Freeze Tag: A quick guide

This guide attempts to explain the popular Freeze Tag game mode for QUAKE LIVE. It runs through the rules, jargon and offers tips to new players to give them a fighting chance. FT is incredibly fun, but can be a little difficult to get into. This guide aims to fix that!

Everything contained within is created purely by myself : The advice I give it what works best for me. I hope it translates well.

If anyone has any suggested edits, then I'd love to hear them.

Good luck out there, and happy fragging!

-Donkonky

Introduction

Welcome to Donkonky's guide to Freeze Tag

Freeze Tag is a game mode that is popular across multiple servers worldwide. It's a team based game, and whilst lots of players enjoy the Domination and TDM game types, I've noticed a lot of people (particularily those who are new to QUAKE LIVE) being confused by Freeze Tag when joining a server. This is no fun for anybody, as it breaks the flow of what is otherwise a very tactical, enjoyable and rewarding game type.

This guide aims to help those who are new to Freeze Tag to better understand it, to bust some basic jargon and to give a few handy tips for when you're out in the field.

Hopefully, very soon you'll be enjoying FT just as much as the Veteran players do*!

I welcome any feedback, as this is my first guide. Thank you all in advance.

Happy fragging!

- Donkonky


*Please note that I hope that this guide is helpful even to those are familiar with the game: There's no shame in a die-hard player coming by and checking this out! :)

The Rules of Freeze Tag

A basic outline of the rules

Contrary to what some may think, Freeze Tag is remarkably simple to pick up. But like all variants of QUAKE, it can take a life time to master. Below is a list of key rules and boundaries that govern the game type:

• The players are split into 2 teams: Red and Blue (Just like any other Team game mode)
  
  
• Players spawn with their chosen or given Load-Outs (depending on server settings)
  
  
• The goal of the game is to Freeze everyone on the other Team. Once this is done, the Team left standing wins a point. Regulation matches end when one team reaches 7 points
  
  
• Before the round starts, players have a short amount of time to get ready for combat whereby they cannot fire their weapons. When this grace period is over, combat begins
  
  
• Freezing an opponent is achieved simply by fragging them, just as you would during any other game mode
  
  
• Players can Un-Freeze or Thaw a Team mate by standing directly next to them for 3 seconds

That's it. Those are the basic rules of play. Many comparisons can be drawn to the beloved Clan Arena game mode, but there are some fundamental differences which, to me, make this game more enjoyable than CA.

The following sections will go deeper into these rules and offer some tips on how to manipulate them effectively.

Fragging/Freezing and Thawing/Un-Freezing

- A Frozen opponent


Fragging/Freezing and Thawing/Un-Freezing

Interestingly, Freeze Tag is the only game mode where players don't effectively "frag" each other.
When a player is knocked down to 0 health points, they are Frozen: unable to move apart from pivoting on the spot. In the immediate time after being Frozen, a player is completely helpless and must wait to be Thawed. This happens either manually or by the round ending.



This leads to one of the frustrations of the game mode. Being Frozen very early on in a round can lead to long periods of inactivity if you are Frozen in an awkward position or away from your Team mates. This is just how the game works unfortunately. In long, attritional games however, being Frozen for 30 seconds or so can act as a little break to clear your head and plan your next move!


Thawing is a deeply important part of Freeze Tag. Without it, a match could potentially end very quickly and without its trademark changes of pace and fortune.
As mentioned in the The Rules section, Thawing is achieved by a player standing next to a Frozen Team mate for 3 seconds. After those 3 seconds, the Frozen player will respawn randomly throughout the map (in the same fashion as any other game mode) and is ready to get back into the action.





Above is a demonstration of a Thaw. Notice how the player explodes into Snow: this can be exploited when quickly judging if any opponents are in the area, as the Snow decal will disappear after a short while (More of this type of thing in the hints and tips section)


A sound is played when a Team Mate is Un-Frozen (the same one as a flag being returned in CTF) and completing a Thaw will give you an assist medal. In many ways, these are just as valuable to a Team as Freezes: they enable the tide of the battle to be turned and it is not uncommon to see a Team go from one or two players to a full Team of 5 in a matter of tense seconds!

When everyone in a Team, bar one player, is Frozen, the announcer will say "Last Man Standing!" Providing this isn't you, this is a great time to go all-out to Freeze the lone survivor!

When all of one Team are Frozen, the round ends. The Team with players left gets the point.

The Pre-Round Set up

The Pre-Round Set up

When the match first starts, there is a grace period where players cannot fire their weapons. In between rounds this is reduced slightly.


As an added bonus along with the point for the winning Team, any players that survive the round will not respawn randomly throughout the map and will stay where they are. Instead they may be, depending on server settings, stripped down to their loadout and granted 125 health (which will deplete to 100, within game regulations) This grants a precious few extra seconds to steal some high-ground, re-group with Team mates or to get into a better position.

