A Comprehensive Guide to HG's Common Srategies

The Comprehensive Guide To HG
Hardcore (or Hunger depending on how long you've played) Games is a minecraft gamemode that is based off a simple idea; "The last man standing wins", yet it also boasts one of the largest varieties of strategies avalible to fulfil that simple idea. To a newer player joining their first game it is understandable that they end up not knowing what to do, usually resulting in quickly getting beaten by more experienced players. This guide is for those players. It covers the most common basic strategies as well as providing tips which are intended to increase a player's understanding of the game, thus hopefully giving them a fighting chance of winning. As with all things a good deal of skill is built up by practice and experimentation. Don't expect to be an elite player of this gamemode over night, instead play a few games and find your strengths and weaknesses while also discovering what works and what doesn't. However having a little knowledge to guide your growth is always useful and that's what this guide is for.

This guide is split into four sections; three of them cover the main approaches to the game (Towering, Hunting and Trapping) and the final one contains various tips intended to aid you throughout the game regardless of your approach.

I hope you enjoy!

The most common approaches to the game:
As briefly mentioned in the introduction there are three common ways to approach Hardcore Games. The first is towering, which consists of building a construction (shaped as a tower) into the sky hence giving those in it a defensive (and in some cases an offensive) advantage over those not in one. The second is hunting which consists of finding other players while roaming the arena and killing them once located. And finally, there's trapping which involves creating a "trap" (often with the aid of kits which are explained later) which is intended to capture a player allowing you to kill someone with ease or one that kills the player itself.
Before going into these strategies I first have to explain three core mechanics of HG and I'll define some terminology which I'll use throughout the guide.

Feasts:
Feats are when a group of chests are spawned filled with weapons, food and equipment. During the game small feast containing a little of the above spawn called "mini-feast". After a set period of time another larger feast spawns filled with diamond armour, bows, potions, you name it. The danger however is you'll not be the only one who wants the stuff...

Kits:
Kits are simply put "different collections of abilities and items that can been chosen before the game starts". One kit could give you a certain weapon to start with whereas another may give you the power to fly for 5 seconds with a 1 minute cool-down. During the guide I may suggest certain kits for certain play styles however which ones you use is entirely up to you. Every month four kits are made free to the public for a month, allowing players without any purchased kits to have a continuous selection of kits throughout the year. Kits can be purchased at the brawl store for $1.50 each alternatively (so all you fellow Europeans get them cheaper due to exchange rates) and their descriptions are also found there. I suggest before purchasing a kit for you to play a few games so that you know what kit would aid you most with your favourite playstyle.
Also keep in mind that all suggested kits are biased to my opinion inevitably so others may disagree as to which kits are "best" at certain things. Find which ones you deem to be best and stick with those.

Soup:
HG has got two extra recipes to make soup besides the "1 Brown Mushroom + 1 Red Mushroom + 1 Bowl" recipe. They are:
-Cactus Soup: 2 Cacti Blocks + 1 Bowl
-Chocolate Soup: 1 Coco Bean + 1 Bowl
Why are there so many recipes may you ask?
The answer is that in "Soup" servers if you eat a soup while damaged it will heal 2.5 hearts of damage. This can be used during battles with a technique called "souping" which I'll explain later on.

Some terms I need to define:
I refer to certain "phases" of the game throughout the guide. These are:
-Pre-Game: This is the time before the game starts in the lobby.
-Grace Period: This is the two minutes where everyone is invincible at the start of a game.
-Early-Game: This is the period where people tend to rapidly die.
-Mid-Game: Once things have settled down and people aren't dying every five seconds you've entered the mid-game.
-Late-Game: The period just before the feast up to game-end are referred to as "late-game".
That's all, now time to begin the guide:


Towering:
Towering is when you build a construction in the sky to give you an advantage over those not in it. This section is here to explain the most common ways of doing so.

The first important decision you have to make when deciding to tower is wether you're going to team up with other people or fly solo. Teaming gives you an advantage over others at the risk of them turning on you (and the possibility of an awkward situation where only your team remains). If you do decide to team or join I team I recommend a size of 3-4 people as a maximum. The larger your team is the higher the chance of their being a traitor is and of accidents happening (someone shoving someone off the tower causing them to die for instance). I'll explain what to do if you're in a team and what to do if not.

