow heads, or just about any weapon available. On maps where weapons and ammo are hard to come by, Auto-Ammo is a godsend.
Auto-Armor regenerates 4 units of armor every 0.5 second. No real strategies for this one -- just grab it and go for added protection. Just remember that armor doesn't block everything -- you're still susceptible to fire and headshots. It's great against rocket whores, though.
Farts last for 30 seconds, have a radius of 2000 UU's, and cause 2 damage every 0.5 second. If you're the owner of the fart you recover 2 HP every 0.5 second. Farts are best used in large areas (but not too large). In Bedroom-SD, if you place a fart just correctly you can irradiate the entire room. Farts are also good in firefights, too. If an enemy engages you, fart while fighting. You'll recover HP and the enemy will be forced to either retreat or smell your nasty farts. If you drop your can of beans while a fart is active, the fart will be cancelled. You can then pick up the package again and fart somewhere else. This is a useful strategy if you need to quickly relocate your fart.
A great tactic to use with the betty is to aim the betty so that it bounces just in front of your opponent. If you aim it just right, all seven bettys will hit your opponent. In most cases this causes an instant kill, and if they somehow survive they'll be weakened severely.
This is another no-brainer powerup. Just take it into battle and ward off enemies with your awful BO!
First of all, if you use this and get only 1 or 2 dogs, drop the powerup and pick it up again, then re-activate and see if you can't get more. There are a few ways to get your dogs to attack: 1) Shoot an enemy and the dogs will attack that enemy. While the dogs are strong, they have some big glaring weaknesses: 1) Fire. If an enemy is chasing you and your dogs are chasing the enemy, double back and pass your enemy. This will either force your enemy to turn around and come after you, giving the dogs another chance to attack, or to continue running as the dogs give chase.
Anti-Airmail: If a player touches this (yourself included), they are forced to toss their existing airmail, and they'll be stuck with the useless anti-airmail for about 20-30 seconds. If you become the unsuspecting victim of an anti-airmail attack, wait for the timer to expire, then toss it at an enemy and watch as they get stuck with it. Anti-Regen: You can grab this even if you have a normal airmail... but since it's ANTI-regen, you'll take damage until you drop it. Anti-Bunny Hopper: The third in the anti-airmail series. If you have this you'll inherit the spirit of a bunny rabbit, and will be forced to jump repeatedly until you throw it out. Just put these things anywhere. Mix them in with normal powerups, or drop them around dead bodies.
Again, just drop these anywhere. Mix them in with normal food bags or drop them around corpses to fool people. The only ways to detect a fake fast food bag from a normal one are to pick one up, or toss a grenade or rocket at it. Molotov cocktails will NOT trigger the explosives hidden inside, nor will bullets.
Strategy for the Firebomb is quite different than the bettys. With the Bettys, you could kill a player by causing all the grenades to hit that player. With Firebombs that won't work. Instead, just try to spread the firebombs out as much as possible to set everything ablaze. Firebombs can be used anywhere in place of molotovs, and they fire much faster.
As its name suggests, this is a good powerup to use when you're in a panicky situation -- such as a noobstick-wielding rocket whore shoving rockets up your ass and you're down to 5 health. You can also use the panic button as an unreliable method of transportation. You might end up all the way across the map or just a few meters from where you started. Just don't use it too often or you'll probably explode.
Be aware that the Icarus Wings only last for 60 seconds of flight, then they're done for. Having said that, this is a great powerup in large maps. You can fly to usually inaccessible areas and set up camp, or rain rockets or grenades down on the unsuspecting populace. If used properly you can be very hard to hit. Just watch out for seeking rockets. Also note that on certain SW-enabled maps, there are weapons that are totally inaccessible without the use of this powerup. The only way to know is to explore. But if you get stuck outside of the map with no wings left, you may have to suicide.
Here's a list of traps that Law Firm cancels: Gravity traps Here's a list of effects that you are immune to while holding the Law Firm: Vengeance
Being invisible has its perks. First, you're immune to splash damage, meaning things like rockets, grenades, and some airmail powerups won't hurt you. Secondly, nobody will know you're there, because you're invisible. (duh!) This powerup is a camper's dream. Go hide behind a door or a teleport spot and put grenades down, then go invisible. Once your trap is sprung you can simply reappear and place more grenades. You can also hide in a hallway, wait for somebody to come by, then pull out your shotty and blast them. Or if you're under fire, duck behind a corner and then hide your weapon. When the enemy rounds the corner you'll be gone and they'll probably give up. There are a couple things to be careful of when you're invisible. Bullets can still harm you like normal. Also, if you're walking around, you'll show up on the fish radar. And finally, if you're set on fire, you'll be given away and become an easy target.
