Have any tips for a fledgling Tails player?

Yes, I know that Sonic is generally better then Tails. But, I've recently been getting into using characters other then Sonic more. First I tried knuckles, because he seemed to be the most similar to Sonic. But I found he seriously lacks the mobility that Sonic has, especially with his short jump height.

Then I tried Tails, and I have really begun to enjoy myself.

With Sonic I was always a pretty bad shot. I would often have to spam or simply ignore players to get the objectives done. But with Tails, I loved having a whole new perspective over the battle. His relatively slow speed made it a lot easier to land hits, and his ability to fly made it easy to be able to take enemies by surprise and stay out of their main focus. I've found playing as Tails to be challenging and very rewarding.

But... sometimes it gets real aggravating when I fight against somewhat competent Sonic players. With the way they move, it's extremely difficult for me to track their movement, and most of the time shooting them isn't even worth the effort because they'll simply use their superior speed to gather rings and come back after you while their invincibility frames are still going. I don't expect to ever have a perfect versus record vs Sonic players, but can someone give me a few tips on how to deal with them?

I'd appreciate the help.

Edit: I just realized this should have been placed in the Help forum. That's.. stupid of me. I apologize about that mods, feel free to move it if you don't mind going through the trouble.

I myself am a Sonic player. I generally don't use any other character unless I absolutely need to(in Multiplayer of course). I fabricated this nice little list of tips that I find very useful. This is, of course, the way I see things through my eyes and my mind making it my own opinion. People may disagree with me and offer better advice.

1. Predicting players:
Most of the time, Sonic players, like you said, do tend to keep focused on land opponents. Sonic players generally use their thok to dodge rings being thrown at them. Players who use characters such as Knuckles or Tails should try aiming ahead of players who are thokking with Sonic. Players who randomly thok as Sonic are a bit tougher to hit due to their unpredictable movements. Try placing traps in front of the path of players who use Sonic in this way such as Grenades or Fire Trails. Remember try to at least keep an eye out for an opponents moves.

Helpful Note: Some players have certain movement patterns. You may notice some players repeating the same path they travel in or you may continually find them at a certain spots during a game. Try using this to your advantage.

2. Strafe is your best friend:
As Tails you may think you are slow, but don't forget that you can move a lot faster in the air by picking up speed using the Strafe Fly. If you are in a tough situation, a low altitude strafe fly can help you make a pretty quick escape. It is best that while doing this you pay attention to any players attempting to shoot at you. You wouldn't want to get railed off in any unwanted direction. Knuckles can also pick up speed while strafing, but not as efficiently as Tails.

3. Keep your eyes on your opponents:
In a game of Match you always want to keep your eyes on everyone. Skilled players have a close eye on everything they can see on their screen. I, for example, keep my eyes on everyone and everything in movement, from rings to other players, I keep my eyes on anything that looks threatening to me. Sure a Chaos Emerald may look fine and dandy to you, but make sure you are safe before you attempt to seize it. This is especially important if you are playing CTF.

4. Some nice CTF tips
If you are playing CTF these are some nice rules that you may consider following.

Always keep your eyes on your team flag as well as the other team's flag.
When the other team has possession of your team's flag, do not do anything else except going after it. Sure it may be tempting to get back at the player who railed you into the pit, but you must remember CTF is about teamwork and it would be more efficient if you helped your team by getting the flag back.

When you are in possession of the flag do not let your team do all the work. If you aren't good at keeping possession of the flag then toss it to someone one your team who can keep better possession of it. Try to avoid camping at a certain location as that makes you an easy target, especially since there will likely be a decent amount of players coming after you. Try to be swift and quick, it doesn't hurt to use an overdose of Grenades if you're trying not to lose the flag.

5. Be Aware:
A good player must be aware of the things in front of them as well as behind them. Even though you may feel like you're safe you always want to keep in movement in case anyone wants to plan a sneak attack on you from the back.

6. Avoiding Rails
There hasn't been a single player, who plays Srb2, who hasn't gotten hit by a rail. Avoiding rails can be pretty difficult especially when the person shooting at you is pretty good at using them. This can be even more difficult for players who use Flying Characters. What you can try to do is not fly to high. I find it easier to hit players who use Tails as they come flying down slowly since, at this stage, they are more worried about finding a good place to land without landing somewhere that can be potentially dangerous. It's a bit tougher for me to shoot at a Tails who's moving fast and low since most of the time they reach the ground pretty quickly and I am unable to predict where they will head to next. Remember you can strafe and move quickly this way. Steering may be difficult, that's why keeping a low altitude can be handy sometimes.

I hope this helps you a little. I may add more onto it later.

Metal Fighter said:

There hasn't been a single player, who plays Srb2, who hasn't gotten hit by a rail.

Click to expand...

For the first couple of years playing the game I wasn't hit by a single rail ring, but then again I was only playing Single player mode at the time. :P

You can also try to go to certain areas where sonic can't jump to and use rail there using the element of surprise. If someone notices though, you would need to move around.

Torgo said:

For the first couple of years playing the game I wasn't hit by a single rail ring, but then again I was only playing Single player mode at the time. :P

You can also try to go to certain areas where sonic can't jump to and use rail there using the element of surprise. If someone notices though, you would need to move around.

Click to expand...

That is a strategy I often try to do. Another thing I like about Tail's mobility is that in wide open CTF maps, you can often using your flying ability to your advantage and catch the flag carrier by surprise. Works especially well on maps where you can see both flags.

Thanks for the tips. Does anyone have any tips on avoiding bomb rings when you don't have the ability to thok? That's another thing that has been a major problem to me as of late.