Buggy/Jeep Gunnery Techniques

[munchkin]

Gunnery for FAVs, DPVs, Humvees, Vodniks and their PLA equivalents is all about communication between the driver and gunners. The driver is generally unable to see or focus on targets, and is spending most of his time preventing everyone in the vehicle from dying a messy, explosive death.

As a gunner, you must recognise this, and understand the importance of speed to survival.

The speed of the vehicle influences you in a number of ways:
1. It makes you a harder target to hit.
2. It makes targets harder to identify.
3. It makes targets more difficult to hit.

To successfully engage infantry or lightly armoured targets, the key is constant movement and constant turns. The movement keeps you alive, and the turns allow you to 'orbit' the target, pinning it down and keeping the MG on it. Remember to lead your target, and adjust this lead to match your speed and direction.

[ABRA]

I like it when gunners give orders to drivers. I think they have the better vantage point to dictate when to high tail it and when not to. Call contact 3 o'clock or whatever direction and give a speed. Like "Hold, engaging troops 3 o'clock." That gives you the stabile platform to really decimate infantry.

Then call "Hit It" when you see an AT soldier. In the second or two before the buggy/jeep accelerates, hopefully you will kill the AT if he's trying to keep lock. If you are at a prudent engagement range, you'll hopefully evade the now 'dumb' AT missile. Truck survivability counts on a gunner who can make the snap AT kill to break lock otherwise you're toast.

.50's employed in this way are the best 'value' infantry killers in the game if you ask me. They are not as 'expensive' as a tank or APC since they are more plentiful. And they're doubly plentiful in that they can reach the hotzone faster after respawn. They're the Johnny-On-The-Spot infantry killer.

[munchkin]

Originally Posted by ABRA

I like it when gunners give orders to drivers. I think they have the better vantage point to dictate when to high tail it and when not to. Call contact 3 o'clock or whatever direction and give a speed. Like "Hold, engaging troops 3 o'clock." That gives you the stabile platform to really decimate infantry.

Then call "Hit It" when you see an AT soldier. In the second or two before the buggy/jeep accelerates, hopefully you will kill the AT if he's trying to keep lock. If you are at a prudent engagement range, you'll hopefully evade the now 'dumb' AT missile. Truck survivability counts on a gunner who can make the snap AT kill to break lock otherwise you're toast.

.50's employed in this way are the best 'value' infantry killers in the game if you ask me. They are not as 'expensive' as a tank or APC since they are more plentiful. And they're doubly plentiful in that they can reach the hotzone faster after respawn. They're the Johnny-On-The-Spot infantry killer.

Dude, you totally stole what I was gonna say :P
But then I fell asleep and forgot to type it
Props to you - let's see if we can fit this into the minicamp.

[Zigrat]

personally im much more scared of the m203 as a vodnik or buggy than of a AT
if the guy is good, its harder to counter

[TychoCelchuuu]

I find you have a better chance sitting there shooting at people as they pop up than wheeling all around the map waiting for someone to get a lucky shot or for the driver to smack a tree.

[P8riot]

Originally Posted by TychoCelchuuu

or for the driver to smack a tree.

Maybe YOUR driving.

[Preston85]

Originally Posted by TychoCelchuuu

I find you have a better chance sitting there shooting at people as they pop up than wheeling all around the map waiting for someone to get a lucky shot or for the driver to smack a tree.

Ah so your one of the people who gives me easy kills when i'm sniping. THANKS!

[FishRoy]

Originally Posted by TychoCelchuuu

I find you have a better chance sitting there shooting at people as they pop up than wheeling all around the map waiting for someone to get a lucky shot or for the driver to smack a tree.

I like to park downhill of a usually populated path for infantry and when they come over the hill they are still looking toward the horizon and you have a good 2 seconds before they realize that you are there in which to put .50s into them. I find this works extremely well, especially if you move around because the second time they will come in stealthy and blow you up.