The disco ball is generally dismissed as a weak powerup, but it's actually quite strong. If you can get up close to somebody and get the disco ball to touch them for long enough, they'll be dead. Be careful, you can "lose" your ball if you go through a teleporter. The disco ball can also get stuck behind a door or something. If this happens just drop and pick up the powerup again to renew your ball.
You can also activate the powerup to restore your HP to full, but activating it will use it up. This is another no-brainer powerup that's good for all occasions.
There are some pitfalls to repel that you should be aware of. Firstly, any projectiles you throw (grenades, rockets, molotovs) will have their trajectory altered by your repel field. This will mess up your aim, especially with rockets. Try it out a couple times and learn how to compensate. Secondly, you won't be able to use the shotgun as effectively, since you need to be close to an enemy to explode the head, and you'll be pushing said enemy away as you approach. This also works in reverse: enemies will have a hard time nailing you with their shotguns. Repel is "the spammer's choice". You can scatter alt-fired grenades quickly with the assistance of repel. Your rockets will have increased speed. Cow heads will fly away. And so on. And again, this works in reverse: projectiles in motion will tend to move away from you. Note that stationary projectiles, such as alt-fired grenades that have already settled, won't be affected by repel. Also, the repel field is relatively weak, so a well-targeted rocket can still hit you. However, seeking rockets will have a very difficult time getting to you.
Rocket Splat uses up rocket ammo. If you have no ammo, you'll be granted 60 units of rocket fuel. 10 units of fuel are consumed if you cause an explosion. If you fall below 10 units of fuel, you won't be able to use Rocket Splat until you pick up some more launcher ammo. This powerup is a lot of fun. While it can be deceptively hard to hit an enemy head-on, you can usually just settle for the splash damage. And if you have the health and ammo to spare, you can rapidly slam into the wall or floor to rack up the damage. You can also fire your normal weapons while you're using Rocket Splat! Pull out your shotty and head for your enemy -- they won't be able to escape. Or put alt-fire grenades all over the map. All the strategies of the Icarus Wings also apply to the Rocket Splat as well, as long as you have the ammo to support your flight. The Rocket Splat is a great overall powerup, and probably the most fun in all of AirMail.
This is another great powerup for the rats maps, or any map with high ledges that normally require some tricky strategies to reach. Just jump up! Just watch out for low gravity -- on low gravity maps, Spring Shoes will usually send you all the way to the ceiling.
Place anywhere you would put grenade traps. Unlike grenades, subspace distortions cannot be kicked away. However, they can still be cancelled with law firms, and they destabilize and explode after a period of time. They leave little sparks of lightning as an indicator.
Your mighty foot can also send alt-fired grenades flying. Great for long-distance carpetbombing or for general mayhem and destruction.
You can use this as a recall item. Go find a room with some health and powerups, then activate the teleporter. Then whenever you need to recharge, simply activate your teleporter again, load up, then return to battle. This move is called "the pause that refreshes".
Red Armor works on top of your normal armor. Whatever your Red Armor doesn't absorb, can also be absorbed by your normal armor. Also, the Red Armor gives you protection from fire. You'll still take some initial damage, but while you're on fire you won't take any fire damage. Quite useful.
Overkill is good with the Vampiric Rune. The noobstick is actually the best weapon to choose while you have the Vampiric Rune. The shotty is also good, as if you score an instant kill, you'll take half of the enemy's HP immediately. A nice trick to use with the Vampiric Rune is to absorb health up to 150 or higher, then toss it. You'll keep the extra health with no rotting.
The benefit to being a big fat ass is that all your attacks become more powerful, including headshots. So chug some Weight Gain and start blastin'!
