First off, I want to explain what is meant by the term "Primary Contributor." A primary contributor is any player who is a crucial factor in determining whether or not their team will be positioned for victory or defeat. Usually, each team has one or two of these players; those rare individuals who stand out among their peers and really make a significant difference that can offer the team victory for the round. Primary contributors are typically the players that get the gold, silver, or bronze medals, but not necessarily. Sometimes their contribution to the team goes unnoticed and unrewarded.
I know that my stats don't reflect an experienced player's abilities as much as would be expected for someone writing a guide on the subject, but I would like to say in my defense that a majority of my deaths can be attributed to lag as I am often playing with a 200 ms – 800 ms ping. The fastest connection I could hope for is 100 ms. I also have only played commander once on each of my accounts, so the fact that I have managed to maintain around a 2/1 win/loss ratio without playing the role of commander should say something about my strategy in non-commanding roles. Anyway, justifications aside, I think I have enough experience and sufficient skills to write on the subject.
Some of these rules/suggestions apply to being a better overall player while others address the specific issues related to becoming a primary contributor to your team. Here they are:
RULE 1) Stay paranoid; always.
Always assume that you are being watched, followed, or tracked. This includes assuming that you are being observed by the enemy commander from a scan, UAV, or zoom spotting. Never look or move in one direction for more than 1-2 seconds unless under cover. This sounds obvious, but far too often players have tunnel vision, and will run from point A to point B without checking out their surroundings. Whip around every once in a while to check your back, check side to side, sidestep and randomly pace your sprinting while traveling. If anyone is following you or tracking you with their gun they may become nervous, impatient, or hasty and make a poor decision that will give away their position. Also, don’t assume that an area is clear after neutralizing a flag. The moment following a neutralized flag is when most players let their guard down. Stay paranoid and alert.
RULE 2) Always be on the Move.
Unless you're taking a base, taking a shot, or hiding you should always be moving, either to avoid becoming a stationary target or for the purpose of getting to your next objective.
RULE 3) Don't travel without a planned objective or destination.
This may sound contradictory to the mantra of "always be on the move," but it's pointless to travel great distances if you don't have an intended destination and objective. Hopefully, the objective will come from your commander or squad leader, but if it doesn't then you should devise your own strategy and objective whether it's as simple as capturing a flag, getting a vehicle, or destroying enemy assets.
RULE 4) Squad up.
It's plain and simple. You will survive longer and perform better if you're working in a squad. Admittedly, this is the rule I have the most difficult time following myself, because often squads tend to disperse and ignore rule 5.
RULE 5) Leave and rejoin your squad upon death to allow squad leader rotation and to maintain the squad's position.
If you find a squad that is cooperative this technique can keep your squad unified and mobile at the same time. The concept is simple. When you die leave your squad, then instantly join your squad again. This will allow the next squad member to become the squad leader and provide you with a spawn point that is still on the front lines. Additionally, if other squad members need to spawn in during your 15 second inactive period they will still be able to come in on the squad saving traveling time.
* RULE 6) Use other player's kits to your advantage.
This one is HUGE! If you know how to use other player's kits to your advantage whether they are from fallen enemies or fallen allies you will be able to extend your life and effectiveness in many situations. If for example you are assault and a medic ally falls, pick up their kit and revive them. If on the other hand you kill an enemy medic or support soldier then pick up their kit, drop a few med or ammo packs, then revert to your own kit again when you are done. As another example, if you are a sniper but managed to acquire armor and kill an engineer, you should quickly hop out and grab his kit. Another way to look at this subject is this: Choose your targets based on your needs. Kill enemy soldiers that have the kit you need to give you an advantage in your situation. There are countless ways and situations where you can take advantage of a fallen player's kit. Use them.
RULE 7) Work with your commander.
Even mediocre commanders will often have a much better idea of what's going on in the battle then the average player. Unless, a commander is horribly inadequate, you and your squad should make every effort to follow your commander's instructions and should frequently request new orders. If you cooperate with your commander he will be much more likely to hook you up with UAV's, supplies, and arty. Also, don't consider it a waste of time to request UAV's, supplies, or arty from your commander. About 50% of the time the commander will accept a request if the request is available. Even though this may not seem consistent enough to make it worth it, receiving supplies, UAV's, or artillery half the time is better than nothing at all and can often turn the game in your favor.
