The person is smart, intelligent, and strong. The person is also selfish, senseless, and moronic. That makes no sense, but just look at the way people act in Bad Company 2. A team orientated game populated by self orientated players. Not enough assaults share ammo, not enough medics heal and revive, recons don't help take objectives, and engineers don't repair vehicles! What on earth is with these people!? It's the role of the class. Not only that, but I've seen players screw each other over while actually thinking it was a good idea. Well, here are some ways to grow some common sense and common courtesy in Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
Feel free to comment and suggest things. I love feedback of all kinds.
Ride your armor until it's dead[]
Everyone knows that this game has vehicles. Both light and heavy tanks can turn the tide of a battle. For the sake of balance, when one team is given more tanks than the other, the team with less tanks get Stationary AT guns. So, when you're operating your tank, don't bail out of it. Tanks don't re-spawn until the original is destroyed. On Port Valdez rush, for example, the Russians get one T-90 and one BMD-3 AA. That means that there can be only one T-90 and only one BMD-3 AA on the map at any given time. So, if for whatever reason, the Americans get their hands on the armor, it wont re-spawn until it's destroyed.
Time after time I see people riding the tank into enemy lines, take a beating, and then bail on the tank while it has 14 health left. Well, here's the deal: If you bail on the tank, there's a good chance you'll end up dying anyway. There's also a chance that the opposing team will steal the tank, repair it, and then pound you and your entire team into the ground with it. A single lost ticket is better than the 20 you'd lose if the opposition steals your tank. So ride it until it's dead.
Don't touch my tank[]
Pure and simple, if someone is driving a tank, and they jump out to repair it, it's their tank. Do not get in the tank. Do not touch the tank. Do not look at the tank. If the person operating that tank has displayed that they are adept at tank warfare, it's obviously in your best interest to let them keep the tank and let them keep doing their job. I've had my own tank stolen from me by my own team mates. The first thing they did was drive it directly into a field Anti-Tank Mines and die.
Also, if you see someone repairing a tank and another guy in the tank, don't jump in the empty seat. Those two guys are squad mates and are working together because they're good at. It's what they do. Jumping in the other seat will only serve to annoy, and hinder progress. Professionals are at work, so back off.
There is an exception to this, however. If a player has jumped out of their tank to repair it, it is welcomed that you get into the tank to allow the engineer to receive points for repairing the vehicle. Just remember to get out of the driver seat once they're done fixing it. It is their tank, after all.
Let me help you help me help us help us all[]
In the introduction, I was actually being a bit harsh on the engineers. Most engineers actually do go around repairing vehicles. Or should I say, try to go around repairing vehicles. More times than I can count I've seen tanks driving forward with 70% health and an engineer running behind it, full sprint. It's a really stupid sight. If your tank is damaged, hold tight. An engineer will be there to assist you.
Same could be said of medics and assaults sometimes. If the medic isn't dropping a health kit for you, there might already be one. They're marked on your HUD, so look around. Ammo crates, too. When the fighting starts, assaults tend to toss down an ammo crate behind hard cover and sit atop of it while shooting at enemies. If you don't do it, it's time to get in the habit. After fire-fights, however, an assault should always drop a fresh crate after regrouping.
Here's another tip for assaults: if someone is chasing you, they want ammo. Fill them up. But when I say fill them up I don't mean drop one crate. I'm telling you to stay with them and keep dropping crates until they're totally full and ready. Ammunition is limited in this game, and assaults are the only class who can supply it. Do your part and share. If the situation is too dangerous to supply ammo, just quickly drop a crate behind a wall and be on your way. It takes, literally, one second. Those in need of ammo will go to the box and grab what they can.
Blow shit up[]
Shit being blown up
Destruction 2.0. You'd think that would be enough, having a game where the destruction of environments and objects are key elements of game-play. Sometimes, you just have to realize that shit needs to be blown up. Three of the four classes have something that can be used to blow walls and people out of structures. That's the purpose of the grenade launcher, to make walls go away.
The number one spot where this applies is when you've trapped an enemy inside of a house. Do not go inside the house and get yourself killed. Just blow open the house. See an enemy in a window? Take out the whole wall so he can't scurry away.
But that doesn't mean you aught to go around destroying things willy-nilly. Destroy enemy cover. You and your team need things to hide behind, too, so just limit what the enemy can hide behind. It's hard to judge what should and what should not be destroyed, so just use your common sense...assuming you have any.
Now, I've been throwing around the term hard cover a lot and I haven't actually defined it, so here it is. Hard cover is cover that can stop bullets. That includes house walls, concrete, rocks and boulders, stone, what have you. The other kind of cover would be visual cover, which will conceal your position but will not stop bullets. That would be fences, foliage, and such.
Now, about blowing things up. Blowing open cover does not dampen the explosive force at all. Anyone on the opposite side of the wall or fence still gets the full brunt of the explosion.