Here's a list of weirdness effects. Jumping Beans: You're so excited to see the enemy that you can't stop jumping for joy. If you've got Weirdness, just spam these things everywhere. They piss the other players off big time because they have to avoid them wherever they walk or risk turning into a bunny rabbit, or being forced to shit out their crack and airmail. Pepper the doors with weirdness bubbles. Just keep shooting weirdness bubbles at one door, then when some unsuspecting person walks through they'll be hit with all the bubbles at once. Usually this results in their death due to the combination of several caffeine rushes and bunny hops, causing them to jump to their death. UNCOMMON POWERUPS
Missile defense puts up an invisible shield of rocket protection. Any rockets, WMD missiles, or nukes that touch this shield are immediately bounced back in the direction they came. If the rocket is a seeker, not only will it bounce away but it will seek out the person who FIRED the rocket instead! There are a few problems with Missile Defense, though: * Non-seeking rockets, WMDs, and nukes will bounce off, but they won't change direction, meaning that the rocket is still accelerating in the original direction, and will eventually come back. (This is a bug.) Drawbacks aside, this is the perfect airmail to take into combat against the rocket whores.
This is the perfect airmail to use when someone has a starman or something. If they have a starman, they're probably aiming to run into you, so wait until they get close and then activate it, and watch as THEY get gibbed instead of you! Also, there's a secret easter egg with this powerup, but I'll share it with you since I'm nice. If someone goes into a berserker rampage, use this item to steal their airmail. They'll lose the berserker and die, and you get credit for the kill! Plus you now have your own berserker! Of course, there are drawbacks. The range of the airmail thief is small, so you'll have to get up REAL close. Because of this, it might be better to just kill them with your boomstick and take their powerup instead of using the airmail thief. Also, you expose yourself to potentially eating someone's buckshot, so don't waste your time unless it's something you desperately need. And finally, you can't use AirMail Thief to steal the Law Firm powerup, because the Law Firm powerup itself cancels out your thieving.
These things are very strong. In fact, it's nearly impossible to get close enough with the Law Firm to cancel one of these. Most of the applications of the Anti-Gravity Well are defensive in nature, but it has its offensive uses as well. Firstly, to keep other players from grabbing certain powerups, just place the anti-gravity well right on top of the powerup's spawn point. As long as you stay alive, nobody is going to get to that powerup but you. Secondly, anti-gravity wells provide excellent defense against all projectile attacks (including Weirdness). Plus, you can place one to ward off a potential shotgun ninja, forcing him or her to fight you at a distance. And finally, you can use your own anti-gravity wells to launch your projectiles to ridiculous distances. This is a great way to spam grenades across a large area, or to get seeking rockets to their target faster. However, you'll be hard-pressed to aim regular rockets or WMD missiles with one of these in effect. Anti-gravity wells have a range of 1000 UU's and have a repulsion force of 0.3 (UU-sec)-1. I don't know how to explain that in layman's terms, maybe some of you math buffs could figure it out.
There's a bug in Fire Magic, though. Some projectile weapons won't fire or will simply explode immediately after being launched. The direction you're aiming affects whether the bug happens or not. Generally, aiming low will bypass the bug. The downside to Fire Magic is that you become vulnerable to water. Plus, you can be pissed out just like any other fire. This means if you see someone coming after you with their pants down, chances are they're not lookin' for some lovin'. Most maps have no water, but on the few maps that do have water, avoid it. Also, lava is supposed to heal you, but due to a bug it doesn't and simply kills you. This is a fun powerup to use but not everybody likes it. Chances are I'll be updating it to remove the bugs, and possibly grant the power to shoot fireballs.
Gravity wells have lots of useful applications, all of them offensive in nature. Shotgun ninja on your tail? Just drop a gravity well. Need to protect a powerup? Drop a gravity well. A cute parlor trick to do with gravity wells is to drop one in midair, and then start alt-firing grenades nearby. The grenades will be sucked into the gravity well and be forced to orbit it endlessly for lots of fun. Deactivate the well or let it time out and the grenades will scatter. Gravity wells aren't easy to escape from, but it's possible. As with real black holes, there's a "point of no return" that when passed it's impossible for you to escape without the assistance of some airmail powerup. If you're on the ground, turn away from the center of the gravity well and run. If you get enough advance notice you'll probably be able to escape. If you're in the air, you're not going to escape unless you have a Rocket Splat or Icarus Wings powerup. Use the same strategy as if the gravity well were on the ground, just point away from the center of the gravity well and fly for your fucking life. If you're in the air and it's a LOW GRAVITY map, you may not be able to escape but you can attempt to maintain a steady orbit around the gravity well and hold out until the gravity well is destroyed, either by auto timeout, the owner dies or loses the powerup, or the owner cancels the gravity. I'm not going to explain here how to do the orbit trick, but if you're good you can figure it out on your own. Gravity wells have a range of 1000 UU's and a sucking force of 0.15 (UU-sec)-1. Again, get your math professor to explain it. And then share it with me, because I have no idea what it does, I copied it from the RuneQuake source. :down:
These things are fairly easy to use: just point and shoot. They're quicker to fire than the normal Holy Hand Grenades. Just don't blow yourself up.
