Neotokyo – Callouts for Dummies

Callout Basics

Your Microphone

The first and most important thing to callouts is to have a clear voice and a good microphone. No, you shouldn’t callout in chat, as this leaves you vulnerable to enemy players. If people can’t hear you, they can’t get the information they need, which often leads to failure.

Be sure to adjust your microphone settings so that it is a balance between quiet and loud. Nobody will understand you if you’re quiet, nor if you sound like an XXXTentacion song.

Recognizing an enemy

If you see an enemy, the first thing you should do is take cover, then relay their position so your team mates can help you out. However, it’s also important to tell them what class they are and what gun they’re using, but it’s usually not necessary to do that. You must use your compass, which is located on the bottom of your screen, and the distance marker, which pops up when you aim (RMB).
A good callout is “There’s a support, 32 metres to my east”.
A bad callout is “They’re over there.”
Nobody knows what “Over there” is. And if you die without backup, you probably deserve it.

The Ghost

What’s a Ghost?

This is the Ghost. It serves as the “main” objective and to detect enemy players within a 40 metre radius. On your HUD, it appears as a pulsating circle. Whenever the ghost is picked up, everyone gets alerted with an audio queue, even if a team mate picks it up. If you are on NSF and a team member picks it up, the circle turns blue. If you are on Jinrai and a team member picks it up, the circle turns green. You should keep an eye on this circle at all times.

How do callout?

Calling out with the ghost may seem difficult at first, but over time, with map knowledge and experience in the game, you can pinpoint where the enemy is to your team members.

To call out with the Ghost, hold it in your hands. If you hear two successive beeps, an enemy is within 40 metres of you. Tell your team mates “I got beeps” so they know to cover any doors/hallways. Once the Ghost chimes, you can now see enemy team markers. You must use a combination of your compass (Located on the bottom of your screen) and the distance of the enemy markers. In the image above, you can see red markers. Those are enemies, and they know where you are. You must relay this information to your team as efficiently as possible. For example, the two enemy markers in the centre would be called out as “Two South South West, 32 and 14 metres”, however the marker furthest to the right is too close to be called out exactly, but you can tell your team mates “One coming to our right!”.

You should also tell your team mates if they are moving or staying still in refernece to something. A callout like “There’s a guy peeking around this corner to our left” or “There’s a guy rushing the hall behind us” is invaluable information. Be sure to keep your team mates updated.

Ghost Tactics

You lack a primary weapon whilst you have the ghost, so it’s important you make sure that you have cover and support from your team mates. Don’t try to grab the ghost when you’re alone/nobody is near you, unless if you need to bait or the ghost is close to your cap point.

If somebody asks you to give them the ghost, it is probably in your best interest to give them the ghost, as they most likely have more experience calling out than you do. Don’t be that person who rushes alone with a ghost then dies in an area covered by four enemies with MXs.

Know if you have leeway

Your “primary” goal is to bring the ghost to the green or blue arrow, and to stop the ghost from going to the red arrows. Capturing the Ghost is a good outcome of a round, as every surviving team member gets three points automatically, plus the two from surviving the round and winning the round (Dead players do not get this bonus). If you are nearing the capture zone and you do not have any enemy markers near you/ an enemy is slow or far away, tell your team “Don’t kill”. This tells your team you are ready to capture the Ghost and to not ruin it by killing someone. If they do, the round wins by the enemy team being killed, and your team does not get the bonus experience points to get better weapons.

Map Knowledge

Once you get to know a level’s layout, you can recognize where the enemy goes within the first ten seconds of a round. Often times, you will also hear people call out places such as ‘Glass’ or ‘Office’. These are callouts of a general area or feature of a map that other people can recognize. If you are confused about a location or feature of a map, you can ask your team mates about the location or feature of a map. Usually, the locations are self explanitory. For example, a room or location with servers or computer equipment in them are called “Servers”, a level with vents in them are simply called “Vents”. Over time, you’ll recognize them and be able to tell your team mates information about a location.

Example

An often played map, Rise, has distinct callouts, such as:

• Roof: A spawn area; ghost cap is here 
• Dropdown: A feature outside that ‘Drops down’ to the Skybridge 
• Skybridge: Feeds into reception, ghost cap is here 
• Office: Ghost can spawn here; wooden room with an enterable office, feeds into small construction, Elevators, and Lab; has vent 
• Lab: Long white hallway, feeds into Server Room and Office; has vent 
• Lab Hallway: Short white room that feeds into Confrence and Stairs 
• Stairwell: Connection between Reception and Office 
• Server Room: Ghost can spawn here; feeds into Lab room with a smaller glass room; has vent 
• Elevators: A shortcut to Reception from Lab 
• Construction: A dark room that feeds into Stairs 
• Small Construction: A small room between Stairs and Office 
• Stairs: A room that connects the Roof and Construction; ghost can spawn here 
• Reception: Room between Stairwell and Bridge 
• Confrence: Room with a table and a ghost being projected on the wall 
• Vents: A large system that feeds to many rooms

The large number of callouts may seem daunting at first, but with some time (and tears) you can recognize where everything is as soon as you walk into it.