Suppression

Suppression is a gameplay element in Battlefield 3. When a player is being shot at, even if receiving no damage, that player will eventually be suppressed.

While suppressed, a soldier's vision will blur and defocus and he will no longer benefit from out-of-combat health regeneration, however a suppressed soldier will still regenerate health when a medical kit is nearby.

Suppression can be a useful tactic to reduce the combat effectiveness of enemies while flanking them. It can also be a useful point boost, for there is a 50 point suppression bonus should someone kill a player you are suppressing.

Suppression also comes in the form of Disability/Fire for vehicles. A vehicle will be disabled if its armour drops below 50%. When disabled, the vehicle's engine will quit and it won't be able to move. Its armour also won't regenerate. Like with infantry and suppression though, the armour will still regenerate quickly if an engineer repairs it, and it will be re-enabled when its armour goes back over 50%.

Fire may happen if the vehicle's health gets low. When on fire, the vehicle's health will constantly drain due to the fire burning it up. Vehicles with the extinguisher spec will allow the fire to be put out, which stops the armour draining and restores the vehicle's armour to 53%. It will then start regenerating as normal.