Offbeat Worlds by Stephanie Brown

I have been playing a lot of first person shooter games recently, such Halo and Call of Duty. While playing I have noticed a lot of people making small, simple mistakes, but those mistakes usually get them killed and actually cost their entire team the game. Depending on what shooter game you are playing can affect your game style, and that is completely up to how you play, but in all shooter games there are some small things that you can do to ensure your survival, and maybe even get a lot more kills before you die and be the star on our team!

One thing i have seen a lot of people do is rush. In some games it is okay to rush, like in objective game types (capture the flag, king of the hill, etc.), but if the game calls for getting to a certain amount of kills before the other team does then rushing them is usually not the best thing to do. You are not Superman. You cannot take out the entire team by yourself! Instead, try using team work and communicating on enemy positions so you can have the jump on them and gang up on them.

Ever find yourself in a gunfight, run out of bullets and die in the middle of reloading? Well, a couple things you can do to change that is after every gunfight, take cover and reload. Taking cover while reloading is extremely important! You could be running while reloading and next thing you know you’re getting shot at and you can’t fight back! Instead take the extra second to hide behind a wall or something, reload, and get back into the action. It could save your life! You should always have a full magazine.

While running or sprinting around the map, always check your corners! I have heard lots of people complain about “campers” but if they simply check the corners in rooms then that won’t be a big issue. Besides, they aren’t going anywhere, if you find one toss a grenade and that will teach them a lesson about roasting marshmallows during battle! Flanking campers is another good way to kill them as well. Also, sometimes sprinting everywhere is not the best idea. You could be in the middle of a sprint, find a enemy, and next thing you know your dead! That could be the result of your enemy having the draw on you. Drawing your rifle after sprinting may take a second or two, and that is plenty of time for your enemy to put a few shots in your character.

In certain shooter games there are “power weapons” or weapons that do more damage when picking them up, like in Halo or Gears of War. Examples of power weapons in Halo would be: Shotguns, Rocket Launchers, Sniper Rifles, and Energy Swords. In Gears of War, some power weapons would be: Boom Shot, Grinder, and Sniper Rifles. Using power weapons in any game is important: it could get you those few extra kills you need to win the game and keep your kill-death ratio positive!

My final tip for shooter games is trigger control. Instead of pulling the trigger down and spraying everywhere, try aiming down your sights and burst fire. Recoil in shooter games is made for this purpose. Taking controlled shots is highly effective versus spraying and praying. Also knowing when to fire is a factor. If you are a long distance away from your enemy, don’t use a sub-machine gun or a pistol. Either get closer and try and flank them with your smaller guns, or aim with your rifles and take controlled shots. Don’t try and play sniper with pistols or shotguns, every weapon has a certain range to it and is used for different scenarios!

If you just follow these small tips then hopefully you will be able to survive longer in battle, become the star of your team, and actually enjoy your shooting games as well! Keep at it, keep practicing and eventually you will become a feared enemy and a very valuable friend to others. =)

So recently a lot of people have been playing Skyrim and are in love with it. I am one of those people. I have had a lot of people asking me how to increase different skills quickly and effectively without having to pay lots of coin. Here is a little guide to help with increasing your skills and how some skills can help others!

Smithing: Smithing is one of the most important skills to get to 100. You will be able to create some of the best armor in the game, extremely strong weapons and, well, it will be a pretty good coin maker as well.

Right before you reach Riverwood there will be a mine full of iron ore, this is an essential landmark for smithing. Every 48 hours or so it will replenish iron ore so it is a limitless amount of ore. In Riverwood, there is a stack of iron and steal ingots (five each) that also replenish every 48 hours or so. The key with those is if you are on the Imperial side you can freely take them, but if you are with the Stormcloaks, then you will have to steal them. Also collect every skin when you kill a animal since they can be turned into leather.

Whiterun is the best town to get your smithing up to 100 since the blacksmith there has everything you need. And if you buy a house there, it will be right next to Warmaiden’s, the blacksmith shop.

When you are ready to start your smithing, take all your ore to the smelter and smelt all your iron ore into iron ingots. Iron is the best to use because it only takes one ore per ingot. Then go to the tanning rack and turn all your skins into leather. When you are smithing only make iron daggers and leather bracers since they require the least amount of materials to make.

