What Not To Do When Encountering AV Mines
1. Do not leap out of your battlewalker when your pilot/gunner just leapt out.
2. DO NOT LEAP OUT OF YOUR BATTLEWALK...
Yeah that's it.
Seriously. Don't. Do it. It's just like waving a big flag saying "PWN MY ARSE WITH MY OWN WALKER, PLEASE SIR DO!"
Only maybe less obvious. But still. Just like... don't. One of you gets out. ONE OF YOU. Especially if you're not even an engineer. Shame on you. What are you going to do, look menacing at the mines?
Kthnx.
Moving on...
Mobility vs Accuracy
K, so, you have this tank, right, and yours has only tracks. The enemy, they float around like posh gits or somesuch. Which has it's advantages. But they can't look and shoot in different directions. Ergo, extend the range of the fight. If you're at range, and you're circling them while they do their pretty strafing nonsense, you can point at them while they'll end up spinning in a fairly tight comparitive circle. Making them easy to hit. While if you vary speed, reverse unexpectedly, etc etc, you are not a predictable or easy target.
Put em in the box. Blow the box to shreds.
I'm under fire! So I'll lay down!
No, really, if you didn't get it already: DO NOT LAY DOWN WHEN SHOT AT. K? Good.
I'm Too Tough To Use Armour
No, you're not, your team is getting it's arse handed to it on a plate. When you die, spawn as Engineer and go get a damn tank and drive it across the map. Shoot things that are harder to kill as infantry, like battlewalkers. Cap the battlewalker flag if possible. Then you can run around sniping, free as a bird in the knowledge that your WL ratio won't go down the tubes because -you- screwed up. Well, okay, might still be your fault, but not quite so much.
When I'm A Squadleader, I Just Do Whatever The Commander Says
NONONONONO.
You are his link to the troops. He does not know what you need. So TELL HIM. Ask for crates at positions you're moving to that UAV has revealed to be free of troops. For one thing, the enemy will then advance there - if you make sure it's within quick walking distance, you can set up an ambush. Yummy. For another, if you do encounter the enemy, you can get yourself healed and ingratiate yourself to your commander by earning him points by using his crates. In which case he then gives you more. And you live longer.
Ask for UAV if you think there are -a number- of hostiles nearby. Don't ask because you're alone in the wilderness for no immediately apparent reason (other than oppurtune sniping, or you fell out of a gunship, or whatever), and you think that a bush looks a bit iffy. If you get seperated from your squad, pull up your minimap regularly to give them stuff even while you're still trying to catch up with them. Use drop beacons, but place them sensibly, not at a choke point but at a small, comfortable walking distance from it. You don't want the enemy to find it immediately, and you don't want to die on impact. It's not exactly a smooth ride, and very disorientating if you do that mad spinning thing because you're as crazy as I am. (Heh.)
Killing Battlewalkers, The Easy Way
Tell your mate there's a sniper looking at an intriguing mark on a wall just round the corner. Tell him to wait ten seconds, then go knife him. Then, go around the other way. While the battlewalker dissects his jumping corpse with still more bullets, sneak under the walker. Look up. Fire. Run.
Your mate will be annoyed, but everyone else will be glad. Except the walker pilot.
While this is commonly known (and I know that it's commonly known, since I know it), it's not commonly practiced. About half of my walker kills were done with this route, and I only died about one third of the time. Whereas if I take it on with AV, I die about three times before killing it. Maybe just me, but one seems somewhat more efficient...
If you do not have a gullible, suggestible friend to sacrifice to the war gods, then you could use one of those EMP grenade thingies. Though that can say "I'm going to shoot your vents, Mr. Walker Pilot, please look down and observe my technique". I prefer to just sneak, or, occasionally, if I'm feeling particularly insane, run shouting "CHARGE!" and waving a knife in a vaguely threatening manner. It did work once, on Berlin. Though the sniper on the hill got me right after.
But that's death for you.
Tea
The milk goes in after the water. This ensures the milk is not scalded, which alters the taste subtly and produces an inferior cuppa.*
In Complete Seriousness - Tactical and Strategic Thinking
One thing I've noticed about 2142: unless your team is overwhelmingly more experienced and stronger in playing style than the other, if you do not think tactically as Squad Leader, and do not understand the overall strategy required in any given situation, you are wasting your position.
