I've got some bad news. Apart from a few "connection is unstable" issues in the first few matches everything has been fine
Dome update. If you are in the lead take the rainmaker up the one way ramp into the enemy nook. It's a bit harder to push to the end from there but I've yet to see an enemy team be able to get it back out.
Finally made a connection, though i'm down 90 points today, 50 of that due to shitty-ass connections either this morning or tonight. (though 30 of that 50 was because one of those bad connections entailed a rank-down).
Connection's been solid for me as well. Lots of great Rainmaker games tonight, even at B- rank. Occasionally, there'll be a game where one team just dominates, but it's been surprisingly back-and-forth. Kelp Dome is a great map for this game type due to how may different connections there are. Camp Triggerfish is a bit weaker, but even there, I was able to see multiple possibilities in terms of how it can be played.
Somewhat annoyingly, even though I think I won more than I lost over the session, I still ended up slightly lower in points than where I started. Kept on losing 12 or 14 points against 8 or 10-point gains... but I'll get out of B- eventually!
Oh, man, Saltspray Rig is a bloodbath on Rainmaker. Especially if the Rainmaker ends up on the lower platforms.
Go-go gadget blaster!
Something I didn't realize from reading about it is that the Rainmaker's shield bursts when it pops. Like, explosively. I know I've gotten killed a ton by it popping... or it growing and shoving me off a Rig platform. The shield is almost like a sort of control point, where shooting it pushes it towards your color, and if it goes to one extreme it pops. So if both teams are shooting it at the same time it can stall out neutrally.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Something I didn't realize from reading about it is that the Rainmaker's shield bursts when it pops. Like, explosively. I know I've gotten killed a ton by it popping... or it growing and shoving me off a Rig platform. The shield is almost like a sort of control point, where shooting it pushes it towards your color, and if it goes to one extreme it pops. So if both teams are shooting it at the same time it can stall out neutrally.
One thing that I like to try is to find a way to get around to the side in the opening phases, to try and take out an opponent before they can completely destroy the shield. Sometimes, I'll also pull back during a control struggle and submerge and let the other team take out the shield. If timed properly, the opponents won't have much ink left in their weapons to fire back, whereas I'll have an advantage in pushing back and clearing them out.
Played a couple rounds of Rainmaker last night. It was really fun! Can't decide if I like it or Tower Control better.
Add me on Switch: 7795-5541-4699
0
Mr_Rose83 Blue Ridge Protects the HolyRegistered Userregular
In other news I just noticed the screens beside the entrance to the lobby flash up the current stages, which is neat.
Also, the Splatling continues to be the greatest defensive weapon in the game. Especially on Arowana when you chuck a splash wall right to the edge of the lip on the "enemy" side of the central platform and then just stand behind it with a nearly unassailable field of fire to that entire half of the map. That's actually something they should probably fix, like they did with the Underpass.
Not so hot for inking territory and especially bad at one-squid assaults, but eh.
I've got to stop playing at single-digit AMs eastern, because being the only latin characters in a lobby never bodes well. Just got out of a nasty spell of three games.
1- Bluefin Depot rainmaker match where despite playing 90% of the game on the other team's upper platform the counter never advanced past 80% for us and theirs was somehow at 59% despite them never getting it past the center area. On multiple occasions they ended up dropping the rainmaker further back than they picked it up, and we definitely picked it up once or twice way up there, but we never gained any win%. Does it only tick up when your team is actually moving carrying the thing forward?
2- It somehow ended up being 2v3 Rainmaker on Walleye Warehouse. I went 19-9 as one of the Terrible Twosome. The match held at 16% : 17% until the last five seconds, when they caught us in a bad respawn loop and planted the rainmaker at 4:59''. I got no cash reward of course, only got the 4-minute rank bonus, and lost twelve rank points.
3- Connection issues all over the place; still did reasonably well, and then in the last thirty seconds Bubbler got the best of us. On the post-match screen (after a timeout scare) come to find out the rest of my team went 1-11, 3-11, and 5-9??
Squidgame is a harsh mistress. My favorite Miiverse post today was "The RainSaltmaker"
Sorry, already did my run. Managed to get back into A-, tried to push my luck, slid to 16, then a big win got me +14, and i decided to take that as a sign to walk away.
Rainmaker is so wildly, beautifully intense, in a way that's more satisfying than splat zones. Tower Control continues to elude me, although i recently learned that the tower moves quicker with more people on board.
I didn't realize the increase in speed was so dramatic. The jump from 1 person on to 2 is enormous, and it's nice to see that the increase scales with each additional person.
