QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Short answers to the questions that come up most, from whether the game costs anything to why the sky just killed you. Where a question needs more than a paragraph, the answer links to the page that covers it properly.

GETTING STARTED

Is JET3D free?

Yes. There is no charge to play and nothing to buy. The game is paid for by adverts on the reading pages of the site, like this one, and never by anything inside a match.

Do I need to download anything?

No. JET3D runs in a browser tab, with no installer and no launcher: open www.jet3d.eu and you are flying within a few seconds. On a phone you can add it to your home screen to get full-screen play without the address bar, but that is optional.

Do I need an account?

No. You can type a callsign and play straight away. Signing in with Google is optional. It gives you a callsign nobody else can take, a record that carries over between sessions and devices, experience towards your level, a few colours to unlock, and access to ranked once you reach level 30. None of the flying requires it.

Is my progress saved if I do not sign in?

Partly. Without an account, a guest career — experience, and ranks from CADET to LEGEND — is kept in your browser on that device. It goes if you clear the site's data and is not copied to other devices. Signing in keeps your record on the server instead.

Where should a new pilot start?

The TUTORIAL on the menu: solo, offline, about five minutes. After that, read how to fly. The most useful lesson there is that a jet does not steer. It banks and pulls, and nearly everyone gets this wrong in their first few matches. When you want to choose an aircraft, the six aircraft sets out what each one is for.

DEVICES AND PERFORMANCE

Does it work on a phone or tablet?

Yes. On a touch screen you get two floating sticks that appear wherever your thumbs land. The left stick rolls, the right one pitches and works the rudder, and there are buttons for guns, both missiles and decoupling. Turn the device sideways, because the game is designed for landscape. Some visual effects are switched off on phones to keep the frame rate up.

Can I use a gamepad?

Yes. Any Xbox, PlayStation or similar controller works, plugged in or paired, with nothing to set up. The left stick pitches and rolls, the right trigger fires the guns, the left trigger is the hard turn, A boosts, B drops flares, X fires a SPEAR, Y a HOUND, and clicking either stick decouples. Because the sticks are analogue, they are easier to aim with than keys.

What do I need to run it?

A current version of Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari with WebGL working, which in practice means hardware acceleration switched on in the browser. The graphics are deliberately low-poly, so an ordinary laptop is enough; a gaming PC is not needed.

The game is choppy. What can I do?

Open the settings during a match and turn on Faster graphics. It switches off shadows and glow, renders at normal rather than high-DPI resolution, and cuts back the rain and street traffic. The glow effect already reduces itself when frames run slow, but this goes further. It also helps to close other heavy tabs, plug a laptop in so it is not saving power, and check that hardware acceleration is on in your browser settings.

PLAYING

Why is nobody else online?

JET3D is in beta and still small, so at quiet times there may be no other people on. That is why empty seats fill with bots: QUICK PLAY puts you into a match straight away and tops it up with bots. FIND MATCH lists every public match running, so you can join people when they are on.

Are the bots any good?

They are not target practice. Bots fly the same physics as you, with the same aircraft and weapons. They fire guided missiles, drop flares, and corkscrew when you get behind them. They come in four tiers from ROOKIE to ACE, and whoever hosts the match picks the mix. MATCHED SQUADRON shifts towards better or weaker pilots depending on how the people in the room are doing, but only when a bot respawns. How it works explains what they can and cannot do.

How do I play with friends?

Choose CREATE MATCH, then FRIENDS ONLY. You get a four-letter code to send them. They open FIND MATCH and type it under GOT A CODE?, and nobody without the code can join. If you pick ANYONE CAN JOIN instead, the match is also listed publicly so strangers can fill the empty seats. In the lobby you choose the map, the mode and whether bots fill the gaps.

What game modes are there?

TEAM BATTLE (six a side, you respawn after four seconds, first side to 40 kills wins), 6 v 6 and 12 v 12 (team matches where you stay down once you are shot down), DEATHMATCH (everyone for themselves with respawns, first to 10 kills), CHASE (one hunter, everyone it catches joins it, and reds win by surviving 100 seconds), and CUSTOM for your own numbers. Game modes covers each one properly.

How does ranked work?