Above I mentioned asking for supply drops and UAVs; this is part of it. Secondly, you need to consider choke points. Not just "hold near the choke point, advance while they spawn", because that will get your squadmates killed more often than they need be. You want to minimize your casualties while maximising those of the enemy.
Particularly in Conquest, it is vital to observe the minimap for flanking groups of the enemy. If you can't find a flag to cap and the front line is a death zone, take your squad out wide. Not to flank the enemy - unless you meet zero resistance - but to widen the lines to ensure they cannot get past. If they do, you're caught between the hammer and the anvil. And you aren't made of iron. More like a sort of pasty, thin cheese. Smeared. Thinly. You get the idea.
It's not about smart move orders. It's about ensuring that you communicate with your squad. Whether it's a simple typed message like "Going wide" or "Get tanks!", the small things can make a big difference. I myself am not quite fully in these habits yet, but I can see what I need to do. It is, like everything else in this game, a case of honing reflex by repetition. If you like being squad leader, get used to seeing less action than everyone else. It doesn't matter - you'll score just as many points, and that's why I'm loving this game more and more (even if I do get ... irritated sometimes). You don't have to be a one-man slaughtering machine to do something big for your team. Spotting a sniper that's taking far too many scalps; calling in a supply drop for beleagured armour so your commander can just say "yes" and focus on spotting targets/figuring the overall strategy... there are many things you can do.
Drop beacons, as mentioned earlier, are very important. To be honest, I tried out the other SL unlocks at the weekend, and wasn't too impressed. Mostly they just gave away my position to the enemy, which is fine for them, but means my squad has nobody to spawn on. With the beacon, I can afford to die for some goal (which I'm not against if it earns several more kills than my one measly death), but without it I have to stay alive. Which can be mightily difficult in the heavier firefights, no matter how fast you react. 4v1 = dead, after all, and there can always be a squad around the next corner.
Personally, I think Support works very well indeed as SL, especially with that beautiful heartbeat monitor. Being able to pinpoint the enemy between UAV use is absolutely, completely, one hundred percent fantastic, not to mention finding snipers to knife.
To condense somewhat:
Create a kill zone, by defending choke points. Put the enemy in it. Kill them. Fighting defensively means less deaths, and means you can take initiative when the enemy hesitates. Repeatedly hurling yourself at a flag only gives the other team more points.
Keep -everyone- supplied, not just your squad. If you find yourself out of the action because of distance, use the time. Communicate with your commander. Place attack/move orders. If in a firefight, back out of it, set a move marker nearby, and claim the kills for your squad + the squad radius bonus. It only takes half a second.
Watch the backs of your men. Set an example in how you move, making sure to save stamina for sprints through uncovered, open ground. Getting there fast is great if you get there sans coffin, but better to just -get there-.
Hurry up and wait. Don't advance constantly. Be aware of how many men in your squad are active, nearby, and well-armed. Order a move to your current location if you don't have enough men to assault a position. Dig in, wait for reinforcements, -then- push on.
All in all: think like an officer. The small things like "how to get to that sniper" aren't your concern - you spot him, kill him if you can, but get the hell out of the fire if your squad is going to need to spawn real soon.
And if you don't want to do the job, don't be a Squad Leader.
If You Are Dying Repeatedly In Conquest Mode...
YOU ARE ADVANCING TOO FAR. Look at your minimap. If you have UAV, then look at the concentration of your troops compared to theirs. Find a weakspot in your line. Fill it. When you see your team advancing, advance -with- them, never -ahead- of them. This ensures that nobody gets through your line and captures bases behind you.
Please do this. It's a total pain to play on a team where nobody has any concept of "front line" and, hey, look at those men just wandering into our originating cap point...
At which point everybody dies alot. Lots of points for them, less for you.
Feel free to do the whole "advance beyond the lines" thing when I'm on the opposing team, it almost guarantees the win if even 10% of my team is smart enough to go through the less trodden routes ignored by eager advancers. :p
I'm sure all of this has already been said, but I was bored and feeling somewhat sarcastic. Seemed as good an outlet as any. I'll add more later, mayhap, with more strategy-centred stuff.
If you are easily offended, look away about two and a half minutes ago. Darn. Too late.
*No, this has nothing to do with BF2142, but it's always worth mentioning.