If you're flying solo:
What you should do during the grace period fully depends on where you spawn:
-If you're in a plains biomes without trees you should just start digging for dirt blocks. Once you near "15 seconds of invincibility left" you should pole your way up into the sky. Once you've reached a height you satisfied with I suggest you build a platform around the top to prevent you falling from your tower.
-If there are trees available you should grab four blocks of wood, then as quickly as possible you should craft a wooden spade. Break your crafting bench then start digging up dirt. Once you near "15 seconds of invincibility left" you should pole your way up into the sky. Once you've reached a height you satisfied with I suggest you build a platform around the top to prevent you falling from your tower. You can make yourself a wooden sword and pickaxe once safely secured in the tower.
-If in a redwood, taiga, jungle or any other tree infested biome you should get yourself a wooden axe as quickly as possible and then chop done trees for wood blocks. Once you near "15 seconds of invincibility left" you should pole your way up into the sky. Once you've reached a height you satisfied with I suggest you build a platform around the top to prevent you falling from your tower. You can make yourself a wooden sword and pickaxe once safely secured in the tower.
-If in a desert run to the nearest biome with grass and start digging for dirt there. Don't waste time getting wood if there are trees, each second you'll waste will give you less blocks to build up with. You'll be able to get wood later if needed. Once you near "15 seconds of invincibility left" you should pole your way up into the sky. Once you've reached a height you satisfied with I suggest you build a platform around the top to prevent you falling from your tower.
In all of these scenarios it helps if you grab a sapling or two somewhere along the way. You can plant these in your tower for some extra wood later in the game. Don't focus on getting a sapling however, it's not a necessity.
During the early-game it's unlikely you'll be amongst the many to die in the slaughter as you'll be high up in the sky. Don't let down your guard though, other towers may attempt to bring you down. If you see a player bridging over towards you either build a roof or get the higher ground (make sure to make a wall around you so you don't fall if you do the latter). If they reach your tower you should try and punch them off, if you do so successfully it's likely they'll die or will be unable to get back up with ease. You can try bridging over to other towers if you want, make sure you're higher than your opponents though. This allows you to jump down and push them off while they can't reach you until you do so.
Once things have settled down mid-game you have the choice between sitting around in your tower waiting for people to attack it or you can go down and gather some resources. If you choose to go down you have to be cautious, other players will likely have better weapons and gear than you. Don't spend too long out of your tower and only get what you need (don't bother mining for iron).
It people try to get up your tower you should defend it by trying to shove them off. If they fall to their death and they had good gear it's worth leaving your tower to go and collect it.
Eventually you'll see an announcement that the feast is about to start, you now have a choice:
-To go there by foot.
-To bridge your way over to it.
-To not go.
Take the first option if you collected iron armour and weapons from people you killed, go for the second however if you have the blocks to do so. The second I'd recommend only if you have certain kits that allow you to leave towers safely like: stomper, glider and blink. I'll explain what a few of those do later on. Finally I'd take the third option, if you don't have a kit that aids you or good enough equipment I suggest you stay put. Eventually feast goers will come to you and of cause it'll be your job to make there victory as hard as possible, while yourself having a decent chance of winning.

Kits I suggest for solo towers:
#1 Stomper
Stompers can only take a maximum of two hearts fall-damage. Further more all fall-damage they would take without the ability (so if you were to fall the same distance without a kit) gets transferred to nearby players if the stomper lands next to or on them. This kit allows you to get down your tower quickly and safely while also giving you the ability to squash people to death if your tower is high enough. If you have this kit bridging over the feast is a must as it allows you to stomp feast goers leaving all the loot for yourself.
#2 Archer
Archer gives you a Punch I bow with 10 arrows. If you fire an arrow and hit a mob or player the arrow is returned. If that wasn't enough you also get double drops from any mobs you kill and gravel always drops flint. This kit allows you to get some quick food during the grace period while also being a superb kit for hitting people in other towers off or even people trying to get up yours! The only reason it's under stomper is that you don't have a way to safely fall down the tower without dying.
#3 Cultivator
Cultivator allows you to instantly grow planted seeds and instantly grow any kind of sapling into oak trees. If you have this kit make sure to grab a seed and a sapling during the grace period before digging for dirt. Once you're in your tower you'll have an endless supply of bread and wood meaning you don't have to go down your tower for more blocks or food.
#4 Checkpoint
Checkpoint allows you to place a "checkpoint" which you can teleport back to. This gives you an easy escape if endangered while gathering resources out of your tower and a quick way up in general.
#5 Miner
This kit starts you off with an enchanted stone pickaxe and 5 apples. This allows you to get a lot of cobble to build your tower out of (and to make swords with) while also giving you a short supply of food to last you well into mid-game.

