Fortnite for Boomers - Ready for Take-off!

Look, chances are you’re already familiar with some of this bit – but a bit of revision doesn’t hurt.

OK – Let’s assume your teen has set up all their preferences and you play on their account. That’s what all the other Dads I know who play do. (Actually, that plural was redundant.)

When you fire up the game, you’ll be given a bunch of simple instructions – “Press to Start” (and which button to press) – that sort of thing. Eventually you’ll get to the point where you choose game mode. Although there are options like Playground and Save the World – by far the most popular is Battle Royale. This can be played in teams – of 2,3 or 4, with friends or strangers – or Solo. Again, this is probably the #1 choice.

The object? As “Battle Royale” suggests – it’s a last-one-standing scenario. 100 players start – one player triumphs: “Victory Royale” they call it.

You’ll have a ‘skin’ – what your character looks like – ours is The Mandalorian, so cool…

*When the ‘Mando’ skin was released on Fortnite – we had to have it…*

Once you chosen your game mode, you’ll see your character standing in ‘The Lobby’ – hit the ‘Y’ button and you’re away. (Some buttons have these one-off functions)

The console will have a bit of a think – you may see a holding screen image – then you’ll appear in kind of a waiting terminal as all the 100 players gather to join the game (see header image). In this area, which resembles the island’s terrain, there are weapons lying around. It’s fun to pick these up and blast other players – no one suffers any damage here and it’s a good warm-up.

You might notice a blue bus there – you’ll soon be riding it (A countdown timer will tell you how soon) as it soars over the island suspended by a hot air balloon. (Very imaginative.)

#BadassDad tip: Use the map button (which you will, a lot…) to get a preview of the bus route over the island before take-off. In map mode, you will have a pointer that you can position and ‘pin’ with the ‘A’ button. It’ll turn from white to blue to confirm – and you can change it at any time – even after take-off.) This pin will show as a dirty big blue beacon you can aim for on the island when you’re skydiving later – very useful.

The bus is the fastest way to cross the island bar none. Ride it as long as you can before the geometry part of your brain tells you the best angle to hit your map marker.

So, on this example route from left to right: if you dropped your marker on Lazy lake, you’d be jumping off at about the point marked ‘A’.

All aboard – time to fly

3, 2, 1… bam! With all 100 combatants aboard, the blue bus is suddenly off! (Completely unnecessary, but it’s considered good manners to ‘thank the driver’ – which you do by hitting the down arm of the DPAD on your Xbox controller. Your name will pop up to show what a good sport you are.)

Meanwhile, the course taken by the bus is different every time as it follows a straight line from one edge of the island to the other. (See #BadassDad tip above) After a few seconds wait, you can jump off any time during the half-minute journey. If you don’t, it will just kick you out at the far side.

You’ll be in freefall – ‘skydiving’- at first. You can steer which direction you go and the speed of your descent. The steeper, the faster. Left thumb: speed of descent, right thumb: direction/angle of descent. (Any exercise you can do to strengthen your left thumb is advised – you will be pushing forward on it almost constantly throughout the gameplay – unfit thumbs could cramp up.)

You can decide at any time to deploy your glider – which immediately slows your descent to let you land gently. If you don’t choose to it will open automatically at a certain height anyway. You can revert to freefall at any time up until automatic opening – when your “A” option will disappear.

#BadassDad tip: A huge tactical advantage is gained if you can hit the ground in the shortest time, and most accurate position, possible. After a couple of descents, you’ll start to get a feel for how high your glider automatically kicks in. Note: this is consistent with topography – if you’re coming down over mountains it’ll deploy sooner than down in a valley.

My best descent times come from aiming my freefall at a point that is where I estimate the best distance I can glide from. Note: speed along the ‘x’ axis (along) is the same for glide or freefall – on the ‘y’ axis (down), freefall speed can be varied but glide is a fixed rate. If you’re freefalling a long way off your marker – keep your landing point below your avatar’s ‘tummy’ and you should be fairly right. (You do NOT want to land too early and be stranded on the run.)