If you need more materials like iron ingots or leather, you have easy excess to them since you are right at the blacksmith shop. So buy whatever you may need and keep on smithing until you reach 100 or need to go back out for more materials.

So if you keep making iron daggers and leather bracers, you will reach 100 in no time and will be able to craft Dragon and Daedric armor! Also keep all the iron daggers and leather bracers because they will come in handy for enchanting.

Enchanting: Enchanting is another extremely helpful and useful skill to get to 100. Not only does it help make weapons and armor stronger but it can also help fortify your attributes. While you are out adventuring, collect every soul gem you come across. There are several different types out there: Lesser, Petty, Common, Grand, and Greater soul gems. There is also a soul gem is called a Black soul gem. Black soul gems are special because they capture the souls of any person you kill.

When you get a good chance, go to the College of Winterhold and buy the spell Soul Trap. Whenever you kill something or someone cast Soul Trap to collect the soul. If you have a weapon with soul trap enchanted on it, you can use that as well so that you won’t have to worry about magic. That is how you collect souls in the gems.

Whenever you collect weapons or armor with enchantments on them and you are not using them, DON’T sell them right away. Disenchant them first that way you permanently learn the enchantment and can use them to enchant other weapons and armor.

Remember all those daggers and bracers you made while getting your smithing up? Well, its time to get those out and use them. Enchanting is a three step process. The first step is choosing the item, so either the dagger or bracer. The second step is to choose the enchantment you wish to use, preferably something that will give it higher value. The final step is to choose the soul gem. Depending on which soul gem you use will determine how strong the charge is on the item you are enchanting. If you use a Lesser or Petty soul gem then the enchantment will be weak, and the value will go down as well. But if you use a Greater or Grand soul gem then the effect will be stronger, with more of a charge on the weapon and a higher value. When you are done getting your enchanting up feel free to sell all your daggers and bracers for extra coin and make some profit off your hard work.

TIP: If you do the Daedric quest “Azura’s star” you can get a soul gem that can always be reused and will never go away. This is a extremely useful artifact to help with enchanting. Also when you get enchanting to 100 you can duel enchant (putting two enchantments on one item) which can really boost your skills.

Alchemy: Alchemy is a quick skill to get to 100. Alchemy may not seem useful at first but in the end it is really helpful. One of the easier ways to get it up is with some of the coin you got from selling your enchanted daggers and bracers. Go to any town’s alchemist and buy every ingredient and recipe they sell, wait 48 hours and buy everything again. Repeat this as many times as you need. If you’re lucky, they will sell Daedra hearts — good for making Daedric armor or weapons.

When you’ve bought everything you want, read the recipes so you will have some potions you can make right away. Keep making potions until you reach 100. It may sound simple because, well, it is that simple, but here is where it gets good.

You can make potions to fortify your skills/attributes such as enchanting and smithing. If you drink a fortify enchanting potion for stronger enchantments, and enchant grieves, bracers, a ring and a necklace with fortify smithing, that will help make items stronger. When you go to make those items, drink the fortify smithing potion and… Well, you could have a armor rating of over 1000.

Pickpocket: Pickpocketing may not seem like the best skill to 100 but if you have three extra skill points to use this could be a effective skill to put them in. When you reach it to 100 you can get a perk of extra 100 pounds carry weight, which is hey! more loot to carry.

Easy way to do this is to enchant some armor with fortify alchemy, then make a potion of fortify enchanting, enchant bracers, grieves, a ring, and a necklace with both fortify sneaking and pickpocketing. That alone should increase your chances of successful attempts. If you are still having trouble with sneaking or pickpocketing, then make a potion to increase your sneaking and pickpocketing.

Well those are some easy skills to get to 100 and they can make you some pretty good coin as well. I hope that this guide helps you increase your skills or answer any of your questions.

This is a link for alchemy, it is a full list of potions and what ingredients you will need to make them.

List of Potions and Ingredients

This is a link to an easter egg in Skyrim. It is a invisible chest that carries lots of loot, and well, I’ll let the video explain everything. It’s extremely helpful for smithing and enchanting.