* RULE 8) Always attempt to eliminate the greatest threat to your team.
This is also HUGE! If you want to be the player that makes the greatest contribution to your team (the MVP), thereby improving the chances of victory you need to constantly be seeking to destroy the greatest threats to your team, whether it be armor, helicopters, jets, a hidden squad leader acting as the point of attack, or enemy commander assets. If your team is constantly being mowed over by enemy armor then you need to counter it with armor, an attack heli, a TOW, or an appropriate kit. If you don't have access to a vehicle or if you are currently the wrong kit then you need to seek out and kill an enemy special ops, AT, or engineer soldier and take their kit (Ties into Rule 6). If a heli is causing havoc for your team then haul butt to the closest humvee/vodnik, get an AT-AA kit, get a tank, or get to an AA platform. If the enemy commander is devastating your team with concentrated forces and frequent arty strikes then make it a priority to take out his assets. You get the idea. Once the threat is neutralized you can return to your previous role of acting as medic, support, transport, pilot, etc. or move onto the next threat.
RULE 9) Make defending and recapturing cappable asset bases the highest priority among all flags.
Anytime you are playing a map where your vehicle or commander's assets are located at a cappable base it should be your highest priority to defend that base among all others. The reason for this is twofold. The obvious reason is that it keeps your commander active and useful, the second reason is that most cappable asset bases are positioned on maps so that they provide only one front line when being defended. If your team is forced to forfeit flags and fall back, it is more advantageous to be able to fall back to a base that can be defended on one front and contains all your critical assets such as vehicles and commander assets. The two best examples that come to mind is the TV Station tower on Sharqi and the Gatehouse on Strike at Karkand. As MEC on Karkand, if you lose the gatehouse flag then your team can not only be attacked from the main entrance to the south, but can also be attacked from the east. For most maps, losing the primary asset base as I like to call it, results in your team being attacked and pinned in on multiple fronts. Too often in Strike at Karkand MEC will try to hold the front city bases as long as possible while they lose every base to the north and eventually get pinned down or capped out. Don't ignore cappable asset bases! Defend and recapture them!
RULE 10) Don't restrict yourself to one kit/vehicle.
This re-emphasizes the importance of rule 6, but is unique enough to be addressed separately. Don't enter a game expecting to play with the same kit or vehicle the entire round. If it's your intention to build up your stat's with a particular kit or vehicle and the conditions of the round allow you to do so successfully, then by all means go ahead. However, if the use of a particular kit/vehicle proves to be useless, don't persist. One of the definitions of insanity is to expect different results when trying the same thing over and over. If playing as assault is only resulting in your constant death to armor then you should reconsider what kit you play and attempt to go as AT-AA, an engineer, or special ops. If you are in a tank and consistently being destroyed by helicopters then you should attempt to counter the helicopters by using a vodnik/humvee. Basically, if something isn't working, change it.
RULE 11) Work in staggered formation and avoid large clusters of allies.
This serves multiple purposes. First of all, if you are in a tightly packed squad or are in the vicinity of several allies your chances of being a prime target for the enemy commander's artillery greatly increases. Additionally, if you are in a tight squad there exists the possibility of being taken out be grenades. Another consideration is that if you are in a large group of allies, you're probably not doing much for your team and will become too reliant on others. In general, if you're working in a squad you should try to stay about 4-6 seconds walking distance from each other in a staggered formation that still allows everyone to maintain sight of each other. This is enough space so that an arty strike or grenade won't wipe out your entire squad. If you adhere to rule 5 then your squad should be able to maintain their position. Also, 4-6 seconds distance is far enough to be safe but allows enough time for a medic in the squad to reach a fallen member after eliminating the threat. The only exception to this rule is when you're squad is taking over a flag.
RULE 12) Don't let vehicles go unused or abandoned.
In many cases the use of vehicles can determine the fate of a round. If you see an unused vehicle such as an LAV, a tank, or a helicopter don't just leave it there. Either use it yourself, drive/fly it to a team member for use, move it to a remote location convenient to your team, or destroy it. Nothing is worse than to leave a tank, jet, heli, or LAV behind only to have the enemy team steal it and use it against your team. If you decide to use the latter of my suggestions (destroying said vehicle) then use good judgment and make sure that you attempted other measures first and verified that no ally had need of it.