1. Do not leap out of your battlewalker when your pilot/gunner just leapt out.
2. DO NOT LEAP OUT OF YOUR BATTLEWALK...
Yeah that's it.
Seriously. Don't. Do it. It's just like waving a big flag saying "PWN MY ARSE WITH MY OWN WALKER, PLEASE SIR DO!"
Only maybe less obvious. But still. Just like... don't. One of you gets out. ONE OF YOU. Especially if you're not even an engineer. Shame on you. What are you going to do, look menacing at the mines?
Kthnx.
Moving on...
Mobility vs Accuracy
K, so, you have this tank, right, and yours has only tracks. The enemy, they float around like posh gits or somesuch. Which has it's advantages. But they can't look and shoot in different directions. Ergo, extend the range of the fight. If you're at range, and you're circling them while they do their pretty strafing nonsense, you can point at them while they'll end up spinning in a fairly tight comparitive circle. Making them easy to hit. While if you vary speed, reverse unexpectedly, etc etc, you are not a predictable or easy target.
Put em in the box. Blow the box to shreds.
I'm under fire! So I'll lay down!
No, really, if you didn't get it already: DO NOT LAY DOWN WHEN SHOT AT. K? Good.
I'm Too Tough To Use Armour
No, you're not, your team is getting it's arse handed to it on a plate. When you die, spawn as Engineer and go get a damn tank and drive it across the map. Shoot things that are harder to kill as infantry, like battlewalkers. Cap the battlewalker flag if possible. Then you can run around sniping, free as a bird in the knowledge that your WL ratio won't go down the tubes because -you- screwed up. Well, okay, might still be your fault, but not quite so much.
When I'm A Squadleader, I Just Do Whatever The Commander Says
NONONONONO.
You are his link to the troops. He does not know what you need. So TELL HIM. Ask for crates at positions you're moving to that UAV has revealed to be free of troops. For one thing, the enemy will then advance there - if you make sure it's within quick walking distance, you can set up an ambush. Yummy. For another, if you do encounter the enemy, you can get yourself healed and ingratiate yourself to your commander by earning him points by using his crates. In which case he then gives you more. And you live longer.
Ask for UAV if you think there are -a number- of hostiles nearby. Don't ask because you're alone in the wilderness for no immediately apparent reason (other than oppurtune sniping, or you fell out of a gunship, or whatever), and you think that a bush looks a bit iffy. If you get seperated from your squad, pull up your minimap regularly to give them stuff even while you're still trying to catch up with them. Use drop beacons, but place them sensibly, not at a choke point but at a small, comfortable walking distance from it. You don't want the enemy to find it immediately, and you don't want to die on impact. It's not exactly a smooth ride, and very disorientating if you do that mad spinning thing because you're as crazy as I am. (Heh.)
Killing Battlewalkers, The Easy Way
Tell your mate there's a sniper looking at an intriguing mark on a wall just round the corner. Tell him to wait ten seconds, then go knife him. Then, go around the other way. While the battlewalker dissects his jumping corpse with still more bullets, sneak under the walker. Look up. Fire. Run.
Your mate will be annoyed, but everyone else will be glad. Except the walker pilot.
While this is commonly known (and I know that it's commonly known, since I know it), it's not commonly practiced. About half of my walker kills were done with this route, and I only died about one third of the time. Whereas if I take it on with AV, I die about three times before killing it. Maybe just me, but one seems somewhat more efficient...
If you do not have a gullible, suggestible friend to sacrifice to the war gods, then you could use one of those EMP grenade thingies. Though that can say "I'm going to shoot your vents, Mr. Walker Pilot, please look down and observe my technique". I prefer to just sneak, or, occasionally, if I'm feeling particularly insane, run shouting "CHARGE!" and waving a knife in a vaguely threatening manner. It did work once, on Berlin. Though the sniper on the hill got me right after.
But that's death for you.
Tea
The milk goes in after the water. This ensures the milk is not scalded, which alters the taste subtly and produces an inferior cuppa.*
In Complete Seriousness - Tactical and Strategic Thinking
One thing I've noticed about 2142: unless your team is overwhelmingly more experienced and stronger in playing style than the other, if you do not think tactically as Squad Leader, and do not understand the overall strategy required in any given situation, you are wasting your position.
