Unreal Tournament 3/Manta

The Manta is a fast hovercraft vehicle that floats over the ground. It's one of the fastest vehicles in the game, and likely your best choice if you need to get from one side of the battlefield to another fast.

It is very lightly armored. It makes up for that by being highly maneuverable.

Movement
Normal movement keys are usable from the pilot position to move forward, backward, left or right. The jump key allows the Manta to raise off the ground a short distance to clear low obstacles or dodge. Releasing the jump key or pressing the crouch key lowers the Manta.

Normal Manta ground clearance is high enough to float over enemy infantry. Pressing the crouch key while traveling normally lowers the Manta's ground clearance to the degree that enemy infantry will be struck if the Manta hits them.

Primary Fire
Primary fire is a plasma cannon that hits for low damage but fires rapidly.

Secondary Fire
Secondary fire is the same as the crouch key. Remeber that this can be used to ram infintry.

Special Abilities
The Manta is good at taking out infantry with the thin metallic guard edges of its hover-rotors. Its high rate of speed makes it difficult for enemy infantry to avoid being run over. Raising up and lowering onto an enemy on foot will give the Pancake audio message.

Battlefield Concerns
Being the fastest on the battlefield comes with some drawbacks:
 * Raptor missiles are "fire-and-forget" homing on Mantas
 * AVRiLs will likely kill in a single shot
 * The Scorpion mortar shot homes in on Mantas and usually kills in one shot
 * Even non-fatal hits by a Scorpion mortar often result in the Manta pilot being ejected
 * There is no pilot protection, so explosions above a Manta may kill the pilot without destroying the vehicle

Strategies & Tactics

 * Look for a Manta the moment an enemy power core becomes vulnerable; it's the fastest way to get there
 * Against larger, less mobile targets like Goliaths, circle around them at high speed while facing your target and firing, and you can take them with little effort
 * The best tactic when encountering a Scorpion is to simply eject and shoot the Scorpion on foot during the confusion, rather than be incapacitated in a single shot
 * if you eject while the Manta is moving, it will keep moving until it runs out of mumentum. Don't drop your Mantas off cliffs by doing this, unless you need to dispose of them in enemy territory, and you can use this to send the Manta to ram infantry, even if the Manta is close to blowing up or the enemy has heavy weapons.