Part 24

Learn tactics for the Orbital Ion Cannon Satellite and Redeemer in Unreal Tournament 3. The Redeemer deals 1200 damage to vehicles.

Orbital Ion Cannon Satellite

The Orbital Ion Cannon Satellite's fire is lethal; the explosion will kill you if you’re caught in the blast, even if you’re right on the edge of it. However, if you cannot see ground zero, you will suffer no damage.

Secondary Fire Mode

It operates the scope, which is exactly the same as the scope on both the Lightning Gun and the Classic Sniper Rifle. See their Secondary Fire Modes for details on how it works.

Tactics

You won’t find an Ion Painter in many DM (Deathmatch) maps, and even if you do, you’re better off not using it. It’s really hard to find the right situation to use it (e.g. enough people in one place) and even if you do, they usually scatter before you can hit them. Furthermore, you need to stand still in plain view to aim that thing and in DM that means certain death.

I have seen it in a few CTF (Capture the Flag) maps, but not a lot. You can use it in CTF (as well as DOM - Deathball and BR - Baller) because in team games defenders tend to congregate. Just use the Ion Painter to clear out all the defenders and give your team easy access. Or, you could try and intercept the ball/flag carrier before he escapes. However, most of the maps for those Game Modes have their important place inside buildings or caverns, and the Ion Painter doesn’t work there.

Where this weapon really shines, however, is in ONS (Onslaught). Not because it is all that good, but because the other two superweapons suffer from crippling problems in the large ONS maps. The Target Painter is quite easy to get away from and the Redeemer missile is easily shot down (when you’re alert). But the Ion Painter delivers immediate damage and has enough power to reduce a Node to almost zero health.

Now, since it’s a waste to use superweapons against people and vehicles (not counting the Leviathan) what you’ll want to use the Ion Painter for is destroying Power Nodes. Learn the map and find a spot overlooking the base of the Node (you can’t aim at the hologram). Inform your team of your intentions, or simply wait for someone to come by, then fire away. Make sure you have something to finish the Node off, since full health Nodes will survive just barely. Finish off the Node and start building your own. If you coordinated your actions well enough, you should have someone to watch your back while you work, to avoid the enemy quickly retaking the Node and undoing your hard work. Still, it works either way most of the time.

REDEEMER

The Redeemer is a hand-held nuclear weapon. It is the most powerful weapon of the tournament. It fires a Redeemer missile forward in a straight line. The missile will fly in the same direction until it impacts something, or until it is shot down. The missile can be shot down by enemy fire and it will not deal any damage.

Primary Fire Mode

Damage vs. People: terminal. Damage vs. Vehicles: 1200. Rate of Fire: N/A. Ammo per Shot: 1. Max. Ammo: 1. Charge Time: N/A. Special Features: projectile; detonates upon contact; can be shot down; powerful knockback; infinite fuse; splash damage; superweapon.

By using Primary Fire Mode, you relinquish control of the missile forever, or until you fire another one. This is referred to as the “direct missile”.

Tactics

The Redeemer in general is not a good weapon to use in DM (except on very crowded maps) and TDM (Team Deathmatch). It’s hard to come by and even harder to find the right situation. Most of the time you just end up killing yourself or some of your team-mates along with the enemies. That said, if you DO use it, a direct missile is better, because it doesn’t leave you open for attack and it’s not as time consuming. Still, if you can find a good spot where you won’t be bothered, go ahead and use a guided missile.

In CTF, DOM and BR the Redeemer is much more useful. In defence, you can use it to stop the enemy flag/ball carrier before he escapes. That saves your team a lot of time of chasing and denies the enemy the potential to score for a while. It can also save the day on BR, if you nuke your own goal. However, the Redeemer missile is VERY slow, so it’s very hard to actually hit someone on the run. Rather than risk wasting a missile, I would suggest finding a good spot and using a guided missile. In offence, however, the direct missile is just as good. Just learn where enemy defenders congregate, turn a corner, fire and hide. That will usually clear out the defenders and open the way for attack. You should also coordinate this move with the rest of your team for a better result.

The Redeemer plays an even bigger role in ONS. It has the power to destroy a full-health Power Node, as well as all vehicles but one in a single strike. However, ONS maps are all quite large and open, which makes a missile slowly winding its way across the landscape very vulnerable. For that reason many players have given up on guided missiles altogether and instead try to get close and use a direct missile, so as not to risk it being shot down. It can be done in one of two ways. You can fly high in a Raptor, bail and fire the missile from above, then hope you survive the fall. That way the missile has much less to travel and is much less likely to be shot down, but alert players still can. Alternatively (if you can pull it off) you can sneak near the enemy’s Core or Node and fire the Redeemer at