A Survey About Your Innermost Thoughts

[Aiko.Octo]

I'd really like to pick y'alls brains a bit if you have the time to share.

These aren't trick questions or anything and there's nothing specifically interesting about these scenario choices. I am just curious what others' thought process is.

For each of these scenarios, pretend you are on the team on the left (pick whatever weapon in that comp you'd be most comfortable on), going against the team on the right, in the map-mode specified. Assume you're in soloQ.

When the game loads in, as per usual, you see your team followed by the enemy team. In the few seconds between that and when the game starts (and maybe a few seconds after while you're getting to where you need to go), you are almost certainly having at least one or more thoughts, reactions, judgements, questions, ideas, etc., running through your head.

What are those thoughts?

Try to be realistic if you can. I'm wondering the thoughts that you might typically have within that span of time in each situation, no matter what they might be.

If you can help it, try not to read the responses of others until submitting yours so they don't influence you. Also you don't have to do all four of them if you don't want, anything you feel like sharing is appreciated.

Anyway, the scenarios in question:

Spoiler: Scenario One

Spoiler: Scenario Two

Spoiler: Scenario Three

Spoiler: Scenario Four

 

[Grushi]

Really clever exercise! It's true that I like making mini win conditions in my head when looking at both comps (or cry in despair as I get matched with a range blaster with run speed and respawn punisher).

I'm going to highlight the weapon I'm most likely playing in that comp, and I'm assuming these are weird X rank comps, so I care about winning.
Also, realistically I probably won't think about everything all at once when the game starts, mostly just my opening if I need to change anything, and the rest I'm figuring out as we get to mid, so I'm fleshing out my thought process here.


1: Cjr, vNaut, Dread Wringer, and vCarbon vs vExplo, VL3, vTri, and Ttek on Museum Zones.

This one's pretty simple to me.
First, I feel like my cjr and vcarbon are lowkey throwing because these are very weak weapons, they're probably not in touch with comp splatoon. So not expecting much help from them, I have to play pretty aggro here, so I'm opening on the flank to pressure the enemy plat.
Our specials are not great for killing so I'm not going to wait for an impactful special on retake, once we're all in position I'm going to drop and fight.
Most importantly, we HAVE to push their plat on hold. They have strikes AND a vexplo that's going to contest the zone h24. Try to force the L3 to waste crab to retake their plat.


2: Ballpoint, Tetra, Wiper, and Zap vs vLuna, vMachine, Splash, and .96 on Sturgeon Rain.

These are all bad matchups to me so I'm probably playing very passively even if I have cooler. I should probably pick up the rain, and we need to push fast because the 96 will get krakens on defense. We have two dive guns and a ballpoint, so I'm not too worried about having to go aggro and making something happen. I got a pretty good feeling about this game!
Oh and also we're getting pop, we have three lethals and a wiper, and they only have two bombs on ink hungry weapons, so I'm rushing to mid.


3: Rapid Deco, Neo Splash, Roller, and Shot vs nTri, Shot, Zap, and .96 on Humpback Clams.

I outrange basically all their weapons, so as long as I'm diligent about my positioning I should be alright.
Worried about the double cooler, we have to push fast to get their jumps. Except that's probably a bad idea in this instance because I just said I can't go too aggro, I should just check with torps and hope my team goes in a lot. Doesn't mean I won't dive out of habit though, no thoughts head empty!


4: Z+F, vTri, vDapples, and Charcoal vs Dualies, Carbon, Eliter and CRB on Inkblot TC:

Their comp has like no paint, so I'll try to paint more than usual. I need to watch out for the carbon and range rushing tower, so I probably need to stay safe, especially since we have three dive guns that can pretty easily deal with them if the enemies run forward.

I also have to watch out for the eliter that's inevitably going to watch tower. Kind of worried about it since we have nothing to deal with them, no bombs, and two inkjets lmao. Realistically I'm probably the best player at contesting them if I use walls properly, but I have to go in against a carbon, so if I do go in, I'll back up fast if the carbon's still up. Unless one of my teammates inexplicably wants to ride tower, I probably have to accept that I can't really go contest the liter, so it's dodging time.