That said, it still reinforces my beliefs that Bubbler is just incredibly good in that mode, especially when teams are disorganized. Yes, you can push Bubbled people off the platform by shooting them, but when a disorganized team is shooting at them from every which way, it can have the result of failing to push anybody off. Since Bubbler applies to all teammates you touch, hitting Bubbler and then having everybody pile on works great, and chained Bubbler activations are even more powerful than I thought: with no upgrades, it last for 5 seconds. If you can get everybody on board for two Bubblers, that's literally ~40% of the entire distance.
Happy Monday, Squids! It’s come to our attention that some of our junior squid researchers (that’s you guys!) might not actually have their very own copy of Splatoon yet. Imagine a poor, poor junior squid researcher staring longingly at their Wii U and letting out a sad sigh. If this is a scenario that you’re familiar with, boy howdy have we got a proposition for you!
Visit the Nintendo eShop and download the Splatoon Testfire demo to your Wii U. Launch the demo from 3-5 PM PT on August 21-23 and get ready to get inked!
Vacillating on the appropriate weapon for rainmaker. Nzap 89 has better sub/special than the 85, kills quickly but has problems at range or around corners (ran into a lot of difficulty on the turns of Moray Towers). The slosher is just as quick on the kill and better at getting around obstacles, but falls apart when you're trying to pop the shield.
Vacillating on the appropriate weapon for rainmaker. Nzap 89 has better sub/special than the 85, kills quickly but has problems at range or around corners (ran into a lot of difficulty on the turns of Moray Towers). The slosher is just as quick on the kill and better at getting around obstacles, but falls apart when you're trying to pop the shield.
What have other people been using?
Splash-o-matic or Heavy splatling. Heavy is good for providing cover for your holder and making paths for them. Plus ink strike for wiping the other team out as you close in
Splash is just a good offensive weapon with a great fire rate and a "stay away or be goo "special
I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
Vacillating on the appropriate weapon for rainmaker. Nzap 89 has better sub/special than the 85, kills quickly but has problems at range or around corners (ran into a lot of difficulty on the turns of Moray Towers). The slosher is just as quick on the kill and better at getting around obstacles, but falls apart when you're trying to pop the shield.
What have other people been using?
Splash-o-matic or Heavy splatling. Heavy is good for providing cover for your holder and making paths for them. Plus ink strike for wiping the other team out as you close in
Splash is just a good offensive weapon with a great fire rate and a "stay away or be goo "special
Anything with Kraken.
Let someone get the Rainmaker, then Kraken them right up to the pedestal. Brutal.
Let someone get the Rainmaker, then Kraken them right up to the pedestal. Brutal.
I've been on a bunch of teams where the holder seems to think they need to walk to the goal despite the rest of the team inking a decent path. Luckily I've seen it happen on the other team to.
On the other side I had a match on the rig that was over before I knew what happened. I had jumped to the lower path to try to ink a line into the base but caught up in a duel with a roller. We splatted each other and the round was over. I checked the map and there is a single file ink line from the rainmaker to their goal.
I don't know if it's a slight oversight or not that you can still swim with the Rainmaker. You'd assume you couldn't for fairness and balance reasons, yet you totally can.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
I wanted to forehead my gamepad when a teammate thought it would be a good idea to somehow bring the rain maker down into that useless lower level platform in saltspray.
I don't know if it's a slight oversight or not that you can still swim with the Rainmaker. You'd assume you couldn't for fairness and balance reasons, yet you totally can.
You wouldn't be able to get to the goal on some maps if you couldn't swim.
The rig, for instance.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
I wanted to forehead my gamepad when a teammate thought it would be a good idea to somehow bring the rain maker down into that useless lower level platform in saltspray.
My rainmaker moment was picking it up in kelp dome on top of one of those one-way ramps in the corners, then getting confused and falling down on the opposite side of the ramp, followed by march of shame the long way across the map
Posts
Domers, I don't know what you are doing but circling around the middle isn't helping.
Super Mario Maker ID: DBB-1RH-JJG
Dome update. If you are in the lead take the rainmaker up the one way ramp into the enemy nook. It's a bit harder to push to the end from there but I've yet to see an enemy team be able to get it back out.
Super Mario Maker ID: DBB-1RH-JJG
Somewhat annoyingly, even though I think I won more than I lost over the session, I still ended up slightly lower in points than where I started. Kept on losing 12 or 14 points against 8 or 10-point gains... but I'll get out of B- eventually!
Go-go gadget blaster!
Something I didn't realize from reading about it is that the Rainmaker's shield bursts when it pops. Like, explosively. I know I've gotten killed a ton by it popping... or it growing and shoving me off a Rig platform. The shield is almost like a sort of control point, where shooting it pushes it towards your color, and if it goes to one extreme it pops. So if both teams are shooting it at the same time it can stall out neutrally.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
One thing that I like to try is to find a way to get around to the side in the opening phases, to try and take out an opponent before they can completely destroy the shield. Sometimes, I'll also pull back during a control struggle and submerge and let the other team take out the shield. If timed properly, the opponents won't have much ink left in their weapons to fire back, whereas I'll have an advantage in pushing back and clearing them out.