If you're tower teaming:
If you end up in a tower team it's important to split the roles of who does what pre-game. Some people should focus on getting stone swords, wood and food while others work on getting blocks for the tower. The basic strategy is the same as playing in a tower on your own however certain kit combinations are now possible which give tower teams a huge advantage over regular solo-towers.

Support kits I suggest for tower teams:
#1 Endermage
Endermage allows you to teleport everyone above or below you up to a block of choice. In a tower team this allows you to bring up players who are gathering resources. When teleported a player is invincible for 5 seconds so it can also be used to give people safe access to the bottom of the tower as they can jump of and land before the time runs out.
Then there's the mage-stomp combo. A stomper can stomp players who come to the base of the tower and when they land the mage can instantly teleport them up if needed. This allows the stomper to stomp again if the first attempt was unsuccessful.
It's standard to give an endermage all blocks and let them tower up. If they do their job well they will teleport all team members up before things get dangerous.
#2 Cultivator
Cultivator allows you to instantly grow planted seeds and instantly grow any kind of sapling into oak trees. If you have this kit make sure to grab a seed and a sapling during the grace period before digging for dirt. Once you're in your tower you'll have an endless supply of bread and wood meaning you don't have to go down your tower for more blocks or food. You can use these blocks to tower over the feast allowing stompers in your team to raid it.
#3 Worm
Worm allows you to break dirt (not grass) blocks at creative mode speeds. You also fill 1/2 a hunger bar if you break a dirt block while hungry. This kit is great for getting your team blocks for the tower while other members gather food and other resources.
#4 Glider
This kit allows you to fall slowly to the ground allowing you to "glide" distances and not take fall-damage. Here's the part which makes it a great tower support kit: people can ride you while you glide. Allowing people who would normally have to take a while to get down the tower to do so faster. If you have a stomper in your team you can even use the glider to fly over someone so that the stomper can get them.
#5 Miner
This kit starts you off with an enchanted stone pickaxe and 5 apples. This allows you to get cobblestone for swords for your teammates and even gives you the option to shortly mine for iron at the base of your tower while another member keeps a look out for enemies.


Hunting:
Hunting involves roaming the map and killing everyone you see like the beast you are. With the multitude of kits there are there are so many different ways to do this, hence I'm going to just outline the basic way to do it. Once again your first important decision is going to be wether you're going to team with someone. Just as with towers, hunt teams give you a significant edge over opponents as you can land twice as many blows on them and surround them if need be.

If you're flying solo:
If you decide not to team you are left with three (good) choices during the grace period:
-Get a stone sword as quickly as possible and hang around spawn. This allows you to kill a fair amount of people early-game. Be warned however; people will be trying to slaughter you as well.
-Get a stone sword as quickly as possible and then run away from spawn. This allows you to gain some distance while also being armed and ready for combat.
-Don't get any tools and runs from spawn instantly. This allows you to cover more ground while facing the risk of getting ambushed without a weapon.
If you are a newer player and/or not that good in PvP I'd recommend going for the second option as it allows you to avoid the main early-game slaughter while still being able to fend off threats.
Once the early-game bloodbath is over (wether you were part of it or not) the mid-game starts. Now you're faced with your second choice:
-To mine, or not to mine?
You can either find yourself a good ravine or cave and start getting 29 iron to make yourself iron armour, an iron sword and a bucket to fill with lava (to burn your foes) or water (to prevent fall/fire damage). If you want to be fully decked you can get a lava and a water bucket. The down side to mining is that it's easy to get caught unaware, often resulting in your death by a swift assassination. The advantage is that once you're done mining you'll overpower all those that don't have similar equipment.
Your other option is to be one of those assassins. You should then roam the map using your compass (right-click it to point it at the nearest player to you) killing everyone you come across. Try and find yourself a miner to nab some of their hard-earned iron for yourself.