 

[Mp3]

What did you use to get those photos they are cool

 

[Hokuto]

(insight into overall thought process) I spent a few weeks looking at people's shoes to see if they had the ones I wanted to order, which kind of meant I ignored their weapons and Splashtags and anything else that might indicate how they played. This is a fairly good example of how skewed my priorities are.

Spoiler: Scenario 1

I don't like Zones. (Are either of those comps any good at painting?)

Spoiler: Scenario 2

(with foolhardy confidence) "I can take 'em." (Notably, no thoughts about the actual objective, which I expect my team to make the Ballpoint's problem, only painting for Cooler and trying to splat enemies with more immediate power than me.)

Spoiler: Scenario 3

Envy over them having two Cooler weapons and us having zero. At the same time, nobody in either comp seems to be taking advantage of the funny map.

Spoiler: Scenario 4

I would simply never find myself in this scenario because there's no way on Cod's blue Earth that I would take Vanilla Tri-Slosher into Tower Control when I get my best results with N-Tri. However, the three weapons with one-shots on the opposing side concern me, especially since two of them can take out our Inkjets with sufficient skill.

 

[isaac4]

Scenario one:
My weapon pick would be Dread and I wouldn't feel confident in the comp I have since our specials are Slider, Wave, Zipcaster, and Inkstorm. Zipcaster isn't bad but it's the vCarbon kit so unless the Carbon player is insane, I'm not expecting much use out of that special. Inkstorm is good too but it won't be enough on it's own for retake so I'll have to depend on winning enough fights with my main weapon.
I'll also probably have to focus on painting for my team and controlling zone so it's important I don't die too much.
Hopefully my team can deal with the vTri sharking but I highly doubt it so I'll have to look out for him. He's most likely going to drop on left so I'll pull up my map to check.

Scenario two:
My weapon pick is N-Zap and I would feel pretty confident about our comp.
It's not great having both Slider and Stamp but we'll most likely pop Rainmaker first and our dps is pretty good too.
I'll have to watch out for Luna sharking or Machine being nearby first check though but it won't be too big of a deal as long as I get Cooler soon.

Scenario four:
My weapon pick is vTri and I'm not very confident in our comp due to lack of bombs and our Cooler option being Dapples.
I'm hoping that the Decavitator will be able to paint for me to move in more easily and that our charger has amazing aim because we are going to be dealing with Crab, Zooka, and Kraken if we don't kill them fast enough.
Hopefully my team recognizes that the Carbon is going to be sharking but I'll have to look out for him just in case. I also have to be very careful with using Jet because of E-Liter.


(I didn't have anything interesting to say about Scenario three)

 

[DzNutsKong]

Very interesting thread idea. In all of these I'm usually thinking about where I open and just end up winging it as things go on tbh


Scenario 1 (Nautilus)

The first thing my eternally tilted self would think is "oh god freaking dang it we have no entry specials." Once the game starts, I would probably drop to the left. First of all I'd make sure nobody from spawn dropped past that flank route. If they do then I'd need to dispose of them as quickly as possible. Otherwise, Nautilus beats all of those weapons 1v1 except for the Explosher. If any of them decide to drop into mid on the left side, I would most likely be able to punish them pretty hard for it. I probably wouldn't think about this during the game but it would be nice to paint my Dread Wringer's feet should they approach their plat. Not a super aggressive or forcing plan but this is that comp's closest thing to an anchor.


Scenario 2 (Ballpoint)

No complaints with this comp. We go for pop of course because we have a Splatana and a Splatling. I'd try to get up to the top platform as fast as possible and make sure nobody gets in my line of sight. That Machine in particular would probably be able to reach me from up there. If any of my teammates get into any fights I'll try and poke with them. Would probably need to keep at least a decently full ink tank for Fizzy Bombs since I know that 96 Gal is going to want to set its wall up and not many of my teammates could contest it super well. Inkjet is very important for this team so I need to play to that as well.


Scenario 3 (Splattershot)

I would mostly just camp around that mound in mid and try not to make any plays that are too aggressive. I normally find it easiest to poke at people from the left if I cling by the wall that longer-ranged stuff normally sits off of. Painting a lot is extremely important in this matchup, both because Trizooka is very dumb and because painting more helps my Roller friend get in more easily, and that weapon does pretty well into their comp. Just gotta watch for the Tri-Slosher since that thing is strong on this map.


