Unreal Tournament 3/Nightshade

The Nightshade is a support vehicle that does little direct damage but can leave its mark all over the battlefield by depositing its deployables.

It has adequate armor, but moves very slowly and doesn't have much in the way of firepower. To compensate, it has a cloaking ability that allows it to sneak around and lay traps in strategic areas.

Movement
The nightshade cloaks immediately upon a player using it, and that is its default mode. The nightshade moves while cloaked at a slow rate of speed. Normal movement keys are usable from the pilot position to move forward, backward, left or right.

Primary Fire
The primary fire is a like a link gun alt fire beam that has been linked up with another teammate for more power, but that also has a very, very short range. It is so short, it extends not much further than a vehicle length away from the Nightshade. The beam is a continous stream that stays on as long as the firing button is held down. It has a similar effect to the link gun alternate fire in that it heals vehicles, and builds and heals nodes.

The Nightshade decloaks when firing its primary weapon, and recloaks when firing stops.

Secondary Fire
The secondary fire button decloaks the Nightshade. Pressing it again recloaks the Nightshade. While decloaked, the Nightshade's rate of speed is increased.

Special Abilities
Pressing the jump key shifts the Nightshade into deployable mode, uncloaks it and locks it to the ground. You will notice a set of four icons appear near the bottom of the screen. These are the deployables that can be deployed by the Nightshade. To select the one you want to deploy, use the next & previous weapon buttons (or the mouse wheel), then press the primary fire to deploy the item.

The deployables available are:


 * Spidermine traps (you can deploy 2 of these at a time), which stream out hordes of spidermines when enemies get near
 * Stasis Field, which is the big translucent green cube that slows movement and shots through it
 * EMP Mine, which will blow when a vehicle runs over it, causing damage and ejecting the pilot(s)
 * Shield Generator, which is a huge shield in the shape of a sphere, open at the top, that you can run into which prevents incoming and outgoing fire.

The deployables eventually reload after a time.

Strategies & Tactics

 * Taking the Nightshade into enemy territory is very risky because once you are seen you are toast; so enemy infiltration is discouraged
 * One strategy is to quickly dump the deployables around your prime node, then get into something more offensive
 * Another strategy is to hop in it at the very beginning of the game and speed uncloaked to the center node, and dump the spidermines and EMP mine there, so that the enemy has difficulty taking it
 * Before you begin mining an area where you might be attacked, place an energy shield; if you get attacked, run into it; any enemies that follow will be within range of your weapon
 * Putting up an energy shield around a node is a good idea if it will soon come under attack
 * If your team is trying to take down flyers, dropping an energy shield will allow your teammates to fire AVRiLs out the top, then home in on the flyers, while preventing enemy fire from all angles except directly overhead
 * Spidermines around a flag base makes it really tough to take a flag, even with vehicles...
 * Place EMP mines and stasis fields at chokepoints where vehicle traffic will be high
 * A full-time Nightshade pilot continually trapping a high-traffic area can pull their weight in a match