Range and angular velocity

As anyone together enough to work out which end of the gun to point at the aliens knows, bigger targets are easier to hit than smaller targets. Closer targets are bigger than further-away targets, in terms of the angle of your field of view that they occupy. So closer targets are easier to hit than further-away targets, right?

It's not actually quite that simple. Of stationary targets it is certainly true - although of Acid Tubes and Hives, sufficient distance to not take damage while you are dealing it is always preferable. But if a target is moving, the effect of this movement (in terms of the changing direction in which you should be shooting) is greater at close range. In mathematical terms, the speed of a moving object is equal to its distance from an origin multiplied by the rate of change of its angle with respect to that origin. In simple terms, if you are standing one metre in front of someone, it only takes about 3.14 metres to circle around them, whereas if you are standing ten metres away and you do a wide circle around the target, that's going to be ten times as far to go and hence take you ten times as long. To the human, you're effectively moving at a tenth of the angular speed.

What this means in terms of Tremulous is that a Dretch at your feet is going to be able to run rings around you and it is going to hurt. One that is a hundred metres away is going to require very good precision to hit. A Dretch at about twenty paces is going to be in serious trouble. So think about the range at which you engage your enemies, and how that affects your ability to follow their movement.