RULE 13) Spot everything as frequent as possible.
Spot, spot, and spot some more. Other than the annoying sound bites, there is nothing negative to actively and frequently spotting enemy units and assets. The more your team is aware of their surrounding threats the better they will do overall. In many cases, spotting an enemy helicopter may allow an allied tank to take it down when they may have otherwise not noticed, and visa versa.
RULE 14) Don't spawn at the same flag more than necessary.
As long as you have options for spawning in at different locations you should use them to your advantage. Ideally, you should spawn in on your squad leader. This rule is similar to rule 10. Don't keep trying the same thing over and over again if it's not working. If you keep getting killed at the same flag then spawn at the next closest flag or spawn at the other end of the map to seek out another objective.
RULE 15) Let the professionals do their job.
This basically means that if you recognize that someone is more qualified to perform a certain task, then you should allow them to do so and aid them if possible. For example, if someone is excellent in armor and does well at supporting the team then you should allow them to use armor whenever possible and even deliver them a vehicle if you have to. Maybe you would serve your team better as support or a medic. Obviously, players need practice to get better, but if it isn’t necessary to infringe on someone’s ability to do what they’re best at then you should try to find alternative ways to serve your team and improve yourself.
This guide is not intended to help individuals improve their stats so mush as it is meant to help players improve the chances of their team winning. However, these guidelines should help players improve their overall performance.
RULE 16) Pay attention to the kits being used in the player board.
This rule should be the counterpart to Rule 8 since it relates to a player's ability to directly impact the team's greatest need(s). The concept for this rule is similar, identify what needs your team has by looking at the player board and glancing at what kits are currently in use by your team. This is a tactic I just recently started, but so far I've found this technique to be effective. If you see that no one on your team is playing the AT kit and you know that there is enemy armor patrolling the level then come in as AT on your next spawn or employ the use of Rule 6. If you are playing an infantry map and you notice that there are several assault, medic, spec-ops, and sniper kits being played, but no one is support then you should consider playing support for a while to keep your team armed and ready. Basically, try to play the kits that aren't being used by your team if it seems probable that you will fill a missing need. This technique for choosing kits may not always necessarily apply, but it's often a quick and informative way to guage your team's role requirements and assist the needs that aren't being addressed.
Edit 1: Grammatical error fix.
Edit 2: Added Rule 16
I know that my stats don't reflect an experienced player's abilities as much as would be expected for someone writing a guide on the subject, but I would like to say in my defense that a majority of my deaths can be attributed to lag as I am often playing with a 200 ms – 800 ms ping. The fastest connection I could hope for is 100 ms. I also have only played commander once on each of my accounts, so the fact that I have managed to maintain around a 2/1 win/loss ratio without playing the role of commander should say something about my strategy in non-commanding roles. Anyway, justifications aside, I think I have enough experience and sufficient skills to write on the subject.
Some of these rules/suggestions apply to being a better overall player while others address the specific issues related to becoming a primary contributor to your team. Here they are:
RULE 1) Stay paranoid; always.
Always assume that you are being watched, followed, or tracked. This includes assuming that you are being observed by the enemy commander from a scan, UAV, or zoom spotting. Never look or move in one direction for more than 1-2 seconds unless under cover. This sounds obvious, but far too often players have tunnel vision, and will run from point A to point B without checking out their surroundings. Whip around every once in a while to check your back, check side to side, sidestep and randomly pace your sprinting while traveling. If anyone is following you or tracking you with their gun they may become nervous, impatient, or hasty and make a poor decision that will give away their position. Also, don’t assume that an area is clear after neutralizing a flag. The moment following a neutralized flag is when most players let their guard down. Stay paranoid and alert.
RULE 2) Always be on the Move.
Unless you're taking a base, taking a shot, or hiding you should always be moving, either to avoid becoming a stationary target or for the purpose of getting to your next objective.
RULE 3) Don't travel without a planned objective or destination.
This may sound contradictory to the mantra of "always be on the move," but it's pointless to travel great distances if you don't have an intended destination and objective. Hopefully, the objective will come from your commander or squad leader, but if it doesn't then you should devise your own strategy and objective whether it's as simple as capturing a flag, getting a vehicle, or destroying enemy assets.
RULE 4) Squad up.
