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Hi to all, here's kiodos

I played bzflag some years ago into a closed LAN with friends and now that I returned I discover some servers around the world.
Anyway I noticed some tanks behaviours that I didn't remember, could you help me?

1 - I noticed some tanks moving by their side when jumping without wings flag, is this possible ?
2 - Some tanks carrying the team flag have also other flags like wings or laser, etc ... again is it possible ?
3 - Can't lock the GM several times on target while other tanks can lock and kill me rapidly , is it question of training or just bad behaviours ?
4 - Where I can find a description of the abilities of each flag ?

Welcome back to bzflag!

Check the wiki pages: https://wiki.bzflag.org/Flag_List

Hi kiodos,

I'm not sure if I'm able to answer all your questions, but I'll see what I can do.

kiodos wrote: 1 - I noticed some tanks moving by their side when jumping without wings flag, is this possible ?

I've seen it done with "Agility", "Thief" and "High Speed" flags.(Usually by jumping and with a slight turn it sometimes makes it seem like they might have jumped sideways.)

2 - Some tanks carrying the team flag have also other flags like wings or laser, etc ... again is it possible ?

I'm assuming you mean a player is holding the team flag and has other powers.
This is possible with plug-ins and has been done quite a bit. (See links I've placed below.)
Also there's custom flag plug-ins and there may be flags which aren't listed which appear.

3 - Can't lock the GM several times on target while other tanks can lock and kill me rapidly , is it question of training or just bad behaviours ?

GM works by locking on the nearest tank and by locking on to it by right mouse click. (If using default configurations.)
Also depending on where you play, GM has a very tight or very lose turn ratio.(Meaning in some areas it's possible to out-dodge a GM lock and while in others it's virtually impossible.)
Also GM can lock on to teammates. (So watch out for TKs.)

4 - Where I can find a description of the abilities of each flag ?

Depends a bit as there are custom flags, but there's a list of official flags which exist.
There's a few links I've provided below which might give a general idea of some of the custom ones which exist.

Links
viewtopic.php?f=79&t=12418 - Fun with Genocide
viewtopic.php?f=78&t=14156 - TeamWeapons - just started
viewtopic.php?f=79&t=18792 - Grenade flag release - as seen on Apocalypse
viewtopic.php?f=79&t=17528 - OFFA Genocide
viewtopic.php?f=79&t=12669 - Thief Kills plugin released!
viewtopic.php?f=79&t=18075 - Extra Point Flags!
viewtopic.php?f=79&t=17630 - UselessMine - Create Mines with the Useless Flag Once Again!

kiodos wrote:1 - I noticed some tanks moving by their side when jumping without wings flag, is this possible ?

The tanks might be hitting an obstacle mid-jump, which could be taking away their rotation.

kiodos wrote:2 - Some tanks carrying the team flag have also other flags like wings or laser, etc ... again is it possible ?

It is not possible to have the team flag and also have the effects of wings. Team flag and laser is possible via a server plugin, but I'm not sure if anyone is doing that. (Plus, it wouldn't show up as a laser for the local client as shot type modifications by a plugin do not affect the original client.) The Mofo server, for instance, has a plugin that provides a genocide effect when you are (I think) carrying your own team flag.

kiodos wrote:3 - Can't lock the GM several times on target while other tanks can lock and kill me rapidly , is it question of training or just bad behaviours ?

I'll elaborate on what Zehra mentioned. The default settings (tank speed, shot speed, and the GM turn speed) are set up so that a tank moving almost perpendicular to the direction of a locked GM can avoid being shot. Some servers increase the tank speed or shot speed, which exaggerates this, making it even easier to avoid being shot by a locked GM.

kiodos wrote:4 - Where I can find a description of the abilities of each flag ?

The Help menu in the game describes all of the flags. You can also toggle flag help while playing with the 'f' key. That would show you a description of the flag you are carrying on the screen.

blast wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2017 1:01 am The Mofo server, for instance, has a plugin that provides a genocide effect when you are (I think) carrying your own team flag.

Correct. It also has custom flags like Grenade, Airstrike, etc.

blast wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2017 1:01 am The Mofo server, for instance, has a plugin that provides a genocide effect when you are (I think) carrying your own team flag.

I think it just kills all enemy players when a kill is triggered by the flag holder, it's not a genocide shot.

There doesn't seem to be a genocide shot type.
According to this post TeamWeapons - just started.
Not sure if this is the case in more recent versions of BZFlag.

-Zehra