JailBreak Basics

LOCATING JAILBREAK GAMES
If you downloaded and installed the JailBreak Gamespy tab, as I instructed in the previous page, then locating a JailBreak game is easy as pie. If you don't know how to import custom Gamespy tabs you can read about that on the More Gamespy page.

There is one thing you should note about locating JailBreak servers with Gamespy if you're using filters in Gamespy. JailBreak, while very popular, is not on as many Quake 2 servers as say classic deathmatch, CTF, or more current hot mods like Rocket Arena. Thus if you are filtering out sites with lower pings (< 400) then you may see no, or very few, JailBreak servers when you use the JailBreak Gamespy tab. Here's a good way to fish out of that problem.

Click the Filtered Out tab to view all the servers that didn't make it through the filter (and for us 28.8 people there's a lot of them!). Scan the list for any JailBreak servers. You can tell they're a JailBreak server by many tell-tale signs. Most likely the title of the server will say JailBreak in it (e.g. "Todd's Mondo JB Server"), the maps they're running will be JailBreak maps such as jb2 or jbpalace, the version info in the server rules box will say that server is running JailBreak and what version it's running.

When you do find a JailBreak server right click on it and select Add to Favorites. Now whenever you click the Favorites tab that server will always be there, no matter what ping it has! Of course, if the server has obscenely low ping it may not be worth playing on - but JailBreak servers can be hard to find so I take 'em when I find 'em!


JAILBREAK INTERFACE
I'll now briefly discuss the layout of the JailBreak screen as you will see it in the game. It's actually quite easy.

The first thing you should notice is the icon in the upper left corner of the screen. This is your team icon. It lets you know what team you are on. If you are on red it will be a red player, and blue if your are on the blue team. If you are ever in doubt about what team you are on always look here.

To the right of your team's icon (in the upper left corner remember) will be your team's point total. Bars will appear over your team icon once a player on your team is sent to jail. They will remain until all your players are out of the enemy jail. To the left of your team icon will be another number that displays the number of your teammates in jail - so go spring them!

In the upper right hand corner of the screen you will notice the opponent's team icon, their score, whether anyone of them is in your jail, and how many are in jail. Just like your team icon in the upper left but for the opposing team.


JAILBREAK TOOLS
For the most part JailBreak is a lot like CTF and classic deathmatch, but there are a few cool new things that deserve special mention.

The Turret
The only new weapon introduced in JailBreak is probably one of the coolest ones to date! At the entrance to each team's base there are several turrets to be used for defense of the base. Figuring out how to use them however can be a bit frustrating.

Now, if you read the JailBreak introduction page - as you should have!!!! - then you will have already created a JailBreak cfg file with two bind commands in it. One of the configurations read something like this:

bind e "+use"

You may have bound +use to another key but for the purposes of explaining things I will assume you used E. When you're in a JailBreak game, and your JailBreak cfg has been loaded - walk up to a turret and get on it. The turret should now track your movements, meaning it follows where you look. To fire the turret simply press the E key. Fun, huh? Once you want to get off the turret just hit the jump key.

Player Identification
The other cfg command I gave you on the previous page was:

bind f "cmd ident"

Pressing the F key now will toggle player identification on and off. All this does is flash a player's name and team across the bottom of the screen when you point your view at them. If you find it annoying then either turn it off or remove that command from the cfg file altogether.

Changing Teams
Just like in CTF, JailBreak games can become unfair if the teams aren't balanced correctly. For example, six against two isn't very sportsman like. You can tell how many people are on both teams by hitting the F1 key any time during play. Hit F1 again to clear it. To change to the other team type this at the console:

/cmd changeteam

Don't change teams unless it's to make things fair though. People get mad when players start to jump between teams.


BASIC TACTICS

Teamwork makes the world go round
JailBreak, like a game of Capture The Flag, is all about teamwork. Whether you win or loose is determined by how well your team functions together. If you're organized, smart, and keep your goals in sight - you'll win. If you're nothing but a rag tag bunch of untamed marauders, you're probably going to get executed a lot. So keep your team in shape by assigning duties. Delegate people to offense and others to defense. More skilled players with lower ping are probably the best candidates for making attacks on enemy jails.

Make sure someone is guarding the jail!
One of the biggest mistakes a team can make in JailBreak, in my humble opinion, is a lack of adequate base defense within the base. Sure it's good to have defense on the outskirts of your base, but what good is that once an enemy breaks through? Have a good close quarter fighter always stationed in your base's jail to quickly dispose of the cockroaches that sneak in.

Watch your back when you're on a turret
One of the neat features of JailBreak is the turrets. They are large guns situated at the entrance to each team's base. Players can use them to fire large rounds at would-be invaders. The great thing about them is their power. The bad thing is that if an enemy can get up close, you can be an easy kill. Also, make sure your back is always clear! Enemies love to sneak up behind turret operators and, well, kill them of course. So keep your head up.