Above I mentioned asking for supply drops and UAVs; this is part of it. Secondly, you need to consider choke points. Not just "hold near the choke point, advance while they spawn", because that will get your squadmates killed more often than they need be. You want to minimize your casualties while maximising those of the enemy.
Particularly in Conquest, it is vital to observe the minimap for flanking groups of the enemy. If you can't find a flag to cap and the front line is a death zone, take your squad out wide. Not to flank the enemy - unless you meet zero resistance - but to widen the lines to ensure they cannot get past. If they do, you're caught between the hammer and the anvil. And you aren't made of iron. More like a sort of pasty, thin cheese. Smeared. Thinly. You get the idea.
It's not about smart move orders. It's about ensuring that you communicate with your squad. Whether it's a simple typed message like "Going wide" or "Get tanks!", the small things can make a big difference. I myself am not quite fully in these habits yet, but I can see what I need to do. It is, like everything else in this game, a case of honing reflex by repetition. If you like being squad leader, get used to seeing less action than everyone else. It doesn't matter - you'll score just as many points, and that's why I'm loving this game more and more (even if I do get ... irritated sometimes). You don't have to be a one-man slaughtering machine to do something big for your team. Spotting a sniper that's taking far too many scalps; calling in a supply drop for beleagured armour so your commander can just say "yes" and focus on spotting targets/figuring the overall strategy... there are many things you can do.
Drop beacons, as mentioned earlier, are very important. To be honest, I tried out the other SL unlocks at the weekend, and wasn't too impressed. Mostly they just gave away my position to the enemy, which is fine for them, but means my squad has nobody to spawn on. With the beacon, I can afford to die for some goal (which I'm not against if it earns several more kills than my one measly death), but without it I have to stay alive. Which can be mightily difficult in the heavier firefights, no matter how fast you react. 4v1 = dead, after all, and there can always be a squad around the next corner.
Personally, I think Support works very well indeed as SL, especially with that beautiful heartbeat monitor. Being able to pinpoint the enemy between UAV use is absolutely, completely, one hundred percent fantastic, not to mention finding snipers to knife.
To condense somewhat:
Create a kill zone, by defending choke points. Put the enemy in it. Kill them. Fighting defensively means less deaths, and means you can take initiative when the enemy hesitates. Repeatedly hurling yourself at a flag only gives the other team more points.
Keep -everyone- supplied, not just your squad. If you find yourself out of the action because of distance, use the time. Communicate with your commander. Place attack/move orders. If in a firefight, back out of it, set a move marker nearby, and claim the kills for your squad + the squad radius bonus. It only takes half a second.
Watch the backs of your men. Set an example in how you move, making sure to save stamina for sprints through uncovered, open ground. Getting there fast is great if you get there sans coffin, but better to just -get there-.
Hurry up and wait. Don't advance constantly. Be aware of how many men in your squad are active, nearby, and well-armed. Order a move to your current location if you don't have enough men to assault a position. Dig in, wait for reinforcements, -then- push on.
All in all: think like an officer. The small things like "how to get to that sniper" aren't your concern - you spot him, kill him if you can, but get the hell out of the fire if your squad is going to need to spawn real soon.
And if you don't want to do the job, don't be a Squad Leader.
If You Are Dying Repeatedly In Conquest Mode...
YOU ARE ADVANCING TOO FAR. Look at your minimap. If you have UAV, then look at the concentration of your troops compared to theirs. Find a weakspot in your line. Fill it. When you see your team advancing, advance -with- them, never -ahead- of them. This ensures that nobody gets through your line and captures bases behind you.
Please do this. It's a total pain to play on a team where nobody has any concept of "front line" and, hey, look at those men just wandering into our originating cap point...
At which point everybody dies alot. Lots of points for them, less for you.
Feel free to do the whole "advance beyond the lines" thing when I'm on the opposing team, it almost guarantees the win if even 10% of my team is smart enough to go through the less trodden routes ignored by eager advancers. :p
I'm sure all of this has already been said, but I was bored and feeling somewhat sarcastic. Seemed as good an outlet as any. I'll add more later, mayhap, with more strategy-centred stuff.
If you are easily offended, look away about two and a half minutes ago. Darn. Too late.
*No, this has nothing to do with BF2142, but it's always worth mentioning.
Last edited by Auqakuh2213 (2007-02-25 09:33:43)