Gameplay

There are three major components of Smashball that you ought to familiarize yourself with:


 * Mobility. Turbo Moves and the Grappling Hook let you move faster and more deftly than in most other shooters.
 * Ball Handling. The Ball is the most important part of the game. You'd better know how to use your  ball key to pick up the ball, block shots, and  pass the ball to other players.
 * Combat. Smashball's Combat System is unique.  You use a variety of guns to wear down your enemy's health, then you hit them up close with a Charge Attack.

Mobility
Smashball players are extremely agile, thanks to their thoroughly wired reflexes and special equipment. Two major abilities are:


 * Turbo Moves. Turbo moves give you a quick burst of speed in any direction.  You have a limited amount of Turbo Power, and it's your lifeblood in this game.
 * The Grappling Hook. You use the hook to maintain your mid-air velocity and to clear large open spaces quickly.  If you find yourself running across a big open room, you're probably doing it wrong: use the grappling hook!  But be careful, enemy  weapon fire and  charge attacks can dislodge you!

Ball Handling
Ball Handling includes several different things:


 * Ball Pickup. Obviously, you have to pick up the ball to begin with if you want to get it anywhere. A player can pick up the ball by pressing their ball key (the default ball key being F) once they are within range of the ball, which further depends on their class.
 * Passing. A good team passes often to each other to minimize the risks of losing the ball, and to strategically get the ball into the opposing team's goal.
 * Blocking. In order to prevent the ball from getting into your team's goal, it's necessary to block the ball. Blocking not only includes blocking shots, but blocking passes as well.
 * Shooting. Shooting isn't as simple as looking straight at the goal and throwing the ball. Players have to take into account their class, how far away they are, what's going on around them, etc.

Combat
Combat in Smashball is also different from many other standard shooters. In general, death is somewhat rare. Your attacks are usually focused on taking the ball away from the other team, or blowing past the defense.

There are two ways to hurt people in Smashball:


 * Weapons. Each position has two weapons.  With the exception of the Goalie's guns, weapons are used to whittle down an enemy's health in preparation for the coup de grace.
 * Charge Attack. When you perform a Forward Turbo Move, you also pound the tar out of anyone you happen to bump into.  This is the easiest way to make an enemy fumble, or to knock them out.

The damage model is more involved as well. There are three types of damage you can suffer in Smashball. Each kind of attack causes different amounts of each damage type.


 * Health Damage is the kind of damage we're all used to, it subtracts points from your health.
 * Force Damage knocks you around and affects your movement.
 * Shock Damage is what causes Shock Criticals: hook drops, fumbles, knockouts, and death. The lower your health, the more you are affected by shock damage.

In general, each class will have one health-damaging weapon with low force/shock damage, a force-dealing weapon with moderate health and shock damage, and a charge attack which does no health or force damage but high shock.