The Modkaman book of Tactics

[Modkaman]

I don't espouse being a "lone wolf" but I find that because of my playing style I'm often by myself. I think everyone has their own style of playing and no matter if you're the Rambo/Lone Wolf type or not you will inevitably find yourself alone and against multiple opponents. Here are a list of strategies I employ often and from my experience have worked consistently in game.

1. The first tactic I like to call the "Rope-a-Dope". The intent of this tactic is to make it appear as if you are weak and fleeing from someone but in reality are setting them up. This can be done in several ways but what I find often works is if I'm moving towards the corner of a building and someone shoots at me I just continue running then as soon as I get around the corner turn back around and come out guns blazing. I don't know how many people I catch with their pants down not expecting it but I have a lot of success with this tactic. It doesn't always work against the more seasoned players but there's no sense in getting shot in the back especially when you are outnumbered.

2. The second tactic I employ is the "Crazy Ivan". I hate getting my dog tags taken so I find that I will often just flip around in an ally and start shooting or toss a nade. I've caught countless people trying to sneak up on me that way. Keep your head on a swivel. You can tell how well you are maintaining your sense of awareness by how often you get knifed. I rarely get knifed anymore and I almost never have the opportunity to knife the better players in the game.

3. Line people up in single file when you engage more than one. Try preventing them from getting a clean shot and gun them down as you move down the line.

4. Reload anytime you get the chance, don't wait until you need to. It stinks getting caught with your pants down, i.e. reloading your weapon when someone guns you down.

5. Use your nades to clear around corners. If I know there are several people around a corner I'll toss a nade then move in for the kill.

6. Always clear first before you revive, don't give the guy another free ticket. If he's like me, he's waiting until you get the revive in then he's going to kill you and that other guy a second time. Just keep this in the back of your mind, there's a reason the guy is laying there on the ground.

7. Watch Battlerecorder and group with as many TG'ers as you can. People are creatures of habit and it's the best way to learn the enemy as Sun Tsu might say. I know Arithea likes to do cloaker rushes on the catwalks at Toll, or that Zohar likes to let the enemy come to him and set him up. If there's a sniper eating you up, watch Battlerecorder afterwards and see where he likes to camp at. Get his tags next time. Be aware of who's on the other team. I know if I kill Zohar there are five people not far behind. Unlike some other squads where they may be less cohesive he tends to run tighter squads.

8. Like your rockets? Don't underestimate the value of the assault shotgun. Rockets give away your position and the shotgun is great for close quarters.

9. Learn the maps, learn the maps, learn the maps. I don't think this can be said enough. When I first started playing Berlin I hated it, I was always getting killed and had no clue where it was coming from. Now it's one of my favorite maps.

10. Play the other kits until you are at the very least comfortable with the kit. Don't be one dimensional. A good habit would be to volunteer for NG when the squad leader asks for a volunteer. Besides, one of my favorite game experiences is blowing up the APC and getting six kills....non-revivable at that. A good NG is worth 12 good assault/medics and can turn the tide of a battle.

11. Get into a habit of picking up dropped kits when you get low on ammo. I will usually pick up another kit once I'm down to two clips.

12. Stick around. I've spent a lot of time watching myself on Battlerecorder and one thing I noticed was how ineffective score really was. I might have a score of 60 with 40+ kills but when I watched the game I realized that the vast majority of those kills were with frags at distance or rockets. I had a game with 42 kills and watched what happened to every person I killed. The end result was 36 of those killed were revived for an effective ticket loss of 6. Now when I kill someone I will stick around if I can and watch their corpse disappear, I do that a lot more often now. You don't impress me if you have a higher score, you impress me if you can do what's best for the team.

13. Use the terrain to your advantage in this game. Yesterday I placed a sentry gun in a bush at Church on Cerbere Landing. I don't equip the sentry gun most times but decided to for the heck of it. I can't tell you how funny it was hearing someone in TS say, "Mod, you're sentry gun is eating people up over here at Church". I looked at my kills and it had gone from 20 to 27. Get to the high ground, it matters.