Scenario 4 (Decavitator)

Their comp's paint is very, very bad. Their Dualie will need to spend the whole game painting if they don't snowball and win right away. Realistically speaking I should probably spend the game painting too but that's not how I roll and this comp seems very booga brain as is. Instead I'd go left like immediately and go as far as I possibly can, either resulting in me being behind their left stack or on their ramp. No matter which happens I can at the very least take peoples' attention to help my teammates get in. Splash Wall is my absolute best friend here for both E-Liter and Range Blaster especially and if I don't die right away I'd be able to buy a lot of time for my teammates to do their thing.

 

[Aiko.Octo]

What did you use to get those photos they are cool

If you mean the scenario mockups, I just used sendou's planning tool (it is in fact very cool)

@ the rest of you these are fascinating so far (especially I love the bits of inner monologue hah) and I really appreciate you all taking the time to write them. When I get a little more time I'll get to go back and look at them more closely :D

 

[sevenleaf]

so i'm very no thoughts head empty in solo q, admittedly. but maybe that's good data? what people who get distracted easily by funny splashtags (or by trying to read IGNs written in japanese) think? maybe i have to learn from all of you and train myself to be more analytical

Spoiler: scenario 1

scenario 1: so i'm probably playing the carbon here (jury's out on whether i'll ever actually try that thing again lol). i think here i'd see the explo and think "oh hey an explo, respect," or maybe i'd go "oh god another ttek," but besides that this would be pretty head empty for me

Spoiler: scenario 2

scenario 2: i am tetras :) if i'm actually thinking tactically i might realize that my team can pop the rainmaker shield quicker (yknow, if we all get the same idea and go and do that), but that's about it

Spoiler: scenario 3

scenario 3: i'd like to try drapid again so maybe that's me here. yooo do they have double cooler?? that could either be very annoying or (if they're also solo q warrioring it up and both try to pop their coolers at once) very funny

Spoiler: scenario 4

scenario 4: im here pushing the dapple dualies again folks. i might be filled with bloodlust seeing the vdualies on the other team, or get overconfident and think i can sneak around the eliter. or if i have a brain cell that day i might go "oh god, i'm on dapples and they have a liter." it may fly over my head that they have a zooka too because my focus is on 1. Other Dualie Player and 2. the eliter

 

[2Ws2Ls]

so i'm very no thoughts head empty in solo q, admittedly. but maybe that's good data? what people who get distracted easily by funny splashtags (or by trying to read IGNs written in japanese) think? maybe i have to learn from all of you and train myself to be more analytical

honestly me af right here lol

Spoiler: anyways, heres what im thinking

Scenerio One: Well, I tend to not play any of these weapons, but id probobly be on dread here. mostly i think the enemy team has the better comp here, as they stronog frontliners, an extremly annoying but not too powerful backliner and h-3(or it might be l-3 because i always forget which is which unless you put them side by side. My team on the otherhand has some good painters and weapons that need those good painters, giving us an overall lower paint on the zone, especialy at range. i most focus on painting here, both on the frontline and the zones, as letting the carbon and naut exist will probobly be the best thing i can do

Scenerio Two: first off im on ballpoint, i dont usualy play splatlings but i played with this one for a bit. i think my team has a HUGE advantage here, having cooler, jet and two frontliners. my general game plan is to stay far enough away that i dont have to deal with their .96 because i hate the .96. other than that its typical backline stuff going on here.

Scenerio Three: not sure what im playing here, proboably vshot cause im a meta slave. Enemies seem to have the generally better comp, with an unbelievable amount of cooler, as well as hellspawn and me, but probably better at the game. because of the double cooler, i think getting some flanks in woould go well, as they would all be grouped up around their coolers, but that would leave my team to fight these weapons, which will not go well, being a player down and having the worse comp.

Scenerio Four: can we pretend the its ZFscope? thanks i like scoped more. im thinking mostly of the e-liter, as their longer range is sure to be an eternal thorn in my backside, so unless i use my superior charge speed they will have free reign over my very short ranged team.overall my team looks nicer, having a charcoal and a bucket, but our vapplesare kind of dragging us, while they have the much better CRB, and their carbon deco is very scary, both to me and my teammates. v dulies are probabvly gonna crab out, so always be on the lookout for that.

