Gameplay
General mechanics and competitive practice for vanilla Xonotic.
Source: Halogene’s Newbie Corner (https://xonotic.org/guide/)
Health and Armor
Starting health is 100. An experienced player can kill in 2 shots via a weapon combo.
Mega Armor and Mega Health each grant +100 of their respective stat. Both respawn 30 seconds after pickup.
Above 100: health and armor both rot back down to 100 over time. The further above 100, the faster the rot.
Below 100 health: health auto-regenerates after a short delay since last damage. The lower the health, the faster the regen. Armor does not regenerate.
Pick up health and armor whenever the path doesn’t put you in a worse position. Megas in particular are worth routing around.
Sound Awareness
Each pickup size has a distinct audio cue audible at distance, more reliable than footsteps for tracking opponents across the map. Knowing pickup locations and recognizing their sounds tells you where players are before you see them.
Hit sounds change when a player’s health is critically low. The low-health groan tells you a follow-up with a fast spread weapon (Shotgun, MachineGun) or fast splash (Crylink) will finish them. Important in duel.
Splash Damage Through Walls
All splash weapons (Mortar, Devastator, Electro combo) deal damage through thin walls and ceilings. The hit indicator beep confirms a hit. The opponent cannot retaliate simultaneously, making this a safe damage option when you know their position.
Console
Open with Shift+ESC. Tab completes commands; partial matches show all completions along with current value, default value, and description.
search <term> lists all commands with that text in the name or description.
Vote commands: vhelp lists allowed votes on the current server. vcall <vote> calls a vote (e.g., vcall endmatch).
Competitive Settings
Settings used to reduce visual noise and improve readability. Commands via in-game console.
hud_damage_blur 0 ; disable damage blur on hit
hud_damage 0.4 ; reduce damage flash intensity
fov 120 ; field of view (default 90)
playermodel "models/player/megaerebus.iqm" ; fullbright player model
cl_forceplayermodels 1 ; force your model on all players
cl_forceplayercolors 1 ; force your color on all players
cl_gentle_gibs 1 ; disable gibs (requires reconnect)
cl_particles_alpha 0.2 ; reduce explosion particle opacity
cl_particles_sparks 0
cl_particles_blood 0
r_coronas 0
r_bloom 0
gl_picmip_world 10 ; degrade world textures (requires vid_restart)
gl_texturecompression 1
cl_simple_items 1 ; 2D sprites for pickups (server must allow)
r_drawviewmodel 0 ; hide first-person weapon model
cl_reticle 0 ; disable zoom overlay mask
cl_zoomspeed -1 ; instant zoom transition
cl_unpress_zoom_on_weapon_switch 0 ; keep zoom through weapon switches
cl_bobfall 0
cl_bobmodel 0
cl_bobup 0
cl_deathscoreboard 0 ; watch action instead of scoreboard when dead
Fullbright model note: the Mega Erebus model was removed from the model selection menu in 0.8.2 but is still available via console. Setting cl_forceplayermodels 1 makes all other players appear as your chosen model.