Sign in with Google and reach level 30; every match you play earns experience towards it, win or lose. The RANKED button then opens, putting you into TEAM BATTLE with a rating on it. You play five placement matches, then climb through BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD, PLATINUM and DIAMOND, each with four divisions, to ACE. Beating a stronger side earns more than beating a weaker one, and leaving a ranked match early counts as a loss.

What are the basic controls?

Arrow keys pitch and roll: bank first, then pull up to turn. A and D are a weak rudder. W boosts, Shift is the hard turn, Space fires the guns, E a SPEAR rocket, Q a HOUND guided missile, S drops flares, and holding F decouples the nose from the flight path. Every key can be changed in Settings, where there is also an option to invert pitch. The guide explains what each one is for.

Can I aim with the mouse?

Yes. Turn on Mouse aim in Settings and click the view. The aircraft banks and pulls towards wherever you point, and levels its wings when it gets there. The left button fires the guns, the right button fires a SPEAR, and Esc gives you the mouse back. The keyboard keeps working alongside it.

Why will my HOUND not fire?

A HOUND needs a lock before it will launch. Hold the target near the centre of your view, within about 2.6 km, for roughly a second, until the tone goes solid. Cloud blocks a lock in either direction, so you cannot lock a target in the cloud band, or anything outside it while you are in it. Also check that you have HOUNDs left; a kill gives some back. Weapons has the details.

WHY DID I DIE?

Why did I die at the top of the sky?

The cloud deck is the ceiling of the arena. Above it you take damage, and 220 metres above it your aircraft is destroyed. The ceiling starts at 2,000 metres and comes down as the match goes on, so a height that was safe early on may not be later. When the sky goes dark and stars come out, dive.

Why did I die at the edge of the map?

That is the ring. Outside it you take continuous damage, gently at first and much faster later: early in a match you last about fifteen seconds out there, and near the end only a couple. You can cross it briefly to escape something worse, but you cannot stay outside. In TEAM BATTLE and DEATHMATCH it stops closing after three minutes.

Nothing hit me and I still blew up. Why?

Almost always the ground. Hills, trees and buildings are solid, and touching any of them destroys you instantly. Flying into another aircraft does too. When your flight path will hit the ground or a building within about two and a half seconds, PULL UP flashes above the crosshair with a warning tone. If another aircraft shot you down, the death replay plays back the last five seconds from behind it.

CONNECTION

Why does it lag?

The game server is in Frankfurt, so it plays best from Europe; the further away you are, the longer each round trip takes. Other aircraft are drawn slightly in the past so they move smoothly, and an unsteady connection pushes that delay up. Wired internet beats wi-fi, and stopping downloads or video calls on the same connection helps. Hits are judged on the server without rewinding time, so on a slow connection you need slightly more lead on a crossing target. How it works explains why.

The page is stuck on connecting. What now?

Reload once. If it keeps happening, the server may be restarting for an update, which ends matches in progress and usually takes a moment. The menu shows whether the server is up and how many people are flying. Some workplace and school networks block the kind of connection the game uses.

PEOPLE, PRIVACY AND CONTACT

How do I report or mute another player?

There is a report button beside every name in a match. It sends the last few lines of that room's chat with the report, so there is context. You can also mute anyone. Muting is enforced on the server, so a muted player's messages never reach you. Whoever set up the room can remove people from it, and the person who runs the game can ban accounts or connections for a day, a week, or for good.

What data do you keep, and how do I delete it?

Without an account, nothing outlasts the match: your callsign and settings stay in your browser. If you sign in with Google, the server stores an account identifier, your callsign and your record. On your account page there is a button to download a copy of everything held about you and another to delete the account straight away, with nothing kept. The privacy page has the full list.

Where do adverts appear?

Only on the reading pages: the guide, the articles in the pilot's library, and the about page. There are none on the menu, none on the scoreboard and none while you are flying. If you are in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, you are asked about personalised advertising before anything loads, and saying no is as easy as saying yes.

Who makes JET3D?

One developer, as a side project. There is no studio: the aircraft, maps, flight model, netcode and these pages are all one person's work, and the game is openly in beta. The development log records what changes and why. More on the about page.

How do I get in touch?

Use the suggestion box on the menu. It goes straight to the developer and needs no account or email address. Bug reports, things that feel wrong, ideas and removal requests all go through the same box. If you want a reply, include your callsign.

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