BF2S Forums A Guide to the Defensive Role (Balance is Key)

[SDEM]vispinger wrote:

I'll tell you this, this thread is the one (ok, ok, with together with this one ) that made me register for the forums at bf2s.com, I used to just lurk & hang around mostly for the stats and news and saw no need to register.

This thread is all about the way I would like to play BF2. Only too often I'm in a squad of loners, everybody runs everywhere doing everything... Just sometimes I end up in a squad that really works together, and the game gets really good from then. So from now on, I'll be looking for your online status people when I want to play a good game.

Many thanks [SDEM]vispinger. Good to have you onboard. Welcome and maybe see you on Teamwork squads online.

Cheers.

Last edited by kilroy0097 (2006-01-07 09:21:59)

excellent post, and I like to defend key cp's as well, or take key cp's and then defend them.  When team {USI} is playing, you will really have to work hard to take the Sharqi tv station, the east side of the river on Karkand, or the refinery on Fushe.  Some of my best rounds have been gained through defense, I and some of my {USI} brethren have the patience to sit and wait for 10-15 minutes  with little activity, knowing that eventually the action will heat up in "our" area

Nice thread people. The biggest problem I find with BF2 is trying to get all those people who want to play like us together, but we only constitute a minority in the world. Most are whores as they haven’t the time or interest to develop a love and thirst for strategy.

WORDS TO LIVE BY!
The INNINIATIVE-If you do not know what this is, watch “BLACK HAWK DOWN” and listen to Garrison’s famous quote “WE just lost the initiative”.
Learn what this is and learn to use it.
This is also a very important thing to be aware of in real life.
There are three types of people in this world, those that make things happen, those that watch things happening, and those who stand around afterwards asking “What the F#^% just happened”. Tactics and strategy are a way of making sure that you get what you want.

FLANKING – “You flunked flank? Get the flank outta here!”
COVER-Why do I keep missing that guy I’m shooting at?
MOVEMENT-Ahhh they missed again with that arty strike.
ENVIRONMENT-Gee, I wonder if any of that squad who just walked past even thought about looking at their feet for me.
SUPPRESSION-When the going gets tough, the tough go cyclic.

Its lovely to see others suggesting that people should "READ" a book to improve their play. I actually started a thread months ago along the topic of "Books to read to improve your bf2 experience". I have a great list of books for those that like to read.

Defence rocks, and as previously stated is extremely important both in RL and online. However as this is a "game" one of the most common issues around defence is the way that people describe it or relate to it. Peoples perception of tactics normally relates back to their stats and not the actual objective of winning.

CAMPING = DEFENDING = GUARDING
Ever heard of a guard at a nuclear base, prison or airport? Of course you have and why?
Cos it works.
Any time you find a method or tactic that is not against the ROE or server rules, use it. People complain that it may not be "Fun" or "sportsmanlike" but we are playing a WAR simulator (Arcade at best I know but...). Decisive tactics wins wars. If they are pissed off and complaining about you take it as a compliment. If they are too stupid to learn from their errors they are doomed to do make them again. It also means you totally have the initiative and they are going for their purple heart awards, again.
If you can leave on or two people around  a point and they can hold it against twice or three times their number, then you have an extra 4-6 players that should be off on the offensive. Think of Mashtuur City, the Mosque and that lovely building to the south of the spawn. From this vantage point, one sniper with a crate nearby can virtually ensure that no infantry to take that point back. You can get kill, after kill, after kill, and unless they take you out, one player can hold back a squad. Some call this camping, or noob behaviour, I love it.
I always check the roof of this building when going for the flag as I know firsthand how dangerous a lone defender up there can be. Add two more snipers, one on top of the mosque itself and another on the eastern side, ladder accessible roof and that spawn is VERY dangerous for enemy to walk around inside.
1 Sniper vs 1 Squad = 4 friendly players off doing something else = More spawns to your team = WIN.
Simple math really?


Spawn Camping: This could also be called "Suppression". Use it. If there is one of you and 5 enemies spawning at all times and you keep them out of play its fantastic for your team. The enemy probably hates you for it but that only means you are doing you job properly. A truly pissed off foe is one of the best things you can arrange and manipulate. Beat the mind and morale of the enemy and they fall hard, go off mission to get revenge, which doesn’t always help them in the long run.

TWO TYPES of playing.

1. Scores, Stats and other completely irrelevant points that will not impress women in bars in real life.

I like my shiny medals. I like the badges, but I do not wear them down the street and talk to strangers about them, you know why? It’s a game, its a game only played by a small population of the world, and whilst fun is not the most important thing in life. My awards are important to me as I remember the things and learning curves I have had earning them. But they do not help with a mortgage or existential doubt.
I whore just as much as anyone cos its fun and it works, however I do not jump out of a server cos I cant have that J-10 or tank.

2. Play for fun and stimulation or how I learned to stop looking at the scoreboard during play and found myself in love with this game.

