Some questions about the mechs

[Khristophoros]

- Is there any documentation on how all the mech abilities work?

- Is there a tier list?

- I can only do well on Iris, but my friend tells me that he does best with Blackcomb and Black Selena. I can see why due to their raw power, but I can only score like 10 with them in survival while I get about 20 most runs with Iris, and I just can't get comfortable with the other mechs. Anything I can read to understand the other mech playstyles?

- WHY DOES ANTHURIUM MALFUNCTION?

- I noticed all the active servers are for Ultimate Knight... That costs money and isn't translated?

[Break]

Documentation: help file should cover some of them, and I can answer most of what it doesn't. Specifics would be nice to have. =)

Tier list: Closest you'll get to one is the one on the now-defunct wiki guide which lists them as:
* High: Blackcomb (highest by a rather wide margin), Primula, 2000 SP1, XP SP3
* Mid: Anthurium, BlackSelena, XP-B, XP, Vienna, Cymmie, Iris, Vista
* Low: 2000 Vanilla, Millennium, MS-98, Millennium-B, Millennium-R

There used to be five tiers, but it was compressed while people were still trying to figure out who would go where - and that never really finished. The order's still roughly correct, though.

Reading material: The wiki guide. It's not being updated anymore due to interest in the game being pretty much dead, and it still has a few bits of Bootfighter-only related material within, but it should still be serviceable for getting a feel of each mech's playstyle.

Malfunction: Buh? Explain exactly what you mean, as the only case where it'd "malfunction" is when its superlaser doesn't fire, and that simply means you're out of weapon energy.

Servers: The servers themselves don't cost money to join, and you'll have to deal with the translation issue. However, if you're willing to host one yourself, you can actually apply the English patches on a Japanese version of the game to get a mostly-translated version.

[Khristophoros]

Thanks for the reply.

I figured out what I was doing wrong with Anthurium. I thought her cannon (melee) randomly decided to shoot up, or shoot that tiny beam, but I figured out that you can control which it does.

I got Ultimate Knight. Does anyone play that?

Also, my friend only plays Blackcomb and I can't beat him. My best are Iris, Primula and Anthurium so what should I do in those matchups?

[EZero8]

I got Ultimate Knight. Does anyone play that?

I'm pretty sure almost everyone here plays Ultimate Knight. Though, there are people out there who are still playing Bootfighter because it's free.

Also, my friend only plays Blackcomb and I can't beat him. My best are Iris, Primula and Anthurium so what should I do in those matchups?

To that, I say your friend is a little weenie who can't do anything but spam and reflect beams... =D Just kidding. To beat him, I suggest keeping your distance and dodging with Anthurium, while only using your non-beam weapons and occasionally your Buster Launcher (the superlaser) when you have an opening.

[Break]

I got Ultimate Knight. Does anyone play that?

More than the people who play Bootfighter, at least. The game's pretty much dead right now, but arranging matches shouldn't be too much of a problem. Alternatively, you can wait for the PowerUp Kit to see wider release, where interest in the game will inevitably be rekindled for a time.

Also, my friend only plays Blackcomb and I can't beat him. My best are Iris, Primula and Anthurium so what should I do in those matchups?

Prim's your best bet. Switch to fire mode, as these are physical attacks which he can't reflect. Summon flames, drop a rain of fire down on him, and hope you don't get caught in a superlaser. Resist the urge to superlaser him in return, as that will be reflected. Don't take too many risks, and you'll be fine. Prim's one of the few mechs with a positive-to-neutral matchup against BC.

Iris is probably has it the hardest against Blackcomb, as she lives far more by her laser attacks than Prim, and her usual crystal-swarm strategy will backfire horribly. Fireballs will work, and if you can bait him into reflecting a 5-bar charge magic circle, you can open up his guard with a fireball, and force him to eat the rest of the hits, but it's the sort of strategy that will really only work once.

Anthie, well, start turtling. I'd advise against Zero's suggestion of using the superlaser, because it's hard to really catch him off-guard with it, due to the startup. Try railgunning him from behind cover instead (because, yes, the missile goes through walls), and using the retreat missiles (I forget which button, but you press one of the subweapon buttons while flying) to cover your ass when moving from cover to cover. Stay defensive, and don't panic if he uses drones to pull you out of cover.

[Khristophoros]

Thanks. Actually Break you described pretty much how I played the matches.

Anthurium was one of the better ones due to railgun and back melee; I found that and Black Selena's flip double laser thingie both work well, though I have no interest in exploring Selena further.

Primula was the worst because he just dodges fireballs. I am thinking about some things for Primula to try next time, like bait a reflect with the lightning beam, then use the extremely long time to get behind him. It's easy to dodge the reflect, but he will be locked for about a second because that beam lasts a while. Another thing I need to try is using the uber fast broomstick to outposition him.

Iris was also good simply because she's my best. The matchup sucks, yes, but she's just my best.

A few new questions.

- Where should I go to play Ultimate Knight online?

- Anyone know if the PowerUp Kit will have an official english translation soon? If not, which files do I need to change to translate it?

- Does anyone actually main Iris?