The best all-round technique to use against the Ogre (and the Shambler, come to that) is to get sufficiently close that they stop firing their long-range weapon and try to rip you apart instead. Now just keep retreating as you fire so that you're just out of range of their chainsaw (or claws).
The best way to destroy a zombie is a direct hit from a grenade. If you use a shotgun or nailgun they'll fall over, but after a while they get up again. With a Quad Damage powerup you can finish them off with a shotgun, but a nailgun is still no good even with Quad Damage.
Shamblers are cunning beasts and absorb energy from explosions. This halves the damage done by grenade/rocket launchers. A lightning gun will polish one off in short order: the next best weapon is the Super Nailgun, but it takes a lot of ammo.
Circle strafing is a technique where you strafe in one direction while turning in the opposite direction: the net result is that you circle a given spot while always being able to fire at whatever is in the middle. This is a really useful ploy against monsters that take a lot of shots to kill. Mouse users will have an easy time of it (use the keyboard to strafe and the mouse to aim) but keyboard-only players can also use the technique (e.g. by setting up special keys that strafe left AND look right).
Here's some circle strafe aliases for a keyboard player, from James Ariz. These change your forward speed so you can spiral in by pressing the forward key at the same time:
alias +cs_r "cl_forwardspeed 180;+moveright;+left;" alias -cs_r "cl_forwardspeed 425;-moveright;-left;" alias +cs_l "cl_forwardspeed 180;+moveleft;+right;" alias -cs_l "cl_forwardspeed 425;-moveleft;-right;"
N.B. The more adventurous amongst you might like to try switching to a shotgun after the first rocket shot.
alias +snipe " fov 75 ; wait ; fov 60 ; wait ; fov 45 ; sensitivity 6 ; +mlook ;" alias -snipe " fov 60 ; wait ; fov 75 ; wait ; fov 90 ; sensitivity 12 ; -mlook ;"Bind "+snipe" to an easily accessible key, for example "A". When you hold this key down, the screen will zoom in reasonably smoothly, change sensitivity to lower, and turn on mouse freelook. Letting go will do the reverse. The smooth zooming ensures you will not become disoriented.
N.B. The sensitivity is set purely by personal preference and your mouse type. The above commands assume sensitivity 12 for normal view.
alias rock1 "impulse 7 ; +attack ; wait; impulse 1 ; -attack" alias rock2 "impulse 7 ; +attack ; wait; impulse 2 ; -attack" alias rock3 "impulse 7 ; +attack ; wait; impulse 3 ; -attack" alias rock4 "impulse 7 ; +attack ; wait; impulse 4 ; -attack" alias rock5 "impulse 7 ; +attack ; wait; impulse 5 ; -attack" alias rock6 "impulse 7 ; +attack ; wait; impulse 6 ; -attack" alias rock7 "impulse 7 ; +attack ; wait; impulse 7 ; -attack" alias rock8 "impulse 7 ; +attack ; wait; impulse 8 ; -attack" alias at01 "impulse 1 ; bind mouse3 rock1" alias at02 "impulse 2 ; bind mouse3 rock2" alias at03 "impulse 3 ; bind mouse3 rock3" alias at04 "impulse 4 ; bind mouse3 rock4" alias at05 "impulse 5 ; bind mouse3 rock5" alias at06 "impulse 6 ; bind mouse3 rock6" alias at07 "impulse 7 ; bind mouse3 rock7" alias at08 "impulse 8 ; bind mouse3 rock8" bind 1 "at01" bind 2 "at02" bind 3 "at03" bind 4 "at04" bind 5 "at05" bind 6 "at06" bind 7 "at07" bind 8 "at08"
It might be possible to turn this to your advantage. A minor modification to the macros for A Quick Rocket Inbetween will arrive at a set of macros which will fire the chosen weapon and then immediately switch back to the axe. Other players will find out you're carrying an axe that can shoot shotgun pellets, or whatever... :-)
alias +axe4 "impulse 4; +attack ;" alias -axe4 "-attack; wait; impulse 1 ;" (repeat for other weapons) alias ax04 "impulse 1; bind mouse1 +axe4 ;" bind 4 "ax04" (repeat for other weapon selection keys)
Or if you prefer, here it is as an alias:
alias +launch "cl_pitchspeed 1000; impulse 7; +lookdown; long_wait; +jump;
wait; +attack; +forward;"
alias -launch "-lookdown; -jump; -attack; cl_pitchspeed 100; centerview;
-forward;"
alias long_wait "wait; wait; wait; wait;"
Just bind "+launch" to a handy key.