Spend a few games not looking at the scoreboard, ever.
Try to put yourself into a real mindset of the kit you are playing. Sniper is best for this as it can be a solo adventure(although modenr sniper teams works in pairs, if not more). Try to spend the round without getting seen, EVER.
One shot, one kill, every time, no deaths. I’ve only done it 3 times but those were probably some of the best games I’ve ever played. Why? Cos it got my heart pumping like mad and I had to use all sorts of tactics to do so that are inspired by real life. You get sneaky, and clever and love it.


I’ve recently read a book by a delta operator who discusses learning about Room Clearing in training. I would LOVE to practice this with a team of people who play often but most are not interested. You need a regular bunch of people to play with that you can also train with.
I read lots of books about war and strategy cos I find it fascinating. I read the auto-bio of one of the snipers in Iraq; this guy has over 60 confirmed kills (Marine). He came up with new tactics during a war game that they later used in Iraq. He would lie on top of a hum vee and get driven from point to point by a driver to take out defenders at range. And guess what people, it works wonders in BF2.

But people, let’s face it, the community whilst large, is separated by age and what people want out of their games. I really want to play a game of BF2 with 60 people,  no time limit and people can only die ONCE. See what happens then. Id love to have a game where one team of 16 was asked to guard something and the other 16 had to take it off them with out having to respawn and no medics. As this is the type of game where real world tactics would be very important.

SO there is a small group of us who like to play the mental game as well as the normal game. If we could play together I know we would OWN in any map, in any situation. We might not get the highest points but our KD ratios would be extreme and our enemy would be wandering around afterwards trying to work out why they got slammed. The other thing that stands out is people who play this game to represent their life as opposed to those who play this game to enhance their life. I have a career, hobbies and a girlfriend. If BF2 got in the way of these I would quit, however there are those who we play against who do not live like this. They complain, they stat pad, they whore and they miss out on some of the coolest experiences they could have playing games of this complexity. I only say this as I have been playing games for 25 years. I have watched with baited breath, as technology slowly got better, whilst dreaming of multiplayer, and teamwork. Now that it is here, most people take it for granted and ignore why this game is so good. I LOVE BF2 cos its so funny, and complex. I can use real world tactics in an online war game. And it doesn’t matter if we change games(ie American Army, Generals, Wolfenstein, Half Life etc), as the tactics are still valid. This is not WOW where 1,000 hours makes you a god and worthy of respect. You can win each contact by being smarter than you opponent and using tactics. I’ve played vs people who are higher ranked than me, and people who score higher than me, but I haven’t played vs many people who could stop me from winning constantly or could routinely outthink me.
I laugh at those with purple hearts as all it demonstrates to me is a desire to get your Explosives badge or a complete inability to learn from your mistakes.

Finally, I leave you with my favourite gaming slogan whihc represents my thoughts rather succinctly

The best place to shoot someone is not in the head, its in the back of the head.

Disagreement and arguement is welcome. Any "ist's" are more than welcome to go soak their heads.

one of the big problems is that people have heard that "sometimes offence is the best defence"... they forget the "sometimes" part and always use offence... i'm commander alot, i defend the most important flag, while trying to get a squad to defend the flag closest too the enemies, it's important to never let the enemy break through your defence...

I’d love to play teamed up boys but we might have to be in the same hemisphere. Killroy and bruised are set as your countries border one another however I am a little further away.
I'd love to team up bruised but you play in Canada and I don’t know how to connect to a game that far away?

MOVEMENT:-Speed is key.
One thing I find very important in a defensive game is movement. If there are more spawns than you have squads it helps to have at least one squad of four in a hummer. I find that fast deployment from point to point is vital for recapping multiple spawns; the trick is to get the commander to feed you Intel on the empty ones. If you can flank behind a foe and re-cap  points that are unguarded you confine them to less area on the map. Great for Fushe pass and other big maps.
Whilst playing Kharkand its great to have a medic, two engineers and a support on this as they can mine most of the major roads and slow the armour, leaving it vulnerable to A/T.

ENVIRONMENT- Buildings and Assets.
In most maps I suggest removing the enemy commanders sight by destroying the UAV and Scan trailer. This helps you to keep your forces from being discovered before they can ambush/defend. Follow this up by taking out the arty as fast as possible. This also helps as people give up command easier when they cannot use their assets and if the other team has no help/hints it may be extremely beneficial to your team.
If you can get a chopper on certain maps to drop people off and become squad leaders it’s an easy way to hold points. In Sharqui for example if US can deploy SL's on top of the buildings next to City Entrance, Hotel and Surveillance Post it provides a spawn point in event of capture. People spawn in and base jump to the ground. City Entrance is extremely useful for this as it also allows the US to send off spec forces to take out the Arty. This should be a primary objective for the US on that map. It’s hard due to distance to get to the eyes of the enemy commander on this map but nullifying the arty can be decisive and prevents them from taking out your SL’s and entrenched forces..

However I do find offence to be the most decisive factor in most games. If you can hold an enemy in their un-caps with kit weapons they can never win.

So if there are any AUSTRALIANS or KIWIS interested??