If you come across towers during the game I suggest you ignore them while taking caution to avoid them as they may contain stompers. It's best to face them late game when you (hopefully) are decked out. However if you truly want to send them to the deepest depths of hell easily think about purchasing the kit "Thor". It allows you to summon lightning which can push people off their towers while setting fire to them. As if that wasn't enough if the tower is above a certain height and you strike the same place twice it'll explode with half the power of TNT.
Anyway.
Once the feast has been announced you should have some armour and an iron sword. It's then that you should make your way over to feast (as inconspicuously as possible) as fast as you can. When it starts you'll likely have to fight other players hungry for its treasures, overcome them however and you'll have diamond armour, TNT and other goodies. It's worth the risk in every way possible. Now the rest of the game will consist of you chasing and slaughtering people with worse stuff than you. Keep your eye out for traps and towers though. Traps you'll have to figure out a counter yourself however I'm able to give some advice with towers.

To start with always have 2 buckets of water when taking one down. You'll be able to use them to negate fall-damage and climb up the tower. Once up the tower make sure to surround yourself with blocks, you've got better gear so the only way your opponents can win is by knocking you to your death. Therefore secure yourself and take away their only chance of victory. (Also keep an eye out for people jumping off the tower to you, if they do so then run and attack once they are on the ground).

Suggested kits for hunting:
Here are some kits I deem useful and simple to use for newer players that aid hunting:
#1 Gladiator
This gives you the ability to teleport yourself and a nearby player to an arena only one player can leave alive. This is a great kit against teams and people trying to escape you.
#2 Achilles
Achilles causes wooden swords to do the damage of a diamond sword to you while other swords do less damage. If you use this kit avoid the early-game bloodbath and wait for people to get better swords before facing them.
#3 Boxer
This kit allows your punches (no item in hand) to do the damage of a slightly weaker stone sword. This is a good kit if you aren't very speedy when it comes to retrieving a stone sword in the grave period.
#4 Viking
Viking allows you to use axes as slightly more powerful variants of their sword counter-parts. A great kit if you want to kill people faster after sneaking up on them.
#5 Phantom
Phantom allows you to fly for 5 seconds with a minute cooldown. This is a great way to cover long distances quickly, fly out of dangerous situations or getting in/out towers or ravines.

If you're hunt teaming:
Just do the same as you would if hunting solo except with a partner or two. There are also a multitude of useful kits which give many different bonuses to a team. I'm not going to list 5 I recommend as which one suits your team best fully depends on how you play.


Traps:
Trapping involves creating traps (often utilising certain kits' abilities) to "trap" people. They usually either make it impossible for the victim to escape hence making it easier for you to kill them or they do the dirty work themselves and slay your victim. There are many traps around so I suggest googling them if you're interested. Be warned though, many traps will require you to team up with someone.
Link for various traps: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Hunger+Games+minecraft+traps


Some tips:
-Pre-game instead of choosing to duke out who gets the free iron sword you can explore the map in search of villages and temples. Using the /spawn command you can teleport yourself around the arena, look out for deserts and plains as these are where you'll find the most of the above. If you do locate one remember its coordinates and rush there as quickly as possible early-game to grab the loot which may give you a strong advantage over others.

-I recommend you learn the technique known as "souping". This involves attacking a player while quickly switching to soup in your hotbar, eating it and healing damage, switching back to your sword and repeating the process. In soup servers this technique will always help you beat people who don't use it even if you're caught unaware by their attack. Practice in the arena before games start on soup servers.

That's all folks. I may fix up language and stuff later as I'm Dutch and there are bound to be mistakes. Constructive criticism is welcome.
~wgeurts