It's plain and simple. You will survive longer and perform better if you're working in a squad. Admittedly, this is the rule I have the most difficult time following myself, because often squads tend to disperse and ignore rule 5.
RULE 5) Leave and rejoin your squad upon death to allow squad leader rotation and to maintain the squad's position.
If you find a squad that is cooperative this technique can keep your squad unified and mobile at the same time. The concept is simple. When you die leave your squad, then instantly join your squad again. This will allow the next squad member to become the squad leader and provide you with a spawn point that is still on the front lines. Additionally, if other squad members need to spawn in during your 15 second inactive period they will still be able to come in on the squad saving traveling time.
* RULE 6) Use other player's kits to your advantage.
This one is HUGE! If you know how to use other player's kits to your advantage whether they are from fallen enemies or fallen allies you will be able to extend your life and effectiveness in many situations. If for example you are assault and a medic ally falls, pick up their kit and revive them. If on the other hand you kill an enemy medic or support soldier then pick up their kit, drop a few med or ammo packs, then revert to your own kit again when you are done. As another example, if you are a sniper but managed to acquire armor and kill an engineer, you should quickly hop out and grab his kit. Another way to look at this subject is this: Choose your targets based on your needs. Kill enemy soldiers that have the kit you need to give you an advantage in your situation. There are countless ways and situations where you can take advantage of a fallen player's kit. Use them.
RULE 7) Work with your commander.
Even mediocre commanders will often have a much better idea of what's going on in the battle then the average player. Unless, a commander is horribly inadequate, you and your squad should make every effort to follow your commander's instructions and should frequently request new orders. If you cooperate with your commander he will be much more likely to hook you up with UAV's, supplies, and arty. Also, don't consider it a waste of time to request UAV's, supplies, or arty from your commander. About 50% of the time the commander will accept a request if the request is available. Even though this may not seem consistent enough to make it worth it, receiving supplies, UAV's, or artillery half the time is better than nothing at all and can often turn the game in your favor.
* RULE 8) Always attempt to eliminate the greatest threat to your team.
This is also HUGE! If you want to be the player that makes the greatest contribution to your team (the MVP), thereby improving the chances of victory you need to constantly be seeking to destroy the greatest threats to your team, whether it be armor, helicopters, jets, a hidden squad leader acting as the point of attack, or enemy commander assets. If your team is constantly being mowed over by enemy armor then you need to counter it with armor, an attack heli, a TOW, or an appropriate kit. If you don't have access to a vehicle or if you are currently the wrong kit then you need to seek out and kill an enemy special ops, AT, or engineer soldier and take their kit (Ties into Rule 6). If a heli is causing havoc for your team then haul butt to the closest humvee/vodnik, get an AT-AA kit, get a tank, or get to an AA platform. If the enemy commander is devastating your team with concentrated forces and frequent arty strikes then make it a priority to take out his assets. You get the idea. Once the threat is neutralized you can return to your previous role of acting as medic, support, transport, pilot, etc. or move onto the next threat.
RULE 9) Make defending and recapturing cappable asset bases the highest priority among all flags.
Anytime you are playing a map where your vehicle or commander's assets are located at a cappable base it should be your highest priority to defend that base among all others. The reason for this is twofold. The obvious reason is that it keeps your commander active and useful, the second reason is that most cappable asset bases are positioned on maps so that they provide only one front line when being defended. If your team is forced to forfeit flags and fall back, it is more advantageous to be able to fall back to a base that can be defended on one front and contains all your critical assets such as vehicles and commander assets. The two best examples that come to mind is the TV Station tower on Sharqi and the Gatehouse on Strike at Karkand. As MEC on Karkand, if you lose the gatehouse flag then your team can not only be attacked from the main entrance to the south, but can also be attacked from the east. For most maps, losing the primary asset base as I like to call it, results in your team being attacked and pinned in on multiple fronts. Too often in Strike at Karkand MEC will try to hold the front city bases as long as possible while they lose every base to the north and eventually get pinned down or capped out. Don't ignore cappable asset bases! Defend and recapture them!
RULE 10) Don't restrict yourself to one kit/vehicle.