Watch where you shoot[]
When you're playing on defense in rush, your objective is to protect the M-Com. Protect. For those who don't know, and I don't know how you could not know this, if the building the M-Com is in collapses, the M-Com is destroyed. You do not want to M-Com to be destroyed, so don't blow up the building. Avoid destroying the walls, please.
As for hardcore mode, you better watch where you shoot. Friendly fire is a very stupid thing, so watch what you're doing. Team mates have blue arrows above their head, so don't shoot them. They can't shrug it off, either, because there's no health regeneration in hardcore. Team-kills still count as a lost ticket, so watch it! Don't blow open a building if your team-mates are in it!
Don't waste time, but don't be an idiot[]
What happens to useless players.
Some might say that Battlefield is slower paced compared to other games. While this may be true, it does not mean that you aught to waste time. I'm talking about waiting for vehicles. It takes about 2 minutes for the UAV to reactivate once it's destroyed. That may not sound like a long time, but a single person sitting next to the UAV console with their thumb up their ass is a person not contributing to the team. Move up and contribute. Sitting on a hill and spotting people is still contributing, so do what you can and grab your vehicle when it re-spawns.
This mostly applies for when multiple players are waiting for a single vehicle. Six players waiting for an attack helicopter that seats a crew of two is quite counter-productive. Stop that shit.
Speaking of wasting, don't waste tickets. There's a time to fight and a time to hide. You need to be able to have the judgment to know when you need to hide and wait, and when it's time to crack some skulls.
Ambush the enemy[]
The ambush is probably the easiest tactic there is to use. Some people call it camping. Those people are the same people that run full sprint into a building without checking their corners just before being turned into hamburger meat, and then they have the nerve to complain about it.
Here's how to ambush:
- Find a place to hide
- Acquire the enemy in your sights
- Wait until the enemy is close enough
- Jump out of your hiding place
- Yell "OOGA BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA"
- Shoot enemy in the face
(War cry optional)
On the opposing side, expect the enemy to ambush you. While sprinting will get you places faster, it also lets you get ambushed. It takes a crucial second to slow down and ready your gun, which is just long enough to have a bullet put in your mustache.
Back/Select/Q[]
The spot button is a very important button. I think, or at least hope, that we all understand the importance of spotting. Well, that button can be used for a lot of other things, too. Chiefly, to communicate stuff to team-mates and squad-mates. Stuff like "I need ammo," "Attack Bravo," and "Hey, I just got shot in the face and I need some serious bandaids." To ask for ammo, all you need to do it point yourself at the nearest assault and tap your spot button. Same goes for health from medics and repairs from engineers.
Now, I know what a lot of you guys are thinking: "But Zealot_Guy, you charismatic stallion, I do ask my mates for stuff by way of the spot button, yet I am ignored! What do?" Well, sorry to say, but there's nothing you can do. The person you are requesting stuff from is clearly a total moron. When you use your spot button to request things, a cue also appears on that guy's radar. Your blip, that is normally a little triangle, turns into your request. Requests for ammo turn into flashing bullets, requests for health turn into flashing pain-pills, requests for repairs turn into flashing wrenches. It also appears over your head when you make the request. Also, when the person who can supply looks at a person in need, the icon will appear over their head. Assaults will see flashing bullets above people that need ammo, you get the idea. If the supplier presses the spot button on the person in need, they will actually cue "Hey, I've got some ammo for you!" or "Hey, I'm a medic; I'll take care of that," or "Woah, man, pull over; let me fix that thing up."
Pressing the spot button on a friendly vehicle will cue a request for a ride.
Quite frankly, there's no excuse for not helping your team mates. Everything is right there, so pay attention!
Look at your damned mini-map[]
The mini-map is an important tool, unless you're playing hardcore. Everything is on your mini-map. The location of vehicles, team mates, medics (when injured), injured players (as a medic), downed players (as a medic), damaged vehicles (as an engineer), tracer'd vehicles (as an engineer), active motion mines, players requesting anything from you, and enemy troops that have been spotted.
When an enemy is spotted, an orange triangle appears above their head for every player on your team sharing line-of-sight. Regardless of line-of-sight, everyone gets a blip on their radar. So look at the mini-map.
You have real-time knowledge of everything going on around you, right in a little box in your screen. Why don't you look at it? You should never have to ask "where are you?" to anyone. They're on your map.
Fuck the rain-forests[]
TREES ARE DICKS!
Consider the following: Port Valdez, defense, stage 1. Russians are parachuting in and storming down the hill, using the trees to mask their movement. What do you do? Quite simple, remove the trees.
Deforestation is easy, and effective. Trees are can easily mask movement of incoming enemies, and removing the trees forces the enemies to move across open ground, totally exposed. Not many people think to do it.