I hope some of these tactics help. I feel as though I've been playing long enough now that I can pass on some of my experiences. Good luck and see you in game.

[ionpig-A]

Good Stuff Modka!! +rep

[Mech__Warrior]

Good stuff, I'll have to watch the body until it disappears.

[daithi1]

Originally Posted by Modkaman

2. I hate getting my dog tags taken

Pats screen shot folder .

Nice guide. One thing you kind of said but never really said was never fight on equal terms. Never go for a fair fight or let them have and advantage. Always fight when you have an advantage.

[black_Mirror]

Thanks for this guide. Nice done.
PS: i also had to laught about this TS quote. I was in TS , too and your sentry-Gun really was eating people dow there

[big-eye101]

Very nice write up!And interesting tactics too

[Arithea]

Good write-up. I'm still working on those TacticalWiki pages on strategies for each of the maps (almost have the second one done), which will help with #9. Speaking of which, feel free to go find something to add there! There are a few concepts we take as "basic" to 2142 mentioned here that could be written up into TacticalWiki pages, if short ones.

[Bomber]

"Mod, you're sentry gun is eating people up over here at Church" That was me I told my squad there was a sentry there but no one listened and went for the revive and got mowed down too.
As for multiple people, 2 shot them and you will be fine
I've also found, especially as a fleeing squad lead, that grenade right click works wonders
Good write up

[DrBeat]

Nice guide.

[Zhohar]

This feels like I'm reading my own thoughts, Mod. Deja vu, if I ever saw it.

Excellent advice all around. I especially like #1. If I'm on open ground, fair firefight between two vosses -- I'll run for cover. Within cover, count to one one thousand, bail cover, and gun him down. Most people expect either a fair fight, or, if you run, that you are scared. I'll run even on people who have lower health than me, just to grin after I've gunned them down.

[Lorax74]

Originally Posted by Modkaman

11. Get into a habit of picking up dropped kits when you get low on ammo. I will usually pick up another kit once I'm down to two clips.

Also a thing to remember: Picking up a kit is much faster than reloading. If you find yourself on point a lot, or are flanking this bit of advice can and will save you on reload time which can and will save your life. Take one person down, pickup their kit (which hopefully is fully reloaded) and take out the next person, rinse and repeat. I don't know how many times people have asked how I could mow through their squad so fast without reloading... Well folks, that's how!

[LordKelvin]

I would contend that that is unrealistic and against the intention of game design.

Honestly, what soldier runs into battle picking up dead soldiers' weapons and chucking them once the clip runs dry?

[Zhohar]

Originally Posted by LordKelvin

I would contend that that is unrealistic and against the intention of game design.

Honestly, what soldier runs into battle picking up dead soldiers' weapons and chucking them once the clip runs dry?

Erm, I would?

Doesn't seem like a bad idea. If I was in an honest firefight, I wouldn't pick up a soldier's kit -- I'd pick up a rock, spoon, and piece of crumb cake that's closest to me if I was fighting for my life. I don't think it's unrealistic for someone to pick up an enemy rifle and press the trigger. If I had the option, I probably would. Especially in an intense firefight -- my weapon would probably overheat if I gunned down six to ten men.

[LordKelvin]

No, but I mean, going through the process of snagging the enemies stuff would take as long usually as simply to reload. Not to mention, the speed of kit taking is faster than reloading, so it is an exploit of game mechanics that you are using to delay your reload or eliminate it altogether.

[Modkaman]

It's not an exploit to pick up somebody's rifle after they go down, that's actually part of the intended game design. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, the developers encourage doing so hence the reason there's a tip which specifically states that you should pick up other soldiers kits, especially if you don't have all of the unlocks.

Also, I think it's reasonable that picking up a weapon would be faster than reloading. However, as Lorax stated there are negatives to doing so, several times I've picked up a kit with 1 bullet left in the clip and gotten gunned down anyhow.