So my advice: Only ambush once, then move your ass/jeep/humvee etc.

[TychoCelchuuu]

Originally Posted by Preston85

Ah so your one of the people who gives me easy kills when i'm sniping. THANKS!

Go ahead and try. Countless other (dead) people have.

It's important to realize that these .50 cal guns are going to take out people in 2 or 3 hits, that they have unlimited ammo and a fast firing rate, and that they never need to reload. You're only an easy target to a sniper because you're standing still, and you can still do what every other person in BF2 does when confronted with a sniper: run away and hide, and therefore do nothing, or duke it out and kill him before he kills you. In TG especially where everyone's in a squad, the chances of a sniper being so ludicrously far away that the only way someone's going to get shot is through a scope is very small. 9 times out of 10, your .50 cal machinegun has almost as much chance of hitting them once in 5 shots as their rifle has of hitting you in 1 shot. And you fire about a million times faster.

So go ahead. The only real way for a sniper to effectively and consistently take on a jeep is to be far away or to not be seen. As I already mentioned, far away isn't very likely on the TG server, and not being seen? Well, you can try your luck and attempt to pull a Sam Fisher on me, but you're better off waiting until I'm shooting at a whole squad's worth of teammates. Then, and only then, will I admit that a sniper can easily take me down from my seat atop my chariot of steel. Otherwise, you'd better be willing to go toe to toe with a .50 cal machinegun. Good luck.

[ABRA]

What Tycho said. You snipers talk the talk with regard to stationary .50s but rarely have I had a problem with it.

For one you've got that armored faceplate on your MG that makes frontal hits all but impossible(maybe impossible, I still don't think I've ever hit or been it through that narrow little slit). So if you deploy at long range, you can engage a whole spread out squad without any of them having a shot on your uxposed flanks. Even then the .50 has incredible accuracy and a continuous fire ability if you fire at a reasonable(and accurate) rate.

[P8riot]

Originally Posted by ABRA

What Tycho said. You snipers talk the talk with regard to stationary .50s but rarely have I had a problem with it.

For one you've got that armored faceplate on your MG that makes frontal hits all but impossible(maybe impossible, I still don't think I've ever hit or been it through that narrow little slit). So if you deploy at long range, you can engage a whole spread out squad without any of them having a shot on your uxposed flanks. Even then the .50 has incredible accuracy and a continuous fire ability if you fire at a reasonable(and accurate) rate.

When I snipe - I love those stationary vehicals with a gunner.. they die nicely. I'll show ya sometime if I get the chance ABRA.

[ScratchMonkey]

The oil fields would be a good place where snipers can own mounted MG's. It's big with lots of cover in high areas overlooking many flags. Imagine covering the gas station with a mounted MG when a sniper could be on one of the large central tanks or in the woods on the hills to the north. When I take sniper fire there, I get on the comms to the commander to locate him.

Height is an advantage to a sniper against a vehicle, as it lets him shoot over the front armor, down into the gunner.

My favorite use of the mounted MG is against choppers. They go down fast, even with a single gun, and more than one is deadly. Their vulnerability is in their size, which makes them easy to find for a helo. So I tend to prefer the Support's MG for anti-chopper work, as I can hide in the weeds or between buildings and move to cover more easily.

[Major Badanov]

back to the first post

i would say lead alot. i know that sounds basic but it is actually harder than it sounds.

HMMVs and Buggy transports are also very good for stantionary defense, which gets better by the size of the vehicle, which means more armor.

one problem with my theory though is that you can be watching all sides at a time (of course)its best not to defend alone. have some infantry be there with you also.
in fact have a whole squad there. General Horrecks quote "we my friends are the cavalry. On the way to the rescue!!!" this was during market garden. (that is way off subject but i thought id share it with you)

think of yourself as the cavalry. come in later behind the troops. unless you have an exellent squad and they spot targets for you.