On July 10th, 2001, I had the opportunity to go to a group picnic with people I used to work with. At any rate, it was time for their annual picnic. While working there, I had assisted them in stockpiling a decent armoury of Supersoakers. They had several CPS1000s, one CPS1200, a few SC500s and several XP110s, not to mention a bunch of little mini-soakers.
However, I chose to get a little more soaker training using my Monster (2001). Besides, I needed to test if the beast really performed in battle as well as I had imagined.
The joy (and danger) of Free-for-Alls is that, well, you never can be sure who is targetting who. There are many alliances called between some people which all-too-quickly breakdown once someone’s back is turned. Another basic fact on free-for-alls is that it is virutally impossible to remain dry, no matter how much tactical knowledge one may have.
The Monster performed very well. Granted, it was outranged by the CPS1000s by a few feet, but this could be easily compensated for using good angles and a little help from the wind. It was also nice having a choice of nozzle settings on the battle field since the filling station was a good walk from the main battle-grounds and the 2.5x nozzle allowed me to keep engaging targets when others had already run dry. When full or nearly full, I typically had the Monster set at 4x, though when sniping people from behind other people (think: human shielding), I often set the Monster on 8.5x to unleash a large bolt of water at some unsuspecting individual. Even the fan spray nozzle proved useful, though only at close range (within 10 feet). Most of the time found me toggling between the 2.5x and 4x nozzle settings.
Other Notes:
- High-angle short shots do a great job at taunting basically anyone into picking up a water blaster and joining in the fray;
- Short-bursts of water in general is a much more effective way to soak a target than a long, continual stream. Pulsed shorts result in much more spray as well as make the target unsure about when the next pulse may hit. Non-rhythmic pulsing appears to work best at catching people off-guard;
- Face shots should definitely be avoided… takes away from the fun;
- Physical contact and water wars do not go well together. Too often are people injured (even though unintentionally) if water blasters are fought over. Have clearly defined rules and punishments for those who engage in physical attacks. If the group agrees before beginning, it is much easier to deal with isolated incidents;
- Blasters can also serve as an effective shield against an attack if one cannot counter-attack; and
- Always keep an extra half-shot or full-shot in your firing chamber when you think it is time to head for a filling station. This is especially important if it is a shared filling station since newly-refilled players have a tendency to try and pick-off those they think are out of water. Being able to return fire often surprises them and likely allows you to score some direct hits. Most people usually don’t think someone returning to refill has any water and will usually not be able to dodge a counter-attack.