Don't let enemies camp out in your base!
This may seem like a blatantly obvious tip, but you'd be surprised how many "good" teams allow this to happen. I've seen games where one team was getting killed, but then pulled into the lead because one of their players got into the enemy base and just camped out by the jailbreak switch! Virtually no one from the other side ever came back to kill him!

The golden rule to take out of this: you must control your base before you have even a hope of beating the other team.

If you're in jail, let your teammates know!
The JailBreak mod has a very intuitive way of alerting players that a teammate or teammates has been captured; jail bars will appear over the upper left team icon in the game window. However in the heat of battle this little notice can often be missed, leaving your friends trapped in prison. If you do find yourself in jail with no one coming to help, send out a chat message (or macro) saying "We're in jail, free us!" or words to that effect.

Practice the maps
This is a universal tip that applies to all on-line 3D-shooters. You've got to get a good feel for the game maps you're playing on in order to get better. Playing them on-line is the best way to go about this - but you can still explore the maps on your own off-line. Just use that JailBreak shortcut we created in the previous page to launch JailBreak on your PC. Then, at the console, type map <mapname> where "<mapname>" is the name of a JailBreak map. Here's a list of all the included maps:

Who says you can't break "The Rock?"
In most cases once you've been sent to the enemy jail you're stuck there until your team frees you. However, on some maps there are ways for players to break out on their own. It's usually in the form of a crawl space opening in the cell, high up where the wall meets the ceiling. It's not normally possible for one player to jump up there so it takes several players.

The best method of getting up to the crawl space or vent is by jumping on top of each other. For example, one player stands below the vent, another jumps on top of him, and then another and so on forming a ladder of sorts. Once a player gets to the top he/she can then crouch into the vent and escape!

It sounds easy but in practice it often just looks silly: people jumping around like idiots, etc. It does work though. The best strategy is just to get a few people standing under the vent and start jumping constantly. Eventually, with a little luck, you'll find yourself either in the vent or at the opening.

For a more detailed explanation of this technique here's what JailBreak player Leo Il Leone has to say:

First: Getting to the crawl space... The best strategy is this- Player 1 crouches under the opening to indicate that it's time to try to escape... player 2 jumps on his back and starts jumping... player 1 starts jumping also at this point. Player 2 will jump, then immediately hit crouch and try to move forward. This way if he manages to land just right he will crouch and start walking forward. This will not work any other way, and it's near impossible this way. Most of the time it's not worth trying to escape with 2 people (depends on the map, but this is true for jb2 and levels with similar escape routes)

The ideal solution is this.... player 1 and 2 are jumping like madmen, player 3 crawls under player 1 (the bottom player) forming a 3 person stack (that's the easiest way to do it... there are others, but this is cake) Now, here's the part that most people don't get right when playing. Player 3 stands (player 1 and 2have to keep jumping to allow this to happen) then player 1 (the middle) stops jumping, staying standing. Now player 2 is at the perfect level and just crouches and crawls in.

Now... Once one player is in it is vitally important for his safety that the other 2 players start jumping like madmen trying to escape themselves (and if there's another player, try to get another person out) This is because there is usually a guard in or near the jail. If he hears it get quiet all of a sudden, or the players run to the window and start shooting to 'distract' the guard then that is like holding a sign up that says "Kill the escapee." Most likely this leads to death if the guard is halfway competent.

The other suggestion about shooting in the tunnel to see is a really bad one. It will work if there's no guard there at all (or anywhere near), but otherwise it's a blatant advertisement for an execution. My suggestion is this, As soon as you get into the tunnel a bit, and it gets dark, turn around so you can see the light, but keep moving (backwards) when you stop moving, slide sideways in the direction fo the tunnel for a bit till you see the light of the exit tunnel (This applied to jb2... most of the others have some small amout of light in the tunnel) Then run out and hit the button quick! As long as you hit the button it doesn't matter if you're dead... you just run back out...

Keep hitting the button (or have someone else do it) until eveyone's out and there's a reasonable assurance that you'll live for more than 10 seconds. Then run for a weapon.

Thanks Leo Il Leone for this great advice!


Just a few final words to close out the JailBreak tutorial. At this point you may be saying to yourself, "That's it?! Only two pages on JailBreak, what gives?" Well to be honest I kept the length of this sub-tutorial down because I thought that was the best approach. Since reading this tutorial requires you to already have read the previous, much more lengthy, DM 101 tutorial then there's really no need to rehash a lot of old stuff.

My philosophy is to get you started up with JailBreak, give you a couple pointers, cover a few topics I found difficult when starting, and then set you on your way. Learning to play Quake 2 Internet games is a lot like learning to program. Once you've learned one programming language (or one variety of deathmatch) you've pretty much learned them all. Once you do move to a new language or new mod it should only take a few hours (or a couple days) of learning and readjustment before you get the swing of things.

I hope you've enjoyed this first sub-tutorial to DeathMatch 101, and keep checking back for new additions. Be sure to also check on the folks over at Team Reaction for the latest JailBreak news, software, and more!