This re-emphasizes the importance of rule 6, but is unique enough to be addressed separately. Don't enter a game expecting to play with the same kit or vehicle the entire round. If it's your intention to build up your stat's with a particular kit or vehicle and the conditions of the round allow you to do so successfully, then by all means go ahead. However, if the use of a particular kit/vehicle proves to be useless, don't persist. One of the definitions of insanity is to expect different results when trying the same thing over and over. If playing as assault is only resulting in your constant death to armor then you should reconsider what kit you play and attempt to go as AT-AA, an engineer, or special ops. If you are in a tank and consistently being destroyed by helicopters then you should attempt to counter the helicopters by using a vodnik/humvee. Basically, if something isn't working, change it.
RULE 11) Work in staggered formation and avoid large clusters of allies.
This serves multiple purposes. First of all, if you are in a tightly packed squad or are in the vicinity of several allies your chances of being a prime target for the enemy commander's artillery greatly increases. Additionally, if you are in a tight squad there exists the possibility of being taken out be grenades. Another consideration is that if you are in a large group of allies, you're probably not doing much for your team and will become too reliant on others. In general, if you're working in a squad you should try to stay about 4-6 seconds walking distance from each other in a staggered formation that still allows everyone to maintain sight of each other. This is enough space so that an arty strike or grenade won't wipe out your entire squad. If you adhere to rule 5 then your squad should be able to maintain their position. Also, 4-6 seconds distance is far enough to be safe but allows enough time for a medic in the squad to reach a fallen member after eliminating the threat. The only exception to this rule is when you're squad is taking over a flag.
RULE 12) Don't let vehicles go unused or abandoned.
In many cases the use of vehicles can determine the fate of a round. If you see an unused vehicle such as an LAV, a tank, or a helicopter don't just leave it there. Either use it yourself, drive/fly it to a team member for use, move it to a remote location convenient to your team, or destroy it. Nothing is worse than to leave a tank, jet, heli, or LAV behind only to have the enemy team steal it and use it against your team. If you decide to use the latter of my suggestions (destroying said vehicle) then use good judgment and make sure that you attempted other measures first and verified that no ally had need of it.
RULE 13) Spot everything as frequent as possible.
Spot, spot, and spot some more. Other than the annoying sound bites, there is nothing negative to actively and frequently spotting enemy units and assets. The more your team is aware of their surrounding threats the better they will do overall. In many cases, spotting an enemy helicopter may allow an allied tank to take it down when they may have otherwise not noticed, and visa versa.
RULE 14) Don't spawn at the same flag more than necessary.
As long as you have options for spawning in at different locations you should use them to your advantage. Ideally, you should spawn in on your squad leader. This rule is similar to rule 10. Don't keep trying the same thing over and over again if it's not working. If you keep getting killed at the same flag then spawn at the next closest flag or spawn at the other end of the map to seek out another objective.
RULE 15) Let the professionals do their job.
This basically means that if you recognize that someone is more qualified to perform a certain task, then you should allow them to do so and aid them if possible. For example, if someone is excellent in armor and does well at supporting the team then you should allow them to use armor whenever possible and even deliver them a vehicle if you have to. Maybe you would serve your team better as support or a medic. Obviously, players need practice to get better, but if it isn’t necessary to infringe on someone’s ability to do what they’re best at then you should try to find alternative ways to serve your team and improve yourself.
This guide is not intended to help individuals improve their stats so mush as it is meant to help players improve the chances of their team winning. However, these guidelines should help players improve their overall performance.
RULE 16) Pay attention to the kits being used in the player board.
This rule should be the counterpart to Rule 8 since it relates to a player's ability to directly impact the team's greatest need(s). The concept for this rule is similar, identify what needs your team has by looking at the player board and glancing at what kits are currently in use by your team. This is a tactic I just recently started, but so far I've found this technique to be effective. If you see that no one on your team is playing the AT kit and you know that there is enemy armor patrolling the level then come in as AT on your next spawn or employ the use of Rule 6. If you are playing an infantry map and you notice that there are several assault, medic, spec-ops, and sniper kits being played, but no one is support then you should consider playing support for a while to keep your team armed and ready. Basically, try to play the kits that aren't being used by your team if it seems probable that you will fill a missing need. This technique for choosing kits may not always necessarily apply, but it's often a quick and informative way to guage your team's role requirements and assist the needs that aren't being addressed.
Edit 1: Grammatical error fix.
Edit 2: Added Rule 16
Last edited by LG-MindBullets (2006-03-02 14:09:25)