In just about any place upon the map one can find hamster balls – oversized see-through polymer spheres with an access port.
A super animal can use these to run them up to lethal speeds.
Navigating with a hamster ball is more complicated than any other kind of movement, so let’s give you a hamster ball driving lesson.
The first thing to know is that movement with a hamster ball is inertial in nature. What this means, for hamster balls, is that forces acceleration and deceleration are built rather than instant.
What that means for the player is that a hamster ball will react to changes in inputs with a delay. So if one is moving to a side and needs to take a sharp turn upwards, in order to avoid colliding one would be moving upward shortly before one has reached the intended turning point.
This delay also means that it takes time for a hamster ball to accelerate to speeds where impacting another super animal would be lethal.
A hamster ball bounces off of surfaces impacted (and, for some reason, the water’s edge applies here too). Impacting a surface takes the velocity that the ball is travelling, and applies that in the opposite direction. This can be a detriment if one is unaware of it – but it can be very helpful to allow for a variety of maneuvers that would otherwise be a lot more difficult to pull off. Doing so in unorthodox ways can even catch your opponent unawares, leading to their demise.
When it comes to using hamster balls in an offensive fashion, it is important to note that doing so entails vulnerability, and that this vulnerability depends on a number of factors.
First and foremost, the element of surprise. If an attack is unexpected then it is more likely that you will close the distance and impact the intended target before they sufficiently react to you as a threat.
Secondly, the distance travelled to get into impact range. Most monitor screens are wider than they are tall. This means that the distance between the respective screen edge to a target differs – and the shorter the range involved, the better the odds of successfully closing the distance.
Thirdly, the number of opponents. A hamster ball can sustain up to three hits. If a single SuperAnimal is only able to get off a single shot before making contact then the hamster ball will literally come out on top.
If one or more other super animals also get off a single shot at roughly the same time, then the hamster ball will most likely shatter, resulting in you being exposed and in closer proximity to one or more super animals who are also actively focusing on you, drastically reducing your life expectancy.
For those situations you need to think and act fast. Your selected weapon is coming out and you need to use it, along with your normal super animal mobility, to improve your survival odds.
A further thing to note about hamster balls, before rolling off of them as a topic. While they can block projectiles and serve as cover, a hamster ball does not soak up all the pellets from the shot of a shotgun when broken, and as such can carry over to breaking either armour or you. That applies whether you’re in or behind the hamster ball.