 

[nineball]

this was fun to write down

Spoiler: one

when i am being presented the weapons each team has i tend to think more about the specials each team has than the main weapons, since specials in this game basically control the pace of the game. my team has 2x storm, reefslider, and zipcaster while their team has storm, inkjet, inkstrike, and crab tank. honestly not looking that good here, no entry specials, but it is solo q so anything could happen lol.
i'd probably be dread wringer, painting from plat at the start

Spoiler: two

first glance: we out-dps the enemy, charge rainmaker
i'd definitely be the wiper in this team since i've been playing it a lot, first thing i would think here is to charge slash the rainmaker to get inital pop. i also realize we have cooler and they don't, so that's a bit of an advantage

Spoiler: three

aw man! why do they get to have two coolers when we get none
both teams here have some decently aggressive main weapons, and although cooler is strong, having two of them as opposed to just one and any other special can be pretty awkward especially in a solo q environment but then again they have cooler and we don't. aah i'm thinking too much about their coolers!
i'd probably be vshot, starting by fighting in mid and trying to get zooka to fight to the basket.

Spoiler: four

at first glance i initially got spooked at the other team's special comp compared to ours and the fact that it's tower control (attacking team has special charge advantage), but upon closer inspection their team does not have much paint output, so maybe this isn't too bad, although inkjet can easily get destroyed by e-liter and range blaster so that's something to keep in mind.
i think i'd be playing decav here, starting off by pushing right side and using wall to annoy them.

 

[QuagSass]

Ooh, this is fun. I love it when the eternal churning thoughts in my head get an outlet so that I may for just a moment know peace.

Scenario 1 (nautilus)

Okay, so Carbon and Nautilus at the same time. I hope the Dread and Jr. can put out enough paint for the both of us. Probably have to help out with that tho. Explosher is the biggest threat, can't deal with it super easily tho. Will have to watch out for their range. Tri is probably gonna be sharking a lot, need to remember to use Point Sensors. Depending on how aggressive the Dread is, I might have to play more like an anchor.

First thing I actually do is check for any drops since Naut can deal with them easy. I would generally just play around that area for a while. Helping keep mid painted so that the Carbon can hopefully move in and deal with the Explosher.

Scenario 2 (ballpoint)

Plenty of paint and nothing paint reliant this comp. Nice. Maybe a little lacking in slaying power, but Ballpoint's good at that. .96 Gal is the biggest threat here, but the Sloshing Machine could also suck to deal with. I'm the only one with a strong reliable entry special, so I need to live. Need to go aggro when I'm close to getting my special.

For this map it's a beeline for the snipe, of course. My goal is to get rid of that .96 Gal ASAP, since my teammates would probably get devoured by it otherwise. And then I hope that they can in turn deal with the Machine.

Scenario 3 (rapid deco)

Okay, no brushes, hopefully that means no random basket breaks while the rest of the team is fighting.
.96 Gal needs to die. Splash is probably going to paint a lot, so our roller should be fine. Tri Slosher could be an issue, need to pepper them with Torpedos a lot.

God, I hate humpback pooptrack. Anyways, for this map I think I'd go for the right hill thing in mid rather than the window I usually go for.

Scenario 4 (zekkofin)

Oh god there's an E-liter :(
Alright, paint is pretty bad, but they don't have good paint either so it's probably fine. That E-liter needs to not exist, but the Range Blaster is also going to be an issue. Probably have to get rid of Range first so that the team can deal with E-liter. Dualies are probably going to be with the Range, but I'm better off not thinking about them too much. Just gotta keep an eye on their specials.

Definitely gotta make up for the teams lack of range with some nice snipes here.


My general gameplan is figuring out what my team needs from me specifically. And also figuring out what's biggest threat on the enemy team. Usually it's the other backline.