It is worth remembering that each individual server operates its own variant of these rules. Check them before playing so you aren't caught with your pants down!


HINTS AND TIPS




- Players camp the Quaddie to get a vital boost in the following round

• It is a good idea to find a valuable item, such as the Mega Health, Red Armour or a PowerUp, and acquire it as soon as the round starts. This is fairly difficult to time dead-on with PowerUps, as their spawn cycle is a lot longer. Acquiring items early in the round will tip the initial balance of the battle in your favour!
  
  
• This grace period is an excellent time to group up with your Team mates. Moving and striking together will make you much more difficult to defeat. If you have respawned a-fresh at the start of a new round, re-grouping is perhaps the most important thing you can do.
  
  
• Try to get into an easily defendable position (with as much ammo and health nearby as possible) before the round starts to give you an extra fighting chance.
  
  
• If you see an enemy who has not noticed you, why not try to sneak up on him and land a lethal hit on him as soon as the round starts? Also, if you spawn and are instantly surrounded by enemy players, take the grace period as an opportunity to run like hell!

Tactics, Tips and some phrases explained

Tactics, Tips and some phrases explained

I will break the following information up into easy to digest sections.

Frozen player "nudging", enviro- Thawing and other elements

• Although a player cannot move on their own accord when Frozen, it is still possible for them to be moved. When a Frozen player is "pushed" or "nudged" by sufficent force, namely that of being shot, they will slide along the floor. This is useful in many ways. Say for example that a group of enemies are all Frozen together in a bunch. It is good practice to move them apart by shooting them, so that it is harder for the opposing Team to Unfreeze them. Because if they are bunched up, multiple players can be thawed at once by a single player
  
  
  
  
  - In this image, I am "bunched" next to a Team mate. This is an oversight on the part of the enemy team, as we can both be Unfrozen at the same time
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• If a player is Frozen in an area of environmental hazard (e.g. Lava, acid or a 'death pit') then they will automatically Thaw after a short amount of time. This stops players being unreachable by their Team. Interestingly, if a player spawns or is teleported on top of a Frozen player, then the Frozen player is automatically Thawed.
  If you want to be cheeky, you can throw yourself into a pit when you are being persued by an opponent and are nearly dead so that you can automatically respawn!
  
  
• If you win a skirmish and your Frozen opponents are all bunched together, you should "space" or "spread" them out. This is ideally done by pushing players into corners, making them hard to Thaw and also making the Thaw-er vulnerable to attack.
  
  
  
  
  
  - An opponent here has made it more difficult for me to Thaw my Team mates by spreading them out. This will add up to extra valuable seconds of vulnerability where I am open to ambush in this cramped area.
  
  
  
• In the unlikely event of one player being Frozen ON TOP of another player, it is extra essential that they are spread out. I did not know this was a thing, but in a recent match a player referred to this as "The Tower", which is pretty funny.
  
  
  
  - A tower, in all it's glory
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Just like in any game mode, a rule of thumb is that "together is better", especially when a Team mate has a PowerUp. Stick close to them, so if they are Frozen you have a chance to quickly nab the dropped PowerUp and keep it out the hands of the enemy
  
  
  
  
  
  - Follow that QUAD!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• On the subject of PowerUps, it is important to note that when a new round starts all PowerUps will be stripped from a Team and its respawn timer will reset. So if you have 20 seconds of BIOSUIT left at the end of a round, for example, this will be automatically depleted. This allows the losing team at least a fighting chance!
  
  
  
  - Notice here how my QUAD damage is due to run out about a second before the round begins. Prior to this there was 15 seconds left

Thanks!

Thank you for looking at my guide

This guide is intended as only a brief, preliminary outline of Freeze Tag. There is far more depth and many more tactics to discuss, but that would both clog up the guide and ruin the fun of discovering the further intricasies yourself. Take as much or as little from this quick overlook as you want.

The best way to learn is get in there and find out for yourself. That is in essence how to become better at QUAKE: try something new, get pwned and then try a slightly different approach!

Thank you so much for taking some time to check out my guide, it means a lot. Your feedback, positive or negative, would be very helpful.
If this one is successful, then I may branch out into other game mode tutorials.

Also, it'd be great to have you on my friends list. My Steam user name is Donkonky.
See you in the Arena.


Happy Fragging!

:)

-Donkonky

x

[beachTurkey]

game

[Donk]

Amen!

[Donk]

No problem mate - happy fragging!

[TedFred]

Thank you Donkonky! Just about to try FT for the first time.

[^4ρσяи^1ѕ^4тαя]

Great Guide Donkonky! <3

[Donk]

@Alchtor, that's a good point. I'll make sure to put this in at some point. Thanks !