High/Looping Headers

More
3 years 10 months ago - 3 years 10 months ago #143447 by wdh
High/Looping Headers was created by wdh
I've played for a while and I understand that there are 3 types of header - diving, glancing and standing.

I understand how to change the direction of travel of the ball with a header, by moving the stick to a diagonal just after the point of impact, and I can do this reliably and score the occasional goal with diving or standing headers.

Some things I don't understand though:

1) How does the game decide whether to do a diving or glancing header? I understand that either is *possible* if the ball is above the player's chest height, but 99% of the time I seem to end up with the full diving header regardless of what I do with the controller. How do I ensure I get a glancing header - does this just depend on timing (e.g. the distance the ball is from the player?

2) How do the more advanced SWOS players perform huge looping, high headers that you see in videos like these:



From what I read in the SWOS instruction manual at drive.google.com/file/d/1lygamnMnN2YyiNY1N2QWqTIuGTJ2YwM2/view, this should be reversing the stick after impact, so if I'm shooting up the pitch with the ball in the air directly in front of me as per the first video, I would do this:

1) Stick up + fire to launch the glancing/diving header
2) Stick down just after point of impact to apply "header aftertouch" and loop the ball into the air over the keeper

I have very occasionally been able to loop the ball into the air this way, but only for a really short distance (like less than the height of the 6 yard box). The headers I see in these videos, and by really good players I've played against online, travel much further with a big loop into the air, and they seem able to pull this trick off every single time. I don't understand how they get both the lift and the distance together - I've not been able to do this even once.

I'm using a SNES style (non-analog) joypad with a joystick to keyboard mapper btw - many years ago I used to play Sensible Soccer / SWOS on the Amiga with a joystick, maybe I'm wrong but I seem to recall it being a bit easier to perform aftertouch moves with a joystick when kicking the ball than it is with the joypad. Wondering if using a different joypad with analog stick, or even just a round dpad rather than a "+" shaped one, might make this easier.

I tried mapping the shoulder buttons on the SNES joypad to the up/down arrows (in addition to the dpad), thinking that "dpad up" + "shoulder button down" and vice versa would be easier to do quickly, at least with my clumsy hands. This does seem to have made it slightly easier to do crazy aftertouch moves when kicking the ball - similar to those I see the advanced players do, but with a lot less control :D.

Still really struggling with the headers, though. :(

What trick am I missing here? Or is the answer just "skill"? :lol:
Last edit: 3 years 10 months ago by wdh.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
3 years 10 months ago #143448 by xflea
Replied by xflea on topic High/Looping Headers
hi @wdh1
everything you described in your forum post is correct
except one: diving/glancing (by glancing you mean high-header, right?) headers do not depend on the distance between the player and the ball
it is all about aftertouch
example:
once your player jumed to hit the ball with a header you have 3 options for the aftertouch:
1. keep pressing the direction of the jump = you get a diving header
2. let go of direction keys at all = you get a medium-high header
3. press the direction opposite to the jump = you get a high header
plus in any option you can change the direction of the header left/right
ad. 3 - the more aftertouch you are able to add here, the longer the header will be

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
3 years 10 months ago - 3 years 10 months ago #143449 by Playaveli
Replied by Playaveli on topic High/Looping Headers
Glad you read the manual.

1) Diving header: ball is in the air somewhere ahead of you and you press fire and hold the same direction as you are moving to (left/right can be added to deflect the ball diagonally).

2) Standing header: Ball is somewhere over you and you let loose directions (centered D-pad) and press fire first, then push directions.
It is the only action in SWOS that can put the ball in EVERY of the 8 directions, regardless where the ball came from.

3) High headers, jumping headers: Same as diving header, but the player does not fall on the ground because you either centered your d-pad AFTER you head the ball or you pull into the opposite direction (left/right diagonal deflection possible).

Attachments:
Last edit: 3 years 10 months ago by Playaveli.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
3 years 10 months ago - 3 years 10 months ago #143450 by wdh
Replied by wdh on topic High/Looping Headers
Thanks both!

Yes with my dodgy terminology "glancing" I did mean "high"/"jumping" header - the "jump towards the ball without full length dive" type shown in the first video (I thought I saw this referred to in the manual as "glancing header", but now I look again it's definitely not there - perhaps the effects of lockdown are getting to me :lol:)

So you've clarified that the distance between player and ball is not a factor, and now I'm clear that I did understand the rest of this part of the manual correctly. (I wish they had put some diagrams in the manual showing joystick/button sequences, it would really have helped - a bit too late to contact the Sensible guys now though... :side:)

I think my answer is clearly "practice more" :lol:

What are your thoughts on the controller type? I need to get hold of some new controllers anyway as some of buttons are starting to fail on my current ones. Are headers (and aftertouch in general) any easier to do with a joystick, or an XBox style controller with analog sticks? Obviously the game doesn't support analog input, I just wonder if the different range of movement possible with a stick makes this any easier to do than with a SNES style "+" dpad for "most people". From my Amiga days I'm sure I remember things like shooting on the turn with a quick semi-circle of the stick being quite easy, those definitely seem harder with a dpad to me.
Last edit: 3 years 10 months ago by wdh.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
3 years 10 months ago - 3 years 10 months ago #143451 by Playaveli
Replied by Playaveli on topic High/Looping Headers
Controller type is always the same answer:
Get the exact same joystick/joypad you used in the 90ies, from ebay. And connect it with USB adapter!

Stick to what you are used to. There is never a definite answer, it's always and only a matter of personal taste and preference.
Last edit: 3 years 10 months ago by Playaveli.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

Time to create page: 0.202 seconds
Powered by Kunena Forum