Trees can be knocked over by vehicles, explosions, and large caliber bullets. C4, Heavy Machine-guns, and the M95 work well.
When the shit hits the fan...[]
Pictured: Shit hitting the fan.
When the shit is about to hit the fan, it's a good idea to distance yourself from the fan to avoid being covered in the shit. Easier said than done, I'm afraid. Simply put, it's all about being aware of your surroundings. Line of sight works both ways: if you can see them, chances are they can see you, too. If a tank is rolling in spot it then hide. Don't stand there and watch it. Don't get me wrong, it's a good idea to peek out and keep tracking it but if that thing's turret turns your direction you better have something very solid to get behind.
Also related: if you're in a situation and you're expecting shit to hit the fan, have a fall back plan. Never lock down behind cover if there isn't another piece of cover near by for you to run to. Don't gloat over your awesome kill because someone is planning on killing you.
Develop a code[]
Communication is very important. If you're one of those guys who has a squad of bros you play with regularly, you probably developed some code-speak already. My squad and I have developed a code we use to quickly relay information. The idea of having a code is just so you have some jargon to throw around that everyone will immidietly understand. My squad uses some simple jargon. Here are some examples.
[TT]'s jargon[]
- Heli-chopper - a helicopter of any kind, save for the UAV. We don't bother identifying it as an Apache or Havoc or whatever because it's usually not important.
- big-tank - simple, a heavy tank.
- AT - mounted anti-tank launchers of the KORN or TOW variety.
- Triple-A
- Softies, Hosdiddles, bad-guys, baddies, - humans. Anything we can kill using small arms. We don't identify by team because it just ends up getting confusing when teams switch.
- Wookies, Engies - self explanatory.
- Pills, pain-killers, M&M's, infinite wookie-magic - Medkits. "Wookie Magic" came from a tactic involving medkits and wookies.
- Ammo-bullets, ammos
- Wrench - Repairs. This one I got from a friend of mine in the [88] clan. I like it. Simple, easy to understand, one syllable.
Building are also important to identify. Most building are the same, because they're made from the same set piece. We need to identify what buildings as what quickly and easily, without confusion.
- L-shaped - those two-story buildings often seen in White Pass. It houses the first Alpha M-Com in Nelson Bay Rush.
- Three-story - although it's actually two-stories plus an attic, we call them three-stories. Floors are identified by down-stairs, upstairs and attic. Very simple, yes?
- Trailers - those green trailers you often see in many levels.
On some occasion, we need to identify something of extreme importance. That means there can be no time to say "what?" or question what's going on.
- MINE MINE MINE - unidentified mines. If you are driving, STOP THE VEHICLE IMMEDIATELY!! Do not hit reverse, do not turn, do not pass GO, do not collect 200 dollars. Do not ANYTHING until all mines are identified.
- C4 OUT OUT OUT!! - C4 is stuck to the tank. Get the hell out of the tank. Even if you die, you can be revived if you're outside the tank.
- Get up and run, up and run - you're about to revived in the middle of combat. Do not attempt to shoot anyone. Just get up and run to the nearest cover. Side note: as a medic, do not attempt to do this unless you have a plan to go along with it
Rules of the Road[]
Tanks are big and roads are narrow. Don't drive down the center of the road and swerve around like you're drunk. Accidentally hitting friendly vehicles will still damage them, plus it's downright annoying. Light-skinned vehicles such as the CAV, quads, and any of the trucks or 4x4s can hold multiple people and move pretty fast. So, please, fill up the seats before driving off; no one wants to walk.
Nothing Personal[]
Some guy just took your dogtags... for the 5th time... In a row. You're probably a little ticked off, right? No, you're really ticked off. You need to kill this guy, and kill him hard. So you go for it. What happens? You fail, and you always will. The reason you failed at getting revenge is because you made it personal. Don't make it personal.
Be honest, do you really think that guy cares who you are? He doesn't even remember your name, nor does he want to bother. The only reason he came after you is because your death is just another kill to him. To the enemy, you are not another player; you are a statistic. Why do you kill in this game? To get closer to the objective, to defend the objective; maybe for the pure sake of killing! The moment you make it personal your judgement gets clouded and you make bad decisions. It's not personal, so don't make it so.
Dogtags Are Worth Nothing[]
The whole concept of the dogtags being taken from other players is soley for humiliation. Now, here's a simple question. Once you have successfully taken that guy's dogtags, what are you going to do with them? Nothing, that's what. The combat knife is a weapon of necessity and practicality, and should be used as such. You sneak up on someone unheard? Shank them. You know someone is right around the corner? Surprise them with the knife. Caught in a CQC engagement? Naked Snake says a knife is more useful than a gun in those scenarios. What I'm trying to tell you is: do NOT prioritize the snatching of dogtags over eliminating the threat. It's vital that all threats be dealt with quickly. If you're chasing someone for their dogtags for more that two whole seconds, just shoot them.