Your starting point is the 100% health (you can reach it with either of two
teleporters, it is above the doorway which leads to the exit...) Get armed
to the teeth, 150% armour and 200% health, then do a rocket-assisted jump
(see above) onto the rafter which is right above the 100% health item.
See those two big brown blocks to your left & right abovethe two
teleporters? That's where you're headed ;-). Step right back, along the
"edge", and take a running jump across to one of the two ledges that lead up
to the huge "block". Then with your back against the "block", do another
rocket-assisted jump up to the roof.
It's a long way down from there, so watch your step ;-)
Once there, the F11 "zoom" key should come in very handy.
This is not as messy as it sounds: starting with 150% armour and 200% health you can get 5 or 6 jumps before your health runs out. If you've practised enough, you can get to the roof in 2 jumps most of the time.
The best way of dealing with a lurker is to leave them alone. However, in order to leave them alone you'll need to know where they're likely to be. Here's one popular place:
Simply bind a colour change to all of your movement controls. This causes you to constantly shift colour as you change your direction of movement.
This is a suitable config for a mouse and keyboard player:
bind w "+forward2 ; color 12 13"
bind s "+back ; color 13 12"
bind a "+moveleft ; color 12 13"
bind d "+moveright ; color 13 12"
bind W "+forward2 ; color 12 13"
bind S "+back ; color 13 12"
bind A "+moveleft ; color 13 12"
bind D "+moveright ; color 12 13"
bind mouse2 "+attack ; color 12"
Simple colour shifts are best if you plan to do this all the time, that way
you are still identifiable. Otherwise chaos reigns supreme :-)
You can also do "color +1" to move to the next colour - handy for that really psychedelic effect :-)
Ivor B has said that one of his more ridiculous things to do was to bind a trouser-change toggle to a key while in teamplay. This allowed him to go renegade on the rest of his team.... :-)
Note: Many servers have applied a patch which stops you changing the colour of your uniform after you've joined, so the above trick won't always work.
If the other players are still moving much faster than you, it's possible that the server has changed the "maximum player speed" parameter (sv_maxspeed). To make sure you don't get caught out by this, use the following lines in your autoexec.cfg file:
cl_forwardspeed 9999
cl_backspeed 9999
cl_sidespeed 9999
cl_upspeed 9999
While on the subject of speed, here's a series of aliases that give you fast attack capabilities to the side or to the rear (from Brandon Fish's list, as usual):
alias fastleft "impulse 3; cl_yawspeed 1280; +left; wait; +attack; -left;
wait; -attack; cl_yawspeed 140;"
alias fastright "impulse 3; cl_yawspeed 1280; +right; wait; +attack; -right;
wait; -attack; cl_yawspeed 140"
alias fastback "impulse 3; cl_yawspeed 2670; +right; wait; +attack; -right;
wait; -attack; cl_yawspeed 140"
Note: Your Mileage May Vary. Personally I find these values for cl_yawspeed
to be distinctly on the low side: I've been experimenting with values as
high as 7000 and still not getting a 180-degree turn. In practice, the
amount you turn seems to be governed by external factors, so don't expect
the last word in aiming accuracy.
It is possible to alter your viewpoint slightly, thus allowing you to look (a bit) round corners. The effect is rather like moving your head to one side (i.e. your weapon shifts in the opposite direction, and your aiming point is likewise off-target). The amount of movement afforded is truly modest, and it's up to you to judge whether it's any use:
alias +peekright "scr_ofsy 14 ; scr_ofsx -14 ;"
alias -peekright "scr_ofsy 0 ; scr_ofsx 0 ;"
alias +peekleft "scr_ofsy -14 ; scr_ofsx -14 ;"
alias -peekleft "scr_ofsy 0 ; scr_ofsx 0 ;"