Jack gives you some of the properties of: * Air Jordans/Sprint Shoes Of course, Jack's powers are far less potent than the actual airmails themselves. Regardless, Jack of All AirMails is regarded as the best powerup in all of AirMail, especially in a seasoned player's hands.
Like a real suicide bombing, Jihad is massively powerful and destructive. It will gib any visible player within a radius of approx. 2000 UUs. In a crowded arena, this equals tons of easy frags. If you choose not to self-destruct, Jihad is still useful, as it will explode on anyone who kills you, causing them damage.
However, the downside is you take increased damage from all attacks (1.25x). While piss won't hurt you like it hurts Fire Magic users, water is deadly. Water and electricity don't mix, folks. If you're gonna jump into the pool with lightning magic on, don't say I didn't warn you.
I highly recommend binding a key or two to your favorite airmail(s). This can be done either by editing the .INI file or by using a console command: set input (key) (command) Here are the bindings I use: set input F10 select jack This way you don't have to hide in the bathroom just to use the airmail select. Remember, binding keys is NOT cheating.
Be aware that the Teleport Shuffle can be unreliable unless you have something good to lock onto. Plus, you need a clear line of sight from your location to the teleport destination. This is a good tool for the rats maps. Travel from one side of the map to the other in the blink of an eye. Telefragging is also a popular tactic with this powerup. Simply point at another player and activate. If the dice don't roll in your favor for the telefrag, you'll get a notice saying "Telefrag failed!" and you'll wind up either below the player or not teleporting at all. Be careful when using this, because it's possible to teleport yourself off the map in some cases, which means instant death.
Activating this powerup, when close enough to an enemy, will steal that player's active weapon. Note that certain weapons (baton, urethra, foot, hands) can't be stolen. Also beware, the enemy will automatically switch to a new weapon when you steal their weapon. Usually, the new weapon will be the strongest weapon they have. So if they're packing a rocket launcher you might be in for some trouble.
There are many useful applications for Vengeance. You can intentionally trigger other peoples' traps and have them take damage no matter where they are. Smoke a crack pipe and step on some grenades. Go running into anthrax clouds. Walk into someone's molotov cocktail fire. The possibilities are endless. Bug: if you are gibbed when you die (nukes, holy grenades, etc.), Vengeance will harm the other player, but if it kills them you won't get the frag in this case. Their score will go back down regardless. RARE POWERUPS
The Bunny Hopper itself does no real harm. It's just useful for annoying other players. However, the Bunny Hopper is deadly when someone has a gravity well out on the field.
The usual benefits and fallacies of the One Ring apply, except that you don't have to stand still and you don't have to hide your weapon. The Shadow lasts for 30 seconds, then disappears.
Additionally, you can touch enemies to kill them instantly! If you touch them, they die, no matter what. Run around and frag as many people as possible before your timer runs out and you become a mere mortal again.
RAREST POWERUP
The berserker rampage lasts for 30 seconds. During the rampage, you are completely invincible. You get extra speed and jumping powers as well as boosted damage output from all your weapons... which, by the way, is now ALL the weapons, with max ammo. You even get the Tai Kwan Leap boot to the head. You even get the nuke launcher. For 30 seconds, run around and kill as many people as possible. They know you're coming, so they'll avoid you like the plague. Speaking of plague, if you can't find anybody to shoot, just alt-fire plague rockets, since those things last quite awhile. Most people will opt to fire off an initial nuke, then run around rocket whoring people, and head-booting anybody who gets close enough. After 30 seconds, you collapse from your berserker rampage. Anything you had in your inventory is destroyed (including your berserker airmail and all your weapons) and you lose a point as if you had suicided. The AirMail Thief is the only thing that can stop a berserker rampage once it's started. The End.
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