Stay Positive[]
Let's face it, guys: your streak of success will always come to an end eventually. You should not be in any hurry to embrace your fate though. Don't get upset when you are finally taken down. Just give yourself a pat on the back for having a good run, then get ready to do it again.
Crates are Non-Discriminatory[]
Ammo crates and med-kits are awesome things. They give you much needed ammo and heal your wounds. But, there's one thing you need to keep in mind: those boxes do not differentiate friend from foe. Ammo crates can and will resupply enemies. Med-kits can and will heal enemies. Never leave those boxes out somewhere. Also, boxes are highlighted on the HUD for everyone, including enemies. Tossing down a box while attempting to hide could actually give away your position.
Subvert Expectation[]
Conquest game start. What do you do? Attack the closest base or the farthest base? In all likelihood, you're probably going to attack the closest one, right? And then move to the middle flag? And then clash with the enemy until you can push through to their flag and capture it? Well, that's what a lot of players do. You need to do the unexpected. Attack the farthest base first; don't advance, hold and defend; flank directly and set up between bases to ambush advancing enemies; Ignore the bases all together and attempt to boobytrap enemy vehicles. You need to do things the enemy won't account for. That's the basis of the saying "stupid enough to work."
If you're under fire and pinned down, don't attempt to return fire. Retreat and attack from another angle.
— Sun Tzu
Always Fight on Your Own Terms[]
— Sun Tzu
If the enemy retreats, do not pursue him. If you need to break cover to give chase, it's a bad idea. That guy knows his fight is going badly. The purpose of retreating is to shift the status quo. If you pursue, you're now fighting on his terms, and put yourself at a disadvantage. Never attack a well defended position; that's why it's being defended. If the enemy is prepared for you, do not bother to flank him; it will actually serve more productive to bypass the position entirely. If you begin capturing a conquest flag or plant a bomb on an M-Com without alerting the enemy to your presence, you're doing it right. The enemy will be forced to move to you if they want to defend the objective, and forced to fight on your terms. From there, you can be prepared to defend from the counter attack.
Make Them Run Away[]
— Sun Tzu
When playing Rush mode, every time you destroy the 2 M-Coms the map boundaries shift and the defense is forced to retreat. Many, many players will attempt to rush in and kill any residual defenders. This is a bad idea. Death of defenders does not help the attackers win, but death of attackers most definitely helps the defenders win. If a defender is attempting to retreat, don't bother attacking him; it's not a priority. If you do kill him, he's just going to respawn over at his new base anyway. Not to mention that if you begin firing at him you're going to give away your position and any enemy with line of sight will open fire on you.
Keep Your Objective In Mind[]
Forget Squad Deathmatch exists for a second, here. What is the main objective in rush? To kill? Of course not; the objective is to destroy the M-Coms or prevent the M-Coms from being destroyed. Conquest? To capture and hold the flags. In rush mode, many players become distracted by the killing part they forget about the objective. This is especially prone to happening to defenders on rush. While killing the attackers is the grounds for victory for the defense, it should be remembered that all of those kills are for naught if the attackers destroy the M-Coms. In conquest, killing will reduce the enemy tickets, yes; but having control over the majority of the bases also causes tickets to bleed. I've seen teams on Atacama Desert lose even though they were whoring the helicopters and killing everything simply because they didn't capture the bases. The ticket bleeding effect from controlling the bases is usually faster than ticket loss due to killing.
Self Preservation[]
While this is a video game and deaths are hardly a huge deal, you should always obey your instinct for self preservation. Avoid doing things that will get you killed in vain. Choose your fights carefully. If you encounter a situation that you know will end with you dying, think twice about if it'd be worth it. Can I position myself to ambush the group of enemies and kill them all? Can I wait till the enemy tank passes, and hit it in the back for more damage? Can I get to the AT-launcher and use that to attack? Will this cover provide sufficient protection? Would sacrificing myself for this be worth it?
If you're trying to sneak your way through somewhere, being aggressive and engaging enemies will give you away. Don't feel the need to shoot EVERYONE you see. If you can spot them, do that at least. An Assault with a 40mm grenade launcher is not about to take down a tank single-handedly.
Give give a little forethought before shooting.
Take the Initiative[]
Have you ever heard of something called "Onlooker Apathy"? It's that event when people think "someone else will do it." Someone else will destroy that tank. Someone else will shoot down that chopper. Someone else will defuse the M-Com.
Here's some news for everyone. No one is going to. Don't assume for a second that someone else will do anything. You do it. You shoot at the tank. You fire at the chopper. You haul ass to that M-Com and disarm it. You fall back to defend the flag that's being captured. You move out and secure the flank. You throw down the ammo pack. YOU do it.
If others follow suit and help, awesome. But don't assume they will. Because if no one else does it, then nothing gets done!!