Steam: Archpriest
Streaming games and playing music
I might be able to make it out for that. Apologies in advance.
Steam: TimIsOnSteam
Battle.net: TimIsOnBnet#1745
Switch: SW-7012-4788-7410
PSN: TimIsOnTheNet
Did quite well in rainmaker today, getting back towards A- again, though one 14-point loss still hurt.
It is *immensely* satisfying to be the one who plants that rainmaker on the pedestal.
Went from B to A today. Snipin's a good job, mate.
Also, the Splatling continues to be the greatest defensive weapon in the game. Especially on Arowana when you chuck a splash wall right to the edge of the lip on the "enemy" side of the central platform and then just stand behind it with a nearly unassailable field of fire to that entire half of the map. That's actually something they should probably fix, like they did with the Underpass.
Not so hot for inking territory and especially bad at one-squid assaults, but eh.
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
I've got to stop playing at single-digit AMs eastern, because being the only latin characters in a lobby never bodes well. Just got out of a nasty spell of three games.
1- Bluefin Depot rainmaker match where despite playing 90% of the game on the other team's upper platform the counter never advanced past 80% for us and theirs was somehow at 59% despite them never getting it past the center area. On multiple occasions they ended up dropping the rainmaker further back than they picked it up, and we definitely picked it up once or twice way up there, but we never gained any win%. Does it only tick up when your team is actually moving carrying the thing forward?
2- It somehow ended up being 2v3 Rainmaker on Walleye Warehouse. I went 19-9 as one of the Terrible Twosome. The match held at 16% : 17% until the last five seconds, when they caught us in a bad respawn loop and planted the rainmaker at 4:59''. I got no cash reward of course, only got the 4-minute rank bonus, and lost twelve rank points.
3- Connection issues all over the place; still did reasonably well, and then in the last thirty seconds Bubbler got the best of us. On the post-match screen (after a timeout scare) come to find out the rest of my team went 1-11, 3-11, and 5-9??
Squidgame is a harsh mistress. My favorite Miiverse post today was "The RainSaltmaker"
3DS: 0447-9966-6178
Steam: Archpriest
Streaming games and playing music
All good. I'm around most of the evening. Gonna run out for dinner here soon but just @ me and I'm game to play.
Steam: Archpriest
Streaming games and playing music
Rainmaker is so wildly, beautifully intense, in a way that's more satisfying than splat zones. Tower Control continues to elude me, although i recently learned that the tower moves quicker with more people on board.
It does however move faster over area it's already traveled before.
It's been tested
That said, it still reinforces my beliefs that Bubbler is just incredibly good in that mode, especially when teams are disorganized. Yes, you can push Bubbled people off the platform by shooting them, but when a disorganized team is shooting at them from every which way, it can have the result of failing to push anybody off. Since Bubbler applies to all teammates you touch, hitting Bubbler and then having everybody pile on works great, and chained Bubbler activations are even more powerful than I thought: with no upgrades, it last for 5 seconds. If you can get everybody on board for two Bubblers, that's literally ~40% of the entire distance.
The phrase "putting all your eggs in one basket" comes to mind though. One grenade or bucket toss and boom, quad splat.
Edit: And also in Europe
Switch (JeffConser): SW-3353-5433-5137 Wii U: Skeldare - 3DS: 1848-1663-9345
PM Me if you add me!
What have other people been using?
Splash-o-matic or Heavy splatling. Heavy is good for providing cover for your holder and making paths for them. Plus ink strike for wiping the other team out as you close in
Splash is just a good offensive weapon with a great fire rate and a "stay away or be goo "special
Anything with Kraken.
Let someone get the Rainmaker, then Kraken them right up to the pedestal. Brutal.
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
If yes, how on earth does an uncoordinated team stop that?
I've been on a bunch of teams where the holder seems to think they need to walk to the goal despite the rest of the team inking a decent path. Luckily I've seen it happen on the other team to.
On the other side I had a match on the rig that was over before I knew what happened. I had jumped to the lower path to try to ink a line into the base but caught up in a duel with a roller. We splatted each other and the round was over. I checked the map and there is a single file ink line from the rainmaker to their goal.
Super Mario Maker ID: DBB-1RH-JJG
It will be my last.
Steam: TimIsOnSteam
Battle.net: TimIsOnBnet#1745
Switch: SW-7012-4788-7410
PSN: TimIsOnTheNet
You wouldn't be able to get to the goal on some maps if you couldn't swim.
The rig, for instance.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
My rainmaker moment was picking it up in kelp dome on top of one of those one-way ramps in the corners, then getting confused and falling down on the opposite side of the ramp, followed by march of shame the long way across the map
3DS: 0447-9966-6178