Altadorian Advice

Why would I willingly relinquish my expertise to readers that might not even be rooting for the Citadel? Meepits! Erm, I mean...

I had a great run. I consider myself a very good player, but I am often very busy with silly activities such as vacations and celebrations that cause me to miss out on this delightful competition. So now that is why I have decided to feed my experience into your motivated, eager, yooyu-slinging minds.

Note that these are not in order of importance, just in order of my train of thought. They are all essential to extending your talents as far as possible. And if they are a bit vague, it is still a stretch to aid my rival teams...

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#1 Play in your team’s default position!

I used to adore using a 3-1-1 formation, but then I found out that I was scoring with Tandrak Shaye and that it would be a lot more efficient if I scored with Layton Vickles. This was hard to adjust to. My hand kept on itching for the center forward! Thus, with a defeated sigh, I tried 2-2. It worked! All the right players were in the right place for my hand to direct them to the goal.

#2: Know your players!

It is always good to study the weaknesses and strengths of your team! For example, you wouldn’t want to pass a yooyu near your goal if that player may not be very good at passing. I kept on doing that with Tormo Frein and a faerie yooyu; yech, not a good idea. Plenty of boos.

#3: Know your opponent!

You do not have to know them as well as you must know your players because you only have to play them for one day, but do not go in blindly. Listen to those two neopets that discuss the teams before the match. If they mention certain players, go to the player info site to figure out what those players look like and their positions. For instance, if they mention an offensive player that can give make your defense’s job difficult, then keep the ball away from that player!

#4: Strategize for each yooyu type!

Unlike the home versions, the Altador Cup uses real petpets for their sport, and petpets are all individual in their own right. The six superstars we currently employ are a beautiful brown, feisty fire, sleepy snow, mischievous mutant, flailing faerie and crazy clockwork. Make a quick game plan for each yooyu type. If you have a Darigan yooyu, do not aim at the net. It certainly will not go in. Instead, find the perfect angle (and I know that there is one) where the yooyu sails perfectly away from the goaltender’s extending arms and into the net. This takes time, and you must learn for every yooyu.

Now, the only fault I have with this tip is the Mutant yooyu. It’s everything (except Clockwork yooyu –imagine the mess that would make!) at once! Decide to use one yooyu strategy, and if that doesn’t work about five times, randomly try another one. Fight fire with fire, they say, so fight randomness with randomness. Be spontaneous!

#5: Aim at the feet!

This does not connect at all to my other train of thought, but on that last bit I was feeling random and spontaneous. Anyway, I have noticed that goalkeepers have difficulty catching things with their legs. If you aim at an awkward angle, so that you are extremely close to the net, it is probable that your shot will graze the goaltender. So if you are in this position, try to brush against the goalkeeper’s feet. This tip was very useful with the excellent Xana DiLanche. I could find little way else past her.

#6: Use practice teams!

It may seem like this piece of advice may come a bit late, seeing as we are already into the tournament and the random jelly Chia team has *poof* vanished. But that narrows into one rule: practice. If you can’t have a jelly team, then try for some larger opponents. Experience will always aid you.

#7: Mice are nice

Before I am bombarded with cries of “MIAmouse!!” allow me to explain (Neopets, cover your eyes please). Use the mouse alternative or mouse that best displays your skills. Practice and play consistently. It makes more of a difference than you would think. Since I always play with a mouse, I play slower and less accurately on a touch pad. This also goes for other settings, like screen size, volume, brightness, whatever you feel might adversely or positively affect your score.

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Of course, there are other games to think about also! I’m no expert with Slushie Slinger, but I still learn a few interesting things.

#8: Fill early!

(Also known as the extreme slushie slinging catching filling turning running mode)

When you are stressed and finished slushies are crashing down the aisles and the hungry neopets are screaming for refreshment (though I can’t criticize –those slushies are good!), this is a good speed tactic. After slinging a slushie, turn around and grab another immediately. Then run and sling. It becomes a rhythm, a dance. Turn, fill, turn, run, sling, catch, turn, fill, turn, run, sling, turn, fill, turn, sling, turn, fill, run, turn, sling, catch, run, catch, turn, fill, run, catch, sling, and so on. Don’t even glance at what they want!

#9: Appreciate early levels

This advice goes for all games, in a way. (Most notably Meepit Juice Break.) Get as many “customer service” points as possible. In other words: listen to the cries of the customers! If your early customer wants a strawberry slushie, they get it. It’s slow, so do your quality work. Only go into extreme sling mode (see tip #7) when it is called for.

#10: Prioritize for dimensions

Although this is a strange piece of advice, notice the perspective of the aisles. The higher ones are shorter! You art majors, you will scoff and say, well, that is simply perspective! Everything looks smaller the farther away it is! BUT!!! But, my friends, the slushies should look slower, correct? Yet they still go at the same speed, correct? So if three empty bottles are floating at the same time back to you, dash to the top, catch, leap down, catch, and leap finally, to the bottom, to catch. If you start at the bottom, the top and middle bottles will crash on the floor while you are still waiting for the last.

Note: This often happens in the extreme slinging mentioned in tip #7.

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Heh, okay, so maybe I’m only average or less at “Make Some Noise!” but I still have things to offer.

#11: Accuracy, not speed!

In the beginning, slamming the keyboard does nothing. Just patiently press the two alternating keys. Pressing them at the same time does not help at all. If your bar is really high and all you can do is slam, then go ahead and slam.

#12: Don’t interrupt for those random keys that appear to boost your score.

These really help! Don’t pause to do them, just replace. For example: jdjdjdjdjdjdjdjdtdjdjdjdjdjdjd. I didn’t have to get out of my rhythm at all. All I had to do was substitute the t for a j.

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A new game already? Well, I’ll present my small advice for this “Shootout Showdown.”

#13: Edge in

Aim at the very edge (though not so that it misses the goal). This gives the goalie the least chance to dodge in front of you, because she only has one side to dive in from and block you.

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Hopefully, you will, with this guidance, be able to start getting around ten goals per game with ease. Maybe you’ll find new wonders in Slushie Slinger. Perhaps you will even slightly improve your Make Some Noise! and Shootout Showdown skills.

But these tips are not only for Darigan Citadel supporters! All the teams are professionals, so even those who are in the bottom 4 are still better than most regular Neopians.

May the second best team win silver! (Citadel for the Cup!)