 

[Catloafman]

This was very interesting to think about

Spoiler: scenario #1

I am the dread wringer at first I don't like the Custom jr then I see the explo so its fine
I notice that the carbon is in fact not the deco one so I try to keep a eye on him so I can assist with my giant hitboxes
the trislosher on the other team does worry be a bit cause it is museam so I decide to watch the left side flank and if he doensn't drop there I watch the right side instead
I am also hoping that the nautilus can shut down the ttek so the zone isn't perma strike spammed

Spoiler: scenario #2

I am the wiper I think we can get the pop and I decide to try to take fights with the splash and luna because of my positive matchup
I also really want to fight along side my tetra

Spoiler: scenario #3

I am the roller and even though I don't really like fighting any of those weapons because of my rapids torpedo and theyre double cooler I know I will have a lot of time where I know where the enemy is so I will try to use that info accordingly I also really like the strike on my team because of the smoke screen effect which will help me
I also take note that they have a 96 deco which is there only good counter to my bubble so I shouldn't use bubble when 96 has her kraken

Spoiler: scenario #4

I am the Z+F and the first thing I notice is they have a LOT of things to deal with me RB Liter the carbons zooka I need to play very carefully especially since my team is very aggro and will most likely die a lot
Thankfully the enemy also has two very punishable weapons RB and Dualie (including there crab if I get a good sightline) so I really want to keep a eye on them especially when my team uses there inkjets
Also my strikes are gonna be used around my team for the smokescreen because they are all super short ranged

 

[Catloafman]

This was very interesting to think about

Spoiler: scenario #1

I am the dread wringer at first I don't like the Custom jr then I see the explo so its fine
I notice that the carbon is in fact not the deco one so I try to keep a eye on him so I can assist with my giant hitboxes
the trislosher on the other team does worry be a bit cause it is museam so I decide to watch the left side flank and if he doensn't drop there I watch the right side instead
I am also hoping that the nautilus can shut down the ttek so the zone isn't perma strike spammed

Spoiler: scenario #2

I am the wiper I think we can get the pop and I decide to try to take fights with the splash and luna because of my positive matchup
I also really want to fight along side my tetra

Spoiler: scenario #3

I am the roller and even though I don't really like fighting any of those weapons because of my rapids torpedo and theyre double cooler I know I will have a lot of time where I know where the enemy is so I will try to use that info accordingly I also really like the strike on my team because of the smoke screen effect which will help me
I also take note that they have a 96 deco which is there only good counter to my bubble so I shouldn't use bubble when 96 has her kraken

Spoiler: scenario #4

I am the Z+F and the first thing I notice is they have a LOT of things to deal with me RB Liter the carbons zooka I need to play very carefully especially since my team is very aggro and will most likely die a lot
Thankfully the enemy also has two very punishable weapons RB and Dualie (including there crab if I get a good sightline) so I really want to keep a eye on them especially when my team uses there inkjets
Also my strikes are gonna be used around my team for the smokescreen because they are all super short ranged

Ok after looking at other peoples thoughts on scenario #4 I have no idea how I didn't notice the lack of paint on the other team I gotta work on that
Also didn't mean to reply to myself darn it just meant to edit wish you could delete posts here

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

To make it easier for others to avoid reading my response until they wish to, and to not take up too much space, I will be putting my responses in spoilers as well.

Also, this is one of the parts of my gameplay that I'm still working on. My thoughts might still be helpful but please keep this in mind.

anyway, here we go.

Spoiler: Scenario One

View attachment 11770
Naut is the only weapon on the left that I play, so I'll say that's me. The first thing I notice is that the carbon will want a lot of paint, and we have a dread and a jr to give it plenty of that, which is perfect. That means I don't have focus on painting the map any more than I normally would. However I also notice that we have a lack of longer range weapons, so I'll definitely have to stand there with a full charge and pretend to be a backline sometimes.

Looking at the opposing team, two things stand out. They have much more impactful specials. We have a wave, a zip, a reefslider, and an inkstorm. They have a crab, inkjet, strikes, and inkstorm. Our inkstorm is the best special, theirs is their worst. I'm honestly not sure how I would play differently because of this, but it's definitely something to be aware of. The other thing is that their explo is going to be very annoying on their plat, especially since it can reach behind the spinner, and we don't have a good way to get it off. The carbon might be able to zipcaster to the wall of plat and vertical flick to kill it, but I'm probably our best chance at bullying it away. Now that I think about this more, we do have two lethal bombs and a torpedo that could help with that, especially since explo specifically isn't great against torpedoes. And they only have one bomb. So that'll be in our favor because we'll be able to control their movement more, which is definitely something I can play off of well as a naut.

