148433-snowtron-smash-public-eventhow-it-works-and-some-pro-tips

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Hello, all. While I wait for the Snowtron Smash event to start up again, I have played it enough times to realize not enough people know how to play it, and for those that do know how to play it, very few know the key to success. As such, I am going to, in one fell swoop, explain how it works as well as how to be like the pros from my personal observations.
 
Topic 1: How To Play Snowtron Smash
 
Snowtron Smash is a public event that occurs every 90 minutes and lasts for about 10 minutes. Every person who is online and in the capital city at the time of the start of the 5-minute "warmup" period (signaled by Papa Phineas sending out his need for testing the Snowtron 9000) is eligible. Once the 5 minute warmup period ends, a single Snowtron will spawn. However, do be warned, even though a single Snowtron is available right at the start, there may be more than 1 Snowtron active before the end of the event, depending on the number of players.
 
Now, because there's only a limited amount of Snowtron's available, I'm going to divert and split up how to play into 2 groups: Those throwing snowballs and those piloting Snowtrons. I'll start with the Snowtron because it is easier to master (although a pain to reach initially, especially with a lot of players).
 
Subtopic 1: How to Pilot a Snowtron
 
To pilot a Snowtron, simply approach it and press F. Hurry, though, because other players will want to pilot it, too. Once you're inside the Snowtron, you will lose your current action set, and it will be replaced by the Snowtron's action set. The Snowtron's abilities goes like this:
 
Ability 1 is a speed increase. Press 1 and then move fast. 2 sec duration. 6 sec cooldown.
 
Ability 2 is a defensive shield that, when activated, freezes you in place but will deflect any snowballs thrown at you. Any snowballs that are thrown at you while the shield is up will not count as a hit, but instead get deflected back and hits the attacker, knocking him down for 2 seconds! 3 sec duration. 5 sec cooldown.
 
Ability 3 is a crowd control, that when activated, freezes any players in a 5 meter radius around you. Freeze lasts for 2 sec, and if a snowball was being thrown at the moment the player was frozen, the snowball does not count. Instant cast. Freezes players for 2 seconds, rendering them immobile. 6 sec cooldown.
 
 
The tricky part is using all 3 abilities in conjunction with one another to minimize the amount of hits from snowballs you receive. A good rotation is to do 1, then 2, then 3, then rinse and repeat until Snowtron is destroyed.
 
The objective when piloting a Snowtron is to freeze as many players and deflect or avoid as many snowballs as possible without getting hit. 5 hits, and you're done.
 
Subtopic 2: How to Throw Snowballs
 
The objective when you're not piloting a Snowtron is to throw snowballs at the Snowtron and score as many hits as possible, without getting hit by the Snowtron's abilities. Each of the Snowtron's abilities have a direct impact on how effectively you can throw snowballs:
 
When a Snowtron pilot uses Ability 1, he also drops small patches of ice that either makes it hard to move out of once if you're stopped in there, or makes you slide around and miss your mark. When throwing snowballs, watch for Ability 2 and the shield. Remember, if the shield is up, the snowball you just thrown will come back to bite you...literally. And finally, make sure to fire off your snowball and then either get away quick or dodge out, and do it quickly, because Ability 3 can ruin your day quite quickly.
 
 
 
Topic 2: Some Pro Tips
 
There are three kinds of Snowball player styles that I've seen pro players do: Sneaker, Observe, and Loner. I'll break down each of the three steps:
 
1: Sneaker...Sneakers basically have 0 interest in the Snowtron, they only want to show how sneaky they are. They will basically, once all the Snowtrons are gone, will pick a player piloting a Snowtron and try to stay behind them out of their field of view (since the game always defaults to a specific camera distance each time you log in), and just pelt him. Since he's out of the field of view, and since the Snowtron player is more concentrated on the Snowball players in front of them, he doesn't see it coming and before long, he uses up all of his hits and his Snowtron run is over before it began. The quickest way to defeat him as a Snowtron player is to simply alter your camera angle to about 35-45*...too steep, and you won't see players in front of you. Too shallow, and the Sneaker will have his day.
 
2: Observe...Observe players basically sit there, acting like he's AFK, and watch the Snowtron players. They aren't actually AFK, though, they are observing your style for hidden weaknesses. As a general rule, if a player is sitting there for longer than 20 seconds after the start of the event, it's likely he's an Observe. The quickest way to defeat him is to punish him with frequent freezes and frequent patches of ice on him. It forces him to either pelt you to drive you away or get moving, meaning he doesn't have a good read on you.
 
3: Loner. This guy will basically stay away from the mob of players targeting 1 Snowtron and will simply act like he's AFK. However, any Snowtron that comes near gets pelted. Quickest way to defeat him is to be very aggressive with him....follow him and pressure him into the pack of players, which forces him to abandon his strategy and fight you off.
 
 
As a snowball player, you need to develops all three strategies. The advantage is Snowtron players won't know what to expect. Too many people only pick one of the strategies and stick with it, and that's a surefire way to get a horrible placement on the leaderboard.
 
 
Snowtron Smash General Tip
 
As a Snowtron player, you will quickly realize that your success boils down to 2 things: luck and skill. The tricky part is finding the right balance. Some players take a lot of skill and not enough on luck. Some players take a lot of luck and not enough skill. From my personal observations, it's better to follow the S90-L10 strategy. That means 90% of your results should be based on skill and 10% of your results should be on luck. That means you may occasionally get out of a tough situation with luck, but most of your points should be based on skill, not on the luck of the situation. If there is one thing that pros know, it's that skill is not the only aspect in succeeding in the Snowtron Smash event.
 
 
I'll be on later with more pro tips.
 
Later, guys.
 
The King Crazy	
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			Save this for next year, it's good stuff. Considering the achievement isn't working, and won't this time around, there's not much point in doing it.	
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			Not only the achievement, but the reward system for it is broken as well, with top-tier players complaining they got no reward, while lower level players are getting purple boxes.	
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Not only the achievement, but the reward system for it is broken as well, with top-tier players complaining they got no reward, while lower level players are getting purple boxes.
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So fed up with this, can't count how much I participated and tried almost every thing possible and was #1 in almost every category. Never got any "participated" success. I don't even care about medals (?), but this really sucks.
 
If you can't fix it, just give the success automatically to all players - maybe an easier workaround...	
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