The 2.8 method
and Magic Formula.
I originally learned from a friend (I think Tinyk0ol) a simple
formula for making a full power shot travel exactly half as far.
The trick was to use the same angle and 2.75 bars. Later,
through the help of gbgl forum people (almost all the credit
goes to Eatemalive and 00Sniper) I was able determine
the true power should be 2.8 bars, and I was able to figure
out some other great tricks for mathematically figuring out
how to increase/decrease the distance of any shot.
These formulas apply to any bot, any shot (using just about
any angle and in any wind). Try it on your favorite mobile.
It even applies to boomer and boomer's weird hooks and whatnot,
though of course you can't use an angle that would backshot.
MAGIC FORMULA 1:
To make a full power shot travel exactly half as far as before, use 2.8 bars power
(with the same angle and wind conditions as your full shot).
Examples:
81 4.0 bars = 1 screen ...therefore
81 2.8 bars = 1/2 screen distance.
Angle 58, 4.0 bars = 1 SD hook with boomer in most 3 wind down+against.
Angle 58, 2.8 bars = 1/2 SD 'minihook' in the same wind.
MAGIC FORMULA 2:
To make any shot travel exactly half a far as before, you only need to
use 70% of your original power. It's 70.7% to be precise. This isn't
as hard to calculate as you might think. Here's how I do it:
Figure out 2/3rds of your original power. Then add .05 bars if the
result is less than 2 bars. Add .1 bars of power if the result is greater
than 2 bars. That's it. If your original power is full power you'll be
adding a bit over .1 bars, you want to use 2.8 bars when calculating
70% of full power.
Examples:
A known 1 screen shot for armor is 60, 2.5 bars.
Step 1:
2/3rds of 2.5 bars is a bit over 1.6 bars. Let's call it 1.65.
Step 2:
Add a bit of power, .05 in this case (we're dealing with less than
2 bars of power). That brings your power up to 1.7.
So 60, 1.7 should be a half screen shot for armor. If you know armor
and have seen some of the guides and info out there, you know this
is accurate.
Using my own angle 45 info for boomer, 2.15 bars = 1 screen.
Step 1:
2/3rds of 2.15 bars is about 1.4 bars.
Step 2:
Add a bit and you get 1.45 bars. You can see from the 45 guide
that angle 45, 1.45 really is the power UntzRemark and I found for
a half screen shot.
MAGIC FORMULA 3:
To make any shot travel twice as far as the original, just
increase your power by 41% (multiply by 1.414 to be exact).
41% takes some practice to calc. Just remember that 40% of
each bar is .4 .... so 40% of a 1 bar shot is .4 bars, and 40% of
a 2 bar shot is .8 ... etc.
You won't ever need to calculate 40%
of 3 and 4 bars because your final answer would be more than
full power. So you simply calculate .4 or .8 and add that to your
original power. If your original power isn't exactly 1 or 2 bars, you
must calculate 40% of the 'leftover' and add that on too. So let's
say you're using 2.4 bars of power originally. That's 2 full bars
and then .4 "leftover" bars. You know you will add .8 for those
2 full bars. You now just need to figure out 40% of .4 (call it .15 or .2)
So your total is:
2.4 (original power)
+.8 (for the 2 full bars)
+.2 (for the 'leftover' bar)
------------
3.4 is the final answer. So a 3.4 bar shot will travel twice as far
as a 2.4 bar shot. Useful if you're armor or turtle.
Examples:
A half screen lob using boomer's 2 bar formula is angle 72.
So if 72, 2.0 is half a screen, what do you need to go 1 full screen?
2.0 (original power)
+.8 (for the 2 full bars)
+0 (no leftover since it was exactly 2.0 bars)
---------------------
2.8 will be a 1 screen shot with boomer at angle 72.
A 1/3 screen shot with turtle using cbchui-style fixed power is
angle 80, 2.4 bars of power.
2.4 (original power)
+.8 (for the 2 full bars)
+.2 (approx. 41% of the .4 bars leftover)
------------------------------
3.4 bars with angle 80 should travel 2/3 screen distance.
Using phantomd's angle 35 fixed formulas, we know a 1
screen shot with armor is 35, 2.48 bars.
2.48 (original power)
+.8 (for the 2 full bars)
+.2 (approx 41% of the .48 bars leftover)
---------------------------------
3.48 (call it 3.5) should hit 2 screen distances with angle 35.
So now you know a 2 screen shot even if you only
have read info up to 1.5 screens before with armor.
MAGIC FORMULA 3:
If you double the power of your last shot, you make it travel 4 times
as far. The most useful application of this is to make a 1/2 screen shot
travel exactly 2 screens. Be careful though, your starting power must be
2.0 or below, and at this lower power level your angle doesn't
matter so much, but at 4.0 power 1 angle makes a huge
difference. So don't be shocked if 66, 4.0 bars doesn't
go 2 screens with turtle even though it's ok to do 66, 2.0
to hit half screen.