Based on this, the things I'd probably need to pay attention to the most during the match are watching for where the explo is and bullying it away or splatting it if I can, making sure the carbon has enough paint, and helping my team push up while staying alive so I can always anchor if I need to.

Spoiler: Scenarios 2-4

...despite all of these containing weapons I have played for significant amounts of time in the past, I don't really have anything significant to say about these. I think that says a lot about my skill in this area, lol. I'll go see what other people said.

 

[vitellary]

Spoiler: scenario 1

i don't have a good answer for this one because none of these weapons are really my forte

Spoiler: scenario 2

i'm the ballpoint in this scenario
noticing immediately that the other team does not have a backline so i'm gonna be pretty open about where i stand most of the time (i probably die to luna and sloshing machine a lot as a result). i am also very happy about the cooler on my team (despite the fact that i will probably not end up getting it very often). i might also be prejudiced against my teammates and assume this is going to be a difficult game because i don't have confidence that the two weapons that run in and die a lot will handle the rainmaker particularly well; i would probably try to grab the rainmaker as often as i can

Spoiler: scenario 3

i guess i'm rapid? i've played that weapon a lot. can you tell i like inkjet
conversely to previous scenario, i am immediately jealous of the double cooler on the enemy team, and i'm sure a part of me just gives up right then and there (especially because clams is my worst mode and humpback is one of my worst maps, you will never catch me actually playing this rotation). i probably immediately make it my goal to poke at the shooters as much as i can the whole game, since i can pretty reliably do that on this map in theory

Spoiler: scenario 4

believe it or not, i am the charcoal in this scenario. Can You Tell I Like Inkjet
i am actually 100% confident that i know exactly what i'd instinctively do the instant i see the enemy team; check if the e-liter has respawn punisher so i can mock them out loud to myself if they do. this does not accomplish anything but it WILL happen. generally if i see a carbon on the enemy team i'll make it a personal goal to try to paint more often, though that's something i already do with charcoal anyway so it's hard to say if it would affect my playstyle much. i do Not get excited about the cooler on my team because i always forget that vdapples have them and they'll probably only get like a maximum of 2 anyway (sorry dapples players). i might end up flanking right away depending on what my enemies do because i will be scared of the range and the e-liter in mid and feel more confident taking the left side with my splash wall. long-term, i probably try to farm inkjet a lot because i think it'd probably be better on this map-mode than my main weapon will be

this is a really fun thought experiment and i'd honestly love to see more of this concept

 

[Player#11]

I haven't really thought about how I approach Solo-Q matches so this was interesting to think about

Spoiler: Scenario 1

Picking Cjr and throwing torps at expo and maintaining zone with the dread

Spoiler: Scenario 2

Picking Ballpoint and and just doing backliner things like objective

Spoiler: Scenario 3

Picking Roller and throwing curling bombs until I see an opening to either get kills or score

Spoiler: Scenario 4

Picking Dapples and just run around until either someone else gets a pick or I get cooler so I can try and force a fight with the range or liter

Sorry if this is formatted weirdly I've mostly been a lurker here

 

[isaac4]

Sorry if this is formatted weirdly I've mostly been a lurker here

Don't worry about it, you can choose to format your thoughts in any way you want.

 

[reelrollsweat]

scenario 1: i would be the naut. they dont have a whole lot of range but that explo could be annoying since its museum zones. my comp doesnt have very much range or aggro specials so we gotta be diligent abt killing the explo. the explo and the l3 crab would be my biggest worries

scenario 2: i would be the ballpoint. both team comps are pretty solid but we have cooler and they dont which gives us advantage. i feel like the splash/machine duo could fvck us over tho and obv kraken is hard to deal with on rm, tho sturgeon stage geometry is kinda wack so it might not be as effective

scenario 3: i would not be in this situation ever bc i dont play any of these weapons :p

scenario 4: i would be the zf. their comp looks really oppressive but they dont have a whole lot of paint. i would mostly be worried abt the liter and the crb second. we do have double jet and our dapples might be able to rush down the liter/crb. theres a good chance we lose this one unless they straight up suck LOL

the primary things i look for in comps are range and specials. also how many backlines we have bc i end up on double back reasonably often. im not super consistent w/ it tho sometimes ill be getting my a$$ beat for 5 min and then be like ohhhh they had double blaster