Examples:
Boomer can hit half screen with 72, 2.0
So 72, 4.0 should hit 2 screens. If you know
boomer high angles, you already know it's 9
angles to 1 screen, and therefore 18 angles
to 2 screens. So 72 full should be correct for
2 screen distances.
At angle 35, a 1/4 screen shot with armor is 1.25.
Therefore a 1 screen shot should be 2.5, and you'll
see from phantomd's guide this is true (he uses 1.24 and
2.48 but close enough).
MAGIC FORMULA 4:
A shot at any power level using angle 45
will travel twice as far as a shot at angle 75 using the same power.
Conversely, to make a shot travel half as far as as usual when your starting
angle is 45, raise your angle to 75 and use the same power.
Example:
45 2.18 bars = 1 screen ...therefore
75 2.18 bars = 1/2 screen.
MAGIC FORMULA 5:
A shot fired at X angles below angle 45
will travel the same distance as a shot fired at X angles above 45.
That means a shot fired 10 angles below 45 (at angle 35) will go
the same distance as a shot fired 10 angles above 45 (at angle 55)
if you use the same power. This is true more at 0 wind than with
wind, but even with wind it's more or less accurate.
That means if you know angle 60 for any mobile, you also know how
to shoot at angle 30 because 60 is 15 angles over 45, and 30 is 15 angles under.
That also means any angle 50 formula will use the same power levels
as an angle 40 formula
Example:
35, 3.05 bars = 1.5 screen shot with armor
35 is ten angles below 45.
Ten angle above 45 would be 55.
Therefore, angle 55, 3.05 bars is also a 1.5 screen shot
with armor.
FINAL MAGIC FORMULA
Power Needed =
(Power Used On Original Shot)
* Square root of (Required Distance/Distance Original shot Went)
-----------------------------
I'll explain how I came to this. Or actually, I didn't come to it,
Eatemalive did, and I'm just sharing it.
The math needed to make the first 3 magic formulas:
To double your distance, multiply your power by the square root of 2.
To triple your distance, multiply your power by the square root of 3.
Quadruple your distance, multiply your power by the square root of 4.
You see the pattern? It works with fractions too... to make a shot
travel half as far, multiply your power by the square root of 1/2.
The big formula at the top is based on this
simple rule that never changes.
USES FOR THIS STUFF:
1. Sometimes you don't want to use a high angle or can't
get a high angle because there's no slope. So you can
calculate the angle needed to make a certain shot
travel twice as far as your enemy's distance... then
use the 70% rule to come up with the correct new power.
For example, with boomer,
if the enemy is half a screen away and the wind is 15 against you,
trying a half screen full power hook might screw up and fly back.
If you just calculate a 1 screen shot (which would use a safe angle
around 50 and would not fly back) you can apply the 70% formula to
hit half a screen away with a low angle.
You could also figure out a low power alternative to your
typical shots so that you can have less airtime and make a neat SS.
For example, with armor you can figure out the distance from your
enemy in cbchui parts, multiply that distance by 2, and then
use the resulting angle with 1.65 bars (or 1.7) instead of 2.4 bars
to hit the enemy. This should make for a pretty nice looking timebomb
SS.
Let's say you're stuck on flat ground with turtle. You know how to
hit 2 screens with full power shots, but what if you can't get angles
over 70? Well, if you know 60 is 2.5 bars for 1 screen, adding 70%
will bring you up to 3.5 bars. Without this formula, how else will
you know 3.5 bar shots? There are 3 bar and 4 bar formulas but
nothing for 3.5...
2. You can create your own formula. You can be the only guy
in the world to use angle 47 fixed with boomer or 64 with armor.
You can create a 1.7 bar SS formula for armor, etc. You
can also take any existing formula and take it further. I never
tested 1.5 and 2 screen shots with boomer when I was
coming up with a 45 fixed formula with UntzRemark... but with
the formula I know 2.6ish will be 1.5 screens and 3.05
will be 2 screen distances.
3. You can double check existing formulas, and see why
some formulas fail and confirm which formula is correct
when 2 people are giving different info. For example with
angle 70 bjsl, honghong gives 2.4 bars and angelgalz
gives 2.3 for a 3/4 screen shot. They both seem to agree
that 1 SD is 2.7 ... so using the formula, find the
square root of 3/4 and multiply it by 2.7 to find the
power for 3/4 screen. The result is 2.338, looks like
angelgalz' info should be used.
I hope this was useful and fun for some people.
It's a lot of math and I wouldn't worry about using
these formulas until you already know lots of
other good formulas and are just bored of them :D